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Ubisoft's Mousetrap system lengthens the lag to punish 'Rainbow Six Siege' cheaters
Rainbow Six Siege cheaters using 3rd party input spoofers are going to absolutely hate Ubisoft's new punitive game mechanic.
The first 'Space Force' trailer has Steve Carell dancing to the Beach Boys
Netflix released the first trailer for its 'Space Force' spoof.
Netflix’s ‘Space Force’ spoof starring Steve Carell arrives on May 29th
Netflix offers a glimpse of Steve Carell as four-star general Mark R. Naird in the upcoming 'Space Force' spoof.
FCC bans spoofed text messages and international robocalls
This week the FCC voted to approve rules that ban spoofing text messages and international robocalls. The new rules close long-standing loopholes in the Truth in Caller ID Act, which banned spoofing domestic calls but made it hard for the FCC to combat malicious text messages and calls coming from overseas. The FCC now has the legal authority to punish the "bad actors" behind these scams.
FEMA's presidential alerts are an easy target for spoofing attacks
Last fall, FEMA conducted the first nationwide test of its Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system when it beamed a "presidential alert" to all capable phones in the US. WEA has long been used to send alerts about missing children, natural disasters and other dangerous events. But a few years ago, the FCC voted to expand WEA so that, among other changes, government officials could write longer messages. Now, researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder warn that WEA's presidential alerts can be easily spoofed.
iPhones may soon be able to automatically detect spam calls
Apple feels your spam call pain. The company apparently filed a patent called "Detection of spoofed call information" that would enable an iPhone to check whether a call is legitimate. If it's not, the phone would automatically either display a warning to the user or prevent call alerts, such as ringing and vibration. The patent was first spotted by Apple Insider.
Verizon vulnerability made it painfully easy to access customer info
On the off chance you've experienced some sketchiness with your Verizon home internet account over the past few weeks, we might just know why now. As first reported by BuzzFeed, a vulnerability in Verizon's customer service systems meant that attackers could have duped their way into the accounts of any of the 9 million households that pay the telecom for internet access. And the worst part? The process was absolutely dead simple. Verizon, for what it's worth, said the issue (now fixed) came about because of a code error in a recent software update, and that they have "no reason to believe that any customers were impacted by this." Now, here's how it worked.
Nanako learns new swears in faux Persona 4 Platinum
Persona 4 Platinum might not be real, but that doesn't mean Atlus can't borrow a few ideas from this biting fan-made spoof. Spending Chanukah with President Tanaka sounds delightful. [Image: Faulerro]
What is #Weirded? This is #Weirded.
How does one introduce an original web series like #Weirded? For one, it's not tech news -- at least, not in the way you're used to seeing. So scrub that notion from your brain. It's more like a constant channel change; like pressing the seek button on a car radio and catching tidbits of the noise filling the tech industry's airwaves. It's light, but biting in a way we hope'll make you ask for "more, please!" It'll skewer and shine a light on the more outrageous news and comments of the week. But it will always be in good fun (and in very bad taste). It's a guilty pleasure; our tongue-in-cheek gift to you. This week's inaugural episode is pretty fruity: It's nearly all about Apple, with some Blackberry crumble on the side. The full episode's just after the break. Enjoy the feast!
This is not the iPhone 6
We're almost completely done with summer, and as fall approaches we expect football, TV premieres (and cancellations), the turning of the leaves and of course one more thing: iPhone leaks. Apple's next gen phone is just weeks away from its debut and as usual, the rumor mill is running at full steam with parts, rumors about parts, and the inevitable blurrycam pictures of vague rectangles flying around the internet. As a (self) reminder to not take any of it too seriously we present this video from The Second City Network, providing the exclusive first look at a device that our sources in the manufacturing chain have confirmed is definitely not the iPhone 6.
PlayStation creator shares how it all happened in 'Kutaragi's Way'
Former Sony Computer Entertainment chairman and CEO Ken Kutaragi is often referred to as "Father of PlayStation." Kutaragi accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 14th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards last week for his contributions to video game development. To chronicle his "role as a young developer," Kutaragi teamed up with the funny folks at Mega 64 for the action-packed video "Kutaragi's Way." Kutaragi's Way includes elements of a typical day in the life of a game developer: Shootings, explosions and a disembodied emotion engine. Kutaragi also appears as the CEO of a certain competitor in the spoof on late 1980s action films. [Image: Mega64]
Titanfall Arcade kicks some Asteroids
What do you get when you mix the titans from Titanfall with Atari's popular retro game Asteroids? You get Titanfall's titans in Asteroids silly, what else could you possibly have expected? Respawn Entertainment recently thought it fitting to launch a small, free retro game portal dubbed "Titanfall Arcade" to promote its upcoming FPS, starting with an Asteroids clone. The browser-based flash game plays exactly like it sounds: After dropping a titan into a flat black space setting, players point with their cursors to shoot the classic outlines of space debris, racking up a high score after firing off charged beam shots. The game makes for a fun little excursion while your boss is looking away, to be sure. The other two Titanfall Arcade games that will be available to play sometime in the near future are spoofs on Missile Command and Centipede, the former sounding all too appropriate for a mech to be involved in. Titanfall launches next week on Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC. [Image: Respawn Entertainment]
iMessage unofficially comes to Android, needs a big health warning (update: pulled)
If there's one thing to be learned from Apple's mobile services, it's that they'll almost certainly never be supported on rival platforms. However, that doesn't stop third-party developers from engineering their own techniques in order to break into Apple's walled garden. A case in point: Android developer Daniel Zweigart, who recently launched a Google Play app called iMessage Chat, providing users of Google's mobile OS with a way to communicate with iOS and Mac OS device owners via Apple's proprietary messaging protocol. Some have reported problems getting the app to run, while others claim it works as advertised -- and Zweigart has even gone to the trouble of emulating Apple's old iOS 6 user interface to make them feel right at home. You might think that it sounds too good to be true, and you could be right.
