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Security

Spam Levels Lowest Since 2009 104

Posted by CmdrTaco from the not-in-my-box dept.
wiredmikey writes "Following a two-week dramatic decline in spam levels, spam now accounts for 78.6 percent of all email traffic, the lowest rate since March 2009, when the global spam rate was 75.7 percent of all email traffic, according to Symantec's January 2011 MessageLabs Intelligence Report, released today. The volume of spam in circulation this month was 65.9% lower than for the same period one year ago, in January 2010, when the spam rate was 83.9% of all email traffic."
Crime

Cybercriminals Shifting Focus To Non-Windows OSes 265

Posted by CmdrTaco from the diversification-strategy dept.
Orome1 writes "In a major cybercrime turning point, scammers have begun shifting their focus away from Windows-based PCs to other operating systems and platforms, including smart phones, tablet computers, and mobile platforms in general, according to the a new Cisco report. The report also finds that 2010 was the first year in the history of the Internet that spam volume decreased, that cybercriminals are investing heavily in 'money muling,' and that users continue to fall prey to myriad forms of trust exploitation."
PlayStation (Games)

Split Screen Co-op Is Dying 362

Posted by Soulskill from the just-like-lan-parties dept.
kube00 writes "Split-screen co-op and local multiplayer are becoming things of the past. What happened to cramming a bunch of gamers into a room with two TVs and doing a system link match in Halo? Where have the all-night GoldenEye matches gone? Like the arcades of gamers' youth, the local multiplayer and co-op bonding experience has been replaced with individual gamers and a network."
Image

Segway UK Boss Dies After Driving Off Cliff 413

Posted by samzenpus from the dead-mans-curve dept.
necro81 writes "Jimi Heselden, the British multi-millionaire defense contractor and philanthropist, who bought the Segway company last December from inventor Dean Kamen, died yesterday after an accident while riding one of the machines. While using a ruggedized X2 version of the two-wheeled balancing scooter at his estate in North Yorkshire, he apparently drove over the edge of a precipice and into the River Wharfe. He was found later by a passerby and declared dead on the scene."

Comment Re:Advice (Score 5, Insightful) 191

by snakegriffin (#33600006) Attached to: Review: <em>Halo: Reach</em>
It's not legendary because people have applied that status to it, it's legendary because of its success it's had in the market. I don't think anyone has ever claimed that the Halo games are a technical marvel, but as far as I'm concerned, Bungie's work with multiplayer and matchmaking is unparalleled on a console. The overall experience is fluid and the evolution from Halo CE to Reach has adapted very well to the rapidly-changing gaming world. IMHO, the best Halo experience is with all the media - games/books/graphic novels/movies. A couple of the novels are pretty pedestrian and are essentially recaps of Halo CE and Halo 2, but The Fall of Reach and some of the other supporting canon is great. I really hope someone can get fully behind a movie and that Nylund is the screenwriter, or at least the main consultant.
Image

Review: Halo: Reach 191

Posted by Soulskill from the arc-of-the-covenant dept.
The launch of Halo: Combat Evolved in 2001 vaulted Bungie to the top of the game development industry and helped provide a stable foundation for the success of the original Xbox. Nine years later, having completed a trilogy and a standalone expansion for the Halo universe, Bungie has returned to the IP one last time for a prequel called Halo: Reach. They clearly wanted to do right by the fans and the franchise with their final sendoff, and the effort they put into the game reflects that. Read on for the rest of my thoughts.
GUI

Left-Handed Gamers Getting Left Behind? 426

Posted by CmdrTaco from the sorry-'bout-that-dad dept.
An anonymous reader writes "As the stylus becomes a contemporary equal with the controller and joystick, it is a bit surprising to notice a game developer overlooking the simple fact that there are a lot of southpaw gamers out there. But the creators of Base 10, a mini-game on the DSi, did just that, making it impossible for the game to be played by anyone who isn't right-handed. Seems pretty silly for a game developer to just cut out a slice of their potential audience right from the start."
The Almighty Buck

