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EVE Online warns supercarrier pilots of impending changes
On June 3rd, EVE Online is rolling out its latest expansion, and that means changes are coming for everyone. This includes some pretty substantial changes to supercarriers, such as the doubling of all Fighter Bomber drones. Depending on how full your drone bays might be, that could mean you suddenly have more units in your drone bays than you have actual space to fit them. A quick post on the official site notifies players that in the event their drone bays become overfilled, all of their drones will be moved to the cargo bay, where they could leave a ship overloaded and unable to jump until cargo is jettisoned or destroyed. Players are advised to take care of the space in their supercarriers now, before the expansion launches, rather than scrambling to find places to put all of the drones once the update actually happens. You can also check out the original blog outlining the overall supercarrier changes if you missed it the first time around.
Please don't be fooled by this TurboScan rip-off
I love the TurboScan document scanning app for my iPhone. I've used it more than any other utility and it makes dealing with paperwork that requires a signature a super slick affair. So, when I got an email promoting a new app called "Turbo Scan HD," I was excited to see if there was a new version of the app I've adored for so long. Unfortunately, Turbo Scan HD isn't a TurboScan app, but a blatant rip-off that should be avoided at all costs. It has a similar icon, a clearly copied name, and even the price is identical to the genuine TurboScan app, which currently sits in the #2 slot on the top selling Business category. Of course, the apps couldn't possibly be more different in terms of features and overall polish. Here is a comparison of the interfaces, with the real TurboScan on the left (obviously). If you're diligent enough to check the app reviews, it quickly becomes clear that the app is a fraud, with three scathing user reviews that have quite literally nothing good to say about the app. Meanwhile, the original TurboScan holds a 5-star rating with over 14,000 reviews. As you might imagine, my email replies to the original pitch that landing in my inbox have gone unanswered. It goes without saying, but if you're in need of a document scanning app and decide to go with TurboScan, make sure you're buying the genuine article.
Flappy Bird may return with a warning, dev has three games in the works
Flappy Bird creator Dong Nguyen said he is considering bringing his hit mobile game back to the market. While he's not actively working on a new version, it would come with a warning that asks players to take a break from the game. Nguyen said as much in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, one the first the indie developer conducted since he pulled Flappy Bird from Google Play and the iOS App Store last month, justifying the decision by deeming it too addictive. Nguyen said that messages he received from players accusing him of "distracting the children of the world" and that the game was "addicting like crack" reminded him too much of his own struggles in high school with Counter-Strike. Nguyen isn't done making games, however. He described three he's working on simultaneously, each with retro-style visuals and simple controls: a cowboy-themed shooter, a vertical flier named Kitty Jetpack as well as an "action chess game" called Checkonaut. The developer plans to launch one of the three games this month. [Image: Dong Nguyen]
UK government to begin testing mobile emergency alerts
UK folks could soon be made aware of local emergencies via their mobile phone after the government announced plans to test its new alert system later this year. With support from O2, Vodafone and EE, around 50,000 residents across Yorkshire, Suffolk and Glasgow will be subjected to individual tests which will assess the Cabinet Office's SMS and cell broadcast early warning systems and measure the public's response. Currently, there's no word on whether UK citizens will get to enjoy iOS support for emergency notifications, like their American and Japanese counterparts, but the Cabinet Office plans to publish its findings in early 2014 -- that's if the UK hasn't already been enveloped by a massive fog cloud. [Image credit: Sussertod, Flickr]
San Francisco reneges on proposed cellphone warning sticker, leaves citizens to chat at their own risk
Californians already see earthquake notices in elevators and falling rock signs on the beach, but if certain lawmakers had managed to get their way, locals would find warning stickers on their cellphones, too. The proposed tags, which detail energy transfer from the device to your body by displaying a device's SAR (Specific Absorption Rate), will no longer be implemented. The sponsoring group, whose move has been on hold for several years, now faces a permanent injunction; in other words, the stickers will likely never see the light of day. The FCC, which measures SAR, is tasked with determining that each device meets certain safety standards, keeping citizens safe from radiation -- sticker or no sticker, people who speak on cellphones are generally not at any risk.
