Google jumps off its Wave of the future

Only a little over a year ago, Google launched its Wave feature amid declarations that it would revolutionize the way groups of people could collaborate on documents. The company even suggested that Wave could replace e-mail.

But Wave has crashed: Google said Wednesday that its development has been halted. The Internet search giant said it would keep the service online until about the end of the year.

Google Wave rode a cyclone of publicity when it launched in May 2009. The feature lets users send digital correspondences, called waves, that could be edited by anyone in a designated group on the fly. Early adopters were tickled by the idea of seeing friends' messages show up instantly after each keystroke.

All of that technical magic took a toll on Google's servers, which hosted each wave and every edit that happened within those documents.

To manage growth, the company required potential users to get an invitation from someone using Wave. The invites proved to be so popular that they were selling for $50 on eBay.

But when users finally got on the service, they generally found that only a few of their acquaintances also had access. That limited its utility as a collaborative tool.

Wave also was plagued by technical problems, and some users complained that its complicated interface was confusing.

Google intended to release Wave, a pet project of Google Maps inventors and brothers Lars and Jens Rasmussen, as open source for other companies to install on their own servers.

While packed with features, Wave couldn't communicate with traditional e-mail addresses, though its founders had promised that feature for some time.

Google appears to have lost patience with the project.

"Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked," Urs Holzle, Google's senior vice president of operations, said in a statement. "Wave has taught us a lot, and we are proud of the team for the ways in which they have pushed the boundaries of computer science."

— Mark Milian, Tribune Newspapers

Why is this a Metroid game? Hands-on with Other M

After getting my hands on the upcoming Wii title Metroid: Other M at a recent media event in Toronto, there's really just one word to accurately describe my reaction: conflicted. While it was definitely a great-looking and fast-paced action experience, it's not necessarily what I want from the series, which raises the question of why this is even a Metroid game to begin with.

The demo began with the opening sequence of the game, which was surprisingly heavy on exposition. In fact, of the 15 or so minutes I watched, maybe two of them were actual gameplay. The rest consisted of cut-scenes with Samus outlining her story.

Other M takes place directly after Super Metroid in the series' chronology, so it begins with Samus reliving her iconic battle with Mother Brain. The scene certainly looked great, but it was also flooded with a ton of boring dialog. Based on what was shown, it seems very likely that Other M could feature more dialog than the rest of the series combined.

An awkward perspective shift
After this, I got a chance to actually play a brief portion of the game, which took place on an abandoned space station of some sort. The gameplay is a mixture of third-person and first-person 3D, though it's not particularly open. When playing in third-person mode you're pretty much always running through a corridor of some sort. Depending on the area you're in, though, the game can feel quite different. Sometimes you'll be running from left to right down a hallway, which feels much like a 2D side-scroller, while other times the camera is over the shoulder as you barrel through a tunnel. There's also some light platforming, which shows off Samus' lightning fast jumping abilities.

And then there's the first-person mode. The game is played entirely with the Wii remote—we were told there are no other controller options. When in third-person, this means that you're holding the controller on its side, NES style, and moving Samus with the d-pad. In order to change over to first person you have to switch to holding the remote in one hand and pointing it at the screen. It's a somewhat jarring transition, and during my short time with the game, it never quite felt natural.

You can switch to first-person at any time, but you can't play the entire game in first-person... because you can't actually move while in that perspective. You can look around and fire, but that's it. The only real reason you need to change perspectives is to fire a missile, which can only be done in first-person.

This can lead to some interesting situations. For example, one boss battle has you jumping around avoiding attacks, waiting for a weak spot to open up so you can hit it with a missile. This means you have to avoid attacks in third-person, switch over to first-person in time to fire a missile, and then quickly switch back.

Visually the game looks great, with super smooth animations and loads of flashy effects. (It is co-developed by Team Ninja, after all.) But while technically sound, I did have some issues with the actual art direction. Samus herself looked excellent, but many of the enemies had very strange and not particularly interesting designs, while the various NPCs looked woefully generic.

