Easy Poached Eggs Recipe

Fresh eggs work best for poaching. Their whites hold together better than older eggs. Some people put a little vinegar in the poaching water—the vinegar helps the proteins in the egg whites coagulate. But the vinegar does affect the taste. I usually skip it.

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Ingredients

• Fresh eggs

Equipment needed

• Saucepan with cover
• Slotted spoon

Method

1 Fill a saucepan with a couple inches of water. Heat the water on high until it reaches a bare simmer and bubbles start appearing at the bottom of the pan, or bring the water to a boil and then lower the heat until the water is at a bare simmer (just a few bubbles coming up now and then).

2 Working with the eggs one at a time, crack the egg into a small bowl or cup. Place the bowl close to the surface of the hot water and gently slip the egg into the water. If you want, use a spoon to push some of the egg whites closer to their yolks, to help them hold together. Add all of the eggs you are poaching to the pan in the same way, keeping some distance between them.

3 Turn off the heat and cover the pan. Set a timer for 4 minutes (or count out loud to 60, four times). At this point the egg whites should be completely cooked, while the egg yolks are still runny. Note that the timing depends on the size of the eggs, and if you are cooking at altitude, so adjust accordingly. If you are at altitude, or want firmer egg yolks, you may need to cook them longer. If you try 4 minutes and the eggs are too cooked, reduce the time.
4 Gently lift the poached eggs out of the pan with a slotted spoon and place on a plate to serve.
To help the eggs keep from spreading too much some people have good results by placing a mason jar ring in the pan. Put a mason jar ring in the bottom of the pan and fill the pan with water to just above the mason jar ring. Slip the raw egg into the water over the mason jar ring and let it settle in the ring. Then turn off the heat and cover the pan.

Using a Fine Mesh Sieve

One way to help your poached egg whites stay together is to remove some of the thin wispy egg whites before you add your eggs to the hot water. An easy way to do this is with a fine mesh sieve.

1 Place the raw egg into a fine mesh sieve over a bowl. The very thin egg whites will drain out through the sieve. Then gently pour the raw egg into your pot of hot water.

2 Notice how there is much less stray egg whites with this method. Turn off the heat and cover the pot (or just lower the heat to low), and cook for 4 minutes until the whites are cooked through. Remove from the pot with a slotted spoon.

Using an Egg Poacher

If you don't want to futz around with trying to keep the eggs from spreading or bumping into each other, the easiest way to make poached eggs is with an egg poacher. The "poacher" is actually coddling the eggs, not truly poaching them, but if what you want is an egg with a cooked white and runny yolk, this is an easy way to do it.

To use an egg poaching pan, remove the cups from the pan that you intend to use. Fill the pan with only 1/2-inch of water and bring it to a low boil. Put a drop or so of olive oil in each of the egg cups you are using and spread around. (The cups are stick-free, but the oil helps.) Crack the eggs into the egg cups, one egg per cup. Place the egg filled cup back in the slot for it in the pan. Cover the pan and cook for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and carefully lift the egg cups out of the pan. Slide the cooked eggs out of the cups onto serving plates or bowls.

source : http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/easy_poached_eggs/

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PayPal will let you pay with Bitcoin, sometimes

First Braintree, and now PayPal. Ebay's popular online payment system recently announced that merchants selling digital goods can opt to start accepting Bitcoin payments via PayPal's payment portal, if they're based in North America.
That means you may soon be able to pay for non-physical goods such as music and comic book downloads with Bitcoin via PayPal.
Sort of.
For now, PayPal will be keeping Bitcoin at arms length, and won't be fully integrating the payment method into its services.

PayPal is the latest major company to take a ride on the Bitcoin bandwagon.

Instead, the company chose three companies to process BitCoin for PayPal merchants including BitPay, Coinbase, and GoCoin. PayPal says it picked these three companies because "all three companies have taken steps to ensure...customers are offered certain protections." That's likely a nod to guarantees that Bitcoin prices are locked in on the day of purchase and aren't subject to fluctuations before processing.
To pay for online purchases with Bitcoin via PayPal, merchants will have to elect to accept the crypto-currency using the PayPal Payments Hub.

