myths
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Research shows answering one robocall doesn't lead to more
Researchers used 66,606 fake phone lines to better understand robocalls.
Facebook warns users who 'interacted' with COVID-19 misinformation
Facebook will also expand its “Get the Facts” COVID-19 information center to Facebook News in the US.
Watch Ford’s Mustang-inspired EV crossover race around in the snow
Ford's Mustang-inspired EV crossover is expected to launch in 2020. The company hasn't released too many details, other than that it will have a 370-mile range and fast-charging. But this week, Ford shared two videos of the vehicle in action. The first shows a prototype of the Mustang-inspired ride zipping around Grattan Raceway and brags about the EV's acceleration.
The Facebook Messenger switch: annoying, but not evil
If you use the Facebook iOS app, you've probably noticed that the social network's private SMS-like Messenger functionality is migrating out of the "mother" application and into the standalone Facebook Messenger app (currently at version 9.1). Messenger's solo app has been around for a couple of years already, but Facebook is now reminding users more insistently that they need Messenger (or the mobile browser version of Facebook) if they want to keep using the IM functionality on their phones. This nudging-slash-feature shifting is understandably annoying for many users, but it's not, despite what many people on the internet would like you to believe, out-and-out evil. A combination of out-of-date intel and overall paranoia is getting folks worked up unnecessarily. What's more, the most scary "Facebook is eating my data" warnings don't apply to iOS users at all -- they're Android-specific, and are only as scary as they are because Google insists that apps "pre-declare" anything they might want to do. [One particular point of confusion is the assertion that Messenger may be listening to all your conversations, or trying to figure out what music is playing in the background while you use the app, all to better target you for advertising. The good news is, Messenger doesn't listen to your music. The less good news: the regular Facebook app may listen, for 15 seconds while you are writing a status update, in order to share the song you're enjoying with your FB buddies. The better news: the feature is entirely optional, and you can disable it easily. To sum up: "passive listening" has nothing to do with Messenger and is not a reason to hate or fear the app. If you want to turn off the microphone features in Messenger anyway, instructions are right here. –Ed.] Much of the anxiety/anger is focused on the app's terms and conditions, which (particularly on the Android side; less so on iOS) ask you to give Facebook access to basically everything on your phone. Here's the thing: if you already use Facebook, you've probably given the company access to all of that stuff already. Still, in the absence of context, the Android permissions do sound pretty Big Brotherish. Here's a sampling: Allows the app to call phone numbers without your intervention. This may result in unexpected charges or calls. Malicious apps may cost you money by making calls without your confirmation. Allows the app to send SMS messages. This may result in unexpected charges. Malicious apps may cost you money by sending messages without your confirmation. Allows the app to record audio with microphone. This permission allows the app to record audio at any time without your confirmation. Allows the app to take pictures and videos with the camera. This permission allows the app to use the camera at any time without your confirmation. That sounds pretty bad, especially that part about recording audio without asking first. What possible motive could they have for asking for that? Well, we'd ask Facebook, but they've already explained in the help page for Messenger. Here's why they include that permission, and why the Android version of the app is simply playing by Google's rules for declaring its capabilities. Why is the Messenger app requesting permission to access features on my Android phone or tablet? If you install the Messenger app, you should see a screen letting you know that the app is asking for your permission to access information or use features from your Android phone or tablet. Almost all apps need certain permissions to run on Android, and we use these permissions to run features in the app. Keep in mind that Android controls the way the permissions are named, and the way they're named doesn't necessarily reflect the way the Messenger app and other apps use them. Below, you'll find a list of some of the permissions we request for the app, as well as an example of how we use each one. Note that this list doesn't include all of the Android permissions we request or all of our uses of those permissions. If you've already installed the Messenger app, you can find a list of the permissions the app uses in your phone or tablet's Applications Manager, or by visiting the Play Store and clicking View Details under Permissions. Android permission (what you'll see on your Android phone or tablet) and examples of what we use this permission for: Take pictures and videos: This permission allows you to take photos and videos within the Messenger app to easily send to your friends and other contacts Record audio: This permission allows you to send voice messages, make free voice calls, and send videos within Messenger Directly call phone numbers: This permission allows you to call a Messenger contact by tapping on the person's phone number, found in a menu within your message thread with the person Receive text messages (SMS): If you add a phone number to your Messenger account, this allows you to confirm your phone number by finding the confirmation code that we send via text message Read your contacts: This permission allows you to add your phone contacts as Messenger contacts if you choose to do so. You can always stop syncing your phone contacts by going to your Messenger settings Facebook is a company that is facing increasing public scrutiny, in no small part because it has conducted thought experiments on users. As society starts to finally think about the implications of handing over all of our personal information to the social media companies we use day to day, it's good that we're asking these questions. The important thing is to look to verifiable sources explaining what's going on. Yes, Facebook asks for access to your personal information with their new app. However, given the granular permission settings on iOS, you can easily prevent Facebook Messenger from accessing your address book, using your microphone, or checking your location. If you don't need a feature, and turning it off would be better for your own sense of security, then don't enable it. Dislike Facebook for shoehorning users into a new app they may not want, but don't buy into the myth that this is a new expansion of FB's information grabbing. They've been gobbling your private information this whole time. That's one of the tradeoffs of using the service. For more information on what Facebook's apps do and don't do with your personal information, check out this handy summary at Snopes, this AndroidCentral rundown and this cogent writeup at the Wall Street Journal's tech blog. Post updated 8/10 10 am to clarify Android v. iOS permission warnings.
