Is This Soulcalibur V's First In-Game Screenshot?

Since being announced earlier this month, we haven't learned much more about Soulcalibur V. A few details were revealed along with a trailer and some character art but there is still little known about the game.

Teasing an upcoming cover story in EGM, the latest issue of EGMi has what looks to be the very first screenshot of the game. It shows a good look at what looks like Pyrrha, who is a new playable character, and the back of a grey-haired character.

Soulcalibur V is still fairly far off -- it's not planned for release until 2012 -- but do let us know what you think of its look in the comments and get ready to learn more about the game in the coming weeks.

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Fan created Half-Life trailer's animation is out of this world

A six-week labor of love, this fan-made trailer for the original Half-Life is a thing of beauty. If the first-person animation work doesn't impress you, then we're pretty sure you've got a crab where your head used to be.

Continue reading Fan created Half-Life trailer's animation is out of this world

Fan created Half-Life trailer's animation is out of this world originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Blog Post: June 2011 - Technical Rollup Mail - SQL

News

 

Got Servers? Cisco Does ! Oh by the way they’ll rock your SQL Server configuration too

http://blogs.technet.com/b/dataplatforminsider/archive/2011/05/19/got-servers-cisco-does-oh-by-the-way-they-ll-rock-your-sql-server-2008-r2-configuration-too.aspx

 

Microsoft Introduces the Cloud-Ready Information Platform

http://blogs.technet.com/b/dataplatforminsider/archive/2011/05/16/microsoft-introduces-the-cloud-ready-information-platform.aspx

 

Visualise This: Take our PowerPivot Quiz and win an Xbox 360

http://blogs.technet.com/b/dataplatforminsider/archive/2011/05/05/visualize-this-take-our-powerpivot-quiz-and-win-an-xbox-360.aspx

 

SQL Server 2008 R2 Offers Enhancements, New Management Capabilities

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Infrastructure/SQL-Server-2008-R2-Offers-Enhancements-New-Management-Capabilities-518969/

 

Seven Reasons To Care About SQL Server 2008 R2

http://www.infoworld.com/d/data-management/seven-reasons-care-about-sql-server-2008-r2-631

 

 

 

Other

http://blogs.technet.com/trm/default.aspx

 

 

 

Events/Webcasts

PASS DW/BI VC Presents: Creating Dynamic Calculations Using DAX Formulas in PowerPivot

https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/usergroups/join?id=SZSB5Q&role=attend&pw=BdD%5B_7.%2CG

 

 

 

Documents

 

Essential Guide to SQL Server 2008 R2 for the DBA (Free e-book)

http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/A/0/0A0E54E6-262F-4D2F-A7B0-2EFFD37F85F8/SQL%20Server%20Essential%20Guide%20FINAL.pdf

 

 

New KB Articles

 

SQL 2008

 

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard

FIX: A backup operation on a SQL Server 2008 database fails if you enable change tracking on this database

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978839

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David Abrams' Favorite Stock Picks

Insider Monkey submits:

David C. Abrams is the founder of Abrams Capital Management, LLC, which reported $1 billion total assets in its last 13F filing. Abrams graduated from University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. degree in History. Prior to forming Abrams Capital Management in 1999, Abrams worked at Seth Klarman?s Baupost Group for 10 years. In the nearly 12 years since Abrams started his fund he has achieved an annualized return of around 20 percent (net of fees).

Abrams likes concentrated bets on a few good picks. He had only eleven different positions in his 13F portfolio at the end of March. He believes great companies with great management. At Wharton Investment Management Club's Speaker Series Abrams stated that "Good jockeys will do well on good horses, but not on broken down nags."

In the first quarter of 2011, Abrams sold out 1 security and bought 3 new securities. During that quarter, Abrams

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L.A. Noire DLC and Rockstar Pass pre-order scheme revealed

Detective, thank goodness you're here! We've got a hot case that just came in and we're stumped. Here's what we've got so far:

Rockstar has revealed a steady slate of L.A. Noire DLC, coming until late July, that includes four new cases for Cole Phelps to bring his seething congeniality to. (Yep, the previously Best Buy-exclusive Nicholson Electroplating arson case is on the list.) You could buy all the content piecemeal for $20, or you could pre-purchase all of it for $10 with the newly announced Rockstar Pass. After June 14, the price of the pass will increase to $12.

In even better news, two of the cases -- The Naked City and A Slip of the Tongue -- are available today, assuming you have the 360 version. Sadly, trying to access the PS Store on the PS3 version still causes the game to crash, but hopefully the store will be working soon.

