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Alexa can bark at intruders from your Echo for $49 per year
Amazon will roll out its Guard Plus service this fall.
The Art of Wushu: The facts about autoguard
The automatic blocking feature in Age of Wushu is treated as anathema by players. You guys have no idea how many people I have talked to about it who tell me, "I would never use something like that!" It seems that in general, people don't like the idea of something that takes decision-making out of their hands. However, autoguard isn't as bad as people think. In fact, it is an exceptional answer to poor latency and is completely controllable. The truth is, not many people understand it at all, and even fewer realize the benefits of the system.
Remixing an Orgrimmar Guard transmogrification
Two weeks ago, we took the Stormwind Guard on a shopping trip and got them a whole new wardrobe. This week, we're giving the Orgrimmar Guard the same treatment and then stopping at Gallywix Pleasure Palace on the way back for mai tais. When I first started planning a new look for the Orgrimmar Guard, I thought I'd look to Garrosh Hellscream for inspiration. Both his outfits in Wrath of the Lich King at Warsong Hold and now in Cataclysm as the new warchief show off a darker look to the Horde that I wanted to capture. Walking through the streets of Orgrimmar these days, you see a city that has become more militaristic and uniform, and the old guard outfit doesn't quite fit in anymore. Even the Horde banners are a darker red than they once were, which doesn't match the red shoulders and accents of the old guards.
So you want to play a brewmaster monk?
Interested in trying out the new monk class, but can't tell your Tiger Strikes from your Tiger Palms? Written by Chase Hasbrouck of World of Monkcraft, WoW Insider's new monk coverage will get you kicking in no time! Last week, I covered windwalker monks and how to fly around kicking butt like a kung fu master. This week, I'm delving into the "spirited" version, the brewmaster. One caveat, though: Because this is still beta, things will likely change somewhat between now and live. We'll have a full 101 guide that covers things like enchants, gems, and stats when Mists is released, but this will cover you until then. What is a brewmaster monk? Monks have three role options: damage, tanking, and healing, of which brewmaster is the tanking role. How do brewmaster monks work? Brewmaster monks have two primary resources, energy and chi. Energy replenishes at a constant rate and is used to power your basic moves and abilities. These attacks generate chi, which is then used to buff your survivability. What is this "stagger" thing? Stagger is a new mitigation mechanic that is exclusive to brewmaster tanks. For every physical attack taken, a percentage of the damage is not taken immediately but instead is turned into a damage over time effect that stacks. In and of itself, this does nothing except spread out the damage taken a bit. However, brewmasters also have Purifying Brew, which completely eliminates the Stagger DoT effect. Depending on the fight, you may have enough chi to use PB often, or you may need to let Stagger stack a bit. Many abilities buff Stagger, such as the Shuffle effect from Blackout Kick.
South Korea plans trial run of robot prison guards
This isn't the first time we've seen a prison turn to robots for a little assistance, but South Korea looks to be going a bit further than most with its latest robotic endeavor. The country's Ministry of Justice has announced that it will be conducting a one-month trial run of robot guards at a prison in the city of Pohang starting in March -- a project that's expected to cost one billion won (or about $863,000). "The robots are not terminators," as the university professor in charge of the endeavor told The Wall Street Journal, but rather monitors that will patrol the corridors of the jail and alert the human guards if they detect any unusual activity. Inmates will also be able to use the robots to communicate with the guards, and the folks behind the bots are apparently doing their best to keep things from turning into too much of a dystopian future -- they're now said to working on making the robots appear more "humane and friendly."
'We hear you loud and clear': CCP clarifies third-party application licensing fees
What should be a week of rejoicing following EVE Online's Incarna expansion going live has been soured by controversy over seemingly high-priced microtransactions and debate over fees associated with third-party application licensing. Today, CCP has come out to address the second point and clarify its position. CCP Guard admits that the company didn't do the best job in explaining how third parties can charge a real-world money fee for their services apart from in-game currency, and he reposts an illuminating transcript of an interview with CCP Zulu regarding the licensing. The problem came in the form of $99 licensing fees to use this new service, a charge that EVE players felt was extremely high. Apparently CCP agrees and will be looking into changing it to a "token charge" that will make the contract between CCP and the third party binding without it being a financial obstacle. You can read the full explanation over at EVE Online, and while you're at it, you can snag yourself the expansion on Steam for $10.