PayPal offers several third-party payment options that merchants can offer.

If you don't know what the PayPal Payments Hub is, you've probably seen it in action. This is when you click a PayPal Buy now button on a website and get taken to PayPal's site. There you'll see third-party payment options below the PayPal sign-in window such as credit and prepaid cards.

A cautious approach

Given the potential pitfalls with Bitcoin such as the virtual currency's questionable legal status worldwide and its dramatic pricing swings, it's no wonder PayPal is taking it slow.
With third-party partnerships, PayPal can offer the option to pay with Bitcoin, but PayPal users won't be able to integrate Bitcoin wallets with their PayPal account.
Nevertheless, it does mean you get the familiarity of PayPal, and the option to pay with Bitcoin at the same time. It's not clear if buyers will also need a U.S. or Canadian PayPal account.
PayPal's pre-selling option, where you pay now via PayPal and get your product later, also won't be eligible for Bitcoin payments. The company said it decided against Bitcoin pre-selling, because if a business disappears before your purchase is shipped but after the buyer protection period expires, you could be left empty handed.
Consider this, then, an early trial for Bitcoin payments via Paypal.

source : http://www.pcworld.com/article/2687456/paypal-will-let-you-pay-with-bitcoin-sometimes.html

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Sugar

When it comes to healthy eating, so much is about context. I’ve been reminded of this in the wake of the recent Nigel Latta documentary on television about sugar.
View the documentary here. In the show, Latta highlighted the abundance of sugar in our food supply, and the potential harm this is doing to our health. He showed the heart-breaking reality of the thousands of toddlers who require general anaesthetic to have decayed teeth removed every year. And he made the link between sugar and obesity and related diseases. This clearly resonated with a lot of viewers.
In the same show, Latta went through the supermarket showing how much sugar is in various foods, including obvious things like cereal and less obvious ones, like Marmite. I’ve had some correspondence from readers, alarmed at this, declaring they are clearing their cupboards of all the sugar and tossing out the Marmite along with anything else with sugar in the ingredients list.
It’s certainly a good idea to keep an eye on the added sugar in your diet. That’s because it’s often in highly processed foods, many of which are not ideal for our health. In these foods, sugar comes packaged up with other things that are not good for us, like saturated fat and salt. And some foods, like sweet fizzy drinks, are really just sugar delivery systems which none of us really need at all. Sugar can also lurk in foods where you wouldn’t expect it to be. Peanut butter, tomato sauce, bread, stir-fry sauces – they all contain sugar, sometimes at quite high levels.
The idea of ‘quitting sugar’ has had a lot of airtime in the past year or so, and there are certainly people who’ve made careers and presumably a lot of money out of this idea. I don’t have a problem with this – it’s a simple message and if it gets people eating a little bit healthier, that’s good. But I do have a problem with the direction some of the more extreme advice in this area might lead vulnerable people.
If cutting sugar from your diet means you replace the processed sugary foods with whole, fresh, healthy foods like vegetables and fruit (I don’t think fruit should be demonised for its sugar content), that is great. It can only be a good thing for your health. But if the desire to cut sugar leads to obsessive thinking – checking every label, being preoccupied with what is and isn’t ‘allowed’ – then I question whether that is good, healthy or sustainable long term. One of the things that really breaks my heart is when (non-allergic) people talk of food in terms of what they can’t eat.
And don’t forget context. Yes, that jar of Marmite contains seven teaspoons of sugar. But no-one’s eating the whole jar in one sitting! There’s less than a fifth of a teaspoon of sugar in the smear on my toast. I can live with that, just like I can live with the delicious (small) piece of sweet slice I ate this morning for a colleague’s birthday.
Likewise, don’t be fooled by ‘no added cane sugar’ treats. Just because something doesn’t have white sugar in it, doesn’t make it calorie-free, or a health food. I’ve seen recipes for ‘raw’ and ‘natural’ cakes lately, full of cashew nuts, dried fruit and coconut oil, which pack a meal’s worth of energy into a slice. So remember the context and if you’re going to enjoy these things, remember they’re still a treat.
Part of enjoying life is finding a balance that works for you. If the ‘rules’ of your diet stop you from doing things or enjoying life in a normal way; if you find yourself asking “Am I allowed to eat that?” – it’s time to re-evaluate.

