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XKCD forum breach exposes details from over 560,000 user accounts
XKCD, the sarcastic webcomic revered by science and tech geeks, is now the butt of someone else's joke. Hackers breached the forum of the 14-year old site, stealing over 560,000 usernames, emails, IP addresses and hashed passwords. Security researcher Troy Hunt, who owns the data breach website Have I Been Pwned, alerted the site's administrators over the weekend. Hunt was originally tipped off about the breach by white hat hacker Adam Davies.
The creator of 'XKCD' is working on high school textbooks
XKCD's Randall Munroe has done a good job of simplifying scientific and technical concepts through his comics, so it only makes sense that he would turn his attention to full-on education, doesn't it? Sure enough, that's about to happen. Thanks to the right people at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt seeing his work, Munroe will integrate segments of his book Thing Explainer (which explains concepts using the 1,000 most-used English words) into high school biology, chemistry and physics textbooks arriving this summer. Yes, the usual dry diagrams will be accompanied by Munroe's signature stick figures discussing "thinking bags" (brains) and "heavy metal power buildings" (nuclear reactors).
XKCD webcomic turns 10 years old today
Combine math, science, romance and crudely-drawn stick figures and you'll get something approximating XKCD, a webcomic that's celebrating its 10th anniversary today. Created by Randall Munroe (a former NASA roboticist and programmer) in 2005, the strip doesn't seem like much -- after all, it's just stick figures -- but it's the combination of smarts, humor and a touch of whimsy that make XKCD one of the most beloved comics on the web. It's even helped Munroe develop a successful publishing career, with his What If book (which offers "serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions") rocketing to the top of Amazon's bestseller list in just 24 hours. Widely shared and celebrated not just among us nerds but also anyone who appreciates a good joke, XKCD has certainly gained cult status on the internet and beyond. To celebrate that, we've compiled a gallery of our favorite XKCD strips, which you can peruse below. If you've got your favorites, let us know in the comments too. [Image credit: XKCD]
Webcomic explains Heartbleed bug like you're five
So, you understand what that terrible Heartbleed bug's all about, but you can't really explain it in words even a five-year-old can understand. Here's what you should do when someone asks at your weekly family dinner, then: launch the XKCD website and show them its two recent Heartbleed strips. With just a bit more detail from your end, the webcomic should make the concept easy to grok, like what it did for global warming, radiation and Saturn V rockets in the past.
April Fools' Day roundup: Google overload edition
Ah, April 1st. It's that time of the year again when the internet is rife with odd news and pranks. As before, news sites like us end up with a healthy stream of tips throughout April Fools' Day (thanks, by the way), so let us round up some of the best findings for your comedic appetite. Contenders include the usual suspects like Google and ThinkGeek, the former of which dominating the gigglesphere this year with some new "features." We also have some interesting submissions from Hulu, a font company, and probably plenty more to come as the day progresses, so keep watching this space as we add new entries to this post. Right, let the fun commence after the break.
Visualized: xkcd explains radiation
This radiation infographic is too small to read. There's a reason for that. Technically, it's because we constrain images to 600 pixels wide. Stylistically, it's because we'd like to point out that all things are relative. Head on over to xkcd to see just how much ionizing radiation you're likely to be exposed to performing radioactive activities (or just sitting still) and how that compares to the amount that researchers presently believe is capable of having an ill effect. Then, decide whether you should enlarge or reduce the size of your tinfoil hat accordingly. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
The world's tiniest open source violin
Got a 3D printer? Make manifest your sympathy for those forewarned but apparently not forearmed. The heartfelt tune it plays is CC licensed, and you can get it from my seed on JoinDiaspora.com whenever that project gets going. Confused? Hit the more coverage link. Intrigued? Build your own at the source.
Readers pick best webcomic: Theft of the Magi
... Wow, that was close. The last time we checked on the webcomic wrapup, XKCD's Theft of the Magi and CAD's Crossover were tied with 145 votes apiece. We decided to be somewhat Vice Presidential and cast the deciding vote ... to XKCD. Cheer up, CAD, you still got second place, and your prize is just as big as first place's (read: nada). Laughing about the race in third place is Red, the Color of Seduction (Indoor Heroes), who beat out The Truth is the New Lie (Penny Arcade) also by one vote. Thanks to everyone who voted (see? your vote counts) and be sure to let us know of any game-related webcomics you stumble up on this week!
Readers pick best webcomic: A Trick of Retrospective
For quite a while, it was a virtual tie between it and xkcd's Flash Games, but in the end Penny Arcade's homage to Mega Man 9 A Trick of Retrospective took top honors in this week's webcomic wrapup. As one commenter quipped, the fourth panel -- the one with all the screaming and angry swearing at the TV -- is conspicuously absent.Second place went to xkcd, while third went to the other homage to Mega Man 9, Digital Unrest's Return to Form. Thanks to everyone who voted and be sure to let us know of any game-related webcomics you stumble upon this week.
