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Saturday, December 31, 2011
Photo: Jon Fitch wrestles referee after UFC 141 knockout
Johny Hendricks scored a 12-second knockout of Jon Fitch at UFC 141 on Friday night. When Fitch came to, he thought he was still fighting and tried to wrestle referee Steve Mazzagatti.
If Fitch was facing Mazzagatti, he would have had a nice start on the round. Unfortunately, he had already lost.
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Friday, December 30, 2011
GolfWorldUS: More on Luke Donald, Yani Tseng and Tom Lehman winning the Golf Writers POY Awards: http://t.co/UtsijeqY
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More on Luke Donald, Yani Tseng and Tom Lehman winning the Golf Writers POY Awards: bit.ly/tBPkse 
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Thursday, December 29, 2011
6 Game-Changing Digital Journalism Events of 2011 (Mashable)
The year 2011 brought extraordinary progress for online journalism. From breaking news curation to new revenue models, many an organization put its best digital foot forward. Social media became more tightly integrated into reporting and overall strategy, while mobile app creation and content optimization were no longer a nice-to-have, but a must.
[More from Mashable: Man Uses Google+ Game to Propose to Girlfriend [VIDEO]]
These trends are quickly shaping the young and agile web news industry. As journalists redefine themselves with new tools and skill sets, they're reinvigorating a business that just a few years ago was written off as doomed.
Here's a look at six moves with the biggest impact on digital journalism this year.
[More from Mashable: Osama bin Laden?s Death is AOL?s Top Story of 2011]
1. Paywalls Find Their Footing
If 2010 was the year of the paywall, 2011 was the year the paywall worked. News organizations stopped using "our content is worth paying for" as a sole rationale, and began strategically providing value for their online content.
While the The New York Times's strategy was much-criticized when it launched in March, it has since turned a profit. The Minneapolis Star Tribune made an estimated $800,000 in digital circulation revenue during its first month of having a paywall, despite a 10-15% decline in web traffic. For both papers, tying online access to print subscriptions has been key to success. The Strib saw nearly 20% of its new digital subscribers also buy a Sunday subscription, while The Times said 800,000 print subscribers have linked their accounts for digital access.
These paywall models have shown the potential for creating dedicated digital subscriber bases that advertisers could eventually pay more for.
2. Andy Carvin Becomes an Icon
The Arab Spring was undoubtedly one of 2011's biggest news events -- and its main newsman comes in right behind it. When the Tunisian uprisings began last winter, Andy Carvin's duties as NPR's senior strategist took a backseat while his Twitter account became a one-man newswire dedicated to the culminating situation in the Middle East. He paired his knowledge of and contacts in the region to curate the best and most accurate information tweeted from the ground.
What set Carvin apart was not only his volume of tweets -- his record is 1,200 tweets in 48 hours, according to The Guardian -- but also his recognition of fellow Twitter users as experts. He wouldn't hesitate to tweet unverified information and ask his Twitter followers to help him determine its accuracy.
For the journalism community, Carvin proved the value of social newsgathering and its ability to complement rather than replace traditional reporting.
3. Journalists Flock to Google+
Google kickstarted digital journalists' biggest love affair of 2011 when it launched social network Google+ in June. Many were quick to sign on and explore the platform's potential for news gathering, reporting and audience building.
New Jersey newspaper The Trentonian was lauded as the first to use Google+ for breaking news after its producers found a key source in a breaking news story via her comment on the paper's Google+ page. For Missouri's KOMU-TV, it was a social breakthrough when reporter Sarah Hill began integrating Hangouts into live TV broadcasts. She would give Hangout viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the newsroom and then interview Hangout participants on-air.
While interest in Google+ has waned since its launch, news organizations' initial enthusiasm shows a desire to expand to communities beyond Twitter and Facebook. As the social media landscape continues to grow, this early adopter mentality will be crucial to web journalism success.
4. Mobile Gets Competitive
Though the necessity for a mobile presence was recognized far before 2011, news organizations showed a new commitment to smartphone and tablet apps this year.
News Corp took its chances with a mobile-first strategy when it launched iPad-only newspaper The Daily in February, while Betaworks's News.me came on the scene in mid-April. Both much-hyped efforts flopped, in part because free social news reading apps, such as Flipboard and Pulse, were already widely used on tablets.
In arguably the biggest mobile move by a news organization, CNN acquired iPad app Zite in August. KC Estenson, CNN?s general manager of digital, told Mashable that Zite's technology would help improve CNN's digital properties and help it serve more personalized content.
