ВСЯ СУТЬ CS:GO РАСПРОДАЖ STEAM | STEAM SUMMER SALE 2016
The days are getting warmer, which can only mean one thing: it"s time to stay indoors and play lots of cheap games on Steam. Valve"s digital PC game store just kicked off its annual summer sale, and it includes some great deals on both new and classic titles.
You can getthe fantastic reboot of Doom for 40 percent off, for instance, whilethe sprawling post-apocalyptic world of Fallout 4 is now half price. It"s also a great time to dig into some series you may have skipped, with some big franchise sales: you can get a bundle ofevery Deus Ex game for 75 percent off, orbetween 50 and 67 percent off Call of Duty games. You can also get plenty of indie games for just a few bucks;the brutalHotline Miami 2 is 75 percent off, while cult hit farming gameStardew Valley is 20 percent cheaper than usual.
The sales run until July 4th and there doesn"t appear to be any daily deals as in years past so you have plenty of time to dig for the best sales.
OKC Trades Serge Ibaka to Magic for Victor Oladipo
We evaluate Oklahoma City"s bold move, Chicago"s bold non-move with Jimmy Butler and another Celtics draft without any fireworks.
To atone for not delivering you a podcast after Game 7 of the NBA Finals (blame Mike for getting sick), we"ve returned strong to recap an odd 2016 NBA Draft. Among the topics discussed:
Why would the Thunder actually trade Serge Ibaka?
How good is Victor Oladipo? Are the Thunder overrating him?
Why would the Bulls even think about trading Jimmy Butler?
Should we really be surprised that the Celtics couldn"t complete a huge move?
Why Jaylen Brown is the most fascinating player in this draft.
We also discuss some of the other interesting picks of the first round, including Thon Maker to the Bucks and DeAndre Bembry to Atlanta.
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President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron.(Photo: Charles Dharapak, AP)
Though he opposed calls for a British withdrawal from the European Union, President Obama said Friday the United States respects the voters" decision for a "Brexit" and the referendum will have little effect on relations with either the United Kingdom or the EU.
"The special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom is enduring, and the United Kingdoms membership in NATO remains a vital cornerstone of U.S. foreign, security, and economic policy," Obama said in a written statement.
As the American president and other world leaders reacted to the British vote to leave the EU, finance ministries across the globe monitored falling financial markets and tried to ease the worries of investors.
In his statement, Obama also expressed continuing support forthe European Union, saying it "has done so much to promote stability, stimulate economic growth, and foster the spread of democratic values and ideals across the continent and beyond."
Both the U.K. and EU remain "indispensable partners of the United States," Obama said, "even as they begin negotiating their ongoing relationship to ensure continued stability, security, and prosperity for Europe, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the world."
During an Aprilvisit to the United Kingdom, Obama spoke out against the Brexit referendumand warned that it could affect economic relations with the U.S.
In a newspaper column and during a news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Obama said that the United States would be more interested in doing trade deals with a "big bloc" like the EU than a single nation like the United Kingdom.
The U.K. is going to be in the back of the queue" should Brexit come to pass, Obama said in April.
Cameron, who welcomed Obama"s opposition to leaving the EU, announced Friday he would resign in the wake of the referendum.
Brexit backers criticized Obama"s involvement in the British campaign.
Former London mayor Boris Johnson now a potential prime minister, post-Brexit said, "the Americans would never contemplate anything like the EU, for themselves or for their neighbors in their own hemisphere."
Vice President Biden, Treasury Secretary Jack Lewand a string of other government officials also lamented the Brexit votebut said they respected the voters" decision and pledged support for the British people in general.
"We will work closely with both London and Brussels and our international partners to ensure continued economic stability, security, and prosperity in Europe and beyond," Lew said.
The Group of Seven finance ministers issued a statement recognizing that "excessive volatility and disorderly movements in exchange rates can have adverse implications for economic and financial stability," and they are workingto minimize the impact of Brexit.
