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Backpage.com was seized by the federal government
Classifieds website Backpage.com has been seized and disabled by the federal government. When you visit the website now, you'll see a message saying it and all affiliated websites have been taken over "as part of an enforcement action by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the US Postal Inspection Service and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, with analytical assistance from the Joint Regional Intelligence Center." The message goes on to name a handful of other enforcement groups involved in the action and states that more information will be provided by the US Department of Justice later this evening. Backpage is the second largest classifieds website.
Verizon patents system for location-aware classifieds
It's not often that we genuinely like what these big corporations are doing, so you'd better pay close attention here. We've caught wind of a Verizon patent covering the logistics of setting up and running a GPS-based classifieds service, which matches potential buyers and sellers of goods on the basis of their stated interests and location. Thus, next time you're driving by the home of a carpenter, for example, you might be alerted of his contact details should you need some woodworking done. This seems like a legitimately useful expansion on the location services already available on GPS devices, but -- as with the Nokia flexible display patent -- the application was filed back in 2008 indicating that nothing is imminent. Still, at least it's comforting to know that good ideas can fleet by carriers' brain trusts when they're not too busy talking trash about each other on TV. [Thanks, Anand]
Forum Post of the Day: Dalaran Classified Ads
Crawford of Gorefiend posted a pretty amusing post recently on the official forums: Dalaran Classified Ads. The post lists a variety of help wanted, services offered, and even personals ads from various personalities around Azeroth. There's some pretty amusing ones in the mix. Inspired, I thought I'd come up with one or two myself: HELP WANTED: Day Laborers for bridge construction. Must bring own tools, or recover stolen tools from Murlocs. Payment is 2 armor patches a week plus all the Sauteed Sunfish you can eat. Work hours very flexible. Contact Oslow at Lakeshire, Redridge. Projected completion time TBA.It's not that great, admittedly, but hey. For some real good ones, check out the post.
Game industry still hiring, notable job postings listed
It's easy to get bummed out reading about industry layoffs day in and day out. Trust us, writing about them isn't any day at the beach either. Still, there is hope for industry hopefuls scouring want ads openings, and Gamasutra blog GameSetWatch has compiled a list of what it's deemed the most "notable" openings recently posted to its sister site's job board.Among them, Other Ocean Interactive, the studio responsible for the Xbox Live port of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, is seeking a new producer to join its team, while Warner Bros. is hoping to cull an engineering director from the ranks of the unemployed. Namco is looking for multiple folks willing to tinker with mobile games, and LEGO Universe dev NetDevil is interested in hiring someone to head up programming on its space combat MMO, Jumpgate Evolution. Even Midway wants in on the hiring action, though we'd advise anyone interested in signing up there also get fitted for a life vest.
Post your interstellar rsum at EVE Careers
The second episode of the Drone Bay podcast directed listeners to check out a website called EVE Careers, a sort of Monster.com or Career Builder for players of EVE Online. There are sections where both pilots and corporations (EVE's equivalent to player guilds) can post ads to connect with one another.As the hosts of the Drone Bay noted, one of the big challenges for new players in EVE (and even experienced players, in certain circumstances) is finding a good corp to join. While it's possible to get by on your own to some extent in EVE, you'll be missing out on ... well, pretty much everything interesting about the game if you aren't part of one. EVE Careers presently has an almost 70-page list of corporations for you to check out, making it one of your best bets if you've been going it alone.CCP CEO Hilmar Petursson told the New York Times a while back that EVE is different from other games like World of Warcraft because it's not just a game, it's a society -- at least, to a greater extent than WoW-types are. With its quarterly economic reports from the CCP Fed, its Council for Stellar Management, and now this player-run job board website, that's tough to argue with, even though there are forums for guild-finding in other games as well.[Via Drone Bay]
