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Tag: Games

  • Facebook Sends Teen’s Emails to Stranger

    Facebook is sometimes a fickle friend, but what if your private messages and notifications were being sent to a complete stranger?

    That’s what happened between an American mom and a teenage girl in Mexico, according to Fox News.

    Kristal McKenzie said she was taken quite by surprise when she started receiving strange emails from Facebook. In Spanish.

    “When I was pregnant with my son, around 2011, I left Facebook and had no account of my own. And then last April or May, on my new e-mail account, I got something saying I had signed up for Facebook — but it was in Spanish.”

    Despite translating the emails in order to figure out where the link was to discontinue the emails, the emails from Facebook continued to rain down. We all know how it feels to accidentally sign up on an email list, then endure relentless hits to the inbox, but unlike the result when one clicks “unsubscribe” on a normal spammer, when she clicked on the button and was notified she would be disassociated with the account, nothing happened. Facebook didn’t stop the emails.

    “Each message has an option to unsubscribe from those notifications, but since Facebook thinks I’m not on the account, it won’t let me unsubscribe.” So she created a new Facebook account with her new email address hoping that would work, but then she just got stuck getting notifications for both accounts.

    “I’ve been battling with them for months trying to find a person at Facebook who would listen to me,” McKenzie said. But to no avail. The emails continued and she became worried when she realized that emails were meant for a minor.

    She contacted Facebook’s PR and abuse departments, but heard nothing back. She contacted the FCC and a kids’ privacy organization that works with Facebook. They said they would pass the message to Facebook. Still nothing.

    Then she got fed up and got help from Forbes.

    That finally got their attention. The emails stopped last week and they said this,

    “When we looked at what happened, we found that in extremely rare circumstances, the link at the bottom of emails that people use to report messages that aren’t addressed to them wasn’t working correctly,” says a Facebook spokesperson. “This could have occurred only in the situation where someone registered their Facebook account with a mistyped email address, didn’t confirm it, and then successfully confirmed a contact phone number. We are fixing this to ensure it can’t happen again.”

    “This for me wasn’t even about something being irritating or annoying, weeding through all the spam … if it happened to me, it could happen to someone else, some child’s information exposed,” McKenzie said, and she makes a good point.

    Image via wikimedia commons

  • In Case You Missed The Memo, ‘Google+ Is Google (Which Includes Gmail)’

    Google announced a new change to Gmail this week, enabling people to send messages to Google+ users without knowing their email address. If you have a Gmail account and a Google+ account, you can send such messages to other Google+ users, and likewise, other Google+ users can send messages to you. If you let them.

    Of course, the “invasion of privacy” cries were immediate, as were the complaints of Google forcing Google+ on people. And yes, you have to opt out of the functionality. But you can opt out, and Google is sending everybody messages about the change so they’ll be aware.

    Is this the best approach for Google? Maybe not in terms of user annoyance reduction, but it’s probably a small price to pay to further integrate its services with one another. It’s not like Google is just going to let Google+ stagnate and die. They’ve come too far, and detractors should simply accept that by now if they continue to want to use Google products.

    I’m sure that’s not a popular opinion, but it’s reality. If you don’t want to have Google+ forced on you, I’m sure Google’s competitors will be happy to have you. They’re going to keep integrating. They’ve not been shy about it, and they’re not going to stop. “Google+ is Google,” as the company has said more than once. You have to stop looking at it as this outside social network you don’t want to use. That doesn’t mean you have to use it as a social network, but Google’s going to make it available to you one way or another. It’s a feature of Google. Just like Gmail is a feature of Google. And YouTube is a feature of Google. It’s just Google.

    Opt out if you want. It’s pretty easy. Go to Settings in Gmail, then look at the “Email via Google+ setting,” and adjust accordingly. Make sure you hit the Save Changes button. That’s pretty much it. Crisis averted. I haven’t seen the actual emails Google is sending out as it rolls the feature out yet, but it’s supposed to include a link right to the setting.

    For the record, despite what some media reports would have us believe, I’m not seeing near the backlash over this as with the recent YouTube comments change. But really, the problems with that are deeper than simply being Google+-driven.

