Natural gas fracking can make local well water explosive

Most of the concerns about fracking have focused on the fluids involved in the process, which tend to exit the wells heavily contaminated with dissolved metals and radioactive material. But those may not be the only worries. A study, released yesterday by PNAS, now shows that fracking may be contaminating local groundwater with methane to pose a risk of explosion.

As most forms of energy in the US have been going up in cost, natural gas has gone in the opposite direction. This is largely the result of a used extraction process called "fracking," in which fluids under high pressure are used to fracture rock formations deep underground, releasing large volumes of gas that would otherwise be trapped in tiny pockets. Because of relaxed regulations in some states, the process of fracking boomed before someone had a clear point of view on its environmental consequences.

The issue is not with municipal water systems, which are carefully monitored for signs of contamination. In lieu, plenty of fracking takes place in rural areas, where isolated houses may depend on shallow private wells for their water. Pennsylvania alone is estimated to have over a million private wells and, in some ares of the state, fracking activity has risen 27-fold in the last years alone. To check whether the drilling activity was having an impact on local well water, a team from Duke University sampled water from 68 private wells, looking for signs of contamination.

The wells included the Catskill, Genesee, and Lockhaven formations in New York and Pennsylvania; some were in close nearness to drilling and others over 5km away. The trends were immediately clear: those within 1km of an active drilling site were much more likely to have high levels of methane, on average 17 times higher than those sites more distant from active drilling. That average covers a broad range, . Some sites were indistinguishable from the typical inactive well, while others had concentrations of methane between 19.2 and 64 mg/l, to pose an explosive hazard, and high to qualify for hazard mitigation under the Department of the Interior's rules.

Some wells in areas more distant from active drilling did have appreciable levels of methane, so the authors looked in to whether the contamination was likely to be from local biological activity or the release of deeper deposits of the gas. Based on isotope ratios and the presence of ethane and propane, they conclude that the methane from areas of active drilling is  definitely from the drilling itself.

On the and side, methane appeared to be the only contaminant from the drilling process that made it in to these wells. There were no signs that brine from deep sources or radioactive material had made it in to the local water supplies.

How did the methane get there? The simplest answer would be that the casings of the new wells are basically not sealed properly, allowing gas to leak out. Alternately, there's plenty of elderly and abandoned drill sites in the area, and fracking may have opened a pathway for gas to escape in to these wells. Finally, the authors recommend that the fracking process may open up natural fractures in the overlying rock formations. At this point, it is impossible to distinguish between these possibilities.

This is not the first recent study to recommend that fracking enabled the escape of methane in to the environment. A Cornell professor set of a fair tiny bit of controversy by publishing a study that indicated that fracking released a lot methane that its impact on greenhouse gas levels was worse than that of burning coal. Although a number of the assumptions in that paper have come under sharp criticism, the papers recommend that inadvertent methane release is an issue worth giving cautious attention.

The authors of the new paper provide a second reason: lawsuits. "Based on our groundwater results and the litigious nature of shale-gas extraction," they conclude, "we think that long-term, coordinated sampling and monitoring of industry and private homeowners is necessary."

Read more »

Researchers use the OwlCam to learn what owls see

Primates use "orientation saliency" to quickly select items in our surroundings that are new, risky, or don't belong. Basically put, if several objects in your visual field are oriented in direction, your eye will be drawn to the object that goes the opposite way. Because this method might be useful for predatory owls, researchers wondered if barn owls would exhibit orientation saliency as well.

Barn owls have a hard job: in near-darkness, they require to catch at least little critters a day to feed themselves, and about twenty a day in the event that they have offspring. Since the stakes are so high, the selective pressure acting on these birds' vision is intense. Last week's PNAS reports that owls exhibit a number of the same visual recognition patterns that humans do, despite different visual systems.

Each owl was outfitted with the OwlCam and placed on a perch in a room. The room also contained 25 colored bars on the floor, with 24 of them oriented on the same direction. Across 97 experimental trials lasting 120 minutes, the owls' gazes were overwhelmingly drawn to the bar oriented differently from the rest. The owls looked at that bar more quickly, more often, and for longer periods of time than the other bars.

To answer this query, the scientists attached "the OwlCam," a small wireless camera weighing two.5 grams, to the heads of barn owls. Since barn owls don't move their eyes much, in lieu relying on head motion to modify their gaze, researchers watching the footage could receive a nice suggestion of what, exactly, the owl was focusing on in its field of view.

Orientation saliency is a common thread between barn owls and primates, despite massive physiological and organizational differences between these animals' visual systems (interestingly, archerfish also exhibit orientation saliency). It remains to be seen whether a similar method drives this ability across groups, or whether these animals have found different solutions. What is clear is that orientation saliency probably contributes greatly to barn owls' effectiveness in finding prey.

Read more »

GarageBand for iPad: a killer app for budding songwriters

GarageBand for iPad is an 8-track recorder, virtual synth, drum machine, virtual guitar, complete virtual amp modeler, competent virtual sampler, and a fun, loop-based song-making app all in. At $4.99, GarageBand could potentially replace at least a half dozen or more music apps, all the while integrating with its 8-track recording ability for songwriting on-the-go.

When Apple announced the new iPad three, it also announced major new content creation apps for the platform: iMovie and GarageBand. iMovie is an extension of the iPhone app that Apple introduced with the iPhone five in 2010, adapted to the iPad's larger touchscreen. But GarageBand is a new app that brings a slimmed down, slightly re-imagined version of Apple's entry-level audio recording application from the Mac to the iPad.

