Weekend game deals: Steam's summer sale kicks off

Clear your calendar! Steam's infamous summer sale is officially underway, bringing a new batch of game sales every day through July 10. Alongside the individual bargains, there are more than a dozen developer bundles for up to 90% off, as well as up to 75% off publisher catalogs. Naturally, there are far too many games to list below, but we've included many of the noteworthy discounts from Steam as well as Impulse and all the other go-to digital dealers.

Steam
Total War: Shogun 2 $29.99 (40% off)
Valve Complete Pack $49.99 (77% off)
Left 4 Dead 2 $13.39 (33% off)
Portal 2 $33.49 (33% off)
Brink $37.49 (25% off)
Braid $2.49 (75% off)
Spacechem $5.09 (66% off)
GTA Classics $7.49 (75% off)
Devil May Cry 4 $9.99 (50% off)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic $2.49 (75% off)
Call of Duty: Black Ops $40.19 (33% off)
Just Cause 2 $4.99 (75% off)
Heroes of Might and Magic V Pack $4.99 (75% off)
Borderlands Game of the Year Edition $20.09 (33% off)
More...

Impulse
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands $4.99 (75% off)
Tropico 3 Gold Edition $9.99 (50% off)
Civilization IV Complete $9.99 (75% off)
50% off Men of War titles
50% off select Battlefield titles
50% off Mumbo Jumbo titles
More...

GamersGate
Civilization V $16.98 (66% off)
Dungeons $19.98 (50% off)
Hearts of Iron 3 $5.99 (70% off)
World War 2 Time of Wrath $14.95 (50% off)
66% off Painkiller titles
More...

Direct2Drive
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 $9.95 (50% off)
BioShock $7.95 (60% off)
BioShock 2 $7.95 (60% off)
The Witcher 2 $37.45 (25% off)
World in Conflict Gold Edition $9.95 (50% off)
More...

Games for Windows
Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition $4.99 (50% off)

Origin
Need for Speed: Undercover $9.99 (40% off)
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit $17.99 (40% off)
Mass Effect 2 $11.99 (40% off)
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 $11.99 (40% off)
Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam $8.99 (40% off)
Battlefield 2 Complete $11.99 (40% off)
Battlefield 2142 Deluxe $8.99 (40% off)
FIFA Soccer 11 $23.99 (40% off)
Dead Space 2 $17.99 (40$ off)

Good Old Games
50% off Interplay titles

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Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/44515-weekend-game-deals-steams-summer-sale-kicks-off.html

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A Wristwatch that Monitors Blood Pressure

Although high blood pressure can be monitored, and treated effectively, with a number of drugs, a quarter of the people with the condition don't even know they have it, according to the American Heart Association. Of those who know they have high blood pressure, only two-thirds get treatment, and fewer than half have it under control.

Now a new wireless monitor from Hewlett-Packard and a Singapore company called Healthstats aims to make it much easier for patients and doctors to monitor blood pressure. The device, which has the size and look of a wristwatch, can monitor pressure continuously?which provides a much more accurate picture than infrequent readings in the doctor's office. Until now, the only way to do such continuous monitoring has been with a cumbersome inflatable cuff for the arm or wrist.

The new monitor comes with related software designed to keep patients and doctors informed of the wearer's vital signs, including blood pressure. Data is transmitted from the device to the user's cell phone, and then to the cloud, where clinicians can review it. Patients and their doctors can view 24-hour graphs of blood pressure, and the system can sound alerts when it detects abnormalities in pressure or other measures.

The research is part of a growing effort to use wireless monitors to capture round-the-clock medical data outside of the hospital. Physicians hope such devices will inspire patients to better monitor their own health, and help uncover difficult-to-diagnose conditions, such as nighttime hypertension.

Unlike standard equipment, the Healthstats device relies on a sensor that rests against an artery in the wrist and detects the shape of the pressure wave as blood flows through it.  (The device is first calibrated with a standard blood pressure monitor.) "Together with algorithms we have developed, the indices can be processed to get heart rate, diastolic and systolic pressure, and other measures," says Ting Choon Meng, a physician and Healthstats CEO.

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White House Sees Date for Budget Deal or Bust

The July 22 date looms large, the officials said, because it will take lawmakers at least a week to draft a bill and get it through two houses before Aug. 2. That is the day when, officials say, the government will reach its debt ceiling and no longer be able to borrow what it needs to keep operating and repay existing debt.

President Obama challenged Republicans on Wednesday to accept higher taxes as part of any package to reduce the deficit, a challenge that House Speaker John A. Boehner swiftly rejected. But underneath these fixed positions, the Democratic officials said, were hints of Republican flexibility, which gives the White House hope that it can strike a deal, albeit probably at the last minute.

While they emphasized that no agreement had been reached on any major items, the officials said the two parties were coalescing around $200 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, trims that Mr. Obama has held up as an example of cuts that will inflict pain on his Democratic base.