    Image via Google

  • Now Google+ Users Can Email Gmail Users Without Knowing Their Email Addresses

    Google has added increased Google+ integration into Gmail. When you go to compose a new message, and start typing, it will now bring up Google+ connections as suggestions in addition to your regular contacts. In other words, Google+ connections become contacts regardless of whether you’ve ever exchanged emails.

    This is an extension of previous Google+-related additions to Gmail. About two years ago they added various Google+ elements, like showing information and photos when you exchange emails with people, the ability to share photos, and a connection between contact info and Google+ profiles.

    With the new feature, Google says email addresses will only be shared with the people you want them to be.

    “Your email address isn’t visible to a Google+ connection unless you send that person an email, and likewise, that person’s email address isn’t visible to you unless they send you an email,” says product manager David Nachum.

    Google has introduced a new setting in Gmail that lets you choose who can email you via your Google+ profile. Options include: Anyone on Google+, extended circles, circles and no one.

    When someone in your own circles emails you, the message will appear in the Primary category in Gmail’s recently launched tabbed interface. If they’re not in your circles, the messages will appear in the Social tab (if you have the tabs enabled).

    The feature is rolling out over the next couple days to all Gmail and Google+ users. Google is sending an email to users to let them know about the setting when it’s available.

    It will be interesting to see how users respond to this increased integration. It didn’t sit to well with YouTube users.

    Image via Google

  • Candy Crush Saga Hits Half a Billion Installs

    According to game developer King, Candy Crush Saga has been installed over half a billion times – as in a 5 with 8 zeros. No word on how many millions have destroyed their devices because of level 65.

    Really really love it, love it, hate it, or really really hate it, there’s no denying its popularity.

    “The past year has been one of the most exciting times for King since Candy Crush Saga launched on mobile,” says Tommy Palm, Games Guru at King. “The incredible milestone of more than half a billion downloads of the game, as well as the continued enthusiasm from our community, really delights the entire King team. Fans can look forward to even more exciting new Candy Crush Saga content over the coming months, including an exciting new twist to the game.”

    With just over 53 million fans, Candy Crush Saga is liked by 1 in 23 Facebook users. King has also revealed that more than 150 billions individual games have been played to date.

    As part of their 1-year anniversary on mobile devices, Candy Crush Saga is holding a giveaway.

    Post by Candy Crush Saga.

    King also promises new updates and in-game treats over the coming weeks in celebration of the milestone.

    Image via Candy Crush Saga, Facebook

  • Temple Run Is Coming to the Big Screen, So There’s That

    At some point in the next couple of years, there’s going to be a Temple Run movie.

    That’s the word from Hollywood Reporter, who says that Warner Brothers is in negotiations to bring the popular app to theaters alongside producer David Heyman. Heyman has produced the Harry Potter film franchise, as well as I Am Legend and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. There’s no date set for the release, as the whole thing is still in its early phases.

    According to THR, “the story would center on an explorer who, having stolen an idol from a temple, is chased by demonic forces.”

    Temple Run, as you probably know, is an endless running game first released on iOS in 2011 by Imangi Studios. It later came to Android and Windows Phone. It quickly became one of the most-popular games around.

    So popular, in fact, that Imangi released a sequel (Temple Run 2) earlier this year – a release that wound up breaking mobile game download records.

    Temple Run, the app, is no stranger to movie tie-ins having released versions specific to Disney’s Brave and Oz the Great and Powerful.

    In lieu of making a jab at Hollywood for completely running out of ideas, I’ll just say this. Temple Run, the movie, sounds like it has a better premise than the upcoming Angry Birds movie. There’s some elements of Indiana Jones that can be given to a Temple Run movie, I’m sure. I don’t know, I think I’m going to go back to bed now.

    Image via iTunes

  • E-Cigarette Ad Pops Up Inside Kids iPad Game

    If you asked the world’s second-largest tobacco company about their new marketing strategies, I’m going to assume that they wouldn’t include running ads in kids apps in their response.

    Nevertheless, an ad for Vype, the first e-cigarette marketed by British American Tobacco, recently appeared as an in-app advertisement in a kids iPad game.

    The ad was spotted and tweeted out by author and Learning Without Frontiers founder Graham Brown-Martin:

    The in-app e-cig ad was then retweeted by the Twitter account for E-Cigarette Forum, the biggest online forum devoted entirely to e-cigarettes.

    British American Tobacco quickly responded, tweeting that they had yanked all online advertising for their Vype product.