If this seemingly smart gambit works as planned, it would give players a reason to keep their copies off of the used game shelves until just before August -- after all, they've already paid for the DLC, right? -- so we'll be interested to see if it plays out that way.

... So, the boys in the lab have been going over it and they can't make heads or t-- whaddya mean it's all laid out there in its entirety, rendering your services pointless? What about a list of all the DLC with prices? ... Oh, right after the break? You don't say.

Continue reading L.A. Noire DLC and Rockstar Pass pre-order scheme revealed

L.A. Noire DLC and Rockstar Pass pre-order scheme revealed originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 31 May 2011 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel exec throws fuel on the "Intel to fab Apple chips" rumor fire

At an investor event in London, remarks by Intel CFO Stacy Smith gave a boost to the recent rumor that Intel may be in talks with Apple to fabricate the ARM-based chips that go into iPhones and iPads.

"If Apple or Sony came to us and said 'I want to do a product that involves your IA (Intel architecture) core and put some of my IP around it,' I wouldn't blink. That would be fantastic business for us," said Smith in a Q&A session with journalists.

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Blog Post: FSIA - Running CTS flows in Parallel

During the CTS flow development, some time there might be requirement to the CTS flows in parallel. This will help in developing the flows in for execution inner sub flows in parallel.

  

Thread operator is the vital component for running different set of flows in parallel. So CTS flow with parallel execution of flows can be built as shown above, please note that this is just one of the samples. So what you have in the flow is

1. Common starting point, in the above flow it is just a database reader, but in other flows it can be any other starting point like file reader, range generator or any other type of reader available out of the box for CTS components. After common starting point then you can branch the flow execution to as many number of flows that you want to execute in parallel.
2. Next in each branch if you want to start parallel flow execution with delay of sometime then you can use the timer operator, so that main thread of execution does not spins another thread for flow execution. For Each timer operator in each of the branch you can increase the delay time with equal intervals like 5 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 15 sec…….
3. In each branch then you can put the thread operator. The Thread operator inserts an extra thread in the evaluation at the point it is located. Use of the Thread operator leads to increased throughput of the flow on multi-core servers. The operator can be used to increase the performance for a chain of CPU-intensive operators and for flows with multiple branches.
4. Once the additional thread is spin off by the thread operator, then all the further execution for the CTS flows is responsible by the spin off thread, in this case we are using flow runner operator. So in this case additional spin off thread is responsible for the flow execution configured by the flow runner operator. Once the flow execution is completed by the flow runner operator which is been executed in thread context of additional thread which is spin off, flow execution returns to the main execution thread.
5. Please not that flow executing in parallel will execute on different content engine node as available in round robin fashion.

 

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PlayStation Store Returning by Week's End

Sony has announced it plans to fully restore the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services by the end of the week unless you reside in Japan, Hong Kong, or South Korea.

For those everywhere else in the world, that means the PlayStation Store will be back online for the first time since it went down along with PSN on April 20. PSN service resumed on May 14, and the Store was rumored to be coming back on May 24, which it did not. Sony maintained that it would have service resumed by the end of May, but it now looks as if it could miss that goal by several days.

"We have been conducting additional testing and further security verification of our commerce functions in order to bring the PlayStation Network completely back online so that our fans can again enjoy the first class entertainment experience they have come to love," said Kaz Hirai in a statement. "We appreciate the patience and support shown during this time."

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Think Tank Says DHS Should Stop Laptop Border Searches

We've definitely been concerned about Homeland Security and the US government's belief that it's okay to search laptops at the border without probable cause. We've discussed over and over again why the argument that it's the same as searching luggage simply doesn't make any sense. There are some key and important differences:

• You mostly store everything on your laptop. So, unlike a suitcase that you're bringing with you, it's the opposite. You might specifically choose what to exclude, but you don't really choose what to include.
• The reason you bring the contents on your laptop over the border is because you're bringing your laptop over the border. If you wanted the content of your laptop to go over the border you'd just send it using the internet. There are no "border guards" on the internet itself, so content flows mostly freely across international boundaries. Thus if anyone wants to get certain content into a country via the internet, they're not doing it by entering that country through border control.

It appears others are starting to recognize these issues as well. A think tank called The Constitution Project has put out a report saying that Homeland Security should stop these laptop searches. The full report (pdf) is an interesting read, and makes the case that these searches, unlike searches of luggage, go beyond what is Constitutionally sound:

Historically, the scope of what was covered by the border search exception was fairly limited, since the exception is confined to the items a traveler carries across the border. As a practical matter, most private documents, letters, photographs, and other personal effects would remain in an individual’s home, safeguarded by full Fourth Amendment protections and the warrant requirement. With today’s technology, however, people can and do travel with vast quantities of private, personal information stored on their laptops and other electronic devices. Unlike at any time in the past, individuals who travel internationally, by virtue of legitimately choosing to carry electronic devices, are unknowingly subjecting volumes of personal information to involuntary and suspicionless search and review by federal law enforcement authorities. This problem is compounded by the fact that many electronic devices are used to carry both personal and business-related information. The continual evolution in how people use electronic devices in their everyday lives creates growing tension between the Fourth Amendment guarantees and what historically has been viewed as a narrow exception to the requirements for probable cause and a warrant.

