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Showing posts from July, 2010

The Digital Iron Curtain: Is Iran About to Crash the Global AI Boom?

 For decades, the "Middle East crisis" was a headline about crude oil, tankers, and the price at the pump. But as of March 2026, the stakes have shifted from the engine to the motherboard. While the world watches drone strikes over Isfahan and naval skirmishes in the Persian Gulf, a more quiet, more lethal war is being fought over the very building blocks of the 21st century: semiconductors. The "Digital Iron Curtain" is falling, and it isn't just dividing East and West—it’s threatening to starve the global AI revolution of its most basic needs. The Helium Hostage: Why the Strait of Hormuz is the New Silicon Valley We’ve long been told that the South China Sea is the "front line" of the chip war because of Taiwan’s dominance in fabrication. But the ongoing U.S.-Israel war with Iran has revealed a terrifying bottleneck: The Middle East is the lungs of the semiconductor industry. To make the world’s most advanced 3nm chips, you don’t just need engineers;...

Facebook Questions

Searching for answers, ask Facebook questions. This is how Facebook has been introducing a new feature to users. This kind of works like Yahoo Answers, where users ask questions that get shared with everyone across the platform and other users are free to answer. This new feature has been released for some beta testers but not ready for users across Facebook. The Facebook questions feature will appear on the top left hand column of your homepage. Once you click on "Ask Questions", your questions will be shared with your friends and also all the other 500 million Facebook users. So you get answers from everyone including your friends, which makes it a personalized affair. How does Facebook Questions work? These are some answers provided by Facebook. To ask a question to the community, just click the "Ask Question" button at the top of the homepage. You can also ask questions about your friends from their profiles, similarly to how you would post on their Walls. After...

Mafia Wars Jungle Crate

Mafia Wars Jungle Crate out now. This is a whole new mystery crate that you can get using reward points as they are not giftable. The chances to get rare items is 10%, uncommon items is 30% and common items 60%. The original cost was 12 RP but Mafia Wars is offering a 50% discount and it now costs 6 RP. You can get the Jungle Crate now at a 50% discount. Items Include Common Tent Peg and Hammer (40 Attack 24 Defense) Survival Canteen (21 Attack 41 Defense) Pack Mule (41 Attack 22 Defense) Uncommon Jungle Wasp Bow (46 Attack 23 Defense) Survival Pack (48 Attack 25 Defense) Waterproof Poncho (22 Attack 47 Defense) Rare Jungle Machete (69 Attack 32 Defense) Silverback (36 Attack 68 Defense) You can now also get a set of three Jungle Crates for 17 Reward Points which is a 50% on it's original price of 35 RP. An original post by Sociolatte

BlackBerry BlackPad

W hat is the BlackBerry BlackPad? Research In Motion (RIM) makers of the popular BalckBerry Smartphone, plan to introduce a new tablet computer similar to the iPad. This according to Bloomberg . The new Blackpad is reported to be similar in size to the iPad, would include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and allow tethering to BlackBerrys. An addition to this new device would be a front facing camera, something not found in the iPad.  There is no official statement to this effect from the company. So how much truth there is to this story remains to be seen.  RIM is stepping up its competition with Apple on multiple fronts. The company is hosting an event in New York Aug. 3 at which it will debut its BlackBerry 9800 slider phone, according to one person familiar with its plans. The device will feature a full touchscreen like Apple’s iPhone and a slideout Qwerty keyboard to allow for easy e-mail typing, the person said. It has also been reported that RIM has taken over the domain Blackpad.com.  So if...

