If you really wanted to go out of your way, it’s definitely possible to make your own Raspberry Pi-powered NES Classic. But for most, that cute and convenient little package by Nintendo is the best way to go. That’s why using this hack to load ROMs onto the new-retro device is a gift from the gaming gods. Read more…
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This Hack Might Unlock Your NES Classic or Brick It
Windows 10 is installed on 24.5% of devices — but that’s only half the story. “Apple’s Mac share of personal computers worldwide fell to a five-year low in December, ” reports Computerworld, adding that Linux and Windows “both benefited, with increases of around a half percentage point during 2016.” An anonymous reader quotes their report: According to web analytics vendor Net Applications, Apple’s desktop and notebook operating system — formerly OS X, now macOS — powered just 6.1% of all personal computers last month, down from 7% a year ago and a peak of 9.6% as recently as April 2016… The Mac’s 6.1% user share in December was the lowest mark recorded by Net Applications since August 2011, more than five years ago… In October, the company reported sales of 4.9 million Macs for the September quarter, a 14% year-over-year decline and the fourth straight quarterly downturn. Apple’s sales slide during the past 12 months has been steeper than for the personal computer industry as a whole, according to industry researchers from IDC and Gartner, a 180-degree shift from the prior 30 or so quarters, when the Mac’s growth rate repeatedly beat the business average. Apple’s success through 2016 was “fueled by Microsoft’s stumbles with Windows 8 and a race-to-the-bottom mentality among rival OEMs, ” according to the article, which also notes that the user share for Linux exceeded 2% in June, and reached 2.3% by November. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Apple’s Share of PC Users Drops To A Five-Year Low
There was no doubt Nintendo’s miniature NES Classic Edition was going to be a hit , especially around the holiday season. The affordable retro console hit all the right nostalgic notes, but there’s a consensus Nintendo missed a trick by omitting any way to add new games to the system beyond the 30 preinstalled titles. Also, it shouldn’t be that hard — the mini NES is just an emulator in a pretty package, after all. Well, leave it up to the internet to do what Nintendo wouldn’t. The modding community has successfully cooked up ways to load additional games onto the system, and all you need is a PC and a micro-USB cable. Though no specialist equipment is required, a certain amount of technical knowhow is recommended. A post on the NESClassicmods subreddit links to an English translation of a method discovered by a Russian hacker (a Japanese modder has also published a guide) if you’re confident enough to give it a try. But be warned, you could irreparably fry the little console if anything goes wrong. The step-by-step is a little complex, but if you’re interested, you first need to have created a save file in Super Mario Bros. Then you have to hook the console up to a PC and boot it into special “FEL” mode while running an interfacing tool on your computer. You then have to copy data off the mini NES, unpack it, modify it, add any game ROMs you’ve downloaded — most of which are illegal if you don’t own the original cartridge, just FYI — before zipping it all back up again and overwriting the data on the console with this new package. The added games should then be listed in the regular UI if everything went to plan. It’s not the simplest of hacks and as it’s early days, there’s no definitive list of what ROMs will work (or not) when side-loaded onto the NES Classic Edition. But apparently, storage isn’t an issue, with the bravest of souls reporting smooth sailing after adding tens of extra titles to the little box. While the modding community is adding longevity to the NES Classic Edition, perhaps even persuading more people to give the hardware a look, Nintendo might have something to say about these hacking efforts. The company is notorious for taking issue with anything outside of its control, whether that be using its hardware in unintended ways or fan-made homages to classic characters . Via: Ars Technica Source: Reddit (NESClassicmods)
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Nintendo mini NES modders figure out how to add new games
If you had trouble visiting explicit websites in the last few days, the fault may have come from an unexpected source: Iran. According to a new report from The Verge , a recent attempt to block pornography websites in the country’s borders hampered access in Russia, Hong Kong and other nations in the region. What happened? Apparently, Iran’s national telecom abused the honor system. The issue is an ancient, insecure and essential part of the internet called Border Gateway Protocol. It’s a commonly used method service provider use to exchange and distribute routing information — the insturctions your computer uses to find web addresses. The only problem is that BGP kind of works on the honor system : there’s no standard in place to stop someone from putting forth a false routing path and taking a site down. It happened in 2008, when Pakistan accidental blocked YouTube . Turkey once filtered the majority of traffic from Amazon, Microsoft, CNN and other sites through its own servers. When Iran used BGP to spoof traffic away from a few hundred porn sites, the false routes spread — blocking users as far away as Hong Kong. It’s not clear if it’s an honest mistake, or if the wider blocking was intentional, but it also wasn’t a careful solution. Iran’s networks are a major routing center for the region, and it’s easy for malicious or false BGP data to spread from Iran’s sources. The issue is mostly resolved down, with exterior networks blocking the false routes — but the event serves as a good reminder: the internet is fragile, and open to attack. Browse carefully, my friends. Source: Verge
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Iran censored porn so hard it broke the internet in Hong Kong