demons

8 Google Reader alternatives for your PC

It's no surprise to Google obsessives that the company announced yesterday that it will draw the curtains on its popular RSS-managing Reader service. So what are you supposed to do with your 60 bazillion feeds?

First off, you can export them using Google Takeout. That's an important step to take so you don't lose track of any of the sites you're following. It lets you download your feeds output, called OPML, as a ZIP. Then you extract it all to a folder, and upload them to your prefered Reader replacement service. But which one do you … Read more

Google Reader news forces FeedDemon to shutter, too

How do you kill a FeedDemon? Apparently, all it takes is a decision from Google.

In a blog post, Nick Bradbury, the founder of the popular RSS feed manager FeedDemon, cites Google's call to shutter Google Reader on July 1 as the final "nail in the coffin" for his desktop and laptop app. Bradbury mentions numerous serious concerns, such as spending time with his family and recently being forced to take a day job, but he also talks about the inner workings of FeedDemon.

The software, he explains, relies on Reader for synchronization, "and there's … Read more

Diablo III woes plague launch day players

The epic Diablo III role-playing game experienced several hiccups on launch day today as players reported numerous errors preventing gameplay. Not long after the midnight launch, some concerned players hit parent company Blizzard's Battle.net support forums with concerns about "Error 3006," perhaps the worst error seen so far.

The bug, which only affects the Demon Hunter class, supposedly occurs when one equips a Templar follower with a shield early in the game. Performing this action reportedly causes the game to disconnect the player immediately, and then follows up with a disastrous repetitive "Error 75" that continuously prevents the user from further log-in. … Read more

Is Dark Souls too hard?

Back in 2009 From Software's Demon's Souls made numerous game-of-the-year lists because of its innovative crowdsourced hinting system, but at the same time honoring the tough-as-nails mentality that seems to have been lost in modern gaming.

Dark Souls is the spiritual successor to Demon's Souls. It doesn't continue any sort of linear story, but most of the mechanics remain in tact, including the unforgiving difficulty of the game.

But in a landscape where regenerative health and multiple save points are the norm, can Dark Souls find a place amongst the mainstream?

Jeff: Part of the difficulty that inherently lies in games journalism is remaining indifferent even when a given product isn't something you'd normally want to play. A perfect example of this was my experience with 2009's Demon's Souls. Forcing myself to play such a difficult title wound up making me appreciate so much about what I didn't know. I became immersed in the universe the game was able to convincingly create, even though I had died a thousand deaths exploring the world.

Of course I knew what I was getting myself into with From Software's follow-up, Dark Souls, and the game's tagline of "Prepare to Die" isn't really an attempt to be something it isn't.

Dark Souls can be infuriatingly difficult, and for the gamer who thinks he or she can just march right in with a sword and shield drawn is in for a world of hurt. Not only does the game punish those who play nonchalantly, it basically offers no real explanation of the various items, powers, and hollowing abilities that are at a player's disposal. This lack of hand-holding will be jarring for those not hardened by the "good-old days" of gaming, but Dark Souls is a crash course for the inexperienced.… Read more

You see this? This...is my boomstick!

Army of Darkness Defense is a castle-defense game based on (and named after) the third movie in the cult-classic comic-horror series "Evil Dead." You play the chainsaw-armed hero Ash Williams, and audio samples of his highly quotable dialogue play a starring role in the app.

Unlike so many movie tie-in games, Army of Darkness Defense manages to be quite good: it's a mix of resource management and arcade action, in which you re-enact the frantic defense of the movie's finale. Waves of enemies--skeletal and/or demonic "Deadites"--advance from right to left inside the … Read more

Full steam ahead for record-challenging streamliner

Steam-powered engines have been around for about 300 years, but they've never been known for amazing speeds. Now, a company in Florida and a streamliner designer from Tennessee are building a steam-powered streamliner vehicle.

Cyclone Power Technologies today announced it is working to "complete installation of the engine, gearbox, and fiberglass body" of the Cyclone-Williams LSR streamliner--a steam-powered car that could set a new land speed record.

More traditional land speed record-breaking streamliner vehicles, such as Poteet & Main's Speed Demon, can reach speeds of more than 450 mph, with 1045 hp and 672 pound-feet of … Read more

Dispatch from the desert: Poteet and Main Speed Demon lives up to its name

The turbocharged streamliner Speed Demon on Wednesday reached a speed of 409 mph at the three-mile mark on the long track at Speed Week.

Team leaders George Poteet, 60, and Ron Main, 65, have been breaking land speed records for years and have no intention of slowing down by the looks of it.

The 31-foot-long, 4,200-lb. streamliner is known around the world as one of the planet's fastest vehicles.

Speed Demon ran 405 mph with a 417 exit speed on Tuesday and did not complete a run on Monday.

Fiorina follows 'Demon Sheep' with heavenly hot air

Words, being playful things, sometimes like to play hide and seek.

And I must say mine found a hitherto unexplored corner of the universe when I watched former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina's new ad in her campaign to be elected to the Senate.

You might remember that her first effort, the so-called "Demon Sheep" ad, resembled something that a mass orgy of acid enthusiasts might have come up with during a week-long retreat.

However, this new ad, which poetically compares California Senator Barbara Boxer to a hot air balloon, suggests that its creators have been doing nothing … Read more

What kind of virus has Fiorina's ad spread?

I once went to a wedding in which a British High Court judge was the bride's godfather.

Having made a deeply insincere speech, he then proceeded to get blind drunk and attempt, for no clear reason, to remove his trousers. He left the proceedings with his pants around his ankles, his wife around his torso, and a deep hush around the marquee in which the wedding was being held.

People stared, so frozen at the lips that the wine enjoyed no sips. And this, I imagine, is a posture many have experienced upon viewing a campaign video made on … Read more

FeedDemon update takes cues from Google

When FeedDemon updated to version 3, it stepped in a snarling nest of controversy because the popular RSS and Atom feed catcher was abandoning its online synchronization Web site in favor of Google Reader. The new FeedDemon 3.1 is a good effort to move beyond that, introducing new multiple new features that mostly bring it into parity with Google Reader.

The two biggest new features include on-the-fly item translation via a translate button on the individual item toolbar. If the item is in a feed that you synchronize with Google Reader, the translation will occur in-line. If the feed … Read more