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Wii

Submission + - Wii Sports No Fitness Substitute for Real Sports

Submitted by
Active Seti
Active Seti writes: "Time spent in front of television and computer screens has been linked to physical inactivity and obesity. The new generation of wireless based computer games is meant to stimulate greater interaction and movement during play, so researchers compared the energy expenditure of adolescents when playing sedentary and new generation active computer games. Participants in the study played competitive bowling, tennis and boxing matches using Wii Sports. Energy expenditure during active gaming was much lower than authentic bowling, tennis and boxing, and was not intense enough to contribute towards the recommended amount of daily physical activity for children. When translated to a typical week of computer play for participants, active rather than passive gaming would increase total energy expenditure by less than 2%."
Privacy

Submission + - Dodd beats telecom spying immunity

Submitted by cleetus
cleetus writes: Earlier this evening Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pulled the FISA bill which had retroactive immunity for spying telecoms from consideration on the US Senate floor. This bill, discussed on /. earlier today, would have shielded telecoms who turned data over to the government from lawsuits over 4th Amendment rights violations. The threat of a full scale filibuster from Senator Chris Dodd (which was partially underway already) was enough to force Reid to pull the bill. While the fight over immunity is over for now, but the bill will be brought up again at some point next month so vigilance it still required.
Role Playing (Games)

Submission + - Recent Hacking on the Final Fantasy XI Community

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: As of late, hundreds of Final Fantasy XI accounts have been compromised by a trojan that was leaked into a Final Fantasy XI information page. As more and more accounts seize to exist by legit players, Square Enix continues to do nothing but brush the rightful owners off. With this happening, thousands of players refuse to even log onto their characters, and some just choose to stay up all night watching over them, due to the paranaoia of which account will be taken next. Everyone seems to agree that their Service and Support/GM team should be rendered useless at this point, for refusing to even listen to their customers about the on-going situation. What will it take to get them to notice? It looks like we'll be seeing a lot of WoW boxes under everyone's christmas tree this year. Good job, SE, you done good.
Security

Submission + - FFXI players targetted by malware

Submitted by
Thatdamnelf
Thatdamnelf writes: "Several prominent informational websites relating to Final Fantasy XI online have recently been suspected of having malware embedded into one or more of the advertisements by an unscrupulous advertiser. One site was confirmed to have a hidden iframe that would use javascript to load rsbo.exe which targets users of multiple different MMO games.

The worst part about this is Square-Enix's total lack of recovery measures.

The company's customer service can't verify ownership of an account based on anything but what is currently input as billing info. This is a major problem since both the password and billing information are changed by the thief. They should be able to see that the info was changed recently and since accounts aren't supposed to be transfered err on the side of someone who presents info the matches someone who's been paying for all these months/years..It seems this information is not readily available for SE's employees and it takes a credit card company fraud inquiry to get it dug up.

I used the ffxi.somepage website to look up crafting recipes (the in game NPC's give horribly useless recipes). If I weren't using the seamonkey/firefox noscript plugin, I may have lost my account to an RMT.

relevant links:
http://bluegartrls.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=27256
http://www.bluegartrls.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=27042
http://tinyurl.com/2n2ex4
http://tinyurl.com/2qzaba"

Comment More info (Score 1) 2

by RalphtheDwarf (#21711300) Attached to: FFXI accounts jacked by trojan keylogger
It is important to note that Square-Enix has absolutely no method of retrieving a stolen account, while almost all other MMO's have some methods in place. Thus anyone who lost an account due to this hack is completely screwed at the moment.

Also worth mentioning is that this is not the first time a fan site has been compromised resulting in hacked accounts. Several years ago, Allakhazam was infected with the fucksnow trojan.

Ironically, Allakhazam.com has a message from SE posted on its' front page regarding the recent hackings, but it's basically a "we know about it, and it sucks to be you" message. http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/sdetail.html?story=11667

Official statement from Square Enix:

We have received reports that a popular third-party FINAL FANTASY XI website had been infecting customers with malicious software. Our Legal team immediately contacted the hosting site of the offending third-party website and had the site taken down until the issue could be addressed. While the website main page has had the offending code removed, we strongly recommend that our community be careful when they visit any website concerning FINAL FANTASY XI that is not endorsed by Square Enix. While we have no control over these third-party websites, we urge that the community contact us immediately if any similar incidents arise in the future.

