By Mark O’Neill
I would consider myself to be a fairly serious Star Wars fan but as usual, I’ve been reminded that there are some fans even more hardcore out there. This guy has made himself a R2-D2 model and placed it at the back of his car, X-Wing fighter style! Sweeeet!
By Ilya Kochanov
Contributor, [GAS]
My article on arrogant Mac fans made as little impact as I predicted it would. It seems like the whole community has decided to fight back against my discriminatory work with a movie dedicated solely to the culture behind owning said brand of computer.
Agreed, there are sub-cultures for almost everything, but owning a computer shouldn’t be one. The film, MacHeads, chronicles the lives of people who compare MacWorld to Mecca. Cool, right? Obviously, a religious pilgrimage to a sacred memorial is the same as going to see a technology company unveil some new products.
I hope I’m not coming off as if I hate Mac fans. No, I love them. But why the hell wouldn’t anyone make a movie about owning a damn PC though? How about a movie wherein the lives of people who have Logitech keyboards are explored?
Tags: Apple, fanboys, macworld, mecca, steve jobs
What is a botnet, how do botnets work, and how can you protect yourself against them?
If more people asked themselves these questions, botnets wouldn’t be a problem in the first place.
Interested in seeing first-hand what kind of attacks botnets can perpetrate, and want to know how to defend against them? Here is a video series produced by our friends at Watchguard Wire that can teach you what you need to know in order to stay one step in front of the botnet zombie horde.
By Ilya Kochanov
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
What with everyone’s personal information being so readily available on the internet, you’ve probably received mail from an obscure Nigerian prince wanting to transfer millions of dollars into your bank account. Perhaps you’ve even struck some incredibly large inheritance from a relative you didn’t even know you had. That, my friends, is the infamous 419 scam.
There are plenty of things to do upon receiving such an email… You can give in and have your identity stolen then violated like some analogy which I can’t figure out at the moment, or fight back and have said scammer do something ridiculous to induce much hilarity for weeks to come.
419eater.com has been counter-scamming people who try to steal your identity for a while however, their most recent shenanigans are the best we’ve ever seen. Some guy receives a 419 asking for bank info and after calmly refusing to give anything away, informs the scammer that he is paying $100 per-page of hand written content for some government project. The scammer then proceeds to hand write all 293 pages of the first Harry Potter book. Ha!
If you read the accompanying material in 10 page intervals you’ll see that there was a small army of people who helped write this stuff.
By Mark O’Neill
The hidden flight simulator in Google Earth is not a new feature. But I had to delay trying it out as my computer last year was as fast as a constipated rabbit. However I now have a new computer so with the soundtrack of Top Gun playing in my head, I decided to go all Tom Cruise and Anthony Edwards and feel the need for speed.
After trying it out, I have to say this is one of the coolest, if not THE coolest feature Google has ever given us. In fact, it’s so good I am seriously considering buying a joystick. I haven’t used a joystick for a computer game since my Commodore 64 days back in the 1980’s. The only drawback is that there is no sound in the flight simulator so you can’t hear the roar of the engines or Kelly McGillis screaming in delight at her naval aviators.
Here’s a short clip that was supposed to be aired on Saturday Night Live, but somehow didn’t make it to the final cut. Enjoy!
By David Peralty
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
With the One Laptop Per Child initiative, America is finally getting technology in the hands of people around the world that barely have access to fresh, clean water. And what does Electronic Arts contribute to the OLPC Program? The original 1989 edition of SimCity. Now people in third world countries that get access to the inexpensive laptop will be able to build a pixelated, virtual city which could have a bigger population than the real city they live in.
While I do think its great that the video game maker decided to give away a free game to the program, couldn’t they have at least given a slightly more up to date version like SimCity 2000?
I should note that the OLPC’s are not the most powerful machines in respect to video graphics and screen resolution, so maybe it was the best game they could get working on the machine. As a child, this game sparked my imagination for hours, and lead me into a Sim-madness as I played nearly all of their other properties, from SimAnt, to SimCity 3000.
From the press release:
OLPC will begin distributing laptops in countries such as Uruguay, Peru, Mexico, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Haiti, Cambodia and India by the end of 2007. The idea to connect SimCity with OLPC came from internet pioneer, activist and OLPC advisor John Gilmore who knew the game’s history and recognized its potential relevance to the not-for-profit project. Not long after its 1989 release, SimCity became a phenomenon, winning more than 24 domestic and international awards. The game soon made its way into more than 10,000 classrooms as an educational tool and became part of the annual Future City Competition, a contest that still runs in seventh and eighth grade classrooms today.
What do you think, was this a smart and helpful move? I suppose it will help them get their branding to a new, untapped market long before other gaming labels have a chance to.
Performancing.com, one of the premium resources on the web to help bloggers succeed in their journey to success, is now 2 years old.
To celebrate the event, they’re holding a massive treasure hunt through the blogosphere, which could make you win some VERY NICE prizes.
If I understood the rules correctly, there’s 2 of each of these prizes to be won.
The contest is now at day 2, but you can still win it all! I’ve participated to the 2 first days and had lots of fun doing so.
Performacing.com Treasure Hunt
Here’s a short clip from ‘Curb’, which shows you how to deal with annoying people who feel the need to use a Bluetooth headset everywhere. Enjoy!
According to a new study recently conducted by British researchers in the name of Industry Canada, people who download music online usually do it to get a preview before purchasing the album. Strangely, even though the report was release a few days ago, it bears the date of May 4, 2007. The study is based on data that dates back to 2005.
If we’re to believe this study, for every two albums downloaded illegally, one is purchased by someone convinced (by the download) the CD is worth buying. This means that for each one percent increase in illegal downloads, an additional four percent go to legal music sales in the Canadian market.
Is there anyone here that cares to express himself on the matter? Do you think that by downloading music on the Internet, you are actually helping the music industry?
For those of you interested in looking at this report, it can be downloaded on Industry Canada’s Web site.