These enhancements were funded, and contributed upstream, by the Emilia-Romagna regional administration (Italy), where OpenOffice was adopted a few years ago.
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![]() Here's a full list of permissions the app requests:Īnd here are all the privacy labels the developers chose to display on the App Store: When it comes to permissions and tracking, The Weather Channel seems to want pretty much everything your device will tell it about you, from your current location (even when the app's not running) to your calendars, photo library, and search history. You may not be at The Weather Channel's scale, but researching keywords every few months and updating your app's name, subtitle, and keyword list shouldn't take longer than watching a TV show. There's a lot to be learned from these keywords for both the novice and the expert, but the most important takeaway here, in my opinion, is the importance of experimenting and letting the data guide your decisions of which keywords to use and which to skip. This list + name and subtitle resulted in the first table in the teardown. That aside, these keywords combine very well with those packed into the name and subtitle, and the results are fairly popular. I don't love seeing competitors here, and while I wanted the algorithm to make those associations all on its own, I'm pretty certain TWC helps it by mentioning them in the list. It looks like TWC is experimenting and changing things often, so this keyword list may not be exactly what's there now but should be close, and having looked at it for quite a while, it's pretty good and fits with the name and subtitle. National,forecast,alert,noaa,doppler,snow,rain,wind,dark,sky,bug,tracker,temperature,meteorology We believe it looks something like the following: The list isn't public, but we can attempt to uncover it by looking at all other keywords the app is ranked in. ![]() Now, let's reverse-engineer the keyword list. When choosing and prioritizing keywords, make sure you look at hard data from the store instead of trusting your gut.The first is the most important, the last is least. The order of keywords in your name is important.It's okay to break away from the common wisdom if you know what you're doing (or are experimenting, so you can know what you're doing later).TWC's focus on weather is telling Apple that's what it's all about and that there no other result it should show first. Where The Weather Channel ranks for the keywords it's targeting directlyĪnd the results are pretty much in-line with the list above. I don't get to say this too often, but this is a great example of a set of keywords that's backed by real data. The rest of the keywords from the subtitle combine well with the main keyword and are the most popular in this niche, based on my research. But they also have it as part of their brand, so they chose to "sacrifice" the characters needed to have both, knowing the second will be ignored so they can have the first word be "Weather" and not have to mess with their brand. To squeeze as much as they can, the folks at The Weather Channel know that they need the most important keyword to be the first. The weather category is very competitive, and in addition to third parties, apps are also fighting Apple's own, which ranks just like the rest. I thought it was a mistake too in the beginning, but it's actually a strategy and a clever one! The duplication that isn't - You probably noticed the name repeats the word "Weather" twice and thought it was a mistake or just poor optimization, but really, it isn't. Strictly based on these, here are the popular keywords the algorithm sees: Those two send the strongest signal to Apple's algorithm. Let's unpack that, starting with the app's name and subtitle. And if you have any questions, let us know in the comment section below. Moreover, if you are looking for websites to download royalty-free photos, head over to our linked article for an exhaustive list. However, you can discover new music and genres, along with indie artists, to broaden your horizon on different genres using these free music download sites. With streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music becoming so popular, there are very few websites that host mainstream and popular artists and let you download their music offline for free. Find the music you want Easily find albums, live performances &. So these are our 12 picks for the best free sites that let you download music legally in 2023. A music app from YouTube This is a new music service with a completely reimagined app and desktop product. Many curated and featured collections available Many curated and featured collections are available You should create a profile first, click Become a fan of the artist you like, and boom you can start downloading their songs, it’s just that easy. There are all genres of music from thousands of budding artists and it’s so easy to download them too. If you’re tired of mainstream music and are on a treasure hunt to discover indie gems, ReverbNation has got your back! This website acts as a pillar for all the upcoming artists to share their music and we can enjoy them free of cost. You can download royalty-free music and background tracks for your Instagram reels, YouTube Shorts, and other short videos. Apart from that, it also provides royalty-free music for commercial use, again for free. YouTube Music Premium allows you to download content and listen to it from. For Android users we also an MP3 downloader application. YouTube Music is YouTubes counter to other popular ad-free streaming. ![]() We have developed an extension for desktop browsers that allows to save MP3 from Youtube. Youtube music downloader works with any browser on PC or mobile devices. ![]() You need to create a free Jamendo account to download the music which is a fair ask, I would say. Youtube audio downloader by SaveFrom helps you to easily save Youtube music for free. ![]() It’s a hub for new and independent artists, where you can stream songs and download MP3 tracks entirely for free. Jamendo surely ranks among the best free sites to download songs legally in 2023. Apart from SoundCloud, you will find many mainstream bands and artists over here.