We also suggest that our customers read up on precautionary measures they can take to ensure the safety of their information online.

http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/polnews/news10343.shtml
Security

Submission + - FFXI accounts jacked by trojan keylogger 2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A trojan virus targeting the players of the MMO Final Fantasy XI was released through a popular community page (ffxi.somepage.com). The virus keylogs players' account information and uses it to steal their accounts, strip them of sellable gear, and sometimes to put them to use as Real Money Trade bots. No official word on exactly how many accounts were stolen, but the thefts seem to have started at the end of November and haven't stopped since. World of Warcraft players may also be at risk. One community responded by identifying the infection and making lists of stolen accounts. Square-Enix responds on the game's homepage by reminding everyone that the "Starlight Festival is almost here"!
Windows

Submission + - The pros of upgrading from Vista to XP! (dotnet.org.za) 4

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A reviewer takes on the daunting task of upgrading [sic] from Vista to XP, and gives a very nice breakdown of the Pros and Cons (yes, there are a couple...;)
Microsoft

Submission + - MS says Vista compatibility not solved in SP1

Submitted by
Devistater
Devistater writes: "Microsoft says there's no need for businesses to wait for Windows Vista SP1, since "Applications that have compatibility issues with Windows Vista today will most likely continue to have the same issues with Windows Vista with SP1." That is a quote from one of a batch of Microsoft Vista RC SP1 whitepapers dated today, entitled "Enterprise Guidance for Application Compatibility Testing and Windows Vista SP1." In the same document they also state that SP1 may break Vista compatibility, "There is a chance that some applications ultimately will not run on the final version of Windows Vista SP1, even though they run on Windows Vista today.""
Data Storage

Submission + - Crime caused by publicized data about convicts? (latimes.com) 1

Submitted by
nem75
nem75 writes: "What has been highly discussed when the Megan's Law database of sex offenders was introduced seems to have come true in Lakeport, CA. The L.A. times reports about Michael A. Dodele, a convicted rapist, found murdered in a Lakeport trailer park. He moved there after having been released from prison just 35 days before. A 29-year-old construction worker has been arrested who explains that he attacked the suspect to protect his son from child molestation, after he found out on the internet about Dodele being a sex offender convicted of crimes involving minors. Only thing is, the public entry for Dodele in the database was wrong — though he was found guilty of committing crimes against adult women, he was in fact no child molester. Dodele's entry in Megan's Law DB has been removed recently."
Networking

Submission + - Western Digital "Restricted" Hard Drive - (slashdot.org)

Submitted by
TechForensics
TechForensics writes: "Massive error. The drive does nothing to restrict the file types it shares. The drive is SOLD WITH A SUBSCRIPTION to an online service that indexes and facilitates your files for sharing. (MioNET.) It is the ONLINE SERVICE that will not display .avi files etc. to others on the net.

This is SUBSCRIPTION RELATED, has NOTHING to do with WD's hardware. Boy do we owe them an apology.

TechForensics"
The Internet

Submission + - Gamespot editor fired over review of Eidos game 2

Submitted by PocketPick
PocketPick writes: Kotaku is reporting that following a unflatering review of the game Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, long-time editor Jeff Gerstmann is no longer under the employment of video gaming website Gamespot and it's parent, CNET. Kane & Lynch, a game published by Eidos for the Xbox 360, PS3 & PC, has been heavily featured in flash, image and text advertisments on Gamespot's website since the release on November 13th, inevitably leading to questions whether or not Mr. Gerstmann's firing was motivated by pressure from Eidos.
The Courts

Submission + - Rochester judge holds RIAA evidence insufficient

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "Judge David G. Larimer, presiding in Rochester, New York, has denied an RIAA application for default judgment on the ground that the RIAA's evidence was insufficient, in that it contained no details of actual downloads or distributions, and no sufficient evidence that defendant was in fact Kazaa user "heavyjeffmc@KaZaA". The decision (pdf) concluded that "there are significant issues of fact regarding the identification of the defendant from his alleged "online media distribution system" username". (In case you're unfamiliar with the term "online media distribution system", that's because it is a term the RIAA coined 4 years ago to describe p2p file sharing accounts in its lawsuits; the term is not known to have been used by anyone else anywhere else.) In August a similar RIAA default judgment motion was denied on the ground that the pleadings failed to allege sufficient factual details supporting a claim of copyright infringement, in a San Diego, California, case, Interscope v. Rodriguez."
Microsoft

Submission + - ISO Paralyzed by OOXML

Submitted by
Broken Standards
Broken Standards writes: "For all intents and purposes, the ISO has been completely paralyzed. The ISO is no longer able to reach an agreement on any standard because all those new members who joined just to approve OOXML cannot be bothered to vote on anything else. Per ISO rules, any standard where more than half those eligible are non-voters, not even bothering to return an "abstain" vote, fails automatically. So the ISO is completely paralyzed, unable even to amend their voting rules, until the new members eventually get kicked out for inactivity. Hopefully, they will learn from this and forbid those inactive members from rejoining later."
The Courts

Submission + - RIAA Trying to Hide Info on Download Expenses

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "The RIAA is refusing to provide defendant's attorneys with the record companies' expenses-per-download in UMG v. Lindor, in Brooklyn. Although the Court ruled last November that Ms. Lindor is permitted to prove her allegation that the damages sought by the RIAA are "unconstitutionally excessive and disproportionate to any actual damages that may have been sustained", the RIAA is refusing to turn over any information about its expenses, needed to calculate the "actual damages". Ms. Lindor's attorneys have filed a motion to compel (pdf) the RIAA to turn over the information. Although the record companies had similarly tried to hide their revenue figures, they later conceded in papers their lawyers had publicly filed with the Court that the revenues were in the range of 70 cents per download, and eventually entered into a stipulation relating the to the actual numbers, which were kept confidential."

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