    Swift move, still, the question remains – just how in the hell did this happen?

    Image via Graham Brown-Martin, Twitter

  • Does LinkedIn Intro Give You ‘Shivers’ Or B2B Email Optimism?

    Does LinkedIn Intro Give You ‘Shivers’ Or B2B Email Optimism?

    LinkedIn launched a new email tool this week that is actually pretty innovative, and could have a significant impact on business to business email communications. Security experts are not sold on it, however, with one notable industry voice saying that from a security and privacy point of view, it “sends shivers down my spine.”

    The tool is called LinkedIn Intro, and essentially adds LinkedIn profile info to email messages you’d already be receiving with the goal of making the email more actionable, and making it seem more legit when it is.

    Do you see business benefits of LinkedIn Intro? Are you concerned about the privacy and/or security implications? Let us know in the comments.

    LinkedIn Intro And What It Does

    LinkedIn Intro is not a new email client. You’re not signing up and getting an email address. Rather, it’s a LinkedIn layer, which you can opt in to have added to your current email client. It supports Gmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL Mail and iCloud. It’s currently only available for iPhone, but I expect it will expand in time. Probably to support more email products as well.

    If you give LinkedIn Intro your phone number, you can set it up, so you can use it via your iPhone Mail app.

    Intro is the direct result of LinkedIn acquiring Rapportive last year. Rapportive co-founder Rahul Vohra announced the feature in a blog post earlier this week, saying, “The growth of mobile email is simply staggering. Four years ago, less than 4% of emails were read on mobile. Today, half of all emails are read on a mobile device! So we set ourselves the challenge: bring the power of LinkedIn, and the technology of Rapportive, straight to the Apple Mail app on your iPhone.”

    Here’s the difference between an email without Intro and one with it:

    LinkedIn Intro

    When you tap on the displayed LinkedIn info (“CEO at Crosswise, Past: Commona, Dynamics Inc.” in this example), you get more info from LinkedIn including location info, the site the user has connected to their LinkedIn profile, information about how you’re connected to that person, etc.

    LinkedIn Intro

    The idea is that seeing this kind of info in emails you receive, particularly from people you’re unfamiliar with, lends more credibility to the email. You’re more likely to not dismiss it as spam. It could also provide you more context and info for messages from people you are aware of.

    This is actually a pretty interesting mash-up of social media and email, and the kind of thing we can envision seeing more of from social networks going forward. Google already does something similar to an extent. In Gmail, if you get an email from someone with a Google profile, it will display their picture from that profile, along with where they work (if they’ve provided that info), and any Google+ circles you have them in. Google could easily expand this to include more info (like connections you have in common and more bio info), similar to what LinkedIn is doing, though it would still be strictly from Google’s own data in Google to Google email exchanges.

    While Google and certainly Facebook have tons of data on people that could be used in a similar way to what LinkedIn is doing, LinkedIn is in a unique position as the “professional” social network, making Intro a potentially very effective business to business tool.

    How LinkedIn Intro Works

    To LinkedIn’s credit, it managed to do something on the iPhone that most developers probably didn’t think could be done. Even some of Intro’s critics have acknowledged being impressed by how they did it.

    “Ask any iOS engineer: there is no API for extending the built-in mail app on the iPhone,” says Martin Kleppmnann from Rapportive and now a software engineer for LinkedIn. “If you wanted to build something like Rapportive, most people would tell you that it is impossible. Yet we figured it out.”

    In a blog post, he explains how LinkedIn was able to overcome four “impossibilities,” including: extending the iOS mail client, an interactive UI in email, dynamic content in email and easy installation.

    About Those “Shivers”

    Graham Cluley, the seasoned security industry veteran who recently shared his criticisms of Yahoo email address recycling program with us, and made the comment about Intro sending shivers down his spine, had this to say on his blog:

    Rather than your iPhone connecting directly to your email provider’s servers (Gmail, Yahoo, etc), it will be connecting via LinkedIn’s proxy server instead – which will act as a middle-man in your email communications.LinkedIn will then look at your email messages, and insert Intro information into each one.

    In case you’ve forgotten, LinkedIn is the company which lost the passwords of over six million users last year. LinkedIn also scooped up the contents of users’ iOS calendars, including sensitive information such as confidential meeting notes and call-in numbers – which they then transmitted in plain text, not encrypted.