"We will continue to consult closely on market movements and financial stability, and cooperate as appropriate," the ministers said.
US gun control sit-in "publicity stunt" Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn - BBC News Image copyright Dan Kitwood Image caption The changes that are coming will have a big bearing on UK science
UK science will have to fight to make sure it is not an after-thought as Britain renegotiates its relationship with the EU, say research leaders.
The science establishment expressed its "disappointment" on Friday with the referendum"s outcome.
It had been in the "remain" camp.
The decision to leave the EU now means new structures will have to be put in place if the science sector is to continue to enjoy favourable access to the union"s programmes and funding.
Jo Johnson, the minister for universities and science - an "in" supporter - was one of the first to react.
He took to Twitter in the early hours to say: "Big decision. Let"s make it work."
Britain"s science sector has done increasingly well out of the EU in recent years, receiving 8.8bn in research funding in 2007-2013 versus the 5.4bn it paid in over the same period. And UK-based scientists have won about a fifth of all the grants, in terms of value, from the top-tier programmes run by the European Research Council.
This funding flow-back has been described as being akin to having another Research Council to go with the seven national bodies that presently distribute UK government monies.
To maintain access to the EU stream, Britain will likely now have to get itself some kind of "associated country" status, similar to the positions held by other non-EU countries such as Norway, Switzerland and Israel.
Associated countries pay a GDP membership fee to "join the club", after which, in principle, their scientists can bid for support in the same way as those from full EU member states.
But the exact arrangements will need to be worked out, and are going to depend on wider economic and political factors.
Switzerland, for example, only has "partial" associated status currently because it is not allowing Croatian citizens free access to its labour market.
And having free movement to work collaboratively is central to the way modern science is done.
National dimension
Scientists for Britain is the group of researchers that has most prominently lobbied for Brexit.
It has argued that the policies of "political union" - and the regulations that flow from Brussels - are not a prerequisite for the UK playing a full role in European scientific collaborations.
The UK can survive and thrive outside full union membership, it contends.
And on Friday, its spokesman Dr Lee Upcraft said he was confident a new settlement would be found to maintain UK involvement in EU programmes and by extension the country"s world-leading position in European and global science.
But he also urged the research establishment to hold government to account on national funding.
He echoed a recent complaint from Stephen Hawking, that "we"ve become reliant on EU funding. We get back a little more than we put in, and associated status will need to address this. But the other thing we need to do, and what UK academia needs to do, is get much better at lobbying government."
EU funding had masked a stagnation in national support, he told BBC News.
Research reorganisation
Dr Sarah Main from the pro-remain Campaign for Science and Engineering said there would inevitably be a big uncertainty factor going forward - which comes on top of sector changes already being pushed through parliament in the form of the Higher Education and Research bill (this will bring the seven Research Councils into a single body).
"In the run-up to the referendum, people talked a lot about associated status," she said. "To what extent the EU will make a clear path to enable the UK to obtain associated status and join science programmes back in the EU, I think will be driven by the politics.
"You have to remember that every associated country that people have quoted in the arguments up till now - none was previously a member of the EU that then exited. So, it won"t necessarily be straightforward, but it would be welcome because we do want to compete in EU competitive funding streams, and as far as possible influence EU regulations, markets and the conditions for doing science and the training of scientists."
Prof Venki Ramakrishnan, the president of the Royal Society, agreed with Dr Main that ministers must not lose sight of science as they renegotiate Britain"s relationship with the EU.
"In the upcoming negotiations, we must make sure that research, which is the bedrock of a sustainable economy, is not short-changed, and the government ensures that the overall funding level of science is maintained," he said in a statement.
Image copyright NASA/ESA Image caption The European Space Agency is a separate legal entity
Areas that should not be affected directly by the Brexit vote include the big intergovernmental research organisations.
