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Google and China clash again, this time over Gmail access
Last week we noted, with a growing sense of disquiet, how China was busying itself with locking out VPN access within its borders and, seemingly, preventing people from using their Gmail accounts. Google has now given a public voice to those concerns, noting that "there is no issue on our side. We have checked extensively. This is a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail." Other Google tools, like the Person Finder for Japanese tsunami survivors, have also exhibited intermittent issues. China's goal in these attacks is reportedly to stifle online revolutionary chatter inspired by Egypt's successful democratic revolt, though the nation's said to be taking a more clandestine approach than previously by making its alleged sabotage appear like a software problem instead. Guess it's time to prepare ourselves for another battle of wits between these two.
Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear app now available
MTV Networks has released the official Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear app for this Saturday's Jon Stewart rally and Stephen Colbert march. The app features a map of the rally site, Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare integration, a portal to upload photos to the official rally photostream, news updates, and an exclusive message from the master satirists themselves. The app also features a complete FAQ about the rally including directions on how to get there, accessibility for the disabled, the average weather forecast, and what you are and are not allowed to bring to rallies in the National Mall. The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear takes place on Saturday, October 30 at the National Mall in Washington D.C. from noon to 3pm. The app is available now as a free download. [via Obamapacman]
Fiber optics get political in Australia as opposition party vows to scale down national broadband plan
When Australia goes to the polls on August 21st, citizens will vote for more than men and the traditional issues they represent -- the ballots cast will directly impact the country's national broadband plan. Where Australia's ruling Labor party had pledged A$43 billion for an up-to-100Mbps fiber optic network fed directly to 90 99 percent of homes (and agreed to pay A$11 billion to Telstra) over the next seven to eight years, the opposing Liberal-National coalition says if elected, it will scrap that notion in favor of a cheaper A$6.3 billion plan. That money would create a fiber-optic backbone by 2017 but actually connects homes with hybrid fiber-coaxial connections, DSL and about A$2 billion worth of wireless, with a minimum promised speed of 12Mbps. The coalition says these services would cover 97 percent of Australians, with satellite coverage for the final 3 percent, and that those networks receiving funds from the project and connecting to the backbone would have to compete based on pricing (set by the country's Competition and Consumer Commission) and pledge open access. Having never lived in Australia ourselves, we don't know what's best, but we're pretty sure we wouldn't be satisfied with the 12Mbps end of the Liberal-National stick. Update: Labor plan is to bring 100Mbps to 99 percent of the population, not 90 percent as originally stated.
The Daily Grind: Could politics make for an interesting MMO?
Politics: it divides us, fascinates us and involves us on multiple levels. Along with religion, free-to-play and GearScore, it's perhaps one of the most controversial topics among gamers. Everyone has an opinion, everyone chooses a side, and everyone cares about something political -- or at least, it seems. Seeing our love for the political sphere, do you think politics could make for an interesting MMO? It's not as if it's a foreign notion, after all. EVE Online incorporates politics into its web of intrigue; TERA devs have hinted at a political system; and A Tale in the Desert allows players to vote to shape the game. Even guilds, to some degree, incorporate a political structure and tactics. So could a purely political MMO work -- and would you play it? What if the entire game were nothing but players and NPCs jockeying for power, ruling countries, enacting laws, and making decisions that could either hinder or help your political career? Would the game need to be set in an alternate universe free of real-world politics to avoid clouding the game with personal affiliations? Is there enough "game" in politics to build an MMO around it?
Truth in Caller ID Act of 2010 makes Caller ID spoofing a crime
Caller ID spoofers, your days are numbered! The "Truth in Caller ID Act of 2010" has just passed the House. The bill -- which has been kickin' around in one form or another since 2007, and which only passed the Senate as recently as this February -- makes it illegal "to cause any caller ID service to transmit misleading or inaccurate caller ID information." As Ars Technica points out, there are some exceptions, including blocking your own outgoing caller ID info, and law enforcement is exempt. This bad boy is aimed at any and all real-time voice service, "regardless of the technology or network utilized," ensuring that VoIP is included. Look for the punitive measures (including flogging) to kick in about six months from now. [Warning: PDF read link]
China Unicom won't use Google's search engine on Android phones
Oh, brother. This just keeps getting better and better, and by "better and better," we mean "uglier and uglier." Google's abrupt decision to stop censoring results in China and redirect users on the mainland to the outfit's Hong Kong portal has stirred up all sorts of tense feelings around the globe, and if you thought this whole war would be confined to the desktop, you were sorely mistaken. China Unicom, which is gearing up to present its customer base with a few more smartphone options with Android loaded on, recently announced that it wouldn't be using Google as the search engine on those very phones. Lu Yimin, president of the operator, was quoted as saying that his company was "willing to work with any company that abides by Chinese law," but that it didn't have "any cooperation with Google currently." Granted, this is just the latest in a series of blows to Android's proliferation in the world's biggest nation, but you can really tell it's getting personal now. C'mon guys -- can't we just hug it out?
