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Windows 8 Quick Guide for New Users

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Wind8Bro2

Windows 8 is fast and builds upon the success of previous versions of Windows, but it’s not exactly the easiest operating system to get used to. Windows 8 has a brand-new look and our beloved Start menu and desktop seems to have vanished in place of a new “Start Screen”. Where in the heck do you go from here?

If you or a friend have recently bought a new Windows 8 PC and you’re completely lost, there’s no need to worry, as Microsoft has released a great Training Brochure (PDF) that covers the basics and also gives you some handy shortcuts to get you around the new OS much faster.

Win8Bro

The guide goes over pretty much everything you need to get started with Windows 8 including basic navigation, app arrangement and grouping, charms, PC settings, App commands, Internet Explorer 10 in Desktop mode and “App Mode”, Security, theme customization, and shortcuts.

Although Windows 8 may be a little scary at first, it’s still a quick and powerful version of Windows that should only improve over time. Once you get used to the new user interface, things should go a lot smoother and this guide will hopefully help you get there.

 

View of a Mach 1000 Shock Wave

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Mach1000Shockwave
A photograph of the Tycho supernova remnant taken by the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Low-energy X-rays (red) in the image show expanding debris from the supernova explosion and high energy X-rays (blue) show the blast wave, a shell of extremely energetic electrons.
X-ray: NASA/CXC/Rutgers/K. Eriksen et al.; Optical (starry background): DSS

 

This incredible image is of a remnant of the supernova Tycho, which blew up long ago. Supernova remnants are often able to be seen hundreds of years after the initial explosion because of a reverse shockwave that occurs.

This reverse shockwave is created when the outwardly ejected material of the supernova explosion creates sort of a backward current or backwash of material that heads inward at speeds up to mach 1000 or 1000 times the speed of sound. This material then begins to heat up to the point where it begins to emit X-rays, and that’s what you see here in the image above. This image is from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics where you can read more about this particular image.

We wouldn’t be able to study ancient supernova remnants without a reverse shock to light them up,” – Hiroya Yamaguchi

 

Draw Circuits With a Pen

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Creating basic circuits by hand is the best way to learn about how electronics work and using a breadboard has traditionally been the best way to do this, at least until now. Circuit Scribe is a kickstarter project that features a cool new ball point pen that uses a conductive silver ink which is perfect for drawing simple circuits. Utilizing just a Circuit Scribe pen, piece of paper, and a few electronic components like a LED light or a small motor, you can create just about any small project that you can imagine. This catchy idea has already pulled in $260,000, which is far beyond the set goal of $85,000.

This pen would make a great tool for children to use in the classroom to learn about simple circuits and there’s even a Classroom kit that includes 10 basic kits and a activity book. You can also buy just one basic kit for yourself to see what you can come up with. You can also get two larger kits, the Maker Kit and Developer Kit.

Each kit includes the Circuit Scribe pen which can be purchased separately for $20.

Here’s what’s in the Basic Kit (Cost $30):

  • 2 LED Boards each with two (2) LED lights attached
  • 2 Coin Batteries
  • 9V Battery Connector
  • 2 PIN which you can add Resistors, Capacitors, and Switches to
  • Slide Switch
  • Jumper Stickers
  • BJT NPN Transistor

Maker Kit ( Cost $50):

  • Includes Basic Components
  • Maker Notebook
  • RGB LED
  • Photo Sensor
  • Sound Buzzer
  • Potentiometer
  • 8 PIN ( NAND Logic Gate, 555 Timer, OP AMP)
  • Stencil
  • 9V Battery

Developer Kit ( Cost $100):

  • 2 Basic Component Kits
  • Maker Notebook
  • 2 Sets of Maker Components and Developer Components
  • 10 Magnetic Connection Cords
  • USB Micro B Power Adapter
  • Motor
  • 2 DPDT Switches
  • 10 DIY Solder Boards

CircuitScribe

Maintenance Day

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Maintenance Logo

Occasionally, we need to do some clean-up or perform a back-up of the content for the website and during those times we post a maintenance update, starting today we are going to change things up a bit. Instead of the relatively sporadic maintenance schedule we had, we are instead going to designate Sunday for maintenance tasks. The only exception to this would be in the event of a critical problem with the website.

Thanks again for your support!

-GWE Team-

Featured App: Papa Pear Saga

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Papa Pear Saga is a game made by the same company who also made Candy Crush (King), and it’s just as addicting. With so many matching games very similar to Candy Crush, Papa Pear is something a little different and very fun.

It does involve “lives”, you have 5 and every time you lose a game, you lose a life, then the timer counts down to receive more. You also have the option of in-game purchases (with real money), such as power ups, or gold bars to help you move along a little faster and easier. If you’ve played these types of apps before, you know all about it. Most of them now a days all work pretty much the same, but I do recommend this game, it is really fun.

papapear

Description

Try to make each Papa Pear shot bounce on as many objects as possible. Land a Papa Pear in each Barrel to advance to the next level.

Instructions

  1. Try to make each Papa Pear bounce on as many objects as possible to earn points.
  2. Try to land Papa Pear in each Barrel and advance to next level, new levels means more things to bounce on = more points.
  3. Try to catch all multiplier pegs because this will increase your multiplier and thereby your score.

You can play Papa Pear on Facebook, Google Play, and at Papa Pear Saga.

If you go to PapaPearSaga.com it says the game will soon be coming to iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Android devices.