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Holding Hospitals Hostage | TechSNAP 261

chris — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 08:44:35 +0000

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Find out about another hospital that accidentally took advantage of free encryption, researchers turn up a DDoS on the root DNS servers & the password test you never want to take.

Plus your batch of networking questions, our answers & a packed round up!

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Researchers at VeriSign investigate DDoS on root DNS servers

Researchers from VeriSign, the company that runs the .com and .net registries, and operations 2 of the 13 critically import root DNS servers, will be giving a talk at a conference detailing their investigation into the attack
Their findings suggest the attack, which took place in November of 2015, was not directed at the root name servers directly, but was an attempt to down two chinese websites
The attack had some interesting patterns, likely caused by design decisions and mistakes made by the programmer of the botnet that was used in the attack
The provide a video showing a breakdown of the attack
It was interesting to learn that Randall Munroe (of XKCD fame) actually came up with the best way to visualize the distribution of IP addresses, with a grid where sequential numbers are in adjacent squares
Only IP addresses in the first 128 /8 netbooks were used. The use of 128/8 specifically suggests an less than or equal, rather than an equal was used during the comparison of IP addresses
It is not clear why a larger set of addresses were not used
The attack seemed to use 3 or 4 different groups of bots, sending spoofed DNS requests
Two of the larger groups of bots sequentially cycled through the 2.0.0.0/8 through 19.0.0.0/8 subnets at different speeds
Attacks were not seen from the 10.0.0.0/8 and 127.0.0.0/8 networks, for obvious reasons
However, a delay in the attacks sourced from 11.0.0.0/8 suggests that the botnet attempted to use the entire 10 block, but the packets just never left the source networks
“The researchers also note that Response Rate Limiting was an effective mitigation in countering up to 60 percent of attack traffic. RRL is a feature in the DNS protocol that mitigates amplifications attacks where spoofed DNS queries are used to target victims in large-scale DDoS attacks.”
“In addition to RRL, the researchers said attack traffic was easily filterable and through filtering were able to drop response traffic for the attack queries, leaving normal traffic untouched. One of the limitations with this approach is that it’s a manual process”

Virus hits Medstar hospital network, Hospital forced to shutdown systems

“The health system took down some its computers to prevent the virus from spreading, but it’s not clear how many computers — or hospitals — are affected”
“A statement by the health system said that all facilities remain open, and that there was “no evidence of compromised information.””
“The not-for-profit healthcare system operates ten hospitals across the Washington and Baltimore region, with more than a hundred outpatient health facilities. According to the system’s website, it has more than 31,000 employees and serves hundreds of thousands of patients annually.”
“One visitor to the hospital told ZDNet that staff switched the computers off after learning about the virus. The person, who was visiting a patient in one of the healthcare system’s Washington DC hospital, said the computers were powered off for more than an hour, with all patient orders lost, the person said.”
“It’s not clear exactly what kind of malware was used in Monday’s cyberattack. A spokesperson for MedStar Health did not immediately respond to a request for comment.”
An FBI spokesperson confirmed that it was “aware of the incident and is looking into the nature and scope of the matter.”
Additional Coverage: Threat Post
After a few days, the medical network was recovering
“The healthcare provider said the attack forced it to shut down its three main clinical information systems, prevented staff from reviewing patient medical records, and barred patients from making medical appointments. In a statement issued Wednesday, it said that no patient data had been compromised and systems were slowly coming back online.”
“Clinicians are now able to review medical records and submit orders via our electronic health records. Restoration of additional clinical systems continues with priority given to those related directly to patient care”
“While the hospital still won’t officially confirm the attacks were ransomware related, The Washington Post along with other news outlets are reporting that employees at the hospital received pop-up messages on their computer screens seeking payment of 45 Bitcoins ($19,000) in exchange for a digital key that would decrypt data”
“The MedStar cyberattack is one of many hospitals in recent months targeted by hackers. Last week, Kentucky-based Methodist Hospital paid ransomware attackers to unlock its hospital system after crypto-ransomware brought the hospital’s operations to a grinding halt. Earlier this year Los Angeles-based Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center paid 40 Bitcoin ($17,000) to attackers that locked down access to the hospital’s electronic medical records system and other computer systems using crypto-ransomware.”
As long as hospitals continue to pay out, this will only grow to be a worse problem
“Medical facilities don’t give security the same type of attention that other verticals do,” said Craig Williams, senior technical leader for Cisco Talos. “They are there to heal people and cure the sick. Their first priority is not to take care of an IT environment. As a result it’s likely the hackers have been out there for quite some time and realized that there are a lot (healthcare) sites that have a lot of base vulnerabilities.”
As you might expect: 1400 vulnerabilities to remain unpatched in medical supply system
Additional Coverage
In related news:
Canadian hospital website compromised serves up the Angler malware kit to visitors
The site is for a hospital in a small city that serves a mostly rural area. Happens to be where I grew up, and the hospital I was born in
The hospital site is run on Joomla, and is running version 2.5.6, which has many known vulnerabilities. The latest version of Joomla is 3.4.8
“Like many site hacks, this injection is conditional and will appear only once for a particular IP address. For instance, the site administrator who often visits the page will only see a clean version of it, while first timers will get served the exploit and malware.”
The obvious targets are “staff, patients and their families and visitors, as well as students”
The hospital became a teaching facility for McMaster University’s Faculty of Health Sciences in 2009
“The particular strain of ransomware dropped here is TeslaCrypt which demands $500 to recover your personal files it has encrypted. That payment doubles after a week.”

CNBC Password Tester — How not to do it

CNBC has a post about constructing secure passwords
The basic idea was that you submit your password, and it tells you how strong it is
There are obvious problems with this idea. Why are you giving out your password anyway?
Of course, the CNBC site is served in plain text (which is fine for a news site), but it means your password is sent to them in the clear
Worse, they had the site adding all of the submitted passwords to a google spreadsheet, also in the clear
Because the password was submitted as a GET variable, and was in the URL, it was also included in the referral information sent to all of the advertising networks in the CNBC site, including DoubleClick, ScoreCardResearch, something hosted at Amazon AWS, and any other widgets on the site (Facebook, Gigya)
If you actually did want to build a tool like this, at least use javascript to perform the calculations on the users’ device and never transmit their passwords
Of course, users should never type the password into another website. This is the definition if a phishing attack
The page has since been removed
Additional Coverage

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Wolf in Hipster Clothing | TTT 229

chris — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 12:00:57 +0000

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The worst & best from CES in our estimation, the Valve backed HTC Vive VR gets ready for pre-order & T-Mobile’s CEO binges on the EFF.

Plus Netflix’s global expansion is astonishing, account sharing is cool & the secret of the codes.

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Kickstarter of the Week:

PACE lid. Be prepared for whatever life throws your way. by Chris Way

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Reddit Summer Of Drama | TTT 193

chris — Fri, 03 Jul 2015 10:07:04 +0000

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Major controversy is brewing over at Reddit & we’ll share our perspectives. Microsoft signals a deathblow to Silverlight, new iPhone rumors, a spacecraft update & our Kickstarter of the week!

