Author: Zach Walton

Glasses are totally sexy, but that used to not be the case. Glasses used to be an indicator that somebody was a nerd. If you wore glasses, you probably played Dungeons and Dragons late into the night while stuffing your face with Doritos. Now thanks to Google Glass, all the pasty white guys can be identified as nerds using only eye wear once again.

A new tumblr popped up recently called “White men wearing Google Glass.” Turns out the title is incredibly descriptive because that’s what you get. Here are some of the standouts:

The most popular image by far is the one below of Robert Scoble testing Google Glass’ water resistance.

It is waterproof to an extent, but Google itself says not to go scuba diving with Glass on.

[h/t: Mashable]

The Wii U, much like the Gamecube, has a problem with third-party support. Even so, EA Sports still brought annual iterations of Madden NFL to the little purple box. That’s not happening on the Wii U.

When Madden NFL 25 was announced last week, a Wii U version was missing from the press release. Nintendo World Report started asking questions and got the following response from an EA Sports spokesperson:

“We will not be releasing a Wii U version of Madden NFL in 2013. However, we have a strong partnership with Nintendo and will continue to evaluate opportunities for delivering additional Madden NFL products for Nintendo fans in the future.”

If you have trouble reading corporate speak, EA is essentially saying that the Wii U isn’t selling well enough for it to dedicate resources towards a Wii U version of Madden. If the console starts to pick up in the future, EA Tiburon will start up Wii U development again. Until then, EA is watching and waiting.

Some will undoubtedly take this news as the death knell for the Wii U, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. Does Madden skipping the Wii U look bad? It looks incredibly bad, but it’s just as much an EA problem as it is a Nintendo problem. EA Sports just finished with a round of massive lay offs, its CEO stepped down and the publisher is trying to restructure itself to prepare for the next generation of consoles. Any perceived flops would look bad to already anxious investors and a Wii U version of Madden would most definitely be a flop.

That being said, Madden NFL 25 skipping the Wii U may be a sign that other major third-party titles will be skipping the console as well. In the announcement of Call of Duty: Ghosts from yesterday, the Wii U was missing from the title’s list of target platforms. The PS4 and next Xbox will be getting the game, but it looks like Activision will be skipping the Wii U after Black Ops II was kind of a flop at the Wii U’s launch.

Even if EA and Activision pull out, Ubisoft is still supporting the console with all of its major AAA blockbusters. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Watch Dogs will all be making an appearance on Nintendo’s console this year.

With all this in mind, I think it’s safe to say that the Wii U will be much like the Wii and Gamecube before it – a console for Nintendo titles and the odd third-party exclusive. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it does ensure that the Wii U will remain a companion console for most gamers as they look to the PS4, next Xbox or PC as their main platform of choice.

Ever since Insomniac changed Overstrike into Fuse, it seems that interest in the title has dropped somewhat. The game still looks like a fun shooter with interesting weapons, but it ditched the colorful and humorous style shown in the original trailer.

The new trailer – dubbed “Fable’s Vision” – doesn’t really do much to sell people on Fuse beyond its weapons. In fact, it seems that the title only has that going for it, just like Insomniac’s Resistance franchise. The games are fun enough, but they lack the creativity and fun that have always been a hallmark of the developer’s Ratchet and Clank franchise.

Still, what do I know? Insomniac could knock it out of the park with Fuse. It could present a serious story that’s actually worth paying attention while having the fun gunplay mechanics of its other franchises. It’s just that the trailers thus far haven’t really inspired much confidence. It doesn’t help that the game continues to look more and more like a Borderlands clone that takes itself far too seriously.

Fuse will be released on May 28 for Xbox 360 and PS3.

Like every console before it, the Wii U will eventually be hacked and people will use that hack to play pirated games on the console. The challenge comes in the form of actually hacking the console to allow this functionality. One group claims to have done it, and will soon be selling their secret to the world.

Wiikey, a group that sells mod chips for the Nintendo Wii, have announced the WiikeÜ. Like the mod chips before it, this soft mod for the Wii U allows gamers to play Wii and Wii U games off of any USB media. The official line is that gamers can use this mod chip to play backups of Wii U games, but most would obviously use it to play pirated Wii U titles.