For many people, two main aspects make Metroid so appealing: the sense of isolation and the joy of exploration. While Other M strays from the former, it remains to be seen how it tackles the latter. The portion of the game featured in the demo was rather closed, but there's always a chance that the game opens up later on. And there are certainly going to be people who will enjoy hearing Samus' inner monologue. I'm just not sure I'm one of them.

BioShock 2 single-player add-on 'Minerva's Den' announced

You wanted it, here it is -- 2K Games has announced "Minerva's Den," an upcoming single-player piece of downloadable content for BioShock 2.

"Minerva's Den" puts players in the role of an all-new character, teaming up with Brigid Tenenbaum to explore a new area, Rapture Central Computing. The add-on will feature new "high-tech weaponry," along with a new Plasmid. Enemies also get a bit of an upgrade, too -- Splicers now control the elements, Security Bots fire rockets and lightning bolts, and there's an all new Big Daddy type lurking the halls.

2K hasn't dated or priced this final bit of downloadable content (yes, "final"), but it's in the works for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.

Cat-like crocodile roamed earth with the dinosaurs

A bizarre catlike crocodile that roamed the earth more than 100 million years ago could shed new light on evolution.

The discovery of the bizarre, lanky creature had mammal-like teeth and skinny legs shows that bony plated reptiles were once far more diverse than they are today.

It enjoyed land-based lifestyle on the African floodplains far removed from its aquatic descendants, preying on dragon flies and other insects and small animals.

The new species' fossilised remains were dug up from 105 million year old rock by palaeontologists scouring a river bank in Tanzania.

They were then able to create detailed digital images of its unusual teeth accurate to millionths of a meter using state of the art medical scanners.

Professor Patrick O'Connor, of Ohio University, said: "At first glance, this croc is trying very hard to be a mammal. Its head would fit in the palm of your hand.

"If you only looked at the teeth, you wouldn't think this was a crocodile. You would wonder what kind of strange mammal or mammal-like reptile it is."

"This gives us a number of interesting evolutionary-developmental research questions to begin addressing using living crocodiles as models."

He said it wasn't as heavily armoured as other crocodiles, except along the tail. This suggests the creature was quite mobile and probably actively foraged on land, unlike water-dwelling crocs.

Other aspects of its anatomy suggest it was a land-dwelling creature that likely feasted on insects and other small animals to survive.

The researchers, who have dubbed the animal Pakasuchus kapilimai, found one complete specimen and portions of seven other individuals.

Paka is Ki-Swahili for cat in reference to the animal's short, low skull with slicing, molar-like teeth, and souchos is ancient Greek for crocodile.

Prof O'Connor, who published his findings in Nature, said: "Once we were able to get a close look at the teeth, we knew we had something new and very exciting."

Google Wave failure may help Google Me succeed

As Google Wave is tossed aside, analysts say Google has learned important social networking lessons

Lessons learned from the demise of Google Wave -- Google threw in the towel on its first social networking offering this week -- could provide the company's engineers with a chance to come up with a far more viable service, analysts say.

Google announced on Wednesday that it is killing off its collaboration and communication tool about a year after the Google Wave service was launched.

In a blog post yesterday, Urs Hoelzle, Google senior vice president for operations, acknowledged that the social networking service was unable to gain any traction with users.

While Google Wave will be just another failed product by the end of the year, pieces of it will live on in other Google projects, the company said.

And that leads some industry watchers to wonder if Google is cutting bait so its developers can dust themselves off, use some lessons learned and some of Google Wave's most interesting features to begin work on new social networking product.

"This is typical Google-like behavior. They aren't shy about killing projects that don't hit their expectations," said Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group. "I don't think that users really got it when it came to Wave. But this was a good learning experience for Google. They now know they need to bring a more fully baked product to the market. They also have to clearly articulate why users should jump on board. I don't think this is Google's last run at social networking. There are rumors about a new product -- Google Me -- that looks to be their next shot at this market."

Talk started circulating around the Internet about Google Me late in June. While Google hasn't confirmed any of the widespread speculation, the reports of efforts to build a Facebook-killer persist.

Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group, agreed that if Google can learn from the failure of Google Wave, the company will have a better shot at building and launching a successful social networking service the second time around.

"Social networking is absolutely harder than it looks," added Enderle. "It's not a technical problem as much as a social problem. It's trying to solve a people problem and engineers, by their nature, suck at solving people problems. Google is going to have to address behavioral and social skills to build another service."