While it doesn't include all the features of the full desktop version of GarageBand, the iOS version is an array of music-making tools all translated to the iPad's touchscreen interface. While there's some interface issues and limitations that might frustrate more experienced musicians or recording pros, the breadth of GarageBand's music creation capabilities will certainly appeal to mobile music professionals as much as they might fascinate budding musicians, or even those with the inclination to explore and experiment.
Instruments, virtual and smart

 of the largest impediments to beginning a band (in your parents' garage or otherwise) is obtaining instruments. Shoddy, cheap drum sets and guitars churned out of Chinese factories are obtainable from a variety of mass retailers, but even those will cost in the range of $100-$150. Add in costs like amps and tuners for guitars, stands and cymbals for drums, and mics and PAs for singers, and even the original $100 investment can quickly turn in to a few hundred dollars. On top of this, the instruments will take up space and must be lugged around to practice spaces or gigs.

GarageBand offers a virtual Ford Econoline-full of gear that fits in to the confines of the slim iPad for a measly $5. This won't necessarily replace actual instruments, for serious musicians, but in the case of synths or drum machines, it definitely could.

There's virtual "regular" instruments: Keyboard & Drums. There's also "smart" instruments: Clever Guitar, Clever Bass, Clever Keyboard, & Clever Drums. Additionally, there is a simple virtual sampler, which aside from the sample recording & editing, works like the regular keyboard. A complete amp & effects modeler, called "Guitar Amp," & a simple audio recorder, chiefly intended for vocals, are lumped in the instruments list within the app, but we'll delve in to those in a later section.

We'll speak about the all virtual instruments first, since GarageBand prompts you to pick an tool as the first action when launching it for the first time or beginning a new song. We'll then speak about the recording features in-depth, including recording with Clever Instruments, mixing, song structure, & more. As they go along, you'll see that GarageBand for the iPad invites users to experiment with different instruments & explore song ideas in a very casual way, while still including attention to detail to make the app available & usable by more experienced songwriters.

    KEYBOARD

The keyboard offers a choice of virtual piano, electric piano, organ, and clavinet, and a range of 72 virtual synthesizers. The piano offers sampled sounds, Grand and Classical Grand, with the Classical Grand sounding a bit more like it was sampled in a immense concert hall. The other instruments offer plenty of room for tweaking the sound by controls common to each device. For example, the organ has nine tone bars, a speed control for a virtual tone wheel (replete with a spinning animation), percussion and chorus rocker switches, and a six-way distortion knob.

The included digitally modeled synthesizers also boast an impressive array of sounds, from the theremin-like "Fifties Sci-Fi" to the dance-floor-inspired "Warp Lead." The presets are arranged in to bass, lead, pad, FX, & "classic" categories. Further knob tweaking can be done, though each synth only offers different adjustments which change depending on the preset. The "Classic Synth Bass" offers controls for cutoff, resonance, filter decay, & filter maintain, while the "Digital Wave" lets you tweak cutoff, glide, volume assault, & volume release. The combinations feasible between the 72 presets & virtual knob tweaking ought to satisfy all but the pickiest users.

Read more »

Osama Bin Laden Fragged2: Grassroots Efforts And The Poorly Distributed

War on Americas is a small downloadable PC game that bills itself as "designed for Children to Fight the U.S. Army." A brief segment of gameplay footage can be found on YouTube, and GamePolitics recently ran a narrative on the title.

Sadly, Quest For Bush was the standout among the games I tested. The giant majority of the other propaganda-driven games that I found were detestable. Most were buggy, broken, and usually unplayable. Few were worth the time, hard work, and bandwidth it took to procure them, and most were simple rush job mods that did small to differentiate themselves in an already crowded gambling market. such example was War on Americas.

This is the lowest level, and by far, most common type of "propaganda gambling," in case you will, and it falls in line with what most grassroots efforts are. War on Americas is fundamentally what is known as a "sprite-hack." A regular commercial title is taken and modified at a rudimentary level by replacing its art assets. In the case of this game, a number of the vehicle sprites have been changed, and the title screens, mission screens, and a few GUI elements have been modified.

As a number of you may notice from the screenshot below, the original game behind War on Americas is actually Heavy Weapon, a PopCap Games title that has enjoyed relative success. The unmodified game can be played on various game portals around the world wide web, and even on the Xbox 360 by Xbox Live Arcade. In every way, the modified game is virtually identical: the only difference is that there's a few ugly white blocks flying around the levels.

 

Because the game is a mere sprite-hack, there wasn't much work done by the group who modified the title. The few substituted sprites do nothing to change the core gameplay, which involves a harmless bout of side-scrolling shooter action. Furthermore, the cartoon vibe of the original game persists even in spite of the sprite-hacking. This is largely a result of the fact that the inserted sprites do not properly use alpha transparency: in case you refer to the video, you'll see giant white blocks flying by with images of planes within them.

As far as propaganda games go, War on Americas is a game that is playable solely because the underlying game the that has been so clearly ripped off is fun. This is the lowest of the low, and it is hard to imagine how the title could be anything other than an affordable ploy for attention.
 

Rescue The Nuke Scientist
There was game that I consciously set out to find because it actually received a little bit of mainstream press, and this exposure may have hurt my chances of finding it. The game is called Rescue the Nuke Scientist, and I am still looking for it. Unlike the huge majority of these games, RTNS has actual production values; the game was designed with the intent of being a commercial-caliber title. In a positive sense, RTNS is the Metal Gear Solid two, the Halo two, the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess of terrorist games. I basically must have it.

