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2/16/25

Dot Com Lunch at Nep Cafe Irvine

  


Dot Com Lunch at Nep Cafe Irvine

Exploring Modern Vietnamese Cuisine at Nep Cafe

Nep Cafe presents a fresh and innovative approach to Vietnamese cuisine, blending traditional flavors with modern culinary techniques. With locations in both Fountain Valley and Irvine, the cafe has become a must-visit destination for those seeking a refined and contemporary Vietnamese dining experience. Our visit took us to the Irvine location, where we enjoyed a carefully curated lunch featuring some of the cafe's standout dishes.

A Fusion of Flavors: The Culinary Experience


Our meal began with a seafood ceviche appetizer, a delightful mix of scallop, shrimp, and calamari, all infused with a flavorful tom yum sauce. This sauce, made from Thai chili, mango, and coconut, added a unique depth to the dish. The ceviche was served alongside rice chips, which provided the perfect vessel for scooping up the seafood medley. The combination of textures and flavors made this appetizer an excellent start to our meal.

Next, we indulged in Nep's signature garlic noodles. Made with a rich blend of garlic butter soy, lemongrass sate, and garlic, this dish exemplified the robust and savory qualities of Vietnamese cuisine. Diners have the option to add shrimp or crab meat to the dish; we chose the shrimp, which was perfectly charred and complemented the noodles beautifully.

The highlight of our visit was the Bánh Mì Chao, a dish that served as the primary reason for our visit. This dish is essentially a deconstructed Vietnamese sandwich, featuring an assortment of meats, sausages, eggs, and pâté served on a skillet, accompanied by loaves of bread. Our order included filet mignon in a rich black peppercorn sauce, two sunny-side-up eggs, pork roll, pâté, and tomatoes. The bread was served separately, allowing diners to enjoy it on its own or combine it with the main dish.

Quality and Value

The cost for lunch came to just over $40 per person, which is higher than typical Vietnamese eateries but justified by the quality of ingredients and the level of service. Given Irvine's competitive dining scene, Nep Cafe stands out with its unique and upscale take on traditional Vietnamese flavors.

For those looking to explore a modern interpretation of Vietnamese cuisine, Nep Cafe offers a compelling dining experience that merges authenticity with innovation.

#food #tech #VietnameseCuisine #Vietnamese #DotCom #NepCafe #Irvine #seafoodceviche #garlicnoodles #BánhMìChao

Live Streaming Gear Setup Options

 





1. Hardware


2. Software


3. Internet Connection


4. Streaming Platform



5. Additional Considerations

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2/10/25

Get to Know Your Headphones

Get to Know Your Headphones


Headphones are great to use to listen to music, while watching television or viewing a movie, and when using your personal computer. There are thousands of applications where you can use headphones. There are a lot of brands and types that you can choose from nowadays, depending on the application. 


Basically, a headphone has three parts: the driver, the earpiece and the attachment system. The driver is the ‘sound producer’. It is a transducer which converts electrical signal to the audio sound that you hear once you place the headphones on your ears. The earpiece is the physical part which you put to your ears. There are a lot of types of earpiece that you can choose from. Finally, the attachment system is the part which holds everything together. This can either be the headbands - for types which have one - or the wires which hold two ear buds together. The job of the attachment system if to make the earpiece somehow fit your ears. 


Headphones can be attached to any music player, to mobile phones or to a personal computer. If you want to get rid of the outside noise and you just want to concentrate on the sound, there are noise-canceling variants that you can choose from. The open-type headphones generally have better sound quality than the noise canceling type. 


When it comes to the design of the headphones, then you can choose one that will best suit your application. Clip-on headphones do not have headbands, the earpiece can easily be attached to your ears. There are also wireless headphones that are available. Ear buds are made up of earpieces that can fit the inner part of your ear. Headsets combine the functionality of a microphone and an earphone. Street style headphones are best used for music-listening purposes. Ear pads have two flat pads as earpieces. With all the designs and brands available in the market now, you will surely find the type of headphones that will best suit your need and lifestyle. 

#tech #headphones #hardware

2/9/25

PlayStation Network Restored After Temporary Outage

 


PlayStation Network Restored After Temporary Outage

Sony has successfully resolved the PlayStation Network (PSN) outage that had affected players worldwide. As of now, all online services, including the PlayStation Store and multiplayer gaming, are fully operational.

Outage Resolved

The official confirmation of the fix came from the Ask PlayStation Japan Twitter account, which issued a brief statement:

"This problem has now been resolved. We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience caused."

At this time, Sony has not provided details on the cause of the outage.

Original Issue

The outage, which began in the early hours of February 9, 2025 (GMT), impacted PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 users, preventing access to online services. Sony acknowledged the issue through a statement on social media, confirming they were investigating and working on a resolution.

