kenmay

Engineer Combines Xbox One, PS4 Into Epic ‘PlayBox’ Laptop

MojoKid writes We can finally stop arguing over which is the superior game console, the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. Quite frankly, it’s a pointless debate, and it took a self-taught engineer to put the argument to rest, which he did by combining both game systems into a 22-inch laptop. Meet the “PlayBox, ” a gaming laptop that’s equal parts Xbox One and PS4 rolled into one. The PlayBox wins the argument because it allows you to play games on either system, and when it comes down to it, the ability to play games is all that matters. Built for a “specific customer, ” the owner of this prototype system needn’t worry about exclusives since he now has a system that can play them all, and do it while taking up no more space than a single console. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Engineer Combines Xbox One, PS4 Into Epic ‘PlayBox’ Laptop

Google drops more Windows 0-days. Something’s gotta give

Google’s security researchers have published another pair of Windows security flaws that Microsoft hasn’t got a fix for, continuing the disagreement between the companies about when and how to disclose security bugs. The first bug affects Windows 7 only and results in minor information disclosure. Microsoft says, and Google agrees, that this does not meet the threshold for a fix. Windows 8 and up don’t suffer the same issue. The second bug is more significant. In certain situations, Windows doesn’t properly check the user identity when performing cryptographic operations, which results in certain shared data not being properly encrypted. Microsoft has developed a fix for this bug, and it was originally scheduled for release this past Tuesday. However, the company discovered a compatibility issue late in testing, and so the fix has been pushed to February. Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Google drops more Windows 0-days. Something’s gotta give

Hatred gets Adults Only rating, making console, Steam release unlikely

Third person spree-killing simulator Hatred has been given an Adults only (AO) rating from ESRB, the video game ratings board in the US and Canada. The rating was disclosed by one of the game’s developers on its official forum , which expressed surprise that the title did not get the more lenient Mature (M) rating, writing “Well, I’m not quite convinced why Hatred got AO rating while it lacks any sexual content, but it’s still some kind of achievement to have the second game in history getting AO rating for violence and harsh language only.” Hatred is in fact the third game to receive an AO rating for violence alone, with both Thrill Kill and Manhunt 2 also receiving that evaluation. Thrill Kill , however, had its release cancelled after Electronic Arts bought its publisher and objected to its content. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Hatred gets Adults Only rating, making console, Steam release unlikely

Damn, Another Arm-Sized Bolt Fell Off London’s Cheesegrater Tower

The Cheesegrater is a beautiful glass wedge of a building that rises over 700 feet into the London skyline. It unfortunately has some safety problems. This week, its owners revealed that a third bolt of high-strength steel snapped because of “hydrogen embrittlement”—an obscure term, but one that ” causes fear among engineers .” Read more…

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Damn, Another Arm-Sized Bolt Fell Off London’s Cheesegrater Tower

Steam For Linux Bug Wipes Out All of a User’s Files

An anonymous reader sends a report of a bug in Steam’s Linux client that will accidentally wipe all of a user’s files if they move their Steam folder. According to the bug report: I launched steam. It did not launch, it offered to let me browse, and still could not find it when I pointed to the new location. Steam crashed. I restarted it. It re-installed itself and everything looked great. Until I looked and saw that steam had apparently deleted everything owned by my user recursively from the root directory. Including my 3tb external drive I back everything up to that was mounted under /media. Another user reported a similar problem — losing his home directory — and problems with the script were found: at some point, the Steam script sets $STEAMROOT as the directory containing all Steam’s data, then runs rm -rf “$STEAMROOT/”* later on. If Steam has been moved, $STEAMROOT returns as empty, resulting in rm -rf “/”* which causes the unexpected deletion. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Steam For Linux Bug Wipes Out All of a User’s Files

HMV overtakes Amazon to become the UK’s biggest seller of physical music

Two years ago, British high-street retailer HMV was staring bankruptcy in the face . It was subsequently picked up by administration specialist Hilco , which immediately set about reversing the company’s fortunes. As a result of cost-cutting measures, HMV was forced to sell its iconic Oxford Street store and place a renewed focus on what made it popular: selling music. It certainly seems like it’s paid off, because the company has just reclaimed the number one spot as the UK’s biggest seller of physical music, overtaking Amazon in the process. CityAM reports that the company’s vinyl sales reached their highest level in over 20 years, jumping 170 percent over the past year. And in the two weeks leading up to Christmas, it was responsible for selling one in every three CDs and DVDs in the UK. It’s certainly been a good year for HMV, especially after it announced that all of its stores are now profitable. It now faces the challenge of sustaining that growth while competition continues to heat up, something that GAME has admitted is taking its toll on profits as it slashes its margins. However, the company is confident — 2015 looks set to be a bumper year for movie releases and it believes DVD, BluRay and physical music sales will continue to grow over the next 12 months. It might have the hipsters to thank for that. [Image credit: Mark Hooper, Flickr ] Filed under: HD , Amazon Comments Source: CityAM

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HMV overtakes Amazon to become the UK’s biggest seller of physical music

This New Website Lets You Hire a Hacker in Minutes

Need to do some digital breaking-and-entering but don’t really have the skills? Don’t worry: Hacker’s List provides a space for you to find your dream hacker, ready to undertake your computer crimes for you Read more…

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This New Website Lets You Hire a Hacker in Minutes

Google now displays links which will take you directly to tickets on AXS, Ticketfly and Ticketmaster

Google now displays links which will take you directly to tickets on AXS, Ticketfly and Ticketmaster when you search for a band playing a specific venue. Which could save you seconds. Read more…

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Google now displays links which will take you directly to tickets on AXS, Ticketfly and Ticketmaster

This is what happens when you launch a rocket under a frozen lake

I love my Swedes, especially when they get crazy. I’m not so sure about launching fireworks rockets under the ice of a frozen lake. That’s just dumb. Fun, but dumb. Go home and leave the fish alone, Swedes. You are drunk. Read more…

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This is what happens when you launch a rocket under a frozen lake

Decay and Demolition Inside a Dying Cement Factory

The first cement factory in Hungary has reached its sorry end. The monstrous industrial complex of Lábatlan was established by Balázs Konkoly-Thege on the right bank of river Danube in 1868, and in the very beginning, Roman cement was made here in a wood-fueled 16 chamber furnace. Today, the factory is a lovely ruin—which I visited to document before it’s demolished. Read more…

Ken May

Author: kenmay