Teaming up with Hi-Rez for some Halloween SMITE
Halloween is a holiday when people typically dress up in outlandish costumes and go out hunting for treats. This year, I got to put a bit of a different spin on it by dressing up as a mythological god and going out to hunt for gold and items in some games of SMITE. Hi-Rez invited Massively along for its Halloween stream earlier this week, and I tagged along for some great fun. Despite being relatively inexperienced with the game, Reason Gaming's Lassiz was along for the ride as well, and his professional play helped lead us to a decisive victory. Although it's still in closed beta, SMITE currently boasts a surprisingly large playerbase with hundreds of thousands of players and a very unique twist on the MOBA style. If you're looking for more information or a way to try the game for yourself, read on!
Five Diablo III Wizard myths tested and debunked
When building your Diablo III Wizard, you have two main schools of thought on weapon type: use a high-damage two handed weapon with low attack speed or use a one-handed weapon and offhand and stack as much attack speed as possible. Items with increased attack speed on them greatly increase damage per second on paper, but there is some confusion in the Wizard community as to which spells are affected by it. Some players contend that Blizzard and Hydra are unaffected by attack speed; others report that channeled spells ignore both critical hit chance and attack speed. To find out the truth, I bought a two-handed weapon with 0.9 attack speed and a one-handed weapon with 1.6, both with the same rated damage per second. I then tested every spell on the zombies at the start of Act 1 in hell mode dozens of times and checked the damage difference, finally adding attack speed rings and amulets and re-testing both weapons. For almost every spell, the one-handed setup dealt lower damage but hit more frequently, averaging to the same damage per second. But the story was a little different for Hydra, Blizzard, and channeled spells. In this guide, I put five popular Diablo III Wizard myths to the test and discover the inner workings of Energy Armour, Hydra, Blizzard, Critical Mass, and other abilities.
Five myths about making gold
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Basil "Euripides" Berntsen and Fox Van Allen aim to show you how to make money on the Auction House. Check out Fox and Basil's reboot of Call To Auction, and email Basil with your questions, comments, or hate mail! Gold making is one of those games you can play without much cooperative interaction with other players. If I hadn't been set straight about how to raid by cooperative guildies when I started, I'd still be as bad as I was when I started, minus any progress I'd have made myself. This type of environment is a breeding ground for less-than-optimal gold making strategies, so here are five myths about gold making that continue to require banishment. 1. Mats are free if you don't pay gold for them. It doesn't matter whether you picked up a gem from a Satchel of Exotic Mystery, farmed a stack of herbs, procced a bonus somehow, or mugged someone. If you figure your cost on the mats for whatever you're selling as what you actually paid for it, you're doing it wrong. The value of crafting mats is what you could sell them for.
Hear ye, hear ye! Castlot has entered open beta!
ClapAlong's MMO venture into Arthurian myths and legends has transitioned out of closed and into open beta. Castlot is now available to try for any and all curious knights, and ClapAlong is not shy with the efforts to woo them to this round table. In addition to featuring several improvements from the closed beta, including a newcomer's guide and ransack function, the open beta will feature daily login bonuses. ClapAlong is also promising to roll over 150% of any in-game currency you purchase to the live edition, even if you spend the currency in the closed beta. Finally, there are prizes to be had to the first player who spots and reports a bug, and to anyone who is willing to do a little Facebook promotion for the game. This browser-based title gives players a choice between joining the "light" side of King Arthur or the "dark" side of Lord Blackmore. There's a variety of gameplay elements at work, including both turn-based and real-time combat depending on your particular venue. You can sign up for the open beta over on the Castlot official site.