The likes of the European Space agency; the European Southern Observatory, which operates major telescopes; and Cern, which runs the Large Hadron Collider - these are all separate legal entities to the EU.
However, EU money has increasingly been directed at some of their work. For example, Brussels is now the largest single contributor to Esa"s budget, using the agency to procure the Galileo satellite navigation system and the Copernicus/Sentinel Earth observation constellation of satellites.
Britain"s science-related companies working in these kinds of fields will want re-assurance that a renegotiated future does not turn into a competitive disadvantage.
Patrick Wood is the managing director of Surrey Satellite Technology Limited, which assembles the navigation payloads for every Galileo spacecraft.
He told BBC News on Friday: "We are days away from submitting the proposal for the next follow-on order, to complete the Galileo constellation, and we will continue to work hard with our supply chain to do this.
"I would look for our UK politicians to unite together to continue to support this flagship European project containing key UK technology, knowhow and to help protect jobs here in the UK."
Likewise, the chair of the House of Commons Science and Technology committee, Nicola Blackwood MP, wanted to highlight the care now needed to ensure the commercial science sector was properly supported.
"My committee"s recent report into EU regulation of the life sciences pointed out that this sector alone comprises almost 5,000 companies employing 200,000 people in the UK, generating an annual turnover of 60bn. The Science and Technology Committee will want, in the coming weeks and months, to look at the consequences of this vote for British science," she said.
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Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos
Thunder Trade Serge Ibaka! 2016 NBA Draft Thoughts 2K16 Park PS4
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) The Orlando Magic were looking to get a proven veteran and a rim protector this offseason and they came out with both in Thursday night"s NBA draft.
Orlando selected Gonzaga sophomore Domanta Sabonis with the 11th overall pick then immediately traded his rights to the Oklahoma City Thunder for veteran shot-blocker Serge Ibaka. The Magic announced the deal hours after Sabonis said during an ESPN interview that he was heading to OKC. Also in the proposed trade, the Thunder will receive guard Victor Oladipo and Ersan Ilyasova in addition to the rights to Sabonis.
Orlando general manager Rob Hennigan said he had been having exploratory talks with Oklahoma City for a while but that they took a serious turn Thursday afternoon.
"We"re excited about the versatility (Ibaka) brings, we"re excited about the experience he brings having played in a lot of big games, a lot of high-level playoff games, NBA Finals," said Hennigan. "His experience is obviously a plus, we feel like he fits with (Nikola Vucevic), we feel like he fits with Aaron Gordon. It just gives us a lot of versatile interchangeable parts."
The Magic also took UNLV 7-foot freshman center Stephen Zimmerman with the 41st pick and in the second round.
But the landing of Ibaka gives the Magic a proven shot blocker and a player who has experience going deep into the playoffs. Ibaka has been a key part of the Thunder teams that regularly qualify for the playoffs and played the Golden State Warriors to Game 7 in this season"s Western Conference finals.
He gives the Magic an inside presence they didn"t have last year and piece needed in new coach Frank Vogel"s system. Ibaka is not only a consistent top five shot blocker but he also made the NBA All-Defensive first team in 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14.
"The defense we played at Indiana that we hope to bring here to Orlando is predicated on having a guy like Serge Ibaka that can protect the rim and be that lead shot blocker," said Vogel, who joined the Magic last month after his contract with the Pacers was not renewed. "The way the NBA is going defensive versatility is huge."
Orlando is coming off a 35-47 season in which they missed the postseason for the fourth straight year. Hennigan has said the team was a proven veteran away from making the postseason. They"re hoping Ibaka who averaged 12.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.9 blocks last season can fill that void.
Also, the move seems to open up a logjam the Magic had on the wing where restricted free agent Evan Fournier and rookie Mario Hezonja are vying for time. Oladipo was the Magic"s No. 2 overall pick in 2013 but has been up and down during his first three seasons.