    He goes on to mention the lawsuit the company is currently battling, which alleges that they hacked into email accounts to mine address books. LinkedIn calls such accusations false. More on that story here.

    The Wall Street Journal ran some additional comments from security experts expressing similar concerns.

    Suffice it to say, LinkedIn, like its social network peers, has had its fair share of the spotlight when it comes to privacy issues. There may be legitimate concerns when they’re essentially intercepting emails to “linkedinify” them.

    In an update to his blog post, Kleppmann did respond to such concerns. He listed five points for people to keep in mind:

    1. You have to opt-in and install Intro before you see LinkedIn profiles in any email.

    2. Usernames, passwords, OAuth tokens, and email contents are not permanently stored anywhere inside LinkedIn data centers. Instead, these are stored on your iPhone.

    3. Once you install Intro, a new Mail account is created on your iPhone. Only the email in this new Intro Mail account goes via LinkedIn; other Mail accounts are not affected in any way.

    4. All communication from the Mail app to the LinkedIn Intro servers is fully encrypted. Likewise, all communication from the LinkedIn Intro servers to your email provider (e.g. Gmail or Yahoo! Mail) is fully encrypted.

    5. Your emails are only accessed when the Mail app is retrieving emails from your email provider. LinkedIn servers automatically look up the “From” email address, so that Intro can then be inserted into the email.

    Basically whether or not you trust LinkedIn Intro is going to come down to whether or not you trust LinkedIn with your data. Either way, people who send emails to people who happen to be using Intro are going to have those routed through LinkedIn.

    Cluley says security is not in LinkedIn’s DNA. The company did at least take a step in the right direction earlier this year with the launch of two-step verification.

    LinkedIn For Business

    Regardless of the security implications of any of LinkedIn’s offerings, there is no denying that the company has had businesses in mind throughout 2013. The company, in its tenth year, has made a lot of improvements.

    LinkedIn has updated its jobs search engine, improved its recruiting tools in a variety of ways, added more insights and analytics, launched sponsored updates, and opened up company page APIs, to name a few.

    LinkedIn announced in its earnings report for Q2 that its membership reached 238 million, with growth accelerated to 37% year-over-year. Q3’s report is due out on Tuesday, so we’ll see how that has progressed over the last few months.

    Do you think LinkedIn has a legitimate business tool on its hands with LinkedIn Intro? Do you think critics like Cluley make valid points? Share your thoughts, questions or concerns about Intro in the comments.

    Images: LinkedIn

  • LinkedIn LinkedInifies Your Email With Intro

    LinkedIn LinkedInifies Your Email With Intro

    LinkedIn unveiled a new email-related product called Intro today, making use of last year’s acquisition of Rapportive. Basically what it does is show you information about people you receive emails from so you can get a better idea of who they are – right in your inbox.

    Right now it’s just for iPhone, and utilizes the iPhone’s Mail app.

    “The growth of mobile email is simply staggering,” says LinkedIn’s Rahul Vohra, who co-founded Rapportive. “Four years ago, less than 4% of emails were read on mobile. Today, half of all emails are read on a mobile device! So we set ourselves the challenge: bring the power of LinkedIn, and the technology of Rapportive, straight to the Apple Mail app on your iPhone.”

    This pretty clearly illustrates what Intro does:

    LinkedIn Intro

    LinkedIn Intro

    As Vohra explains, the info provided by Intro can be the difference between deciding whether you’re receiving spam or a legitimate email.

    The product supports Gmail, Google Apps, Yahoo Mail, AOL Mail and iCloud. Outlook.com is noticeably absent from the list, as is Android.

    You can enable Intro here by giving them your phone number.

  • Faking a School Shooting Alert Is an Awfully Dumb Way to Get People to Use Your New Social Network

    Today, we all gather to nominate Bevii and this terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad idea into the Dumb Idea Hall-of-Fame.

    In order to promote their new startup social network, the University of North Carolina students behind Bevii decided to create an email alert to some “shots fired” on campus. Whoa-ho! Watch out! Facebook is dooooooown.

    Except the joke’s not funny and it probably freaked out a good majority of the students who read it. Well, unless they read the whole thing and saw that the alert was “sponsored by the social media police.”