source : http://www.healthyfood.co.nz/blogs/niki-bezzant/2014/september/16/sugar-dont-forget-the-big-picture

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Alibaba's IPO could be 'open sesame' for global expansion

Alibaba, an e-commerce giant in China, wants to make new friends in the U.S. Especially friends with money.
The firm is expected to begin offering shares Friday for $68 a pop on the New York Stock Exchange, in one of the biggest IPOs ever. At that price, the company could raise almost $22 billion, on par with the Agricultural Bank of China's record-setting $22 billion 2010 offering, and handsomely beating Facebook's $16 billion in 2012.

Outside of the investor community, Alibaba is also making nice with a growing number of U.S. consumers and tech companies, as part of an international expansion that could accelerate following its listing.
Don't expect any consumer-facing store ready to steal Amazon's or eBay's thunder. At least not yet. The Chinese company certainly has its eyes on becoming a global Internet player, according to industry analysts and close observers. The path to its goal, however, may not depend only on e-commerce, but also on carving different niches in countries including but not limited to the U.S.
"The IPO claims Alibaba's stake as a global company," said Kelland Willis, an analyst at research firm Forrester who studies e-commerce.
"So much of the world's transactions take place in the U.S.," echoed Scott Strawn, an analyst with research firm IDC. "If you want to compete on a global stage you need to be competing in the U.S."
Earlier this week, the company's founder and executive chairman, Jack Ma, told reporters in Hong Kong that Alibaba plans to "strongly expand" in the U.S. and European markets after its U.S. listing.
Despite its international ambitions, Alibaba's short-term plans will probably target the low-hanging fruit -- growing its existing e-commerce websites in its home market by attracting more foreign merchants and overseas Chinese to them.
Two of Alibaba's biggest consumer-facing sites are Tmall and Taobao, which although dominant in the Chinese market, still have plenty of room to grow and must fend off competition from local e-commerce firms.
"I don't think they have a global plan yet," said Bryan Wang, an analyst with Forrester, adding, "Alibaba's marketplace model may not work in every single country, especially the U.S."
The U.S. has its own entrenched e-commerce companies in Amazon and eBay, and analysts don't envision Alibaba competing with them head-on. The probability of success is low, and meanwhile the Chinese market is still teeming with business opportunities.
Nevertheless, Alibaba has been active in the U.S. Most recently, it launched 11Main, an invitation-only marketplace offering specialty goods, that went online as a beta this past June.
In 2010, it founded AliExpress, an English e-commerce site designed for foreign customers who want to buy retail goods from Chinese merchants. The site is growing, especially in Russia, Brazil and the U.S., the company said in a recent securities filing.
AliExpress and 11Main aren't exactly designed for mainstream American consumers. But Alibaba also has been investing in U.S. tech companies, and not just in the e-commerce sector. It's funded ShopRunner, an online retail site with free two-day shipping, as well as messaging app Tango and ride-sharing service Lyft, among several others.

