Red Bull Training Grounds Santa Monica - StarCraft II Tournament

Legit Event Reviews

Red Bull Training Grounds - StarCraft II Tournament

On Friday in a secluded part of Santa Monica, California, eight of the world’s best eSports athletes gathered in the halls of Red Bull to participate in a sort of ‘Training Camp’ for StarCraft II players. As MLG Anaheim approaches, eSport gamers are trying to get in the most practice as they can.  This invitational is for some of StarCraft’s biggest names to not only get some practice in, but let fans see who has the momentum going into one of the year’s biggest tournaments.

We caught up to eSports star EG.DeMusliM at Red Bull Headquarters before the tournament started to find out his thoughts on the Red Bull Training Grounds and what he expected to get out of it.

For this weekend, Red Bull has put up about $8,000 in prize money and will has been streaming every second of every match – a huge step up from a few years ago when the first Red Bull Lan was in someone’s office playing Halo. The competitors then would play and then analyze each other’s gameplay.

eSports broadcast legend Sean “Day[9]” Plott, Mike “Husky” Lamond and Ben “MrBitter” Nichol will be doing play-by-play and color commentary as the action happens as well as interviewing each player to analyze their performance and up their game.

Last year, Red Bull created a more event-based with an event in Orlando, Florida where they played Halo: Reach and StarCraft II.  They also had an tournament in Austin, Texas called Red Bull: Battle Grounds with over $40,000 in prize money.

The eight StarCraft II players for this tournament have been broken into two groups and will play a sort-of Round Robin style.  Everyone will play everyone else with a small amount of cash

The Competitors:

Ryoo "SeleCT" Kyung HyunManuel “Grubby” SchenkhuizenBenjamin “DeMusliM” BakerJo “Golden” Myeong HwanBae “Sound” Sang HwanSamuel “Kane” MorrissetteBrandon “puck” QualDan “ViBE” Scherlong

This is a very international group with 3 from Europe, 2 from South Korean, 3 from North America.

One of the things that all the competitors will be working on this weekend is just getting their minds in the right place when it comes to the various equipment and hardware they will be using.  This weekend, NVIDIA is one of the main sponsors powering the Red Bull Training Grounds where all the machines used will be powered by a GeForce GTX Titan GPU.

Even though Red Bull may not be the first name you think of when it comes to eSports, they continue to increase their presence with tournaments and general sponsorships around the world. By now, everyone who has watch an StarCraft II eSports tournament is familiar with the “Red Bull Box” and broadcasting live will only increase people’s awareness of the brand’s.

This Red Bull Training Camp event is actually produced by Red Bull Media House which is a little bit different from Red Bull. Their job is to create content – media, film, music, etc.  Now that eSports are really taking off and livestreaming and broadcast is so important to the genre, Red Bull Media House has stepped into the forefront bring us amazing coverage of tournaments like this Training Grounds event.

If you want any more information, you can visit Redbull.com/eSports a brand new site for the eSports community worldwide and you can get more information on the Red Bull Training Grounds event.  As mentioned above, Red Bull will be broadcasting the event live here all weekend.

Be sure to check back to Legit Reviews for continuing coverage from Red Bull’s inaugural Training Grounds!

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FitNotes Tracks Your Workouts, Alerts You When You Hit Your Goals

Android: Exercise accessories like the Nike+ Fuelband and the FitBit are all the rage right now, but if you don't own one, you can still use your smartphone to keep track of your workouts. Though it might not have every feature under the sun, FitNotes is a fantastic and easy to use gym companion for your Android phone.

The premise of FitNotes is simple. You choose the exercise you just completed, enter the amount of weight you lifted or the distance you traveled, and save it to your exercise log. Over time, you'll build up a collection of daily exercise regimens to help you track where you've improved or regressed over time.

FitNotes includes a ton of different exercises and categories, but you can also add your own if you wish. You can view your recent activity by swiping from day to day on the main screen, but the calendar view provides the best overview of your workouts. From here, you can set up milestone alerts to let you know when you've hit a custom goal for each exercise, making it even easier to detect patterns in your routine.

