Hasta La Gadget!

Maingear is a name that many of us would associate with the churning out of gaming oriented computers (both desktops and notebooks, of course), and this time around, Maingear has decided to embark on a slightly different path with the unveiling of the Drift. The Drift is not some sort of interdimensional portal, but rather, it is a Steam machine as well as a gaming PC that has been specially designed in order to deliver a level of unparalleled gaming performance despite being located in compact spaces.

Needless to say, the Drift will pack some of the latest in gaming technology, where among them include an Intel Core i7-4790K CPU and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 or AMD Radeon R9 290X GPUs. It is said that the Drift is more than capable of delivering pixel-shredding performance which will rival other full-sized desktops, except that this bad boy would arrive in a console-sized unit instead. This compact speedster will have the equivalent of an F1 engine that features a stylish unibody aluminum chassis that is whisper quiet, made possible courtesy of an Epic 120 Liquid Cooling system and superbly designed airflow.

Just how is it possible for Maingear’s Drift to deliver 4K gaming to the living room despite the extremely squeezed out form factor? Well, it has a versatile design that enables it to be placed both vertically or horizontally, not to mention being able to support up to 16GB of DDR memory, with the ability to carry a pair of 1TB SSDs and a 6TB HDD, now how about that? Do not think that the list of goodies stop here, since it is also full well capable of being fully upgraded and customized thanks to Maingear’s true automotive paint finish available in any color and combination.

Those who are interested to giving the Drift a go will be able to place a pre-order with or without an operating system, with prices starting from $849, where you can also configure it to boot directly into STEAM big picture mode with Windows. As for the Drift Super Stock edition, that model will arrive in a special bodyshell travel case and a STEAM OS version, and will be released later this coming November.

Press Release
[ Maingear reveals the Drift Steam machine copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

From self-driving cars to drunk driver-detecting lasers, researchers are using technology to help make the road much safer.

And now, engineers at General Motors (GM) are developing “smart” headlights that beam light precisely where a driver is looking — an invention that could improve visibility for drivers at night.

“We want to actually implement the idea that the human eye is capable of guiding and regulating light,” Ingolf Schneider, director of lighting technology at GM’s subsidiary Opel manufacturer headquartered in Rüsselsheim, Germany, told Opel Post. “The eye tracking principle relies on tracking via camera and intelligent analysis of eye movements using a special algorithm.”

How it works. The eye-tracking system is made up of a single dashboard camera equipped with infrared sensors. The camera scans the driver’s eyes and other points on the face more than 50 times per second. Based on the scanned data, electronic motors then change the direction of the headlights.

An algorithm built into the eye-tracker adjusts for quick glances, so that the light doesn’t dart around with every movement of the eye, Discovery News reported. And, no matter where a driver looks, the headlights always illuminate the road in front of the car.

“Another major benefit is that the eye-tracker doesn’t have to be individually calibrated for a particular driver,” Schneider said in a written statement. “The system works perfectly with anyone behind the wheel, no matter what their size.”

As the eye-tracking headlights are still in the early stages of development, the concept will likely take several years to be implemented.

His online photos brought forth feelings of instant love. I don’t remember having such a strong response since I was a teenager. He had such an expressive face, I was fascinated. In one photo he was almost sneering. Uh oh, I thought, the bad boy but, this was quickly offset by another where he looked just like an angel.

Admittedly, that was the perfect formula for teenage love but, not so for a 60 something year old woman. I knew I was being superficial. For all we tell ourselves about the seasoned love we desire: the shared values and deep communication, the reciprocity of loving support, the partnership which enhances our contribution, here I was falling head over heels. Love at first sight.

We had little communication. We spoke different languages. He understood very little English and I was unfamiliar with his. More photographs arrived. Each one touched my heart. We skyped.

