The Sochi Winter Olympics are starting in February and we couldn’t think of a better winter athlete to do our quote of the month than former NHL superstar Wayne Gretzky. Gretzky played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League for four teams from 1979 to 1999. He is the leading point scorer in NHL history and is the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season. Gretzky has appeared in the Stanley Cup Finals 6 times with two different teams. He won the cup four times in a row with the Edmonton Oilers in the late-80s. Following his retirement, Gretzky went on to purchase a minority stake in the Phoenix Coyotes NHL franchise and would later become their head coach for five seasons. Gretzky made his first international appearance as a member of the Canadian national junior team at the 1978 World Junior Championships in Montreal, Quebec and Canada went on to win the bronze medal. Gretzky debuted with the Team Canada’s men’s team at the 1981 Canada Cup. He led the tournament in scoring with 12 points en route to a second-place finish to the Soviet Union. Gretzky would lead Canada to Gold in the 1984, 1987, and 1991 Canada Cups. Gretzky would help Canada win silver in the 1996 World Cup after the tournament was revived and renamed to the World Cup.

The 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan were the first Olympics where NHL players were allowed to participate. Expectations were high for the Canadian team, but the team lost to the Czech Republic in the semi-finals. Gretzky was Executive Director of the Canadian men’s hockey team at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah and the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Gretzky was the final Olympic torchbearer at the 2010 Winter Olympics and was named Special Advisor to the Canada men’s national ice hockey team. Gretzky had an uncanny ability to judge the position of the other players on the ice that many said that he played like he had ‘eyes in the back of his head’. His intelligence and reading of the game were unrivaled and he could consistently anticipate where the puck was going to be and execute the right move at the right time. This is what Gretzky would say when asked what makes a great hockey player…

[ratings]

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It’s been seven years since Sony introduced the world to the PlayStation 3. The company tried to sell the PS3 as a living room hub where you could use a multimedia device to not only play video games but also watch movies and listen to music. Sony learned a lot of lessons on what makes a great console. The PS3 was viewed as a difficult system to program for developers. It was expensive to purchase and had an ambitious goal to try to reach out to casual fans with gimmicks that weren’t always about the video games themselves. Sony was introducing Blu-ray media technology for the first time which eventually became the adopted physical media standard. Now, Sony no longer needs to worry about these distractions and their new system reflects this fact with a clear message that it’s a video game console before anything else with an aggressive price point. Let’s take a look at some pros and cons to the PlayStation 4.

Pros:
-Graphics are good
-Dual shock 4 controller is good
-PS Vita remote play over wi-fi
-Excellent hardware performance
-Interface is fast

Cons:
-No DLNA Streaming
-No mp3,mkv,mpg playback
-Payment plan for online gaming
-No bluetooth headset support at launch
-Interface has too many cluttered menus

The first thing to enjoy about the PS4 is its design. The half-gloss, half-matte finish is a pleasant visual compromise and makes it look like a grown-up machine. The PS4 is 6.1 lbs. Sony has tucked the PS4’s power supply inside the system, leaving no external power brick to trip over. In the front, you’ll notice the Blu-ray disc drive to the left followed by two powered USB 3.0 ports on the right, which can charge your DualShock 4 controllers when the system is turned off. On the top, a clear blue line lights to signal when the device is turned on. If you flip to the back of the system, you’ll see only digital/optical ports as Sony no longer supports any video/analog ports. The system is also built with stability in mind as gamers can place the console either horizontally or vertically .

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It’s not so long ago that bacon was shunned by many people. Religious people wouldn’t go near the food and vegetarians thought that they were heart disease sticks. Most people on this website would enjoy waking up early in the morning to the smell of bacon and eggs which became a breakfast tradition. It seems that eating bacon for breakfast isn’t enough anymore and people need to have their bacon fix at any moment like it’s some kind of energy-fueled drug. The first major breakthrough came when food manufacturers were able to distribute pre-cooked bacon. Bacon contains lots of juicy fat that is very easy to splatter when cooking it so it only made sense to make bacon that you could easily shove into a microwave and avoid any hot oils hitting your face and leaving you scarred for life.

One big hit was the invention of baconnaise. This mayo substitute was starting to give people second thoughts at the drive-thru counter when they would use the phrase ‘Please hold the mayo’. Move over ketchup as a new sheriff is in town to take over the condiment world. The company recommends you to put this stuff on sandwiches, dips, sauces and salads. Heck, even vegetarians will love this stuff since it’s got a simulated bacon-like taste without any real bacon in it! If baconnaise wasn’t a good enough substitute for the mayo on your burger – why not try bacon squeeze. Bacon squeeze is a great alternative to the lazy BBQ master who simply didn’t have enough time to throw some bacon strips on the old propane tanker. You can put some bayonnaise on the bun and then add some bacon squeeze for a finishing touch to your burger once all the other condiments have been added to the burger.

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The concept of sitting down at a table to order a meal at a restaurant is nothing new. However, more and more fast food joints and full service restaurants are now trying to use technology to make the interaction between the client and the server less awkward and more accommodating then before. Many restaurants are deploying pilot projects where customers order directly from the tables on i Pads specifically deployed to the tables for that purpose. According to the 2013 Restaurant Industry Forecast by the National Restaurant Association, in-house iPad menus are one of the hottest trends of the year for the nation’s bars and restaurants.

For example, you can use the tablet to custom-build your meal, pay for the bill, and even prepay for the bill ahead of time so that you have more time to enjoy your meal without worrying about the bill at the end. Another example of the benefits of the tablet devices would be educating the customer on a difficult product choice such as wine. Many individuals don’t know much about what type of wine to pair with a specific meal and the tablet can help make the customer make the right selection with their meal. Another great thing about these tablets is that they provide a distraction for kids at the dinner table. Tablets can be used to provide games for young children which will keep them from crying or jumping up and down from boredom. This can allow parents a chance to relax after a long day without worrying about their kids giving them headaches. Overall, let’s look at some of the pros from purchasing these items…

Pros:
-Entertain guests which might force them to stay longer and purchase more items
-Distract kids long enough for their parents to enjoy a quiet meal
-Increase interaction and engagement with customers
-Improve service efficiency
-Educate customers on complex purchases

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The Xbox One is Microsoft’s third attempt at a video game console and their latest attempt is the company trying to recreate their system into an all-in-one entertainment center. The Xbox’s new interface allows users to watch live TV service along with streaming media options, recorded programs and video chat. The Xbox One also includes a built-in Kinect motion sensor/remote extender/voice controller that was previously an accessory for the Xbox 360. Let’s take a look at some pros and cons to the Xbox One.

Pros:
-Easy to share videos with friends
-Powerful interface
-Kinect included in the box
-Good integration with television and DVR

Cons:
-Controller still requires batteries
-Hardware design not aesthetically pleasing
-Live subscription required for Netflix
-Price is way too expensive

The first thing that you’ll notice about the Xbox One is its design. It runs cool and is relatively quiet. It’s quite bulky and won’t be winning any awards for hardware design but its large size leaves a lot of room for the system to be able to breathe. The last console by Microsoft was easy to overheat and break down so we’ll give Microsoft a pass by trying to fix a potential hardware error early rather than to wait for problems down the road. There’s no ports or slots in the front. The only thing in the front is the disc drive and the Xbox One logo that lights up when powered on. All of the ports are neatly hidden in the back. You have all of your standard ports such as HDMI-Out, USB 3.0, ethernet, IR-Out and HDMI-in, which is how you feed the Xbox One your cable or satellite signal.

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