Ryanair and Easyjet planes touch down one after the other with a familiar seasonal thud, near-rupturing under the weight of raucous young passengers whose eyes glow with feverish holiday excitement and whose purses spill out with stocked-up summer savings. Business wear is swapped for bikinis and beach bottoms while bacon butties begin to stifle morning hunger as pasty Brits make their way towards the irresistible beat of beach music with fake tan in one hand and vodka in the other.

When dusk finally settles, a leopard faced man in a tophat starts to perch outside a high rise hotel clutching facepaint while nearby a Spanish traveller and his girlfriend dust themselves down with glitter outside a local supermarket before fervently beckoning party goers towards their golden dust, which at €20 a go resembles even real gold in price. Party shimmer wafts through the warm evening air, the buzz of daytime…

Awards season officially kicked into high gear Thursday morning, with the long-awaited big reveal of this year’s Oscar nominees.

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Chris Hemsworth and Cheryl Boone Issacs, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, named the names in Beverly Hills. American Hustle and Gravity received 10 nominations each, including those for Best Picture. Following, with nine, was 12 Years a Slave.

Version 3.0 started Jan 1st.  Among the new requirements of version 3.0 are steps to mitigate payment card risks posed by third parties, such as cloud providers and payment processors.  Also, a contract will be required for all parties involved with credit card processing to ensure PCI Compliance obligations are understood.  To hear the full interview click here

Butterflies are infinitely beautiful to paint or draw and serve as a lasting reminder of summer. They’re also the ultimate symbol of change, transformation & metamorphosis. This is an original pen, ink and watercolour rendition.

Scar stared in the distance. The city of Erindale sat nestled peacefully against Redrock Mountain under the light of the moons Alta and Sinta above. Rage filled him for a second, so strong it caused his hands to shake. He griped the ship rail as he continued to study the night sky.

Suddenly, in the distance, a single flash of light could be seen arching its way into the night sky. The fire arrow slowly peaked and then dived into the water of Crystal Lake.

“Mad Eye has succeeded.” Scar hissed with satisfaction as he turned from the glowing lights. His eyes bounced off the gathered crew before him. They were the roughest group of sailors, cutthroats, murderers, and rapist he could find in the scattered fishing villages of the Dreadbin.

“Are you bastards ready for some fun?” he growled as he loosened his cutlass.

The…

Pacsafe has a comprehensive line-up of anti-theft products ranging from RFID blocking wallets to roll along luggage, and everything in between. For the past few months I’ve been testing the Pacsafe Z28 backpack which is part of their Heritage series.

The Pacsafe Z28 urban security backpack is one of the largest mobile security backpacks available on the market.

With a cavernous 28L interior main compartment, this thing is more than big enough to carry all of your technology needs and much more. It is constructed of heavy-duty polyester canvas.

Despite its size, the Z28 is very comfortable to wear with its quilted back support and fully adjustable padded shoulder harness with sternum strap and waist strap, both of which are removable.  For size comparison purposes I am 5 foot 11 inches and 225 lbs.

Taking a Closer Look

There are two main components to the Z28 backpack; the lid…