    The email mimicked the official Alert Carolina emergency alerts that all UNC students would be used to, and hit their inboxes under the subject line “INFORMATIONAL MESSAGE FROM ALERT CAROLINA.”

    Valleywag has the entire email, and here’s what it said:

    Chapel Hill police are investigating a report of innovation which occurred around 10:01 a.m. Monday, October 14, in the general area of Franklin St. and N. Columbia St. At precisely 10:01am yesterday, in broad daylight, shots were fired on Franklin Street. The victim is being described as a blue, outdated social network.

    The current suspect is Bevii, a mobile, location-based social network only available to select Universities. Bevii, apparently, makes and values your relationships automatically based on who you spend time with. For more information on the suspect, click here

    Reportedly, over 500 UNC Students have already been affected by the victim.

    Sponsored by the Social Media Police of Chapel Hill.

    Apparently, the folks at Bevii haven’t heard that one thing about not even kinda joking about the mere possibility of a emergency event at a public university. I think it’s covered in the “What the F*ck are You Thinking” section in the student’s handbook.

    It’s a pretty tough launch error to overcome, I’d assume, considering Bevii just went live on iOS and Android a few days ago. Oh, and the fact that UNC’s IT department has apparently blocked Bevii.com from being accessible on campus.

    In case this didn’t turn you off completely, and you want to know more, Bevii describes itself as “a mobile, location-based social networking app that automatically builds and values relationships for you. Bevii uses this relationship information to show you all the content you want to see without all the clutter you don’t.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Angry Birds Go! Rovio’s New Racing Game Launches Dec 11

    Rovio has just announced the official launch date for Angry Birds Go!, the company’s new 3D racing game. We’ll leave all of the Mario Kart comments to you.

    “Feel the rush as you fling those freewheeling birds and piggies down the track at breakneck speed, with plenty of twists and turns in a thrilling race to the finish line!” says Rovio. “But look out for hazardous roads, mischievous opponents riding your tail, and special powers to put the race leader behind the pack. And go from soapbox car to supercar by upgrading your ride!”

    “Plus, the Angry Birds world comes alive in rich, colorful 3D for the first time ever! So you can see the birds and pigs from every angle and experience Piggy Island in an amazing new way!”

    The game with launch on iOS and Android on December 11th.

    Rovio also announced a handful of new partnerships with companies like Hasbro, Tigerprint, Fashion UK, and Leomil for a wide variety of Angry Birds-themed merchandise. Angry Birds has grown into such a global name that it’s not just about the games anymore – the real revenue obviously comes from these merch deals.

    “We are thrilled to see so much creativity around our Angry Birds property and can’t wait to welcome these companies onboard as we continue to delight our fans with innovative product lines,” said Naz Cuevas, SVP Global Consumer Products Licensing.

    Image via Angry Birds GO!

  • Sochi Flame Lit In Ancient Olympia

    The 2014 Winter Olympic Games are already turning out to be historically monumental. The location itself has proven to hold historical significance. It is fitting that the flame for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics has been lit in the location where the Games originally began. The torch was lit in Ancient Olympia and will reach the Russian city of Sochi on February 7, 2014, to signal the start of the XXII Winter Olympic Games.

    Though the Winter Games will run through February 23rd, the flame will travel through many destinations prior to the opening ceremony. During the Russian portion of the journey, the Olympic Flame will travel 65,000 kilometers.

    The Flame will be placed in the hands of roughly 14,000 torchbearers. However, the most unique, and possibly most historically significant, is the fact that the flame will travel into outer space to reach the International Space Station. This marks the first time an Olympic Flame has traveled into outer space.

    The famous Greek actress, Ino Menegaki, served as the High Priestess for the event where she completed her duties by lighting the flame at 12:44 p.m. local time.

    Part of the service included Ino Menegaki asking Apollo to send his sunshine rays in order to guide the light needed for the torch. “Apollo, King of the sun, and the Idea of light, send your rays and light the sacred torch for the hospitable city of Sochi,” Ino Menegaki said.

    The following video shows a small portion of the ceremony.

    Ino presented the torch to skier Yannis Antoniou who is the first torch bearer.

    Efthymios Kotzias, the Mayor of Ancient Olympia, spoke with hopeful intent about what the torch’s rays might influence. “We wish that the Olympic Light will inspire leaders and citizens of the world to cooperate for world peace,” Efthymios Kotzias said.