The app isn't particularly feature-rich, but it's perfectly designed to quickly enter data between sessions at the gym, and it checks every box you would want in a pen-and-paper exercise log. Grab it for free on Google Play before you next hit the gym.

FitNotes (Free) | Google Play via Ghacks

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Champagne Cork Yoda

Though it was always on my to-make list, I probably would never have made this if it weren't for all the people asking for it after I published the Darth Vader Corky Instructable.
Making Yoda was much more dificult than making Darth Vader, because I had to make him much smaller than Vader (he's still proportionally too big), and the head required much more fine sculpting. But, as Yoda said it, "Patience you must have, my young padawan".The supplies you will need, these are. Hmmm.
Craft knife Pencil Black permanent marker Brown permanent marker Black colored pencil Soldering iron Solder Paintbrush Acrylic/poster paints Ruler UHU Universal glue Krazy glue/ superglue Lighter Scissors Needle-nosed pliers Wire cutters Sandpaper File Wood glue Third hand Glossy varnish Champagne cork Green and brown sculpey (or Sugru) Scraps of brown and beige fabric Small nail Thin insulated wire Thin wire Aluminium tape Heat-shrink tubing Twig White artificial fur Positive battery contact Green 3mm LED Small button cells (not the ones in the photo) Small slide switch Small female connectors (I salvaged them from an old PCB) Also: Hotglue

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Top 10 Ways to Deal With a Slow Internet Connection

Sometimes, slow internet is the universe's way of telling you to go play outside. Other times, it's the universe's cruel joke to destroy your productivity. Here are 10 ways to troubleshoot, fix, or just survive a slow internet connection.

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Sometimes, your internet is slow because you're only paying for slow internet. Log onto your provider's web site (or give them a call) and find out what plan you have. Then, head on over to Speedtest.net and run a speed test. If the numbers match up to what you're paying for, then your network is working fine and you're just paying for slow internet—and the best way to speed it up will be to upgrade. (Though some of the below tricks will help you eke out a bit more speed). If the numbers don't match, read on for a few ways to fix that problem.

Before you go cursing your internet provider, give your modem and router a quick reset (that is, turn them off and on again) and see if that helps. Check the other computers in your house to see if their internet is slow, too—if the problem only happens on one computer, the problem is that computer, not your router or modem. Run through these troubleshooting steps to see if it's a hardware problem. Then, once you fix your router or modem (or replace it), you'll be browsing speedily once again. Check out our complete guide to knowing your network for more router tips, too.

If you're using Wi-Fi, you might find that your router and internet are fine, but your wireless signal is weak, causing a slowdown. In that case, you may need to reposition, tweak, and boost your router with a few tricks. There are more than we could share in one paltry paragraph—in fact, we have a whole top 10 list just for fixing Wi-Fi, so check that out if you suspect wireless signal is the problem.

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If your hardware seems to be in working order, see if any other programs are hogging the connection. For example, if you're downloading files with BitTorrent, regular web browsing is going to be slower. You should also try installing extensions like AdBlock Plus or FlashBlock, which will block some of the bandwidth-hogging ads, animations, and videos that can use up your connection. They probably won't solve all your issues, but they can at least help make a slow connection feel more usable.

When you type an address into your browser—like lifehacker.com—your computers uses something called DNS to look up and translate that into a computer-friendly IP address. Sometimes, though, the servers your computer uses to look up that information can have issues, or go down entirely. Check out our guide to finding the fastest (and most secure) DNS servers for more information. If your default DNS servers aren't having problems, then you probably won't find too much of an improvement with an alternative server—but it might speed up your browsing by a few milliseconds, at least. Photo by Studio 37 (Shutterstock).

Troubleshooting slow internet can take awhile, and in the meantime you still need to browse. Or maybe you're at a coffee shop or on a plane, and there's nothing you can do about your slow speeds. In that case, it's time to optimize your web for a slower connection: use mobile or HTML versions of your favorite sites, disable images, and use features like Opera Turbo. In fact, we recommend setting up a secondary browser on your laptop for just such a situation—it can really make a difference when you need to work on a slow connection.

