games

On Wednesday, San Francisco-based independent video game company Double Fine launched a $400,000 Kickstarter project to fund development of a retro point & click adventure video game. The Kickstarter project will also fund a documentary film team from 2 Player Productions. The filmmakers will document the entire game making process as it happens (for the exclusive enjoyment of project supporters).

The project reached its fundraising goal in a record 8 hours, and surpassed $1 million dollars in less than 24 hours. It missed being the first million dollar Kickstarter by just four hours though—The Elevation Dock, which we wrote about earlier this week, gained that distinction on Thursday afternoon. But the Double Fine project has now surpassed the Elevation Dock and is now the largest Kickstarter yet ($1,384,438 as of this writing). The folks over at Kickstarter watched all of this unfold with understandable excitement.

Over a six-to-eight month period, a small team under Tim Schafer’s supervision will develop Double Fine’s next game, a classic point-and-click adventure. Where it goes from there will unfold in real time for all the backers to see.

2 Player Productions will be documenting the creative process and releasing monthly video updates exclusively to the Kickstarter backers. This documentary series will strive to make the viewer as much a part of the process as possible by showing a game grow from start to finish, with all the passion, humor, and heartbreak that happens along the way.

via BetaBeat

anonymous, breach, cyber crime, cyber security, CyberCrime, CyberSecurity, hack, hacker, hacking, norton antivirus, NortonAntivirus, pcanywhere, symantec, theft

Symantec said that folks running its pcAnywhere utility were at an "increased risk" when it revealed that the company had been hacked and its source codes pilfered, and advised customers to stop using pcAnywhere for the time being. Sage advice, as a hacker with the handle YamaTough -- who's affiliated with Anonymous -- helped do the deed and has now published the code for all the world to see. Apparently, the hacker and hackee had attempted to broker a deal for $50,000 to keep the code private, but neither side negotiated in good faith -- YamaTough always intended to release the code, and law enforcement was doing the talking for Symantec to catch him and his hacking cohorts. The good news is, Symantec has released several patches to protect pcAnywhere users going forward. As for the stolen code for Norton Antivirus, Internet Security and other Symantec software? Well, the company's expecting it to be disclosed, too, but because the code is from 2006, customers with current versions can rest easy.

Hacker spites Symantec, puts pcAnywhere's source code out in the open originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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amd, arm, rory read, RoryRead, slate, tablet

Chipzilla has long been atop the PC chip manufacturing mountain, with AMD running a rather distant second. That's why AMD's new top man, Rory Read, plans to move the company in a more mobile direction. Speaking at the company's analyst day, Read stated that the chipmaker will focus on outflanking Intel in the tablet space and by growing its business in cloud computing and emerging markets like China (read: entry-level PCs and devices). As to whether AMD would venture into the smartphone space, Read was quite clear in stating that there were no plans to do so. But, he did make mention of being flexible when it came to chip architecture, including using 3rd party IP in developing new silicon -- so a switch to ARM may not be out of the question. How will AMD accomplish its new goals? By focusing on execution of its technology rather than trying to be on the bleeding edge -- sound familiar?

Continue reading AMD's new plan: focus on tablets, cloud computing and developing markets

AMD's new plan: focus on tablets, cloud computing and developing markets originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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credit card, credit cards, CreditCard, CreditCards, electronic payments, ElectronicPayments, emv, master card, MasterCard, mobile payments, MobilePayments, mobilepostcross, payment, payments, roadmap, smart card, SmartCard

It's been over fifteen years since MasterCard, Visa and Europay developed EMV technology to make your credit cards more secure, but it has yet to really catch on here in the US. However, MasterCard has created a master plan to help usher in the EMV era and sound the death knell for the magnetic strip. Why? The EMV infrastructure is far more fraud-resistant because each transaction is authenticated dynamically using cryptographic algorithms and a user-specific PIN. That's why MasterCard plans to help build out the EMV POS infrastructure by April of next year and have its secure e-payment system functioning at ATMs, online and with its myriad mobile payment options as well. For now, the nuts and bolts of how the credit card firm plans to bring its plan to fruition are few, but more details will be forthcoming, and there's a bit more info at the source and PR below.