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DuckDuckGoing Up | Tech Talk Today 185

chris — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 10:16:33 +0000

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DuckDuckGo sees 600% user growth since the Edward Snowden leaks, we’ll play highlights of an interview with their CEO. Uber has a mess in California, Apple Watch sales numbers are in & solving a major sleep issue for many.

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Dread Pirate Nadella | Tech Talk Today 146

chris — Wed, 18 Mar 2015 10:31:19 +0000

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Microsoft signals to Windows pirates that they’ll receive free legitimate upgrades to Windows 10, Tim Cook spills details about Steve Jobs & Nvidia really impresses!

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Windows 10 Launching This Summer in 190 Countries and 111 Languages

Today at the renewed Windows Hardware Engineering Community (WinHEC) summit in Shenzhen, China, I had the honor of speaking about Windows 10 and the innovation and opportunity it offers our valued partners. China is a global epicenter for innovation and we’re excited to be working with the area’s leading hardware and software companies to develop ground-breaking devices and consumer experiences that will help shape the future of Windows 10.

Microsoft tackles China piracy with free upgrade to Windows 10 | Reuters

Microsoft Corp is making its biggest push into the heavily pirated Chinese consumer computing market this summer by offering free upgrades to Windows 10 to all Windows users, regardless of whether they are running genuine copies of the software.

The move is an unprecedented attempt by Microsoft to get legitimate versions of its software onto machines of the hundreds of millions of Windows users in China. Recent studies show that three-quarters of all PC software is not properly licensed there.

Terry Myerson, who runs Microsoft’s operating systems unit, announced the plan at the WinHEC technology conference in Shenzhen, China.

Tim Cook On Apple’s Future: Everything Can Change Except Values | Fast Company

In an exclusive Q&A, the current CEO discusses the Watch, how Steve Jobs informs Apple’s future, and how Apple lives “outside the box.”

The Steve Jobs You Didn’t Know: Kind, Patient, And Human | Fast Company | Business + Innovation

Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan X Review

Although the GTX Titan was great for gaming, that wasn’t the sole purpose of the GPU, which was equipped with 64 double-precision cores for 1.3 teraflops of double-precision performance. Previously only found in Tesla workstations and supercomputers, this feature made the Titan ideal for students, researchers and engineers after consumer-level supercomputing performance.

Nvidia Announces Drive PX, Its Self-Driving Car Platform

A developer kit for Nvidia’s self-driving car platform, the Drive PX, will go on sale in May for $10,000, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said today at the company’s GPU Technology Conference.

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.NET’s Open Future | CR 128

chris — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 17:02:57 +0000

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Microsoft made headlines and has generated a lot of buzz around the open sourcing of .NET. So what does the future hold & what changes now? And why this could be more about what it says about Microsoft, than anything else.

Plus some great feedback, how to find a developer, what to expect to pay & much more!

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Dev Hoopla: .NET Goes Open Source

.NET Foundation – Announcing new governance model and project contributions to the .NET Foundation

Microsoft is making headlines today for its decision to open source its popular .NET development stack, which will now be maintained under the stewardship of the .NET Foundation. This should be welcome news to the millions of developers who use .NET to build high quality applications and services that can scale from needs of individual developers to large enterprises.

As part of its announcement last spring, Microsoft released .NET code to the open source community. Today’s news builds onto that, as Microsoft aims to further make .NET Core available across platforms for Linux and Mac. The company will open source additional key .NET platform components through the foundation.

Microsoft Open Sources .NET and Mono – Miguel de Icaza

Today, Scott Guthrie announced that Microsoft is open sourcing .NET. This is a momentous occasion, and one that I have advocated for many years.

.NET is being open sourced under the MIT license. Not only is the code being released under this very permissive license, but Microsoft is providing a patent promise to ensure that .NET will get the adoption it deserves.

The code is being hosted at the .NET Foundation’s github repository.

This patent promise addresses the historical concerns that the open source, Unix and free software communities have raised over the years.

There are three components being open sourced: the .NET Framework Libraries, .NET Core Framework Libraries and the RyuJit VM. More details below.

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The Oracle retires | Tech Talk Today 61

chris — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 09:33:05 +0000

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Larry Ellison steps down, and we reflect on the moment. Microsoft has another round of layoffs and Google is ready to drop some big cash on YouTube stars.

Plus legit Netflix streaming is coming to Linux soon & more!

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Larry Ellison steps down as Oracle CEO, appointed CTO, chairman; Mark Hurd and Safra Catz now co-CEOs

Oracle Corp. (ORCL)‘s Larry Ellison stepped down as chief executive officer of the software maker he founded, making way for a new generation of executives after one of the most profitable runs for a leader in business history.

Mark Hurd and Safra Catz, currently co-presidents of Oracle, were both named CEO to succeed Ellison, the company said today. Hurd will run sales, marketing and strategy, while Catz will remain chief financial officer and oversee legal and manufacturing operations. Ellison will become chairman, replacing Jeff Henley, and also take on the title of chief technology officer.

Ellison, who turned 70 last month, guided the Redwood City, California-based company for more than 35 years to make it the world’s largest database-software company and one of the biggest providers of business programs. Oracle’s products have become the backbone of modern commerce and industry. The company has a market capitalization of more than $185 billion and produces annual revenue of $38 billion.

Microsoft lays off 2,100, axes Silicon Valley research | Reuters

Microsoft gave notice to 2,100 employees on Thursday, 747 of those in the Seattle area, a company spokesman said. That is in addition to 13,000 laid off in July, which means a further 2,900 are set to be laid off over the next nine months or so.

News of the closure of the Microsoft Research lab at the company’s campus in Mountain View, California, was first made public on Twitter by employees. The company later confirmed the move and said it would involve the loss of 50 jobs.

A spokesman said Microsoft Research, which has over 1,000 scientists and engineers worldwide working on new product ideas, will consolidate its U.S. work at Microsoft’s main campus in Redmond, Washington, and in offices in New York and Boston.

Newest Androids will join iPhones in offering default encryption, blocking police – The Washington Post

The next generation of Google’s Android operating system, due for release next month, will encrypt data by default for the first time, the company said Thursday, raising yet another barrier to police gaining access to the troves of personal data typically kept on smartphones.

Now Google is designing the activation procedures for new Android devices so that encryption happens automatically; only somebody who enters a device’s password will be able to see the pictures, videos and communications stored on those smartphones.

“For over three years Android has offered encryption, and keys are not stored off of the device, so they cannot be shared with law enforcement,” said company spokeswoman Niki Christoff. “As part of our next Android release, encryption will be enabled by default out of the box, so you won’t even have to think about turning it on.”

YouTube Funding Original Content Again | Re/code

YouTube is planning to invest millions in some of its biggest stars, in deals intended to create high-quality content for the site. The deals are also designed to encourage those stars to keep working on YouTube instead of migrating to other platforms.