Both Enderle and Olds believe that Google is working on another social networking service ... a Facebook-like offering that's more attractive to consumers -- and less about collaboration.

"Why not? Facebook is making itself an easy target," added Enderle. "I think Google will go down this path and it's probably closer to what Google should be doing anyway. It's a Web property. The social networking aspect of the Web is more closely related to search than almost any other successful thing out there."

Olds noted that a new Google social network better have a lot of notable contrasts with Google Wave.

"Social networking is a tough racket," said Olds. "If they come out with a new service, it will have to have a feature-packed tool that is easy to use, secure, and be highly scalable. And then they'll need to attract swarms of users quickly to gain enough momentum to get it off the ground. It isn't easy to pull off. If it were, we'd see a lot more competitors taking a run at Facebook."

Blood diamonds trial: the night Naomi Campbell met Charles Taylor

Cricketing legend Imran Khan and his wife Jemima had flown in specially, as had American music producer Quincy Jones and his wife Lisette Derouaux.

To add to the glamour was the presence of British supermodel Naomi Campbell, who had travelled from New York, via Milan, in order to be there.

Then at the peak of her career, the 27-year-old had received a personal invitation from Mr Mandela as she had worked for some time with his children’s charity.

Included in the party was actress Mia Farrow, accompanied by two of her children.

Completing the famous line up on the night of September 25, 1997, was Tony Leung, a leading Chinese actor from Hong Kong.

Each celebrity was appointed a private lodge within the presidential compound where they would sleep and get dressed for the dinner hosted by Madiba.

Formal but relaxed, the evening was not going to be a drawn out affair as all had to be up early the next day to accompany Mr Mandela on the inaugural rail journey of the Blue Train from Pretoria to Cape Town.

Campbell, living in a whirlwind of engagements, had brought along her agent Carole White for the trip.

In court on Thursday, the model said there was no real reason for Miss White joining her – she said she was doing her friend a favour because she wanted to meet the South African president.

Both women were given a lodge to share and for dinner Campbell wore a striking floor length white dress, with a sparkling diamond cross necklace.

Her long black hair was tied back and she wrapped a black and crimson scarf around her shoulders.

The guests gathered in the Presidential Palace, keen to talk about Mr Mandela’s children’s charity and their role as fundraisers – a common interest they all shared.

Fourteen people sat down for dinner, with Charles Taylor apparently turning up a little late.

Campbell was given pride of place, seated, she said, in between Mr Mandela and Quincy Jones.

Mr Taylor, by the model’s own account, was seated on the same side of the table as her, but a little further down, while Miss White was sitting opposite.

Miss White – who is currently locked in a legal dispute with Campbell – claims she heard Taylor tell the excited model during the meal that he was going to give her diamonds. She said that the model had flirted with Taylor throughout the meal. A claim Campbell went on to deny.

In fact, Campbell went further and said she had no idea who he was and had never heard of Liberia.

The atmosphere throughout the evening was convivial, despite the presence of such the controversial figure in Mr Taylor.

After dinner, 10 of the party lined up to pose for a photograph.

They are seen smiling gaily, while Mr Taylor looks positively jocular, with his right hand extended.

Standing behind his right shoulder is Campbell smiling coyly, while Mr Mandela positively beams as he holds the hand of his partner – now wife - Graca Michel.

So casual is the mood, that Imran Khan is still holding a glass while his wife is clutching a white envelope.

Mia Farrow dressed in an African style red, black and white dress also smiles fondly at the camera.

But beneath the smile, Farrow clearly had concerns.

In evidence read to the court, Farrow told how a photographer asked to take a picture of her and Mr Taylor, but she was pulled away by Miss Michel and told “we do not want you to be photographed with this man [Charles Taylor], he should have left”.

Shortly afterwards, the party broke up and each guest retired to their lodge.

It is here that the sequence of events surrounding the diamonds sharply differs.

Miss White claims that at around 1.30am, she was awoken by a knock on the door of the lodge.

She says she opened it to find two men outside, asking to speak to Campbell.