FarmVille Crafting Building Ribbon Requirements

With the release of FarmVille Crafting buildings, There are now ribbon achievements to go with it. As you craft recipes, purchase crafted goods from your neighbors and sell your own crafted goods, these tasks will now count towards 3 new ribbons. These new FarmVille Crafting Building Ribbon Achievements are: Crafty: Crafting Goods will count towards the Cunning Crafter Ribbons. Super Salesman: Selling your Crafting Goods will count towards the Super Seller Ribbons. Best Buyer: Purchasing Crafting Goods from your FarmVille neighbors will count towards the Best Buyer Ribbons. An original post by Sociolatte

Twitter helps you discover who to follow

Wondering who to follow. Well, depending on your interests there are scores of Twitter account out there, that you could follow. It also takes time for you to check out each account before you decide to follow. Twitter has decided to do something about it and bring to you suggestions on who to follow. This algorithms in this new feature "Suggestions For You" which can be found under the "Find People" link uses " The suggestions are based on several factors, including people you follow and the people they follow" according to Twitter.  Beside these suggestions are two links. The "Follow" link and the "X Hide" link. If you choose to follow a particular account you could click the follow link. If you choose not to follow you can click the x hide link and in the future this user will no more be suggested to you to follow.  In addition to this new feature. You will begin seeing recommendations for similar uses when you visit another account...

FrontierVille Dinner Bell or Triangle

So this is what you need to do in FrontierVille if one of your family members go missing. Especially during diner time. You need to get your Dinner Bell or Triangle out and summon your lost family members for dinner. This is a good way to bring discipline in the family and make sure no one goes missing out there on the Frontier. You can buy the dinner bell for 5 horseshoes and you get 50 XP. The Dinner Triangle can be got for 10 wood and 10000 coins. It yields 100 XP. So head over to the store now and check under decorations. An original post by Sociolatte

Mafia Wars What to do with Racks Of Chips

If you'r wondering what to do with all those racks of Vegas chips. The good news is that all those racks of chips you have been collecting can be exchanged for use during the game. You can use the Rack of Chips to buy special loot for jobs and fights. The more you have the better for you to level up and you get all the help in terms of Loot in exchange for your Racks of Vegas Chips. So keep collecting as many as you can. Send them to friends as free gifts and get them to send you back some in return.  An original post by Sociolatte

Treasure Isle Monkey Palace is now live

Monkey Palace on Treasure Isle is now live and open for business. Finally the wait is over and you can head over and enter this new Isle. Monkey palace can be found in Tiki Isle III and you need a minimum level 10 to gain access. So go now and get your dig on. Once you enter Monkey Palace it is unlike any other Isle, as it is a palace and you can wonder around following clues and digging and unearthing treasures. The setting are fantastic and is very much like playing a PC game. So go now and explore. Got clues for us, please use the comments section below.  Hint: There are harvestable banana trees in Monkey Palace. You also need to collect Golden Tickets to pay Gorilla Bouncers.  An original post by Sociolatte

Treasure Isle Monkey Palace Contest, Win One Million Island Cash

Monkey Palace on Treasure Isle is now open for business. This new Island now comes with a contest, which if you win, you will get 1 million in Island Cash. Here are the contest rules and guidelines provided by Zynga Treasure Isle Forums .  Are you up for the challenge, the Monkey Palace challenge? Hey Adventurers! Treasure Isle will be giving away 1 million Island Cash to the person that gets the lowest dig score in Monkey Palace! That’s right, 1 MILLION ISLAND CASH! *(in the event where this contest does not get launched the same time Monkey Palace gets released) This contest is NOT retroactive. You must get the lowest score from Friday July 30 and will end on Friday, August 13 at 12:00 PM Pacific Standard Time GMT-8. Lower scores previous to the start date will not be counted. How to enter? It's easy, just play! There is no need to sign up for the forums and post your score (however, we'd love to hear it), no need to register at all for the contest, or do anything else. We...