Nevertheless, my search for the game soldiers on, even if it appears to be a futile hard work. Few of the games that I was four times able to finding are as high profile as Rescue the Nuke Scientist, & this is game that I still must play. Ought to somebody have or know where to discover a duplicate of the title, don't hesitate to let me know.

Quest for terror

This would be the game that would truly rival America's Army in terms of scale & scope, but despite all the torrents I downloaded & newsgroups I searched, I could never discover a working download for it. The game, designed by the Union of Students Islamic Association over the work of years, was put out to counteract the Western bias of war games where the enemy is perpetually non-American it's part of what the group calls an ongoing "cyber war." In the game, the player is an Iranian soldier seeking to rescue Iranian nuclear specialists who were kidnapped by U.S. forces. The game was designed in response to an American-made game called Assault on Iran that featured very the exact same situation, but in reverse.

With the exception of Rescue the Nuke Scientist, I am confident in saying that I have seen a fair sampling of the terrorist propaganda games that are currently on offer. Nevertheless, I am continuing my search for more of them, & I welcome readers to send me leads on other titles. It is fascinating as a game reviewer to play games that don't fall in either the "mainstream" or "indie" camps, & yet wind up still being entrenched in the industry's norms.

It took me a few weeks of research to actually locate the kind of game-related propaganda that are in use outside of North The united states. Such games were often discussed quietly in the world wide web forums I frequent, but the quest to actually find & play them proved brilliantly difficult. The challenge of finding genuine "propaganda" is increased by the fact that it is hard to select the true origins of any title was it made by terrorists, or is it a joke? However, the games discussed in this article have been widely confirmed as legitimate examples of violent, jihadist, anti-US propaganda.

The debate about whether video games are art has become increasingly prominent historically few years, & that debate casts a sizable shadow that looms over the topic of propaganda games in general. Insofar as games can be a simple medium for entertainment, they have already proven capable vehicles for expressing emotion, telling tales, reciting history, & everything in between key aspects of any piece of art (in my non-art-critic opinion). & like other art forms, nowhere is that emotional connection more palpable than in a piece of propaganda. Given the unmatched immersion offered by games, it is brilliantly simple to sink the user in to a situation & slowly pass along a message.

Terrorists are not the only ones who employ games for propaganda purposes. Witness, for example, America's Army, the free game designed by the U.S. Army to attract youth to serve in the military. There is no hidden agenda with this game; its intent is clear, & it's served its purpose well that the Army has continued to pour money in to it as both a pseudo-advertisement as well as a training tool. There is as well as a plethora of smaller-scale games, such as MiniClip's SpecOps: War on Terror, which can have the same effect.

But I leave it to you to debate the merits of whether or not games are effective when used as propaganda. In the mean time, I'll continue to search out these games & try them. If you are looking to do the same, I recommend you do as I did & hit Google. Admittedly, my Google search logs for the last month must look like a database of the "red flag" terms that will get me detained at the airport the next time I attempt to go to the States.

Read more »

Osama Bin Laden Fragged: A Terrorist Propaganda In Games

For the remainder of the night, the crowd outside of the White House resembled a Jimmy Buffet concert.

It's rare that the president addresses the country without giving any details about what will be discussed, but the topic of last night's address became known well before President Obama spoke. The military forces of the United States had finally found Osama Bin Loaded, they could put boots on the ground, and in a firefight that lasted 40 minutes, the world's most wanted terrorist was killed. In an often ill-defined war on terror, this was a dramatic win. What follows is the original text from 2008?
 

The quest for wholeness:They have decided to take the occasion of Bin Laden's death to take a glance back at a different time. In 2008, they ran a narrative about the different video games that terrorist groups either put together or publicized as recruiting tools. Frank Caron had to dig deep and explore some shady parts of the Web to find and play these games, and who knows what watch lists now feature his name. In honor of the death of Osama Bin Loaded, let's take a glance at the video game front of the war on terror, as seen by the other side.

The more I thought about it, the more I began to recognize that no lovely game reviewer could claim to have a total, all-encompassing knowledge of gambling without dabbling in every feasible form. So, I started my quest to ideal my game reviewer resume: I would search out and review terrorism games. Are any of these "horrific, bone-chilling" games fun? How do they stack up against their non-terrorist competitors? Are any of these games worth playing? And, most importantly, am I able to play such games and emerge with my patriotism still intact? (Who am I kidding, eh... I am Canadian!)

While I cannot claim to be a great scholar or art critic or film buff or historian, there is appeal to credibility that I can make: I have played a ton of video games. On limitless systems and across limitless genres, I have played much everything there is to play, including a quantity of the serious games that Andrew Webster described in yesterday's article. But in my lengthy gambling career, the type of game that I'd never dabbled in was the "terrorist propaganda" style. I'd long heard tales about sinful terrorist games designed to indoctrinate youth with sinful terrorist agendas, but I'd never actually played such titles. Indeed, it seems that few game reviewers have.
Night of Bush Capturing
Night of Bush Capturing is the grand-daddy of the propaganda games that can be found readily on the net. Comparatively speaking, the production values are high, and there is a surprising amount of content that appears to be designed specifically to provide a compelling gameplay experience wrapped in an anti-US message. In fact, when compared to its contemporaries, NOBC, or as it is more popularly referred to, Quest For Bush, could  pass for a retail release.