"Victor is a first-class human being and we are going to miss him," Hennigan said. "This was not an easy decision by any stretch of the imagination. We felt like it was necessary to make this move to help fortify our team and make the moves we felt we needed to."
A California jury has decided that Led Zeppelin did not lift "Stairway to Heaven"s" acoustic guitar riff from the band Spirit, whose instrumental composition "Taurus" bears similarity to the iconic rock song.
The plaintiffs argued that Zeppelin was familiar with Taurus"s work, having opened for them in December 1968. "Stairway" wasn"t released until 1971. But during testimony, the Associated Press reports, lead singer Robert Plant "cracked up the courtroom when [he] said he didn"t remember most people he had hung out with over the years."
The AP has more:
In trying to show the works were substantially similar, the trust had the tricky task of relying on sheet music because that"s what is filed with the U.S. Copyright Office.Jurors were not played the "Taurus" recording, which contains a section that sounds very similar to the instantly recognizable start of "Stairway." Instead, they were played guitar and piano renditions by musicians on both sides of the case. Not surprisingly, the plaintiff"s version on guitar sounded more like "Stairway" than the defense version on piano.Experts for both sides dissected both compositions, agreeing mainly that they shared a descending chord progression that dates back three centuries as a building block in lots of songs.
I wrote about that progression in April:
"Taurus" begins with 45 seconds of orchestral, almost cinematic music, dominated by foreboding strings and a brief appearance of jazz flute. Then begins 15 seconds of fingerpicked, classical guitar, with the bass notes descending chromatically (a half-step) from A to F (or A, G#, G, F#, F). The passage then repeats itself before the song moves to a different musical idea. It"s these 30 seconds that are the subject of the lawsuit, at least in terms of the technical composition of "Taurus" and "Stairway"."Stairway" includes the same chromatic descent. But a few bass notes do not a plagiarized song make. Although both tunes feature the same tone of spare, slowly paced guitar, Jimmy Page"s part builds in ways that the one in "Taurus" does not. The two guitars use the same chords, but they do not use the same composition.
The AP notes that guitarist Jimmy Page wanted to construct a song that would progress to a crescendo. It"s this evolution of "Stairway"in addition to "Stairway"s" riff being relatively more intricate and resolving to a different chord than the one in "Taurus"that makes the music distinct.
Copyright infringement has always been its own beat in the world of music journalism. Notably, the Spirit lawsuit was moved to the same court as the case involving Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams, and the estate of Marvin Gaye. The lines weren"t just blurred in that onethey were crossed, a jury decided.
Whenthe original Slayer Espresso machine debuted at the 2009 SCAA Event in Atlanta, Ga., it set a new standard for professional espresso craft by introducingthe technologyof adjustable flow rate, made possible by a proprietary needle valve of the companys own design.
In recent yearsthe Seattle, Wash.-based manufacturer has quietlybeen siting its crosshairs onmilk craft, and the resulting innovations arerolling out this month in the form of the first entirely new machine in the Slayer line. The new machine, called the Slayer Steam, will make its public debut this weekat the SCAE World of Coffee event in Dublin, Ireland.
The Slayer Steamis designednot only to do for the craft and service of milk-based espresso drinks what their original machinedid for pure espresso, but to do it specifically in high-volume, fast-paced settings.While the Slayer Espresso is about as fully manual as a pump-dependent espresso machine can be, the Steam makesa variety of brewing and steaming settings available at the tap of a button or flick of an ergonomically convenient lever, with the goal of helping baristas hit their marks with accuracy and confidence, quickly and with a minimum of behind-the-bar stress while keeping customers cycling expediently through.
I have clients that use Slayer, whether its a single group or two-group on lets say a slow bar, and over there on the other side of the bar they have a Cyncra or they have an L.M., Slayer Espresso President Jason Prefontaine recently told Daily Coffee News. They have something else. Well, I want that other position on the bar.
