.::REALITYRECALL::.

The federal government rarely hands fair use proponents cheerful news—usually it's quite the opposite. But a judge of the 5th Circuit Appeals Court has ruled that circumventing DRM for non-infringing purposes isn’t illegal, contrary to years of precedent. More »

‘Snake,’ the classic game installed on many early cell phones and, most memorably, the TI-83+ calculator, has made a jump to a new platform: YouTube. The recently discovered Easter Egg lets you play ‘Snake’ on a paused or buffering video by simply tapping (or holding) left. Just load up your favorite video on YouTube.com (the trick doesn’t work on embedded video) to try it out. Details are slim on the required settings; some claim you need to press up and left at the same time, some say the video has to be in the ‘Gaming’ category, and some even suggest that the video can be fully loaded. Regardless, most of our attempts were successful, and YouTube has successfully found a way to be an even bigger time-suck. [From: Engadget and Kotaku]

Filed under: Video Games, Google, Web

Tap ‘Left’ to Play Classic ‘Snake’ Game on YouTube originally appeared on Switched on Mon, 26 Jul 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Windows only: If you’re a Chrome fan and want to see the very latest in features and fixes, even if potentially unstable, you’ve now got a Canary Build. It’s an auto-updating, near-nightly build that runs separately from your standard Chrome installation. More »

One of Canada’s top jet fighter pilots is in good condition in hospital following the crash of his jet in Lethbridge, Alta., on Friday.

One man is dead and another is in custody after an early-morning stabbing Saturday in Melville, Sask.

That man in the top of this photo? That’s Captain Brian Bews and he’s lucky to be alive. The skilled pilot barely managed to eject before his CF-18 fighter jet crashed during a practice flight. Update: Video added. More »

These are dark times for Dell. As we reported last month, the computer manufacturer has been under fire for knowingly selling over 11.8 million faulty computers, and is currently embroiled in yet another lawsuit. Now it comes to light that some of the motherboards it recently sent out were filled with malware. The company has admitted as much, saying that the problems have only affected a “small number” of their PowerEdge PCs. According to DigitalTrends, the malware is showing up in the server management firmware embedded in the boards, and is really only affecting enterprise-level servers, not consumer computers.

But, in even worse news, the company settled yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission for fraud charges — to the tune of $100 million. According to the SEC’s allegations, Dell misled investors by padding its quarterly statements with money it had received from Intel during back-room agreements to not use chips made by competitor Advanced Micro Devices. Investors were not made aware of the dealings, and Dell was able to project greater financial results than it had actually achieved. [From: DigitalTrends and New York Times]

Filed under: Computers

Bad Day for Dell: Company Fined $100M and Gets Caught With Infected Motherboards originally appeared on Switched on Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With the box office success of Predators — both domestically and internationally — Robert Rodriguez, who produced the film, told IGN today that sequ…

The FCC has re-defined the minimum requirements of broadband to 4 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream. That’s a huge jump up from the previous minimum of 200Kbps but is fitting given our video streaming, downloading and cloud living times. As for myself, I could barely live with 4 Mbps down but then the FCC reminds me that 24 million people lack access to high speed internet, so I shut up. [FCC via ExtremeTech] More »

Microsoft reported a strong Q4 revenue thanks to Windows 7, and with that they announced they have sold 175 million licenses for Windows 7, the fastest selling operating system in history.

Windows 7 was released nine months ago, on October 22, 2009. The OS originally released to manufacturing one year ago….

Free health care and enhanced social benefits come at a price. A more socially liberal government also brings a more financially liberal ecosystem as well. Stymied competition in the technosphere has always been a point of strong contention for Canadians. From anti-competitive pricing practices in the media-distribution business to a…

Rogers Communications announced that they will be making adjustments to their current Internet service plans, and not for the better.

Just days after Internet movie streaming company Netflix announced that they would be expanding their empire into Canada, Rogers Communication released their lower monthly download caps. The changes directly affected two…

A local state of emergency was declared in North Battleford, Sask., on Thursday after an intense hailstorm, which led to flooding in some parts of the city.

Today at Comic Con in San Diego, we announced the Xbox 360 Limited Edition Halo: Reach bundle which will be available September 14th when Halo: Reach launches. 

Designed by Bungie, the Xbox 360 Limited Edition Halo: Reach Bundle includes all the features of the newly designed Xbox 360 console, such as a 250 GB Hard Drive and the fastest built-in Wi-fi. Additionally, you’ll receive two Limited Edition Wireless Controllers and a standard edition copy of Halo:Reach. The bundle will be available for US $399 in limited quantities and only while supplies last.

 

More pictures on my Flickr

Official Press Release

Bungie unboxes the console for you

 

 

Edit: The bundle is now available for pre-order along with the special edition controller and wireless headset

 

Stan Lee, that guy with bit parts in all the superhero movies, unveiled three new superheroes at ComicCon: Soldier Zero, Starborn and The Traveler. More »