įree music download for popular bands and artists The tricky steps aside, this is awesome, right? So go ahead and download free music from cool new indie artists on Bandcamp legally. Finally, click on “OK” and the song will then be downloaded to your computer for free. Now, simply click on “ download to your computer” and enter a valid email address. Not surprisingly, the popularity of CryptoKitties only lasted for a short period, too. Possible reasons include that current blockchain platforms restrict developers from implementing complex game functions, current developers are paying insufficient attention to the players’ gaming experience, and lack a competitive market in the blockchain game industry. claimed that most of the current blockchain games lack playability. Once released, CryptoKitties soon gained massive popularity that its transactions accounted for more than 10% of the entire Ethereum traffic in early December 2017. The attributes and transactions of kitties are recorded in the Ethereum blockchain. Players can own, trade, and create virtual kitties, represented by non-fungible tokens meeting the ERC-721 token standard in the game. Ĭryptokitties is a blockchain game released on Ethereum in late November 2017. As a result, current designs of blockchain games mainly revolve around the generation, ownership, and trading of virtual assets. These advantages particularly suit games with in-game payment and chance mechanisms, e.g., gambling, which often suffered from trust issues in traditional online environment. Developers can use smart contracts to create various decentralized applications, especially games.īlockchain games are considered to have unique advantages over traditional online games in that their gaming data and logic are transparently stored and executed on blockchains. Ethereum, also known as the blockchain 2.0 platform, further adds supports for smart contracts, which are programs that can be stored and executed on the blockchain system. ![]() ![]() Based on these observations, we advise on the further blockchain game design: (1) to finely control the production of props and avoid an oversupply, (2) to balance the gaming cost and revenue and protect the enjoyment of players, (3) to narrow down the gap between rich and poor and create an equal gaming community, (4) to consider the limitations of blockchain systems in their game designs.īlockchain, emerged as the underlying supporting technology for Bitcoin, is a distributed ledger system providing non-tampering and traceability functionalities. Through further analysis, we find that the main reason for the rapid increase in the game popularity was the increase of public attention by media outlets, while the reasons for the rapid decline in the game popularity include the oversupply of kitties, the decreasing of player income, a widening gap between the rich and poor players, and the limitations of blockchain systems. Since then, a few big players have gradually dominated the game, concentrating the game resources. We find that a large number of players poured in during the 10th and 18th days since the game release and quickly exited in the following month. We construct a temporal kitty ownership transfer network and analyze the varying network parameters in the four stages. Based on the numbers of addresses involved in the game each day, we divide the game progress into four stages: the primer, the rise, the fall, and the serenity. First, we extracted the five million transaction records among 100 thousand addresses involved in CryptoKitties in the past three years. This study analyzes its entire player activity history for the first time in literature and tries to find the reasons for the rise and fall of this first blockchain game mania. ![]() The game gained explosive growth upon its release but quickly collapsed in a short time. Players could own, breed, and trade kitties, which are the only prop in the game. 2Web Mining Laboratory, Department of Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, ChinaĬryptoKitties was the first widely recognized blockchain game.1School of Computer Science and Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, China. ![]() 3:10 to Yuma could have been a great movie if they would have cleaned up some of the plot holes and reined in the ending, but all in all, it was a nice time at the movies and it certainly offered up some lively discussion afterward. If you enjoy great acting and character development and the wider framework of what makes a man a hero and what forces drive a man to despair then this movie provides ample fuel for further discussion. If you love westerns as I do, then you owe it to yourself to support this western at the theater in hopes the box office receipts will encourage more westerns to be produced. She tends to get overly emotional when she buys into the story and she had no problem suspending belief and taking the ride they offered. ![]() My sister, on the other hand, loved the ending and was actually crying, but don't let the crying scare you off. ![]() I just didn't buy all the contrivances they threw at me and for me, that made the ending less than satisfying. Towards