The officials also noted that while Republican leaders like Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky had ruled out tax increases, they had sometimes used the phrase ?tax rates? ? which the White House also does not want to raise. The Republicans, they said, have not explicitly ruled out other measures that would generate revenue, like ending tax breaks and loopholes on hedge funds or for the owners of corporate jets ? an interpretation of the Republican position that few Republicans would agree with at this stage.

These tax-related measures being pushed by the White House would generate about $130 billion, a fraction of the roughly $2 trillion in savings over a decade that the White House and Republicans agree is necessary to stave off a debt crisis.

While Republican leaders have not shown enthusiasm for any of these measures, the Democratic officials said, they recognize that passing a bill without some concessions to House Democrats will be difficult, since House Republicans will not be able to corral enough votes on their own to pass a deficit-reduction package.

In his news conference on Wednesday, Mr. Obama chided lawmakers for leaving Washington with a deal undone, comparing them unfavorably to his daughters, Malia and Sasha, who he said finish their homework a day in advance. That rankled some on Capitol Hill, though his words appeared to have hit home.

?We should take responsibility seriously,? the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said Thursday morning on the Senate floor in announcing the cancellation of the recess next week. ?I?m confident we do.?

The Senate has scheduled a flurry of meetings next week, with Mr. Reid inviting Mr. Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to meet with Democrats on Wednesday. The next day, the White House plans to send its economic team to brief Democrats on the state of the negotiations.

Democrats, echoing the president, continued to insist that tax-related revenue would have to be part of the deal.

?We need a willingness on both sides to give a little,? said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York. ?We?ve given a lot. The vice president has said more than $1 billion in cuts has already been identified. And that would put us far down the road towards an agreement. The question is how to make up the rest.?

Under the rubric of all revenue is personal, Democrats called for the elimination of $126 million in annual tax breaks for the horse-racing industry that Mr. McConnell secured in the 2008 farm bill.

Democrats dismissed complaints that Mr. Obama had been overly combative, noting that Republicans had demanded that he engage in the bargaining process, and then criticized him as soon as he did.

But Republicans were evidently still smarting from Mr. Obama?s chiding tone. Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas even suggested that the president needed some sedation before he resumed discussions with them.

?I remember when he talked to Republicans before, and all we got was a lecture,? Mr. Roberts said. ?So maybe if he would just take a Valium and calm down and come down and talk to us, it might be helpful.?

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Popular Indian site BigAdda closing social networking features, pivots to E-commerce

BigAdda.com, one of the popular Indian social networking sites run by Reliance ADA group, has announced that it is revamping its website in an effort to become an e-commerce portal, thereby removing all the social networking features.

In an email that was sent to all its users, BigAdda has requested them to download all their personal data including blog posts, images and audio and video files by July 15, 2011, after which the data will not be available for download.

It said:

We value and appreciate your long standing support for Bigadda.com. In the past few months we explored our potential as an ecommerce portal by providing branded products at profitable deals to you and have found immense success. We are reaching newer heights everyday and hence are planning an expansion in the same arena.

We request you to download all your personal collection of blogs, audio files, video files and images from Bigadda.com as we are scaling down our Social Networking services.

Please note that all your old personal data, uploaded on Bigadda.com, shall not be available after July 15 2011.

Log on to http://www.bigadda.com/frontpage/bigaddaHomepage/ now and download your personal files.

In case you have forgotten your password please click here to retrieve it.

Regards. BIGADDA.com Team

Launched in August 2007, BigAdda has been one of the largest and fastest growing Indian social networking websites, with many Hindi movies like Rock On and Television channels like Star Televisions?s Channel V using the platform for promotional purposes. Popular celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan and Harbhajan Singh use it as their blogging platform.

Our Opinion

Although BigAdda is a pretty large social networking website, India already has a lot of e-commerce portals such as Flipkart, Infibeam and eBay, with Amazon entering this space later this year. Hence, we are pretty sceptical about its success in the long term.

On the flipside, it can potentially be a website to watch out for, considering that its a part of Reliance Entertainment division, a subsidiary of Reliance ADA Group and Anil Ambani, its Chairman would probably do anything to grab a sizable market share in this booming Indian e-commerce space.

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Source: http://thenextweb.com/in/2011/07/01/popular-indian-site-bigadda-closing-social-networking-features-pivots-to-e-commerce/

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Gaming 27 - The PlayStation Ryvita

White House Sees Date for Budget Deal or Bust

The July 22 date looms large, the officials said, because it will take lawmakers at least a week to draft a bill and get it through two houses before Aug. 2. That is the day when, officials say, the government will reach its debt ceiling and no longer be able to borrow what it needs to keep operating and repay existing debt.