The supermodel duly appeared from her first floor room, wearing a nightdress and a cashmere shawl.

Miss White claims Campbell not only invited the men inside, but offered them Coca Cola as they presented her with a gift wrapped in paper.

According to her story, Miss White stood and watched as Campbell unwrapped the grubby newspaper and found “six dirty pebbles”.

Campbell’s story, however, is vastly different.

She claims the men knocked directly on her bedroom door and that she alone answered it.

The model says she was told they had “a gift for you” as a small pouch was pushed into her hands.

So exhausted from the travelling, Campbell says she thanked the men – did not ask them who they were – and sloped off to bed without opening the present.

It was not until the next morning that she opened the pouch on her bedside table and saw the “dirty stones” inside.

Whatever the precise sequence of events, Campbell was late, as she says she often is, down to breakfast the following morning.

The party was due to leave at 7am and when she came down to breakfast, she found Farrow and Miss White at the same table.

Joining them, she told the two women of her late night visit.

Farrow recalls “unforgettably” that Campbell said she had been given a large uncut diamond, but does not recall actually seeing it.

Again, the details of what happened next vary depending upon who is speaking.

Farrow says she was there as Campbell and Miss White discussed giving the diamond to Jeremy Ractliffe, the head of Mr Mandela’s children’s charity.

Miss White says she went with Campbell to find Mr Ractliffe on the train to hand over the diamonds, but he was “horrified” to receive them and only took them reluctantly.

Campbell says either Farrow or Miss White told her the diamonds must be from Mr Taylor and so she simply assumed that they were.

Not wanting to keep such a gift, she says decided to pass them on to Mr Ractliffe, not realising that possession of such diamonds was illegal.

Vague about the details, she said she either handed them over in the lodge or on the train and insisted Mr Ractliffe was not upset at all.

Campbell joined the other celebrities for their journey to Cape Town and insisted that she thought no more about it... until 2009 when tribunal lawyers contacted her following Farrow’s allegations.

Whatever the truth, the mystery of where those diamonds are and why they were given to Campbell remains.

Philippine police use Twitter, Facebook to nail gang

MANILA (AFP) - Philippine police said Wednesday they used Twitter and Facebook to track down a flamboyant gang of young men and women who robbed the rich to feed their drug habits.

Police killed their leader Ivan Padilla, 23, and arrested three others over the past week following a rash of vehicle thefts targeting Manila's high society, city police spokesman Superintendent Rommel Miranda said.

Miranda said police tracked the suspects by looking at their accounts in microblogging site Twitter and social networking site Facebook.

"We are very much into technology," he told AFP.

"These are young people and a lot of young people nowadays are engaged in social networking."

Miranda said he did not want to give further details about what intelligence police obtained from the suspects' Internet posts because a hunt was continuing for six other gang members.

He said the suspects, most of whom lived in wealthy Manila neighbourhoods, included a number of young, beautiful and smartly dressed women who prowled bars and parties hosted by the rich to scout for potential victims.

The gang is accused of being behind a string of robberies of homes located inside gated housing enclaves of Manila's rich and of high-rise luxury condominiums.

Among the expensive cars the gang members are accused of stealing are those of a former Filipino foreign minister and a local movie actor's parents.

While the gang's core came from affluent families, Miranda said Padilla often recruited young men from other social classes to do the dirty work of robbing people.

"Ivan Padilla has many rich associates, but when they (intended to) commit a crime they would recruit equally young thrill-seekers who they could influence," Miranda said.

Illegal drug use was their common bond, the police spokesman added.

In another Internet twist, two Facebook fan pages dedicated to Padilla have quickly gathered hundreds of supporters, with some netizens questioning the police's assertion that he was killed in a shoot-out.

Padilla's group was the second high-profile case in a week that police said they had solved with the help of the Internet.

Police in the northern city of Angeles said they last week used Facebook to help track down a computer technician accused of murdering nine people, three of them foreigners.

