5,000 Hurt Locker lawsuits filed: Were you targetted?

The first Hurt Locker lawsuits are a-flyin’. Were you one of the lucky winners? As you know, the movie’s producers hooked up with the U.S. Copyright Group, which, aside from the official-sounding name, is just another one of the many copyright infringement collection agencies out there. It’s about as federal as Federal Express, in other [...]

Video: Short preview of Red Dead Redemption short film

Can we all agree that Red Dead Redemption is one of Rockstar’s finest games? It’s probably one of the best games of this generation, too. A 30-minute short film based on the game, directed by the guy (John Hillcoat) who directed The Road (good) and The Proposition (great), debuts tomorrow night on the Fox network [...]

Blizzard: DRM is a waste of everyone’s time

“We need our development teams focused on content and cool features, not anti-piracy technology.” Thank you, finally! See, Blizzard gets it. The company’s co-founder, Frank Pearce, recently told the good folks at Video Gamer that he thinks the fight against DRM is misguided. Not that he supports end-users going around torrenting his games till the [...]

Why haven’t our clichés been updated to better reflect today’s technology?

Our clichés need updating. “Axe to grind”? How many people still regularly use axes, axes that need grinding? Why not something like “hard drive to defrag”? “Best thing since sliced bread”? Why not “best thing since the iPad“? We are surrounded by technology, but our language still reflects life on the farm. Let’s do this! [...]

Republican Party discovers the scourge of Internet trolls on new Web site: ‘Stop teaching about heliocentric universe, it contradicts the Bible’

Who let the trolls out? (They are trolls, right?) There’s just no hope anymore. The GOP, one of the two great political parties in the United States, recently requested people submit ideas to be incorporated into the party’s platform this fall. A Web site was created. And then, predictably, people starting trolling the site. “A [...]

Video game addiction: The same as getting high on cocaine?

A UK therapist claims that two hours of playing video games gives the same high as doing a line of cocaine. Of course that raises the question of, well, what would you rather your kid do, bump lines off a dirty mirror or play Mario Kart before going to bed? What, too flip? The deal [...]

Ouch rumor: Project Natal will cost $150 stand-alone, part of $300 Xbox Arcade bundle this October

I sure hope for Microsoft’s sake this isn’t true. Word on the street is that Project Natal (which won’t be the final name) will cost $150 and will launch in October. Considering Microsoft is aiming Natal at so-called casual gamers, what are the odds these people are going to shell out $150 to be able [...]

Mionix Naos 3200 gaming mouse does gaming mouse things

There’s a new gaming mouse in town, amigos. It’s the Mionix NAOS 3200, and it’s made of “carefully selected high-end components.” What kind of components? I’m guessing dark matter. It’s a gaming mouse, so you pretty much know what you’re getting. High DPI (up to 3,200), built-in memory to save various setting and bring them [...]

Y’all spent 4.8 million hours playing Google Pac-Man

Good job, everyone. Research firm Rescuetime says y’all spent (wasted?) 4.8 million hours playing Pac-Man on the Google homepage since its launch last week. If we convert those lost man-hours to dollars and cents, then you can say the U.S. economy has lost slightly more than $120 million because of Pac-Man. Thanks to the game, [...]

Sony: 3D will really shine once the games start hitting it off

“Not a fan of 3D movies? Wait till you play 3D games, that’s when the technology will really shine.” Not an exact quote, but that’s the spirit of what Sony Computer Entertainment Europe President Andrew House said in a recent interview. The idea is that, OK, 3D movies may be just sorta there, but it’s [...]

Greenpeace says Nintendo is the worst company on Earth, tells Dell to clean up its act

Greenpeace’s relentless march toward reminding us that we’re killing the planet continues. The organization released its annual “Who’s Green?” list yesterday, and Nokia and Sony Ericsson get A+ marks, while Lenovo and Nintendo are, apparently, the dregs of society. Also on the wrong side of Greenpeace: Dell. The Texas-based company found itself on the wrong [...]

Is the Prince of Persia movie racist?

Is the new Prince of Persia movie racist? Almost certainly not, but that’s the accusation being levied by independent film maker Jehanzeb Dar, saying that the part of The Prince “really needed to go to someone who’s Persian.” So, rather than try to find someone of Persian (or at the very least, Middle Eastern) descent, [...]