WoW.com's Weekly Comic: Byron, the Tauren Rogue
Welcome to another edition of the WoW.com Weekly Comic, Byron the Tauren Rogue! I apologize for the lateness, everyone! It won't happen again. This is the beginning of the end of Byron. I won't spoil anything, but the story of our brave tauren rogue will be wrapping up in the next few weeks. There's lots more in store, though, so don't go far! Also, I know that Ironforge guards are all male in game, but hey -- I'm progressive like that. Check out the full version right here, and tune in next Tuesday morning for a new page. You can also see all the previous pages in the gallery below. %Gallery-77825%
Kids Guard USB stick is guaranteed to frustrate, encourage circumvention
The concept here is far from new, but that doesn't mean that the latest iteration isn't way more frustrating. For kids just looking to "discover themselves" somewhere on the world wide web, the Kids Online Guard USB Stick is a nightmare of the worst kind. Designed to keep your offspring away from files, websites and folders that you deem inappropriate, it seems to work by triggering limits when plugged in, and when unplugged, the whole PC likely locks everyone out. Of course, we're guessing that this is just the thing to train your kid to become the planet's next great circumventer / hacker, so if viewing this as a "training tool" makes you sleep easier, you can get one headed your way for $21.69. [Thanks, Frank]
WowWee's patrolling Rovio gets unboxed
WowWee's Rovio isn't due to start shipping to the general populace for a few days still, but the mighty important folks over at RobotsRule were somehow able to procure one a hair early. Thankfully for us, it took the time to neatly unbox this home sentry and give us an up-close look at what it's made of. A full-fledged review is promised within the next few days, but for now, just hit the read link and enjoy the shots.
WowWee's $300 Rovio robotic sentry ships this month
The Rovio -- one of WowWee's finest if we should say so ourselves -- is finally ready to roam around domiciles and keep baddies at bay. First announced (and spotted) at CES 2008, this long-awaited robotic sentry is up for pre-order right now, and it comes packing a 640 x 480 webcam to stream back live video in MPEG4 format. Furthermore, it can snap stills, head out on a customized patrol route and avoid obstacles with its infrared sensor. Get ready -- this sheriff's rolling into your town next Friday for $299.95.[Via Random-Good-Stuff, thanks Juergen]
Homegrown security bot heckles vagrants, longs to be a real cop
Rufus Terrill's stocky handmade robot is more than your average drinking buddy -- in fact, the four-foot tall, 300-pound robotic security guard makes it his job to discourage vandals and vagabonds from marring the streets of Atlanta. The inventor is an engineer-turned-bar owner who got tired of drifters and thieves hanging around his business undeterred. Rather than calling in the professionals, he constructed a remote controlled robot that can flash a spotlight, blast out water and resist even the toughest of 40oz. cans that inevitably come its way. Best of all, he can even make the creature talk, and apparently, its array of scare tactics has been fairly effective thus far. Talk about protecting and serving.[Via MetaFilter]
The RIBOGU Q guard robot authenticates faces -- the rest you can imagine
Meet the RIBOGU Q guard robot with "face authentication technology" -- a world's first with such a lethal combination. Developed by Japan's ALSOK, the robot snaps photos of the filthy human stench in the vicinity in order to identify "terrorists, wanted fugitives" and anyone else on the corporate or government "blacklist." Presumably (they don't say), RIBOGU Q juices any identified villains with those wee, Tyrannosaurus arms. Of course, the ability to recognize specific faces is obvious overkill -- we know the real intent is to pare back the blacklist criteria to: "has a face." [Via Impress]
Town guards: Horde vs. Alliance
