Latest Posts from Switched

Here are a few of the other noteworthy things we saw today on our never-ending journey through the wild, wild Web.

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The Year Minecraft Made Playing Alone Cool Again

And yet it's still odd that Minecraft is so successful - in an age of MMORPGs and socially-focused community gaming, Minecraft encourages players to literally hide in a hole and produce gaming experiences that only belong to them.

Watch:

• In case another entry in Michael Bay's unwatchable 'Transformers' series isn't enough to get you down about the state of robot movies, Hugh Jackman's upcoming 'Real Steel' envisions a world where people get excited about watching MMA fights between glorified Rock Em Sock Em Robots. [From: Videogum]
• Boy Genius Report got an exclusive hands-on with RIM's new BlackBerry Playbook tablet. [From: Wire]

Know:

• The Angry Birds rethink their strategy. [From: Gizmodo Australia]
• NOAA knows when you're checking the weather too often. [From: xkcd]
• Apple's 2010 app highlights reveal the top paid iPhone apps to be almost exclusively games, while iPad users opted for productivity apps. [From: TechCrunch]
• The United States of Autocomplete. [From: Kottke]

Got a tip? Want to talk to us? In need of more choice links like these? Drop us a line on Twitter and check out our Tumblr blog.

File-sharing and online gaming expose kids to a variety of harmful elements. The fact that most parents are unfamiliar with these services (relative to other online endeavors like social networking) only compounds the inherent dangers and issues. File-sharing services, also known as peer-to-peer networks (P2P), close as frequently as new ones spring up, which makes it difficult for parents or casual Internet users to keep up with trendy sites, like these. And, while establishing ground rules for gaming seems effortless enough, ensuring that kids adhere to those regulations is a wholly different matter.

When discussing P2P networks, parents should inform kids about the inescapable risks. The most publicized issues relate to the legal repercussions of downloading pirated content. Illegally sharing just one song can result in a five-figure fine and a permanently stained record. File-sharing also remains a primary method for predators and pedophiles to disseminate pornography (particularly of the child variety), and many sites feature potentially dangerous chat rooms. Viruses also present a constant threat.

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Perhaps you've heard of a little game that came out recently called 'Gran Turismo 5.' The long-awaited racing simulator has finally dropped on PS3, and we've had racing games on our brains. We can't escape the urge to experience high-speed thrills, and we know we're not alone. This week, we're addicted to zooming along, rocketing though our latest picks for Flash and indie racing titles.

'Gloomy Truck' puts you in the driver's seat as a post-apocalyptic, 'Mad Max'-style courier. While that may sound like a premise made for some futuristic car battles, Gloomy Truck is much more about methodical driving and successful package delivery (as most post-apocalyptic narratives are... ). The game's stages each challenge you to transport a variety of objects over treacherous terrain (or with merely getting from point A to point B in one piece) by using the arrow keys for movement. This is far from a simple task, considering that your truck has the tendency to tip over at the slightest bump, and that no one felt it necessary to secure your cargo in any way, thus it spills out if you're not careful (which makes no sense due to the precious nature of these 'mystery' boxes). While we appreciate how methodical the game is, we'd like to think it'd be much improved by adding a few 'Road Warrior' marauders.

A teenager in the Netherlands has been arrested after he confessed to participating in the recent pro-WikiLeaks cyberattacks on Visa and MasterCard. According to a press release from the Dutch National Office, the 16-year-old boy is part of the recently notorious online group called Anonymous, which has been orchestrating distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks on all companies that have severed financial ties with WikiLeaks. Dutch authorities did not specify which charges the boy will face, nor did they say how high he was on the Anonymous totem pole.

Anonymous, however, isn't so much an organization as it is an affiliation. Users typically join attacks on the infamous /b/ 4chan message board. Past Anonymous targets include record labels, gaming sites, and the Church of Scientology. Experts point out that Anonymous' warriors don't really hack into websites, but simply run special software that its more tech-savvy members spread around. Denial of service protection expert Barrett Lyon told Wired that the group's latest attack is especially shoddily constructed, and called it "mediocre, at best." Apparently, though, it was effective enough to warrant the attention of Dutch police, and the arrest of this kid.