President Obama challenged Republicans on Wednesday to accept higher taxes as part of any package to reduce the deficit, a challenge that House Speaker John A. Boehner swiftly rejected. But underneath these fixed positions, the Democratic officials said, were hints of Republican flexibility, which gives the White House hope that it can strike a deal, albeit probably at the last minute.

While they emphasized that no agreement had been reached on any major items, the officials said the two parties were coalescing around $200 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, trims that Mr. Obama has held up as an example of cuts that will inflict pain on his Democratic base.

The officials also noted that while Republican leaders like Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky had ruled out tax increases, they had sometimes used the phrase ?tax rates? ? which the White House also does not want to raise. The Republicans, they said, have not explicitly ruled out other measures that would generate revenue, like ending tax breaks and loopholes on hedge funds or for the owners of corporate jets ? an interpretation of the Republican position that few Republicans would agree with at this stage.

These tax-related measures being pushed by the White House would generate about $130 billion, a fraction of the roughly $2 trillion in savings over a decade that the White House and Republicans agree is necessary to stave off a debt crisis.

While Republican leaders have not shown enthusiasm for any of these measures, the Democratic officials said, they recognize that passing a bill without some concessions to House Democrats will be difficult, since House Republicans will not be able to corral enough votes on their own to pass a deficit-reduction package.

In his news conference on Wednesday, Mr. Obama chided lawmakers for leaving Washington with a deal undone, comparing them unfavorably to his daughters, Malia and Sasha, who he said finish their homework a day in advance. That rankled some on Capitol Hill, though his words appeared to have hit home.

?We should take responsibility seriously,? the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said Thursday morning on the Senate floor in announcing the cancellation of the recess next week. ?I?m confident we do.?

The Senate has scheduled a flurry of meetings next week, with Mr. Reid inviting Mr. Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to meet with Democrats on Wednesday. The next day, the White House plans to send its economic team to brief Democrats on the state of the negotiations.

Democrats, echoing the president, continued to insist that tax-related revenue would have to be part of the deal.

?We need a willingness on both sides to give a little,? said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York. ?We?ve given a lot. The vice president has said more than $1 billion in cuts has already been identified. And that would put us far down the road towards an agreement. The question is how to make up the rest.?

Under the rubric of all revenue is personal, Democrats called for the elimination of $126 million in annual tax breaks for the horse-racing industry that Mr. McConnell secured in the 2008 farm bill.

Democrats dismissed complaints that Mr. Obama had been overly combative, noting that Republicans had demanded that he engage in the bargaining process, and then criticized him as soon as he did.

But Republicans were evidently still smarting from Mr. Obama?s chiding tone. Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas even suggested that the president needed some sedation before he resumed discussions with them.

?I remember when he talked to Republicans before, and all we got was a lecture,? Mr. Roberts said. ?So maybe if he would just take a Valium and calm down and come down and talk to us, it might be helpful.?

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Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=13380ed550069f6952e4b8700f6e6110

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Gaming 27 - The PlayStation Ryvita

Making Speedy Memory Chips Reliable

IBM researchers have developed a programming trick that makes it possible to more reliably store large amounts of data using a promising new technology called phase-change memory. The company hopes to start integrating this storage technology into commercial products, such as servers that process data for the cloud, in about five years.

Like flash memory, commonly found in cell phones, phase-change memory is nonvolatile. That means it doesn't require any power to store the data. And it can be accessed rapidly for fast boot-ups in computers and more efficient operation in general. Phase-change memory has a speed advantage over flash, and Micron and Samsung are about to bring out products that will compete with flash in some mobile applications.

These initial products will use memory cells that store one bit each. But for phase-change memory to be cost-competitive for broader applications, it will need to achieve higher density, storing multiple bits  per cell. Greater density is necessary for IBM to achieve its goal of developing  phase-change memory  for high-performance systems such as servers that process and store Internet data much faster.

The IBM work announced today offers a solution. In the past, researchers haven't been able to make a device that uses multiple bits per cell that works reliably over months and years. That's because of the properties of the phase-change materials used to store the data. Scientists at IBM Research in Zurich have developed a software trick that allows them to compensate for this.

Each cell in these data-storage arrays is made up of a small spot of phase-change materials sandwiched between two electrodes. By applying a voltage across the electrodes, the material can be switched to any number of states along a continuum from totally unstructured to highly crystalline. The memory is read out by using another electrical pulse to measure the resistance of the material, which is much lower in the crystalline state.

To make multibit memory cells, the IBM group picked four different levels of electrical resistance. The trouble is that over time, the electrons in the phase-change cells tend to drift around, and the resistance changes, corrupting the data. The IBM group has shown that they can encode the data in such a way that when it's read out, they can correct for drift-based errors and get the right data.