Readers pick best webcomic: Lego my statue
Tim Harding has redeemed his score change. His one-half contribution to 2P Start's "Lego my statue" strip this week one-half earned him one-half of the award for the week's best game-related webcomic. Second and third place go to Fanboys Online – from a week prior but we tragically missed it – and XKCD, respectively. Thanks to everyone who voted, and be sure to let us know of any game-related webcomic you stumble upon this week!
Readers pick best webcomic: Visceration Station
Big thanks to Supafine's "Legend of Zelda: Visceration Station" webcomic for finally (and logically) explaining the heart system to us. The least we, as the Joystiq community, can apparently do is bestow you the honor of best game-related webcomic of the week.Second and third place went to XKCD and College Humor, respectively. Thanks to everyone who voted, and be sure to let us know of any gaming comics you stumble upon this week!
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup remembers Gary Gygax
In a touching tribute to Dungeons & Dragons creator Gary Gygax, a handful of webcomics took it upon themselves to remember the visionary. Here are some of our favorites (note: not involved in voting process): Penny Arcade XKCD Dueling Analogs Order of the Stick Achewood And now for something completely different, our picks for the week's other best game-related webcomics. Be sure to vote for your favorite! Overstaffed (Awkward Zombie) Communications Degree (VG Cats) This is How I Roll (2P Start) Our Crucial Pamphlet (Penny Arcade) The Treachery of Base Building (Truck Bearing Kibble) Without You I'm Incomplete (Exploding Dog) A Few More Games I'm Glad Were Never Made (Dueling Analogs) Soylent Smash (GamerPALs)
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is going in circles
Here we go again. Just like last year, and the year before that, we pack up and head off to San Francisco. Though it was last year, it seems like only yesterday we were amassing in California. It's disorienting -- kind of like a mobious strip. Okay, have we justified this week's theme? Good, let's move on. Here are our picks for the week's best game-related webcomics. The Control Alt Delete Theorem (Dueling Analogs) Professor Layton and the Perpetual Torment (Penny Arcade) Welcome to the Galaxy! (GamerPALs) Battle Fighter: Alpha (Truck bearing Kibble) Can you define "greatest"? (Qwantz Dinosaur Comics) Altair's ad campaign (2P Start) Fungi gone wild (Digital Unrest) (Get it? Because he was a "fun guy"? Oh, nevermind.) Be sure to vote for your favorite! (After the break.)
Readers pick best webcomic: pod bay doors
A rule of thumb for Weekly Webcomic Wrapup: whenever XKCD is nominated, it wins. Generally; then again, with an overused punchline, we were hesitant the trend would continue.Second and third place go to Shortpacked! and Dueling Analogs, respectively. Thanks to everyone who voted, and be sure to let us know of any game-related webcomics you stumble upon this week!
Weekly Webcomic Wrapup resets for the new year
Welcome to the Weekly Webcomic Wrapup Vista Leopard version 3.0 2008! Let's enjoy the time we have together and, given that five days have already passed, just go ahead and give up on all those new year's resolutions. Except the one where you keep reading Joystiq over the weekend. Keep that one.Here are our picks for the week's best game-related webcomics, be sure to vote for your favorite! It's the thought that counts Taking out the trash Advice not heeded The ballad of J.T., part one We're right (yet again) returns Entranced and slightly rewired [Image Credit]
GNU guru Stallman accosted by pro-DRM ninjas
At the end of a debate by the Yale Political Union on the topic of DRM -- the verdict? It should be banned -- well known free software advocate Richard Stallman was confronted by a collective group of ninjas, obviously hired by Microsoft in response to one Chinese student's interruption of Bill Gates' speech in China. Turns out the ninjas were just reenacting a comic from XKCD, which depicts "rms," as he is affectionately known, whipping out a sword to defend himself from anti-GPL pranksters. No sword was thrusted in this example: instead, only a hearty chuckle was heard emanating from the bearded and shoeless father of the free software movement. Read - Yale Political Union's blog of the incidentRead - XKCD's "Open Source"
DS Daily: Learn by playing
If you ever owned an original NES, the above probably rings true for you. Certainly our first urge is to blow on things that aren't working too well. They could be dusty! And we did it dozens -- no, hundreds, maybe thousands -- of times with our NES games. So what has gaming taught you? There are the little lessons, sure, like blowing away the dust, but big things as well. Give us your tales of teamwork and your intelligent illustrations. We want to hear about it.