Continue reading MasterCard reveals roadmap for our electronic payment future: EMV in, magnetic strips out

MasterCard reveals roadmap for our electronic payment future: EMV in, magnetic strips out originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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9 nanometers, 9Nanometers, 9nm, carbon, carbon nanotubes, CarbonNanotubes, IBM, moores law, MooresLaw, research, science, silicon, transistor

It's not the smallest transistor out there, but the boffins at IBM have constructed the tiniest carbon nanotube transistor to date. It's nine nanometers in size, making it one nanometer smaller than the presumed physical limit of silicon transistors. Plus, it consumes less power and is able to carry more current than present-day technology. The researchers accomplished the trick by laying a nanotube on a thin layer of insulation, and using a two-step process -- involving some sort of black magic, no doubt -- to add the electrical gates inside. The catch? (There's always a catch) Manufacturing pure batches of semiconducting nanotubes is difficult, as is aligning them in such a way that the transistors can function. So, it'll be some time before the technology can compete with Intel's 3D silicon, but at least we're one step closer to carbon-based computing.

IBM builds 9 nanometer carbon nanotube transistor, puts silicon on notice originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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3D, 3d camera, 3d rangefinder camera, 3dCamera, 3dRangefinderCamera, microsoft, pairing, patent, patent application, patent applications, PatentApplication, PatentApplications, patents, rangefinder, uspto, wireless

IBM may be the king of patents, and Apple's patent applications grace these pages rather frequently, but Microsoft's not one to rest on its IP laurels, either. A couple of newly published patents out of Redmond have made their way to the web: one for securely pairing wireless devices and one for 3D rangefinder camera technology. The pairing tech works via a direct connection between devices using Bluetooth or WiFi and an automated, two-step authentication process. First, a request is sent by an initiating handset and is authenticated by its target using an address book of recognized devices. Next, the two devices exchange encrypted security keys to cement their digital friendship, leaving you free to exchange your favorite episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 or latest LOLcat pictures with the greatest of ease.

Microsoft's other patent of interest is for "a 3D camera for determining distances to regions in a scene." That's not a new concept by any means, but this new bit of IP integrates all the functions of such an imager on a single chip. Essentially, it claims an image sensor, a light source to illuminate the scene being shot and a controller to gate the pixels on the sensor on and off and correct for inaccuracies caused by other light sources. It works by projecting the light source and determining the distance to various points based upon the time it takes for the light to bounce off the target and reach the camera sensor. Want to know more? You can haz all the patent particulars at the source links below.

Microsoft patents method for secure pairing of devices wirelessly and a 3D rangefinder camera originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 06:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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data, decrypt, Dulce, encrypted, federal judge, Fifth Amendment

A federal judge has ruled that a Colorado woman can be compelled to decrypt her encrypted laptop so that the police can inspect it for incriminating evidence. The woman, Ramona Fricosu, is a defendant in a mortgage scam case. She had argued that the Fifth amendment’s privilege against self-incrimination protected her from having to disclose the password to her hard drive, which was encrypted using PGP Desktop. Read More…

cooling, gallium arsenide, GalliumArsenide, laser, lasers, niels bohr institute, NielsBohrInstitute, optomechanics, quantum physics, QuantumPhysics, research, science, Semiconductor, semiconductors, University of Copenhagen, UniversityOfCopenhagen

Ah, lasers. Those wonderful, super intense beams of light that we've seen used in headlights, projectors, and naturally, death rays. Like us, researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen figure there's nothing lasers can't do, and have figured out a way to use them to cool a bit of semiconducting material. This bit of black magic works using a membrane made of gallium arsenide and is based upon principles of quantum physics and optomechanics (the interaction between light and mechanical motion).

Turns out, when a one millimeter square membrane of gallium arsenide is placed parallel to a mirror in a vacuum chamber and bombarded with a laser beam, an optical resonator is created between them that oscillates the membrane. As the distance between the gallium arsenide and the mirror changes, so do the membrane's oscillations. And, at a certain frequency, the membrane is cooled to minus 269 degrees Celsius -- despite the fact that the membrane itself is being heated by the laser. So, lasers can both heat things up and cool them down simultaneously, and if that confuses you as much as it does us, feel free to dig into the science behind this paradoxical bit of research at the source below. In other news, left is right, up is down, and Eli Manning is a beloved folk hero to all Bostonians.

Researchers use lasers to supercool semiconductor membranes, blow your mind originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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arrest, Dulce, dulce303, file sharing, Huffington Post, PIPA, piracy, shutdown, SOPA, video

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand police raided several homes and businesses linked to the founder of Megaupload.com, a giant Internet file-sharing site shut down by U.S. authorities, on Friday and seized guns, millions of dollars, and nearly $5 million in luxury cars, officials said… Read More.

Megaupload Team Detained in NZ.

Design, digital media, Dulce, graphic design, information design, network, thesis, vimeo

Network from Michael Rigley on Vimeo.

Information technology has become a ubiquitous presence. By visualizing the processes that underlie our interactions with this technology we can trace what happens to the information we feed into the network.

BFA Thesis
CCA Graphic Design