Firefly Universe Online continuation alleged to be a hoax [Updated]
Did you think that the promise of Firefly Universe Online coming to life seemed a bit too good to be true? Or at least a bit unlikely? Because as it turns out, cynicism might have been the right attitude to take for this particular bit of news. According to Kotaku, the entire announcement that the game had the go-ahead to proceed may have been nothing more than a hoax and we still won't see this particular version of the Firefly MMO project come to fruition, although not for the reason that many people expected. As Kotaku argues, the hoax was perpetuated by The Yes Men, a strongly anticonsumerist group that apparently thought the best platform for this particular parody was a relatively obscure science fiction show. At this point it's not clear exactly what statement the group was attempting to make, although some sort of spoof on Kickstarter seems the most likely target. Either way, hopes for a Firefly MMO remain unrealized -- and at this point if such a game ever does get approved, we won't believe it's real until it's on the shelf. [Update: As fans of the franchise point out, FUO representatives have updated their Facebook page with what they allege is a screenshot of the game and an explanation for The Yes Men's involvement. What do you think? Is it a hoax or is it legit?]
Sifl & Olly come back from the laundry pile to review fake games
If you watched MTV in the late '90s, chances are you know of Sifl & Olly, the crescent fresh sock-puppet variety show starring, well, Sifl and Olly. It's been a while since we've seen the two in anything new – and today they've re-emerged in a new web series.The premise behind their new show is pretty much the same as the premise behind their old show, except the two have ditched the half-hour format this time around. In this episode, Sifl and Olly check out some Kinetic games for the Zeus 720 – obviously this is a spoof on the Kinect for Xbox 360 – and engage in some, well, mature activity. This one may not be strictly work-safe. You've been warned!
Apple responds to iPhone text message spoofing, reminds us how secure iMessage is
If you're a frequent texter, and the iPhone is your weapon of choice, there's a good chance you've been a wee bit concerned since yesterday's report that the device is vulnerable to a certain SMS spoofing attack. Basically, it's possible for a malicious individual to send a message and specify a reply-to number that is not their own, appearing as if they are someone else. We got in touch with an Apple representative and here's what we were told: Apple takes security very seriously. When using iMessage instead of SMS, addresses are verified which protects against these kinds of spoofing attacks. One of the limitations of SMS is that it allows messages to be sent with spoofed addresses to any phone, so we urge customers to be extremely careful if they're directed to an unknown website or address over SMS. Even if you aren't on an iPhone, we'd like to remind you to be careful when texting. There are numerous services out there that let you send a message that appears to be from anybody you like -- regardless of what model, OS or even carrier the recipient is using. All the more reason to think twice before filing that loan application over SMS.
Google Maps 8-bit version for NES: April Fools arrives a day early in Mountain View
Well, it appears that April Fools is in full effect -- at least if you ask Google. Today the company introduced its "latest" build of Google Maps, dubbed Google Maps 8-bit version, tailored specifically for the Nintendo Entertainment System. According to Google, this Dragon Quest spoof version of Maps will come in the form of a special NES cartridge that can connect to the internet via dial-up. This apparently allows most of the heavy lifting to get done on Google's servers, where the maps are rendered to 8-bit form "in real-time." Better yet, it even supports voice search. Naturally, there's no word on a release date, but you can currently check out the "beta" by visiting Google Maps in your browser and selecting "Start Your Quest." That said, that company warns that "your system may not meet the minimum requirements for 8-bit computations" -- something tells us it'll still be less resource-intensive than Crysis, though. We've checked it out and found some goodies, including an alien at Area 51, so let us know what you come across during your journey in the comments. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Skyrim, if it were set in 2012
The great secret Bethesda hasn't revealed to anyone yet is that citizens of Skyrim are actually learning, adapting and evolving. If you set your PC or console forward a couple thousand years, you'll be able to play Skyrim in a modern setting, as seen in this clip.
Google admits sensitive email accounts have been hacked, some users knew months ago (update: US says no government accounts compromised)
The Contagio security blog posted evidence back in February of targeted attacks against government and military officials on Gmail. Today, nearly four months later, Google has finally admitted this is true: hundreds of personal accounts have been compromised by hackers it believes to be working out of Jinan, the capital of China's Shandong province. The accounts include those of "senior U.S. government officials, Chinese political activists, officials in several Asian countries (predominantly South Korea), military personnel and journalists." The hijackers' aim appears to have been to spy on their targets using Google's automatic forwarding function. But unlike the PSN fiasco, Google insists its internal systems "have not been affected." Instead it seems the hackers used a phishing scam, possibly directing users to a spoof Gmail website before requesting their credentials. Google says its own "abuse detection systems" disrupted the campaign -- but in a footnote right down at the bottom of their official blog page they also credit Contagio and user reports. Update: And in comes China's response, courtesy of Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hong Lei. "Allegations that the Chinese government supports hacking activities are completely unfounded and made with ulterior motives." Ok then, that settles that. Update 2: And the saga continues... According to an AP story published earlier today, the Obama administration has stated that the FBI is looking into allegations that hackers broke into Google's email system, but denied that any official government accounts were compromised. A White House spokesman went on to say that government employees are free to use Gmail for personal purposes, and can not be sure who in the administration might have been affected by the attack. Let's just hope they know how to leave the sensitive stuff at the office.
Another round of face acting to awful game voice acting
Apparently not satisfied with his already stellar lineup of hilarious face acting set to hilariously bad video game voice acting, Dean has returned with "Dean's Face Acting: Episode 2." Like many sequels, it may not be as good, but it'll make you remember why you fell in love in the first place.