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If you need to get work done on your slow connection, you may have to prioritize tasks differently than if your internet were super fast. So, separate your tasks into bandwith-heavy and bandwidth-light ones. Get the light ones done when you're on your slow connection, and group all the bandwidth-heavy tasks together so you can do them if and when you get faster access (and if you can't get it at home, see if you can borrow a neighbor or relative just for those tasks). Similarly, work outside your browser whenever possible—if you're doing basic writing, do it in your favorite text editor instead of in your browser. If you plan your work ahead of time, you can at least make the best of a bad situation. Photo remixed from Kirill__M (Shutterstock).

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If you've gone through all the necessary troubleshooting steps and your internet is still slow, then it's time to call your internet provider and see if the problem is on their end. Remember: don't just assume they've done something wrong, and treat your customer service representative with respect. You're much more likely to get good results. Check out our guide to getting better customer service for tips on cutting the line and getting your way. You might want to see if you can get a better deal on your internet, while you're at it—especially if they've been giving you the wrong speeds all this time. Photo by sergign (Shutterstock).

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If your ISP can't help you (maybe they don't provide the speeds you want, or maybe you're just sick of their horrible customer service), it's time to find a new ISP. That may mean you need to switch to a different type of provider, like cable, DSL, satellite, or fiber, so you should do a little research before you pick up the phone. Check out our guide to choosing the best provider in your area, and make sure they provide the type of speeds you want. Photo remixed from Kim Scarborough and Andreas Gradin.

If you're lucky, you can get your internet speeds back up to snuff quickly and stress-free. But, if not, you can at least try to put a good spin on it: As long as your work isn't too bandwidth-intensive, slow internet could actually make you more productive. After all, if Facebook takes a minute to load, you're a lot less likely to pop over for a "quick break" (that turns into an hour-long photo-fest) when you're supposed to be working on that term paper.

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Building a small rabbit hutch

I have been raising rabbits for nearly two years and in that time I have built several hutches.  Some of my designs for these hutches originated from the books I have read on raising rabbits and over the course of the years I have come up with different designs.  Every time I build a hutch I refine my design and incorporate the new features in future builds.  The hutch I am building now is the eighth in my series of builds.  It is designed so that I can keep 3-6 young rabbits within and move the hutch every day to new areas of grass.

This is my first attempt at an Instructable.    I would welcome any constructive feedback.

If you are interested in my work please check out my blog at Little Tassie Prepper.

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Butter Paneer

Butter Paneer is a creamy, exotic, satisfying treat. The body of the curry is onion and tomato puree simmered with spices and cashew butter. Paneer, cream, butter and fresh cilantro are added later to finish it.

Paneer is a fresh cheese made from milk. It can be purchased from Indian or Pakistani grocery stores or it can be made at home. This is a very good Instructable to make paneer. I have successfully substituted chicken for paneer with this recipe and it is just as delicious. I have also made Butter Chicken with this recipe in a crockpot. I browned the chicken first, added the rest of the ingredients and let it simmer on low for about 3 hours or more. Then I added the finishing cream,  butter and cilantro at serving time.

2 tablespoons butter or ghee
1 bay leaf
2 cloves

2 large onions,  puree
1/2 tablespoon minced ginger 
1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
3 tbsps cashew paste

1 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground fenugreek
2 tsp garam masala powder
sea salt and black pepper to taste

6 - 12 ounces paneer
1 tbsp butter
3 tbsp fresh cream
fresh coriander - chopped for garnish

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Label Furniture Components When Moving for Easy Reconstruction

Moving is nobody's favorite chore, but you can make it a little easier on yourself by meticulously labeling furniture components before you take them apart.

The specific labeling system will vary widely by the type of furniture, but the gist is to add masking tape labels to every piece of the furniture before you break it down to make it easier to put back together after you move. Once you add your labels, you could also take a picture of the furniture and add corresponding annotations in an image editor. As long as you were thorough in your labeling, you'll never need to worry about mixing up the pieces when you're setting up your new house. For more moving tips, be sure to check out the source link.

5 Smart Tips for Managing a Big Move | Made + Remade

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