Players from way back in the early days of WoW will remember that before there were battlegrounds, there was only the Hillsbrad Foothills. If you played on a PvP server, you were almost certainly killed (sometimes repeatedly) at some point by a much higher level player character from an enemy faction. Due to the close proximity of Horde and Alliance towns, the area between Tarren Mill and Southshore was a war zone and was very popular with the world PvP crowd. Since the introduction of battlegrounds and all the new expansion content, Hillsbrad has become much more quiet, but many players (including myself) still have fond memories of intense battles in that zone.One thing that always struck me as odd was the disparity between the level of the Horde guards in Tarren Mill (level 60-ish elites) and the Alliance guards in Southshore (level 40-ish non-elites). Stealthy Horde players could slip into Southshore, kill NPCs and lower level players with little regard to the guards. However, any Alliance player attempting to do the same in Tarren Mill would be in for a rude awakening if he or she was spotted by the guards.More recently I've found yet another difference between Horde guards and Alliance guards. I'd been testing characters on the PTR, and stopped by Stonebreaker Hold in Terokkar Forest with my undead rogue. When I dropped into stealth, I noticed that many of the NPCs, guards, and peons were able to see through stealth (they had that stealth detection icon floating above their heads). I remember being in Allerian Stronghold with my own human rogue and not seeing anyone that could see through stealth. I decided to sneak in (if I could) to see if the Alliance had trained their guards to detect stealth, and to my surprise, they hadn't!The argument about whether or not Blizzard favors the Horde over the Alliance popped into my head for a moment -- I know it's old hat, and players from both sides have slung accusations and "proof" that Blizzard favors one faction over another, but I've never seen anything definitive.I'm not looking to start up that old argument, but I am wondering -- has anyone else has noticed a situation like this, where the Horde's town guards are clearly superior to the Alliance's guards?
ORNL's laser-based surveillance / monitoring system takes on RFID
Amazingly, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is actually not located in the UK, but we wouldn't doubt if the latest development to emerge from its confines somehow ends up across the pond. Nevertheless, scientists at the lab have developed a Laser-Based Item Monitoring System that "addresses surveillance requirements in places where video would be unacceptable because of the presence of proprietary information or other privacy concerns." Essentially, this optical monitoring system uses low-cost reflective tags placed on objects, and then maps the precise location of high-value items to sense tampering. The laser can purportedly detect minute changes (movements of less than a centimeter) by utilizing "a high-resolution two-axis laser scanner capable of looking at a 60-degree field of view in 0.0005-degree increments," meaning that it can divide its field of view into more than 10 billion individual pointing locations. The crew also noted that this system was generally superior to bar code and RFID alternatives as the LBIMS would not be susceptible to jamming or interception, but there's no word just yet on when the Department of Energy (or anyone else) will be putting this stuff to good use.[Via Smartmobs, photo courtesy of Primidi]
NCTU's Vision One domesticated servant bot knows your face, follows enemies
Hopefully sooner rather than later, all these domesticated, master-serving robots will be able to handle even the most mundane of tasks for us without botching our reputations, like holding down the 9-5 for us while we tee it up. Until then, however, we'll have to be satisfied with a household bot that not only recognizes our face, understands hand gestures, and follows us around to see if we need help, but chases foes away too. A team of researchers at Hsinchu-based National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) has developed just the companion, and this motorized fellow (or dame, whichever you prefer) sports a unique "digital vision system" that gives it the ability to "not only to remember the master, but also recognize his or her gestures and offer services accordingly." Moreover, it can reportedly judge the person's current health condition by analyzing facial expressions, and can then proceed to fetch medicine, a telephone, or another person in the home to provide aid. Clearly designed to assist the elderly, which could have difficultly caring entirely for themselves, the NCTU Vision One can reportedly distinguish between intruders and family members, and it can even be set to chase away the baddies while taking pictures of him / her for future prosecution purposes. While we've no idea if this classroom invention will ever hit the production line, this thing is a kitchen sink away from being the whole enchilada, and the whole "chasing function" simply makes this a must-have if it eventually comes to market.[Via RobotGossip]