Unfortunately, the timing of the disruption was particularly inconvenient for gamers, as it coincided with the Monster Hunter Wilds Open Beta. While Xbox and PC players continued their sessions uninterrupted, PlayStation users were left waiting for services to resume.

Gaming Back to Normal

With PSN now restored, players can return to their gaming sessions without further disruption. Whether you were eager to jump into online matches or browse the PlayStation Store, everything should now be functioning as expected.

Sony has yet to release an official explanation for the downtime, but for now, gamers can resume their activities without interruption.

#gaming #PlayStation

2/6/25

Accessorizing Computers What Comes Out of the Box is a Really Just a Starter Kit


Yesterday, we spent about three hours trying to convince a client of ours that brand new computers just don’t come equipped with the all things that most computers need in a PC. We tried to convince him that a fully functional computer is one that is personalized with specially selected hardware and software accessories - and that the computer purchased at the store doesn’t come with these things. Unfortunately, all of our convincing was to our avail. Our client insisted that he should never need more than what came with his boxed product and that we were just trying “bilk” more money out of him.


As computer consultants, it’s our job and mission to make sure our clients are 100% satisfied when they walk out our offices. But our job is unnecessarily made harder when people don’t take the time to learn about computer accessories and familiarize themselves with the limitations of store-bought computers. Hopefully by the time you finish reading this article, you’ll understand the lesson that we were trying to teach our client: “What comes out of the box is really just a starter kit.”


The typical computer package comes with a CPU unit, keyboard, mouse, and speaker set. That may be just fine for some, but most people require more than that especially in today’s “connected” society. Today’s users require full multimedia capabilities, a wide range of graphics tools, and accommodations for the various portables we now enjoy. These extras aren’t included with “what comes out of the box,” and the only way to get them is to accessorize.


To illustrate the importance of accessorizing, we like to use the “plain dough” analogy. Let’s say that a brand new computer is a batch of plain dough – waiting to be flavored and baked into something useful. If we want to use this dough to make a delicious batch of chocolate chip cookies, we would need to “accessorize” this dough with chocolate chips and a little brown sugar. If we want to use this dough into in a warm loaf of sesame seed bread on the other hand, we’d need to “accessorize” the dough with yeast and sesame seeds.


Like “plain dough,” the brand new computer isn’t very useful by itself. It needs accessorizing.


Depending on what’s needed, accessorizing doesn’t need to be expensive. In fact, you can get away with paying a minimal amount for extra software and hardware if these accessories are for children. It’s when these accessories are work requirements or when they’re needed to produce works of quality for any other reason that they can become rather expensive. And this expense applies to microphones, digital cameras, PDAs, scanners, video cams, and more.


Regardless of cost, it’s important to understand that accessories can become “necessities,” and that the best time to get them is the moment you buy a new computer. Waiting too long to accessorize can cause more problems than necessary because while you wait, manufacturers continuously develop new technologies – technologies that your computer won’t be able to accommodate in the future. Once you’re ready to accessorize, the new products on the market are too advanced for your computer and they just won’t work. This is a typical problem experienced by those who want to use hardware designed for Windows Vista on a Windows XP or Windows 2000 machine. 

#computer #computers #tech #accessories #technical


1/30/25

Want Your Own Blackhawk?



OPINION

Want your own Blackhawk?: "The unit cost of the Army's UH-60L Black Hawk is $5.9 million while the Air Force HH-60G Pave Hawk has a unit cost of $10.2 million."


I was at OBC at Ft Lee, VA. The Garrison/Urban area is like a small city; buildings, traffic,  stop lights, etc. Near where we had classes there was a Helicopter hovering over an intersection on a regular basis. So one day in class the instructor asked us if we knew what that Helicopter was doing. He explained that they were using the cars as practice target for their weapon system. Cool...


From my experience ONLY, The Military should NOT be training near civilians. If things go bad civilians are the collateral.

#Blackhawk #Crash #American #Airlines


RESEARCH

The military sometimes trains near civilians to simulate real-world combat scenarios where they might encounter non-combatants in populated areas, allowing them to practice de-escalation tactics, cultural awareness, and appropriate responses in complex environments, especially when deployed to urban areas during conflicts; however, they usually take measures to minimize disruption and ensure civilian safety through designated training areas and controlled exercises. 

Key points about military training near civilians:

Realistic training:

By training in areas with civilian presence, soldiers can practice decision-making in situations where they need to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, which is crucial in modern warfare.

Role-playing:

Military units may utilize civilian role-players to further enhance the realism of training exercises, helping them understand local customs and potential challenges.