There are now so many news apps, Apple felt compelled to launch Newsstand, a digital repository for magazine and newspaper apps. With an increasingly massive pool of apps, news organizations will need to find their own competitive edge in the mobile news market.
5. Facebook Makes Personal Branding Easier
Since Facebook Subscribe rolled out in September, journalists have been using the tool as a personal branding and content distribution opportunity. While Facebook fan pages have long been common for recognizable names like Nicholas Kristof, Subscribe gave lesser-known journalists a way to connect with readers on a larger scale.
For some journalists, the switch from using Facebook as a personal network to a public forum has been a challenge. Others are embracing the platform's change by openly offering subscribers a look at not only their work but their lives.
Establishing a bonafide web presence is becoming essential for journalists who aim to become thought leaders in their coverage areas. Taking it beyond professionalism and showing personality adds to journalists' appeal because it makes them more relatable. Moving forward, they'll become more open about what they share on social networks, showing that they're not just journalists, but people too.
6. The Pulitzer Goes Digital
The Pulitzer Board announced earlier this month it had revised its Breaking News category criteria to emphasize real-time reporting. This is the ultimate recognition that web journalism has come into its own.
Under the new set of guidelines, ?it would be disappointing if an event occurred at 8 a.m. and the first item in an entry was drawn from the next day?s newspaper,? said to the board. In other words, the web is crucial to alerting a community about a breaking news event.
The Pulitzer Board's gesture sets a precedent for future breaking news coverage. The recognition of web reporting's importance by such a well-respected journalism entity will inspire more news organizations to invest in digital reporting -- if they haven't already.
What This Means for 2012
After an incredible year of news events and milestones, online journalism in 2012 has a tough act to follow. We can certainly expect more successes and more failures when it comes to business models and mobile strategies. News organizations will clamor to be the first on new social networks -- they're already flocking to pinboard site Pinterest. Journalists will connect further with their individual followers, and the 2012 Breaking News Pulitzer winner will have done a great service to its community via the Internet.
While we can only guess what the future of digital journalism holds, 2011 paved a strong path, leaving us hopeful and confident that the best has yet to come.
Image courtesy of Flickr, personaldemocracy
This story originally published on Mashable here.
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White Epic 4G Touch to grace Sprint come January, proves your wildest dreams can come true
White Epic 4G Touch to grace Sprint come January, proves your wildest dreams can come true originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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LG Announces Android 4.0 Device Updates (NewsFactor)
Android smartphones made by LG Corp. will gain the much-awaited Ice Cream Sandwich update in the next few months, somewhat later than Samsung's phones. Both rival companies are based in Seoul, South Korea.
Samsung released the first device to run Android 4.0 this fall, with the U.S. version hitting stores on Dec. 14, and the company said it will update other devices, including the Galaxy R and Galaxy S II smartphones and Galaxy Tab and Note tablets early next year.
All Scream For Ice Cream
Last week Sony announced its intention to bring 4.0 to its Arc S, Neo V and Ray in late March or early April, followed by the Active, Arc, Mini, Mini Pro, Neo, Play and Xperia Pro handsets, Engadget reported.
Not to be left out, LG announced its plans on the day after Christmas.
"LG will be offering the Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) OS upgrade for a range of LG smart-phones which were introduced this year," the company said on its Facebook page. "The global upgrade schedule will begin in the second and third quarters of 2012, which will be followed by a global rollout."
The first handsets to be Ice-Creamed are the LG Optimus LTE, Prada phone by LG 3.0, the LG Optimus 2X, the LG Optimus Sol, the LG myTouch Q and the LG Eclipse. Next up in the third quarter are: the LG Optimus 3D, the LG Optimus Black, the LG Optimus Big, the LG Optimus Q2 and the LG Optimus EX.
The company cautioned that although it is "taking all possible measure[s] to offer a smooth OS upgrade in a timely manner," start dates can vary by market because of limitations by country, carrier and model. Updates are a mixed bag for manufacturers as they allow devices already sold to be more functional and popular, but that also cuts the rationale for upgrades. Carriers are happy with updates because switching devices can also mean switching service.
All versions of Android are alphabetically code-named for desserts, with the most recent predecessors being Frozen Yogurt, Gingerbread and Honeycomb. Ice Cream Sandwich promises a redesigned interface with better multitasking, notifications, Wi-Fi hotspot, and near-field communications support for quick mobile payments and data sharing.