The IBM group has shown that error-correcting code can be used to reliably read out data from a 200,000-cell phase-change memory array after a period of six months. "That's not gigabits, like flash, but it's impressive," says Eric Pop, professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "They're using a clever encoding scheme that seems to prolong the life and reliability of phase-change memory."

For commercial products, that reliability timescale needs to come up to 10 years, says Victor Zhirnov, director of special projects at the Semiconductor Research Corporation. IBM says it can get there. "Electrical drift in these materials is mostly problematic in the first microseconds and minutes after programming," says Harris Pozidis, manager of memory and probe technologies at IBM Research in Zurich. The problem of drift can be statistically accounted for in the IBM coding scheme over whatever timeframe is necessary, says Pozidis, because it occurs at a known rate.

But phase-change memory won't be broadly adapted until power consumption can be checked, says Zhirnov. It still takes much too much energy to flip the bits in these arrays. That's due to the way the electrodes are designed, and many researchers are working on the problem. This spring, Pop's group at the University of Illinois demonstrated storage arrays that use carbon nanotubes to encode phase-change memory cells with 100 times less power.

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Gaming 28 - Revisiting the Village

U.S. Will Widen 2 C.I.A. Inquiries Into Jail Deaths

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said that a two-year review by a specially appointed prosecutor, John H. Durham, had determined that any further investigation into that large group of cases ?is not warranted.? The inquiry into the two deaths, though, could result in criminal charges against Central Intelligence Agency officers or contractors.

Intelligence officials saw the announcement as a vindication of sorts.

?I welcome the news that the broader inquiries are behind us,? Leon E. Panetta, director of the C.I.A., said in his last day in office before being sworn in Friday as defense secretary. ?We are now finally about to close this chapter of our agency?s history.?

Still, the renewed attention to the volatile issue of C.I.A. interrogations ? after the controversy had all but disappeared from public debate ? is sure to set off a range of legal and political challenges for the Justice Department, the White House and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

The Justice Department has faced years of criticism from the left for inaction on accusations of abuse by C.I.A. interrogators, while defenders of the C.I.A. have warned that any prosecutions would be deeply damaging to the agency. It will be left to Gen. David H. Petraeus, who was confirmed Thursday as C.I.A. director, to lead the agency through any turmoil from the criminal investigation.

The Justice Department did not identify the two detainees at the center of the criminal investigation. But government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the continuing review, said the first case involved the well-publicized death of Manadel al-Jamadi, who died in C.I.A. custody in 2003 at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. He became publicly known as the Iceman after his body was photographed packed in ice and wrapped in plastic.

The second case involves the death of Gul Rahman, suspected of being a militant, who died in 2002 after being shackled to a concrete wall in a secret C.I.A. prison in Afghanistan known as the Salt Pit, the officials said.

Beginning in 2002, Justice Department lawyers wrote a series of then-secret legal opinions authorizing intelligence officers to use increasingly harsh interrogation methods like sleep deprivation, slapping and waterboarding on dozens of terrorism suspects in an effort to elicit information about Al Qaeda.

Mr. Holder stressed Thursday in his statement, as he has before, that any intelligence officials who acted ?in good faith? within the scope of the Justice Department?s legal guidance at the time would not face prosecution. The review that led to the full criminal investigations focused primarily on whether ?unauthorized interrogation techniques were used by C.I.A. interrogators? and, if so, whether they amounted to criminal violations of statutes against torture or other measures, he said.

In a nod to the tensions surrounding the issue, Mr. Holder was careful to emphasize the ?incredibly important service to our nation? that intelligence officials provide. ?They deserve our respect and gratitude for the work that they do,? he said.

Civil rights leaders said Thursday that they were disappointed that Mr. Holder had not set a broader target for the current investigation by looking at the legality of the interrogation policies approved by senior lawyers and intelligence officials.

?With the approval of the Bush administration?s most senior officials, the C.I.A. operated an interrogation program that subjected prisoners to unimaginable cruelty and violated both international and domestic law,? said Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union. ?The narrow investigation that Attorney General Holder announced today is not proportionate to the scale and scope of the wrongdoing.?

But Representative Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican who leads the House Intelligence Committee, said the Justice Department?s decision to close the book on all but two of the remaining cases ?has finally substantially lifted an undeserved cloud of doubt and suspicion from all of our intelligence professionals.?

President Obama signaled soon after his inauguration in January 2009 that he was reluctant to re-examine some of the most controversial counterterrorism tactics of the George W. Bush administration, including the treatment of prisoners and the use of harsh interrogation tactics.

Before Mr. Obama took office, though, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey appointed Mr. Durham, a longtime organized-crime prosecutor from Connecticut, to examine evidence that the C.I.A. had improperly destroyed videotapes of interrogations in possible violation of court orders. The Justice Department declined to bring charges over the tapes? destruction, but Mr. Holder, in 2009, expanded Mr. Durham?s inquiries to include possible mistreatment of prisoners.

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