Bender0x7D1 - Slashdot User

Submission + - Hacking American Idol

Submitted by Bender0x7D1 on Wednesday March 12, 2008 @03:01PM

Bender0x7D1 writes: Since we have come to another season of voting for the next American Idol, I was trying to come up with ways to hack the voting. Some methods would be somewhat simple — someone managing a call center, corporate phone system, or even a class A network could arrange for hundreds of thousands of votes for one of the contestants. However, since these votes would come from a single location, or corporate entity, it would be relatively easy for Fox to detect this anomaly, and discard the votes. Another idea would be for an online community to select their favorite Idol using an internal poll and then have the entire community vote for that person. This would be similar to a small political party being part of a coalition government — they are too small to matter in the overall election, but can still determine which party gets into power. The question I have is: Are there any online communities large enough to affect the outcome of the voting and with enough solidarity to vote as a single group?

Submission + - Wii Top Console But For How Long?

Submitted by

Bender0x7D1

on Monday September 10, 2007 @11:23AM

Bender0x7D1 writes: "According to VG Chartz, total worldwide sales of the Nintendo Wii have surpassed those of of the XBox 360, and both consoles have been dramatically outselling the PS3. However, the next few months will see the release of many highly anticipated games, including Halo 3, (which has over 1 million preorders, and Grand Theft Auto IV. In addition, the 360 has recently undergone a price drop, and analysts predict a PS3 price drop for the holidays. With Wii shortages projected to last throughout the holidays, the question is: Will the Wii manage to stay on top despite the new games and price cuts?"

Submission + - Wii Becomes Leading Console

Submitted by Bender0x7D1 on Sunday August 26, 2007 @09:32AM

Bender0x7D1 writes: According to VG Chartz, total worldwide sales of the Nintendo Wii have surpassed those of of the XBox 360. It has been a long time since Nintendo held the lead in console sales and Sony, the sales leader of the previous generation, is lagging far behind in this current generation. The question is: Does the Wii have the staying power to keep outselling the competition, or will upcoming games like Halo 3 and GTA IV give the advantage to Microsoft and Sony?

Submission + - Webcam Replaces Test Proctors For Online Courses (iastate.edu)

Submitted by

Bender0x7D1

on Tuesday June 19, 2007 @10:54PM

Bender0x7D1 writes: "CNN is running a story on how webcams are replacing exam proctors for courses that students are taking online. This is in response to the need to keep students from cheating but not wanting the inconvenience of having them go to a testing center. It does have some interesting features to help detect cheating, such as a using a reflective ball to get a 360-degreee image capture and some software that flags suspicious behavior. According to the article: "When the exam begins, the device records audio and video. Software detects significant noises and motions and flags them in the recording. An instructor can go back and watch only the portions flagged by the software to see if anything untoward is going on — a student making a phone call, leaving the room — and if there is a sudden surge in performance afterward." The article also admits that it isn't a perfect system, but should go a long way to keeping things even between traditional and online students."

Submission + - Weekend Warriors Injured by Nailguns

Submitted by

Bender0x7D1

on Thursday April 12, 2007 @07:27PM

Bender0x7D1 writes: "While Quake players have known this for over a decade, the average person is finding out that nailguns can really do some damage. CNN.com has the story that injuries from nailguns are up 200% since 1991 and says "weekend warriors" are to blame. Does this mean it is time for the do-it-yourself crowd to spend more time playing video games? Does it hint that in the future every home will have a BFG10K?"

Slashdot Top Deals