Let’s be honest: most themed games are junk. They don’t have to be good, because die-hard fans of whatever the game’s subject is– cheese, Pirates of the Caribbean, whatever– will buy it no matter what.
I was expecting The 80s Game With Martha Quinn (PC) to be a lame attempt to cash in on 80s nostalgia by cobbling together a half-assed collection of trivia questions about Max Headroom and L.A. Gear, but it’s actually remarkably thorough, well-researched, and fun. Color me surprised.
Though most of the questions cover the typical pop culture TV/music/movies trifecta, you’ll also find yourself queried about subjects like food (what were Honey Smacks originally called?), newsworthy events (Helmut Kohl was elected chancellor of what European country?) and not so newsworthy events (who won Bud Bowl I?)*.
You start your trip back in time by choosing from one of four different play modes. Each of the 80 different Episodes features questions on a single theme, like game shows, politics, or Tom Cruise. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Gaming + Software + Technology | 
Wow, that didn’t take long. Barely days after Sony’s announcement about its peculiar plan to sell unprotected MP3s through a brick-and-mortar-store gift card system, it’s relented and announced that it will begin selling portions of its music catalog as unprotected MP3s through — who else? Amazon.com.
Good! I guess the generally negative press and a big fat thumbs down from consumers in general had something to do with it. Or, maybe — maybe — it had at least provisionally planned to do something like this for a while and was just seeing what it could get away with first.
Either way, this is something of a milestone: Every single major record label in the United States is now delivering at least some of their catalog through a digital download system with no device restrictions at all.
Even a couple of years ago that would have been unthinkable, but I suspect it’s about the only way left to fly at this point. The reasons are pretty plain: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Music + News + Technology |
Here’s one to scare all you iPhone fetishists: You don’t have to unlock, jailbreak or install unauthorized third-party software on your Magnifabrick to invalidate the warranty.
Doug Rodriquez was able to do so merely by setting up a custom ringtone using a well-documented iTunes workaround.
Rodriquez started getting SIM card error messages sometime thereafter and went looking for some customer support.
Apple basically told him to piss up a rope because they had “determined that (the iPhone) has been subjected to accidental damage or misuse, which is not covered by the warranty or an Apple service contract.”
According to Doug Rodriguez:
I’ve never dropped my iPhone, I’ve never exposed it to water. I’ve never put third-party apps on it or hacked it. It just stopped working and Apple apparently does not believe me…The only thing I’ve ever done is back in September putting one custom ringtone on my iPhone via the “manual transfer” method. Nothing Else.
No word yet on what kind of warranty love using the Apple-sanctioned GarageBand method for installing custom ringtones will get you.
Posted in Apple + Technology + Toys & Gadgets + Wireless |
Crime reporting often includes the victim’s side of the story. This seems to be less common with cybercrime reporting.
There are several reasons: Many of those with computer viruses are unaware that they’ve been victimized, and IT workers don’t want the world to know that their systems have been compromised.
I’m hoping some of you, anonymously or not, will be willing to contact me or post a comment below if you prefer and share your experience with malware.
With news of ever-more-sophisticated cybercrime, what is the real-world impact of malware?
Does it mean longer hours for security professionals? Does it mean being fired for mistakes? Is it nothing to be concerned about? Has it changed your outlook?
Posted in Random Thoughts + Software + Technology |
Barracuda Networks was founded six years ago as an anti-spam specialist. The company grew last year through acquisition and by selling appliances outside its sweet spot.
Look for Barracuda to expand its line further in 2008 and push deeper into international markets.
Barracuda has already transitioned from being a one-trick, spam-blocking pony to selling a variety of security appliances.
The next step, says president and CEO Dean Drako, is to offer an even wider range of appliances, including those support IT tasks beyond security.
Some possible examples:
- Internet access
- Bandwidth optimization
- Fax archiving
- Disk storage
- Backup
- Device monitoring
- Anti-spyware
- Packet filtering
Its flagship products are its spam firewall and Web filter. Barracuda also sells an IM firewall, load balancer, message archiver, Web application firewall, and application gateway.
While Barracuda’s products ship as appliances, Drako says Barracuda could almost be described as a software-as-a-services company, given the frequent updates that are pushed out to its hardware.
Last September, Barracuda acquired NetContinuum, a provider of application delivery controllers, which combine Web app security and traffic management.
Barracuda plans to push NetContinuum’s products down and out–to small and mid-size businesses and into overseas markets.
More acquisitions are likely. Drako won’t say whether Barracuda, a private company, plans to go public this year, but he acknowledges that capital fuels growth and an IPO is an obvious way to raise money.
If and when the company’s strategy calls for that kind of cash infusion, he says, “We will consider very strongly the public markets.” Sequoia Capital is an investor in Barracuda.
Make no mistake, Barracuda’s still got plenty of spam fighting to do.
According to the company’s end-of-year spam report, spam accounted for 90% to 95% of all e-mail in 2007, an increase from the 85% to 90% range in 2006.
Posted in Geekery + Technology + Toys & Gadgets |
Geeks.com, a Web site that still displays a banner from McAfee’s ScanAlert certifying that it is “Hacker Safe,” on Friday sent a letter to customers saying that it was hacked last month.
“Genica dba Geeks.com (‘Genica’) recently discovered on December 5, 2007 that customer information, including Visa credit card information, may have been compromised,” said a letter posted on The Consumerist from Jerry L. Harken, Genica’s chief of security, to an undisclosed number Geeks.com customers.
“In particular, it is possible that an unauthorized person may be in possession of your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, credit card number, expiration date, and card verification number. We are still investigating the details of this incident, but it appears that an unauthorized individual may have accessed this information by hacking our e-commerce Web site.”
Geeks.com has reported the incident to federal authorities and Visa, and is encouraging customers to review their credit card statements for unauthorized charges.
The company has set up two help numbers — 1-888-529-6261 or 1-212-560-5108 for non-US customers — that will be active starting this morning for those with questions about the incident.
It is also providing contact information for the major credit agencies to make it easier to report any identity theft fraud arising from the incident.
Geeks.com describes itself as a direct-to-consumer e-commerce site that specializes in computer-related excess inventory, manufacturer closeouts, and popular and esoteric products for the tech-savvy.
McAfee acquired ScanAlert in October and describes it as the world’s leading provider of e-commerce Web site security services.
The Hacker Safe certification, McAfee explains on its Web site, lets “shoppers of ScanAlert customer sites instantly know that they are a secure Web site and respond by buying more from them.”
The ScanAlert Web site explains that the Hacker Safe certification doesn’t mean 100% safe.
“Research indicates sites remotely scanned for known vulnerabilities on a daily basis, such as those earning ‘Hacker Safe’ certification, can prevent over 99% of hacker crime,” the site says.
Posted in Geekery + Security Patches + Technology + Web |