If you thought Julian Assange and his team of WikiLeakers were wreaking global havoc from some decrepit, dank basement in northern Europe, guess again. The Daily Mail recently ran some photos of the Pionen data center -- a cave carved out of granite under Stockholm's Vita Berg Park, where WikiLeaks reportedly houses all of its files. And, as you can see, the photos are pretty unbelievable. (Maybe even a little too unbelievable.)

The data center sits at the site of a former bunker, which was reopened in 2008, and redesigned by Swedish architect Albert France-Lanord. France-Lanord reportedly wanted to recreate the kind of underground futuristic space that would be worthy of a James Bond set -- and he certainly did a good job. With a "floating" conference room, suspended glass hallways, and lunar landscape floor, the Pionen headquarters seems tailor-made for international espionage -- or, in Assange's case, ego-stroking. Old German U-boat engines serve as back-up generators, while artificial waterfalls serve absolutely no real purpose.

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Last week, a German teenager known as Deniz A and his 23-year-old accomplice managed to hack into the personal computers of Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake and Ke$ha. Upon infiltrating the computers with a Trojan horse virus, the hackers stole and sold the artists' unfinished songs online. Over the course of 12 months, they allegedly pocketed over $13,000. They're even rumored to have blackmailed Ke$ha with a "sexually compromising" photograph.

Now, however, the 18-year-old hacker has published a letter in Germany's Bild newspaper, in which he apologizes to the musicians he targeted, and blames his rampant "ambition" for getting the best of him. "Dear Lady Gaga," the letter begins. "I am ashamed of what I have done. I did not think about the consequences." German authorities have yet to file any charges against the alleged hackers, but state prosecutor Rolf Haferkamp told the Guardian that he already has enough evidence to "fill two fat binders."

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The crew over at Anonymous have spent the last day or so letting everyone know exactly where they stand in the war over WikiLeaks. The group kicked off Operation: Payback by targeting companies, governments and public figures that have made it difficult for Julian Assange and WikiLeaks to continue their operations. The infamous and nebulous hacker collective launched massive DDoS attacks against MasterCard, Visa, PayPal and Amazon, as well as sites representing the Swedish government, Joe Lieberman and Sarah Palin. (Anonymous even went the extra step of attempting to hack Palin's credit card account.) The attacks were made in response to decisions by the two credit card companies and by PayPal to cut off payments and donations to the whistleblower site. Palin and Lieberman, meanwhile, have both made public denouncements of the site and its founder. The Swedish government was targeted for seeking to arrest Assange over sexual assault charges. (Seriously, Anonymous? How about we let him go to trial and prove he's not a rapist before we start hacking government websites in his honor.)

A spokesperson for Anonymous, who goes by the name Coldblood, has told the BBC that Operation: Payback is not over yet. "It's still going strong," he said, "more people are joining, more and more people are downloading the voluntary botnet tool." Coldblood, Anonymous and its supporters are all painting themselves as the protectors of free speech in the conflict over WikiLeaks.

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The Galaxy Tab has been positioned by Samsung to be the first serious competitor to the iPad, and it's quite successfully living up to the hype. On paper, the seven-inch Android tablet (essentially a super-sized Galaxy S phone) has a lot going for it, like its impressively wide carrier support. Although Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint and AT&T are offering versions of the Tab at different prices and with different amounts of storage, they're all more or less the same device (just as the Fascinate and Captivate are essentially the same phone). We were specifically using the Verizon-branded Galaxy Tab, but what goes for the Verizon model can pretty much be applied across all carriers.

Let's be frank here. We're hardly the first site to review the Galaxy Tab, and, in an effort not to waste your time, let's begin with a few basic givens about the device. Yes, the screen is gorgeous, the tablet itself is fast, and TouchWiz is atrocious. But those simple judgments don't answer the big question: Can the first serious Android tablet really keep pace with the iPad? Does it even offer any serious benefits over a high-end smartphone?

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Former President Bill Clinton gave a keynote address at the Dreamforce conference yesterday, during which he discussed global and domestic economic inequalities, technology, and, of course, WikiLeaks.

Clinton described the whistleblowing organization's recent leak of diplomatic cables as unfortunate, but didn't go quite as far in condemning the site as his wife recently did. Instead, the former president focused on those who have lost, or will soon lose their jobs as a result. "What you do not see is how many people were exposed," he pointed out, adding that informants were now at particularly high risk, and that many diplomatic careers were likely ruined. He also feared that other diplomats and world leaders may now hesitate to engage in future talks with the U.S. for fear of another leak.

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