Video: Bill Nye The Science Guy (!) explains why 3D movies can make you sick

There was a bit of controversy a few weeks ago when Samsung published a note warning people about the dangers of 3D movies. Pregnant women, the elderly, and a whole host of other people were told, in no uncertain terms, to limit their exposure to 3D movies, lest they become sick. What was never explained [...]

There will be a Mass Effect movie. Will Lost’s Matthew Fox play Commander Shepard?

It’s takes a special type of nerd to read a video game’s novelization, and I’m none too proud to say that I recently started reading the Mass Effect novel. But there’s a certain quiet dignity in reading a novelization that simply isn’t present when sitting at the multiplex (or downloading the Blu-ray rip, as it [...]

Holiday Inn to trial mobile-as-room-key program next month

Your phone is now your hotel key. Well, could be your hotel key. Holiday Inn will trial new software for the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android that will let you use your phone to open your hotel door. Even better: you can use the software to check out without having to futz around at the check-in [...]

Will the fancy-pants Jabulani perform at altitude at the World Cup?

Football (soccer) writers are typically terribly serious about what they do. Relax, buddy, it’s just a game. A fun game, yeah, but just a game. The Guardian’s Barry Glendenning does things a little bit differently: he’s actually good! In a column today, Glendenning prepares us all for the inevitable complaints that will surround the Jabulani’s [...]

‘Lost’ finale now the most downloaded TV show in history!

The mania surrounding “Lost” continues. It has emerged that the series finale now holds the record of being the most downloaded TV show in the history of TV. The final two episodes, within 20 hours of appearing online, were downloaded some 900,000 times. Quite a bit, yes. Many of the downloads came from overseas, and [...]

Netflix goes with Microsoft PlayReady DRM for upcoming streaming devices

Looks like Netflix has decided to go with Microsoft’s PlayReady DRM for all upcoming Netflix-ready devices. If all goes according to plan you shouldn’t even notice the DRM being there, but we all know how well DRM has worked in the past. Netflix already uses PlayReady for its Mac and Windows PC instant streaming services, [...]

Save Dave: Twitter campaign rallies around Sirius XM’s Ron and Fez producer

There’s a campaign brewing on Twitter that really ought to be highlighted, if only because it shows the power (well, potential power) of the site. Dave McDonald, a producer on the Ron and Fez show on Sirius XM (and part-time inventor), needs a raise. He needs a raise because he has a growing family to [...]

Lame: The iPad is banned at Yankee Stadium

Bad news, Yankees fans. Apparently the winningest team in the history of sport doesn’t want you sitting inside the stadium with an iPad on your lap. That’s right: the iPad is banned at Yankee Stadium! So says a poster on one of the IGN messageboards. The Bronx is burning. The deal is that the poster [...]

2010: The year instant messaging finally died?

Has Twitter killed instant messaging? That’s one possible explanation for the sudden and precipitous drop in instant message traffic in the past few years. A recent study shows that Britons spent an entire 14 percent of the online-time instant messaging back in 2007. Now? That number is a paltry 5 percent. Is IM dead, dying, [...]

elgato EyeTV HD DVR for Mac easily makes iPad-compatible versions of your favorite TV shows

Mac users may get a kick out of this, the elgato EyeTV HD. It’s a DVR solution that works with your cable and satellite channels, sending everything to your Mac instead of a plain ol’ TV. From there you can watch or edit whatever you’ve recorded. Easy as pie. Why would you need such a [...]

Twitter reacts to last night’s episode of Lost, the last episode EVER: It was a storytelling Ponzi Scheme

@RonnieBQuotes Lost = story-telling Ponzi Schemeless than a minute ago via txtLeif Erickson RigneyLeif_Erickson Lost ended its glorious run last night. While I stopped watching the show about two years ago, I fully recognize that my fellow Americans absolutely love the show. In fact, they love the show so much that they’ve been tweeting about [...]

TV viewers now refusing to watch SD content?

