Ticking News

Blizzard Insider interviewed two critical members of the dev team, Lead Level Designer Jonathan Dumont and Lead Environment Artist Gary Platner, to discuss the process and philosophy behind the Firelands’ design. [1]

Pages for the bosses of the Firelands Raid are now available! [2]

University Hospitals Ireland Cancer Center at Firelands Regional Medical Center brings you and your loved ones the highest quality distinction in cancer care - now available close to home where we can all work together to cure cancer. [3]

Patch 4.2 brought back one of the most iconic WoW villains in the game’s history — Ragnaros, the Firelord. [1]

Firelands Regional Medical Center is number one in the State of Ohio and among the top 5% in the nation in overall orthopedics, including spinal surgery, according to HealthGrades, the leading independent healthcare ratings organization. [3]

The patch files are now available in the dark places of the internet and unless something terrible happens, patch 4.2 should hit the live realms this week! [2]

The Firelands is a new outdoor raid instance introduced in Patch 4.2, the second major content patch after the release of Patch 4.1 “Rise of the Zandalari”. [4]

Much like Deepholm and Vashj’ir, the Firelands exists to bring the realm of fire to life, when the daunting Sulfuron Keep only existed in our imaginations prior. [...] An interesting piece of info was that Ragnaros’ model was rebuilt from scratch, completely overhauling his skeleton, animations, and feel. [...] The new Ragnaros is one of those things, to me, that the Cataclysm did right — create a new thing with the heart and soul of the original. [1]

… it wasn’t until recently, when Deathwing blasted from the Elemental Plane into the world, causing the Shattering, that the elementals were able to roam freely across Azeroth once again. [...] Entrenched around Ragnaros’s lair — Sulfuron Keep — are his most trusted guardians, including the turncoat Druids of the Flame and their mysterious leader. [...] This reckless act sundered the Redridge Mountains and created Blackrock Spire. [5]

Seven new raid bosses await intrepid raiders, valor point gear will be knocked down to justice level, and the previous tier of content is becoming more accessible to raiders new and old. [1]

Follow us on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook now! [6]

Sources:
[1] Firelands — WoW Insider
[2] MMO-Champion - Patch 4.2 on Live Realms This Week, Firelands Raid …
[3] Firelands - Home
[4] Firelands - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft
[5] Firelands - Wowpedia - Your wiki guide to the World of Warcraft
[6] BGSU :: Firelands College :: BGSU Firelands College

Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea is a country located in Middle Africa. [1]

Children play a skipping game in front of cathedral built during colonial times in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, August 25, 2002. [2]

The colony became known as Spanish Guinea, and it gained independence from Spain in 1968. [3]

In the 18th century, the Portuguese ceded land to the Spanish that included Equatorial Guinea. [4]

Country, on the western coast of equatorial Africa and including Bioko Island. [3]

Elobey Grande is an island of Equatorial Guinea, lying at the mouth of the Mit?m?l? River. [1]

The Bubi group comprises about 50,000 people living mainly in Bioko Island. [2]

Equatorial Guinea has one of the worst human rights records in the world, consistently ranking among the “worst of the worst” in Freedom House ’s annual survey of political and civil rights and Reporters Without Borders ranks President Obiang among its “predators” of press freedom. [5]

It is also the most prosperous, however the wealth is concentrated in government and elite hands, with 70% of the population living under the United Nations Poverty Threshold of $2/day. [1]

The name of the country was changed to Equatorial Guinea. [2]

In July 2007, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema announced his government’s decision for Portuguese to become Equatorial Guinea’s third official language, in order to meet one of the requirements to apply for full membership in the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), the other one being political reforms allowing for effective democracy and the respect for human rights. [5]

The 195-kilometer (120-mi.) coastline is steep and rugged in the south but lower and more accessible in the north, with excellent harbors at Malabo and Luba, and several scenic beaches between those towns. [2]

Malabo is the capital and the largest city. [3]

Many guest workers from other African countries are drawn to service industry jobs boosted by the country’s oil boom. [2]

The President reappointed Prime Minister Ignacio Milam Tang and installed a new government in Equatorial Guinea on January 12, 2010. [5]

Sources:
[1] Equatorial Guinea: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article
[2] Equatorial Guinea
[3] Equatorial Guinea: Definition from Answers.com
[4] Equatorial Guinea: History, Geography, Government, and Culture …
[5] Equatorial Guinea - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

On 31 March 2005, the Palace of Monaco announced that Hereditary Prince Albert would take over the duties of his father as Regent since Rainier was no longer able to exercise his sovereign functions. [1]

Albert was the beloved husband and trusted advisor of Britain’s Queen Victoria. [...] Albert was the son of Ernst, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in Germany… Victoria and Albert had nine children; their son Albert (b. [2]

His sisters are Caroline, The Princess of Hanover, and Princess St?phanie of Monaco. [1]

First cousins, they were married on 10 February 1840, two years after Victoria became queen at age 18. [...] Prince consort of Queen Victoria of Britain and father of Edward VII. [2]

Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (later The Prince Consort; Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emmanuel; 26 August 1819 ‘ 14 December 1861) was the husband of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. [3]