What is Yahoo Giggles

It seems companies are trying all kinds of things to boost their marketing efforts and sales. Yahoo is not far behind. We think these days everybody is inspired by the Old Spice Man campaign seen on Twitter and YouTube. Sales for Old Spice have gone up 107% after that campaign of theirs. Online ad spending will see double-digit growth, reaching $61.8 billion worldwide this year and $96.8 billion in 2014.  Yahoo also seeks to join the bandwagon of viral content. yahoo Giggles is something so simple but set to drive a lot of internet traffic to their homepage. Just go to Yahoo.com and click on the exclamation mark next to the Yahoo logo. Remember to tun the volume up on your computer first. If this does not bring a smile to your co-workers faces Yahoo says your working in the wrong organization.  An original post by Sociolatte

YouTube increases upload limit to 15 minutes.

everyone who has uploaded video to YouTube or even tried to upload videos to YouTube know there is a 10 minute maximum limit on the length of the video you can upload. This restricted users to creating videos that were a maximum 10 minutes long. YouTube has announced via a official post that, that limit has now been extended. Users can now create videos that last for a maximum of 15 minutes. You can now truly get your own 15 minutes of fame on YouTube. This comes as good news for all non-partners of YouTube. Partners are people who upload original content and therefore do not have the time restriction. Like TV shows and documentaries uploaded by the people who made them and they therefore have all the rights to the content.  What's changed, Siegel said , is that YouTube can now handle longer videos because of an improved Content ID system, the YouTube technology that major movie studios, music labels and 1,000 other content owners use to manage their videos and block unauthorized v...

How To Use GoogleLookup in Google Spreadsheets

Just like Microsoft Xl google Spreadsheets also has a lookup function. XL has the vlookup  The V in VLOOKUP stands for vertical. Use VLOOKUP instead of HLOOKUP when your comparison values are located in a column to the left of the data that you want to find. Google Spreadsheets are becoming more and more popular because it is so easy to use and you can open documents from Gmail directly into Google Spreadsheets.  Here is a brief explanation on using this feature given by the Google Docs Blog .  To use the GoogleLookup function, enter the following formula in the desired spreadsheet cell: =GoogleLookup(“entity” ; “attribute”)  where “entity” represents the name of the entity you want to access and “attribute” is the type of information that you want to retrieve. For example, I want to know the atomic number of gold. In this case, gold is the entity while atomic number is the attribute. In the desired cell, I enter =GoogleLookup(“Gold” , “Atomic Number”). Be sure to include quotation mar...

Social City How Districts Work

How do districts work? From now on, when you load the game you will see your entire City, which includes all 9 districts. When on this screen, your City Name and Total Population (population of all districts added together) will be shown at the top right corner. Hovering over each district will show that individual district's population.  At this time, there is no way to share population or happiness across all districts . Right now, only two districts are available to be opened, the original and the new Southeast district. All other districts will appear as locked, and the requirements will not be made available until we update the game to unlock them.  If you would like to link roads from one district to another, unfortunately that is not supported yet. You are also only able to look at one district at a time at the closest level, meaning you can only zoom in to one district to edit and collect at one time. When you are at this level you will not be able to see any other district...

Market Street Layout Explanation

The image below gives you the explanations of the Market Street Store Layout. Once you login to your store these are the interpretations of all the icons.  Click on image to enlarge An original post by Sociolatte

Vampire Wars New Additions Guide

Vampire Wars is getting a complete makeover with  Tons of new stuff  coming soon! New Events, New Mission Items, and New Limited Edition Items! The Elders have summoned you once again for a brand new adventure, will you answer their call? Watch out for mysterious Gold Roubels that will start to appear; you must gather as many as you can, for once the portal is open you will need them. There will be several ways for you to collect Gold Roubels Send them as free gifts to your friends from the free gifts page Ask your friends to send them to you by clicking on the " Ask Friends for Gold Roubels " link on the promo box Find them as you're doing missions Akem is getting read to reveal a brand new set of Limited Edition abilities that will only be available from Alem's Gamble for a short time; don't miss them! Starting today, for the next 4 weeks Akem will add a new ability from this set for you to collect each week. If you collect all 4 he will reward you with a specia...

FrontierVille How to stop your character from doing a job

FrontierVille has a new stop button out to help you stop your character from doing interactions you did't want to do just yet. So in case you started to tend to animals or crops you were not ready tom actually to. Then there is a red stop button located right next to your backpack. Click that and you can stop your character from performing actions. An original post by Sociolatte

YoVille Surfing Photo Booth Coming Soon!

