IT News HeadLines (HardOCP) 03/08/2010

Birthday Cake of the Day
Longtime [H] reader Adam Bardo said his girlfriend went to great lengths to make him this awesome Android cake for his 31st birthday. Damn bro, she's definitely a keeper! Comments
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Government Contractor Monitors U.S. Internet Providers
Just when you thought that Wikileaks story couldn't get any weirder, this story pops up. A shadow group of "volunteers" that monitors internet traffic and hands over the information it finds to the authorities? A semi-secret government contractor that calls itself Project Vigilant surfaced at the Defcon security conference Sunday with a series of revelations: that it monitors the traffic of 12 regional Internet service providers, hands much of that information to federal agencies, and encouraged one of its "volunteers," researcher Adrian Lamo, to inform the federal government about the alleged source of a controversial video of civilian deaths in Iraq leaked to whistle-blower site Wikileaks in April. Comments
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Is Your Detergent Stalking You?
Something tells me a promotion that puts GPS tracking in your laundry detergent wouldn't go over so well here in the United States. Unilever's Omo detergent is adding an unusual ingredient to its two-pound detergent box in Brazil: a GPS device that allows its promotions agency Bullet to track shoppers and follow them to their front doors. Comments
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Game Cafe Robbed, Gamers Fight Back
Today's inspirational story comes to you from Hawaii where a handful of gamers fought back against crooks trying to rob them. Sure it helps that the crooks punch like 11 year old little girls but the gamers did a good job standing up for themselves and, in the end, they nabbed the bad guys. He goes bananas, flying straight at his would-be thief with a flurry of punches. He even manages to land one. He receives several more (with interest) in return, but his actions help inspire the rest of the cafe's inhabitants, who eventually fight back, stealing the mask of one robber and causing the rest to flee. Comments
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Internet Explorer Gains Market Share at the Expense of Firefox
Good news for Microsoft, Internet Explorer is making a comeback. Bad news for Firefox and Chrome, Internet Explorer is making a comeback. According to new statistics from Net Applications, Internet Explorer increased its share of the browser market in July by 0.42%, for a total share of 60.74%. Firefox, on the other hand, took the biggest hit: a loss of 0.9%. Google's Chrome browser lost 0.08%, while Safari gained 0.24%. Comments
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Facebook Page Used To Issue Traffic Citations
India has turned to Facebook to for extra revenueÂ…errr, I meanÂ…to enhance public safety by issuing traffic tickets. Fans of the Facebook page submit photos and video so all the authorities have to do is mail out the tickets. The traffic police started a Facebook page two months ago, and almost immediately residents became digital informants, posting photos of their fellow drivers violating traffic laws. Comments
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Intel Demonstrates Mobile Augmented Reality
Intel researchers recently demonstrated, at Research@Intel Day 2010, a Mobile Augmented Reality World Browser application on the latest Intel® Atom™ processor –based platform. The World Browser enriches the way users understand their world on an Intel Atom processor powered Smart Phone. Users can instantly access the huge reservoir of information on the web, by simple click of the camera shutter. The system identifies landmarks on the fly, using compute-intensive visual search in concert with power-efficient sensors, taking advantage of unique IA platform features. Comments
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GIGABYTE "Mr. & Ms. Retail Box" Extended to August 23rd
GIGABYTE, a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, is excited to announce the extension of its worldwide campaign on Facebook fanpage, GIGABYTE VGA seeks Mr. & Ms. Retail Box! The deadline is now extended to August 23rd with additional prizes sponsored by NVIDIA! As a ground rule, you must Like GIGABYTE VGA before participating in any of our campaigns! Go to a local landmark/ famous or hot spot around your area. Take a picture with any GIGABYTE retail box placed as your face/head. Share this picture on GIGABYTE VGA Facebook fanpage and tell us your thoughts about your masterpiece. Comments
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Combating Camera Blur
Four researchers at Microsoft have developed a hardware sensor attachment to measure hand wobble and shaking to help analyze and correct blurry pictures. "Our method is completely automatic, handles per-pixel, spatially-varying blur, and out-performs the current leading image-based methods" Comments
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Half Million Dollar Abstinence Simulator
The University of Central Florida is spending approximately $434,000 on a simulator which will be used to promote abstinence amongst pre-teen girls. Basically, it's a place for girls to practice rejecting male approaches. "A boy similar in age might approach the person playing the game and ask her to make out or there might be some sexual innuendo." Comments
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FaceTime Not Just For Faces
The Porn industry is all over the iPhone's new FaceTime. Video-sex chat services are hiring workers for you to connect to a one-on-one with a sex worker of your choice. I can just see Steve Jobs fuming over the desecration of his new toy :p "A phone is such an intimate thing, you usually don't lend it out or have someone else use it." At least not without cleaning it first, we hope." Comments
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Games Don't Convey Emotion
Check this out: The Director behind the Prince of Persia movie hates video games, and claims they cannot convey emotion like film. No wonder the movie wasn't that great, what happened to getting passionate with your work? You can't do it without the human drama. And the video game cannot do that. The video game can do all sorts of face-pulling, all sorts of: 'I am a bad man, I have a mean jagged sword,', but it can't do any more than that. Comments
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Google China IssuesÂ… Again
Reports have been showing Google search was blocked in entirety on mainland China, then that it was blocked just a little bit as a glitch, and now that it's just a minor issue from changes to the 'Great Firewall'. The author of this article states how Google's enterprise credibility with their core western market would be best served by exiting China. I can't help but think that most users really just don't care, and I think all of the Facebook privacy fiascos are prime examples of this. Despite all of the negative press every day, they still see intense growth. I don't have any real stake in Google except as a user of its consumer and Apps products, including Android. However, I have to wonder what price the company will end up paying to continue its painful operations in China. Comments
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Stealth Ultra-Mini PC
Stealth has unveiled an ultra-tiny PC that weighs a mere 1.2 lbs and is the size of a paperback book. While it does carry a pretty high price tag, I was pretty impressed by the specs of the tiny thing. Not really sure of any scenarios It'd be useful, though. The system - which carries a $1,000 price tag - is powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo mobile processor and measures just 4.0" x 6.1" x 1.45." Comments
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