Some are calling shenanigans as the group has yet to provide any proof of the exploit. The group says it’s real though, and will be selling the USB emulator in the near future to allow others to hack their Wii U consoles.

So, what does Nintendo have to say about all of this? The company takes a hardline against piracy so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Nintendo is watching this very closely. In a statement to Ars Technica, Nintendo said it’s “aware that a hacking group claims to have compromised Wii U security.” That being said, the company has “no reports of illegal Wii U games nor unauthorized applications playable on the system while in Wii U mode.” Nintendo finished up its statement with a classic by saying that it “will take the necessary legal steps to prevent the facilitation of piracy.”

If the Wii U is anything like the Wii, the system’s security will be constantly compromised during its lifetime. Of course, this will only lead to Nintendo issuing more frequent mandatory system updates to patch security holes that only serve to annoy legitimate customers while doing nothing to stop those hellbent on playing games off disc.

Google Glass really freaks some people out. Those people are understandably concerned that those wearing Glass could be secretly recording their every move. There are some obstacles programmed into Glass to prevent this, but it might not be for long.

ZDNet reports that a hacker by the name of Jay Freeman has already jailbroken Glass. The jailbroken Glass can be used to bypass a number of obstacles that prevent Glass from becoming the surveillance tool of the future.

The big thing is that hackers can remove all indication that Glass is recording video. In the vanilla OS, Glass will show the video as it’s recording on the glass prism above the eye. If a person was close enough, they could tell that Glass was recording video. Freeman says that Glass’ OS can be modified to remove this so that you can record video while everybody is none the wiser.

Of course, you couldn’t record minutes of footage as the current Glass only allows video recordings of up to 10 seconds. Oh wait, that’s controlled by the OS as well so you could bypass that limitation to allow unlimited video recording. Glass only has 12.5GB of embedded flash memory though so there’s not much space for video.

That’s where Freeman starts to get creative. He says you can modify Glass to take a picture every 30 seconds while recording low bit rate audio. It takes up much less storage than HD video, but provides what is essentially the same information. Freeman speculates such tactics could be used for corporate espionage or for planning robberies.

Should you be afraid of Google Glass, especially after all of this has come to light? The short answer is no. The long answer is that Google Glass is just a tool, and like any other tool can be used for good or evil. It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be cautious though. Bars, strip clubs and other establishments that make it a priority to protect customer privacy have an obligation to prevent Glass and other recording equipment from being used on their premises.

It should be noted that we’re still in the infancy of Google Glass. Google may lock down the consumer versions of Glass to prevent unwarranted surveillance on a massive scale. We’ll find out in about a year when Google Glass finally launches.

[Image: Stop the Cyborgs]

It’s a new year, and that means a new Call of Duty title. This year is a bit special though as it’s a transition year into next-gen consoles. The folks at Infinity Ward are taking full advantage of that fact with a new Call of Duty game coming to next-gen consoles.

Activision and Infinity Ward announced today that Call of Duty: Ghosts is the next title in the first-person shooter franchise. Many thought that Infinity Ward would continue with a fourth entry in the Modern Warfare storyline, but Ghosts is an entirely new story. The game is also being built with an entirely brand new engine to take advantage of next-gen consoles. That’s only a good thing as the Modern Warfare engine was starting to show its age around Modern Warfare 2.

To top off the announcement, Activision has also released a new trailer for the title. As is customary, no gameplay is present. Instead, we get a live-action trailer full of angry men wearing masks that make them look even angrier.

Infinity Ward also announced that it will be showing off the first gameplay demo of the title at Microsoft’s next Xbox event on May 21. With that in mind, it’s a pretty safe bet that Microsoft has secured more exclusive Call of Duty content to ensure that those who play Call of Duty on the Xbox 360 continue to do so on the next Xbox.

Call of Duty: Ghosts will be available on the Xbox 360, PS3, PC, PS4 and the next Xbox on November 5. There’s no mention of the Wii U in the announcement, but you shouldn’t read too much into that just yet.

Fitness games are still relatively popular, but there’s only so many workouts that can be stored on a DVD. Microsoft foresaw this problem, and has teamed up with DailyBurn to bring its daily workout videos to Internet Explorer on Xbox.

DailyBurn announced today that it has built a Web app that’s accessible via Internet Explorer for Xbox 360. The Web app features all the workout videos that subscribers enjoy on DailyBurn with the added bonus of a custom experience tailored specifically for Xbox.