    The Olympics has remained relevant through the years, at least partially, because of what the Games represent.

    Thomas Bach, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said, “Just as in ancient Greece, the Olympic Games cannot settle political problems or secure lasting peace between peoples. The Olympic flame thus reminds us to be aware of our own Olympic limits.”

    [Image And Video Via YouTube]

  • Google Celebrates Its Own 15th Birthday With Piñata Game Doodle, Easter Egg

    Google is celebrating its 15tth birthday with a worldwide doodle featuring a playable game where you can hit a piñata by clicking on it with your mouse (or using the space bar), and gaining candy for points.

    Google also has an easter egg, where if you search “Google in 1998,” you’ll get a classic look for the search results page.

    Google in 1998

    Also in celebration of its birthday, Google made a handful of search-related announcements, which you can read more about here. These included the biggest change to Google’s algorithm in twelve years.

    Thanks to Simon Rüger for the video.

  • LinkedIn Aims To Clear Up ‘False Accusations’

    LinkedIn Aims To Clear Up ‘False Accusations’

    Last week, a class action lawsuit was filed against LinkedIn, alleging that it breaks into users’ email accounts. The company says the suit is “without merit”, and that accusations are false.

    Main St. (part of TheStreet Network) reported on the suit on September 18th, saying that it was filed in San Jose Federal Court in the Northern District of California, and that it claims LinkedIn “harvests email addresses and sends multiple reminder emails, ostensibly on behalf of the user, advertising LinkedIn to non-members.”

    The report goes on:

    Contrary to reassurances on LinkedIn’s website that it will not send emails “without your permission,” the filing claims LinkedIn promotes its service by downloading email addresses from members’ external email accounts and repeatedly emailing the addresses requesting they join LinkedIn.

    To enhanced the effectiveness of this particular marketing campaign, the suit states that the endorsement emails contain the name and likeness of the existing users from whom Linkedln “surreptitiously” obtained the list of email addresses.

    LinkedIn took to its blog on Saturday to respond.

    “The lawsuit alleges that we ‘break into’ the email accounts of our members who choose to upload their email address books to LinkedIn,” writes LinkedIn’s Blake Lawit. “Quite simply, this is not true, and with so much misinformation out there, we wanted to clear up a few things for our members.”

    “We do not access your email account without your permission,” he continues. “Claims that we ‘hack’ or ‘break into’ members’ accounts are false. We never deceive you by ‘pretending to be you’ in order to access your email account. We never send messages or invitations to join LinkedIn on your behalf to anyone unless you have given us permission to do so.”

    Lawit notes that LinkedIn does let users share their email contacts so they can connect with others they know and trust.

    This all comes after LinkedIn released its bi-annual transparency report, and the company saying that it has been fighting to release the number of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) requests it receives. More on that here.

    LinkedIn privacy is an ongoing concern among some users. Here’s a related story from June:

    Image: LinkedIn (Flickr)

  • New Monopoly Token Proves That Cats Still Rule The Internet

    In August of 2013 Hasbro Inc. announced that they would be replacing the iconic iron game piece in the classic Monopoly board game with a cat. And not just any cat; a democratically picked cat which was chosen through an internet poll.

    Gizmodo released a rather lengthy and cheeky review saying, “This cat is the product of democracy in action. This cat is America.”

    Since the replacement, the social sphere has been a buzz with tweets, videos, opinion pieces and even Gizmodo’s cat Photoshop contest. It seems that everyone has an opinion of this new fan-chosen feline.

    Not all Monopoly fans are happy about the change though. What about their fond childhood memories?

     

     

    Even local news reporters are getting in on the social debate:

    A new Monopoly Commercial was launched to introduce the new game piece. The gaming company may even be poking fun at itself, or cat fans.

    http://youtu.be/RRigRBCNg7A

    [Video Source: PassGoMonopoly]

    In the 1950’s Hasbro replaced the rocking horse, purse and lantern tokens with the wheelbarrow, horse and dog. Too bad the internet wasn’t around then; it would’ve been interesting to see the uproar. Or did Monopoly fans just simply embrace the new dog token back then?

     

    What do you think? Should the internet mascot officially be the cat?