That activity drives speculation that Alibaba is ready to buy its way into the U.S. market. But Alibaba's recent investments suggest that it is more interested, at least for the time being, in learning how things are done in the U.S. tech sector, rather than outright buying companies, said Michael Clendenin, managing director for consulting firm RedTech Advisors.
"I think they want to take those experiences and apply it back to the home market," he said, pointing to Alibaba's recent investment in U.S. mobile gaming company Kabam as an example. "They are looking at how they can be more competitive in their own domestic gaming market."
Alibaba is already generating more sales in gross merchandise volume than Amazon and eBay combined. And in its 2014 fiscal year ended in March, the company posted sales of $8.46 billion, up more than 50 percent from the previous year.
Sales are expected to grow, even though Alibaba's business is still largely focused on China. The country itself has 632 million Internet users, who are increasingly relying on the Web to make purchases, even as half of China's population still remains offline.
But the country only offers so much growth, and inevitably Alibaba will have to tap foreign markets to keep earnings strong, analysts say.
In the short term, the IPO will undoubtedly help the Chinese company generate international public awareness among consumers, businesses and investors. Funds raised may also let Alibaba make capital investments globally in the areas of infrastructure, data centers and cloud computing.
Further out, Alibaba may be looking to compete more with Google than with Amazon or eBay. As the firm attracts new users and businesses to its sites, and becomes active in more areas outside of e-commerce, the real gold for the company could be consumer data. It's already been trying to expand in China, by launching its own mobile operating system, search engines and messaging app, although they've all struggled to take off among the country's users.

"If you provide people with more reasons to come and visit your sites, then you're able to collect more information about who they are and what their interests are, and you can direct their activities toward things that will drive transactions," said IDC's Strawn.
Analysts are also not ruling out the possibility that Alibaba could use the IPO dollars to make an acquisition or two, but it's not clear what those might be.
Alibaba, like Google or Facebook, is broadening its scope, "branching out into all aspects of the Internet," said Strawn. The Silicon Valley giants want to own people's time online, and now Alibaba's trying to get into the mix.

source : http://www.computerworld.com/article/2686194/alibabas-ipo-could-be-open-sesame-for-global-expansion.html

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Windows 9 leaks: How to get its best new features today

Brad Chacos @BradChacos

• Sep 12, 2014 2:20 PM
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Update: This article was originally published on April 16, 2014 but was updated with virtual desktop information and tweaked language on September 12, 2014 when leaks of the Windows 9 Technical Preview appeared. The Windows 9 Technical Preview is expected to be announced in late September or early October.
Between the release of the PC-friendly spring update for Windows 8.1 and the newfound introduction of universal “buy once, play anywhere” Windows apps, Microsoft is doing all it can to spur the One Microsoft vision while, well, letting a PC be a PC and a tablet be a tablet. But, sadly, the most anticipated improvements have yet to arrive.
At Build 2014, Microsoft operating system head Terry Myerson teased bringing the Start Menu to Windows 8, along with the ability to run universal Metro apps in desktop windows rather than the full screens they consume today. (See screenshot above.) Myerson didn’t say when the features were going live, however—only that they’d eventually appear in a later update for Windows 8.1 users. Does that mean later this year? The Windows “Threshold” update rumored for April 2015? Windows 9, which is rumored to be announced in Technical Preview form in early October? No one knows.
But you don’t have to wait to get those killer features. With the first universal apps hitting the various Windows Stores this week, here’s how to bring a Start menu, windowed Metro apps, and virtual desktops to Windows 8.1 today.

The return of the Start Menu

A slew of Start menu replacements hit the web the second the Start Menu-less Windows 8 hit the streets, but when it comes time to put your cash on the line, the decision boils down to just two programs: Stardock’s Start8 and Classic Shell.

Stardock

Stardock’s polished Start8 Start Menu matches the color of your taskbar. (Click to enlarge.)

Those reviews have all the nitty-gritty details, but you’ll probably want to start with Classic Shell since it’s donationware. Classic Shell includes options for both Windows XP- and Windows 7-style Start menus, along with numerous customization options. You can tinker with what’s listed in the Classic Shell Start Menu, or even change the look of its Start button to an icon of your choice. Cool stuff, indeed.
Start8, meanwhile, offers either a Windows 7 Start Menu or a Modern UI-tinged Windows 8 Start Menu that’s more in line with what Microsoft itself is cooking up. The $5 Start8 app is more polished and easier to use than the open-source Classic Shell, which is chock full of ugly buttons. Start8 still offers plenty of options and features, though, and you can’t go wrong with either program.

Windowed desktop Metro apps

Sure, the recent update to Windows 8.1 adds plenty of mouse-friendly features, but it still doesn’t let you use Modern apps in desktop windows. If you want that capability today, you only have one place to turn: The utterly superb ModernMix software.

