Peter Brook revisits Mahabharata

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Hugh MacLeod’s Illustrated Guide to Life at Microsoft

For the last wee while, Gapingvoid has been working with Microsoft, to create a body of work that expresses the company vision under its new CEO, Satya Nadella.

The Microsoft Stories cartoon series “Hugh MacLeod’s Illustrated Guide to Life at Microsoft” launched today during OneWeek 2015!

---

The team and I have traveled to Seattle for Microsoft OneWeek. I will be giving two talks: one on Creativity, as an update to “Ignore Everybody“, and another on Company Culture as the key to being happy at work. We’ll be premiering the new work there. Windows 10 is also being released to the public during OneWeek, so it’s a pretty big event.

This project was really interesting because it isn’t promoting Microsoft by writing pre-set promo messages in cartoon form. The idea was about seeing the company, from an artist/outsider’s perspective, and trying to get an understanding of its essence and how it has changed.

And I see it, of course, in terms of Culture. I see it in terms of the personal motivations that drive the company.

Sure, Microsoft sells software. Sure, Microsoft is big. Sure, Microsoft is good at some things, less good at other things. We all know all this.

That’s not what interests me the most. Why not? Because all big companies like Microsoft make software and are good at some things and less good at others.

What’s more interesting to me are all the “Freaks” who work there. The world-class scientists, engineers, futurists, and yes, marketers who don’t think about what they can sell today, but what can be theoretically possible in 10, 20, 30 years. And then aim for that.

Trust me, it’s freaky stuff. I’ve seen some of it, up close. But it does create the eventual future, and the rest of us lesser mortals fall in line eventually.

I embodied this idea in my favorite cartoons in the series: “The freakier we get, the better we get.”

I see this “Freak Culture” as what makes Microsoft such  an interesting and powerful company. The products are just an extension of that, not the other way around.

And yes, this is why we at Gapingvoid focus so much on Culture Change.This stuff matters, this stuff is interesting, this stuff is is what REALLY drives business. And the companies that remember that and take it seriously, will be the winners. End of story.

Thanks to Microsoft for a killer opportunity to help make a difference. We could not be more pleased or excited.

Rock on!

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Miley Cyrus to host Video Music Awards

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Councils 'may lose wind farm cash'

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Yahoo to Spinoff Alibaba Shares into Aabaco Holdings

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Coffee Bourbon Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Coffee. Bourbon. Chocolate chips.

Three favorite food groups in ice cream form. Yes!

If you’ve ever made homemade coffee ice cream, you know why we get so excited about it. It’s like an ice cream latte—smooth, rich, creamy—but you get to pick the coffee. In my case, I use decaf beans because otherwise I’m bouncing off the walls for days.

Continue reading "Coffee Bourbon Chocolate Chip Ice Cream" »

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CSE HTML Validator is a fast and powerful tool that checks HTML, CSS, SEO, PHP, XHTML, JavaScript, accessibility, links, and more.

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Your website visitors shouldn’t leave the site because they run into broken links or other problems caused by poorly written HTML and CSS. CSE HTML Validator will also advice you on proprietary attributes and tags. The program also includes an integrated HTML/text editor and an integrated web browser.

NASA’s New Horizons probe finds Pluto is bigger than predicted

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The Best Teams Have These Five Things - Does Yours?

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Exhausted Mother Epidemic as School Year Ends

A mother of three is being treated for exhaustion as the school year ends.
Our Daily Fail undercover reporter (posing as a stressed father with Man Flu) managed to obtain a copy of the hospital admissions form containing Mrs Prabulous's own reasons for seeking help. It makes for sorry reading. Amongst her sins were:

- failing to RSVP to birthday party invites

- telling her five year-old there were no more spaces at an after-school activity because she "couldn't bear to spend one more minute in the blooming car to get there"

- not checking homework folders since May (April)

- hardly ever remembering '"that damned library book".

Even worse, the pint-sized British Asian mother who now lives in Malta
admitted that her biggest crime of the school year was feeling actual relief when her eldest went down with a suspected case of chicken pox forcing the whole family to miss a school event. She confessed:

"I nearly did a jig in the middle of the lounge upon realising that I was off the hook having to make entire trays of tandoori chicken for the British table at the biggest event of the school year. Wrong. Attitude."

