Articles by Den Den Boy
It seems that Conficker's ultimate purpose has finally been revealed!
Drum roll please!
.
.
.
It's a spam bot!
Yes, that's right. Despite huge amounts of hysteria painting Conficker as some world destroying super spy doomsday botnet, it seems Conficker's makers are a little more practical and therefore... money driven.
According to a report by Karpersky Labs, the purpose of the mysterious download by Conficker machines on April 1 has been revealed as a directive to send out spam offering users a fake anti virus programme for $49.95.
Yep, it's peddling snake oil spam.
How anticlimactic, but money makes the world go round, neh?
Conficker Doomsday Worm Sells Out For $49.95 [Wired]
Seemingly taking some tips from Microsoft's labyrinthine naming and labelling schemes, Intel has unveiled the new badges that will mark its current crop of processors, all of which are in the image above.
Comprising some strange mish mosh of colours that seem to have no meaning (Hey look, black is for high end, except when it's the Atom!) and numbers that while understandable to geeks like us just serve to confuse mom and pop (Core-two-quad-what's-it? Which is it, two or four, son?), these new badges are nothing short of a marketing train wreck.
Here's a very valuable rule, marketers: KISS. Look it up.
Don't say I don't write for you Windows users out there: If you're looking to add a little PC to your living room, look no further than these CTRL-ALT-DEL pillows from Etsy.
The set will cost you $60, on Diffraction Edge's Etsy shop.
There's no better way to declare your allegiance in the PC/Mac wars to all who come into your living room than throw pillows designating your most oft-used key combination (ZING! What? You really thought I was going to write this whole article without jabbing at Windows? Hah!)
Gadget get!
For all of you that love tagging but hate the prospect of being arrested for vandalism, a partnership between Montana Cans and Bauhaus University Media Department students has led to WiiSpray, a pretty awesome virtual spray painting program for the Wii:
Realistic physics, ability to use stencils, colour palette control. Pretty neat stuff.
ยป WiiSpray Teaser of Final Presentation [WiiSpray]
People have been digging around the iPhone OS 3.0 beta and have discovered some rather interesting tidbits buried deep within the configuration files.
The video capabilities have pretty much been confirmed, as changing a configuration file to make the iPhone OS 3.0 think there's a video camera changes the camera interface into the picture you see, with a switch to change between video and still camera modes.
References to a "magnetometer" (compass), "auto-focus camera," and "Voice Control" have also been found in the configuration files.
All of these point to likely hardware additions to the next generation iPhone, rumoured to be released during WWDC 2009 in June.
It seems Apple is trying to match and beat the feature set of T-Mobile's Android G1 set. I love competition.
(Photo by MacRumors)
iPhone Video Recording Interface, Digital Compass, Voice Control and Auto-Focus Camera [MacRumors]
If you're a Mac user looking to add 16 apps worth over $981 dollars to your Mac for the price of $39, then you're in luck! The MacHeist 3 bundle has just reached the $500K level of charity fundraising, meaning that all the apps in the bundle have been unlocked!
You many not need all the apps in the bundle (I mean, there's 3 different photo editing apps within the bundle), but just a few together already add up to a deal. For you gamers out there, there's World of Goo, Multiwinia and Cro Mag Rally, which already make the bundle a deal for $39 together. Add to that Delicious Library 2 (my favourite media library application that I should make a Homotron recommendation in the future, it's amazing) and the deal is even sweeter. Check out all the apps you get for $39:
- Delicious Library 2
- Multiwinia
- World of Goo
- Cro Mag Rally
- Espresso
- Acorn
- BoinxTV
- iSale
- Picturesque
- SousChef
- PhoneView
- LittleSnapper
- Kinemac
- WireTap Studio
- The Hit List
- Times
And the best part is that 25% of the purchase price goes to the charity of your choice from a list of 10, including the AIDS Research Alliance and the World Wildlife Fund.
If you want in on the MacHeist action, you only have 1 day left to buy the bundle!
Gadget get!
MacHeist 3 Bundle [MacHeist]
The problem with the iPhone and the T-Mobile G1 is that the user input is done via touchscreen, which would mean that users who are blind would be completely unable to dial such a device, right?
Not so, as Google engineers T.V. Raman and Charles Chen demonstrate their dead simple idea on how dialing on a touchscreen is possible without even looking at the screen:
So simple, and very functional!
I really have to give it to Samsung - they've certainly come up with interesting ad campaign ideas lately, with the latest being a pretty cool combination of LEDs, sheep, and some crazy herding skills:
Impressive!
I have a confession to make.
I HATE April Fool's Day.
April Fool's Day is the bane of any tech news writer, because it's basically a useless news day. Nothing can be believed on or even around this day, so it makes finding actual news a minefield one just isn't able to cross.
For this reason, I hate the blown up jokes most people try to tell or make up.
It's only the subtle jokes on April Fool's that I like. The ones that don't really poison the well of news, but are still grin inducing nonetheless, and the folks at the iTunes store have nailed it down in the subtlety department: This week's free Discovery Download for April Fool's Day is John Cage's 4'33", a piano piece famous for it's single instruction to the pianist - don't play any notes.
Listen carefully, and you can hear traffic outside, creaking floorboards and a clock ticking somewhere in the building.
That's right, it's a piece of silence. The only sounds you hear are those of the environment and the audience.
Well played, iTunes. Well played.
iTunes Free Discovery Download
[Thanks to Adam Weiss for the heads up on Twitter!]
I just received an email from Netflix that really pisses me off. After baiting users for a few months with a reasonable $1/month charge for the ability to rent Blu-ray discs, Netflix has just sent out an e-mail saying they're now quadrupling the monthly charge (for 3 disc at a time customers) to $4/month!
You are receiving this email because you added unlimited Blu-ray access to your account for $1 a month. The number of Blu-ray titles has increased significantly and will continue to do so. As we buy more, you are able to choose from a rapidly expanding selection of Blu-ray titles. And as you've probably heard, Blu-ray discs are substantially more expensive than standard definition DVDs.
As a result, the monthly charge for Blu-ray access is increasing for most plans and will now vary by plan. The charge for monthly Blu-ray access on your 3 DVDs at-a-time (Unlimited) plan will increase from $1 a month to $4 a month. The price of your 3 DVDs at-a-time (Unlimited) plan is not changing and remains at $16.99 a month.
The new charge for Blu-ray access will be automatically added to your next billing statement on or after April 27, 2009 and will be referenced in your Membership Terms and Details.
If you wish to continue unlimited Blu-ray access for $4 a month, you don't need to do anything. If not, you can remove Blu-ray access anytime by visiting Your Account.
$1 a month was reasonable, and they led us to believe that would be the charge for the foreseeable future. Now they pull a bait and switch on us after a few months and quadruple it?!
They say "well, if you don't like it, cancel your Blu-ray access." Yeah... you know what else is easy to cancel? My Netflix subscription. Back off on this or I'm jumping ship.
Ridiculous!
The folks at MAKE found this wonderful video of a machine built by Felix Thirn. It's absolutely amazing watching all those servos and lights at work!
The XKCD Kindle 2 comic has been brought full circle. Behold! The Kindle 2 laser engraved with those immortal words found on the cover of its spiritual brother, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: "Don't Panic."
Grats Adafruit Industries, on having the geekiest Kindle 2 to date, and making me green with envy.
Hit the jump for a video of the laser doing its deed.
First laser etched Kindle 2! The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - "Don't Panic" [Adafruit Industries]
[via: Engadget]
And girls who like girls who like fembots!
Gadget of the Week
3D iPhone glasses. Why?
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