Inside Clash of Clans' North44's George "Jorge" Yao

in ,

If you are predisposed to having an addictive nature and download Clash of Clans (iOS/Android), you're bound to get sucked in. Hopefully you won't spend too much money on in-app purchases buying gems or upgrading your town, but it's hard to resist the temptation especially when going for that third builder! Clashofclans jorgeyao

I'll admit that I was really into it and still dabble from time to time but I've seen friends and family glued to their screens for hours every night trying to stay on top of their town. Heck, even one Christmas mass involved some Clash of Clans gaming though I'll admit I wasn't the guilty one. Hell, even my barber boasts about his clan and shows me his town EVERY time I come in. When he's not cutting hair, he's clashing and clanning it with the other three chairs.

The NY Times posted a great insight on North44's George Yao and how he was able to maintain being the top player for 6 months in the Clash of Clan Universe.

There was a price, however, for being the world’s premier Clasher. Part of it was measurable. To stay on top, Mr. Yao was spending at least $250 a week on the gems. By the time he had dominated the leader board for three months, he told me, he had sunk as much as $3,000 into Clash and was running out of money. He feared that he couldn’t keep up with wealthier rivals and threatened to quit.

To grasp the extent of Mr. Yao’s immersion in the game, you have to understand a little more about the strategy of Clash. In order to keep your trophy count high, a premier player has to avoid being attacked by other top contenders. You can do this either by staying constantly online or by the protection of a “shield” that usually lasts for 12 hours. You automatically get a shield when an attacker destroys 40 percent of your village or your town hall.

In time, he found another, simpler way to shield himself. When a member of North 44 would quit the game, Mr. Yao would take over his account. Then Mr. Yao would use one of his multiple accounts to attack himself when he needed a shield. In order to pull this off, though, he had to keep all of these other accounts highly ranked, which meant playing as many as five accounts at the same time, around the clock. Another wealthy clan member in the United Arab Emirates bought Mr. Yao three iPads to make this feasible — but even then, it was feasible only in the technical sense. At one point, he was bringing five iPads into the shower with him, each wrapped in a plastic bag, so that none of his accounts would go inactive.

Of course, he's retired since then and can't stand the site of the game.

Trade in your Starbucks for Tonx!

in , ,

If you haven't been on aware, I'm an avid coffee drinker. My morning ritual the past 18 months goes as this:

  • I select the 15 grind setting on my Baratza Virtuoso and start it immediately after my Medelco Glass Kettle starts screaming.
  • I then pour the hot water into my Hario Buono Kettle, pour my freshly ground beans in my Able Brewing Kone Filter which sits upon a Hario V60 02 Drip Ceramic Filter, aiming for a 27g/360ml water to coffee ratio over 3:00 minutes.
  • I pour for 30 seconds to 60g, then wait another 30 seconds for bloom.
  • I take a huge whiff of the brew, and then pour another 120g to stopping at 180 and rest for another 20 seconds. Then I top it off reaching 360.

It might seem complicated but believe me, the cup is FRESH and it really isn't that much of a hassle! This past Christmas, I brought the setup to a friend's house and had a great time making coffee for everyone!

So, I'm telling you all this as one of my favorite coffee roasters, just this morning, launched a Starbucks to better coffee exchange program! You read that right! Trade in your Starbucks gift cards for dollar-to-dollar credit towards a Tonx subscription and get the freshest beans delivered straight to your door!

OUR PHILOSOPHY

We Source. We Roast. We Ship. You Brew. At Tonx, we believe great coffee starts with great beans and the best cup of coffee can be made easily at home. That’s why we source from top producers, roast to perfection, and ship our beans within hours of completion. Our brew guides and expert staff will have you brewing the best cup of coffee in no time.

They line up an oddly priced $38 Starbucks gift card to 8 frappucinos, or 11 cappuccinos, or 17 drip coffees, vs 48 cups of "carefully sourced, expertly roasted, super fresh coffee." I couldn't agree more.

Trust me, this isn't a marketing scheme. The coffee that I have received from Tonx over the past year has been some of the best mornings ever! The only benefit for me is that if you use my link, I earn credit towards my coffee habit too.

Tonx has made it really easy for you too! Just head to https://tonx.org/better/new and enter your Starbucks card number and security code, then it will enter a que to which it will be covered to Tonx subscription credit! I'm in the midst of trading in my $25 that I received for Christmas. It's like upgrading your gift!

Tonx better coffee

DaisyDisk App Review

in ,

Here's an amazing review of the app DaisyDisk by a good friend Hung Nguyen. It's his first guest post here on elijahnicolas.com and I can't wait for more from him in 2014. Let's give him a warm welcome with retweets and comments!

DaisyDisk by Hung Nguyen

Critically low on disk space to where I no longer could make full backups of my iPhone, I dug into the usual suspects folders such as Downloads, Movies, and my Other folder ::wink:: to do some housecleaning, only to discover that they consumed a scant amount of space. Of the 159 GB, paltry by todays standards I know, where the f**k was 60% of it? I spent about fifteen more minutes digging through a few Finder windows, and then I opened up iTunes, my eyes glazed over by the multitude of indicators, buttons, and menus, and I said to myself "You could spend the next hour fumbling your way through this godforsaken app, or you can find a good diskspace management app and let it do the work while you make yourself a sandwich." Well I don't think I have to tell you which option I chose.

I chose the latter option dammit. A quick Google search and up came a flowery titled app called DaisyDisk. The name made me smile, and a review I read online was glowing. Easy to use and I only have to spend $10? Now we're talking. Bought it through the AppStore and it arrived in seconds. Upon startup, the software asks that you give it permission to read your hard drive, a one time drag and drop operation. Easy enough. Click on SCAN and wait a few minutes. For my 159 GB hard drive on an old 2GHZ Core 2 Duo, I believe it took roughly 6-8 minutes to complete. During this time I happened to connect my WD My Book external drive and DaisyDisk automatically detected and displayed it in its UI; the active scan on the primary drive was unaffected. Nice.