A senior consultant who specialises in treating Syndrome of The Underachieving Chronically Knackered Yelling Mother (SUCKY Mother) confirmed that this is not an isolated case and that the clinic has seen a sharp rise in this sort of case over the last few weeks. "It's not unusual for stressed out mothers to be admitted complaining of lunch box boredom, school project frustration, PTA exhaustion and utter dread over 'that stupid new maths long division method'. However, if I'm honest, this is the most severe case we've treated so far."

Our reporter discovered that Mrs Prabulous is not just suffering from run of the mill fatigue. Upon closer analysis, doctors noticed serious symptoms of general disorganisation and apathy. When interviewed upon her arrival, she revealed she:

- has considered giving her kids a packet of crackers and a jar of nutella between them and "just letting them fight it out in the playground" as she was tired of coming up with lunches that all three would finish.

- was the last parent to pay for end of year teachers' gifts

- resorted to using her five year-old's Hello Kitty markers to write the children's names on clothing as she never got round to ordering name labels. Ever.

- got term dates wrong once, causing her kids to miss the first two days of school.

Parents at her children's school have been shocked by the developments. "We always knew she wasn't the most organised or involved of mothers but this is a shock," said one who did not wish to be named.

The Daily Fail's special investigations unit has learned that the clinic was full of mothers repeatedly asking "Is it wine o'frickinclock yet?", clutching crumpled unsigned class trip forms and muttering something about waiting for the bell to ring on the last day of term and collapsing at the finish line.

Since our undercover visit, doctors have identified the condition suffered by Mrs Prabulous.

It is called Sheer Relief.

It is often replaced by another disorder 48 hours later:

Omg-they're-home-for-two-months-itis.

To read more from Prabs Patel, visit www.absolutelyprabulous.com.
You can also follow her at Twitter.com/Abprabulous and on her Facebook Page

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Nintendo's CEO Satoru Iwata played by his own rules

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Review: Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 15

Introduction

These days, if you're in the market for a home-use laptop, you're more than likely to purchase a convertible laptop-tablet hybrid. However, business users have been given very few solid convertible options from which to choose. Lenovo, the pioneer of the convertible space, has sought to remedy that with its ThinkPad Yoga line.

The newest edition to the lineup, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 15 (starting at $929/£598/AU$1250), offers the sturdiness and performance of a mobile workstation with the flexibility and style of devices like the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro and the Microsoft Surface Pro 3.

However, because the ThinkPad 15 is bulkier and sturdier than its lighter and sexier counterparts, it's best compared to the HP Envy 15 x360, which features a similar convertible design, and the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina, which is the mack daddy of business class consumer laptops.

Design

What you'll immediately love about the ThinkPad Yoga 15 is that it is capable of shifting between Laptop, Stand, Tablet and Tent modes, while automatically switching your system settings and locking your keyboard when necessary.

This means your screen can flip 360-degrees from closed to Tablet mode, and your hardware keyboard will deactivate in Tablet mode so that you don't accidentally disrupt your navigation or content consumption.

Unfortunately, there aren't many use cases for a 5.1-pound (2.3kg) tablet. Although the laptop is thin, at just 0.8 inches (21mm) its bulk makes it somewhat clumsy when trying to flip the screen back and over. This isn't an issue if the notebook is sitting on a desk, but if you're standing, or using the laptop on your lap, you'll wish you had a smaller 11- or 13-inch device.

By comparison, the HP Envy 15 x360 weighs 5.3 pounds (2.4kg) and is 0.94-inch thick (about 24mm), while the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch with Retina weighs a much more manageable 4.49 pounds (2.04 kg), and is only 0.71 inches thick (1.8 cm). However, the MacBook doesn't have the convertibility of the Envy and the Yoga, so you'd be sacrificing flexibility for portability.

The two metal hinges connecting the display to the ThinkPad Yoga 15's base are incredibly sturdy. However, because the upper panel weighs so much, when you try to put the laptop in Tent or Display mode, the hinges give just a bit.