These were the questions I sought to answer, and in this article, I give you the results of my experiment: a review of representative terrorist propaganda games.

Surprisingly, Quest For Bush isn't the worst game ever made. Sorry, Superman 64.

The game revolves around the exploits of a single Islamic soldier on the hunt for Bush. Through the work of the seven-mission campaign, players will be necessary to fight against elite American soldiers, solve some grueling puzzles, fend off the natural enemies of the desert, & finally, confront US President George W. Bush himself.

Developed by an independent "studio" called the Global Islamic Media Front, Quest For Bush attempts to fit in to an already-stuffed first-person shooter style by introducing a novel, anti-American twist. The game picks up where its "predecessor" & full stateside retail release, Quest For Saddam, left off. While the Americans have managed to finish off Saddam, the Islamic forces have discerned the location of President Bush in a secret hideout deep within the desert & have begun a campaign to eliminate him.

Quest For Bush takes the increasingly-complicated aesthetic of today's first-person shooter (FPS) games & throws them out the window for a decidedly more minimalist & natural feel. At its core, the game abstracts the FPS style back to its fundamentals: you have a gun & you have an enemy, & the speed of your mouse click is what separates you from victory or defeat.

Weapon choice is comparatively limited. There's no grenades or special items, but the trademark weapon archetypes of any normal retail FPS are present. You'll start the game with a basic assault rifle, but finally you'll be able to procure a shotgun, a chaingun, & a grenade launcher. &, ought to your weapons fail you, you'll be able to resort to your own strength by attacking enemies together with your feet which looks ridiculous, as you don't kick forward a lot as you swing your foot side to side, as evident in the first gameplay video.
 

Stunning graphics
You won't require a immense arsenal, though, as the game seldom throws up anything other than the most uninteresting of style norms. Exploding barrels to blow up strategically-placed enemy encampments? Check. Inexorable "find the blue key" fetch quests to get from area to area? Check. Confusing, maze-like levels with numerous enemies & absolutely no health packs? Check. In terms of level design, Quest For Bush is fundamentally a beginner's guide to worn out first-person shooter cliches.

Not helping the already limited amount of play value are the poorly-implemented difficulty settings, which offer tiny in the way of replayability. Players can select to engage the infidels on novice, intermediate, or advanced, but the differences between the difficulty levels are basic. True to form with most generic FPS games, the only changes made across difficulties are the amount of destroy taken by the player & the accuracy of the artificial intelligence. The limited assault & position routines of the game's AI do tiny to help it stand out in an age of titles like F.E.A.R. & Crysis, not to mention Half-Life & Doom six.

NBOC's final boss fight is by far the most disappointing part of the game. The game's central encounter the final showdown with George W. Bush simply falls flat on its face. Though the boss's character model bears the likeness of Bush & stands about feet tall, you'd be hard-pressed to distinguish him from any other enemy in terms of both his AI routines & his in-game demeanor.

But it gets worse. wait until you see the videos I captured.
 

Neither gold coins nor virgins
For what is meant to be the final & final enemy that the player character's faction has so long sought to defeat, though, the game's final boss battle is comparatively anti-climactic, since on defeating the enemy there's neither gold coins nor virgins.

The developers started down the right path: Bush's evil lair is hidden underneath an abandoned port-a-potty out in the midst of the desert. Within this lair are a variety of pics depicting a distinguished-looking Bush in the company of various world leaders & diplomats, so it's all the makings of a dramatic final encounter. But the developers, for whatever reason, passed up the chance to stoke their target audience's anger at the American president as a way of motivating them to defeat the final boss. For example, they could have had him spout random Bushisms as they assaults (might they recommend, "Bring it on!"), but there is nothing so creative about this fight. Bush basically assaults you with no apparent master plan, shooting away together with his M16.

Admittedly, I am willing to accept the fact that, on some kind of philosophical level, could argue that the simplicity of the gameplay is part of its charm. Simplicity has become a selling point in the new period of "casual gambling," & some might argue that those who have seldom played an FPS may be better off easing in to the style with something like this, than beginning out with the bigger mainstream titles.

Then again, there's some areas where it is hard not to be impressed given the limited tech available. The game features a ragdoll engine for the death animations that actually performs well especially when compared to some contemporary games such as skate, where the stiff ragdoll effects shatter the illusion of reality. And it is hard not to appreciate the amount of hard work that the team put in to presenting the anti-America theme with such limited tools.

But whatever ground could be gained in the simplicity of the gameplay is lost when seeing the game in motion. To put it politely, the graphical presentation leaves much to be desired. The animation is stiff and stilted, the character models are of such a low quality that it is feasible to count the amount of polys used on your hands, the weapon models (with the exception of the comparatively well-modeled shotgun) are hideous, the environments are geometrically basic could go on and on.

At first glance, it is simple to dismiss the game. The cut-and-paste insertions of various American pics, including limitless shots of Bush, Dick Cheney, Yasir Arafat, and other prominent leaders, appear to be out-of-place. But after some time, you will truly start to detest taking a look at these mugs over and over and over again, and in this regard, the game succeeds to a sure degree as propaganda. Other lovely touches include the various in-game text bytes, such as the load screen that informs the player that the "Jihad beginning" is imminent.

The aural presentation really reinforces the game's overall sparse, violent mood. While the sound effects are admittedly limited, the hypnotizing background music, drawn from a pool of unidentified Middle-Eastern vocal tracks, is impossible to ignore, and at times it fits the action disturbingly well—especially during the final encounter with Bush himself. 