Daisydisk map

After the scan completed, I was presented a high level analysis of the disk usage. My main user profile happened to be using almost 90% of the disk space, Applications used the second most, and so on. But here's where I became impressed. When I clicked on the info table, which was color coded and easy to read, the UI smoothly drilled down to the next level. The animations and menu transitions are reminiscent of Minority Report in its fluidity and sleekness.

Alright, the Pictures folder is using a fair amount, which was to be expected from a self-professed abuser of selfies, but what's this? The Music folder was taking a significant amount of space, much more than I had expected. All my music listening is through streaming services. Intrigued, I dug deeper, again by simply clicking on the file items displayed in the analysis table. Eventually, the app revealed that Podcasts and iTunesU were using about 20 GB of space. It reminded me of the time I subscribed in a flurry to thirty different podcasts as part of an ill-fated effort to get smart. Tell me how that worked out, I ask you.

Best of all, DaisyDisk makes it dead simple to delete these files. You drag the files/folders you want to delete, in my case entire folders of Podcast and iTunesU subscriptions, to a designated area in the UI which acts as a sort of dumpster. When there is any item in the dumpster, a Delete button appears alongside some topical info about its contents. Once you're ready to delete all that crap, you click on Delete, and you get a 5 second countdown to stop the process before DaisyDisk takes out the trash for good. The application gives ample warning these files will be permanently deleted in case you think this is all fun and games. This is not a game.

Upon deletion of all your educational media you procured with deluded aspirations, DaisyDisk congratulates you with a cheeky message about how you should feel good for being able to delete a file. The message went something like "Yee-haw! You just deleted your files!" or some close approximation to it. You even have the option of tweeting your accomplishment if you're one of those types. Overall, DaisyDisk is impressive software and I highly recommended it.

Never too Late but Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Go CHARGERS!

in , , , ,

This is coming to you a tad late, but with Captain upgrade training, traveling back and forth to and from Atlanta then Washington Dulles, back to Atlanta then Dallas, it's been quite hectic. Norah enjoyed her first plane ride to Atlanta and we as parents enjoyed the happiness that comes with traveling with a young mobile child. I know, we know it's shocking that with me being a pilot that we waited so long to take her on a flight but our schedules only lined up recently to which of course they are now out of whack again. This, plus all the exciting happenings at home with our daughter growing up too fast and my wife starting a new job, the tail end of 2013 slid right into 2014 and it's off to a running start!

There are a couple of changes that I'm lining up for elijahnicolas.com to say the least and first and foremost is the styling. (maybe hosting or platform as a whole) I'll have more on that much later but enjoy this family photo and Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Christmas 2014

Oh yeah I forgot to mention. I'm also starting it off this week with a guest post scheduled for tomorrow morning so check back then! It's going to be a great one! GO CHARGERS!!!

Charger Girl Norah

Did you know there are plenty of "Other" Sriracha brands?

in ,

I'm all about trying something new when it comes to condiments. I guess with the impending slow down of shipments from the famous Huy Fong Foods, I'll give Thai Sriracha Sauce by Shark a try. Unlike it's popular US counterpart, this one is made in Thailand. It's on Amazon too!

But there are two sides to the story. Some folks (myself included) find that the Huy Fong version—the one that is almost synonymous with sriracha*—is geared toward the palates of American chili-heads who prize heat above all else, rather than the more balanced sweet-hot-sour balance that the Thai original goes for. Pok Pok chef Andy Ricker is a famous detractor of the stuff, preferring Shark brand, a more traditional made-in-Thailand version.

Shark Sriracha Sauce

2015 Mercedes C-Class Photos

in

If you've been on the fence with the latest Mercedes-Benz CLA, I'd wait another year for the new C-Class! Looking more and more like it's older and more mature sibling S-Class, the newly designed model really elevates the C Series. The aggressive styling and advancement in technology speak for itself. I've been a fan since the original W202 C43 AMG and even owned a W203 C240 Sport and a W203 C55 AMG. Maybe it's time again that we head back to the three-pointed star.

The new C-Class is not only more luxurious and more elegant than the model it replaces, it also boasts the latest safety systems. As well it should, because while the CLA is fashioned as a downsized CLS, the C-Class has long been styled as a smaller version of the S-Class, and that, as we all know, is one of the most technologically advanced vehicles on the market. Those systems include Attention Assist, Adaptive Brake Assist, Collision Prevention Assist Plus, Distronic Plus with Steering Assist, Brake Assist System Plus and Enhanced Active Lane Keeping Assist, as well as Active Park Assist, a 360-degree camera and Traffic Sign Assist with Wrong-Way Alert.

2015 Mercedes C Class

via Autoblog

Mega Man X for ONLY $2.00

in

Yesterday morning, December 16th 9am PT, and lasting until December 18th 8:59pm, you can capitalize on an awesome game for only $2.00! The game you're wondering? Mega Man X! It's normally priced at $7.99 so at 75% off, it's even more of a steal. I just wish it was also made for the 3DSXL, which might just push me over the edge not to mention that Target has all Nintendo 3DSXL consoles for sale at $149.99!!! That's a $50 savings! Best Buy also will price match too so if you've been waiting to pull the trigger, have at it. If you haven't heard, it's all about the latest Zelda: A Link Between Worlds which received a 9.4 on IGN. Of course, there's always Pokemon X or Y which also received rave reviews!

Nintendo eShop Mega Man X

Mega Man X WiiU