The laptop is built with a black magnesium-alloy frame and a plastic vent-heavy bottom plate. The top plate feels sturdy and is extremely resistant to scratches and dust. After more than a week of transporting the device from workspace to workspace, I didn't accumulate one speck or scratch.

The bottom of the laptop is less sturdy than the lid, but the plastic bottom does serve a purpose: after more than several hours of use, I didn't feel any heat emanating from the unit. The same could not be said about the aluminum bottom of the MacBook Pro.

The 15.6" Full HD (FHD) 10-point multitouch display is quite vibrant. Colors are bright and detailed, and the added width and height will ensure that you don't regret going with a smaller model. Although navigating a 15.6-inch touchscreen can be burdensome at times, the DragonTrail display was super-responsive and incredibly accurate.

The spill resistant keyboard sports Lenovo's signature AccuType curved keys, of which I'm not a fan. Nor am I too fond of the three buttons at the top of the clickpad, which – as I've noted in other reviews – just get in my way. As I experienced with the Lenovo Yoga ThinkPad 12, the clickpad is the perfect size, it's incredibly smooth and I found it to be accurate right out of the box.

The added number pad, which can't be found on smaller ThinkPad Yoga units, is a coup for business users who are forced to input heavy amounts of data throughout the day.

Specs and performance

In terms of specifications, the ThinkPad Yoga 15 is perfectly priced at $929. The fifth-generation Intel "Broadwell" chips can be upgraded to Core i7 for about $150 extra. I found the 2.20GHz in my device to be speedy enough to get me through a few days of work, and plenty of Netflix binging. However, the machine did sputter when I ran several benchmarks.

The 8GB of RAM and 150GB of storage on the review unit isn't going to wow anyone, but the device can be compromised a bit to reduce the RAM to 4GB in order to cram in 500GB of storage.

You've got all the ports you'll likely need to get you through a workday. The absence of an Ethernet port is annoying, but we're all just going to have to get with the times and accept that adapters and docking stations are the norm these days.

Here is the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 15.6 configuration given to TechRadar for review:

Spec sheet

• CPU: Intel Core i5-5300U (Dual-Core, 2.20GHz, 3.0MB cache, up to 2.9GHz with Turbo Boost)
• Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 5500
• RAM: 8GB
• Screen: 1920x1080
• Storage: 150GB SSD OPAL2
• Ports: 2 USB 3.0, 1 USB 2.0, HDMI, 4-in-1 card reader (MMC, SD, SDHC, SDXC)
• Connectivity: Intel Dual-Band Wireless – AC WLAN + Bluetooth 4.0
• Camera: HD 720p
• Weight: 5.07 pounds
• Size: 15.07" x 0.82" x 10.07"

Although the Yoga doesn't pack as much power as the MacBook's 2.2gHZ Intel Core i7 processor, it's got a much newer and better chipset than the Envy, which is still powered by Intel's previous generation Core i5 processor.

If you upgrade to the highest level ThinkPad Yoga 15 you will receive a processor that is on-par with the MacBook Pro, and you'll spend about $1,000 less than you will with Apple. However, the MacBook Pro has a much higher resolution screen that is much more suitable for graphic designers, videographers and photographers.

Benchmarks

• 3DMark: Cloud Gate: 5,676; Sky Diver: 37,115; Fire Strike: 1,448
• Cinebench CPU: 251 points; Graphics: 51 fps
• PC Mark 8 (Home Test): 2,357 points
• PCMark 8 Battery Life: 5 hours and 7 minutes

In our suite of benchmarks, the ThinkPad Yoga 15 proved itself worthy of any head-to-head comparison with the Envy 360 and the MacBook Pro. The ThinkPad Yoga demolished the Envy in the 3DMark graphics test, with a Fire Strike score of 1,448, compared to the Envy's 504 points.

In the PCMark 8 test, the ThinkPad finished with an impressive speed that merited 2,357 points, which is comparable to the Envy, which scored a slightly lower 2,322.

