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Manchester man uses DAP to siphon cash from ATMs
While sniffing out ATM info has been used by tricksters criminals for years, a Manchester-based bloke was trafficking private bank information from various cards to illegally purchase goods -- with the help of DAPs, no less. Although your evil twin could manage to reprogram an ATM to disperse 300 percent more cash than it really should, this fellow secretly attached an (unsurprisingly anonymous) "MP3 player" to the backs of free-standing cash machines in "local bars, bingo halls, and bowling alleys." The device recorded the tones from transactions, which were then decoded and "turned into information used to clone new credit cards." The fellow learned his savvy computing skills from "a friend in Cambridge," and was oddly not caught jacking cash or throwing down on a new HDTV; rather, police caught on to his scheming when they located a counterfeit bank card in his vehicle during a routine traffic stop, which led them back to his presumably disclosing home. While we applaud the ingenuity, the motives are certainly below traditional moral standards, but this certainly isn't the first (nor the last) criminal offense involving DAPs.
Wario gets his theft on
French gaming site Jeux-France has posted a video of Wario The Thief in action. During the video, you can see Wario run through all of his new moves, including touch-screen functionality, as well as his attempts at cracking open a treasure chest. The video is a little unstable (see: shaking), however it should be noted that its contents are worth the slight chances of nausea.See also: Wario the Thief WiFi compatible? [Via Go Nintendo]
Phantom Thief Rousseau in action
Here we're shown a small snippet of gameplay for Phantom Thief Rousseau, a game that the DS Fanboy staff would love to see release stateside. The main focus of the game, which should be obvious if you watched the video, is drawing disguises from pictures taken in the game in order to stay out of the law's grasp as you satiate your rampant kleptomania.
The new bacon PSP Fanboy video sandwich
Yes, it appears as if this late-night video update is slowly turning into a regular feature. For those of you with the late night video munchies, have I got a few treats for you. Once again, it's the same format as last time: crunchy video top and bottom with smooth talking by me in the middle. Best of all, tonight's update involves bacon. Seriously. In the top video, a thief must decide what they will steal: bacon or PSP? You'll have to watch the video to find out, but let me ask... who the heck leaves bacon lying around? If this is a common phenomenon, I too will become a bacon bandit.You won't be impressed by the robber's ninja moves, but you will be impressed by this impressive fighting montage created by a fan. It really fits the music well, and I can see Sony wanting to use an ad like this for real. Check it out, because I thought it was pretty cool.The bottom half of my sandwich was deleted by the user. Maybe it was too good for its own good? However, the videos keep on coming when you're on the internet. An inspired fan who saw the Loco Roco station decided to walk around and capture it on film for us not fortunate enough to live in Japan. Check it out, and wallow in your lack of Sony-branded train stations.
Impressions of Phantom Thief Rousseau
Siliconera has posted some of their impressions of Kaitou Rousseau (Phantom Thief Rousseau) and it looks like they really enjoyed their time with it. The piece even goes on to compare it to Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, a game which any fine reader of DS Fanboy knows is amongst our most favorite things ever. The game centers around Elementary student, and master of disguise, Rousseau. One day his classmate crush Seine is kidnapped and he is forced to don many a mask to save her. It's not like he can just make up disguises on the spot, however.You see, for Rousseau to even be able to use a mask, he must take pictures of people and animals, which are then used to form new disguises. It's then up to the player to try and draw whichever mask they need, which is then transposed onto Rousseau's face. Then, a grade on how accurately recreated the image is that has been slapped onto his face is given. The game has a total of 3 episodes playing out like interactive comic books.
Mysterious Thief Rousseau trailer excites
The odds of this game hitting the US are fairly slim, but nonetheless it has managed to stir large amounts of excitement in a few of us. This rather lengthy promo trailer shows some of the wide range of masks available to Rousseau, along with how they would be used in the game.
Engadget editor assaulted for RAZR; innocence lost
Our own Paul Miller is used to taking an occasional beating in comments, but one overzealous Engadget fan took it a bit too far last night in the rough-and-tumble streets of North Harlem. After a quick jaunt to the deli for the, shall we say, "supplies" we need to fuel our tireless nights of blogging, Paul minded his own business as he strode home, phoning his ill grandmother with the Motorola RAZR he was able to purchase with his meager stipend. Suddenly and without warning, a shadowy figure emerged from the darkness, striking him in the cheekbone with the brutal force of a heavyweight boxer in an ill-fated attempt for his V3. Big mistake: as with all Engadget writers, Paul's body is a weapon. By explaining in excruciating detail why any two-bit mugger knows that RAZRs are too low-end these days to bother swiping, he dispatched the would-be thief as quickly as he came, leaving all of Harlem a warning that we are best not messed with -- especially when working on our sixth Red Bull. As you can see, Paul's been left with a battle scar that he wears proudly. This is as close as you'll ever get to his RAZR if you know what's good for you.