Unfortunately, we've seen such arguments made in court, and very few courts seem sympathetic to this argument. I find the argument compelling, but courts don't seem bothered by the massive stretching of the once-narrow exception thanks to the massive change in technology. In part, I believe, it's because they haven't really taken into account just what a massive conceptual change it is to have all of your personal records stored on your computer. If you don't think of what the technology allows, but just think of it as "a thing" then you can see why a court would be confused. But, that's why we get so concerned about technologically illiterate courts deciding things that pertain to technology.

Of course, it's unlikely that this report will make much of a difference. Homeland Security has made it clear that they are going to search laptops and they're not really much interested in the intention behind the Constitution.

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The Battle Between Bond Bulls and Bears: Best to Bet on Both

Kurt Brouwer submits:

This is a fascinating time for income investors because there are excellent bond fund managers who are bullish on bonds and think that interest rates are going to fall. There are others that are bearish because they believe rates are rising. Are the bulls right or are the bears correct? Keep reading for my rather surprising conclusion in the battle of the bond bulls and bears.

In this piece from The Wall Street Journal, we first hear from the bears [emphasis added]:

For more than a year, many have argued that bonds are in a bubble, or at least very expensive. Despite that, they have remained popular.

This has puzzled the bearish bond gurus. In March, Pacific Investment Management Co.?s Bill Gross, manager of the nation?s largest bond fund, decided that Treasurys had gotten too pricey. He made a noisy exit from the market, proclaiming that the government?s horrible balance

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The Witcher 2 patch removes DRM, improves framerate

A little over a week after its release, The Witcher 2 is getting its first patch, and with it all versions of the game will now be DRM free.

Though the game was initially slated to be DRM free from the beginning, when it was released the only version of The Witcher 2 without any form of copy protection was the one sold on Good Old Games. With version 1.1, however, it will be removed from every version of the game. The main reason for the decision to remove the DRM seems to be that the copy protection was causing performance issues for many users.

"Our approach to countering piracy is to incorporate superior value in the legal version," explained development director Adam Badowski. "This means it has to be superior in every respect: less troublesome to use and install, with full support, and with access to additional content and services. So, we felt keeping the DRM would mainly hurt our legitimate users. This is completely in line with what we said before the release of The Witcher 2. We felt DRM was necessary to prevent the game being pirated and leaked before release.

"This purpose has been served, so we are pleased to let our users enjoy the full freedom of game usage they deserve."

The patch also reportedly improves the game's framerate by up to 30 percent and it includes the first free DLC called "Troll Trouble." Though it was just released, developer CD Projekt has already run into issues with the patch on Steam, where it's a rather sizeable download, reportedly coming in at over 9GB for some users. This issue is expected to be fixed by Monday.

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Day 29: Five Things I Like Most About Google Docs

Over the course of the last month, I have discovered a variety of features and functions that make Google Docs a valuable productivity platform.

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A pterosaurs' crest is good for steering

Some research articles are a confusing compendium of calculations, obscurely labelled diagrams, and carefully hidden conclusions. Yes, the journal Bioinspiration & Biomimetics generally publishes articles that look exciting on the outside, but the soft chewy center is an acquired taste. Nevertheless, the combination of dinosaurs and planes had me take two aspirin in anticipation of the oncoming headache before I dove right in.

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Blog Post: An�ncio - Implementa��o de mecanismo anti-fraude para compra de ofertas do Windows Azure por novos clientes.

Boa tarde a todos !

No dia 18/05/2011, o time do Windows Azure da Corp implementou um mecanismo anti-fraude para novos clientes (aqueles que se cadastram a partir do dia 18/05/2011) das ofertas do Windows Azure. Este mecanismo � global, sendo assim quaisquer novos clientes que foram adquirir uma oferta (Trial Offer, Consumption e Aceleradores) do Windows Azure passar� por este novo mecanismo. Clientes que j� usam Windows Azure n�o sofrem nenhuma a��o.