The plan comes a couple years after YouTube spent more than $100 million on a push to get video makers to create “channels” of programming for the site in an effort to make it more like TV.

Many of those efforts fizzled, but YouTube is taking a different approach this time: Instead of courting people from outside the YouTube ecosystem, like Madonna, it is focusing on “endemic” stars who already have big followings on the site. And it is going to pay them to create specific shows, instead of a suite of programs, and is promising to promote them to its billion-person audience.

Video producers and distributors who are discussing deals with YouTube executives say the site is talking about investing in different kinds of formats and different lengths; in some cases, YouTube is talking about pairing talent with more traditional Hollywood producers. The one constant is that they want to work with talent that is already popular on YouTube, like fashion star Bethany Mota.

YouTube has discussed spending “single-digit millions” to help fund a 10-part series, says one video producer who is talking to the company. “The idea is to help them make more ambitious projects than they can make with the money they’re making from YouTube right now.”

Netflix Offers to Work with Ubuntu to Bring Native Playback to All – OMG! Ubuntu!

In an e-mail sent to the Ubuntu Developer mailing list Netflix’s Paul Adolph explains the current situation:

“Netflix will play with Chrome stable in 14.02 if NSS version 3.16.2 or greater is installed. If this version is generally installed across 14.02, Netflix would be able to make a change so users would no longer have to hack their User-Agent to play.”

iPhone 6 Plus Teardown

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Drop the Ballmer | Tech Talk Today 46

chris — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 09:21:24 +0000

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Steve Ballmer officially steps down as a board member at Microsoft, we speculate about the real motivations. Facebook Tests “Satire” Tag & are people really being fined for the Ice Bucket challenge?

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Steve Ballmer steps down as board member at Microsoft

After leaving his position as CEO of Microsoft a year ago, Steve Ballmer has still held a position as a member of the board of directors for the company. Now, he is leaving the board, explaining why in a letter to fresh Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. “I have become very busy,” Ballmer explains. “I see a combination of Clippers, civic contribution, teaching and study taking up a lot of time.” Despite his departure, the former-CEO is still invested in the company’s success, and he spent most of the letter encouraging Nadella and giving advice. Nadella shot back a supportive, equally optimistic response, promising that Microsoft will thrive in “the mobile-first, cloud-first world.”

It’s not surprising that former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer abruptly gave up his board seat some six months after leaving the top job, and the move should help cement the regime and strategy of his successor Satya Nadella, according to several industry observers.

“I think it’s a classy move by Ballmer,” said analyst Frank Scavo, managing partner of IT consulting firm Strativa. “It shows Ballmer has confidence in Nadella, allowing Nadella to move forward without worrying about what Ballmer thinks.”

Ballmer may have also been smarting from decisions Nadella has made, such as the 14 percent staff reduction last month that focused largely on workers who came aboard through Microsoft’s $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia’s mobile phone business. That deal was driven vigorously by Ballmer, who reportedly struggled to gain buy-in on it from Microsoft’s board.

Microsoft board meetings may not have been especially fun for Ballmer anyway, according to Rob Enderle, principal analyst at Enderle Group. “Once you step down as CEO like Steve did, being on the board and being reminded that you had to step down is like coming to a party after you’ve been asked to leave it.”

Some large institutional investors may be glad to see Ballmer leave the party for good, according to Wes Miller, research analyst with Directions on Microsoft. These players “would like to move beyond the era of Steve Ballmer,” he said. “They’ll view this as a checkpoint for the new Microsoft.”

Facebook Tests “Satire” Tag To Avoid Confusion On News Feed – Slashdot

“In an attempt to keep you from having to explain to your crazy relatives that despite what they read, Vice President Biden *didn’t* get a grow light delivered to the White House under a fake name, Facebook is testing a “satire” tag on news feeds. A Facebook representative issued the following statement to Ars Technica: “We are running a small test which shows the text ‘[Satire]’ in front of links to satirical articles in the related articles unit in News Feed. This is because we received feedback that people wanted a clearer way to distinguish satirical articles from others in these units.”

California Fining ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’ Participants for Wasting Water

In Los Angeles, which is living through its worst drought in generations, the Department of Water & Power and the Police Department have long been cracking down on unnecessary water usage.

At first there were simple restrictions, such as limiting the watering of landscapes, boats, aircrafts etc. But now the “Water Police” have targeted people participating in the Ice Bucket Challenge, a viral campaign meant to raise awareness for the rare neurological disorder Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

“We’re saving a lot of time since people are posting their crime directly to social media,” said Chip Masters, the president of the Department of Water and power. “One day, my entire Facebook feed was filled with these attention hungry morons pouring gallons of ice water over themselves. I couldn’t believe it.

As of Aug. 15, any person or persons who are participating in the ice bucket challenge will be fined $500, as part of the Water Conservation Act.
Within seconds, Masters saw a USC sorority post a video of the entire 50-person chapter standing on their house steps in bikinis, as they took turns pouring roughly 5 gallons of ice cubes over their heads. The video is about 20 minutes long as each sister goes on to nominate their “BFFAEAEs (Best Friends For Ever And Ever).”

The sorority was fined $500 a person for their Ice bucket challenge video. Totaling in about $25,000 in fines, roughly a third of the tuition for the University. The sorority is expected to have wasted over 250 gallons of water, which is almost enough to fill a hot tub.

22 People Who Should Have Definitely Not Taken The Ice Bucket Challenge

By now you’ve seen it EVERYWHERE. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has taken over the internet, spreading awareness (and raising millions) for ALS research. It’s great.

But that doesn’t mean things always go as planned.

Ignition: A Social Retro Gaming OS for the Raspberry Pi by Alex Stubbs — Kickstarter

Ignition is a Social Retro Gaming “OS” for the Pi with features such as Gaming Achievements, Gamer Profiles, Online Play, more..

The post Drop the Ballmer | Tech Talk Today 46 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

China Pays Microsoft a Visit | Tech Talk Today 34

chris — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 10:04:09 +0000

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Microsoft is in hot water with authorities in China and it could be worse than your being told. Plus Mozilla has a new CEO & then we cover a series of tech stories from down under that you’ve just got to hear!

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China Investigates Microsoft – WSJ

Two people familiar with the inquiry said Chinese corporate regulatory officials made surprise visits to Microsoft’s offices in four Chinese cities.

According to Reuters and the South China Morning Post, the company is being investigated by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, which raided Microsoft offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu on Monday.

China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce acts as the nation’s corporate registry and has some marketing and antitrust responsibilities. It couldn’t be reached for comment late Monday.

AIC officials sometimes pay visits to industries under official scrutiny that don’t result in formal probes.

Microsoft had been in the Chinese government’s cross hairs before this week. China’s powerful state-run television broadcaster ran a report in June that questioned the security of the company’s new Windows 8 computer operating system.

The broadcast quoted Chinese experts who argued that Microsoft cooperated with the U.S. government to carry out cyberspying.

Other U.S. companies have also been under scrutiny in the country. China’s state broadcaster also raised questions about the security of the iPhone in July, allegations that Apple Inc.