'I'm shattered': cracks emerge in iPhone 4

Apple is supposed to work on a technology that could make the displays thinner and brighter than the current iPhone models. In a recently published patent, Apple has highlighted the development of pixels that can display images and a touch of log entries. Today, touch sensors are provided in the pixel transparent image that allows to achieve the touch input functionality without interfering with the display of images. However, Apple says it has some potential disadvantages, such as weight and thickness to add to the screen. With the touch input overlap, the brightness of images were also reduced. To remedy this, Apple has developed a dual role that capacitive element pixels to display images, but also let them register touch input. In his patent, the inventors write:

"[T crown] double capacitive elements form part of the display systems that generate an image on screen and also part of a touch detection system that detects events on or near the touch screen. Capacitive elements can be, for example, capacitors pixel LCD screen that is configured to operate individually, each

No jail for Facebook tribute page vandal

A woman from Gympie, in south-east Queensland, has received a three-month suspended jail sentence for posting offensive material on a Facebook tribute page for murdered Sunshine Coast woman Justine Jones.

Jessica Chantelle Cook, 22, pleaded guilty in the Gympie Magistrates Court today to posting hateful comments and photographs on a page set up in memory of Ms Jones, 22, from Alexandra Headland.

Ms Jones's body was found at the Nambour rubbish tip on July 15.

Cook was released on two years' probation on the condition she not access any social networking sites and only use her computer for the purposes of email, employment and financial banking.

If she reoffends within three years she will have to forfeit $3,000.

BlackBerry Torch 9800 Slider Gets Official on AT&T

BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) and U.S. wireless carrier AT&T on Tuesday officially announced the new 3G BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone as expected at a media event in New York City.

The Torch is the first BlackBerry smartphone to sport both a touch display for on-screen navigation and typing and a slide-out, traditional QWERTY BlackBerry keyboard. It's the first RIM device to run the brand new BlackBerry 6 mobile OS. And AT&T will be the first carrier in the world to offer the Torch when it becomes available on August 12, for $199.99 with new, two-year service contract.

"Today AT&T and RIM are announcing the best BlackBerry ever," said Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T's Mobility and Consumer Markets.

Though the Torch was announced Tuesday, images of the device and purported technical specifications have been circulating throughout the Web for weeks, and an invitation distributed by RIM and AT&T to select media outlets last week hinted at an official BlackBerry Torch launch this week, so the announcement isn't exactly a surprise.

The official tech specs are as follows: Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks (850/900/1800/1900MHz); Tri-band 3G UMTS networks (2100/1900/850/800 MHz); 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi; 5.0 megapixel camera; 512 MB flash memory / 512 MB SDRAM; and an optical trackpad.

RIM released its first touch-screen BlackBerry, the Storm 9500/9530, in November of 2008, but the Torch is the first RIM device with both a touch screen and traditional QWERTY BlackBerry keyboard.

The new Torch device arrives at a time when RIM, the number four handset-maker in the world based on units shipped, is facing serious pressure from competitors in the space, namely Apple, with its iPhone, and Google's Android OS. Some critics, including the New York Times, suggest RIM's fate in the coming months and years will largely hinge on the success of the BlackBerry Torch 9800 slider and BlackBerry 6..

More information on the Torch 9800 is available on RIM's website.

JailbreakMe: Apple iPhone 4 hack released

The iPhone Dev Team has released a legal hack for the Apple iPhone 4. The JailbreakMe tool can be accessed through the iPhone’s Safari web browser, and enables users to download and install a variety of software and programs on their handset that have not been officially approved by Apple.

Last week, the US Copyright Office ruled that it was legal to “hack” a mobile phone in the US in order to run applications or to use a different mobile phone network. However, Apple warned that hacking an iPhone, a process known as “jailbreaking”, would void the device’s warranty.

The JailbreakMe hack works on iPhones, iPads and iPod touches running iOS 4 and iOS 4.0.1, but is not compatible with devices running the iOS 4.1 beta. There have been reports from some uses that the hack causes problems with FaceTime, Apple’s video-calling program, and the multimedia messaging functionality of the phone.

Indeed, the hack is proving so popular that some users have reported problems downloading the jailbreak, because the iPhone Dev Team’s servers have been overwhelmed by the number of visitors.

Apple has played down the significance of the hack’s release, and of the US Copyright Office’s ruling.

“The vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones,” said Apple in a statement. “This can violate the warranty, and can cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably.”