ModernMix in action. Seriously, buy it today.

Again offered by Stardock—do you get the feeling that the folks at Stardock weren’t impressed by Windows 8?—ModernMix exists solely to let you run Windows Store apps in desktop Windows. It’s wonderful if you use Windows 8’s native apps, such as email, calendar, and Music, all of which stick to the Modern UI.
ModernMix runs like a charm even with the updates recently introduced to Windows 8.1. It’s well worth the $5 admission price.

Virtual desktops

WinFuture.de

The virtual desktop functionality that appeared in a leaked build of the Windows 9 technical preview.

Windows has long limited you to a single desktop interface. OS X and Linux operating systems, on the other hand, support virtual desktops—essentially multiple, configurable, virtual desktops you're able to switch between, so that you can have completely separate desktop interfaces for work and play or whatever.
But Windows 9 appears destined to ditch that one desktop frame of mind. While anything can change before now and the official release of the next version of Windows, rumors and outright leaks reveal that yes, Windows 9 may just include virtual desktop support.

One PC, many virtual desktops, courtesy of Dexpot.

Why wait? If you want to start using virtual desktops on Windows today, just download Dexpot. It's not only free for personal use, it's chock full of UI hints that remind you that new desktop experiences are just a click away. Dexpot is insanely customizable and so finely polished that it makes virtual desktops feel like a native part of Windows—which they may soon be.

Bringing it all together

There you have it: For less than the cost of a pizza, you can have Windows 9’s most-anticipated improvements right now. Give yourself time to get used to Dexpot and you'll wonder how you ever managed to work without virtual desktops. And once you’ve welcomed a Start Menu replacement and ModernMix into your workflow—especially paired with the Windows 8.1 spring Update’s tremendous tweaks—you might just be surprised how well those newfangled Modern apps translate to the familiar desktop experience.

source : http://www.pcworld.com/article/2144540/dont-wait-for-windows-9-how-to-get-a-start-menu-windowed-metro-apps-today.html

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Blackberry Shortcake

Who says strawberries have an imposing business model on shortcake treats? In genuine dissent with respect to the end of August and the sunlight hours that get shorter and shorter, I purchased a tremendous bushel of blackberries at the business today. I threw them with a little lemon squeeze and sugar and let them macerate while I made a cluster of margarine and cream bread rolls.

Obviously the issue with making shortcake rolls is that I can't resist the opportunity to call my father to let him know about it. Which obviously implies that before I'm even done capturing the completed work, he's thumping at the entryway. (I think he headed to get here quicker. He exists seven houses down the road. It takes 5 minutes to walk.)

Father attempted to leave with 50% of the rolls, however stayed to talk so we wound up consuming a few and he scarcely escaped from here with enough to take home to mother.

Blackberry Shortcake

As to berries, for this group we utilized berries from the business sector. They weren't as tasty as the wild berries that I single out searching outings, or as tart. So I added lemon squeeze and get-up-and-go to heighten the flavor. On the off chance that you are utilizing wild blackberries, or you have an especially decent cluster of business berries, you could most likely effortlessly skirt the lemon. Berries fluctuate in their sweetness. Begin light with the sugar and add more to taste.

The scone formula is one we've adjusted throughout the years from an old (2003) issue of Fine Cooking. We've diminished the measure of spread from the first formula. With the majority of the cream, you could most likely decrease it significantly further on the off chance that you needed, or substitute a portion of the cream with buttermilk.

Blackberry Shortcake Recipe

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Yield: Serves 6

Spare Recipe

Fixings

Blackberries:

2 to 2 1/2 pounds of blackberries (6 to 8 glasses), tenderly flushed if new, defrosted if solidified (spare any squeezes that originate from defrosting!)

