| Diablo III Being Sold As "Big Pineapple 3" In China To Bypass Sales Ban Posted: 29 May 2012 11:12 AM PDT  Getting your hands on a hot new PC game isn't as simple in China as it is in the United States. The Chinese Ministry of Culture needs to clear a title before it becomes available in stores, a process that's been known to take months, or even years. As a result, impatient Chinese gamers looking to engage in demonic hack n' slashing have resorted to pineapples, phonics and search trickery to get their hands on the much-coveted game.
Since Diablo III has yet to be approved, PC World and Kotaku are reporting that searches for the translated Diablo III name turns up fruitless on the eBay-like Taobao. Enterprising online retailers, however, are selling the game under the name "Big Pineapple 3" -- because "Big Pineapple" in Chinese is "dà bōluó". See what they did there? The listings for the game even include pics of a pineapple, in case verbal punnery isn't your strong point. Of course, since this is being fairly widely reported, the creative backdoor probably won't stay propped open for long. But the people who did manage to snag a copy are in for some good news; yesterday, Blizzard outlined some massive Diablo III patches coming down the pipeline. PC Gamer has a great summary of the scheduled changes. Follow Brad on Google+ or Twitter |
| Armed Bandits Break Into House After Teen Posts Pics Of Grandmother's Cash Pile On Facebook Posted: 29 May 2012 10:44 AM PDT  You can try and keep your Facebook page safe from prying would-be employers, but you can't protect yourself against your own stupidity. One Australian family learned that the late last week. A 17 year old girl was helping her grandmother count a large sum of cash and posted a picture of the riches on her Facebook profile under the appropriately-named title "Large sum of cash." Seven and a half hours later, two masked men broke into the girl's mother's house looking for the loot, sporting a knife and a wooden club.
But as we said, the cash pile was 75 miles away at the girl's grandmother's house, not her mother's. (Oops!) Heck, the girl didn't even live with her parent any more. That didn't deter the knife- and wooden club-wielding bandits. They (presumably) terrified the three people who were home at the time, then (definitely) ransacked the house and made off with personal effects and a much smaller amount of cash. Maximum PC? Maybe not. But it's a good reminder to keep sensitive personal info off of those social networks, especially, when said sensitive personal info includes pictures of large sums of cash and some sort of real name or location info. And please, if you must post pictures of your large sums of cash, make sure not to tag it "large piles of cash." C'mon now. Follow Brad on Google+ or Twitter NSW Police Force via BBC News. Image via 401k/Flickr |
| Iron Man PC Mod Kicks Bionic Ass, Creator Explains How It Happened Posted: 29 May 2012 10:14 AM PDT  Ron Lee Christianson's known in modderati circles for the outstanding attention to detail in his case mods, and his latest project is no different: the Iron Man PC blows our mind. Commissioned by Thermaltake and built with Thermaltake's new Armor Revo case -- though you'd never know it just by looking at it -- this kick ass case contains the extra touches that make a difference, such as a replica of Iron Man's chest-bound Arc Reactor and a front-facing copy of Iron Man's helm that actually opens and closes. We spoke with Ron about the Iron Man mod and other things over the weekend.
He told us that the Iron Man PC, which will show up in Thermaltake's booth at Computex next week, could be just the first of many Marvel-inspired cases; "Thermaltake and I are discussing the entire Avengers line of case mods," he writes. Thermaltake approached Ron with the Iron Man mod idea way back in January. "After discussing design ideas for weeks I got started on the build in early March. The greatest challenge was staying true to Marvel's design of the Iron Man suits and incorporating it into a PC case. I watched the movies over and over as I worked on the build trying to pick up on the fine details and personality of the suits." Ron keeps his skills honed by following the build logs of other in-progress case mods around the Internet. (You can see the build log for the Iron Man PC on Ron's BlueHorseStudios website, complete with a material list and dozens and dozens of pictures.) He also offers some tips and tricks for would-be modders: "The advice I'd give to anyone starting a build is to do a ton of research on your subject matter (and) document your work in work logs and free media outlets like Facebook and Youtube. Everyone has their own skill sets that they feel comfortable in, master those skills and don't be afraid to try new things... Attention to detail is everything." Click through the gallery below to see a bunch of pics of the final Iron Man build and two awesome in-progress pics of the Arc Reactor. More pics can be found in the worklog Thermaltake has up on its Facebook page. Speaking of Facebook, if you like what you see, head over to the May edition of Xoxide's "Build of the Month" competition, where Ron's Iron Man PC is one of several finalists vying for the top spot. Follow Brad on Google+ or Twitter |
| Beware of Olympic Themed Emails Carrying a Payload, F-Secure Says Posted: 29 May 2012 07:24 AM PDT  Malware writers figured out long ago that infection rates go up when you target current trends. Potential victims who aren't particularly computer savvy tend to let their guard down when an email arrives related to current events, and with the London Olympics less than two months away, malware writers are getting a head start by sending out malicious Olympic themed emails.
According to F-Secure, a malicious PDF is making the rounds on the back of Olympic emails. The PDF exploits CVE-2010-2883, which is a stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability found in outdated versions of Adobe Reader and Acrobat. "A typical PDF exploit will launch a clean decoy as part of its attack, and in this case, the decoy is a copy of the London 2012 Olympic schedule circa October 2010," F-Secure explains. As always, downloading and clicking on attachments from unknown sources is asking for trouble, and you should be careful of any unexpected email attachment, regardless of whether it came from one your contacts or a stranger. Of course, we're preaching to the choir here, but if nothing else, you may want to give your family and friends a heads up before they ring through and ask you to fix their PC. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Microsoft Updating User Agreements to Block Class-Action Claims Posted: 29 May 2012 07:23 AM PDT  Microsoft is making a small change across its consumer products and services—something that most people won't notice immediately, if at all. But just because something is small doesn't necessarily mean it's insignificant. Hit the jump for more.