For all the criticism, though, Quest for Bush is a surprisingly playable game. I've played worse games in my time. Ironically, the game has more polish than a lot of popular retail releases these days in that there really aren't very many bugs: I played the game from start to finish with no trouble. Even if Night of Bush Capturing isn't exactly on the same level as contemporary software from big-name Western studios, there's a decent game here that would've been pretty impressive fifteen years ago and still remains largely functional today.

Read more »

Tricks For How To Replace Your MacBook Air SSD with OWC's Aura Pro Express.

The OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express SSD module is designed specifically for Apple's late-2010 MacBook Air models.

The US revealed its "International Strategy for Cyberspace" (PDF) yesterday. It is mostly blather about how terrific "cyberspace" is, but it gets more specific on a few key issues like national defense. Could our next war start because of a hack? The government says it is feasible.

"States have an inherent right to self-defense that may be triggered by sure aggressive acts in cyberspace, says the owner. Indeed, such aggressive acts might compel a country like the US to act even when the hacking is targeted at an allied country.

Military force will only be used as a last resort after other diplomatic and economic cures are tried, but the US government has definitely realized the worth of the Web and has no purpose of sitting quietly while corporate and governmental computer systems are attacked with impunity.

Certain hostile acts conducted through cyberspace could compel actions under the commitments they have with our military treaty partners, says the document. When warranted, the United States will reply to hostile acts in cyberspace as they would any other threat to our country.

But the cyberspace security strategy doesn't involve speak about playing offense; defense is stressed even more heavily. Dissuasion of hackers is a core aim, and it extends beyond national borders. A globally distributed network requires globally distributed early warning capabilities, says the strategy, which calls for new computer security incident response capabilities globally" and interconnected network defense systems.

With the new strategy document, the government is putting the world on notice: The United States will be sure that the risks associated with attacking or exploiting our networks vastly outweigh the potential benefits.

OWC includes the five-point "pentalobe" and six-point Torx drivers needed for installation.

First, you will require an OWC Aura Pro Express SSD drive, your MacBook Air, an outside USB two.0 backup drive, and pentalobe and T5 torx drivers (included with the Aura Pro Express). You'll also require some kind of backup software; they used Mike Bombich's excellent donationware app Carbon Copy Cloner.

They recommend an anti-static mat and/or grounding wrist strap in case you have them you can do without, but the usual warnings about static discharge ruining your sensitive electronics applies here. They also recommend using either loops of tape affixed to your work surface or a tiny magnetic strip to keep track of the 11 small screws you'll be removing.

A loop of electrical tape kept the tiny screws from the MacBook Air from being easily misplaced.

Step one: Backup
First, you'll be wanting to back up the information on your MacBook Air's current internal SSD. There's a couple different methods for backing up and restoring. You could make a Time Machine backup, use the recovery USB drive supplied together with your Air to reinstall Mac OS X, and restore from Time Machine. You could also do a similar technique with other backup products, but restoring from the backup might need installing additional application.

 Cloning the MacBook Air's original SSD boot drive to a portable USB2 drive.

We used our usual method of making a bootable backup using Carbon Copy Cloner. A transportable 120GB USB2 Western Digital hard drive served our purposes here, as the stock 128GB SDD was only about half full. CCC created an exact copy of the Air's 61GB of information in about 54 minutes.

Carbon Copy Cloner is very simple to set up and run, especially if you want an identical, bootable clone of your original drive.

 Just to be additional safe, they booted the Air using the cloned drive to check that the information was intact. After hearing the Air's startup chime, hold down the choice key. You'll receive a display of valid boot drive icons to pick from; pick your outside cloned drive. Be prepared for a wait booting from an outside drive is going to be significantly (even painfully) slower than you are used to. One time you are sure everything is working as it ought to, shutdown the MacBook Air. Be sure to disconnect any outside peripherals & the power adapter.

Read more »

US SAYS: "If You Hack Us, We Might Destroy You"

The US revealed its "International Strategy for Cyberspace" (PDF) yesterday. It is mostly blather about how terrific "cyberspace" is, but it gets more specific on a few key issues like national defense. Could our next war start because of a hack? The government says it is feasible.

"States have an inherent right to self-defense that may be triggered by sure aggressive acts in cyberspace, says the owner. Indeed, such aggressive acts might compel a country like the US to act even when the hacking is targeted at an allied country.

Military force will only be used as a last resort after other diplomatic and economic cures are tried, but the US government has definitely realized the worth of the Web and has no purpose of sitting quietly while corporate and governmental computer systems are attacked with impunity.

Certain hostile acts conducted through cyberspace could compel actions under the commitments they have with our military treaty partners, says the document. When warranted, the United States will reply to hostile acts in cyberspace as they would any other threat to our country.

But the cyberspace security strategy doesn't involve speak about playing offense; defense is stressed even more heavily. Dissuasion of hackers is a core aim, and it extends beyond national borders. A globally distributed network requires globally distributed early warning capabilities, says the strategy, which calls for new computer security incident response capabilities globally" and interconnected network defense systems.

With the new strategy document, the government is putting the world on notice: The United States will be sure that the risks associated with attacking or exploiting our networks vastly outweigh the potential benefits.

Read more »

US Government Now Funds Video Games. If They Are "ART"

"We'll continue to support tv and radio," explains Alice Myatt, Director of Media Arts at the NEA, "but they are also going to support content developed for the world wide web, for theatrical release, for mobile rings, content to be distributed by satellite, and even content for game platforms."