There’s a handy option in the DirecTV menu guide for “HDTV Channels.” On the rare occasion when I’m actually sitting in front of the TV looking to “channel surf” (more like “menu surf” nowadays), it’s only “HDTV channels” I’m concerned with. Nearly halfway through 2010, it has come to the point where, unless I absolutely [...]

Kindle 2.5 update coming down the pike right now

It looks like Kindle firmware 2.5 is trickling out to certain Kindle DX owners right this very second. This ought to mean that the update will hit a Kindle near you rather shortly. You’ll recall that this update brings Facebook and Twitter applications to the e-reader. Can’t imagine either being too useful beyond the initial [...]

UK misses out on Nike World Cup ad, Rooney red-hot with anger (maybe)

That Nike World Cup ad I mentioned the other day has aired, I think, 800 million times over the past few days on TV. I know I saw it at least once during the Champions League final at the weekend (which Inter thoroughly deserved to win). But get this: the very first time the ad [...]

What’s the deal with Red Dead Redemption?

Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption came in the mail on Tuesday, and my first course of action was to call the Ron and Fez Show on Sirius XM. “Hey, guys, I see your names in the credits. You rock!” Calling the show and talking to East Side Dave (by the way, SAVE DAVE) and Ron was [...]

Video: Yup, that’s Everquest running on a Motorola Droid

The most important part of a mobile phone’s lifespan is when it’s hacked to run old video games. Few games are more classic than Everquest, the game that brought the MMO to a mass audience. I think that’s fair to say. Anyhow, today’s the Droid’s lucky day!

Pac-Man greets Google visitors

An exciting thing happened to people who actually visit the Google homepage (rather than just using their Web browser’s built-in search box) today. They found Pac-Man, celebrating his 30th anniversary! The Penny-Arcade guys must be freaking out. Update – Guess what? It works on the iPad. You click “Insert Coin” and are thrown into a [...]

Sega delays Sonic 4 till later this year (but there will now be an iPhone version!)

It would appear that Sonic 4 has been delayed until the “latter half of 2010.” That’s the bad news. The good news? One, there’s a new trailer. Two, it’ll also come out for the iPhone and iPod touch (in addition to the platforms we already knew about). Hear that, Nintendo? The full title of the [...]

Hard at work? Congress spends all day playing with the iPad

The iPad is a huge hit in the United States Congress. I mean, passing any sort of meaningful banking reform is apparently out of the question with these guys , but there’s always time for the iPad. Just amazing, really. The story is that several members of Congress, including Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, are [...]

Voice Over Revision A to power Verizon Wireless’ iPhone?

Will the iPhone come out for Verizon Wireless? It’s the question that so many of the service’s subscribers would like to see answered definitively. This news story, unfortunately, won’t do that. What it will do, however, is fan the flames of the rumor fire. The latest is that the phone would work with Voice Over [...]

Voice Over Revision A to power Verizon Wireless’ iPhone?

Will the iPhone come out for Verizon Wireless? It’s the question that so many of the service’s subscribers would like to see answered definitively. This news story, unfortunately, won’t do that. What it will do, however, is fan the flames of the rumor fire. The latest is that the phone would work with Voice Over [...]

Would America support a national broadband tax or is that too ‘big government’?

The Cousins were mulling over a broadband tax, but the new Government has put a stop to that. (Now they’re considering using some of the BBC license fee to fund broadband development.) The idea was to charge people 50p (around $0.70) per month to fund the expansion of broadband into rural areas. Would such a [...]

Apple changes its tune, will now accept cash for the iPad at the Apple Store

Who didn’t see this coming? A few days ago we learned of one woman’s inability to buy an Apple iPad with cash at an Apple Store. Store policy was such that they would only accept credit cards or debit cards. Apple was totally in the right legally, but it came across sorta funky, particularly given [...]

Newzbin has shut down

Well that didn’t take long. Newzbin.com has shut down, just about six weeks after the High Court in the UK ruled against the Usenet indexing site. You had to see this coming. The immediate reason for the closure was administration, which is sorta like bankruptcy here in the U.S. The court case against the Motion [...]

You’re playing a lot of mobile games on the subway, aren’t you?

You’re on the subway on the way to work. It’s not a long trip, maybe 15 to 20 minutes long if you’re coming in from an outer borough. You have to kill the time somehow lest you be alone in your thoughts for a few moments. What do you do? If we’re to believe a [...]