Front Row Seat
Samsung's cozy relationship with Google as its partner in the flagship Nexus phone means that it will likely have a front row seat for updates for some time to come, and it may also be the partner in an expected Google-branded tablet device coming to market in the first half of the year.
"Samsung...seems to be the only vendor willing to go toe to toe with Apple in retail markets and the courtroom," said Charles King, principal analyst of Pund-IT, referring to the messy legal battles over patents the two giants are waging. "That, plus Samsung's enviable leadership position in Asian markets that virtually every vendor (particularly Apple) wants a piece of, makes the company a prime Android partner."
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20111226/bs_nf/81532
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Over The Monster :: 2011 Red Sox Community Projections: Clay Buchholz And What Could Have Been
If there's one man who could have made the difference for the Red Sox this past year, it was Clay Buchholz.
It's hard to say the end of Buchholz' season came suddenly. After all, while he pitched his last game on June 16, it wasn't until much later that the severity of his injury would become clear. As a result, Red Sox fans were left waiting for a savior, hoping for a return that would never come.
In his shortened season, Buchholz was not the sort of world-beater that he proved to be in 2010. He was, however, exactly what the Sox needed in September: a solid starter capable of keeping the team in the game. Hopefully we'll get something similar when he returns in 2012.
| Wins | Losses | ERA | WHIP | K/9 | BB/9 | |
| Clay Buchholz | 6 | 3 | 3.48 | 1.29 | 6.53 | 3.38 |
Your projections after the jump.
| Username | W | L | ERA | WHIP | K/9 | BB/9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BobZupcic | 14 | 9 | 3.41 | 1.22 | 7.80 | 3.20 |
| ThePanda | 17 | 6 | 3.20 | 1.20 | 8.00 | 3.30 |
| Rogue Nine | 16 | 8 | 3.24 | 1.27 | 7.50 | 3.40 |
| Justin_Bobo | 20 | 6 | 3.04 | 1.24 | 7.40 | 2.90 |
| dsharp | 17 | 7 | 3.23 | 1.32 | 6.90 | 3.60 |
| Zachary Kolodin | 15 | 8 | 3.68 | 1.37 | 7.60 | 3.40 |
| Tarrsk | 14 | 8 | 3.57 | 1.29 | 7.20 | 3.40 |
| GroundRuleTriple90 | 15 | 7 | 3.42 | 1.24 | 7.70 | 3.20 |
| RSNexile | 17 | 8 | 3.30 | 1.25 | 6.65 | 3.30 |
| Nuthinboutnuthin | 18 | 7 | 3.44 | 1.26 | 7.37 | 3.14 |
| Redsox15 | 15 | 6 | 3.49 | 1.36 | 7.14 | 3.38 |
| Steve Boyle | 12 | 9 | 3.75 | 1.25 | 6.53 | 3.45 |
| Gizmosandy | 13 | 10 | 3.89 | 1.36 | 7.10 | 3.00 |
| BoldandBrash | 15 | 6 | 3.47 | 1.25 | 7.43 | 3.50 |
| Drabidea | 17 | 8 | 3.55 | 1.25 | 7.25 | 3.20 |
| AlohaSox | 20 | 8 | 3.23 | 1.22 | 7.25 | 2.75 |
| Christopher P | 17 | 8 | 2.95 | 1.34 | 6.85 | 3.56 |
| Mattsullivan | 16 | 7 | 3.48 | 1.31 | 7.23 | 3.35 |
| PI1166 | 19 | 5 | 3.14 | 1.21 | 7.95 | 3.10 |
| Totheights | 18 | 6 | 3.11 | 1.34 | 7.00 | 3.08 |
| Jcorye1 | 16 | 6 | 3.25 | 1.22 | 7.30 | 2.85 |
| Marisa Ingemi | 16 | 7 | 2.97 | 1.13 | 7.90 | 2.95 |
| Brogshan | 16 | 7 | 3.84 | 1.18 | 7.85 | 3.24 |
| Buccaz | 18 | 7 | 3.22 | 1.18 | 6.84 | 3.02 |
| mmmmm | 15 | 8 | 3.44 | 1.21 | 8.00 | 3.20 |
| Outofleftfield | 17 | 6 | 3.39 | 1.21 | 8.80 | 2.60 |
| Remembering9ergods | 21 | 6 | 2.65 | 1.23 | 8.20 | 2.70 |
| Theartolater | 13 | 12 | 4.35 | 1.34 | 7.80 | 2.50 |
| Alfredo | 18 | 8 | 3.37 | 1.28 | 8.40 | 2.90 |
| QW | 17 | 5 | 3.32 | 1.25 | 6.50 | 3.15 |
| Royredd87 | 17 | 3.12 | 1.30 | 8.10 | 2.70 |
A solid amount of yellow and red considering that the typically easy hits were thrown out the window. MattSullivan is the clear winner, and given what he was right on, likely also a witch. Burn him? Burn him!
Source: http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=3415897&src=rss
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jmgall: Une pochette pour iPad flanqu?e du logo d?Aperture http://t.co/a0jc9usy Gizmodo.fr #gizmodobuzz #ipad2 #portal
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Une pochette pour iPad flanqu?e du logo d?Aperture goo.gl/fb/RfPFZ Gizmodo.fr #gizmodobuzz #ipad2 #portal 
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Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Nigerians Fear More Violence After Church Attacks
Enlarge Sunday Aghaeze/AFP/Getty Images People gather around burnt cars near St. Theresa Catholic Church after a bomb blast in the Madala Zuba district of Nigeria's capital Abuja on Christmas Day.
Sunday Aghaeze/AFP/Getty ImagesPeople gather around burnt cars near St. Theresa Catholic Church after a bomb blast in the Madala Zuba district of Nigeria's capital Abuja on Christmas Day.
In the chaos after the Christmas terror attack on a Catholic church, one mortally wounded man cradled his wounded stomach and begged a priest for religious atonement. "Father, pray for me. I will not survive," he said.
At least 35 people died at St. Theresa Catholic Church and dozens were wounded as radical Muslim militants launched coordinated attacks across Africa's most populous nation within hours of one another. Four more people were killed in other violence blamed on the group known as Boko Haram.
It was the second year in a row that the extremists seeking to install Islamic Shariah law across the country of 160 million have staged Christmas attacks. Last year, a series of bombings on Christmas Eve killed 32 people in Nigeria.
On Monday, crowds gathered among the burned-out cars in the dirt parking lot, angry over the attack and fearful that the group will target more churches.
Rev. Father Christopher Jataudarde told The Associated Press that Sunday's blast happened as church officials gave parishioners white powder as part of a tradition celebrating the birth of Christ. Some already had left the church at the time of the bombing, causing the massive casualties.
At least 52 people were wounded in the attack, said Slaku Luguard, a coordinator with Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency. Victims filled the cement floors of a nearby government hospital, some crying in pools of their own blood.
Pope Benedict XVI denounced the bombing at his post-Christmas blessing Monday, urging people to pray for the victims and Nigeria's Christian community.
"In this moment, I want to repeat once again with force: Violence is a path that leads only to pain, destruction and death. Respect, reconciliation and love are the only path to peace," he said.
The African Union also condemned the attacks and pledged to support Nigeria in its fight against terrorism.
"Boko Haram's continued acts of terror and cruelty and absolute disregard for human life cannot be justified by any religion or faith," said a statement attributed to AU commission chairman Jean Ping.
On Sunday, a bomb also exploded amid gunfire in the central Nigeria city of Jos and a suicide car bomber attacked the military in the nation's northeast. Three people died in those assaults.
After the bombings, a Boko Haram spokesman using the nom de guerre Abul-Qaqa claimed responsibility for the attacks in an interview with The Daily Trust, the newspaper of record across Nigeria's Muslim north. The sect has used the newspaper in the past to communicate with public.
"There will never be peace until our demands are met," the newspaper quoted the spokesman as saying. "We want all our brothers who have been incarcerated to be released; we want full implementation of the Sharia system and we want democracy and the constitution to be suspended."
Boko Haram has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria. The group, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, is responsible for at least 504 killings this year alone, according to an Associated Press count.
Last year, a series of Christmas Eve bombings in Jos claimed by the militants left at least 32 dead and 74 wounded. The group also claimed responsibility for the Aug. 26 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria's capital Abuja that killed 24 people and wounded 116 others.
While initially targeting enemies via hit-and-run assassinations from the back of motorbikes after the 2009 riot, violence by Boko Haram now has a new sophistication and apparent planning that includes high-profile attacks with greater casualties.
That has fueled speculation about the group's ties as it has splintered into at least three different factions, diplomats and security sources say. They say the more extreme wing of the sect maintains contact with terror groups in North Africa and Somalia.
Targeting Boko Haram has remained difficult, as sect members are scattered throughout northern Nigeria and the nearby countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
Analysts say political considerations also likely play a part in the country's thus-far muted response: President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the south, may be hesitant to use force in the nation's predominantly Muslim north.
Speaking late Sunday at a prayer service, Jonathan described the bombing as an "ugly incident."
"There is no reason for these kind of dastardly acts," the president said in a ceremony aired by the state-run Nigerian Television Authority. "It's one of the burdens as a nation we have to carry. We believe it will not last forever."
Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/12/26/144289502/nigerians-fear-more-violence-after-church-attacks?ft=1&f=
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Looking Back On Sports? Movers, Makers, And Video Gamers In 2011
A walk-on running back; a dad who couldn?t tell his kids what he did; a fat kid who started going to the gym and never stopped. A guy who came to know his sport?s greatest venue in ways some champions never will. The top man at sports video gaming?s dominant publisher, and a college student who considers himself a ?virtual athlete,? watching every out from his wheelchair.
Stick Jockey, the sports video game column of Kotaku, brought to you more than two dozen stories in 2011 those who play video games, those who make them, and all who are fans. These are my 10 most favourite.
Tecmo Bowl?s Still Running After Touching Down at 20
Twenty years after its Christmastime release, Tecmo Super Bowl, the progenitor of modern simulation sports gaming, still runs strong. Tecmo Super Bowl retains not only a simplicity of design but simplicity of play. Or at least its illusion. ?Everybody who played this game as a kid thought they were the best at it,? said Wisconsin attorney Chet Holzbauer. ?Everyone has a group of friends that, if they were the best in that group, they thought there was no way anyone else could be better than them.?
The Rest of the Story: Holzbauer runs the Madison Tecmo Tournament, what is likely the largest Tecmo Super Bowl tournament in the world. Scheduled for March 3, it has already maxed out its 128-player field and is accepting registrants for alternate slots should any of them drop out. Matt Knobbe?s TecmoBowl.org remains current with the modern game, publishing modified rosters and cutting Tecmo-ized highlights of current players and their feats. This sweet Tecmo Tim Tebow shirt can be yours for $US18. More ?
The Lockout?s End Brings Peace to NBA 2K?s Holiday Season
Following the most decorated entry in a widely acclaimed series, NBA 2K12 released under the cloud of a lockout that stretched to five months before the league?s players and owners reached a new labour agreement. The work stoppage pinched the game?s ?NBA Today? mode, as well as the inclusion of rookies, whose absence was most glaring from features like the ?My Player? career mode. 2K Sports soldiered on, and the cloud lifted on Nov. 27.
The Rest of the Story: The NBA tips off with five games tomorrow, and NBA 2K12 rebooted some of its promotional efforts to capture enthusiasm for basketball?s return. You can see simulations of all five season openers here. Tomorrow, NBA 2K12 producer Erick Boenisch will be in Oakland to see the Golden State Warriors take on Chris Paul and the new-look Los Angeles Clippers; Jason Argent, 2K Sports? vice president of marketing, will sneak away from his mom?s Palm Springs home to wsee the Lakers play the Bulls/
More ?
Chaotic Conference Alignments Scramble College Football?s Video Game, Too
The spasms caused by major conferences? realignment provided endless water cooler and talk radio fodder for college football fans. EA Sports? Ben Haumiller has taken every development with the curiosity and intrigue of a diehard college football fan, and the headache and worry of someone whose job is made easier by league stability. Haumiller?s helming NCAA Football 13, which may yet have to account for a 22-team superconference, and could also see 11th-hour changes to the membership of the Big East and Big 12. ?Every time Joe Schad at ESPN reports this team is moving to this conference, this really means we?ve got more work to do,? Haumiller said. ?It?s not just the part of your brain that goes, as a college football fan, hey, that?s interesting. You?re also thinking, alright, gotta write that down and get started on it as soon as possible.?
The Rest of the Story: There are no profound developments in conference realignment yet, leaving the proposed Mountain West/Conference USA alliance up in the air, as well as West Virginia?s departure for the Big 12, which is the subject of a lawsuit. Haumiller, a Florida State alumnus, was on the sideline at Doak Campbell Stadium for this year?s No. 1 vs. No. 5 matchup of Oklahoma and Florida State, both as a fan and in a professional capacity (gathering audio for use in NCAA 13. At E3, he routed Snoop Dogg head to head in a matchup of Oregon vs. USC. More ?
How EA Sports Kept Loose Lips from Sinking Blitz
A veil of secrecy kept the reveal of NFL Blitz an almost perfect October surprise for EA Sports. For 18 months, producer Jeff Ross couldn?t even tell his kids what he was working on, lest one of them say something to a friend at school and word spread to the Internet. The game was originally submitted to the ESRB under the fictitious title ?Madden Playbook Creator? to avoid suspicion.
The Rest of the Story: Blitz is on track for a Jan 4 release on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. Unfortunately, the NFL clamped down on some features that gamers remembered from Blitz?s earlier incarnations, such as late hits. Still, Ross promises that the game will still deliver ?over-the-top, fast arcade action with big hits and guys catching on fire? when it arrives. More ?
Madden Veterans Trade Hard-Hitting Action for Facebook Strategy
Earlier this year, a dozen veterans of EA Sports? Tiburon studio, including its former general manager, reunited elsewhere to form Row Sham Bow, a new studio dedicated to making a Facebook game called Woodland Heroes. It was quite a departure from their previous assignment, which for many had been working on the Madden NFL franchise. ?When we started building the game, we didn?t talk about the demographic or the target audience; over the course of the design, we talked about what we wanted to play,? said Ian Cummings, formerly Madden?s creative director.
The Rest of the Story: Woodland Heroes has been a critical success, winning Gamasutra?s best social game of 2011. ?It is a great feeling to have our peers and fans alike recognise the work that we?ve done so far and the direction we are trying to go, even when we feel like we are just starting to figure out how the hell this crazy social game industry works,? Cummings said. While his time with Madden still is fondly recalled, Cummings says he has ?really enjoyed an extra sense of relaxation on Sundays, being able to watch every NFL game at home at my own leisure without having to take any notes.? More ?
The President Ends a Four-Year Term
After four years as the president of sports video gaming?s heavyweight label, Peter Moore moved on to higher office within Electronic Arts, leaving EA Sports? big chairto Andrew Wilson, the label?s chief of development before ascending to the top job. ?He becomes a voice of the gamer, when he speaks to the development team,? Moore said. ?And the unique advantage Andrew Wilson has coming into this job, is his development background. He can sit down with producers, with developers, with network engineers and know exactly what they do and what they face on a daily basis.?
The Rest of the Story: Moore left Wilson more than the keys to a nice sports bar. Three of the label?s top franchises, Madden, FIFA and NHL all set sales records soon after their release. Wilson?s first full year will see a highly anticipated reboot of SSX in February and, as 2K Sports? exclusive licence with Major League Baseball expires that year, potentially news on that front as well. More ?
My Workout Partner is a Role-Playing Game
Two college pals who were formerly scrawny and chubby gamers before buckling down and hitting the gym had no idea of the response they would get when they developed a web site that made working out into a type of role-playing game. Their brainchild, Fitocracy, scores users? workouts in a manner similar to levelling up in an MMO. ?I actually don?t treat life any differently than an RPG,? said Fitocracy co-founder Brian Wang, who grew up as a skinny kid playing Chrono Trigger. ?I?m always thinking of levelling up myself, which in this case, is actually myself, not my World of Warcraft character.?
The Rest of the Story: Fitocracy?s user base has continued to climb, thanks to recognition from webcomics like XKCD and Penny Arcade and mainstream outlets like The New York Times and CNN. Membership still is on an invitation-only basis as the site remains in beta. But it has added a premium ?Hero? membership level offering additional workout routines, easily copying friends? workouts, early access to new features, and other perks. More ?
A Walk-On Who Made the Team Wants You to Know What It Really Means
Seven years after walking on to the Auburn team as a freshman, Alex Howell now is in charge of NCAA Football?s ?Road to Glory,? a career mode that emulates some of what he experienced as a college football player. Self-described as ?the biggest JRPG nerd,? Howell overhauled RTG with RPG elements, including a ?Coach Trust? system that sought to cement the relationship of a star player to the man who recruited him, and whose livelihood depends on his success.
The Rest of the Story: Road to Glory made strides under Howell?s design but still has some ground to cover before becoming a truly compelling experience. ?RTG is coming along better than last year thanks to the huge consumer feedback we have received,? Howell said. ?I?m listening to our fans and putting inmany requests they?ve asked for.? His first year of work at EA Sports also saw him credited with ESPN?s College GameDay in work on their ?Virtual Playbook,? which in years past has been nominated for an Emmy. ?Looking forward to another amazing year at Tiburon,? Alex says.
More ?
Ten Days of Grace Brings Golf?s Church to the Masses
A four-day pass to The Masters Tournament is truly a bucket-list item, one any golfer would consider himself fortunate to have, if only once. Shannon Yates, an environmental artist for EA Sports, got to spend 10 days, sunup to sundown, on Augusta National?s fabled golf course, coming to know its beauty and its challenge in ways even that tournament?s champions may not know. Brought to high-definition video gaming for the first time, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters delivered a painstakingly authentic rendering of the course, thanks to the scanning Yates and his team performed over a week and half in August 2010. ?We spent two full days on Amen Corner,? Yates said. ?When we crested the hill on No. 11, I remember talking to the assistants gathered at the scanner, and saying ?We have to get all of this exactly right. We will scan this as many times as we have to, to get this right.?
The Rest of the Story: Yates? game easily came home as Stick Jockey?s Sports Video Game of the Year, thanks as much to its technical achievement as to new gameplay features incorporated within it. The project has moved to a March release window now, to hit shelves before The Masters tees off in April. Yates himself is back on the job, but did take some time off after the game?s release for an annual trip down the Florida coast aboard his Harley-Davidson. More ?
How A Video Game Made Him Into A Major Leaguer
A decade before most boys grapple with the reality they aren?t ever going to make the majors, Hans Smith had to come to terms with the fact he?d never even step foot on the diamond. A video game changed all of that. MLB The Show and its ?Road to the Show? career mode provided more than a diversion to the 25-year-old college student with cerebral palsy. It made him into, in his words, a ?virtual athlete.? Sony San Diego, the makers of the game, were so touched by his dedication that they included, at his request, a new control set to include gamers of all levels of ability.
The Rest of the Story: MLB 11 The Show shipped with ?ADVA Settings,? named for the Association of Disabled Virtual Athletes that Smith created for a course project at Boise State University. The control set allowed gamers with limited motor function the ability to play not just the single player modes, but also in multiplayer modes against competitors using other control sets. Though the ADVA is inactive as of now, Smith and his story went to numerous mainstream outlets, including The New York Times, as a heartwarming example of cooperation among those who love The National Pastime. ?We do get plenty of emails, fan mail, requests, to add feature XYZ to The Show,? said Kolbe Launchbaugh, a senior designer on the game. ?Nothing really compares to the passion and honesty behind the words that Hans sent us. He thanked us for making the game, and he thanked us for giving him an experience he could not have had in real life More ?
Stick Jockey is Kotaku?s column on sports video games. It appears Saturdays.
Source: http://feeds.kotaku.com.au/~r/KotakuAustralia/~3/dTKqrQ8cOxM/
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Monday, December 26, 2011
'Anonymous' hackers target US security think tank (AP)
LONDON ? The loose-knit hacking movement "Anonymous" claimed Sunday to have stolen thousands of credit card numbers and other personal information belonging to clients of U.S.-based security think tank Stratfor. One hacker said the goal was to pilfer funds from individuals' accounts to give away as Christmas donations, and some victims confirmed unauthorized transactions linked to their credit cards.
Anonymous boasted of stealing Stratfor's confidential client list, which includes entities ranging from Apple Inc. to the U.S. Air Force to the Miami Police Department, and mining it for more than 4,000 credit card numbers, passwords and home addresses.
Austin, Texas-based Stratfor provides political, economic and military analysis to help clients reduce risk, according to a description on its YouTube page. It charges subscribers for its reports and analysis, delivered through the web, emails and videos. The company's main website was down, with a banner saying the "site is currently undergoing maintenance."
Proprietary information about the companies and government agencies that subscribe to Stratfor's newsletters did not appear to be at any significant risk, however, with the main threat posed to individual employees who had subscribed.
"Not so private and secret anymore?" Anonymous taunted in a message on Twitter, promising that the attack on Stratfor was just the beginning of a Christmas-inspired assault on a long list of targets.
Anonymous said the client list it had already posted was a small slice of the 200 gigabytes worth of plunder it stole from Stratfor and promised more leaks. It said it was able to get the credit card details in part because Stratfor didn't bother encrypting them ? an easy-to-avoid blunder which, if true, would be a major embarrassment for any security-related company.
Fred Burton, Stratfor's vice president of intelligence, said the company had reported the intrusion to law enforcement and was working with them on the investigation.
Stratfor has protections in place meant to prevent such attacks, he said.
"But I think the hackers live in this kind of world where once they fixate on you or try to attack you it's extraordinarily difficult to defend against," Burton said.
Hours after publishing what it claimed was Stratfor's client list, Anonymous tweeted a link to encrypted files online with names, phone numbers, emails, addresses and credit card account details.
"Not as many as you expected? Worry not, fellow pirates and robin hoods. These are just the `A's," read a message posted online that encouraged readers to download a file of the hacked information.
The attack is "just another in a massive string of breaches we've seen this year and in years past," said Josh Shaul, chief technology officer of Application Security Inc., a New York-based provider of database security software.
Still, companies that shared secret information with Stratfor in order to obtain threat assessments might worry that the information is among the 200 gigabytes of data that Anonymous claims to have stolen, he said.
"If an attacker is walking away with that much email, there might be some very juicy bits of information that they have," Shaul said.
Lt. Col. John Dorrian, public affairs officer for the Air Force, said that "for obvious reasons" the Air Force doesn't discuss specific vulnerabilities, threats or responses to them.
"The Air Force will continue to monitor the situation and, as always, take appropriate action as necessary to protect Air Force networks and information," he said in an email.
Miami Police Department spokesman Sgt. Freddie Cruz Jr. said that he could not confirm that the agency was a client of Stratfor, and he said he had not received any information about a security breach involving the police department.
Anonymous also linked to images online that it suggested were receipts for charitable donations made by the group manipulating the credit card data it stole.
"Thank you! Defense Intelligence Agency," read the text above one image that appeared to show a transaction summary indicating that an agency employee's information was used to donate $250 to a non-profit.
One receipt ? to the American Red Cross ? had Allen Barr's name on it.
Barr, of Austin, Texas, recently retired from the Texas Department of Banking and said he discovered last Friday that a total of $700 had been spent from his account. Barr, who has spent more than a decade dealing with cybercrime at banks, said five transactions were made in total.
"It was all charities, the Red Cross, CARE, Save the Children. So when the credit card company called my wife she wasn't sure whether I was just donating," said Barr, who wasn't aware until a reporter with the AP called that his information had been compromised when Stratfor's computers were hacked.
"It made me feel terrible. It made my wife feel terrible. We had to close the account."
Wishing everyone a "Merry LulzXMas" ? a nod to its spinoff hacking group Lulz Security ? Anonymous also posted a link on Twitter to a site containing the email, phone number and credit number of a U.S. Homeland Security employee.
The employee, Cody Sultenfuss, said he had no warning before his details were posted.
"They took money I did not have," he told The Associated Press in a series of emails, which did not specify the amount taken. "I think `Why me?' I am not rich."
But the breach doesn't necessarily pose a risk to owners of the credit cards. A card user who suspects fraudulent activity on his or her card can contact the credit card company to dispute the charge.
Stratfor said in an email to members, signed by Stratfor Chief Executive George Friedman and passed on to AP by subscribers, that it had hired a "leading identity theft protection and monitoring service" on behalf of the Stratfor members affected by the attack. The company said it will send another email on services for affected members by Wednesday.
Stratfor acknowledged that an "unauthorized party" had revealed personal information and credit card data of some of its members.
The company had sent another email to subscribers earlier in the day saying it had suspended its servers and email after learning that its website had been hacked.
One member of the hacking group, who uses the handle AnonymousAbu on Twitter, claimed that more than 90,000 credit cards from law enforcement, the intelligence community and journalists ? "corporate/exec accounts of people like Fox" News ? had been hacked and used to "steal a million dollars" and make donations.
It was impossible to verify where credit card details were used. Fox News was not on the excerpted list of Stratfor members posted online, but other media organizations including MSNBC and Al-Jazeera English appeared in the file.
Anonymous warned it has "enough targets lined up to extend the fun fun fun of LulzXmas through the entire next week."
The group has previously claimed responsibility for attacks on credit card companies Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc., eBay Inc.'s PayPal, as well as other groups in the music industry and the Church of Scientology.
____________
Plushnick-Masti reported from Houston. Associated Press writers Jennifer Kay in Miami and Daniel Wagner in Washington, D.C. also contributed to this report.
_____________
Cassandra Vinograd can be reached at http://twitter.com/CassVinograd
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