In late May, the Chinese authorities banned government institutions from using Windows 8

Chris Beard Named CEO of Mozilla

Chris Beard has been appointed CEO of Mozilla Corp. The Mozilla board has reviewed many internal and external candidates — and no one we met was a better fit.

Chris first joined Mozilla in 2004, just before we shipped Firefox 1.0 – and he’s been deeply involved in every aspect of Mozilla ever since. During his many years here, he at various times has had responsibility for almost every part of the business, including product, marketing, innovation, communications, community and user engagement.

Leaked discussion paper reveals Australian online piracy crackdown in full swing

The federal government is proposing that internet service providers (ISPs), such as Telstra, Optus and iiNet, take measures to discourage or reduce online copyright infringement, according to a leaked copy of its discussion paper.

According to the document, first obtained by news website Crikey, the government also wants to give itself the power to prescribe specific measures that would see internet providers discourage online copyright infringement. This is in the cases where the industry does not develop effective schemes or commercial arrangements.

It is also proposing that universities be “captured” by the safe harbour scheme that currently governs internet service providers. This stipulates financial damages can be levied against carriage service providers who breach four categories, including providing connections to copyright material and referring users to an online location where it exists via a link.

In the document, signed by Attorney-General George Brandis and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the government cited its unratified trade obligations with the US – known as the** “Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement”** – to pursue its reforms.

It essentially overrules a decision by the High Court in 2012, which found that internet service providers could not be found liable for authorising an act by a subscriber that infringes copyright.

Although the discussion paper hasn’t been released yet, a speedy response from industry and the public is expected, with submissions closing on August 25.

Aussie hackers get Doom working on an ATM- The Inquirer

HACKERS IN AUSTRALIA have succeeded in running classic first person shooter game Doom on a bank cash machine.

The ATM, which runs Windows XP Embedded, can be controlled using the device’s buttons, with the game appearing on the screen in place of the message telling you the size of your overdraft.

At the moment, weapons selection is done through the arrow buttons to the side of the screen, and the group already has plans to get the number keys up and running.

Playing Doom on an ATM – YouTube

Close Encounters Of The Radio Kind? Mystery Bursts Baffle Astronomers : NPR

Back in 2007, astronomers detected an incredibly brief, incredibly strong radio wave burst in Australia. And now, on the opposite side of the world, astronomers have detected a second blast of similar proportions. Meaning that A) the first one wasn’t a fluke, and B) we have absolutely no idea what’s causing them.

This second ultrafast flash of radio waves was discovered by the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, which had been putting out its feelers in hopes of discovering neutron stars. Instead, it got the second instance of so-called fast radio bursts (FRBs), which finally allowed astronomers to rule out cosmic noise and formally report them. Because unlike the radio signals we usually detect, these radio waves “show every sign of having come from far outside our galaxy.”

Emails:

Stephen writes:

IBM Typerwriter

Yes, I remember that IBM typewriter. That typewriter was so popular that they were often stolen from offices. Some police forces had special teams to investigate thefts.

Sebastian writes:

USB flux capacitor

Hey Chris I saw this on twitter and it just lit a light in my soul, remembering the good old day
Flux Capacitor charger turns any ride into a DeLorean time machine

FauxShow Awards show – How do you watch JB? Send a pic, your IRC Nick, and anything you’d like to add to angela@jupiterbroadcasting.com

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The Great Microsoft Purge | Tech Talk Today 28

chris — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 10:13:13 +0000

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Satya Nadella makes his first big move as Microsoft’s CEO and announces their year long plan to cut 18,000 jobs. Netflix takes the first for net neutrality straight to the FCC, Google starts to embrace Bitcoin, and a classic game getting a new life.

Plus why we might see more mobile spectrum soon, and more!

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Microsoft Will Cut up to 18,000 Jobs | Re/code

Microsoft on Thursday announced it plans to cut up to 18,000 jobs this year–its deepest-ever cuts–as the company looked to digest its Nokia acquisition and reposition itself for the future.

The company is “moving now” on 13,000 of the job cuts, with the vast majority of the overall cuts coming in the next six months and fully implemented over the next 12 months.

Some 12,500 of the cuts are coming from the Nokia Devices and Services unit–roughly half that unit’s workforce.

Starting to Evolve Our Organization and Culture

p>
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote:

“The first step to building the right organization for our ambitions is to realign our workforce,” Nadella said in a note to employees Thursday. “It’s important to note that while we are eliminating roles in some areas, we are adding roles in certain other strategic areas. My promise to you is that we will go through this process in the most thoughtful and transparent way possible.”

Microsoft announces massive layoffs, kills Nokia X phones

Not unsurprisingly, Nadella specifically announced the end of the Nokia X Android endeavour.

In addition, we plan to shift select Nokia X product designs to become Lumia products running Windows. This builds on our success in the affordable smartphone space and aligns with our focus on Windows Universal Apps.

Microsoft stock hits decade high ahead of layoffs – Neowin

Sprint, T-Mobile Look to Raise $10 Billion for Spectrum Auction – WSJ

The Federal Communications Commission is seeking to buy airwaves used by television broadcasters in a reverse auction, and then resell them to wireless carriers in a forward auction. It is a complicated process and the first time such an idea has been tried, the FCC said.

Sprint and T-Mobile are working on a plan to raise roughly $10 billion to spend in an auction of wireless airwaves, people familiar with the matter said.

If Sprint and T-Mobile jointly spend $10 billion as currently envisioned, it would exceed the $9 billion outlay AT&T Inc. has earmarked for the auction.

The companies, which have been discussing a possible merger since last year, are planning to form a joint venture that will bid in a 2015 auction of airwaves held by television broadcasters, the people said.

The funds are part of a roughly $45 billion financing package being put together by SoftBank to finance Sprint’s acquisition of T-Mobile, the people said. SoftBank acquired Sprint last year for $22 billion.

T-Mobile would oversee the venture, a concession from Sprint’s Chairman during the merger talks, people familiar with the matter said.

An announcement of the merger could come this summer, people familiar with the matter said.

Google Search Integrates Bitcoin Price Calculator

The news comes roughly one month after Google Finance partnered with Coinbase to launch a bitcoin price tracker that enabled BTC-to-fiat price conversions across a wide range of global currencies.

A representative from Google confirmed the update to CoinDesk, noting that the tool works on Google Search’s smartphone app as well.

How it works

Google search engine users can now type in basic queries such as “bitcoin price” or “price of BTC” in order to instantly access the tool.

The update also handles more complex queries including “price of 3 bitcoin” or “5 BTC”, and responds by showing the current price of bitcoin along with a chart illustrating the currency’s history dating back before 2011.

Investors should note, however, that per Google’s disclaimer policies, the resulting search may not reflect real-time value.

Netflix to FCC: reclassify Comcast and Verizon so they can’t choke the internet

Netflix came out swinging in its submission to the FCC over proposed internet “fast lanes,” arguing Wednesday that this would be a bad idea and that the agency should instead focus on forcing broadband providers to deliver the speeds they promise to their customers.