World of Warcraft Auction House heads to iPhone; Blizzcon tickets on sale next month

You can now monitor your World of Warcraft auctions using your iPhone (or iPod touch). A new version of Blizzard’s Armory App now gives users the ability to tap into the game’s Auction House, wherein gamers can keep tabs on their sales of copper stacks and see how much Spellweave is going for. There’s also [...]

Did Rogers Wireless ruin this woman’s life (or is she simply a fool)?

A Canadian woman has sued Rogers Wireless over privacy concerns. Sounds normal so far, right? Let’s add a little color to the sentence, then gauge your reaction. A Canadian woman has sued Rogers Wireless for inadvertently disclosing an affair she was having, citing privacy concerns. Hmm, that’s a little less normal, now isn’t it? But [...]

Epic Games says something silly about piracy

Anyone else tired of video game publishers complaining about piracy? Like, human nature is such that you’ll always have a bunch of knuckleheads who will hop on BitTorrent and download away. Forget them, they’re jerks. Just focus on the non-jerks out there and go about your business. Anyhow, today the spotlight falls on Epic Games, [...]

Apple doesn’t accept cash at the Apple Store, not even for an iPad

A human interest story, brought to us by the fine people at KGO-TV in San Francisco. It goes something like this: a woman had saved up for a very long time to buy an Apple iPad. So goes into an Apple Store, tells the clerk that she’d like to buy an iPad, then whips out [...]

PSN Premium rumor has the Internets shaking in its boots

In my lower moments I can be found browsing various message boards, watching mere children argue over what video game console is superior, the Xbox 360 or the PS3. No, I’m not lying, sad as that may be. Eventually the PS3 supporters whip out this gem: “Yeah, well at least we don’t have to pay [...]

The PSP 2 will be ‘[expletive] powerful’

EXCLUSIVE PHOTO~! There will be a PSP 2. No, not some sort of halfway sequel, à la the PSP Go, but an actual, holy smokes PSP 2. That’s the rumor, and you’d have to assume that’s the case. But the specifics of the rumor, today’s incarnation of the rumor, that is, is that the device [...]

Disembodied voice asks: Who will be the ultimate gamer (on season 2 of ‘WCG Ultimate Gamer’)?

The most shocking thing about the news that there will be a second season of “WCG Ultimate Gamer” on SyFy is that there was ever a first season. Could have fooled me. But alas, it has been picked up for another year. This calls for a celebration of some sort. Wee! Yes, the network now [...]

Go to Barnes & Noble, get a free e-book

Do you have a nook or the less elegantly named iRex DR800SG? If so, get thee to a Barnes & Noble store to participate in the new Fun and Free e-books promotion. It’s a pretty simple concept: you waltz into a Barnes & Noble store, get an access code, then download a free e-book. Done [...]

Go to Barnes & Noble, get a free e-book

Do you have a nook or the less elegantly named iRex DR800SG? If so, get thee to a Barnes & Noble store to participate in the new Fun and Free e-books promotion. It’s a pretty simple concept: you waltz into a Barnes & Noble store, get an access code, then download a free e-book. Done [...]

And now your car can be hacked, so what are you gonna do?

Looks like your car is one dumb “hacker” kid away from careening into a pole, or, more comically, into a big bale of hay. Researchers have demonstrated how to take control of a car’s engine, brakes, and fiddle with the instruments. Is there anything you can do about this? Yeah, actually. The attacks require physical [...]

Can’t sleep? Turn off your iPad!

You’re an animal. You’re a living creature not too dissimilar from a chimpanzee—well, I guess chimps don’t wear sneakers—, and yet you constantly fight your natural instincts. Like, you’re meant to be awake, alert and on the ready, during the daytime. The moment the sun begins to set you should be winding down your day. [...]

Can’t sleep? Turn off your iPad!

You’re an animal. You’re a living creature not too dissimilar from a chimpanzee—well, I guess chimps don’t wear sneakers—, and yet you constantly fight your natural instincts. Like, you’re meant to be awake, alert and on the ready, during the daytime. The moment the sun begins to set you should be winding down your day. [...]