I’d like to tell you that I was able to stabilize in the consciousness of my deepest, widest, most mature self; containing those feelings until I knew more about him. But, that didn’t happen. I was doing just what I spoke of not doing on http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/seniors-who-online-date-/54ab36a22b8c2a038a000252

I was creating a fantasy before ever meeting. In that HuffPost Live panel with Joan Barrett and Ken Solin, we discussed what online dating was like for the older person. I’d spoken of one of the greatest pitfalls of online dating: creating a fantasy before a meet-up from bits and pieces of photos, emails and phone conversations.

While the panel was featured as Mature Online Daters Tell All, we barely touched the surface of this phenomenon. There was one tidbit that would have been ironic to speak of but wasn’t discovered until after the call. A friend recognized a panelist as someone I’d gone out with on one of my first online dates. I’ve matured considerably since those early days yet, here I was experiencing love at first sight.

Reading this, friends may be aghast, believing that savvy me may be falling for one of those online scams. Each time a younger man messages me on a dating site, an automated message is generated warning not to send money. He was a younger man, much younger. I didn’t send money. I do admit to sending him gifts, quite a few. It was an act of joy. The oxytocin was flowing. I was bonding long before we ever met in person. Meet we would, I booked a flight to London.

Women are cautioned to meet first in public places but, upon arrival, I threw caution to the wind. After an 11 hour flight, heart racing, I arrived at his door. It was opened by a very beautiful young woman. Gasping yet, my friends? Let me reassure that you won’t be receiving any anguished emails stating I’m stranded in London scammed by a younger man, please help. Send money.

My younger man, even more gorgeous than his photos, was in the loving arms of his mother. One glance at my newly born first grandchild and I knew it was true love.

Welcome to the world, Jack. Your grandmother is an April Fool for you.

As a business speaker and trainer, I shake a lot of hands. But for the past year, I have done so as quickly as possible, then tried to keep my hands out of sight. I do a lot of presentations and it’s hard to be effective with your hands tucked away, but I was mortified for others to see them.

My hands aren’t deformed. I keep my nails nice, but I don’t have professional manicures. That would mean offering my hands to someone. I don’t because I have a condition that presents as red blotchy patches on the backs of my hands. Raised, round embarrassing blobs that make me want hide my hands at every opportunity.

My general doctor said eczema, but rich creams did nothing. An allergist was confident it was ringworm, a contagious virus. I bought the fungal cream and applied it faithfully twice a day for three months. (I was told it would go away within six weeks.) When it didn’t, I tried home remedies. First, apple cider vinegar, then coconut oil. This website said applying either of these several times per day would knock it out. Nope.

But even though the rash was spreading on the back of my hands, no one I have come in contact with has been afflicted, not even my husband, who holds my hands daily.

Finally, not being able to stand it any longer, I consulted a dermatologist.

It took him about two minutes to diagnose it. Granuloma Annulare, an auto-immune disorder that is often confused with ringworm. But what shocked me, no literally scared me the most, is that it’s tied to diabetes.

My mother had Type 2 diabetes, depending on insulin shots four times per day. Her mother also had Type 2 diabetes and died when I was six. She was blind, one of the side effects of untreated diabetes. I also know the chances of having it if a parent has had it is higher. I have two generations before me.

My blood sugar levels have been something I have been watching for years. They are not normal, but have never been too high. Sort of that gray area in between, called “we are going to watch these numbers for now, get blood work again in six months.”

I thought I didn’t eat a lot of sugar. I am gluten-free so most desserts are out. But what I hadn’t noticed is all the sugar in processed gluten-free foods. In order to make foods without gluten taste like something other than cardboard, sugar is added to enhance the taste.

When you are told you can’t have something (gluten) and then find foods you can eat, (and the marketplace has gone crazy with consumer demand in this niche), it represents the ability to not be deprived of all the foods your friends and family enjoy. For me, eating gluten-free products filled the void of being deprived of what everyone else was having. I wanted that “me too” comfort.

But now I can’t. And there are issues around feeling deprived again.

I’m working through it with the help of acupuncture and hypnosis, exercise, and a nutrition coach. I completed a 14-day paleo cleanse to learn toxins from my body and learned how to reframe my feelings of deprivation into healthy cravings. I know how bad gluten makes my body feel, and I am using that knowledge as motivation not to eat sugar.