Attention online developers: the National Endowment for the Arts has released new guidelines for funding, and grants are now available for interactive digital games. The NEA's Arts in Media rules replace the agency's older Arts in Radio and Tv rules, and the new ones are far more expansive when it comes to categories for funding.

 

How much government largesse are they speaking about here? NEA grants come in all financial shapes and sizes. They usually range from $10,000 through $200,000, "based on the platform and the complexity and scope of the project."
To be thought about

Does this mean that they can expect games like Brink and L.A. Noire to suddenly show up in NEA grant announcements? As is often the case with these kind of opportunities, there's strings attached. In this case, they appear reasonable, but they definitely complicate the application technique.

So they called up the NEA Media Arts staffer Mary Smith to ask what appeared like a essential query. How does the NEA define "works of art"? Turns out, the agency doesn't. "We usually leave that up to our panels," Smith explained "Peer advisory panels evaluate the project."

The bottom line is that grants are available to support the development, production, and national distribution of media projects "about the arts" and "media projects that can be thought about works of art" (NEA's italics).

And who will constitute these panels? "We don't know yet because they must see who applies," they said. "Then we'll see what kind of expertise we'll need."

Thus, the query of whether a given proposed gambling project adequately discusses or constitutes art will be answered by those whom the NEA picks to tackle the issue. (They assume Roger Ebert won't be asked to participate.)
High standards

Creation. Artistic endeavors that meet "the highest standards of excellence across a diverse spectrum of artistic disciplines and geographic locations." This might be a request for money for a design competition or for a series of design workshops.

The rules are not as vague as they sound, though. The NEA does need the proposal to demonstrate "artistic excellence," defined as the "quality and artistic significance of the project." And agency stresses outcomes that it looks for in its grants.

Engagement. These are projects that promote some art form. Among the listed possibilities are those "that extend the arts to underserved populations those whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by geography, ethnicity, economics, or disability."

Learning. Projects that encourage professional development among artists.

They can see a variety of ways that an aspiring game developer could fit in to these themes. In case you require to try to get in on this chance, keep in mind that you have got got to be (or be sponsored by) a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(six). The NEA will soon hold webinars to further describe the new guidelines. They'll stream on June 15, July 13, and August ten.

Liveability. These include artistic activities "that are intended to foster community interaction in public spaces" and "cultural sustainability activities that contribute to community identity and sense of place."

The application deadline date is September one. "But ," Myatt adds, "don't wait until the eleventh hour. if you have seldom applied to the NEA before."

Read more »

Google Talk Enables Video Chat On Android Smartphones

Google recently launched Google Talk with video and voice chat for Android rings. With the service, users will be able to video or voice chat with their relatives and friends directly from an Android phone. Calls can be placed over 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi connections. According to Google, the new features will first roll out to the Nexus S rings over the next few weeks as part of the Android four.3.4 over-the-air update. Google Talk with video and voice chat will launch on other Android four.3 and higher devices in the future.

You can now video or voice chat together with your friends, relatives and colleagues right from your Android phone, whether they're on their compatible Android tablet or phone, or using Gmail with Google Talk on their computer. You can make calls over a 3G or 4G information network (if your carrier supports it) or over Wi-Fi.

Sometimes, the expressions on a person's face can mean much over what they say. To help you stay in contact together with your relatives and friends, we're launching Google Talk with video and voice chat for Android rings.

In your Google Talk friends list, a video or voice chat button will appear next to your contacts and you can basically touch the button to connect with them. Any text chats from the person you're speaking with will be overlaid on your phone's screen so you can read them without having to leave the video. And, in case you require to check something else, the video pauses automatically so you can return to your phone's home screen or another app. The audio will keep going although the video has paused. Check out how this works:

Google Talk with video & voice chat will gradually roll out to Nexus S devices in the next few weeks as part of the Android one.3.4 over-the-air update & will launch on other Android one.3+ devices in the future.

Read more »

Plextor's 12x PX-LB950UE External Blu-ray Burner Handles USB 3.0 And eSATA

Blu-ray burners aren't nearly as uncommon as they once were, but that doesn't make Plextor's new PX-LB950UE 12X external Blu-ray writer any less attractive. It's tough to find legitimate 12x BD burning options, and this one is bolstered by the addition of eSATA and USB 3.0. It won't handle BDXL, but discs having a capacity of 25GB or 50GB should be fine. This one also features PlexUTILITIES and Lightscribe direct disc labeling, and if you've been looking for new accessories to best take advantage of those new ports on your new machine...well, look no further. For the movie buffs, you'll be happy to know that 3D movie playback is also supported, and the drive can convert 2D material "3D" material. At $239.99, it's hardly cheap, but that seems like a great value compared to prices on slower BD burners just a year ago.

lextor Announces PX-LB950UE Outside 12X Blu-Ray Writer

PX-LB950UE brings HD to PCs with both USB3.0 & eSATA connections
Supplied with advanced Blu-ray & DVD playback application & recording applications, the PX-LB950UE offers a full Blu-ray HD experience. The drive is designed to provide smooth & quiet HD Blu-ray film playback with excellent sound reproduction as well as a crystal clear picture quality. This drive also supports 3D playback & can convert 2D contents to simulate 3D effects.