You can now watch UFC on your Roku box

UFC President Dana White believes the Internet is the future of television, so this Roku deal makes all kinds of sense. Beginning with next week’s pay-per-view, UFC 114, Roku owners will be able to stream live UFC events right to their TV. It’s in HD, too. Nothing but the best for you guys! In addition [...]

You can now watch UFC on your Roku box

UFC President Dana White believes the Internet is the future of television, so this Roku deal makes all kinds of sense. Beginning with next week’s pay-per-view, UFC 114, Roku owners will be able to stream live UFC events right to their TV. It’s in HD, too. Nothing but the best for you guys! In addition [...]

WebOS vulnerability found, patched by Palm in latest release

What to make of this WebOS exploit? It was discovered by the Intrepidus Group security firm, and it has to do with the way the operating system handles SMS messages. Basically, WebOS doesn’t perform a common security check on incoming SMS messages, meaning that any craftily formed SMS can essentially take out the entire phone. [...]

WWE Latest: Two years after App Store launch, WWE launches 1st iPhone App

It took WWE almost two years to release an iPhone App, but here we are. That’s right, today the company, which fancies itself as some sort of catch-all, cutting-edge entertainment juggernaut, has bequeathed upon the world WWE Latest [iTunes link], a 99 cent App for the iPhone and iPod touch. It’s fairly basic, but should [...]

GameCenter: Apple looks to emulate Microsoft’s success with Xbox Live-like video game community for iPhone

I guess Apple is serious about gaming now. It just announced, as one of its many iPhone “pillars,” the development of GameCenter, which our man on the scene, Greg Kumparak, described as “Xbox Live for the iPhone.” Match-making, leaderboards, achievement points, the works.

2.5 percent of the population can drive and use their phone at the same time. That means 97.5 percent can’t.

You don’t see The Stig driving and texting, do you? A new study from the University of Utah suggests that a very small percentage of people are able to drive safely while using a cellphone. The actual percentage, 2.5 percent of the population, isn’t high enough to affect policy, but it’s interesting nonetheless. Well, kinda. [...]

Video: WP7S (maybe) running on an HTC Touch Diamond

Real or fake? It’s a question often asked in the San Fernando Valley, and it’s been thrown around quite a bit lately with respect to videos purporting to show off the WP7S interface. Here is yet another such video, showing the interface on an HTC Touch Diamond. If, indeed, this is fake, may I ask [...]

TSA to track your cellphone signal to improve airport security waiting time

The Transportation Security Administration, ominously known as the TSA, wants to be able to track your cellphone while you go through airport security. It wants to do so in order to better understand how airport security lines work in order to streamline the process. That’s the official reason. We could always jump to conclusions and [...]

AppGate: App review sites ask for money in exhange for reviews

In the fine tradition of lazily naming any sort of controversy after Watergate, I hereby present AppGate. It seems that certain iPhone App developers are paying low-rent “review” sites for favorable reviews, thereby creating the false impression that their App is cool and everything. Wired gets the gold stat for unearthing this scandal, which has [...]

Get ready to lose your mind: Star Wars: Light Saber Duel iPhone App, now with Bluetooth

Oh man, strap yourself in for a complete mind-freak. THQ Wireless will release next month Star Wars: Light Saber Duel, an iPhone App that works with Bluetooth. You can see where this is going. Since it works with Bluetooth, you’ll be able to duel your other iPhone-owning friends. Adios, productivity. You can almost picture all [...]

What type of phone should a George Costanza buy?

As luck would have it, I’ll be in the market for a brand-new phone in the coming weeks. Terribly exciting, yes. But there’s a bit of a problem: the two “biggest” phones out there, the iPhone and all those Android-based ones, rub me the wrong way. Longtime readers will know that I’m fairly neurotic, sorta [...]

Bravo to Epic Games for porting Unreal Engine 3 to the iPhone

Don’t get mad at me—I wanted to go to GDC, but The Man said no. So now we’re relying on CNET to bring us word of Epic Games’ efforts to bring the Unreal Engine to the iPhone. You may not have even played Unreal for several years, but plenty of big games are based on [...]