In its 28-page filing, which coincides with the close of an initial public comment period, Netflix singled out Comcast and Verizon for degrading its movie streams to “nearly VHS quality” and for holding subscribers ransom in a battle over who should pay for upgrades to internet infrastructure.

The company also took aim at the FCC’s “fast lane” proposal, arguing that it creates a perverse incentive for the ISPs to create congestion so that they can then turn around and demand money for traffic to pass through. Arguing that “no rule is better than a bad rule,”

Project AM2R – “Another Metroid 2 Remake”: AM2R runs on Linux!

The developer recently transitioned to Game Maker Studio. In the process, many features had to be redone from scratch, so Linux support was written in too. Early builds show very good promise, and an offical build should be avaiable soon.

The post The Great Microsoft Purge | Tech Talk Today 28 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Google Local Delivery | Tech Talk Today 21

chris — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 09:37:16 +0000

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Google’s big express shopping plans start to see the light of day, Apple has a new iPhone patent that might sound a little familiar.

Then we play some clips from a Fireside Chat with Google co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Find out their thoughts on the future of self driving cars, Google getting into Health and more!

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— Headlines —

Inside Google Shopping Express’ Big Plan to Race Amazon to Your Door | Re/code

Shopping Express. The service lets shoppers buy things from local retail stores through Google, which then delivers them to consumers from the physical retail store on the same or next day.

A source familiar with the company’s plans says senior Google execs have set aside as much as $500 million to expand the service nationwide. Google declined to comment on the size of the investment but made no secret of its ambition.

Google’s Fallows said a major goal of the initiative is to add more utility to product search advertisements on Google.com. On Amazon, you search for a product and can buy it immediately. On Google, that hasn’t been the case.

Eventually, Google may include some type of notification on product search ads letting shoppers know that a given product is available for same-day delivery, Fallows said.

Shoppers in cities where the service is available — mainly areas around San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City for now — visit a dedicated Google Shopping Express website where they can choose to buy goods like groceries, cameras and clothing from a selection of retail partners.

Apple developing system to automatically unlock iPhone at home

The system works by identifying where the iPhone is and allows users to set “safe” locations, where settings including security can be automatically changed removing the need for a passcode or Touch ID, for example.

“Based on the detected current location, the mobile device can modify settings and configurations. Security settings are one example of device behaviour that can be modified in accordance with embodiments of the present invention,” said Apple in the patent filing.

The patent could see iPhones unlocked within the vicinity of the home but locked while out on the street. The smartphone could determine its location using mobile phone signal, Wi-Fi networks, GPS, Bluetooth or the phone’s proximity to other phones.

At least two location indicators will be required to verify location and create the changes in security or other software features.

The patent also describes a system that could change a user’s home screen depending on where the phone is, with work related apps front and foremost when in the office or games and TV apps when in the home.

Fireside chat with Google co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin | Khosla Ventures

At the annual KV CEO Summit, we were fortunate to have both Larry Page and Sergey Brin sit down to discuss a wide range of topics including the acquisition that never was (although not for lack of trying!), why computers today are still pretty bad, their partnership over the last 16 years, the future of Google, government 2.0 and how machine learning and technology will shape our future of abundance.

Google Founders Talk About Ending the 40-Hour Work Week

He acknowledged, however, that people need “things to do” and “need to feel like you’re needed,” desires that are fulfilled through labor. One solution he offered: reduce the work week and perhaps split one full-time job into multiple part-time jobs.

“You just reduce work time,” Page said. “Most people, if I ask them, ‘Would you like an extra week of vacation?’ They raise their hands, 100% of the people. ‘Two weeks vacation, or a four-day work week?’ Everyone will raise their hand. Most people like working, but they’d also like to have more time with their family or to pursue their own interests. So that would be one way to deal with the problem, is if you had a coordinated way to just reduce the workweek. And then, if you add slightly less employment, you can adjust and people will still have jobs.”

The post Google Local Delivery | Tech Talk Today 21 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Narrative of Negligence | Unfilter 92

chris — Wed, 09 Apr 2014 21:14:23 +0000

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We update you on several big stories we’ve been following this week in this causal supporter show style edition of Unfilter. Plus our thoughts on Mozilla’s CEO stepping down, XP coming to an end, and more!

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— Show Notes —

Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress–and a Plan to Stop It: Lawrence Lessig

NSA is Crazy

Edward Snowden: US government spied on human rights workers

The US has spied on the staff of prominent human rights organisations, Edward Snowden has told the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, Europe’s top human rights body.

Giving evidence via a videolink from Moscow, Snowden said the National Security Agency – for which he worked as a contractor – had deliberately snooped on bodies like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Snowden, meanwhile, dismissed NSA claims that he had swiped as many as 1.7m documents from the agency’s servers in an interview with Vanity Fair.

He described the number released by investigators as “simply a scare number based on an intentionally crude metric: everything that I ever digitally interacted with in my career.”
He added: “Look at the language officials use in sworn testimony about these records: ‘could have,’ ‘may have,’ ‘potentially.’ They’re prevaricating. Every single one of those officials knows I don’t have 1.7m files, but what are they going to say? What senior official is going to go in front of Congress and say, ‘We have no idea what he has, because the NSA’s auditing of systems holding hundreds of millions of Americans’ data is so negligent that any high-school dropout can walk out the door with it’?”

In the Vanity Fair interview the whistleblower said he paid the bill in the Mira Hotel using his own credit card because he wanted to demonstrate he was not working for a foreign intelligence agency. “My hope was that avoiding ambiguity would prevent spy accusations and create more room for reasonable debate,” he told the magazine. “Unfortunately, a few of the less responsible members of Congress embraced the spy charges for political reasons, as they still do to this day.”

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CIA Torture Scandal Marches On

Fury at attack on Dianne Feinstein by ex-CIA director Michael Hayden

The latest row broke on Sunday when Hayden, a former NSA and CIA director, said the Senate intelligence committee’s landmark report on torture and coercive interrogations was not objective because Feinstein, a California Democrat, was too “emotional”.

Ron Wyden, a member of the Senate intelligence committee, said on Monday that Michael Hayden’s attack on Feinstein, the committee chairperson, was “outrageous” and fitted a pattern of “misleading” the American public.

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The post Narrative of Negligence | Unfilter 92 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

The Cost of Comments | CR 89

chris — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 12:28:09 +0000

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Responding to criticism for an open source project, or a closed commercial project can be a very tricky things. Mike and Chris share their thoughts on how you can properly set expectations and respond to negative feedback.

Plus what roles users play in their interaction with developers, your feedback, and more!

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Feedback

Launch Day

How do you communicate your release? Tease? Total Surprise? Pre-Announce?
What’s your strong suite?
Do you advertise? What about Podcast spots? Podcasts offer a huge return for a very reasonable investment. They are a massively under utilized medium for app developers.

Managing your PR Nightmare

Social media lets douchebags rile up other douchebags despite the reality.
How you handle this will be saved forever online, and will come back down the road.