Conservatives hoping to attract younger supporters with video games
digg_url = 'http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/19/conservatives-hoping-to-attract-younger-supporters-with-video-ga/?d'; In order to try and pull in visitors to the Conservative Political Action Conference this week, organizers are going all out. They'll have Glenn Beck as a keynote speaker, the NRA will be on hand, and there will be a video game lounge equipped with Xboxes and Wiis. Why the games? The conference is aiming to bring in the under-30 crowd, and to do that, organizer Kevin McCullough has created something called the XPAC Lounge, an area outside the Conference where attendees will be able to play Xbox, snack on junk food, and attend a "late night rap/jam session" with cool conservative cats like Mike Huckabee and John McCain's blogging daughter. Kevin McCullough's name sound familiar? He's the same conservative commentator who had to apologize to gamers after claiming the first Mass Effect game was "pushing our next generation of young men through the gates of hell." But apparently he's gotten over any issues he's had with interactive entertainment -- he now says that games like Guitar Hero and Call of Duty can help the conservative conference give this generation "a pat on the back and the encouragement of, 'We believe in you.'" All well and good; Just watch out for Sean Hannity. We hear he's a beast at Halo Wars. [Via G4]
Congressional caricatures on the App Store: The nays have it
Let's face it, America: if you're looking for "obscene, pornographic or defamatory" content, you can pretty much count on the US Congress to satisfy your jones. Put those representatives into cartoon bobble-head form, however, and stack them up with contact and district info in a handy-dandy iPhone app... well, that's just not cricket, according to the App Store review team. Cartoonist & MAD magazine contributor Tom Richmond was commissioned to produce said caricatures for the iPhone app in question, and unfortunately they've run afoul of clause 3.3.14 of the developer agreement, the 'Apple's reasonable judgment' rule regarding potentially objectionable content. Richmond is scratching his head trying to figure out what about his caricatures could possibly be considered reasonably offensive, compared to some of the other fine entertainment apps already gracing iPhones worldwide. Still, it's at least consistent with Apple's previous rejections of things that are funny. On some level it's unsurprising that an app filled with congressional bobbleheads is finding it a bit of a slog getting through review; that's a lot of potential angry phone calls for Apple to take. [That's Dennis Kucinich over there.]
World of Warcraft's top five political contributions of 2008
With World of Warcraft having the combined worldwide population of a small country, and the combined US population of a small state, people have been finding various ways to infuse their politics into the game. This can only be seen as a natural occurrence – people will naturally want to bring their out of game ideals into the game to express themselves.We've covered various politically and socially minded groups in the past here and there. And with the end of the political season we've seen an increase in the number of political expressions in WoW.Let's take a look back at the top five politically and socially relevant WoW thing-a-ma-jigs on the net in 2008.
Codeweavers says cheap gas = free software today
Update 10/28: Welcome, Digg fans. CodeWeavers' site is getting crunched under the massive demand for the free versions of CrossOver, so there is now a minimal site at down.codeweavers.com that will accept your email address; you will be mailed your registration code in the next couple of days. --- original post below --- Three months ago, CodeWeavers CEO Jeremy White offered a challenge to another CEO -- the nation's chief executive, George W. Bush. If the president achieved one of White's six "Lame Duck" goals during the twilight of his 2nd term, White would make Windows-API enabler & WINE GUI CrossOver free to customers for one day. Some considered White's proposal a great motivational tool for GWB; others found it smug, partisan and kind of a goofy way to promote the company's products, but in any event none of his six challenges seemed to be on the path to achievement, so that's where the story should have ended. CrossOver is a fine way to run Windows apps on your Mac, but as a force for political change, not so much. Then a funny thing happened on the way to January 20th: due to global economic conditions and through no fault of the president, the price of crude oil dropped precipitously and the cost of gasoline moved in parallel... bringing the average price per gallon in Minneapolis down to the target $2.79 level called for in White's goal #1. Can anyone say "Taco?" The Star-Tribune is reporting that White is planning to follow through on his pledge: on Tuesday 10/28, all CodeWeavers products (CrossOver Mac, Linux & Games) will be freely downloadable. One license per customer, and we assume that the free licenses will be for the standard versions of the apps. Update: Word from CodeWeavers execs is that the free license will be for a download-only flavor of the Pro version (!), including the Games optimized build and the option to share a Windows 'bottle' among multiple users on the same machine. You will have to choose either the Mac or Linux product for your free copy (and I'm looking forward to the stats on that split once the dust settles). Pro licenses are eligible for support/update renewals after one year for $35. You might argue with White's politics or his promotional instincts, but you can't argue with free software. CrossOver Mac normally retails for $40 and requires an Intel machine running either Tiger or Leopard. Update 2: A number of commenters have pointed out that the original challenge rules said the giveaway day would be on the first of the month following the goal, meaning Nov. 1 instead of Oct. 28. CodeWeavers' press release confirms that the giveaway day will be 10/28 and not 11/1. The giveaway runs from midnight to midnight CST. Thanks Austin!