1/4 glass to 1/2 container of sugar (to taste, contingent upon the pungency of the berries)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon lemon get-up-and-go

Rolls:

3 containers flour

3 Tbsp sugar

4 teaspoons preparing powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

8 Tbsp chilly margarine, cut into little 3d squares

1/2 containers substantial cream

1 teaspoon vanilla concentrate

Whipped Cream:

1 container substantial whipping cream

2 teaspoons powdered sugar

A couple of drops of vanilla concentrate

Strategy

1 Put the blackberries into an extensive vessel, sprinkle with sugar, and throw to layer all the berries with sugar. Utilize a potato masher to delicately crush about a large portion of the berries, discharging their juices. Blend in lemon squeeze and get-up-and-go. Let sit for 20 minutes to a hour to macerate, permitting the sugar to help discharge a greater amount of the juices from the blackberries.

blackberry-shortcake-1 blackberry-shortcake-2

2 In a substantial bowl vivaciously whisk together the flour, sugar, heating powder and salt. Include the chilled margarine 3d shapes and utilize your fingers (or a fork, baked good cutter, or sustenance processor) to split the spread and blend with the flour until the biggest bits of spread are the extent of peas.

blackberry-shortcake-3 blackberry-shortcake-4

3 Make a well in the focal point of the flour mixture and spill in the cream and vanilla. Utilize a fork to blend the flour and the cream until the batter simply meets up. It ought to have a fairly shaggy appearance. Unfilled on to a clean surface and manipulate a couple times to structure a detached ball. Don't over blend or over work!

blackberry-shortcake-5 blackberry-shortcake-6

4 Place ball on a little tray or heating sheet and structure into a 8-inch by 8-inch square. Spread with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for 15 to 20 minutes.

blackberry-shortcake-7 blackberry-shortcake-8

5 Preheat broiler to 425°f. Once the mixture has chilled sufficiently, expel it from the cooler and cut it into 9 even squares. Organize them on a preparing sheet with an inch or two between each one square.

Heat at 425°f until the scones are pleasantly cooked, around 18 minutes.

6 While the bread rolls are heating place the substantial whipping cream into a huge chilled dish (I generally put a metal blending vessel into the cooler for a couple of minutes in the event that I know I'm going to be making whipped cream.) Sprinkle with powdered sugar and a couple of drops of vanilla concentrate. Utilize a hand blender to beat until you have tops that to some degree hold their shape. Chill until prepared to serve.

7 When the bread rolls are prepared, expel them from the stove and let them cool for a couple of minutes. To serve, put one in a dish or pastry plate, pull it separated down the middle. Place an expansive scoop of berries and the juices from the berries over the lowest part half. Top with the other a large portion of the roll and a liberal spot of whipped cream.

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Saving files to memory is something that's supposed to be mostly invisible for the end user. We don't need to think about it; it just has to work. But whether it's a solid-state or hard disk drive, conventional storage solutions have their limitations -- namely, speed, rewritability and durability. A team at IBM Research's Almaden facility in California has a cure for all of that and it's called "racetrack memory."
Stuart Parkin, an IBM fellow heading up research into the field of magnetoelectronics andspintronics, is the man overseeing the creation of this new storage solution that's poised to kill your hard drive. Which is ironic because IBM invented the HDD back in the mid-1950s. So what exactly is racetrack memory? Imagine a series of tiny magnets, all built one atomic layer at a time by Parkin's team, that can be moved up and down along a (figurative) racetrack "in a highly coherent fashion" with the application of a simple current. That arrangement not only guarantees increased read/write speeds, but it's also cheaper to produce, is incredibly resilient due to the lack of moving parts and boosts storage capacity significantly.
Already, Parkin's team has been able to demonstrate the advantages of this new storage solution by applying it to existing flash memory chips. His team was able to generate about "250 of these magnetic domain walls in one racetrack" which, when applied to flash, could increase storage capacity by a factor of 100. And, what's more, it won't ever wear out, meaning it'd be infinitely rewritable. That's something flash memory simply cannot do in its current state.
Watch as Parkin explains how racetrack memory could pave the way for more efficient, more compact computing devices.
Stay tuned for part two of our inside look at IBM's Almaden research facility.

source :  http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/04/ibm-wants-to-kill-the-hard-drive/

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