the end is when the stretches of believability most disturbed me and the movie lost some of its sheen. There were several instances where I wanted to yell at the screen and tell the good guys they were doomed because of their inept actions, but perhaps they just haven't seen as many westerns as I have and didn't realize these bad guys were truly vicious animals and no mercy would be offered. Ultimately the bad guys were more believable to me than the good guys. I think he held back just enough to make the character believable, in an intensely crazed, vicious old-west world. Many will think Ben goes overboard on the characterization, but it was difficult to not watch him as the crazy, vicious killer, Charlie Prince. Alan Tudyk has a nice turn as a quirky doctor and Ben Foster is mesmerizing as the big bad sidekick of Ben Wade. I kept thinking the character reminded me of Richard Widmark, but perhaps there was a touch of Henry in there too. Peter Fonda has a wonderful role as a grizzled old bounty hunter and even though I knew he was in the movie it took me forever to recognize him. There are lots of dead bodies littering up the landscape, but the blood and guts movie style of Peckinpah is thankfully missing and we are left with a character study wrapped up in an action, chase flick. 3:10 to Yuma is an interesting merging between the old-fashioned westerns of long ago and the new psychological metaphors of modern movie-making. The interaction between these two fine actors and how their characters end up on the continuum between good and evil is the focus of the movie. As a man trying to provide for his family and gain the respect of his older son, he gives a captivating performance as an average man struggling to do what is right while faced with overwhelming obstacles. Slowly the layers and truths of Dan are revealed until he is laid bare, with all his regrets and failings threatening to define him. Christian Bale turns in another intricate portrayal as the rancher, Dan Evans. There is a hint of gentleness and sensitivity and even though you suspect childhood damage might have produced a man capable of such evil, you never doubt the viciousness this character is capable of. There are indications from the start that Ben isn't your standard villain, and Russell does a great job at showing the shadings in this character while maintaining the threatening nature of Ben Wade. Russell is the perfect actor to play Ben Wade bringing a depth and humanity to a character who is established early on as a dangerous, ruthless outlaw. He gives a sensitive, nuanced performance and holds his own against some powerhouse acting from Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. Being a fan of the TV series Jack and Bobby, it was great seeing Logan again and enjoying his work. It is a story of youth with a riveting performance by a young Logan Lerman as a rancher's son who doubts his father's worth and struggles to come to terms with his expectations of what makes a man great and who he will idolize. When faced with extraordinary circumstances how far will a man go to do the right thing and what price separates good and evil. As most westerns ultimately are, this was a movie about the measure of a man. If you are willing to suspend belief and enjoy the ride, it is a very satisfying movie filled with action, suspense and terrific acting showcasing the intricacies of complicated men. I just didn't love it because of a few too many plot holes and inconsistencies. Being a fan of westerns from a young age, I really wanted to like this movie and I did. She enters as one does who can no longer bear to be barred from the sight of her beloved, but she is also very frightened because her slave sense has warned her that, as always, trouble in this house. Most moving is Stacy Keach as John Proctor, who fights to salvage some good from the trials that destroy Salem. Parris brought her with him from Barbados, where he spent some years as a merchant before entering the ministry. The young girls playing at witchcraft shriek in irregular counterpoint to the quiet, terrifying judgments rendered by Reverend Harris (Michael York), and doubt is ever more audible in the voice of Reverend Hale (Richard Dreyfuss). The star-studded cast ratchets the tension to a disturbing level as the town disintegrates. In a searing portrait of a community engulfed by panic - withВ ruthless prosecutors, and neighbors eager to testify against neighbor - The Crucible famously mirrors the anti-Communist hysteria that held the United States in its grip in the 1950’s.Īudiofile Magazine review: "At once an allegory of the 1950s' anti-communist witch hunts and a spotlight on seventeenth-century witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, this play shows how ignorance and good intentions can interweave to destroy lives. HERRICK, taking out a Wask: Get along with you now, clear. T I TUBA : That dont look to me like His Majesty look to me like the marshal. In the rigid theocracy of Salem, Massachusetts, rumors that women are practicing witchcraft galvanize the town. SARAH GOOD, rising in her rags: Oh, Majesty Comin, comin Tituba, hes here, His Majestys come HERRICK: Go to the north cell. Arthur Millers The Crucible might be set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, but the playwright created his work to comment on the Cold War culture of America in the 1950s. ![]() ![]() Richard Dreyfuss and Stacy Keach stars in Arthur Miller’s classic The Crucible, a central work in the canon of American drama that remains required reading in most high school and college English courses. ![]() ![]() The very high level runes and runewords are, I think pretty much out of reach. ![]() Worth