70 Orc Hunter running for Connecticut legislature
More politicians are coming out of the WoW closet. Jeanne Stevens is a WoW player -- with a 70 Orc Hunter, a 58 Troll Shaman, and a 53 Blood Elf Rogue -- and a Republican running for the Connecticut state legislature. And she freely admits it in a new interview with Wandering Goblin, as covered by our sister site, Massively. Her hunter is balanced between marksman and survival, her shaman specs elemental (close to my heart!), and her rogue climbs the assassination talent tree. Will she be able to master the beasts in her political race? (Okay, you go ahead and insert your own shaman or rogue wordplay here.) Maybe she'll hold some in-game speeches or rallies. She could hold forth on top of Orgrimmar's bank, or maybe lead a raid to Stormwind as a metaphor.Is it surprising that a Republican chooses Horde? I think you could make a case for either faction going with either political party. Personally, I love to see that she's middle-aged and a woman, which defies Blizzard's assumptions about the majority of WoW gamers. She also chooses pirates over ninjas. I'm not sure there's a political comment there, but I'm sure someone will show me the light.[Thanks to Wandering Goblin via Massively.]
Mexican attach attempts to make off with White House BlackBerrys
We're a bit frightened by the fact that high-ranking political officials are told to leave their BlackBerrys outside in an unguarded basket during high-level meetings (really, it's "common practice"), but nevertheless, one chap who tried to take advantage of the situation didn't quite make it out undiscovered. During a recent political meetup in New Orleans, a Mexican press attaché managed to slip a half dozen or so BlackBerrys into his pocket before darting to the airport with visions of black market markups in his head. Before he could exit the country, however, Secret Service had tracked him down after catching him via surveillance footage. As it stands, the responsible individual has been fired from his post, but there's been no word on whether the US will take any further actions. Reevaluating the whole "leaving them out in the open" practice may be a good start -- just sayin'. [Via The Boy Genius Report]
Ron Paul march in Azeroth
Here's video via Gamepolitics.com of the march that took place last night in Azeroth (a.k.a. the World of Warcraft) to support Ron Paul, a Republican candidate for the president of the United States. We originally reported on this topic over at WoW Insider (which, if I may say so, was one of the reasons so many people showed up), and we'll have more coverage of the march last night there soon.But while Gamepolitics gives a good man-on-the-scene writeup, they also avoid the real question here: does real-world politics belong in a world like Azeroth at all? No one questions it when politicians show up in Second Life-- in fact, the few Second Lifers I know take it as a badge of honor that their world is important enough to host those folks. And certainly there are places where politics don't belong-- on WoW's roleplaying servers, discussion of the real-world is a no-no.But let's not forget that we players aren't just avatars in a game- we're real people with opinions of our own to express, whether they be political or otherwise. Whether they should have or not (and many players on Whisperwind, where the rally took place, where extremely unhappy with the queues and congestion on their server last night), they expressed those opinons last night.Update: Looks like Paul also wins the presidential naming race.
CBS gears up for HD election coverage
Seeing our current president in HD just isn't enough for CBS, which is "readying its technical plant in order to broadcast both political conventions in summer 2008 in high-definition." Reportedly, the network is hoping to have its new HD control room ready to roll for the Democratic National Convention in Denver next August and the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis the month after. Furthermore, CBS is also looking to beam out the Evening News with Katie Couric in glorious HD, which should become a very real possibility as soon as the aforementioned control room is fully overhauled.