I watched my mom suffer with medical issues resulting from diabetes, and I am determined to turn the tide. She died too young at age 81, and I want to be around when my son and his wife have kids (hopefully in a few years). I want to enjoy them and have a connection with them.

I want to shake someone’s hand and not pull away. I want to have a professional manicure. More than anything, I want to be healthy.

Learning to find my healthy balance was a challenge. But the biggest lesson I learned is to consult the right expert versus listening to professionals whose expertise is not specific to what I needed.

Ironically, I focus on making the right connections for my clients. I make sure they have the proper expertise as I help them make meaningful connections with themselves and others. If they are on the wrong path, I am able to guide them. With so many people having opinions, it’s easy to try a lot of quick fixes, most of which don’t work.

I learned that what I do for others, I need to do for myself. This means paying attention to details and being my own best advocate when something isn’t working.

It’s important to stay connected to your own higher self, both in business and in health, and to make sure you are connecting to the right experts.

The good news is that with the proper treatment and self-care, the red patches are barely noticeable. There is a manicure in my future, and I look forward to shaking some hands!

I hear you. Don’t I need to want to be a Zen Master to meditate? Or, my to-do list is already too long and there are so many other things I could be doing with my time besides meditating!

Maybe. But there’s also nothing more exhausting or frustrating than working your butt off and not really getting anywhere. Not only do you begin to question yourself, asking, “What’s wrong with me?” but you also begin to feel deflated and start losing your self confidence.

If this is happening to you, then you might be in a state of “going all out for it” — you know, that catchphrase that anyone in the business of really living should surely be doing.

Yes, straining, striving and more often than not struggling. It’s the energy of trying and not having. Of pushing and forcing. And it ends up making you want to scream!

The most frustrating part is being so caught up in the doing, creating and performing that you lose sight of what you’re trying to achieve and, funnily enough, you end up getting nowhere.

The danger of “going all out for it” is that the essence of it can feel SO good for a time. You hear yourself saying, “Hey, if I’m giving this all I’ve got then surely I must be getting somewhere!”

But if you’re anything like me there’s a sneaky fear driving your thinking — one that says, unless I work really hard ALL of the time I don’t deserve to get what I want.

Or perhaps you’ve also been trying to mask over the lie I told myself for years, that it’s wrong for things to be effortless. OK, I’ll admit it. I didn’t want “let go” of controlling my life, and yes, there were times I lacked the faith that what I wanted could actually be mine and that getting it could be easy.

Well, guess what? Thankfully, I also began noticing the Divine wants things to be easy for us.

Perhaps you have too. Ever realized that when you slow down, for just a little while, you start seeing the obvious? You begin to find easier solutions or road signs pointing you in a new, more groovy direction?

Something else I’ve also started to get a handle on is that it’s much easier to see these things when you create space between your thoughts, hitting the “off switch” on the hamster wheel of your mind. And that’s where the beauty of meditation comes in.

If you want to get more done, create more moments of flow, expand your possibilities for inspiration and ingenuity then meditation is your key.

One of the greatest things you can do to cease straining, striving and struggling is to simply stop. Stop thinking, stop working, and stop taking action for a while.

Instead, find a quiet comfy place, stick in a pair of earplugs if that helps, or go for a run and just begin to notice your breath. Focus on breathing in and out — counting cycles of seven breaths in and out. Then start again.

Meditation need not be any more complicated than that.

When you’re able to slow and still your mind like this you’ll be able to “allow in” what it is you want and unblock what might be your resistance to receiving.

Meditation, in any form, is a simple way to break up the energy stream of trying. It allows you to notice your intuition guiding you, and you’ll be able to see situations from a fresh perspective instead of focusing too much on the path your ego has decided is right for you or the outcome you’re insisting is the only successful one.

As woo-woo as it first might feel and as clever as we think we are, the Divine might just have a better plan for us!

Meditation teaches us it’s possible to create the life we want, or even better, by getting our self out of the way.