Para esclarecer para todos, seguem abaixo o fluxo do funcionamento e um FAQ que montei explicando o motivo/suporte/Brasil. Se voc� teve ou tem algum problema na aquisi��o de alguma oferta do Windows Azure, por favor, deixe um coment�rio no meu blog que responderei. Ou se preferir abra um suporte pelo site http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/support/contact/  e deixe um coment�rio com o n�mero do suporte.

Link oficial: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazure/archive/2011/05/23/fraud-prevention-measure-for-new-windows-azure-platform-accounts.aspx

Processo

1 ? Cliente seleciona a oferta adequada para ele (v�lido para todas as ofertas: Trial Offer, Consumption e aceleradores).

2 ? Realiza a compra atrav�s do portal MOCP (Microsoft Customer Portal)

3 ? Ao final da compra, o MOCP direcionar� para o portal do Windows Azureo

4 ? Sendo um novo cliente, ele dever� preencher o campo telefone com um n�mero de celular (Padr�o: (xx) XXXX-XXXX)

5 ? Ao preencher o n�mero, o usu�rio recebe um SMS com o seguinte formato

?C�digo de verifica��o do Windows Live: XXX
Visite sms.live.com para concluir a verifica��o.?

6 ? Preencha o campo o ?C�digo de verifica��o? com o n�mero apresentado no SMS.

7 ? Clique no bot�o ?Concluir?.

Ap�s esta etapa, quaisquer compras realizadas pelo mesmo cliente n�o precisar� passar pelo mecanismo anti-fraude.

FAQ

Por que implementaram este mecanismo?

Resp: Pelo pr�prio nome diz, � um mecanismo de anti-fraude para evitar que rob�s ou a��es n�o humanas possam tentar influenciar um processo de aquisi��o de uma oferta do Windows Azure. Garantindo assim a autenticidade do comprador e por fim garantir a sa�de do sistema de billing do MOCP.

Quando entrou em vigor este mecanismo?

Resp: O mecanismo entrou em vigor no dia 18/05/2011, para algumas regi�es atrasou um pouco mais ou menos para que mecanismo funcionasse de fato.

Quais os clientes afetados por este mecanismo ?

Resp: Somente novos clientes de Windows Azure que compraram alguma oferta do Windows Azure ap�s o dia 18/05/2011.

O mecanismo tem algum problema no Brasil?

Resp: At� o momento n�o foi registrado nenhum problema de funcionamento no mercado brasileiro. Lembrando que quem adquirir uma assinatura do Windows Azure deve usar um endere�o local e um telefone celular com c�digo de �rea v�lido em territ�rio nacional. Em caso de algum problema, veja a resposta para a pergunta ?Se um cliente tem algum problema, onde devemos recorrer??

Os clientes que j� vem usando ou compraram antes do dia 18/05/2011 ser�o afetados?

Resp: N�o, o mecanismo s� funciona para novos clientes que se cadastraram em alguma das ofertas dispon�veis. Clientes que j� vem usando Windows Azure ou adquiriram antes do dia 18/05/2011 n�o ser�o afetados.

Este mecanismo anti-fraude afeta que est� usando o Windows Azure Pass de 30 dias?

Resp: N�o. O mecanismo de anti-fraude funciona somente para um cliente que est� assinando uma oferta do Windows Azure (Trial Offer, Consumption e Aceleradores). O Windows Azure Pass de 30 dias n�o � uma oferta do Windows Azure, e sim um mecanismo de acelera��o para ado��o e convers�o de clientes para ofertas dispon�veis do Windows Azure.

Se um cliente tem algum problema, onde devemos recorrer?

Resp: Pe�a para o cliente abrir um suporte pelo site (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/support/contact/). Em m�dia o time de suporte de Windows Azure tem at� 2 dias �teis paa responder.

abs e T+
Cond�

vers�o 1.0

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The Case Against Arcadia - Is That the Best CFTC Can Do?

Craig Pirrong submits:

The CFTC made all the front pages by filing manipulation charges against Parnon Energy, Arcadia Petroleum LTD and Arcadia Energy (Suisse), all affiliates of the trading firm Arcadia (KAD).

Let me say at the outset that I am in favor of addressing manipulation by ex post actions like those filed by the CFTC, and have long made that argument. Let me also say that in 2002, Arcadia was accused of manipulation of Brent crude, and price patterns at the time were symptomatic of a corner, and per public reports, Arcadia?s trading was consistent with an attempt to corner. Thus, I have no objection to the type of action the CFTC has brought, and don?t put it beyond Arcadia or a company like Arcadia to engage in manipulative conduct. Indeed, I wish that the CFTC would rely more on ex post actions and less on things like position limits or ex

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Skype Suffers Outage: What You Need to Know

Skype users around the world are reporting that the service seems to be down, but there is a workaround to get connected with Skype again.

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