YoVille have announced via they blog that there is a great coming soon feature called the Surfing Photo Booth.  Want to get an item that is fun to play with and let’s you brag to your friends?! Well the chance to do so will be coming very soon. We’ll be releasing a Photo Booth in game that will allow you and your friends to interact with and post feeds to show off your wave riding skills. Let’s check out a sneak peek of this Photo Booth and what you can do with it! To interact with this item you will need to either have one yourself or go to a  friend’s home (who owns this item). To get a Photo Booth of your own you’ll have to purchase it when it becomes available in game. Once you have a Photo Booth to interact with you will click on it and your avatar will jump on the surfboard. Then a picture will be taken of your avatar catching some waves. You’ll then be prompted to  “Share” your photo. Make sure to click share and show off your skills on your Facebook Wall. If you are the lucky ...

FarmVille Crafting Buildings Guide

This is meant as a guide for those who would like to know all about crafting buildings. This guide was released By Lexilicious (Community Manager) on the FarmVille Forums.  Crafting Buildings are now here! For more information on this feature, please review the following guide.   Crafting Buildings: If you are level 25 and above, you will be able to turn your bushels into crafted goods with the new Crafting Buildings feature. Upon logging into FarmVille, you will see the following pop-up. This brief tutorial explains the basic functionality of this feature. Scroll your cursor over each of the boxes within the pop-up to see more detailed information about how Crafting Buildings work. Now it is time to pick your profession. There are three types of Crafting Buildings available; The Winery, Bakery and Spa. Each building features its own unique set of recipes you can use to create crafted goods.   If you did not pick a profession when the Crafting Buildings preview was released, you will s...

FarmVille One Click Harvesting for Animal Buildings

Tonight's FarmVille update featured lots of new limited edition New England themed items, new Mystery Game prizes and some other minor and less noticeable updates including the following: Animal Buildings such as the Chicken Coop,Dairy Farm, Horse Stable and Nursery Barn now have one-click harvesting, just like other animals! Goji Berry seeds are still available in the FarmVille Market, but have simply moved to another place. Usually the first item you see is Goji Berry seeds, now they can be found with other fruits. The Email promotion of "Daily Fuel Boost" is now a regular feature. More farmers should have access to the new Crafting Building feature. This article originally appeared on   FarmVille Freak . An original post by Sociolatte

FarmVille Crafting Building Bakery

FarmVille Crafting Buildings have finally made their way to the game. Farmers level 25 and up have access to three crafting buildings -- a Winery, Spa and Bakery. What's the purpose of these buildings? In addition to giving you something to do with all those bushels you've been getting from you and your friends' Farmers Market, the main motivation is fuel. That's right, make stuff in your Bakery, and you'll ultimately be rewarded with sweet fuel to power your tractor and other farming equipment. Most of my fellow farmers chose the Winery (says a lot, doesn't it?), so I decided to play contrarian and pick the Bakery as my crafting building. After all, who doesn't love a nice baked good, even virtual ones? To start on your way to becoming a master baker, choose the bakery from the Crafting is Here! pop-up window. I previously chose the bakery, so I just had to click the 'Yes Place' button to set the bakery on my farm. A Tip: Make your you clear out som...

YoVille Help The gulf Otter

The new charity pet is here   This cute little Otter has replaced the Pelican and available for purchase now! Purchasing this pet will work the exact same way as the Pelican! Click on the “Help the Gulf Icon” and then “Buy Pet”, it’s that easy! You can also check him out at Pete’s Pet Store. Remember by purchasing these animals that we will be giving away 50% of the proceeds to help the gulf! So make sure to buy all of the pets and spread the word! Not only do you get a little something for yourself in YoVille but get to make a huge difference in Helping the Gulf’s wildlife and habitat. [ Via YoVille Blog ] An original post by Sociolatte