Check Point unveils Web 2.0 security tool

Check Point has unveiled a new software blade that it hopes will enable companies to secure their assets against threats from social networks and other Web 2.0 tools.

The firm said that its new Application Control Software Blade should enable organisations to identify, allow, block or limit the use of thousands of Web 2.0 applications, whether they are websites or widgets such as TweetDeck, which is used to access the Twitter social network service.

The blade will use Check Point's new AppWiki, which stores information on over 4,500 applications and over 50,000 widgets that span 150 categories such as social networking, media streaming and instant messaging. The firm claims that this is the most extensive database of Internet applications.

The platform takes advantage of Check Point's UserCheck feature, which uses pop up messages to warn workers of the potential security risk of their actions and asks them to confirm if they are using the site or app for work or personal reasons.

It is designed to engage users and make them think more about their actions, Check Point claims. All actions are logged so users thinking they can get away with a bit of personal Facebook or Twitter time when they have claimed it is for business use will be in for a bit of a shock.

Speaking to CBR about the announcement, Gabi Reish, Check Point's global head of network security, denied that some workers may feel uncomfortable with having all actions logged. "It's not like Big Brother, that's a negative attitude," he said. "The IT department wants to be in control and wants workers to think more about what they are doing."

The new software was designed as a result of the dramatic increase in the use of social media and other Web 2.0 tools throughout the workplace, for business as well as personal reasons, Check Point said. Their use increases the risk of malware, data loss and bandwidth difficulties as well as raising questions about worker productivity and whether policies are being adhered to.

Companies do not want to ban access altogether because there are many legitimate uses for social networking sites in the enterprise, but according to Reish IT departments often don't have full control over what workers are doing.

"IT admins often lack real visibility into what people are using them for," he told CBR. "Creating a black and white environment [where access is either granted or blocked completely] is difficult to control and so companies will often revert back to letting all users access what they want. With this you can allow access to certain sites or apps to an individual, groups, such as marketing, or the whole organisation. It's a practical way to enforce app control."

Check Point said that general availability of its Application Control Software Blade will be in Q4 2010.

Microsoft issues emergency flaw fix

Microsoft issued an emergency patch on Monday to correct a critical Windows bug that had allowed attackers to gain control of infected machines via program shortcuts.

Microsoft usually issues patches to fix software flaws just once a month. But the seriousness of the bug forced the software giant to issue an emergency patch outside the normal schedule.

Widely publicized last month, the flaw was used to attack industrial control systems in manufacturing and utility control systems via the so-called Stuxnet worm.

Exploiting the way Windows creates shortcuts to often-used application and software, the flaw was used to automatically execute malware that gave control of the computer over to attackers.

However, computers still running Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows 2000 were not included in Monday’s fix, because Microsoft, as previously announced, has stopped supporting those operating systems.

PS 3 Firmware 3.41 causes HDD Woes

Last weekend, several Sony PlayStation 3 gamers got firmware 3.41 update for their gaming consoles. This update brought minor You May Like option in the PlayStation Store. However, this update also caused a menace amongst users who applied the update and then wanted to update their console HDDs as reported at the official PS3 Updates Forum.

Sony released firmware 3.41 update for PS 3 users and several faced HDD upgrade woes. Disgruntled PS 3 owners bombarded PlayStation 3 Forums over the issue. Apparently, it was discovered that the issue was prevalent amongst only those users who applied the 3.41 firmware update BEFORE upgrading HDDs. Several experienced console crashes.

Examiner reported that Sony's statement noted: "We apologize for any inconvenience you are experiencing with upgrading Internal Hard Disc Drive (for PlayStation3) on your PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system. The information available to our Consumer Services Department does not suggest that this is a problem PlayStation owners are likely to experience when upgrading the HDD with 3.41 update. Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) strongly supports the quality of its products and backs them with full confidence. We ask that you update the previous HDD first to see if the update will go through. Then update from the thumb drive that is formatted in FAT 32 and has the 3.41 update downloaded."

Check out a video of the 3.41 update woes.

So far, Sony hasn't announced that it will issue any fixes for the users who applied the upgrade and suffered from HDD-console crash woes. Sony hasn't uttered a word about those facing HDD woes post firmware 3.41 update

Operation Flashpoint: Red River Outed

The new Operation Flashpoint game will be titled Operation Flashpoint: Red River according to Codemasters employee.