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The post The Cost of Comments | CR 89 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Paper Cuts Deep | CR 88

chris — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 12:12:24 +0000

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Mike and Chris use the recent drama around Paper and Flappy Bird to have a wider discussion about the forces against Indie developers. And our reactions to the CEO change at Microsoft.

Plus some great feedback, and more!

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Dev Week Hoopla

Indie smash hit \’Flappy Bird\’ racks up $50K per day in ad revenue

The app has been downloaded 50 million times, and has accumulated over 47,000 reviews in the App Store — as many as apps like Evernote and Gmail. Mobile games studios generally spend months coding up deliberately addictive and viral titles, but Nguyen did it by spending a few nights coding when he got home from work.

FiftyThree\’s Paper app was released in March 2012. It was such a big hit that Apple named it the best iPad app of 2012.

The post Paper Cuts Deep | CR 88 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Waning Windows | CR 87

chris — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 12:08:00 +0000

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Mike and Chris address a number of topics this week, from open source project’s properly communicating with the media, Google selling Motorola to Leveno, and a debate about Microsoft’s rumored CEO choice.

Plus your feedback, and more!

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We all love / hate college
Jason’s email: Scala deployment with only free software
Johnny’s email: Software Factory
Egon’s Email: Egon is still around
https://imgur.com/RaFYS4V

Dev Week Hoopla

Google sells Motorola to Lenovo for $2.91 billion | The Verge

Google will retain ownership of the vast majority of Motorola\’s patents, while 2,000 patents and a license on the remaining patents will go to Lenovo. At the deal\’s closing, Lenovo will pay Google $660 million in cash and $750 million in stock, while the remaining $1.5 billion will be paid out over three years.
+ Google Sells Motorola to Lenovo: Winners and Losers
So how does Google come out ahead? Backing up a bit, Google had already arranged to sell Motorola\’s set-top box business to Arris Group for about $2.3 billion (cash and stock) even before its takeover of Motorola was technically closed. Google also offloaded things like factories for about $100 million, closed offices, kicked 4,000 people to the curb, and pocketed Motorola\’s assets. So now, with the Lenovo sale, Google\’s on-paper out-of-pocket cost on acquiring Motorola is down to about $1.8 billion. That\’s not bad, considering Google valued Motorola\’s patents and technology at about $5.5 billion when it took over the company.
Of course, Motorola Mobility has lost almost $2 billion since Google took it over — and that\’s gotta burn.

Google could swap Nexus line with Google Play by 2015 | Android Atlas – CNET Reviews

According to Murtazin\’s sources, Google will introduce two or three more Nexus-branded products this year, but will discontinue the sub-brand in 2015. This bligger indicates that Google will rebrand the Play Edition as the Nexus replacement.
+ Report: Satya Nadella to be named Microsoft CEO; Gates out, too | PCWorld

Microsoft\’s cloud chief, Satya Nadella, will lead the company as its next chief executive, according to a report from Bloomberg.
+ As Microsoft CEO rumors swirl, consider the Bill Gates factor | Microsoft – CNET News
According to three different reports from the past few days (Recode, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal), Gates may end up resigning as chairman to take on a more active product development role at the company.

Microsoft\’s CEO Pick: a Safe Choice, With Edge – WSJ.com

If he is named CEO, Mr. Nadella would inherit many advantages. Microsoft generated $27 billion in operating profit in the year ended June 30, and the company holds $84 billion in cash. Microsoft\’s Windows still runs roughly nine out of every 10 desktop and laptop computers in the world, and its Office and Exchange programs are corporate mainstays.

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The post Waning Windows | CR 87 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Bye Bye Ballmer | CR 64

chris — Mon, 26 Aug 2013 11:20:49 +0000

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Steve Ballmer\’s legacy at Microsoft is controversial. We look over the long list of big and quiet successes and failures under his watch as CEO. Plus what we think the big problem facing Microsoft is going to be long term, and if they can really transform into a “devices and services” company.

Plus we’ll discuss the big problem with SourceForge, self taught programing vs structured schooling, your emails, and more!

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Dev Hoopla

How far the once might Sourceforge has fallne

Balmer is going going gone :

Ballmer Departure From Microsoft Was More Sudden Than Portrayed

Instead, sources said Ballmer\’s timeline had been moved up drastically — first by him and then the nine-member board, including his longtime partner and Microsoft co-founder and chairman Bill Gates — after all agreed that it was best if he left sooner than later.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to Retire within 12 Months

\”There is never a perfect time for this type of transition, but now is the right time,\” Ballmer, 57, said in a statement. \”We have embarked on a new strategy with a new organization and we have an amazing senior leadership team. My original thoughts on timing would have had my retirement happen in the middle of our company\’s transformation to a devices and services company. We need a CEO who will be here longer term for this new direction.\”

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The post Bye Bye Ballmer | CR 64 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Flight of the Butterfly | Plan B 3

chris — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 16:44:03 +0000

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Butterfly Labs has shipped the first batch of their ASIC miners. David Perry joins us to chat about his 5GH/s Bitcoin miner, his experiences mining over the past week, and what he believes is Bitcoin’s image problem.

Plus: Have we reached a turning point for Bitcoin Mt Gox DDoSing? Bitcoin’s moment on the Colbert Report, the downside to Litecoin, your emails, and much more!

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— Discussion —

bitfloor

I am sorry to announce that due to circumstances outside of our control BitFloor must cease all trading operations indefinitely. Unfortunately, our US bank account is scheduled to be closed and we can no longer provide the same level of USD deposits and withdrawals as we have in the past. As such, I have made the decision to halt operations and return all funds.

The Bitcoin Bubble Explained, Colbert-Style (Video)

Leave it to Stephen Colbert to cut through the chatter about bitcoins with his own brand of high-octane, self-interested analysis. In a segment about bitcoin trading that aired last week on The Colbert Report, Colbert posed: “If you don’t know what Bitcoin is — want to buy some bitcoins?”

BitCoin, Or BetaCoin? What The Venture Capitalists Are Thinking

The next chapter of the story, he believes, will be the entry of a host of \”Smart money\” venture capitalists looking to build the currency\’s infrastructure.

Have We Reached A Turning Point For Bitcoin Exchange DDoS?

Unlike past DDoS attacks, something very interesting happened yesterday: nothing. Trades trickled through and prices barely moved, remaining in a tight band for hours. The implications of that could be tremendously positive.

Butterfly Labs ship Jalapeños ASIC Bitcoin miners to customers

The day has arrived, the Butterfly Labs forum Latest Update reads \”Jalapeños are making their way to their new homes. https://ow.ly/i/1WUo4″.

While there is no mention yet of numbers that have been shipped or when the other Butterfly Labs devices like the BitForce Single or Little Single will be shipping this will be welcome news to bitcoin miners everywhere.

Shipping Update – Blogs – Bitcoin Mining Forum – Butterfly Labs

Monday 4/22 shipped 4 Jalapenos. 1 Customer and 3 developer units.