AT&T wants to make sure your iPhone works at SXSW

Anyone who’s been to SXSW in the past few years, ever since the iPhone’s release, knows that the AT&T network absolutely explodes during the festival. Texts, if they ever make it through, take hours; calls are dropped at an alarming rate, even by AT&T standards; and Internet access is essentially impossible. It’s hard for AT&T [...]

Should mobile phones be subject to warrantless police search?

At what point do you consider something “unreasonable”? Let’s say you’re pulled over while speeding—do the police have the right to search your mobile phone? And let’s say they do, and they find other verboten material on the phone? Should you also be on the hook for that, on top of your speeding ticket? It’s [...]

Vodaphone’s $15 phone for the developing world

The mood in Barcelona must be somber, for the city’s team lost to Atletico Madrid yesterday. Granted, Atletico Madrid is Barcelona’s bogey team, but come on, Atletico Madrid?! Team CrunchGear could beat those guys on the pitch. Still, the Mobile World Congress soldiers on. Here’s something that caught my interest—something aside from Windows Phone!—is the [...]

In a stroke of genius, Vertu preps pink phone for Valentine’s Day

Vertu, French for “virtue,” has a pink phone just in time for Valentine’s Day. It’s the Constellation Ayxt, only it’s pink. Fascinating. There’s really not too much to say about the phone. It originally launched late last year, and it’s Vertu’s first “fold phone,” which surely must impress those of you living in the year [...]

Google working on smartphone software to automatically translate foreign languages into your native tongue

Now you’ll be able to understand what Zee Germans yell when they score a goal Check your calendar, friends, for the first time in a long time I was just wowed by a tech story. Google says it’s working on smartphone software that would automatically translate foreign languages into your native tongue. So, if you’re [...]

Sirius XM application now available for BlackBerry (but there’s no Howard Stern)

The Sirius XM application for BlackBerry is now available. It runs on the Storm/Storm 2, Curve (8500, 8900), Bold (9000, 9700), and Tour (9600). The application requires a Sirius XM subscription plus the additional online streaming feature, which costs $3 per month. There’s something like 120 channels available, chief among them, in my opinion, The [...]

Predictable rumor: Activision looking to bring DJ Hero to mobile platforms

The rumor: Activision is looking to bring DJ Hero to mobile devices. You can assume the iPhone would be among the platforms supported. The facts: DJ Hero didn’t do too well, but Activision put a hell of a lot of money into it, so it wants to make as much of that back as possible. [...]

Windows Mobile developers ask Microsoft: Where’s our money, kind sirs?

It’s the case of the missing money. Or, less dumb, it’s a case of nobody knowing what’s going on. Several Windows Mobile developers have complained loudly that they’re owed monies by Microsoft. Microsoft is all, “Don’t worry about it, we’ll get it sorted out,” but then doesn’t, in fact, sort it. The deal is that [...]

Baby crying again? Find out why with Cry Translator. If you want, no one’s forcing you or anything like that.

Crying baby? There’s an App for that! (Boo!) It’s called Cry Translator, and it takes the various shouts and screams of your baby and “translates” them to proper language. The App, which costs $17.99 $29.99 (sorry, got Pounds and Dollars mixed up), is the brainchild of a Spanish doctor. Anyhow, this all works because researchers [...]

How many times do you have to be burned by BlackBerry to consider your options?

What’s the phrase? Oh, yeah: Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. BlackBerry went down yesterday across North and South America. Users couldn’t send or receive e-mail, and some complained that they couldn’t connect to the Internet. It’s the second time in a week that BlackBerry has failed. Considering how [...]

Fennec, the mobile Firefox, is ‘days away’ from release for your Nokia N900

Fennec, Mozilla’s mobile version of Firefox, is “days away” from release. It will initially be available for the Nokia N900; don’t expect an iPhone version anytime soon. If all goes according to plan, the browser should be available before the end of the year. It’s been in development for a year and a half. What [...]

Maine may add warning labels to cellphones

Maine could well become the first state in the Union to require cellphone manufacturers to add a cigarette-like warning to cellphone packaging. The idea is to remind people that cellphones may be dangerous, and that you would do well to limit your exposure to them. Of course, for every study that comes out that says [...]