CVG spotted the title in the CV of a Codemasters’ artist who is working on the game.

Not much was divulged except that the game will be available on PC, PS3, Xbox 360 and it’s expected the game will follow previous titles in the series down the strategic first-person-shooter path.

We love Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising here in the IncGamers office, having drooled over the review copy of the game we still lock and load in some multiplayer action on a weekly basis.

Codemasters has recently confirmed the studio is working on three new titles with DiRT 3 and Race Driver: GRID 2 making up the other two titles.

State of the Climate: Hottest Decade on Record

Experts say that sea ice is melting, heavy rainfall is intensifying and heat waves are more common, among other indicators.

The past decade was the hottest recorded, part of an unequivocal pattern of warming dating back 50 years, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report declared on Wednesday.

The annual “State of the Climate” report drew on the findings more than 300 climate scientists in 48 countries who measured 10 separate planetwide features, including air and sea temperatures, humidity, Arctic sea ice, glaciers, and spring snow cover in the Northern hemisphere.

“The records come from many institutions worldwide,” Dr. Jane Lubchenco, the agency’s administrator, said in a statement. “They use data collected from diverse sources, including satellites, weather balloons, weather stations, ships, buoys and field surveys. These independently produced lines of evidence all point to the same conclusion: our planet is warming.”

The findings do not include data from 2010, which is on pace to exceed the highest annual average global temperature ever recorded, NOAA said. This summer’s weather has been defined by extreme heat events in the eastern United States, Europe, Russia, China, Japan and the Middle East.
According to the report, each decade since the 1980s has been progressively warmer than the last, with an average warming of about one-fifth of a degree Fahrenheit per decade.

“The temperature increase of one degree Fahrenheit over the past 50 years may seem small, but it has already altered our planet,” said Deke Arndt, co-editor of the report and chief of the Climate Monitoring Branch of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. “Glaciers and sea ice are melting, heavy rainfall is intensifying and heat waves are more common.”

The report also suggests that more than 90 percent of the warming over the past 50 years may have gone into the oceans.

Hacker extracts cash from ATMs

A hacker has discovered a way to force ATMs to disgorge their cash by hijacking the computers inside them.

The attacks demonstrated Wednesday in Las Vegas targeted standalone ATMs. But they could potentially be used against the ATMs operated by mainstream banks.

Criminals have long known that ATMs aren't tamperproof.

There are many types of attacks in use today, ranging from sophisticated to foolhardy: installing fake card readers to steal card numbers, hiding tiny surveillance cameras to capture PIN codes, covering the dispensing slot to intercept money and even hauling the ATMs away with trucks in hopes of cracking them open later.

Computer hacker Barnaby Jack spent two years tinkering in his Silicon Valley apartment with ATMs he bought online. These were standalone machines, the type seen in front of convenience stores, rather than the ones in bank branches.

His goal was to find ways to take control of ATMs by exploiting weaknesses in the computers that run the machines.

He showed off his results at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas, an annual gathering devoted to exposing the latest computer-security vulnerabilities.

His attacks have wide implications because they affect multiple types of ATMs and exploit weaknesses in software and security measures that are used throughout the industry.

His talk was one of the conference's most widely anticipated, as it had been pulled a year ago over concerns that fixes for the ATMs wouldn't be in place in time. He used the extra year to craft more dangerous attacks.

Jack, who works as director of security research for Seattle-based IOActive Inc., showed in a theatrical demonstration two ways he can get ATMs to spit out money:

•He found that the physical keys that came with his machines were the same for all ATMs of that type made by that manufacturer. He used his key to unlock a compartment in the ATM that had standard USB slots. He then inserted a program he had written into one of them, commanding the ATM to dump its vaults.
•Jack also hacked into ATMs by exploiting weaknesses in the way ATM makers communicate with the machines over the internet. He said the problem is that outsiders are permitted to bypass the need for a password.
Jack said the goal of his talk "isn't to teach everybody how to hack ATMs. It's to raise the issue and have ATM manufacturers be proactive about implementing fixes."