    [Main Image Source: Hasbro]

  • New Texting While Driving Game Is Exactly As Hard As It Should Be

    You know that texting while driving is terribly dangerous and can lead to you running straight into a big truck full of crap. Or most likely something worse, like another human being. If you need a quick refresher on how texting while driving can screw up your life, as well as the lives of others, take a look at Werner Herzog’s new documentary on the subject.

    Or you could just try to play this new game. It’s called SMS Racing and it has you try to complete laps around a road course while also answering incoming texts. It’s impossible. It’s worse than QWOP. It’s exactly as hard as it should be.

    You can download a version of the game for Windows, Mac, and Linux here. It’s a pretty good deterrent for the practice, which has been skyrocketing over the past few years. If you’re going to text and drive, you’d be better off doing it from your computer chair than on the highway.

    [Holden Link via Kotaku]

    Image via YouTube

  • Bioshock Infinite DLC Launches Today, Next Up Is a Return to Rapture

    Bioshock Infinite DLC is here, and more is coming. Starting today, the decidedly less-exciting Clash in the Clouds will be beginning its rollout. And soon, episode 1 Burial at Sea will launch, taking us back to the underwater city of Rapture right before the fall.

    “This first add-on pack puts an intense focus on BioShock Infinite combat. Combine weapons, Vigors, Gear, Tears, and Sky-Lines in ways you never thought possible as you square off against impossible odds. This pack features 60 challenges in four brand-new environments. Complete Blue Ribbon Challenges and unlock concept art, Voxophones, Kinetoscopes, and more in The Columbian Archeological Society. Climb the Leaderboards and earn new Achievements and Trophies,” says an Irrational Games blog post.

    This DLC is beginning its rollout today – but you’re asked to be patient. It may take a few days for it to hit all platforms.

    If this looks a bit underwhelming to you, fear not. A much more immersive, narrative experience is one the way. Burial at Sea will be launching soon (specific date TBD), and it takes Booker and Elizabeth back to Rapture – a couple of years before its epic collapse.

    We’re promised new plasmids/vigors, tears, Big Daddies, and even some Rapture-based sky-lines.

    “Gameplay has been modified to give the player an original BioShock combat experience that merges the best parts of BioShock and BioShock Infinite,” says Irrational.

    Check out its trailer:

    Both packs will be $14.99, and Burial at Sea will be included in the Bioshock Infinite Season Pass.

  • Guy Hacks Contra to Propose to His Girlfriend

    On the list of NES games I played the absolute hell out of when I was a kid, the run-and-shoot classic Contra is pretty high up there. And if you’re like me, this should make you feel all warm and fuzzy.

    Some guy (redditor Equinn0xX) recently hacked Contra and used it to propose to his girlfriend. “I hacked Contra because she’s worth it,” he says. Aww.

    “This is how I did it. In short, I bought Contra, dumped the ROM, hex edited the file, flashed it to a new ROM chip and soldered it all back together. Took some work but worth it. I changed player names to ours and also changed the ending text to ask her once she beat the game. She said yes! And to the purists who cringe when they see a hacked up cart…relax, it was for a good cause!” he says.

    The game played normally – apart from the change in player names. The only real difference was the ending screen that displayed once his girlfriend beat the game:

    Hats off, man.

    [Images via EquinnoxX, Imgur]

  • ‘Angry Trayvon’ Game Reportedly Yanked, Still Up in Google Play

    In “yeah, that was probably the best idea for all involved” news, a game depicting Trayvon Martin as a ruthless revenge killer has been yanked from the Android Market – at least according to the game’s developers.

    But wait, it’s currently still up in the Google Play Store.

    The game, Angry Trayvon, was developed by a company called Trade Digital. It was pulled from Google Play late Monday after a firestorm of negative feedback – at least according to Trade Digital and multiple reports. Here’s how Trade Digital described the game:

    “Trayvon is angry and nobody can stop him from completing his world tour of revenge on the bad guys who terrorize cities everyday. Use a variety of weapons to demolish Trayvon’s attackers in various cities around the world,” says Trade Digital.

    “As you complete a level, you will notice more bad guys coming at Trayvon at a faster pace and a deadlier attack. If you like to attack from far, then purchase the ‘dagger’ as you will be able to throw it at your enemies for the kill. If you want to dominate the leaderboards across the world, then make sure you collect the money that the bad guys will drop once you kill them to increase your score.”