AT&T training document suggests ISPs are gearing up to beat piracy with internet restrictions
The fact that ISPs are working with the RIAA in a bid to squash piracy is far from new. A leaked document claiming to be AT&T training materials, however, suggests that the operator is about to stop talking, and start doing. According to TorrentFreak notifications will be sent out to customers on November 28th about the change in policy, with those suspected of illicit downloads receiving an email alerting them of the possible copyright infringement. We'd previously heard of a six-stage notification system, and this, too, is mentioned here with repeat offenders facing access to "many of the most frequently visited websites" restricted. Even stranger, is the talk of having to complete an online tutorial about copyright to get the restrictions lifted. As AT&T is part of the MPAA and RIAA-backed Center for Copyright Information, it's likely that the other members (Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cablevision), will be prepping similar plans. We've asked AT&T for confirmation directly, but for now keep an eye on the mail.
ESRB warning might reveal new characters for Street Fighter X Tekken
Street Fighter X Tekken has been officially listed by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (T for Teen, if you're wondering), and some details in the listing may have revealed a few more characters for the game. The description of possibly objectionable content in the game mentions both a character that uses "chainsaws," as well as the fact that "one wobbly character uses 'drunken' fighting moves."Neither of those descriptions matches any of the announced characters thus far, and fans have jumped to the conclusion that Tekken's Alisa Bosconovitch (who wields chainsaw arms) and drunken fighter Lei Wulong may be making an appearance in the crossover. It certainly seems possible, and this wouldn't be the first time ESRB has mentioned information in its warnings that was supposed to be secret. With the game due out next month, we'll know the truth before long.
EverQuest to hackers: You've been served
In a suitably ominous speech on the EverQuest forums, Sony Online Entertainment's Piestro delivered a word of warning to the cheaters, hackers, and exploiters of Norrath: "Stop now." Piestro goes on to reveal that the team has been quietly performing some clandestine work that helps "[detect] cheaters quickly and accurately." This should be good news for fans of the old-school title who enjoy playing the game on a level field. Hackers, however, should back down at once, because -- as Piestro warns -- "there will be no second chances." Also, because cheating makes you a jerk.
Disable that Mac OS X Internet download warning
Mac OS X 10.5 introduced a new feature that warned users when they first opened a file downloaded from the Internet. It's a protection mechanism to prevent users from opening potentially harmful files. It's also extremely annoying for users who download many files from known trustworthy. Thanks to a script from Creative Bits, disabling this feature just became a whole lot easier. When this download warning first debuted, Macworld detailed a few terminal commands to disable this feature. You could either disable it permanently which removed all protection from accidentally downloaded files or disable it on a case-by-case basis. Running the command on demand lets you decide when you want to disable this protection, but you have to remember the command each time you wanted to turn it off. Having to look up the command was almost inconvenient as responding to the warning dialog in the first place. To make it easier, Ivan from Creative Bits has created an Automator script that you can place in your Dock. Every time you need to download a bunch of files, you can simply click this script to disable the warning. You can download the script from Creative Bits website to try it yourself. It should work on Mac OS X 10.6 and 10.7 Lion.
Quicken users: Don't update to OS X Lion until you read this
IGG software, the folks who bring you the iBank personal finance application, sent out a reminder this morning via PR channels that bears repeating. If you use any version of Quicken prior to Quicken Essentials, be sure to export your data from the app before you update to Lion. You'll need that export file to get you up to speed in Quicken Essentials, iBank 4, or whatever other personal finance app you choose. If you don't export the data before jumping to Lion, you won't be able to run your old version of Quicken, meaning that your years of checking and savings account information are stuck. You won't be able to open the Quicken data file from a new app, nor will you be able to launch the old Quicken app to export your data. In other words, you're screwed. Take the words of the experts at IGG Software and please, please, PLEASE export your Quicken data before you update to OS X Lion. If you are looking for a Lion-compatible alternative to older versions of Quicken or Quicken Essentials for Mac, be sure to look at our report from earlier this month titled "Quicken won't run on Lion: 10 Mac finance apps that will." We'll have another look at financial software later this summer.
