The Family Trade (The Merchant Princes #1) Review

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

\"TheThe Family Trade by Charles Stross
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Family Trade (The Merchant Princes #1) is a fantastic read from Charles Stross. It is a great blend of fantasy, and some science fiction/fantasy elements blended it.
The basic premise is that an investigative reporter in our world, finds her heritage of being able to transport to other parallel worlds. For example, an early 1800\’s colonial america…
It\’s a great change from Accelerando…. My only complaint is that the novel doesn\’t have a solid conclusion. It is an excellent start to the series, and I am already up to Book 3…
The scope of the series covers alternate history, economics, spy thriller, and drama… Maybe a small dose of romance as well.
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The Atrocity Archives (The Laundry #1) Book Review

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

\"TheThe Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

\"The

Charles Stross is definitely on my \”Read *mostly* everything from this author\” list, well, except for his short-stories…

I have power read through the entire Laundry collection (The Atrocity Archives, Jennifer Morgue, and the Fuller Memorandium), and have liked every one of them.

The Atrocity Archives introduces us to Bob, one of the IT staff, in the Laundry. Due to his manager, and other events, he is thrust into field work, and becomes one of the more reliable field agents…

The series combines humor, Lovecraftian horror, and a dash of super secret agent, to make an excellent series.

Now so far, I haven\’t been pleased with Charles Stross\’s short story collections. I have read his Laundry Short stories and thought they were excellent… So far, I can certainly recommend the Laundry Series, along with the Merchant Prince Series…

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Invisible Library Folders getting you frustrated?

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

Rumor has it, that Lion makes the User\’s library folder hidden. Which could make it annoying to power users that need access to the library folder.
One option, is to use the Go To Folder command, and type \”~/Library\”. That will open the library folder in a standard finder window.
Another option, is to \”unhide\” the Library. To do so, open terminal, and type:
chflags nohidden ~/Library
In addition, if you simply hold down the Option key \”Library\” appears in the \”Go\” menu of Finder.

100,000 choices now available on Apple\’s iPad App Store

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

There are now more than 100,000 applications available on the iPad App Store written specifically for the 9.7-inch display found on Apple\’s touchscreen tablet.
Apple crossed the six-figure milestone this week, a fact that was first noted by MacStories. The total applies to software written for the iPad, and does not include iPhone applications, which also work but do not take advantage of the larger screen size.
The 100,000 number was reached less than 16 months after the iPad first went on sale in April of 2010. Then, the iPad App Store opened with just 3,000 titles, and crossed the 10,000 milestone that June.
Read the rest of the article at … 100,000 choices now available on Apple\’s iPad App Store.

Torchwood: Miracle Day – Episodes & Summaries

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

  • The New World – 8th July 10:00pm - When death itself comes to a halt, the whole world faces its greatest danger yet. CIA agent Rex Matheson has only one clue – Torchwood.
  • Rendition – 15th July, 10:00pm - As the Torchwood team is reunited, Jack realizes he’s the most vulnerable man on Earth. A flight to the United States turns into a desperate battle for survival.
  • Dead of Night – 22nd July, 10:00pm - Torchwood goes on the run and finds a new enemy, but as they launch a raid on PhiCorp headquarters, Jack must confront the mysterious Oswald Danes.
  • Escape to L.A. – 29th July 2011 - The fight against PhiCorp takes the Torchwood team to California, where a trap is waiting. Meanwhile, Oswald and Jilly find themselves with an enemy of their own.
  • The Categories Of Life – 5th August, 10:00pm - Torchwood goes undercover and discovers the terrible truth behind the Miracle. The enemy is closing in, and death is about to make a shocking return.
  • The Middle Men – 12th August, 10:00pm - With Gwen, Rex and Esther trapped on both sides of the Atlantic, it’s a race against time as Jack goes straight to the heart of the conspiracy.
  • Immortal Sins – 19th August 2011, 10:00pm - Gwen must fight to protect her family and takes a terrifying journey, covering both miles and decades, as the long history of the Miracle is revealed.

The other episodes still to be placed are End Of The Road, The Gathering and The Blood Line.

The Doctor Who News Page: Doctor Who: episode titles update

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

The titles of the next few Doctor Who episodes…
This may contain spoilers…

  • Episode Eight: Let\’s Kill Hitler – This title was, of course, confirmed in the end credits of the mid-series finale, A Good Man Goes To War.
  • Episode Nine: Night Terrors – This episode was moved from the first half of the series, to the 2nd part.  The Original title was \”What Are Little Boys Made Of?\”.
  • Episode Ten: To Be Announced – There was very little location filming, and the \”Guest characters work is unusual\”.
  • Episode Eleven: The God Complex – Guest Star David Walliams
  • Episode Twelve : To be Announced
  • Episode Thirteen : To be Announced

Mac OS 10.6.8 shows slight speed increase for graphics

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

The newer graphics drivers in 10.6.8 not only eliminated any decline in speed from 10.6.5 through 10.6.7 but showed significantly improved OpenGL performance in Xbench and the game Halo for the ATI Radeon HD 5870 card. The Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics also showed higher OpenGL performance although the difference is less dramatic. While Xbench\’s User Interface Graphics test showed a remarkable improvement in the MacBook Pro, the results for each test run were so variable that the difference between averages, though large, is not significant.

See the benchmarks, and rest of the article here…  at Macs Only!