Wings Over Atreia: Drop -n- shop
Hot topic! Hot topic! Fresh outta the community oven! In a much-hyped announcement a while back, NCsoft proclaimed that drop rates in Aion were being significantly increased in the 2.1 patch. The company even employed a certain wide-eyed Shugo named Victor to outline his experiments and prove that drops now rained from the skies. For a while, there was much rejoicing in the lands of Atreia. *cue Monty Python soundtrack* Oh, there were some naysayers who cried that an end to the economy as we knew it was at hand (not totally incorrect), but for the most part, Elyos and Asmodians alike flocked back to Aion with the promise of more wealth and gold loot. I even found that my bags could not hold everything that dropped during Taloc's Hollow runs, forcing me to to delete items in order to pick more up. Alas -- that was then, and this is now. The pendulum has quietly swung back the other way to the what-exactly-does-a-loot-drop-look-like side. From personal experience, I can attest that getting drops now is about like pulling Stormwing's teeth... with only your bare hands and maybe some dental floss. The change is obvious, so why all the hush-hush? Currently it feels like a classic bait and switch: Market an enticing feature loudly to get players then remove it with equal secrecy and stealth. And to top that off, there are murmurs that the devs plan to implement changes that put a halt to the popular selling of loot rights. Aw, don't kick us while we are down! Make sure you aren't on cool-down and zone past the cut to explore this bane of many a Daeva's life (drop rates) as well as the practice of selling loot rights within Aion.
Enter At Your Own Rift: Dispelling the WoWhammer myth
If you've participated in RIFT's beta events at all, you're probably wishing you had a nickel for every time you heard a player claim that RIFT is just like World of Warcraft or Warhammer Online -- WAR because of the comparison of rifts to public quests, and WoW mainly because it's the gold standard of MMOs today. Last week, my colleague Justin gave a great argument as to why the familiar isn't necessarily a bad thing. But while RIFT does have several familiar features, it manages in several ways to set itself apart from the pack. This week, I'm going to tackle the argument that RIFT is just like WoW and Warhammer Online. Join me for a look at what makes this game stand out from the crowd, and see why it's time to dispel the WoWhammer myth.
Wings Over Atreia: Hit or myth?
You know they are out there. You hear them -- sometimes whispered in reverence, sometimes shouted by a particularly spazzy groupmate. Whether treated as ancient wisdom or snickered at, they cannot be avoided. But how much do you believe in them? Superstitions. Superstitions (myths, legends, folklore) are not by definition bad or even incorrect. In fact, superstitions are another way for a community to bond; shared beliefs go a long way towards creating a cohesive group. Every culture has superstitions, and gaming -- a unique culture, but a culture nonetheless -- is no different. And each game has its own unique collection of folklore. Whether they consist of avoiding specific loot, crafting with a full DP bar, or something almost whimsical (such as turning around in a full circle before my second attempt at Miragent's leggings), Aion is full of little snippets specific to the world of Atreia. What superstitions are prevalent in Aion today and just how much truth do they hold? Knock on wood and cross over the break to check it out.
Halo: Reach Betabusters: things you probably didn't know about the beta
For as much as you've been tirelessly playing (or trying to play) the Halo: Reach beta, we're sure there are some things you didn't know. Example: did you know that you can actually kill somebody by hitting them in the face with a grenade? Yup, totally possible. How about a tried-and-true way to avoid fall damage? It's a lot simpler than you may think! Thanks to Defend The House -- of Modern Warfare 2 Mythbusters fame -- we now know how. And you too can feel the Quickening-like surge of power that is knowledge by simply heading past the break and watching the first episode of Halo: Reach Betabusters. Enjoy!
Modern Warfare 2 Mythbusters: Explosive hydrants uncovered
Though the Modern Warfare 2 community is uncovering some unsavory hidden aspects of the game for their own benefit, the kind folks from Defend The House have labored to uncover some of the game's harmless (but awesome) unadvertised features. For instance, did you know throwing knives are still lethal after bouncing? Also, you can survive a forty-foot fall with the help of a few well-placed mattresses. That's news to us! Check out all these revelations in the first episode of Modern Warfare 2 Mythbusters, which we've posted after the jump. Oh, one last thing -- we will not rest until we kill someone by blowing up a nearby fire hydrant. Do you hear us? It is our life's new purpose.
The HD Guru tries to burn-in a plasma, but fails
We've been telling people for years that burn-in just isn't a problem on modern plasmas, but honestly we haven't ever tried to put are money where are mouth is. Gary Merson doesn't mind trying though -- since it's not like he has to pay for the HDTVs he reviews -- and although he found that freeze framing an image for 10 hours straight failed to burn-in on the 2008 and 2009 plasma models he tried, he's confident that if he put a full white 100 IRE square up on the center of a plasma, with the user mode set to Vivid and contrast maxed out, that after a number of days there would be some signs of burn-in -- so yeah, kind of like testing a water proof watch by throwing it into an abyss. Now of course this doesn't change the fact that everyone believes that burn-in is a problem and that the brightest TV is the best TV, we're just saying.