ISP's agree on Copyright Alert System, plan to notify you to death for piracy infringements
Too little, too late, we're afraid. For the past decade or so, the RIAA (amongst others) have spent every waking hour figuring out how to best sue and frighten every internet-connected human that even dares think about an illegal download. Now that said practice has failed miserably, it's finally resorting to something sensible. The entity announced today that AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cablevision have teamed up with the RIAA and MPAA in order to agree upon a six-stage notification system that'll electronically alert internet users whenever their account is used for wrongful downloading. It's actually not all that much different than the systems that have been in place at Suddenlink for what feels like eons, but at least this creates a standard protocol that the whole lot can adhere to. Oh, and before you ask -- under no circumstances will any of these notices result in termination of your broadband connection. There's no way an ISP would agree to such a thing, and indeed, they haven't here. The full run-down can be delved into below, but it's worth noting that no extra "watching" procedures are being put into place; your ISP will only drop you a line if a content overlord asks 'em to. Good times, no?
TUAW's Daily Mac App: Disk Alarm
On today's portable Macs, especially those packing SSDs, storage space can be somewhat limited. It can be pretty easy to fill up all available space with a few large downloads, rendering your computer starved of space and creaking under the strain. Problem is, unless you watch your HDD space like a hawk, there aren't many visual cues as to when you're running low on space, and that's what Disk Alarm aims to put right. Disk Alarm does one thing; it checks the amount of free space you have on your main drive and alerts you when you get below a user-definable threshold. It's nice and simple -- you adjust one slider to set the threshold and one to set the check interval. You can get Disk Alarm to play an audible alert along with a warning when your disk gets low, but it'll also show how much free space you have in your menu bar for at-a-glance reassurance. The application used to be able to hide up into the menu bar when you closed the settings window, but as of a recent update, Apple blocked the version that had that ability. Hopefully the developer can find some way around Apple's odd blockade, but in the meantime, Cmd+W will close just the window and leave the menu bar icon. Disk Alarm is available for US$3.99 from the Mac App Store, and should save you time and heartache the next time you run out of space. If you've got any good experiences or favorite alternatives to Disk Alarm, sound off in the comments.
New phishing email pretends to be from Apple's online store
We've received several reports today of an email making the rounds that's very likely a phishing scam. The message content is cleverly designed to look like it's coming from the Apple Store, and clicking on any of the links will take you to a website that's even superficially similar to Apple's online store. If you get this email, don't buy anything from its associated website, as there are a few dead giveaways to the inauthenticity of the message. First, the message sender will come up as a random string of characters followed by @live.com. All messages from the Apple Store should have apple.com at the end, and nothing else. The URL that you're directed to if you click anything in the message will eventually resolve to appledownload.com instead of the proper URL, store.apple.com, and you'll find a website that looks sort of like Apple's storefront but is focused seemingly exclusively on software sales. The "about" section on the site is written in quite broken English and claims the business is based in San Francisco. However, a simple WhoIs lookup shows that the site is registered to "Lyubov Bushmakina" in St. Petersburg, Russia. If that's not a red flag, I don't know what is. Bottom line: don't buy anything from this site if you're the least bit paranoid of being defrauded. There's a slim chance the site may be a legitimate software outlet, but by "slim chance" I really mean "snowball's chance on the surface of Venus." Always be wary of emails like this that offer to sell you stuff, especially if there's telltale signs it's not coming from who you think it is at first glance. Update: Commenters have noticed that the email addresses targeted by these phishing attempts are consistent with addresses used to register for MacHeist in the past. In early 2010, MacHeist's then-email processor iContact reported that it was the victim of a security breach that exposed some subscriber email addresses to spammers; it is possible that some of these compromised addresses are now being used for Apple-themed targeted spam. MacHeist no longer uses iContact for email processing.
US Homeland Security Department planning to use Facebook, Twitter for terrorism alerts
It looks like we finally know what the US Department of Homeland Security plans to use instead of the now infamous color-coded terrorism alert system. According to a draft document obtained by the Associated Press, the department's new system will simply have two levels of alerts -- "elevated" and "imminent" -- and it seems those warnings will even be published online using Facebook and Twitter "when appropriate." There's no word as to exactly how those alerts will be published, however, or any indication that the two companies have actually committed to aiding the department in any way, for that matter. We should know more soon enough, though -- the new system is expected to be in place by April 27th.