Battery life is where the ThinkPad gets to flex its muscle against the Envy. The latter only scored 3 hours and 53 minutes in the PCMark 8 battery test, whereas the Yoga 15 made it to 5 hours and 7 minutes. In real-life testing, the Yoga 15's battery lasted for 9 hours and 35 minutes of video playback with the screen brightness and the volume set to 50%.

Compared to the MacBook Pro, which scored a whopping 310 points, the Yoga scored a slightly lower 251 points in the CineBench CPU test, which measures the processor's performance across multiple programs and tasks. Unfortunately for the Yoga, the MacBook was able to stay powered for 12 hours and 4 minutes on a similar video test, a difference of almost three hours.

Verdict

You've got to credit Lenovo for attempting to provide business users with a flexible, hybrid laptop in a large format that doesn't sacrifice performance. However, the heft and size of the ThinkPad Yoga 15 begs an important question: is a 15-inch convertible something anyone really needs?

We liked

If you like large laptops and don't mind some extra weight, there's not much to dislike about the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 15. It features a stellar 9.5 hours of battery life. It's got a pretty FHD screen that's housed in a gorgeous and durable magnesium alloy chassis. It packs enough ports to get you any connection you might need. And its performance is on par with similar devices in this class.

We disliked

Unfortunately, a 5-pound laptop is essentially a portable desktop. You won't want to drag this device around, and if you do, you likely won't use it in Tent or Display mode because of how clunky it is. Given that it weighs so much, its performance should be more in line with much faster, much more powerful, and much more expensive mobile workstations. So, if money is no object, and you don't mind a heavy laptop, and you don't need convertibility, then you're better off getting a mobile workstation.

Final verdict

The Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 15 is a dynamite device that is capable of being many different things. It's a powerful laptop with a sturdy design that can be flexed into multiple different positions. It has a gorgeous screen, a solid trackpad and a healthy selection of ports. If you don't mind a few extra pounds, then this hybrid is ideal for the business user who seldom needs portability, but enjoys having the option.

PDF to JPG is used to convert PDF files to JPG, PNG, BMP, TIF, GIF, PCX and TGA images in batch mode.

PDF to JPG is used to convert PDF files to JPG, PNG, BMP, TIF, GIF, PCX and TGA images in batch mode. The program works without Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader and has a Command Line Interface (CLI), fast and accurate conversion ability, friendly GUI, small size. It retains the original appearance of PDF files in the output jpg/png/bmp and other image files.

Also, PDF to JPG supports Unicode PDF file name and content, converting the password-protected PDF files, setting output resolution and colors, and specifying page range to convert.

Please note: The software includes a 1 Year Upgrade license.

Enjoy a 50% discount price for the Single License (1 PC) and Personal License (3 PCs) with Lifetime Upgrades on the promotion day!

Zip Zester

This citrus zester tool has 4 different blades; two are included and the others are available separately (I have all 4).

I have virtually no rotator cuff in my right shoulder, which, along with severe arthritis, makes using a microplane for what I do almost impossible.

What I do is make my own liquor infusions using 190 proof alcohol. To make limoncello, for example, I need the zest and juice from a dozen lemons. That’s a lot of work even with a great tool like the Microplane zester. The Zip Zester makes this into a simple job (my 5-year-old granddaughter actually did this for me; she thought it was great fun. And, instead of small pieces as with the Microplane (which you can get from the Zip Zester if you wish), I get very thin strips that make for better extraction.

The tool works exactly as described, zesting with not even a trace of white pith, something that takes a little effort with the Microplane. At a list price of $100, it’s a lot pricier than the $15 Microplane. But, for me, the price was well worth it (and I got it at a 20% discount w/free shipping). Also, where it used to take me an hour or more to do a dozen lemons w/the Microplane, it was a matter of minutes with the Zip Zester.

It does seem like the predominant use for the tool is in commercial applications (restaurants, bars, catering etc.) where it has to pay off big time. But, I now find myself making at least twice the number of infusions I used to; everybody keeps coming back for more.

-- Kenneth Fink

Zip Zester Ultimate Kitchen Zester and Cocktail Garnisher
$100

Available from Amazon

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