    As you can see, most of the game involves you running around as Trayvon Martin in that now infamous hoodie, killing bad guys.

    In a statement posted to their Facebook page, the maker claim that there was nothing racist about it, but that it had been removed.

    Angry Trayvon10 hours ago

    The people spoke out therefore this game was removed from the app stores. Sorry for the inconvenience as this was just an action game for entertainment. This was by no means a racist game. Nonetheless, it was removed as will this page and anything associated with the game will be removed. Powered by socialditto  53 likes ·  136 comments

    Sure, there are probably worse things out there than a dumb Android game with a slain kid’s namesake. But it’s rather tasteless. Not sure what’s happening with the removal – but it probably won’t be up for download for too much longer.

  • Check Out Cube Slam, Google’s New Experimental Chrome Game

    Google revealed its latest Chrome experiment today. It’s a two-player game call Chrome Slam, and lets two Chrome users with web cams play a type of 3D Pong/air hockey-like game against one another, while looking at each others’ faces on opposite ends of a virtual table.

    To play against a friend, just start a game, then send your friend the link Google provides.

    “To win Cube Slam, hit the cube against your friend’s screen three times until the screen explodes,” says Google Creative Lab’s Clem Wright. “Shields, obstacles, and gravity fields change with every new level, and you can unlock power-ups including fireballs, lasers, multi-balls, mirrored controls, bulletproof shields, fog, ghost balls, time bombs, resized paddles, extra lives, and death balls––though you might want to avoid the death balls. If none of your friends are online, you can always play against Bob the Bear and see what level you can reach. If you install the Cube Slam app, you can even play Bob when you’re offline.”

    “Cube Slam’s graphics are rendered in WebGL and CSS 3D, and its custom soundtrack is delivered dynamically through Web Audio,” adds Clem. “WebRTC, which enables the two-person game, is available on desktop Chrome and Chrome OS, and will be available on mobile later this year. In the meantime, you can play Cube Slam against Bob the Bear on your phone or tablet.”

    The game was a little buggy in my experience, but it is an experiment. You can read more about the tech behind it here.

  • Google Launches ‘Roll It’ Skee Ball Game For Chrome

    Google has introduced a new Chrome Experiment called Roll It. It’s essentially a skee ball game that you can control with your phone as you play on your computer.

    To play, you touch your phone’s screen to aim, and swing it to roll the ball. With one phone, you can have up to three players. You don’t have to have Chrome on your phone, but Google says it works better. Either way, you just go to g.co/rollit, sync your device and you should be good to go.

    Earlier this year, Google launched Super Sync Sports, a similar Chrome experiment, which also lets you use your phone to control a game on your computer.

    Earlier this month, Google showed off another one at Google I/O. That one was called Racer.

    Google is certainly looking to up the cool factor for its browser-gone-operating system, and is quickly launching more and more interesting functionalities, including its new conversational search feature and in-app payments via Google Wallet.

    New notifications have also been added to the beta channel.

    At Google I/O, Google announced that Chrome has over 750 million active users.

  • Gmail Gets Quick Actions To Let You RSVP, Check-In, and Review Right From the Inbox

    Google says they want to help you tackle your digital to-do’s as quickly as possible, and to this end they’ve added some new quick action buttons to Gmail that let you interact with important emails right from the inbox, without ever opening the email.

    Starting today, Google will begin to roll out a few new quick actions inside Gmail, including event invite responses that link to Google Calendar, places reviews that let you rate a restaurant, for instance, right inside Gmail, and one-click actions like confirming a product or site registration via email.

    “These buttons appear next to certain types of messages in your inbox and let you take action on an email without ever having to open it. For example, you can RSVP to your friend’s party invitation or rate that restaurant you went to last night all right from the inbox. You’ll be checking things off that to-do list in no time,” says Google.

    Another quick action involves check-ins for flights. Although the quick action button in this scenario takes you outside of Gmail for confirmation, flight emails now feature a useful card with all the pertinent info – time of departure, terminal and gate, estimated arrival time, and whether of not the flight is on time.

    Google is also asking developers to add custom actions to their emails, and they say that they hope to add many more action in the near future. Developers can go here for more info. These new actions should hit your Gmail inbox in the coming weeks.

    If you’re curious about more new stuff from Google (and there’s a lot of it), check out all the news from Wednesday’s I/O conference keynote.