Nintendo 3DS warning label: children under six shouldn't use 3D mode
Ever since the device was first shown at E3, we've been under the impression that the Nintendo 3DS is too good to be true -- three-dimensional, portable versions of beloved N64 games? That's un-possible. The other shoe we've been waiting to drop might have just done so with Nintendo's recently released 3DS warning label; not only does it caution adults to stop using the device if they start to feel ill, it also says that children under six shouldn't use the handheld's 3D functionality at all, as it may affect the development of their poor, innocent eyes. This isn't quite as explosive a story as the mainstream media will likely make it out to be -- 3D display experts have long discussed the possible repercussions the technology has on eyesight. The worry isn't that displays like the one included in the 3DS will actually harm your vision, but that the way it "tricks" your eyes into seeing 3D might impair the way you actually see depth, which is, of course, the coolest dimension. Of course, there's no firm research confirming these worries, but Nintendo's playing it safe -- the 3DS' parental controls will allow parents to lock the device into 2D mode for their under-six progeny.
3D is dangerous / not dangerous: Nintendo 3DS warning label edition
Oh boy -- get ready for years of competing studies and hysterical news reports claiming that 3D is either life-threateningly dangerous or perfectly safe. (Cellphone radiation, take a backseat.) Today's delightful round of panic comes courtesy of Nintendo's Japanese warning guidelines for the 3DS: players are advised that 3D gameplay causes eye fatigue more quickly than 2D gaming and are told to take a break after 30 minutes of play -- and you should quit immediately if you get ill, which makes sense. Nintendo also says that children under six shouldn't use the 3D mode at all, since their eyes are still developing, and that parents can use controls built into the 3DS to lock it into 2D mode for children.
Standalone motion-sensing game console believes honesty is the best policy
We've seen plenty of cheap imitators of the Nintendo Wii since the system launched back in 2006 -- but we've never seen one of these knockoffs be quite so honest as the "Wireless 60." Seriously, the product description on the back of its box borders on self-deprecating.
FCC set to approve rules compelling carriers to alert you when you're about to go over your limit
Politicians do love themselves a sharp and emotive turn of phrase, of which few are as good as "bill shock." That's the term the FCC has used to sum up all those instances when you've had unexpected surcharges on your monthly wireless bill, caused by unknowingly going outside the bounds of your geographical coverage or monthly allowance. Seeing this issue as something it could help alleviate, the Commission set up a Consumer Task Force back in May in an effort to seek out solutions, and now it has returned with perhaps the most obvious one: getting your network operator to shoot out a voice or text message warning you when you're about to incur costs outside of your normal plan. That's basically what AT&T already does with iPad owners approaching their monthly data limits, which the federales see as a good practice that should be extended across all carriers. We can see no good reason why it shouldn't.
PS3 Terms of Service updated to reflect possible 3D health risks
Sony Online's Terms of Service was recently updated to warn users of the new dangers that PlayStation 3 poses to them and their loved ones: the harmful effects associated with prolonged viewing of a 3D display. The terms specify "discomfort (such as eye strain, eye fatigue or nausea)" as one of the unpleasant side effects. (Click past the jump to see the full cautionary addendum.) Additionally, the update warns parents of children under the age of six to consult a doctor before allowing them to play 3D games. Why? Because their tiny brains can't handle all the non-stop, in-your-face action that the extra dimension provides. (Also, because it's bad for their eyes, apparently.)
GAME warning customers about missing DLC in used games
[Webshots user Jamshaheed] In an attempt to deftly avoid the legal issues which recently befell its North American counterpart, UK electronic entertainment retailer GAME has begun adhering warning labels to used games which have likely been stripped of their bundled DLC vouchers, such as Mass Effect 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. According to MCV, the stickers, which tell consumers to check with store clerks on the availability of a particular game's DLC, arrived in stores last week. We appreciate GAME's transparency in its reaction to Project Ten Dollar, but we're not sure why these warning labels also say "but each new copy of this game also includes a handful of angry, extremely venomous scorpions, so maybe you should just go with this used one instead." [Via GamePolitics]