GPS-equipped spy squirrels 'arrested' by Iranians
Talk about getting into some hot water. Reportedly, some 14 implike squirrels were recently "arrested by Iranian authorities for espionage," as the critters were apparently found to have various amounts of "spy gear from foreign agencies" on (er, in) their bodies. Some reports even mention that the animals were sporting embedded GPS sensors, but due to the high level of secrecy surrounding the capture, things are still a bit foggy. Nevertheless, Iran has apparently claimed that the "rodents were being used by Western powers in an attempt to undermine the Islamic Republic," and while it doesn't seem that anyone is really aware of the squirrels' fates, it looks like sending in the animals to do a human's dirty work isn't as effective as it once was.[Via DailyWireless, image courtesy of UMT]
Congress looking to make Caller ID spoofing illegal
The days of countermining caller ID systems could be coming to an end, at least for those who prefer to live life lawfully. A recent bill introduced in the US Congress, dubbed the "Truth in Caller ID Act of 2007," seems to have ripped a line from Suncom commercials of days past, and also seeks to "make it unlawful for any person in the United States, in connection with any telecommunications service or IP-enabled voice service, to cause any caller ID service to transmit misleading or inaccurate information." Of course, the bill definitely leaves loopholes for those involved in law enforcement, but for folks just horsing around, you could face penalties "of up $10,000 for each violation." Leave it to The Man to inhibit our fun.[Via Slashdot]
Senate passes energy bill, hopes to up mileage standards
While we've seen everything from brilliant engineering to run-of-the-mill hacks enable vehicles to squeeze every last inch out of a tank of fuel, it looks like the Senate is taking larger strides in order to raise the MPG bar. The US Senate has reportedly passed an energy bill that would raise fuel efficiency standards to an average of 35 miles-per-gallon, create additional provisions that make it unlawful to charge "unconscionably excessive" prices for oil products, and establish new appliance and lighting efficiency standards to accelerate the use of more efficient lighting in public buildings. Lastly, there was purportedly verbiage that provided "grants, loan guarantees, and other assistance to promote research into fuel efficient vehicles." Of course, the bill still has quite a ways to go before it gets set in stone, and while upping the standard sure seems novel, a quick glance around existing lots will show that quite a few whips sold today aren't quite living up to the 22.7 mpg standard that's already in place.[Via Digg, image courtesy of MPGStickers]
Should politics look more like games?
You can almost hear the stereotypical, out-of-touch old-timer in your head: "What's the matter with kids today? They'll spend hours playing that darned Grand Theft Auto, but they won't take any time to take part in the political process." Well, maybe the problem isn't with the kids, but with the political process itself.That's the argument presented in a recent Slate review of Stephen Duncombe's Dream: Re-imagining Progressive Politics in the Age of Fantasy. While open-ended games like GTA offer near-unlimited room to explore and learn, today's campaigns only seem interested in on dehumanizing efficiency and a lock-step, with-us-or-against-us style of support. The reviewer suggests we do away with political volunteers that are "relegated to the role of sign-toting spectator" and start promoting Duncombe's idea of "dreams the public can mold and shape themselves ... dreams that one knows are dreams but which still have power to attract and inspire."The review is short on specifics on how to do this, but we can think of a few ways to make political support more like a game. How about unlockable bonus candidates if you get enough people together for a rally? Or a create-a-candidate mode where your favorite politician goes through plastic surgery based on a straw poll of appealing features? The possibilities are endless.
Digital FAIR USE bill introduced to amend DMCA
Ah, the day we've all been waiting for has finally arrived -- well, sort of. Yeah, it is still a bill, but it's a refreshing start on a long overdue amendment. While content guardians (we're looking your way, MPAA / RIAA) have done their fair share of beating around the issue and insisting that DRM-laced content was the only way to go, consumers haven't exactly been thrilled about such limitations since day one. In yet another glorious case of red and blue coming together for the good of mankind, Rich Boucher (D-Va.) and John Dolittle (R-Calif.) introduced a breath of fresh air they call FAIR USE, or Freedom and Innovation Revitalizing U.S. Entrepreneurship. The idea, of course, is to simply "make it easier for digital media consumers to use the content they buy" by amending the Digital Millennium Copyright Act; according to the duo, the DMCA simply "goes too far by dramatically tilting the copyright balance toward complete copyright protection at the expense of the public's right to fair use." Boucher further substantiates his case for the most down-to-earth politician of all time by suggesting that if the DMCA remains unadulterated, "individuals will be less willing to purchase digital media" due to the unacceptable restrictions that come along with it. We'd ask for an amen, but we don't want to set off any minor earthquakes.[Thanks, Kevin M.]
Kim Jong-Il's iPod, wine orders to get denied by US
If you've ever wondered what happens when you run an entire nation into the ground, bar almost every type of contact with the outside world, launch nuclear bomb tests against the orders of outsiders, and still try to order an iPod, well, now you know. North Korea's highly dodgy Kim Jong-Il will reportedly be "doing without luxuries" such as iPods, jet skis (saywha?), jewelery, designer clothes, and fine wines as the US implements an all-out ban against selling these goods to the power-trippin' leader. The nation's elite often enjoy lavish luxuries of first-world countries while the vast majority of its people are left without bare necessities, and apparently, new sanctions are trying to put an end to it. While this case has certainly been made before, individual countries were previously allowed to "make their own decisions," however the United States has now taken a stand by barring all luxury sales to Mr. Kim and his constituents -- which will probably do nothing outside of producing a sudden swell in iPod knockoff orders to the DPRK, unfortunately.[Thanks, SRW985]