Tuesday 4/23 3 more to ship today to customers.

As we get ramped up here I won\’t be telling you how many we ship each day–just what day the orders were made that we are shipping. Right now I just want you to know the magnitude of the number of units so you can see we are not blowing these products out the door in great numbers. That will come later.

David Perry Gets a BFL Jalapeno, shares his Unboxing and Demo

BFL Jalapeno Unboxing and Demo

BFL was kind enough to send me a pre-release demo unit so I could show everyone the awesomeness.

Bitcoin\’s Image Problem

No matter what your personal politics say about Mr. Bernanke up there, you\’ve got to admit he looks pretty professional. Now what does the average mental image of a Bitcoiner look like?

Coding In My Sleep – Dave’s Site

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The post Flight of the Butterfly | Plan B 3 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Perfect World | MMOrgue 15

chris — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 14:58:41 +0000

Over the past few weeks, there’s been one MMO company consistently popping up again and again, whether its because of acquisitions, announcements, or new products. The name “Perfect World” just keeps recurring.

I’ve decided to set aside today’s episode to cover some of those recent developments, and take a look at some of the moves this company has been making in the Western MMO markets as of late, as well as cover some of the information I gleaned from my time at PAX Prime.

Later in this episode, I’ll show you a little bit about a new F2P FPS that I got a hands-on demo of at PAX called Blacklight Retribution. But first, I’d like to cover a few of the newsy bits that’ve brought Perfect World into the public eye recently.

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STO – F2P

MMORPG.com announcement

In a move that surprised … just about nobody, it was recently confirmed that Star Trek Online will soon be moving to a Free-to-Play subscription model. Details on the transition are scarce at the time of filming this episode, but according to a statement from Perfect World CEO Kevlin Lau, the transition is scheduled to take place before the end of 2011.

There are a few simple reasons that this came as no real surprise to anyone that’s been following Cryptic Studios and their recent acquisition by Perfect World:

Firstly is that this game, and their superhero game – Champions Online – both have possessed in-game cash shops since their launch.
While to some this came across as a “cake: have-eat” scenario, I always saw it more as testing the waters of a F2P model, without taking the full risk associated with such a move out-of-the-gate.
I also suspect that there was a lot of pressure from their former publisher, Atari, to recoup the cost of development of both of these MMOs, by charging both an up-front box cost and an ongoing subscription fee.
The move to a fully cash-shop-supported financial model is going to be just as seamless and simple for STO as it was for CO when they transitioned to F2P almost a year ago.
And secondly, if STO had remained a subscription-based game, it would have been the ONLY such subscription model on Perfect World’s books. That would be highly unlikely.
That being said, a subscription OPTION still exists in CO, and is likely to exist in STO as well, after this transition goes thru. In fact, in the same conference call where this F2P transition was first revealed, it was also mentioned that Perfect World is using Cryptic Studios to get more of a foothold in the subscription-based MMO market. Meaning that it’s also possible that more of Perfect World’s future products will offer a subscription option, in addition to their usual cash-shop offerings.

As for my opinions on the subject? I can pretty much summarize by saying that I consider this a very, very good thing for the future of Star Trek Online. I’ve been in touch with potential players of this game, and fans of Trek in general, and a primary sticking point to new players trying out the title has always been the subscription fee. By eliminating that barrier for entry, Cryptic and Perfect World will be opening the doors to a whole new type of audience, that can then “vote with their wallets” to determine whether or not Star Trek Online is worth investing in.

The presence of a strong set of UGC tools, and a strong community surrounding those tools, continues to be a unique selling point for Star Trek Online. I believe that if Cryptic really wishes to distinguish themselves in the F2P market, they need to leverage that set of tools as a primary selling point.

Early indications are that Free players will be unable to build their own missions, but will still have access to PLAY missions created by other players. Meaning that they can see the toolset in action, and if they are impressed by what they see, they may be enticed to subscribe or buy access through the in-game cash shop, in order to become a part of the UGC community of STO.

In order for that to happen, Freepers need to be shown the best of the best missions in-game. And so, additional support for mission creators needs to be brought to the fore of Cryptic’s community-based efforts. Reinforce those players that are making your game look the best, and you will reap the benefits tenfold.

As most of you are probably aware, Jupiter Broadcasting also produces a video podcast dedicated to Star Trek Online, so if you’re curious to hear a more in-depth editorial on the subject, I’d recommend following the next few episodes of STOked, as the story continues to develop. We hope to have someone from Cryptic join us on that show in the near future to discuss the Free-to-Play transition, and all of its implications.

NEVERWINTER

In other Perfect World-slash-Cryptic news, I thought I’d mention that back in August we received notification that the launch of Neverwinter has been officially delayed from a launch window of “Late 2011” to “Late 2012.” The initial quote from Perfect World indicates that this launch delay was being undertaken in order to “invest in a more immersive experience.”

Well, pardon me, but HELL YES. It’s about damn time that more game publishers start to realize that launching a product prematurely – especially an MMO – does way more harm to the long-term goals of that label and the associated development studio, than any monetary influx that the sale of boxes could bring. We’ve already seen this happen with the aforementioned Star Trek Online, which has been universally acknowledged by both its staunchest fans, and developers of that title, to have launched WAY too early to be considered a fleshed-out product. And the result of that premature launch has been a lack of consumer confidence in Cryptic Studios by the general gaming public, and, likely a lack of long-term success that COULD have been found if the studio had been allowed to spend another year or two in development.

So, lesson learned. Neither Cryptic or Perfect World want that to happen again. So Neverwinter will be out “when it’s ready.” And I, for one, am thankful to be kept waiting.

TORCHLIGHT MMO and TORCHLIGHT II

Torchlight MMO gets a launch window

Another bit of news that “leaked” out of that same conference call, was a confirmation that Runic Games is indeed moving forward at a steady clip on their plans to roll out a Torchlight MMO. According to the statements made by Perfect World, the title could be ready to launch as early as late 2012.

I actually had the pleasure of sitting down to speak with Runic’s CEO, Max Schaefer, during PAX 2011. When asked about eventual plans for their rumored MMO, he said it had always been Runic’s intent to create an MMO game, and that cutting their teeth on Torchlight and Torchlight II has been a necessary part of that process, as the lessons they’ve learned while developing those two titles has left them wiser and more well-prepared to tackle their big dream project.

But nowhere in that conversation did he indicate that they were already moving forward on the project to the point that a release could be more or less one year away from now. In fact, in my frank conversation with him, he actually indicated that Runic may even take a break from the Torchlight franchise after the launch of their impending sequel, and that no solid plans for their upcoming pipeline have been nailed down.

It’s possible that there’s been some crossed wires here between Perfect World and Runic. It wouldn’t surprise me to find out that this initial estimate of the launch of the Torchlight MMO ends up being off by as much as a few years. Though there’s no doubt in my mind that it is, indeed, going to happen. It just seems to me that the success or failure of Torchlight II will determine the timing of that MMO’s development process, which doesn’t seem to have begun yet.