(Fremont, CA April 27, 2011) Plextor (www.plextor.com), a leading developer & manufacturer of high-performance digital media equipment, announces the latest addition to its Blu-ray lineup with the new PX-LB950UE outside 12X Blu-ray Writer the quickest Blu-ray writer available in the market today. This drive features the latest superspeed USB3.0 & eSATA connections, providing bandwidth for high information transfer rate.

In addition, the PX-LB950UE is developed with a low vibration method, eliminating most vibrations. It's a gigantic 8MB buffer ensuring an enhanced writing accuracy at high speed. The PX-LB950UE also features a special chassis, which channels the airflow, cools the motors, improves performance & extends the lifetime of the drive.
 

We are excited to offer a transportable all-in-one blu-ray tool to consumers, said Christine Hsing, Promotion Manager at Plextor. The PX-LB950UE lets you connect to any computer with USB or eSATA connection making access to Blu-ray know-how a breeze.

Read more »

IOGEAR's Universal Wi-Fi Adapter Works With Any Ethernet-Enabled Product

Does the world have machines that are still actively being used...without Wi-Fi? It may appear hard to think if you are living in a society that is eternally connected, but the niche still exists in some places. To solve that issue, and provide connectivity to machines that were born without, IOGEAR has unveiled their universal Wi-Fi N Adapter. That new tool connects A/V devices to a home network by a wireless router -- things like game consoles, Blu-ray players, etc. You take a tool with an Ethernet port, plug it up to this dongle, and enjoy the spoils of Wi-Fi. Think of it as a wireless addition to any tool that only supports wired Ethernet connections from the factory.

IOGEAR outfitted the GWU627 with dual antennas (1T1R) that provide information transfer rates of up to 150Mbps, which ought to show useful in intense deathmatches and video streaming. It is available now for $49.95, which seems a bit cheaper than a quantity of the more proprietary solutions for older game consoles, at least.

An Ethernet port is all that's needed to connect Blu-ray players, gambling consoles, LCD / LED TVs and other devices to a home's wireless router.

IOGEAR Universal Wi-Fi N Adapter Wirelessly Connects Ethernet Enabled Devices to the Net

The IOGEAR Universal Wi-Fi N Adapter provides an affordable and stable solution for equipping Ethernet-enabled devices with wireless network access. The word universal is often thrown around, but the Universal Wi-Fi N Adapter works with ANY tool featuring an Ethernet port, no brand or device-specific Wi-Fi USB adapter needed. Basically connect by Ethernet and access is gained through the home's network router.

Foothill Ranch, Calif. April 27, 2011 IOGEAR, a leader in convergence and connectivity products, announces a brand spanking new Universal Wi-Fi N Adapter (GWU627) for connecting A/V devices to a home network by a wireless router. With online gambling and media consumption quickly increasing, the necessity for robust and reliable network access is growing. While lots of manufacturers are integrating network connections within products, progress is not maintaining with demand.

IOGEAR's Universal Wi-Fi N Adapter supports the IEEE 802.11n standard, meaning there is no need for cables or re-wiring of the home. Home entertainment systems can be placed where the user wishes, without wires, and still maintain a powerful Wi-Fi connection. With multiple adapters, users can bring a wireless connection to a mass of devices and never worry about latency issues or bothersome buffering.

Helping the adapter handle user demands, IOGEAR outfitted the GWU627 with dual antennas (1T1R) that provide information transfer rates of up to 150Mbps while reducing Wi-Fi dead zones in the wireless surroundings. This new standard provides over adequate bandwidth for faster file transfer, music downloads, video streaming, online gambling and HD multi-media applications.
 

An abundance of quality digital content is generating demand for devices that can conveniently access and stream all our music, videos, games and more, said Bill Nguyen, senior promotion manager at IOGEAR. IOGEAR's aim is to make connectivity dynamic and the Universal Wi-Fi N Adapter does this by providing wireless Net access to fully utilize a game console, Blu-ray, DVR, or HD TV's built-in widgets, while offering convenience of placement and eliminating cable clutter.

In addition to the increased speed and bandwidth, users will benefit from the Universal Wi-Fi N Adapter's compatibility with existing 802.11b/g routers and access points. There's no need to replace legacy network hardware. The unit also features a WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) button offering a speedy and secure network setup. On a brand spanking new wireless network, WPS will automatically configure it with a network name (SSID) and strong WPA information encryption and authentication.

Read more »

Trojans use Bin Laden's Death, Royal Wedding To Dupe The Unsuspecting

                          Google image search. The lower-left hand result isn't just Photoshopped--it's infected.

According to Fabio Assolini, a lab professional with Kaspersky, poisoned search results purporting to show bin Laden's corpse began appearing within Google Picture results within hours of the formal announcement. Clicking on such images transfers the user to a hostile domain where the much-loved "Antivirus XP" (currently billing itself as Best Antivirus 2011) pops up and attempts to persuade users that they have contracted a virus. The other major vector is flash-based and a bit more subtle. In lieu of trying to lure the user in to an anti-virus scan, it shows a broken video window and claims that a necessary plugin must be updated or installed. Users who then click are handed XvidSetup.exe, a seemingly legitimate file that installs an adware trojan known as hotbar.

Security firms have issued fresh warnings against malicious trojans in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death and the marriage of England's Prince William. Malware authors have already seized on both events as bait for their own malware hooks and are using the promise of unseen photos/video to snare the unwary. This type of assault and the speed with which it is organized have become commonplace in recent years when the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated, trojans baited with information regarding her appeared within 24 hours. Since then, hurricanes, elections, and holidays have all been variously tapped as assault vectors.