Letting Customers Decide Pricing On Game DLC 156

Posted by Soulskill from the a-map-and-a-hat-are-not-worth-ten-bucks dept.
An anonymous reader writes "How much should game developers be charging for DLC? It seems that one indie dev has decided to carry out a unique experiment. The latest expansion pack for Gratuitous Space Battles is priced at $5.99 — or is it? It turns out there is both a standard ($5.99) version and a discount version ($2.99). And the difference between them is... nothing. The buyers have been left to make their own decisions on whether or not they should pay full price, and send more money to the developer, or treat themselves to a deserved discount. The buy page even lists comparisons of national incomes, average salaries and even the price of sausages to help buyers make up their minds. Will this catch on? Will Microsoft start asking us whether or not we should get a discount and trust us to answer honestly?"
Businesses

Copying Trumps Creating For FarmVille Creator Zynga 319

Posted by Soulskill from the at-least-they're-honest dept.
theodp writes "The good news for Zynga is that it scored the cover of SF Weekly. The bad news is that the FarmVillains cover story starts out by describing the secret to the toast-of-Silicon-Valley company's success thusly: 'Steal someone else's game. Change its name. Make millions. Repeat.' SF Weekly says interviews conducted with several former Zynga workers indicate that the practice of stealing other companies' game ideas — and then using Zynga's market clout to crowd out the games' originators — was business as usual. 'I don't ****ing want innovation,' one ex-employee recalled Pincus saying. 'You're not smarter than your competitor. Just copy what they do and do it until you get their numbers.' Another quipped that 'Zynga's motto is "Do Evil."' Valleywag piles on with an item on the existence of Zynga's underground 'Platinum Purchase Program,' reportedly geared towards making players known as 'whales' part with a minimum of $500 at a time for imaginary credits."
Cellphones

Wireless Power Group Has 'Qi' Prototypes 117

Posted by timothy from the now-you-can-charge-in-the-bathtub dept.
judgecorp writes "Steady progress on inductive wireless charging. There are now certified prototypes of chargers for Blackberry and iPhone devices that meet the Qi specification of the Wireless Power Consortium, which was announced last year. The spec has advanced from version 0.95 to 1.0, too."
The Military

GameStop Pulls Medal of Honor From Military Bases 362

Posted by timothy from the not-for-you dept.
donniebaseball23 writes "EA's Medal of Honor reboot doesn't ship until October 12, but it's already seen a fair amount of controversy thanks to the publisher's decision to allow people to play as Taliban in multiplayer. The controversy just got escalated another notch, reports IndustryGamers, as the world's biggest games retailer GameStop has decided it won't sell the title at its stores located on US military bases. The new Medal of Honor won't be advertised at these stores either. GameStop noted that they came to this decision 'out of respect for our past and present men and women in uniform.'"
Science

Submission + - Researchers zero in on protein that destroys HIV (physorg.com)

Submitted by Julie188
Julie188 writes: Using a $225,000 microscope, researchers have identified the key components of a protein called TRIM5a that destroys HIV in rhesus monkeys. The finding could lead to new TRIM5a-based treatments that would knock out HIV in humans, said senior researcher Edward M. Campbell, PhD, of Loyola University Health System.
Google

Submission + - Google Patches 10 Chrome Bugs, Pays Out $10K (computerworld.com)

Submitted by CWmike
CWmike writes: Google patched 10 vulnerabilities in Chrome on Thursday, but it didn't award any of the researchers who reported bugs its new top-dollar reward. Google divulged no details of the vulnerabilities and, as is its custom, it blocked public access to its bug-tracking database — a practice meant to keep attackers from using the information before most users have upgraded. Some rivals, such as Mozilla, do the same; others, like Microsoft, do not. Sergey Glazunov banked $4,674 for reporting four bugs, including the previous maximum $1,337 each for two of the quartet. A researcher known as 'kuzzcc,' who has also reported flaws in Opera to that browser's Norwegian maker, took home $2,000 for uncovering a pair of Chrome vulnerabilities. But no one received Google's new biggest bounty, which the company set at $3,133.70 last month, after Mozilla had increased its maximum vulnerability payment to $3,000.
Wireless Networking

Submission + - The many faces of 3G (ksplice.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Did you ever notice how each new generation of cell-phone tech gets branded "3G", and the previous thing is retroactively downgraded to some lesser number of G's? An MIT engineer explains why in this brilliant essay about "3G" in the last 10 years, showing how the cell carriers have kept offering it and swiping it away to sell more stuff. He cites numerous Cingular/AT&T and Sprint press releases showing how the companies have made "3G" into a brand name ideally suited for amnesiac consumers. Meanwhile, no cell carrier is foolish enough to sell you bottom-line throughput like an ISP in 1996 — you could actually hold them to that.

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