The Slayer Steam will therefore be aggressively priced to compete with other volume-oriented semi-auto machines, while upping the game in terms of programability for consistency and speed not just by way of customizable volumetric groups and easy-accessdigitalcontrols, but through an unprecedented step forward in the steam department hence the name.
Each steam assembly on the Slayer Steam offers two programmable flow ratesettings, which is a functionality not unlike the user-configurable flow-rate steps on the paddle-actuated groups of the Slayer Espresso. Yet in the context of steaming milk, the application is quite different.
Whereas on a Slayer Espresso, a barista slides the actuator to alter the flow rate of brew water during the extraction for flow profiling purposes, the four totaluser-configurable steps of steam pressure split among the two wands of the Slayer Steam arent so much for shifting on the fly as they are for the quick, targeted achievement of ideal, predictable power in a high-volume environment, where every fraction of a second is valuable in the provision of efficient service.
Rather than having to devote a moment of focus to twisting a k**b or adjusting a lever to open an analog valve to just the right point in just the right amount of time for a certain volume of a certain type of milk for a certain drink texture, baristas will have a go-to position on a designated wand that nails it every time.
Beyond this usability upgrade, the steam itself is also of higher quality, which is another of the Slayer Steams marque breakthroughs. Hotter, drier steam is producedby way of what the company is calling its Vaporizer technology a small super-heater of sorts, through which the regular saturated steam from the steam boiler is additionally flash-heated before it reaches the wand. The Vaporizer evaporates residual moisture out of the steam before it exits the machine, resulting in a drier, more precise steam that introduces less water into the milk.
Prefontaine estimated that on average, the volume of liquid in a steam pitcher increases by about 10-15 percent with additional water in the course of a typical beverage steaming. Drier steam, coupled with the power to fine-tune the temperature of that steam through anaccessibly positionedBarista Dashboard digital interface, not only yields a creamier, purer milk, but a finer, more velvety and consistent texture, improved mouthfeel, amplified sweetness and greater definition in surface art designs, according to the company.
It is undeniably better quality in the milk, Slayer Brand Development Coordinator Sarah Dooley told Daily Coffee News. Dooley said that with drier, hotter steam increasing the temperature of the milk without watering it down, the machine delves beyond traditional drink-making and into the culinary sphere.Weve managed to find the temperatures that accentuate sweetness, and were talking about temperatures that are very common in the candy world.
Dooley also noted milk-fat development given the approximately 400 different lipids in the liquid that melt and solidify at different temperatures.We have really interesting and beautiful aromatics at some temperatures, and at other temperatures theres accentuated sweetness, she said. Were hitting a sweetness point that no one has ever hit in milk, because we couldnt go hot enough. If you do a little bit of candy research, those temperatures from softball to hardball are from 250 to 350 degrees, so were dabbling in this arena where we can really develop that sugar.
The Slayer Steam represents an aesthetic departure as well, stepping away from the iconic squatting X profile of the Slayer Espresso and into another strong yet streamlined form all its own. People today like things that are new and fresh, Prefontaine said of the Steams angular case and sleekly contoured supports. This is a new, fresh design that also has some unique features to enable them to make the most killer milk-based drinks possible.
Prefontaine said that the first Steam machines, available in either a two- or three-group configuration, are slated to ship in late September or early October. There will be no steam-related conversion kit for installation in older Slayer Espresso machines, nor is there currently a plan for a single group Steam, although the future is unwritten.
Anything is possible. Of course weve had those conversations, Prefontaine said of the single-group notion. But after a year and a half of nose-to-the-grindstone work and having this thing percolating in my brain for three years, we just really want to get the two- and the three- into production.
Howard Bryman
Howard Bryman is the associate editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. He is based in Portland, Oregon.
Tags: espresso machines, Jason Prefontaine, milk, Sarah Dooley, Slayer, Slayer Steam, steam, World of Coffee, World of Coffee 2016