As for Torchlight II, I had the brief opportunity to get my hands in some co-op gameplay on the PAX floor, and was very happy with the experience. As many of you probably already know, Blizzard has recently announced that Diablo III will include some rather restrictive mechanics when it launches, including the lack of offline play, no modding, and an auction house for trading items for real world currency. All of these announcements have turned off many potential players of the upcoming title, but Runic has embraced those announcements as an opportunity to stand apart from the title it was once rumored to have been cloned from.

Torchlight II will include both an offline solo mode, and LAN play that will not be filtered through a central verification server. During my conversation with Max Schaefer, I asked if they were afraid of piracy that may result from this lack of restrictions, and his simple answer was no. That piracy will happen regardless of what restrictions you put in place, and that it can also potentially drive additional sales of your product. For example, if you visit a friend and end up playing a LAN session of Torchlight II using a hacked copy of the game, Runic feels you are very likely to enjoy that experience to such a degree that you end up purchasing the game at a later point in time. And with a box price of only $20, I can see that being a reality.

Torchlight II will also support modding. To such a degree that the actual development tools that were used to create the game will ship as a part of the retail program. And while there’s a steep learning curve associated with their use, the inclusion of these tools will allow the modding community to literally create anything they can imagine in Torchlight. From new campaigns and maps, to fundamentally altering the mechanics of the gameworld itself. One of the most common examples of this that’s been mentioned repeatedly, is the removal of the player cap on multiplayer sessions, which at the time of release will be set at between 4 and 8 players. But via modding, this restriction could potentially be completely removed.

As for the auction house concept, Max simply told me it’s beyond the scope of Torchlight II. There isn’t even a direct trading interface between players. The only way to trade items, is drop them on the ground where the other player can pick them up. If players wish to work out Paypal arrangements for such transactions, they’re welcome to, but Runic has no intent to cash in on the gameplay enjoyment of their customers.

In essence, Torchlight II is shaping up to be more Diablo-ey, than even the sequel that will bear the name. And Runic claims they are on target to release their title on the PC by the end of the year.

BLACKLIGHT RETRIBUTION

Let’s switch gears entirely now, and talk about an upcoming title from Zombie Studios and being published by Perfect World. This game caught my eye at PAX because I thought I was watching a game of what was essentially a Counterstrike clone, when suddenly one of the staff running the 4vs4 PvP demo told the players participating, to activate their “wall hacks!”

Welcome to Blacklight Retribution – an Unreal Engine dx11 competitive FPS set in a near-future of cyber-warfare. I’m not sure what the backstory of this world is, or if there even is one, but I’m also not sure that it matters for this type of gameplay.

I’m not going to spend a lot of time talking about this title, as it’s most definitely NOT an MMO. Even though it contains a huge online presence, the lack of any form of persistence really rules out the MMO moniker from coming into play. Despite that, this F2P game is still being published by an MMO company, and I think that’s enough to warrant a little bit of attention.

The primary selling point of Blacklight, is Instant Action. Beyond just being able to load into a match using traditional matchmaking services, once in the match the use of your “Hyper-Reality View” (or HRV), will allow you to see your friends and foes thru the walls around you, allowing you to almost instantly track down the nearest target or defense point, and get into the action with minimal delay. The presence of this built-in “wall hack” mechanic actually adds a new layer of strategy to the game, as every player comes equipped with it. So even though you can see him thru those walls, he can potentially see you, too. And so knowing when your opponent is looking your direction is almost as important as knowing where he is, and whether there’s a wall between the two of you. Because of the addition of this one simple mechanic, I found the entire FPS deathmatch experience to have taken on a slightly more cerebral layer of consideration, and became more strategic than your average shoot-em-up match.

As a somewhat unique feature in this world of PvP deathmatch shooters, Blacklight also features a very robust customization interface. Players will have the option to change the look and feel of most of the weapons in the game, including adding laser sights to pistols, changing ammo types, or just adding decals to your weapons and armor. It’s really a very small matter, but it’s very fun, and really no stranger than adding a unique hat to your TF2 avatar.

In fact, fans of games like TF2 and Counterstrike will definitely want to check out Blacklight Retribution when it lands. At the price of FREE, you really have nothing to lose. I would caution you however, that the minimum specs are on the high-end, as the makers at Zombie Studios specifically want to ensure that their game is a cut above the level of most console shooter titles. However, that also means that this game is very much rooted in the PC market, and the UI and keybinds will not suffer from being “dumbed down” for players used to using controllers to frag their enemies.

Blacklight Retribution is undergoing extensive private beta testing right now, with the goal of being released before the end of 2011. However, the statement I received from one of the Zombie Studio reps at PAX, was that the title would only be released once they were sure they could deliver a bug-free and balanced experience out of the gate. When I asked the same question of an on-site Perfect World rep, they confirmed this by stating that the launch date would be at the discretion of Zombie, and hadn’t been finalized.

CLOSER

That’s it for this episode of The MMOrgue. As we look back on the stories of today’s episode, we notice that 3 separate development studios, all working under Perfect World, all producing vastly different products still all have a few simple design philosophies shining through:

1) Deliver PC-focused game experiences, regardless of whether the title is an MMO, shooter, or action RPG.
2) Eliminate or reduce the financial barrier for entry to enjoy these titles, and allow the consumer to ‘vote with their wallets’ to support the product or not.
3) Don’t launch the title until it’s ready for public consumption.

I have to say, as a gamer and industry enthusiast, I absolutely agree with those 3 principles, and can foresee myself becoming a long-term supporter of Perfect World if they can stick to their guns. The only hiccup remains the potential for cash shops to encourage that whole “pay to win” atmosphere that I’ve spoken out against in the past, and so far Perfect World has been sitting on both sides of that fence, depending on which of their games you look at. It’s in their best interest to steer as clear of it as they can, as they continue to gain more of a foothold here in the Western MMO market.

That brings us to the end of this week’s MMOrgue. Over the coming few weeks, I intend to produce episodes about League of Legends and Firefall, but the precise dates of each of those haven’t been pinned down as I’m trying to wrangle up an interview for each. So next week’s episode is a total mystery! I hope you can join me back here nonetheless, as I continue to plumb the depths of the online gaming market.

The post Perfect World | MMOrgue 15 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

The Computer Action Show! S02E04

chris — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 10:40:38 +0000

This week on The Computer Action Show!

News Update: Google Buzz, 1gbps Internet Services, Sun CEO resigns via Haiku, and more!

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All this week on, THE COMPUTER ACTION SHOW!

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The post The Computer Action Show! S02E04 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

The Linux Action Show! Season 10 Episode 3

chris — Sun, 10 May 2009 11:00:28 +0000

This Week on, The Linux Action Show!

We give you our review of the new Ubuntu Release, have a quick chat with the CEO of CodeWeavers, the big Oracle news BLOWS our minds and we tell you ALL ABOUT IT!

PLUS SO MUCH MORE!

All This Week On, The Linux Action Show!

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The post The Linux Action Show! Season 10 Episode 3 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.