Developer spotting: Warren Spector
I tend not to notice the many faces flying by when I'm rushing to and from various booths in the LA Convention Center, but the aura of genius emanating from the man responsible for System Shock, Deus Ex and Thief: Deadly Shadows (amongst others) was simply too great to ignore. I managed to snap a picture of Mr. Warren Spector before he had to rush off to a super top secret meeting."I look forward to your next game, Mr. Spector.""Yeah, me too."
Becks loses two Bimmers to laptop-toting thieves
For every hundred or so stupid criminals that we feature on these pages, there are a few just as brilliant as their contemporaries are dim: look at the international group of hardware pirates who managed to build their own version of Japan's NEC Corp, or the laptop-toting thieves who succesfully stole not one, but two, of soccer football star David Beckham's BMW X5 SUVs by hacking the keyless-entry systems. In the last six months, the Real Madrid star and Mr. Posh Spice has seen two of his $60,000 vehicles lost to geeky criminals, with the most recent GTA occurring while Becks dined at a mall in Spain. Apparently thieves armed with a particular model's security schematics can jack into the car's PC and run software that dumps out the necessary codes for breaking the encryption, allowing them to unlock the doors, start the engine, and in some cases, even disable built-in tracking devices. Yeah, we're kind of impressed, but let's see these fancy criminals use their high-tech lockpicks to "hack" the cold, hard steel of our "Club LX."[Via Left Lane News]
Wario the Thief WiFi compatible?
Warios' upcoming title has made it into a recent Gamestop circular. The game, titled Wario the Thief, supposedly will feature Wi-Fi compatibility. Not much is known about the title besides the fact that it stars Wario and is a side-scrolling platformer, but we assume Wario will be attempting to steal something and, at one point, will drive a large pink cadillac. This could change, however. Do we all remember the original debacle of Resident Evil: Deadly Silence featuring the Wi-Fi logo? Considering that, and the gameplay that doesn't seem very Wi-Fi-friendly, maybe we shouldn't put too much stock in this lone snapshot?
7 easy steps to keep your laptop safe
Folks, this ain't rocket science, however, it is a good reminder. Macsupport.ca has posted 7 tips that'll help keep your shiny Mac laptop out of the hands of thieves (or will at least foil them when they attempt to get your precious, precious data).As I mention the tips aren't mind blowing, but they are good solid steps that very person using a portable Mac should be doing. The biggest one is turn off automatic log in, make the miscreants who took your Mac work a little.[via Digg]
Undercover: Mac anti-theft software
A friend of mine sent me a link to a new piece of security/Mac-tracking software called Undercover. Essentially, this software runs in the background on your Mac and periodically pings an Undercover Recovery Center. In the event of a stolen Mac, you can contact the center and they can kick the software into gear, collecting IP information and, interestingly, screenshots of what's happening on your stolen Mac. The idea is that if the thief is actually using his undeserved new prize, he could, sooner or later, give away details of his identity, say with a chat name or checking email. If this "Plan A" fails, the Undercover Center can then enact "Plan B," causing the Mac to act like it's experiencing hardware failure which, by their logic, would prompt the thief to either sell it or send it in for service. While I'm not sure how they could determine the Mac has again changed hands, let alone come into the care of someone who would help, Undercover could then make the Mac display a message stating that it has been stolen, along with contact information and the offer of a Finder's fee.While this sounds like an ideal chain of events following the theft of your Mac, Damien brought up a couple great points as to why this software might have a limited, if at all, rate of success. First, the typical computer thief might find a way to erase the stolen computer (which makes me wonder what kind of people Damien hangs out with). Second, if you're a portable notebook user concerned about security and theft, you probably don't walk away from the book while logged in, and (hopefully) you don't set your book to automatically log in anyway. As far as I understand how this software works, both of these practices would render Undercover useless, as I'm pretty sure you need to be logged in for the software to work its magic.Ultimately, you should probably check out more of Undercover's abilities and inner workings before jumping on it. Orbicule, the makers of Undercover, offer a customer service/sales online chat option if you'd like to talk to them more about it. At the end of the day, it's at least nice to see some new thinking (even if it might not be fool-proof) in terms of portable computer security.