a try in no twink if you want Lionheart or Wealth Doing 2500 runs for an Ist seems like a horrible thing to put yourself through but you should get medium level runes like Lum Ko or Lem if you're lucky and persistent. Hell Countess runs are basically Nightmare Countess runs with an occasional higher level rune thrown in. People doing jewelry crafts or making Honour, King's Grace or Black should take note A good way to stock up on Sols Shaels and Amns. Nightmare Countess runs: well if you do a couple of hundred you should get an Io and multiples of each more common rune. If you want to make Malice, Steel, Stealth or Leaf early on in no twink, run the Countess in Act 1 Normal Normal Countess runs are actually a decent source of low level runes. OK, so what does all that mean for players in practical terms? (At least that's what I think it all means ) ) Above Runes 1 there is also an increasing possibility of generating a drop from a lower Runes treasure class For instance Runes 1 is a drop of El (60%) or Eld (40%). The Runes treasure classes basically each have 2 runes in. This is for each item and she can drop multiple itemsĬountess Item generates fairly typical items for a SuperuniqueĬountess Rune =3 picks, treasure class Runes 4, NoDrop=5Ĭountess Rune (N) =3 picks, treasure class Runes 8, NoDrop=5Ĭountess Rune (H) =3 picks, treasure class Runes 12, NoDrop=5 Looking at the Countess drops in the treasureclassex.txt file we have:Ĭountess: Countess Item 50% / Countess Rune 50%Ĭountess (N): Countess Item (N) 50%/ Countess Rune (N) 50%Ĭountess (H): Countess Item (H) 50%/ Countess Rune (H) 50% (Also posted at the AB, apologies for posting the same thing in two places) ![]() In addition, loading your contacts from Outlook is better. You now have the option to quickly email the file to yourself. New! This update improves the sharing of a local file in File Explorer with Microsoft Outlook contacts. This feature gives you quick access to important account-related notifications. You can also add extra security steps to keep you from being locked out of your account. The account backs up all your data and helps you to manage your subscriptions. A Microsoft account is what connects Windows to your Microsoft apps. New! This update expands the roll out of notification badging for Microsoft accounts on the Start menu. It's not a perfect solution, but it takes the sting out of buying a game that you've been looking forward to that looks lousy on the shelf.This update addresses security issues for your Windows operating system. It's all left up to the marketing people who may not even understand the games they're peddling that well to begin with. The problem with understanding them is that they won't be the ones reading this post or posts like it. The real target audience here is the one Levine describes. I get most of my games either as review code/copies or I purchase them as digital downloads with no box at all. Then again, I probably don't count anymore. On the other hand, can't we have both? Can't we have a cover that would draw eyeballs from the casual shopper and accurately represent the new game? Or at least do something clever like the hidden dragon in the cover of Dragon Age: Inquisition? I think a handful of people bought that game.įor me, personally, a game with a heap of demons on the cover and a dude with a big gun playing king of the hill on top would be way more likely to catch my attention. Does it matter what gamers on reddit and NeoGaf think, gamers tuned in to their favorite games with a hyper-awareness that most consumers will never possess? Or what game journalists think? Or what game journalists who are also just contributors think? The only thing that really matters about the DOOM box-art is whether it draws eyeballs and gets the "undecided voters" of gaming consumerism to pick up a copy at GameStop. The question then becomes how much it matters if we dislike the new DOOM box-art. The old adage "Don't judge a book by its cover" may be true, but its equally true that many people do-judging books, movies, games and bottles of wine by how appealing their packaging is. In other words, it doesn't matter how pretty or creative a game's cover-art is if nobody picks it up and buys it in the first place. ![]() ![]() And start to read about it, start to think about it.” Look at this girl, Elizabeth on the back. “I wanted the uninformed, the person who doesn’t read IGN… to pick up the box and say, okay, this looks kind of cool, let me turn it over. And I didn’t have a lot of money back then. I remember I picked it up… looked at it and I said, I have no idea what this game is. “Would I buy that game if I had 60 bucks and I bought three games a year… would I even pick up the box? I went back to the box for System Shock 1, which was obviously incredibly important - that game was incredibly influential on me, System Shock 2 was the first game I ever made. Trust me, I was heavily involved with the creation of those characters and I love them.” And I tried to step back and say, if I’m just some guy, some frat guy, I love games but don’t pay attention to them… if I saw the cover of that box, what would I think? And I would think, this is a game about a robot and a little girl. “I looked at the cover art for BioShock 1, which I was heavily involved with and love, I adored. Game director Ken Levine explained at the time that the generic cover was purely a financial decision, a decision to lure in gamers who didn't read gaming magazines and who bought on impulse rather than months of research and hype. But perhaps the most important is that of BioShock Infinite, which had a totally generic cover when it could have had these works of art instead. This is all reminiscent of lots and lots of other instances of disappointing video game covers. You can see those here, here, and my personal favorite here, though it's actually just a rip-off of this painting. Users on reddit have made their own versions of the box-art as well. Be sure to point that out and underline why it makes everything I say meaningless!) (**Waves at NeoGaf.