lulz
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Microsoft wants to make you funnier in online chats
Do you constantly struggle to make jokes? Are you one of the millions of folks who wishes they could be spontaneously funny when communicating via the internet? Microsoft Research has some news (PDF) for you. The company's developed a web-based chat system dubbed "Cahoots" that analyzes text in your messages and suggests memes and reaction GIFs based on context and perceived emotion of the sender. It can even auto-generate memes on the fly using existing templates (think QuickMeme). Images were culled from I Can Haz Cheeseburger, Bing and ReactionGIFs.com and at the end of the study, some 738 of Amazon's Mechanical Turks found Cahoots pretty useful. No word's been given about the system actually reaching the public, so in the meantime you might want to start marathoning comedy specials on Netflix to bone up on your timing. [Image credit: See-ming Lee æææ SML/Flickr]
Hulu's GIF library offers visuals for your reaction tweets
Websites like Giphy and others are useful for supplying a GIF to get your point across. Hulu is looking to help too, so long as your thoughts/feelings/hot takes can be summed up with an image from one of the TV shows streamed there. The company launched it's own repository, which is appropriately housed on Tumblr, allowing you to search for specific shows, actions and reactions to find the perfect moving picture for your needs. Heck, there are even gems like this one from Star Trek: The Original Series.
ESPN boss: E-sports aren't sports
Sports journalism Death Star ESPN has weighed in on the argument about whether or not e-sports are sports. ESPN president John Skipper, speaking at the recent Code/Media Series: New York conference, was asked to comment on Amazon's $1 billion Twitch deal and associated e-sports programming. "It's not a sport, it's a competition," Skipper said. "Chess is a competition. Checkers is a competition. Mostly I'm interested in doing real sports." Which is probably why ESPN covers real sports like poker.
Prosecutors laugh last, Lulzsec hackers sentenced
The Lulzsec hackers responsible for a string of 2011 cyber attacks that targeted game companies including Sony, Nintendo, Epic, Bethesda, and Mojang have been sentenced to jail time. Gamespot reports that Ryan Cleary, Jake Davis, Mustafa al-Bassam, and Ryan Ackroyd pled guilty last month. The BBC says that the men could also face extradition to the United States due to various indictments. Lulzsec targeted a number of high profile corporations during the summer of 2011. The attacks resulted in Sony Online Entertainment MMOs and Sony's PlayStation Network going offline for several weeks.
Fifty days of 'lulz' over: LulzSec disbands
The secretive hacking group known as LulzSec has announced that it is formally disbanding with the completion of its planned 50 days of mayhem. Among its many targets that it has hacked, including government sites, LulzSec struck at The Escapist, Bethesda Game Studios, League of Legends, and EVE Online. LulzSec sent out a final statement, which said the group was a band of six hackers who had planned 50 days of attacks from the beginning. Now that the time is up, the group plans to fade into the shadows. The group hopes that others will continue with these illegal activities: "Behind the mask, behind the insanity and mayhem, we truly believe in the AntiSec movement. We hope, wish, even beg, that the movement manifests itself into a revolution that can continue on without us." While a suspected member of LulzSec was arrested a few days ago, the organization denied that he was part of the collective.
Suspected LulzSec member arrested
Shhh. You hear that? It sounds like laughter. Lulzing, in fact. Could it be Ryan Cleary's future cellmate? Who's Ryan Cleary, you say? According to a news blurb at PC Gamer, he's the 19-year old chap recently taken into custody by the FBI and Scotland Yard and accused of spear-heading the LulzSec-sponsored DDoS attacks against EVE Online, Nintendo, the United States Senate, and the Central Intelligence Agency, to name a few. Cleary is rumored to be a former member of Anonymous, and a Scotland Yard spokesperson says that the arrest was the result of an extensive and ongoing probe into the rash of cyber-crimes perpetuated over the last several months. "The arrest follows an investigation into network intrusions and distributed denial of service attacks against a number of international business and intelligence agencies by what is believed to be the same hacking group," PC Gamer reports. Remaining LulzSec luminaries are seemingly unconcerned, if a message posted to the group's Twitter account earlier today is any indication. "Seems the glorious leader of LulzSec got arrested, it's all over now... wait... we're all still here," the message said.
Sony Pictures hacked by Lulz Security, 1,000,000 passwords claimed stolen (update)
Oh, Sony -- not again. We've just received numerous tips that Lulz Security has broken into SonyPictures.com, where it claims to have stolen the personal information of over 1,000,000 users -- all stored (disgracefully) in plain text format. Lulz claims the heist was performed with a simple SQL injection -- just like we saw the last time around. A portion of the group's exploit is posted online in a RAR file, which contains over 50,000 email / password combos of unfortunate users. We've downloaded this file (at our own risk, mind you) and can verify these sensitive bits are now in the wild, though it remains unclear if what's published matches reality. In addition to user information, the group has blurted out over 20,000 Sony music coupons, and the admin database (including email addresses and passwords) for BMG Belgium employees. Fresh off the heels of the PlayStation Network restoration, we're guessing the fine folks in Sony's IT department are now surviving solely on adrenaline shots. Update: Sony Pictures has confirmed to Reuters that some of its websites have been hacked, and says that it's currently working with the FBI to identify the perpetrators. [Thanks to everyone that sent this in]
MMO Family: Mind your massively multiplayer manners
MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family, from tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate online games for everyone in the family. Kids are like sponges, sure -- old saying is old. But are online manners something you really want to leave to chance? Are the interactions your kids so intently follow online the manners you want them soaking up and using themselves? As parents, we know that the habits and attitudes that kids pick up today are what we'll find coming right back at us tomorrow. Teens who are used to trolling in games and forums will have a hard time modulating to a less strident tone in a business meeting. Kids who excuse a lack of scruples with "whatever -- it's only the internet" are due for a big surprise when a thoughtless instant message or careless lack of response to an email slams doors in their faces later in life. As parents who game, we all have hot buttons that set us off: the guy who always shows up late to raids, beggars, you name it. The point is: Have you talked to your kids yet about these behaviors? Are you explicitly (by both word and example) helping them not to grow up to be That Guy? I'm pretty sure we don't need a primer in online etiquette here at Massively, but I don't think it would hurt to share some of the things we wish Those Other Parents had taught their kids before turning them loose in our games. I'll share my dirty dozen after the break -- won't you share your own in the comments?
Zero Punctuation sinks its teeth into Umbrella Chronicles
This week on Zero Punctuation, gaming misanthrope Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw tackles Wii rail shooter Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. While the acidic one lays into the shamelessly cheesy dialogue and concludes that Capcom's title is "a rather unnecessary game that gaming history will swiftly forget," he also admits the game has "a charming retro feel."The entire review is embedded after the break, but remember, kids: this is Zero Punctuation, and so NSFW.
Taking training to a fashionable new level
First, you had to learn to walk. Now Japanese training games are taking things to a new level -- they're teaching you how to dress. That's right, folks. Now you can relive your earliest formative years, all thanks to the DS. We're also looking forward to future titles like Solid Food Training, Don't Throw The Cheerios Training, and We Don't Use That Word Ever, Even Though Mommy Does Training.Epic chuckles aside, Mitame Kara Yomikaeru ~ Otona No Kikonashi Training isn't really about figuring out how to work the zipper or which shoe goes on which foot, but rather focuses on dressing for success. The title focuses on fashion, coordinating parts of the outfit, and something about rubbing and rivals that we didn't pursue too deeply. Sometimes it's better just to raise an eyebrow at the automatic Japanese translations and move on.