Dispelling myths to launch Free Realms
The MI6 conference is an annual gathering in San Francisco which focuses largely on marketing in the video game industry. One speaker at the April 8th conference was Laura Naviaux-Sturr from Sony Online Entertainment, who discussed the upcoming kid-friendly MMO Free Realms.She addressed the challenges in shifting focus away from hardcore fantasy enthusiasts (largely male) to a younger demographic that includes more female gamers. Naviaux said, "Turning to a youth and female audience was like turning a ship." It required SOE to re-evaluate some of the 'myths' the company held, which was the focus of Naviaux's talk. She brought up several key areas that the company needed to address if Free Realms is to succeed, ranging from putting the backstory and creativity in the hands of the gamers rather than spelling it out for them, to the music in Free Realms, which is a departure from what SOE has done in the past. If you're curious about how SOE is approaching this new title, you should have a look at Chris Remo's article at Gamasutra titled "MI6: SOE's Naviaux on Dispelling Myths to Launch FreeRealms."%Gallery-12980%
Account security mythbusting
So, you might have noticed the increased number of warnings and advice from Blizzard regarding account security lately. They've even popped up in the game itself, as a server message when you first log in. Needless to say, this has caused no dearth of consternation in the WoW community (read: people be trippin'). So, why the sudden notices? Has something changed? Has Blizzard lost their footing in the war against hackers and gold farmers? Is Blizzard in cahoots with them? What's this itchy pentagram-shaped rash I've developed?Now, there's a lot I can't talk about regarding this stuff, and certainly not for any sinister reason. It's a selfish reason, though, that being that I really like not getting sued. I can, however, use my experience and knowledge to bust or confirm some common account security myths. Ready? I'm a trained professional. Don't try this at home!
Spiritual Guidance: 4 common myths about Discipline Priests
Every Sunday (usually), Spiritual Guidance will offer practical insight for priests of the holy profession. Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of PlusHeal, a new healing community for all restorative classes. This week, Matticus wants to dispel a few common beliefs about the Discipline Priest. Even though I'm still a Holy Priest at heart, I wanted to raise more awareness for Discipline Priests. This week's post in particular is aimed at raid leaders or players who don't think Discipline can't cut it.
Popular Mechanics cranks out another ten HDTV myths
Truthfully, it's quite sad that these top ten lists of HDTV myths keep popping up, as it just reinforces the sad truth that many folks are still mystified by the prospect of HDTV. Nevertheless, Popular Mechanics has doled out its own version of the woefully popular rundown, and making the cut are the ever popular tall-tales that an HD set-top-box is somehow required to receive any HD programming, a 1080p TV is unquestionably superior to a 720p counterpart, and that an HDTV will magically convert all programming to stunning high-definition. Additionally, we shed a tear just thinking of those who still believed that all flat-panels are indeed HD-ready and that pristine video quality is only channeled through stupendously overpriced cabling. A few newcomers to the list involved 1080p panels that actually can't accept 1080p signals from a scaling player, and the unbelief that HD video can't be recorded onto standard DVD-Rs. Of course, there's no shame in being duped by a unintelligible big box employee or just not being up to speed on the HDTV minutia, so take a few and hit the read link if you're looking to clear up any lingering HD haze.[Photo courtesy of Chris Eckert/Studio D, thanks Matt]
Hands-on with God of War II
IGN got an early hands-on preview of God of War II, and they're lovin' what Sony's Santa Monica studio has come up with so far.Without revealing too much of the sequel's plot, our hairless hero now sports some new magical attacks and context-sensitive finishing moves. Needless to say, prominent Greek mythological figures will also be showing up to keep Kratos company, and there will certainly be a lot of flashy slashing-first-ask-questions-later kind of action to fill the hours.For more spoilers on "an early section of the sequel," simply follow the image link above or Read link below, where you can find a few more details on the new power-up system and annoying enemy combatants (otherwise known as smarter fodder for your sharper blades). A practical explanation goes into the reasons for keeping things on the PS2 rather than the PS3, and hopefully less frustrating puzzles are revealed as well. More will likely be revealed at Sony's big E3 press conference today.See also: New God of War 2 director speaks God of War's Jaffe inspired by Britney vs. Christina God of War 2 GDC video leaked online