** Just a contributor here folks. ![]() Strength increases the size of your inventory, and so does the Pack Rat O/S upgrade. You have a limited amount of space to carry stuff. These comprise most of the story and sometimes tell you things like door codes and hidden item locations, making them indispensable to your progress and enjoyment of the game.ģ. For example: those who specialize in weapons should also be good at maintenance, since weapons degrade over time.Ģ. Specialize in one or two areas, and invest in a few minor skills that complement your specialties. ![]() There aren't enough cyber-modules for you to do that. If you try to be good at everything, you won't get access to the best equipment, the best weapons, etc. A good rule of thumb is, "Melee when possible, ranged when necessary."ġ. Melee weapons are good most of the time, but it's inadvisable to use them against certain enemies. The rarest weapons take up to six levels in their respective classes (e.g, Standard, Heavy, Energy and Exotic) plus other stat requirements. For example, the pistol takes one level in Standard Weapons, and the shotgun takes three. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THESE SKILLS.īe aware that most weapons have prerequisites for use. You need only invest one level in research, but if you don't have at least three levels in hacking (or if you don't have any ICE-breakers), there will come a point when the game becomes unwinnable. While most skills are optional, research and hacking are eventually required to beat the game. Throughout the game, you receive cybernetic modules that allow you to upgrade stats and skills. There isn't enough time to be good at everything. Even though it's possible to be a Marine with psionics, the key to not getting screwed is to pick a style and commit to it. Do you prefer unconventional tactics? O.S.A. Do you want to be a tech specialist? Then go Navy. Do you want to specialize in fighting? Be a Marine. do keep playing, it's a fantastic game.Īt the beginning of System Shock 2, you select a character class: Marine, Navy or O.S.A (these roughly correspond to Fighter, Thief and Mage in other games). My hope is for newcomers use this information to find secrets on their own.Īddendum, 2020: NO PLANS TO UPDATE THIS GUIDE EVER AGAIN, HOWEVER. ![]() (Sadly, now defunct.) Also, this is not an exhaustive list of secrets. This is not intended to be a walkthrough for completing the game. In The Beginner's Guide to System Shock 2, we'll cover a few gameplay basics and strategies for success. This guide is written in hopes that first-timers will make it to the second time. After the first playthrough, this sinks in, and players enjoy things more the second time around. Every choice, each pull of the trigger has long-lasting consequences. Each skill you upgrade means other skills won't be upgraded. Each bullet you shoot is a bullet you could have saved. Equipment is scarce, and the game never gives you more than you need. Much of the difficulty comes from resource scarcity. It was difficult, even for its time, so is there any wonder it goes tried and unfinished? It's not a game you simply pick up and play. This is unfortunate, though understandable. System Shock 2 is an old PC game that lacks the streamlined simplicity of modern game design, and many who start don't finish. ![]() It also requires a water source if you plan on hunkering down there for a significant amount of time. No, a long-term survival shelter needs a sewage drainage system or other emergency toilet system. How would you like to piss and crap in a bucket and just let it stink up the small space? Interestingly, I rarely see a TOILET in any old fallout shelter photos. Those fallout shelter designs are also difficult to conceal and not very comfortable. This also means that it will prevent airflow. They won’t work for long-term sheltering.įor example, a fallout shelter will be sealed off to prevent nuclear fallout from entering. Unfortunately, most online survival shelter designs are meant for nuclear fallout. You need a survival shelter that is capable of hiding you from society! So, you don’t need a shelter designed solely to survive nuclear fallout. Yes, nuclear war may still be a risk – but the most likely disasters are Electromagnetic Pulse, economic collapse, terrorist attacks, and the chaos that ensues. Our disaster prep needs are much different today than during the height of the Cold War. They’ll assume you are prepping for a nuclear war. So, no wonder people will think you are crazy if you say you are building a bunker. When people hear “survival shelter” or “underground survival bunker,” it is usually a fallout shelter from the 1950s that comes to mind. The best way to prepare for disaster situations is to keep your supplies secure in your own underground survival bunker. In a significant SHTF disaster scenario, these stockpiles aren’t going to help much: as soon as someone realizes that you have supplies, they will come and take them! Yes, having a stockpile of food, water, candles, first aid supplies, etc., is vital to get through a short-term disaster like a hurricane or earthquake.īut let’s be realistic. Many people are waking up to how vulnerable we are to disasters and starting to stockpile survival supplies. |
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