Community engagement:

In some cases, training near civilian areas can foster positive community relations and awareness of military activities.

Safety considerations:

Military bases often have designated training areas and protocols to minimize disruption and potential hazards to civilians during exercises. 


Sony reduces OLED burn-in fears with a three-year warranty on InZone monitorsS


https://snip.ly/qlc1e4

#Sony #Monitor #OLED

Rapid Radio Walkie Talkie

  


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#survival #camping #communication #prepping 

1/27/25

Chinese AI App DeepSeek Soars in Popularity, Startling Rivals



Chinese AI App DeepSeek Soars in Popularity, Startling Rivals


Nintendo Switch Part Deux – The TouchArcade



Nintendo Switch Part Deux – The TouchArcadNintendo Switch Part Deux – The TouchArcade


Ninja Gaiden isn’t the only Team Ninja game coming to PC this year, because Rise of the Ronin just got a PC date



Ninja Gaiden isn’t the only Team Ninja game coming to PC this year, because Rise of the Ronin just got a PC date



Effectively Using Overture/Yahoo To Get Website Visitors


Effectively Using Overture/Yahoo To Get Website Visitors


Overture or now known as Yahoo because of Yahoo's takeover, was the original inventor of the use of the P4P or Pay for Performance. Overture saw that the internet was fast becoming the easiest and most convenient way to shop, and advertising was going to hit at an all time high because of the many businesses in the arena.


To get a person to go to a site than others, it needs to be very visible. Providing ads that could direct potential consumers and costumers to their site would allow them to have an increase in traffic as well as sales. Yahoo provides a service that can put a site or company's ad in their sites that can be shown when certain keywords are inputted. 


Yahoo offers a chance for any company to increase their traffic by using their services. With more people being aware of your site, there would be more traffic and visitors to your site given the chance to view your pages as well as your products. With even a small percentage of successful sales, with a high traffic volume this could still be a substantial figure for your company. 


Getting a consistent substantial flow of website visitors is every company's goal. Many methods are devised and utilized to ensure that there would be more people to boost the sales and to be aware of the existence of such a product or service. Website visitors are potentially the life blood of your internet based business. 


Yahoo/Overture utilizes the same principle as Google's Adwords. In fact, they are very similar to each other that they use keyword and keyword phrase searches and to determine which ads to show per search. When a person types in a keyword or keyword phrase to search for anything, the search engines gives out the results in a page. Then at the right side of the page, you will see selected ads that have paid for their ads to be viewed with certain keywords and keyword phrases searched. 


For example, Lets say you run a car parts retail/wholesale site. You choose keywords that can prompt or trigger your ads to be shown in the page when a keyword is searched. When a search engine user types in Honda Accord, your ad may come up if you have designated that as one of your keywords. You don't need to fully optimize your site with Search Engine Optimization methods and techniques. 


While some labor so hard to make their site one of the high ranking sites per keyword search, you get the chance to be on the top of the list or at least in the first page of a search result increasing your chance to be clicked on. With that, you drive traffic and website visitors to your site a lot faster. 


You will have to pony up some cash when using this service though. There are different ways Yahoo/Overture will charge you. It may be in the number of Keywords or Keyword phrases your ad uses or in the many times your ad is clicked on. Others offer many other services like having your ad show up not only in the search engine pages but also with some third party sites.


Third party sites support ads that have the same theme or niche as them. With more areas your ad is shown, you increase the chances of people knowing about your site or product. With more website visitors you increase the sales of your site which makes your investment with your ads a wise one. 


With so many competitions in the internet based businesses, it is necessary to take a huge leap forward from the pack by advertising. Yahoo/Overture will be a great place to start. Many have utilized their services and have reaped the rewards of this decision. It's a marketing strategy that will increase your website visitors as well as increase your sales resulting to profit.  


It takes money to make money, while there are some methods that are basically low cost or free, using a marketing service such as what Yahoo/Overture offers will provide results faster and on a larger scale. Many businesses have learned this the hard way, don't be counted with them. 

#webtraffic #internet #business #advertising

1/23/25

Why Streaming Video On Blogs Is Popular

    


Why Streaming Video On Blogs Is Popular 


One may have noticed that recently it became very popular for individuals to post streaming videos on their blogs or online journals.  Some people may have asked themselves why streaming video on blogs is popular, and the answer to this can be fairly in depth.  First of all, the purpose of a blog is to share information with one's self or others.  Most people that are going to be using a computer are fairly literate, but in some cases the individuals are not.  When they come to a blog, they can get some of the information from the video and still be able to have a more dependable grasp on the concept, as opposed to not being able to view the video or read the blog.  Secondly, many people do not have time during their busy day to commit to reading.  It is not very easy to read something, and perform other actions at the same time.