Kaspersky Labs also reports that bin Laden-infected trojans are spreading via Facebook via the 'Like' button, with promises of free food, plane tickets, or a donkey. Multiple users spam pages with a URL redirect claiming such goodies are a click away, but provide a TinyURL address that bounces users from page to page until they eventually register an email address and eventually pay money.

These unsophisticated social attacks work because they take advantage of a user's sense of security. This is doubly true on Facebook where people are used to seeing short messages from their friends that link to all manner of games, photos, or random statements. Under such circumstances it's not surprising that a number of otherwise-savvy computer users are willing to click on malicious links and follow the trail. These abuses are effective precisely because they take advantage of our curiosity regarding the macabre and our willingness to trust people we consider friends--even by minimal Facebook standards.

On a positive note, it doesn't seem as though the malware programs are anything new. The trojans in question are hotbar (an adware tool) and Trojan.Win32.FakeAV.cvoo. Both of these are already detectable (though hotbar is only picked up on 19 of the 41 engines available at VirusTotal.com). We recommend readers steer well clear of Google Image and Facebook groups on either topic, and pass the word to friends/relatives to do the same.

Read more »

Logitech's 720p TV Cam For Skype Lets You Videocall On Your HDTV

External webcams are not  the anger they was. Perhaps that is because every laptop that ships today includes on, & a slew of new LCDs do as well. But if you are still stuck with an older monitor, or you need something a bit more detailed than the one.3MP embedded webcam, Logitech has a brand new option for you to think about. The TV Cam for Skype is a plug-and-play TV camera that'll let you make & receive high-definition video calls directly from select 2011 Panasonic VIERA Connect-enabled VIERA HDTVs that feature Skype. It is exactly what you think: a webcam for your television.

Forget chatting over the PC; that is 2010. With this, you'll be able to have the whole relatives collect 'round in order to speak to whoever is on the other finish. You'll find Carl Zeiss optics, Logitech's Liquid Crystal expertise, a 78-degree wide-angle lens & a pair of directional microphones. Two times the Logitech TV Cam for Skype is plugged in, you can make TV-to-TV Skype calls, as well as TV-to-PC or Mac calls & vice versa. You can also make video calls from the Logitech TV Cam for Skype to select iPhone & smartphones with Skype mobile, but you'll need a broadband connection in your home to take advantage.

The accessory should ship this month for $149.99; definitely not cheap, but at least it's 720p.

Logitech TV Cam Offers Video Calling on 2011 Skype-Enabled Panasonic VIERA HDTVs
Logitech Teams Up With Panasonic & Skype to Deliver Up To 720p HD Video Calling in the Living Room
FREMONT, Calif. May five, 2011 - Taking another step toward making a video call from the comfort of your couch, Logitech (SIX: LOGN) (NASDAQ: LOGI) today announced the Logitech® TV Cam for Skype, a plug-and-play TV camera that lets you make & get high-definition video calls directly from select 2011 Panasonic VIERA Connect -enabled VIERA® HDTVs that feature Skype.

The Logitech TV Cam for Skype lets you make & get up to 720p high definition video calls directly from 2011 Panasonic VIERA Connect -enabled VIERA HDTVs no computer or software-download is necessary, connect to the Web with at least one Mbps upload & download speed to start making HD video calls. Using the Logitech TV Cam for Skype is as simple as turning on your TV & selecting the Skype video calling application, which comes preloaded on 2011 Panasonic VIERA Connect-enabled VIERA HDTVs.

The Logitech TV Cam for Skype offers crisp, clear images thanks in part to Carl Zeiss® optics & Logitech Liquid Crystal Expertise delivering video color & clarity that consumers have come to expect from Logitech webcams & TV Cams. The Logitech TV Cam for Skype also provides a 78-degree wide-angle lens, & digital, directional microphones that help reduce noise & echoes ideal for making a video couch call with the whole relatives.

"You should not must wait for the holidays, a special occasion or summer holiday to see distant relatives & friends," said Joerg Tewes, vice president & general manager of Logitech's consumer video division. "We think making a video call to loved ones ought to be simple & natural. They welcomed the chance to work closely with respected brands such as Panasonic & Skype to make it feasible for more people in more households to connect with another from the comfort of their living room."

Five times the Logitech TV Cam for Skype is plugged in, you can make TV-to-TV Skype calls, as well as TV-to-PC or Mac calls & vice versa. You can also make video calls from the Logitech TV Cam for Skype to choose iPhone & smartphones with Skype mobile.

"The introduction of our first VIERA IPTVs in 2008 & then our first Skype-enabled HDTVs in 2010 elevated the television's place in the house to a whole new level for consumers & changed the way they interact with their TV," said Henry Hauser, Display Group vice president, Panasonic Consumer Electronics Company. "Collaborating with leading edge brands like Skype & Logitech has enabled us to push that to even greater heights literally making the HDTV the centerpiece for home entertainment, connectivity & communication with relatives & friends. With Logitech & Skype, Panasonic's VIERA Connect Skype-enabled HDTVs now deliver loved ones near & far right to your living room in wide screen, high definition making staying connected simple & amazing."

Access to a broadband Web connection is necessary to access VIERA Connect features. There is no fee to make use of the VIERA Connect functionality, however some services such as Netflix Amazon Video On Demand, & league sports sites have a separate fee structure to view movies & sports events.

Read more »