The Redmond-based company, according to its assistant general counsel Jim Fielden, has begun updating user agreements across its consumer products and services. The main purpose of this whole exercise is to preclude class-action claims and force disputes with disgruntled customers in the U.S. into arbitration. "When a customer in the United States has a dispute about a Microsoft product or service, many of our new user agreements will require that, if we can't informally resolve the dispute, the customer bring the claim in small claims court or arbitration, but not as part of a class action lawsuit," Fielden wrote in a blog post last week. "Many companies have adopted this approach, which the U.S. Supreme Court permitted in a case it decided in 2011. We made this change to our terms of use for Xbox LIVE several months ago, and we will implement similar changes in user agreements for other products and services in the coming months as we roll out major licensing, hardware or software releases and updates." While Microsoft is convinced that this is the "right approach," not everyone feels that way. Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court gave the nod to arbitration clauses precluding class-action claims, there has been a raging debate over this issue. Image Credit: Professor Virtual |
| Overclocker Pushes AMD's FX-8150 CPU to the Limit, Approaches 9GHz Posted: 29 May 2012 07:00 AM PDT  There's a new CPU overclocking record to report and, surprise-surprise (not really), AMD's spunky FX-8150 chip is the one breaking new ground. This time a Taiwanese overclocker who goes by "ksin" was able to push AMD's record setting processor to 8,805MHz (8.8GHz), inching ever closer to the coveted 9GHz mark. It's worth mentioning that these ultra-high frequencies aren't practical because they're not sustainable without a constant dose of LN2, but that's also missing the point.
A certain amount of skill and technical savvy is required to reach speeds in excess of 8GHz; it's not as easy as pouring LN2 and calling it a day. Careful component selection is also a factor, and according to the details on HWBOT, ksin achieved the record breaking overclock on an Asus Crosshair V Formula motherboard with 4GB (2x2GB) of A-Data DDR3 memory running in a dual-channel configuration with 9-11-10-30 timings and a 2,834MHz (effective) frequency. He used a x29 multiplier and fed 1.86V to the CPU. It's also worth mentioning that two of the four processor cores had to be disabled to achieve the 8.8GHz. Disabling CPU cores isn't unusual, but it further underscores the point of practicality. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| New XPS One 27 is Dell's Largest All-in-One Desktop Ever, Touts 2560 x 1440 Display Posted: 29 May 2012 06:32 AM PDT  The desktop isn't dead, not by a long shot, though hulking towers might not be as popular as they once were. All-in-one (AIO) desktops, on the other hand, are as vogue as they've ever been, and Dell claims to have "reimagined" the form factor with its new XPS One 27, the company's largest ever AIO and part of the premium XPS performance family with Intel's Ivy Bridge architecture sitting pretty on the inside.
As you might have already guessed, the XPS One 27 boasts a monstrous 27-inch display with a generous 2560x1440 Full Wide Quad HD resolution. Driving the display are 3rd Generation Intel Core i5 3450S and Core i7 3770S processor options with Intel HD 4000 graphics, along with an optional upgrade to Nvidia's GeForce GT 640M GPU with 2GB of GDDR5 memory. Other features and configuration options include up to 16GB of DDR3 memory (4GB comes standard), a 1TB hard drive upgradeable to 2TB or (optionally) an HDD + 32GB mSATA SSD, slot loading DVD drive (Blu-ray upgrade available), Full HD webcam with integrated mic, GbE LAN, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, Intel WiDi technology, four USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, HDMI input and output, 8-in-1 memory card reader, optional TV tuner with IR blaster, and Windows 7 Home Premium. Dell also announced two other AIO systems, the Inspiron One 23 with 2nd and 3rd Generation Intel Core processor options, and the Inspiron One 20 with 2nd Generation Intel Core CPUs. Pricing starts at $1,399 (XPS One 27), $749 (Inspiron One 23), and $529 (Inspiron One 20). Image Credit: Dell Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
| Facebook Toying with the Idea of Releasing a Branded Smartphone Posted: 29 May 2012 06:01 AM PDT  This just in, Cookie Monster has left Sesame Street for Wall Street and purchased a majority share in Facebook. This would explain why the world's largest social networking site seemingly has its hand in every cookie jar it can find, including photography (Instagram buyout), Web browsing (possible Opera Software acquisition), and perhaps even smartphones, as Facebook reportedly mulls building its own branded handset. When asked to comment on Facebook's insatiable sweet tooth for side ventures, the majority shareholder responded, "Me like cookies!"
If this venture comes to fruition, we'll find out if Facebook's decision makers also like Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) or Jelly Bean (Android 5.0) and goes with Google's open source OS, or if it taps another mobile platform. Regardless, a report in The New York Times cites "employees of Facebook and several engineers who have been sought out by recruiters there" as saying Mark Zuckerberg Cooke Monster and company hope to launch a branded smartphone in 2013. You might be surprised to learn that this isn't Facebook's first time flirting with a smartphone. It's actually the third, one of the recruiters briefed on the plans told NYT. Past efforts were scrapped after determining it was too difficult of a task launching a smartphone, but with devices being so ubiquitous these days, and a $16 billion purse to play with as a result of Facebook's recent IPO, the timing might finally be right. Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook |
