The bad news is cyber criminals have found even more aggressive ways to acquire your user names and passwords and steal your money. The good news is they’ve also started going at each other’s throats.

Whatever happened to honor among thieves? A new malware-creating tool has been programmed to steal not just data from computers but also data already stolen by other malware! continue reading…

It’s hard when you’re being sarcastic. You really want to make sure everyone realizes this.

That’s why Sarcasm Inc., a Michigan-based company, is introducing the sarcasm-marking punctuation “SarcMark” and the right to use it for $1.99. That’s about two dollars to ensure people get your jokes – and to show that you REALLY care. continue reading…

Photo Credit: XBox.com

Boys, especially those of the shy and geeky kind whose usual area of expertise is gaming, are normally regarded as aloof towards girls. Well guys, all that is set to change.

This week players in the Xbox Live marketplace were treated to the launch of a new game entitled Don’t Be Nervous Talking 2 Girls, an instructional guide that teaches boys how to engage in conversations confidently with girls.

The game simulates a visual novel where the player tries to talk to a girl named Jessica. As shown in the screenshot, Jessica is a lovely lady clad in a green shirt. She constantly talks and the player needs to win her by correctly choosing the most pleasant line in the given choices. When the player picks the wrong answer, he’ll need to try his luck again lest Jessica will threaten to call the police. continue reading…

Photo credit: Alertsec

Can our use of gadgets like music players, e-readers and laptops be really dangerous when the airplane we’re riding in is about to take off or land? Joel Johnson of Gizmodo.com doesn’t think so and calls the policy a “well-intentioned deception.”

In an article, Johnson said: “For years we’ve been told that gadgets produce EMI—electromagnetic interference—that cause glitches in an aircraft’s avionics. A cellphone could interrupt communication between pilots and the tower for a crucial second, or a child’s Game Boy could cause a light on a flight computer to go on the fritz.”

Johnson slammed airlines, airports and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for declaring that using these electronic devices—except cellphones and WiFi usage—during takeoffs and landings could be hazardous. He noted, “We’re told it’s dangerous. It isn’t. Let’s drop the pretense.” continue reading…

Soldiers of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 watch out, the commander-in-chief will terminate anyone who’ll be caught “cheat-bombing.”

Xbox 360 Live Online Service Director Stephen Toulouse has announced that they will ban players who repeatedly take advantage of a glitch with the javelin missile exploit portion. The length of suspension will be determined by frequency and effects of the abuse. Sanctions can range from a day or two to a few weeks, while repeat violators may be banned permanently.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 games gives players the privilege to drop a grenade before they surrender to death, a kind of a farewell statement to their undefeated enemies. Modern Warfare 2 is equipped with such a perk, but this however can be abused through a glitch when releasing the grenade. continue reading…

After a year-and-a-half of going at it on court, computer giant Apple and clone computer maker Psystar declared a ceasefire on their copyright dispute.

According to reports, Apple reached a partial agreement with Psystar, regarding the latter’s marketing of clone computers pre-installed with Apple’s Macintosh operating system.

Psystar has been marketing what it calls “Open Computers”, which are powered by Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard. Four months after the Doral, Florida-based vendor began selling its devices, Apple filed a copyright infringement suit in July 2008. continue reading…

There’s so much buzz surrounding filmmaker James Cameron’s opus Avatar that it’s hard to believe what’s real and what’s not. However, what is very real about Avatar is that it’s becoming the first convergence point between a movie and a video game.

Based on a 1994 script treatment written by Cameron, the science-fiction film Avatar is being acclaimed as a filmmaking breakthrough in terms of technology even before its upcoming release this December. The story, about a human-alien war on a far-off planet named Pandora over its resources, will feature the merging of both human and alien perspectives in the movie.

It’s no surprise that with the technological advances Cameron has used to create the film, Avatar is also being released as a video game with the help of game developers Ubisoft. This is Ubisoft’s key corporate strategy behind Avatar: the convergence of movies and video games.  continue reading…

Photo credit: Christian Bohr

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Magazines to go online! In a bid for survival, a consortium of magazine publishers is planning to set up an online newsstand for their publications.

This consortium, which includes Time Inc., Hearst and Meredith and Condé Nast, will be building the online newsstand—which has been characterized as an “iTunes for magazines”—to accommodate multiple digital formats. continue reading…

Photo Credit: Jamaipanese

To some, visiting the public library is a voluntary submission to ultimate boredom. Apparently the librarians of the Jackson-George Regional Library System in Pascagoula in Mississippi have learned this for quite some time, enticing the scarce reader population in their building by introducing circulation materials that will ensnare the hearts both of young and adult students—video games!

More than 50 video games accumulating a total of $13,000 were bought by the state library. Now all patrons can have access to games for various recent consoles across Mississippi’s eight branch libraries. continue reading…