For more information on Albert, prince consort of Great Britain and Ireland, visit Britannica.com. [...] Change of Albert’s role came gradually following the birth of the Princess Royal in November 1840 and the replacement of Lord Melbourne as prime minister by Sir Robert Peel in 1841. [2]

He is the son of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, and the American actress Grace Kelly. [1]

By 1836, the idea of marriage between Albert and his cousin, Victoria, had arisen in the mind of their ambitious uncle, Leopold, who had been King of the Belgians since 1831. [3]

Educated by a private tutor, he was advised and encouraged by his uncle Leopold, who became king of Belgium in 1831, and by Baron Stockmar, a friend and confidant of the Coburg family. [2]

Albert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco (Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi; born 14 March 1958) as of 2011 is the head of the House of Grimaldi and the ruler of the Principality of Monaco. [1]

Upon Queen Victoria’s death in 1901, their son, Edward VII, succeeded as the first monarch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, named after the ducal house to which Albert belonged. [3]

His death at age 42 devastated Victoria, who spent several years in mourning. [2]

Sources:
[1] Albert II, Prince of Monaco - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[2] Prince Albert: Biography from Answers.com
[3] Albert, Prince Consort - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Google has released video tours of the various features of its new Google+ social service. [1]

Earlier this year reports of a new social service from Google called Circles emerged. [2]

Today you’ve announced a program called Google+, this encapsulating several elements including Circles and Huddle as well. [3]

Final update: Three months after ReadWriteWeb first described these plans in detail, Google announces Google Circles as part of a larger social initiative. [4]

Google has been working on the Google+ social product for a couple years now, as reported by Steven Levy and many others. [5]

Google+ comprises of several new features including Circles, Sparks, Hangouts, Mobile, Location, Instant Upload, and Huddle. [...] Their latest creation is called Google+ and it hopes to bring the “nuance and richness” of real-life sharing and connections to our online world. [6]

This includes the mobile experience as well as Circles, which can help you to share with only the people that you specify and Sparks, which shows you blog posts, videos and articles that you might be interested in. [1]

Apparently Facebook got wind of the Google+ feature, now called Circles, that allows users to share information with only select groups of friends, rather than their entire Facebook network. [5]

It means, if you ask me, that Google Circles is a name of a project that might be released in the future that furthers the social connectivity options a person has with their Google account. [3]

Unlike Facebook, where all your connections are simply deemed as “friends” and the tools provided for making connections and sharing are very rigid, Google+ will allow for greater flexibility and customization. [6]

The project combines several sharing tools together to help you share content, discuss things with friends and upload items that you would like to share. [1]

It’s through Circles that users select and organize contacts into groups for optimal sharing. [7]

Social Google Profiles are a weak alternative: an attempt to take on Facebook on their own terms. [2]

Hangouts sounds like a feature that lets you geolocate your circles for hanging out in person, or a feature that rates the best locations for meeting up. [6]

Sources:
[1] A complete video tour of Google featuring Mobile …
[2] Google code could have been hiding Google Circles and more
[3] What Google , Circles, Sparks, and Huddle will Mean …
[4] Google to Launch Major New Social Network Called Circles, Possibly …
[5] Facebook Knew About Google Circles Last Year, And …
[6] SlashGear 101: What is Google , Circles, Huddle …
[7] Google Project: It’s Social, It’s Bold, It’s …

The latest versions of OpenOffice have seen a spurt of growth in the extensions available for the program. [1]

Following the acquisition of Sun by Oracle, StarOffice and StarSuite became known as Oracle Open Office for the 3.3 release. [...] It supports the ISO /IEC standard OpenDocument Format (ODF) for data interchange as its default file format, as well as Microsoft Office formats among others. [...] OpenOffice.org originated as StarOffice, an office suite developed by StarDivision and acquired by Sun Microsystems in August 1999. [2]

Like CNET on Facebook for the latest in tech news and reviews. [1]

OpenOffice.org 1.0 was released on 1 May 2002 for MS Windows, Linux and Solaris. [2]

Written in C++ and with documented APIs licensed under the LGPL and SISSL open-source protocols, OpenOffice.org allows any knowledgeable developer to benefit from the source. [...] CNET TechTracker will now automatically install software without requiring further action by you. [1]

In the past OpenOffice.org was criticized by the Free Software Foundation for an increasing dependency on the Java Runtime Environment which was not free software. [2]

OOo, as it’s known, lets you open and save documents in formats as diverse as MS Office formats, PDF, HTML, and XML. [...] OpenOffice.org runs on Solaris, Linux (including PPC Linux), and Windows. [1]

After acquiring Sun in 2010, Oracle Corporation stopped supporting commercial development and contributed the suite to the Apache Incubator to become a project of the Apache Software Foundation. [2]

The team who brought you VersionTracker is part of the team that now brings you CNET Downloads; we are the same people who have been with you for years. [1]

OpenOffice.org was an open-source version of the StarOffice suite, with development sponsored primarily by Sun Microsystems. [2]

… it normally saves files in the open-standard Oasis OpenDocument XML format, for maximum compatibility with other applications. [1]

Sources:
[1] OpenOffice.org - Free software downloads and software reviews …
[2] OpenOffice.org - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia