Digital Media & the World

The end of Facebook?

2011-08-10T16:52:00.000-04:00

The infamous hacker group Anonymous are plotting a diabolical event, destroying Facebook!

We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us

The organization has taken credit in the past for "hack attacks" on The Church of Scientology, Visa, MasterCard, and Paypal. They also took credit for hacking Syrian Military Defense's website on Monday.

They also attempted to hack internet giant Amazon last holiday season, but was not successful.

Below is the video message outlining their plot.

Anonymous' hacking strategy is executed through DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) scripts. The code is utilized by multiple users to access a website. As the traffic increases over time, the servers become less capable to keep the website running. The functionallity of the site slows down or, in some cases, completely shuts down.

However, taking down a 750 million user site with servers that allow millions of users to access it 24/7 will be difficult.

Wii Remote Hack

2011-05-22T19:32:00.000-04:00

Researcher Johnny Lee, one of the developers behind the Kinect, rose to YouTube fame for his videos of hacking Wii remotes. Below is a video of him demonstrating one of the his hacks.

Crafty stuff, and cost effective!

Apple's a Thief!

2011-05-22T19:27:00.000-04:00

While I was stumbling I found this photo

Here on the left is a German translator radio made by Atlantic from the 1950's, and it closely resembles the original ipod's design. Hum...........

StumbleUpon

2011-05-22T17:57:00.000-04:00

A little over a month ago, StumbleUpon hit an average of 1 billion "stumbles" a month. Epic!

For those whom have been living under a rock, is a site that has the ability to release excessive amount of dopanie into the user's system. A description from the site is below:

StumbleUpon helps you discover and share great websites. As you click Stumble!, we deliver high-quality pages matched to your personal preferences. These pages have been explicitly recommended by your friends or one of over 15 million other websurfers with interests similar to you. Rating these sites you like () automatically shares them with like-minded people – and helps you discover great sites your friends recommend.

It's highly addicting

Art Post 2: Wait Until Dark

2011-05-22T17:39:00.000-04:00

*This post is the second of two required blog posts to complete project 1*

Last week I went to see my boy Lucky's show here on campus in the lab theater. He designed and directed the suspense thriller, "Wait Until Dark."

The show's plot follows the story of three con artists of a trying to obtain a heroine filled doll in a blind woman's home, Suzy Hendrix. Suzy is left home one day when the con artists come. They pose as several different characters and try to convince Suzy that her husband, Sam, is actually a drug trafficker. Despite her disability, Suzy is incredibly cleaver and uncovers their plan. See defends herself by breaking all the lights in the apartment and confront the men one on one when they come after dark. She succeeds, and is met by Sam during the aftermath.

This is not an easy show to pull off. The production can only thrive if the audience experiences suspense, which is what they did for Lucky's show. Suspenseful music was used during appropriate times throughout the show to enhance the on-stage actions. There were times when you could not look away from the stage because you wanted to know what would happen next. The climax of the show was one of these moments. Suzy has to confront Roat, the murderer who takes pleasure in his work. After turning off all the lights Suzy forgets just one, the refrigerator. After see stabs Roat, we reemerges from off-stage, mortally wounded about to die any second, but determined to kill Suzy. As he slowly crawls over to her, Suzy scrambles to break the refrigerator bulb. She manages to find the cord at the last second as the lights go dark. It is an intense sequence of events.

In the end, the show was an experience that kept you on the edge of your seat if you set yourself be consumed by the suspense.

Art Post 1: BobRauschenbergAmerica

2011-05-22T17:12:00.001-04:00

*This post is the first of two required blog posts to complete project 1*

It has come to my attention that the plays are considered to be "visual art." Therefore, I will use this post to talk about a show I saw here at Hartwick back in March, BobRauschenbergAmerica.

I attended the show because my roommate Ian Olsen was the director and designer, but man was I blown away. The show was insane!

Based off of the art of Robert Rauschenber, a contemporary american pop artist, the play showcases his art through acting. Now I haven't seen any of Bob's pieces so I went on Google and found this:

"Riding Bikes" is not your typical piece of art. Now the stage show is suppose to resembles what this is, I interpreted the show as nonsense that has meaning.

Throughout the show I found myself asking "WTF" numerous times, while restraining myself from falling on the floor with laughter. At points I had no idea what was going on.

The plot is not linear, much like Robert's art. The main focus is to show that art and life are actually very similar and can be consolidated. Highlights of the show include when a character is deep in a dialogue and then suddenly breaks into a song and dance. There were actually three, full cast dance breaks throughout the show. Another mesh of art and life is when an actress is in the middle of an emotional monologue and decides to eat a glazed donut. I have to give her credit, it's not easy to scream and shove your face full of breaded substances!

Overall the experience was highly enjoyable. I didn't see Ian too much during the 2 week period prior to the show, but it all paid off.

How to find a Job, Social Media Style!

2011-05-22T13:18:00.000-04:00

Social Media is a powerful too. Applications like facebook, myspace, twitter, linkedin, and others are get way for people to stay connected to friends, family, business acquaintances, and more. But they can be used for more than you think. With a little creative thinking, job hunters can use twitter to find jobs! Here a video to show you how.

How digital can help college students

2011-05-21T22:16:00.000-04:00

I just walked downstairs in my house and saw my roommates gathered around the dinner table playing the infamous "century club." The ambitious achievement requires nine 12oz brews and an iron stomach to tackle the consumption of all of them in a hour. It's not an easy task, and is another reason why I'm upstairs blogging right now.

To assist with this process, music streaming from drinkingpartner.com is being used. The site streams music that changes every minute, which is when you take a shot of brew.

"I am Rich"

2011-05-21T21:50:00.000-04:00

Back in 2008, app developer Armin Heinrich created an iphone application entitled "I am Rich." The application was priced at $999.99. When launched you are brought to this screen

So what else does it do? If you click on the "i" in the lower-right corner a new screen will come up

As you can tell, this application is for modest individuals only.

Robot Guitar

2011-05-21T21:40:00.000-04:00

Made by Gibson, this 6-string wonder can auto tune itself. This is a highly useful feature for guitarists, espically when you're rocking out on a live set and have to drop down the guitar a full step for a song. Can you live without it, Yes but is it awesome, YES!

Inbound Marketing

2011-05-21T21:26:00.000-04:00

With advertising considered "dying" due to the internet, business are looking towards new methods of marketing to increase their business. Inbound marketing is one these methods.

The concept of IM is to essentially do the opposite of traditional marketing or outbound marketing (posters, ad, commercials, push methods). This strategy focuses on the product/service/company being found by their customers. Mediums that are used are content creation, SEO, and social media.

A more descriptive elaboration can be found at the Prezi below.

http://prezi.com/hkuxznq1akuf/inbound-marketing-kit/

What's osama been watching

2011-05-21T21:02:00.000-04:00

Thanks to digital media applications we can enjoy complete useless and unecessary entertainment, such as What's Osama been watching.

I could explain further, but the humor of the site will be more appreciated if you just go the site blind. Click on the link below.

http://www.tomscott.com/osama/

May 21: Epic Fail

2011-05-21T20:56:00.000-04:00

The world waited yesterday as the supposed "day of rapture" was about to commence. According to a few apocalyptic Christians, the world today was going to be cleaned of sinners as earthquakes would occur worldwide at 6pm. Well, it's a few hours past that time and it looks like the world is still here.

What was interesting about the day were people's reactions on twitter. CNN made a reference to the social network website about how 140 characters posts about doomsday spread throughout the cyberspace.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/21/doomsday/index.html?hpt=C2

La Noire

2011-05-21T20:48:00.000-04:00

La Noire is a new platmore game made by Rockerstar Games. The creators of the GTA series has introduced a new sandbox action/adventure to the gaming market, but this time you play the side of the law.

As an LA cop, you work you're way up the ranks as you clean up the streets of the the city of angels. Check out the review from gametrailers.com below.

Tags: GameTrailers.com, Review, PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Google Chrome OS

2011-05-20T00:48:00.000-04:00

Google, the company that created the internet's most successful search engine, is creating an operating system.

What does this mean? Is Google trying to go head to head with Microsoft? It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

The Best Game Ever, Now in 3D

2011-05-19T19:18:00.000-04:00

In an earlier post, I wrote about the best game ever; The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. With the launch of nintendo's latest handheld, the 3DS, the company has decided to re-release the game.

Below is a description of the game taken from gamestop.com:

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D brings a completely re-mastered version of an epic entry in the beloved The Legend of Zelda game series to Nintendo's newest hand-held system, Nintendo 3DS. The game couples phenomenally enhanced graphics with stunning, glasses-free 3D visuals to bring to life the daring adventures of its hero, Link. A streamlined touch-screen interface and newly implemented motion controls provide a fresh and intuitive feel as players immerse themselves in the tale of the creation of Hyrule and the struggle for control of its all-powerful ancient relic. The game will also feature new challenges not included in the original game. The Legend of Zelda veterans can look forward to the Master Quest - a second quest with revamped puzzles and redesigned dungeons that feature the same graphical and interface upgrades as the main game. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D is a masterful improvement on one of the landmark releases in video game history.

As soon as I graduate and acquire enough funds, I'll be sure to add this remastered classic to my game collection.

The future of presentation

2011-05-19T19:13:00.000-04:00

Today I gave a presentation in my business class using a relatively new online application entitled Prezi. What is a prezi? What the video below to find out:

Our groups presentation went so well today that my professor came up to me afterwards and shook my hand to say he was very impressed. An easy "A" thanks to Prezi.

Down Again

2011-05-18T17:41:00.000-04:00

I think I spoke too soon. I just read here on CNN.com that part of the PlayStation Network is down yet again. According to a few sources, when gamers access their accounts they are shown this screen.

However, this will only affect PlayStation Network Users who access their accounts via the web. So not all of the network is down.

Photoshop Makeovers

2011-05-17T14:01:00.000-04:00

Perception: The ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses

We, as humans, interept reality through perception of our senses. BUt what if what we're perceving is not reality? FOr example this video below:

Digital manipulation can be done by anyone who own any digital manipulation software. Thanks to programs like Photoshop, we can now change images easily. This this ethical?

The Best Game Ever

2011-05-16T22:17:00.000-04:00

I don't know if some kind of astrological phenomenal is happening, but something is creating alot of nostical classic videogames memory cues. This morning, a friend of mine played for me his newest digital download, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Oh, how the memories come rushing back. That frustrating last key in the water temple, that creepy shadow temple, an Navi with her constant annoying "hey's."

(***A moment of silence for visualization of stabbing a Stalfo with powerful jump attack***)

IF you have not played this game yet, GO PICK IT UP NOW. According to the Guinness book of world records, Ocarina of Time is the highest rated game of all time by critics.

Kinect

2011-05-16T22:05:00.000-04:00

The Kinect is an xbox accessory that allows the player to use their body as the controller. I'm too lazy and don;t feel like explaining it in depth, so watch the video:

This little piece of technology may seem silly in it's early adopter phase, but it has a lot of potential. With the rate of technology increasing exponentially every second, the functions of the Kinect is capable of will not truly be shown until later in it's life cycle. Except more motion senor games & accessories to follow in the near future.

For more info click here to go to Xbox's official website for Kinect.

Playstation's Alive!

2011-05-16T21:57:00.000-04:00

If you're a gamer, of any kind, you're probably aware of PlayStation Live's hacking incident. A group of anomyus hackers some how found their way into the online gaming community and intentionally crashed the entire network. PlayStation live has been offline for the past three weeks. Until this morning....

The programmers at Sony finally got the network running again, but it might be too little too late. PlayStation Plus, a premium paid-for feature of PlayStation Live that requires payment via credit card, also got hacked. So somewhere on this earth a small group of hackers have access to over 17 million credit card owners information (and we wonder why identity theft continues to be a rising crime in America).

This is also why I play Xbox.

"Like"

2011-05-16T21:19:00.000-04:00

An article on CNN was posted today on the birth of a girl named "Like" by her parents. Wait! What?!

Apparently Like's parents, the Israeli couple of Lior and Vardit, wanted to call their newborn daugther something unique because they solely like the meaning behind the name. They also stated that this is not a gimmick. Hard to believe.

Read the full article here at CNN.com

Facebook not playing nice

2011-05-15T19:05:00.000-04:00

Over the past few days, news spread of a "whisper campaign" by a PR firm was launched against Google. The purpose of the skulduggery campaign was to expose the company's privacy problems to set back their plans for social media applications. This makes sense, if the company that created the world's best search engine launched their own "googlebook," Facebook would have direct competition. However, when PR giants Burson-Marsteller
blew the whistles on the campaign, the "secret" client happened to be none other than Mark Zuckerberg's offspring

You can read more about the full details here at Wired.com

Corporate America's reactions will sure be interesting in the upcoming weeks to this scandal.

Charmander:The best starting pokemon

2011-04-21T21:13:00.000-04:00

Over the past weeks there has been a resurgence of Pokemon chatter. This is probably due to the recent release of the latest installment in the series: Pokemon White and Black.

The launch of the new games does nothing for me since I stopped playing the popular handheld RGP back when Sliver and Gold were released in 2000. But, it has re-opened a nostalgic debate amongst older and past pokemon masters.

"Who is the BEST starting pokemon?"

This question has present on the Pokemon debate table since the launch of the original Pokemon games Red and Blue in 1998. Back in the day when only 150 Pocket Monsters exitsed solely in the Kanto region, the biggest decision made in the game was deciding your starting Pokemon. Three options were given:

Squirtle, Charmander, and Bulbasaur

The best starting Pokemon IS and forever Shall Be Charmander

Why?

Charmander is the starting Pokemon of true Pokemon masters because it forces you to train harder. The first two gyms in the game are Rock followed Water/Ice. Fire types, like Charmander, are weak in Attacking and Defense against both types. Therefore, in order to get by this point in the game, you have to train harder.

Those of you Squirtle and Bulbasaur lovers can brag all you want about how you destroyed Misty and Brock, how fast you got them to evolve, and how quick you defeated the elite four. So what. At level 36 I'll have a Charizard.

A rare Fire/Dragon type
Can learn both Fire Blast and Dragon Beam
Dominates in both Attack and Special Attack
As the ability to Fly
Is the rarest Pokemon trading card available
Is the most powerful form of Pokemon Trainer on SSBB
Is a beast