However, many people will notice that we are able to watch television and do other things at the same time.  The same is true when it comes to viewing streaming videos on blogs.  Whether the individual is just doing other things on the computer, or they are actually away from the computer but watching the video as if it were the television, the individual that is doing the viewing is able to multi-task in a way that they would be unable to do without the video on the blog.  This simply helps to smooth out a person's life so that they can do other things at the same time, should the individual be in a hurry or want to multi-task.


Some people do not read as fast as others.  However, we all view things at the same speed.  When an individual is not able to read something quickly, they may not be as inclined to work on reading a blog that they may otherwise be interested in reading.  In order to make up for this, many people will post streaming videos on their blog sites in order to capture the attention of an individual that may be either viewing the videos on the blog or reading the blog itself.  If a person sees a video that they are interested in, they may be more likely to read the blog that coincides with it, even if they are a slow reader, because of the fact that they enjoyed the video.  However, this may not be as true of the individual that does not have a video to help pull them in to the blog itself.


Instead, a person may merely skim the blog or skip it entirely.  We are in an age of constantly moving, and unless a person makes a conscious effort to stop and observe something, they are not as inclined to do so.  When people wonder why streaming video on blogs is popular, they really only need to look at the many ways in which the individuals involved are able to prosper both by viewing the video and by posting the video.







1. Hardware


2. Software


3. Internet Connection


4. Streaming Platform



5. Additional Considerations

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#video #streaming #marketing #business

Using Google Adwords To Drive Laser Targeted Traffic

 

 


Using Google Adwords To Drive Laser Targeted Traffic


The biggest well known secret in generating wealth in the internet based business or e-commerce is Traffic. Everybody knows it; every site wants it and every site needs it. The point of websites is to be visited and viewed. Many elaborate designs, money and countless hours of developing a site to make them beautiful and attractive are utilized. Without traffic, it is for naught. 


With traffic comes a potential customer which basically means sales which in turn means profit. While many sites have collapsed in the past with the downturn of many internet based business, many smaller sites have generated good money by concentrating on a certain niche and some subniches. 


This is a reason why e-commerce site laser target certain groups of people and drive them to their site to showcase their sites and products. Precision marketing is essential so that you could count on all the traffic on your site as potential customers.


Using Money to Make Money


It's a common business notion that if you want to make money, you have to spend money. One good way of spending money for business gain is through advertising. Advertising brings in the people because through advertising, they know that there is such a company or product in existence. With the right type of advertising, you can see the spurt of traffic growth to your site. With a high volume of traffic, even if only a small portion or percentage turns out to be buying customers it is still a good average of profit generating income.


Right now, there is no other advertising scheme that would be worth every cent than using Google's Adwords. The surge in popularity of Google's Adwords is very evident as you can see so many sites sporting this ad scheme. 


In using Google's Adwords, you pay a certain fee depending on the number of keywords your ad is keyword sensitive to. Each time a person does a search in Google, the keyword or keywords use generate ads in the side of Google which are generated by the keywords they have assigned for their ads.


This method laser targets the traffic a site wants for their site. This also ensures that you are readily visible in the first page of a search result. Paying Google for this ad scheme ensures that your target group of people sees your ads. You drive your laser targeted traffic to your site which provides for their needs and wants. You can also be sure that you can meet their demands and needs. 


Aside from Google, you can also be featured in their other search networks, these includes sites like, AskJeeves, AOL Search and Netscape. These sites also show Adwords ads that react to searches done by visitors. There are also content networks, non-search engine sites that feature Google Adwords, which will also carry your ads. But this is subjected to the niche the site features. Your chosen keywords will determine which content network shall feature your ad. The frequency of your ad shall also be determined by your allowed budget.


Laser Targeting your Traffic


To get a good number or estimate of the traffic to buying customer ratio it is good to laser target your traffic. Knowing that your traffic are all potential customers and are interested in your products and company provides you with a more accurate statistics. This will show you how effective your utilizing of Google Adwords is.


Drive laser targeted traffic to your site by using keywords or keyword phrases for your Goggle Adwords that pertains to your company and to your products. There are many online internet tools that can help you in choosing keywords and keyword phrases that are currently in demand that could help drive laser targeted traffic to your site.


With your Google Adwords ad, you are ensured that every click to your ad is a potential customer that is precisely looking pr interested in what you have to offer. Make sure that your Google Adwords ad has the right keywords so that you can drive you're laser targeted traffic to your site. 


Using Google Adwords to help boost the drive to increase laser targeted traffic will prove to be very beneficial as many other companies can attest to. The benefits are high with the cost relatively justifiable. 


#Google #Adwords #marketing #advertising