DailyBurn on Xbox already sounds good enough, but the app also features tablet integration that allows users to keep track of their calories burned over the course of the workout. It also keeps track of other stats so you adjust your workout accordingly.

DailyBurn is now available on Internet Explorer for Xbox. Just hit up the URL and start losing weight with your Xbox.

Not everybody can be online all the time. For those moments, it’s best to leave a message. That was a little difficult in Skype for Windows as you could only leave text-based messages before, but that all changed this week.

Skype announced this week that it’s rolling out the preview of Skype Video Messaging for Windows desktop users. To be more specific, Windows 7 users can now send short video messages to friends that are currently offline. The feature will be coming to Windows 8 soon.

Windows desktop users are just the latest to get Skype Video Messaging. Microsoft notes that the feature is available in preview for those using Skype on Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android. Those on Windows 8 and Windows Phone can receive video messages, but they have yet to gain the ability to record messages. Skype says it will be fixing that soon.

If you want to try out Skype Video Messaging for yourself, you’ll have to download the Skype 6.5 beta for Windows. You can grab that here. Alongside the new feature, the beta also includes two small fixes to help increase stability when calling:

In other news, Skype recently announced that Outlook.com users can now make video calls from within their browser. More info on that here.

Atoms make up everything in the universe. So technically, a movie made out of atoms isn’t all that new. In fact, every movie since the dawn of film has been made of atoms, just like everything else. What’s unique about IBM’s latest project then is that researchers have made a stop-motion film by moving single atoms.

In what IBM calls the “world’s smallest movie,” A Boy and His Atom is a short film that was created by IBM researchers “using a scanning tunneling microscope to move thousands of carbon monoxide molecules (two atoms stacked on top of each other).” They mostly did it just because they could, and the results are pretty amazing:

It may not look like much, but the above movie is the result of IMB meticulously moving individual atoms to create a scene. It’s actually kind of mind blowing when you realize we can now move individual atoms – the basic building blocks of everything, living and non-living, in the universe.

Of course, making movies out of atoms isn’t IBM’s primary objective here. The company is researching atomic memory – a type of memory storage that packs data into incredibly tight spaces to increase the amount of storage possible in tiny spaces. Early last year, IBM was able to store a bit of data on just 12 atoms. As the technology advances, we’ll soon be able to store more and more data on smaller and smaller devices.

Until then, IBM can be content that it holds the Guinness World Record for the world’s smallest movie.

If you’re interested in learning how IBM manipulated the atoms to make the movie, check out the video below:

[h/t: Reddit]

Back in February, Skylar Tibbits revealed that he was working on a project called 4D printing. In essence, the technology would allow for 3D printed parts to assemble themselves into usable objects. It’s a concept straight out of futurism fiction, but various research facilities are making it into a reality.

Now the TED presentation Tibbits made is online for everybody to watch and enjoy. In the presentation, he talks about his vision for 4D printing and how it has the potential to change everything. He even shows some examples of his early work with the technology:

Stratasys says that it’s heavily invested in the future of 4D printing. It’s currently researching a new type of material for 3D printers that can self assemble after being printed. Here are the details from the Stratasys blog:

What makes the transformation and self-assembly possible is the breakthrough development of a new material used in multi-material 3D printing by Stratasys Objet Connex 3D Printers. The self-folding material is actually composed of two base materials – one that is water expandable and the second that is not water expandable. The water expandable material, which is still in the R&D phase, is able to absorb water and to be programmed to behave and transform in a specific way. It is a highly hydrophilic material that absorbs water molecules when immersed and can change its volume by more than 150% relative to its dry state. When this material is coupled with the static material it can drive predictable shape transformation of the multi-material 3D printed object. Both materials are printed simultaneously on a Stratasys Objet Connex 3D Printer.

Research into 4D printing is only just getting started, but Tibbits already has some ideas on how 4D printing can benefit certain industries in the short term. The big one is space exploration as self-assembly could help NASA and other space agencies reduce costs by simply sending the parts into space, and then those parts self-assemble into an object at the desired location.

4D printing is certainly exciting, but there’s still plenty of potential in 3D printing as well. For instance, we’re going to see 3D printed buildings far before we see self-assembled 4D printed buildings. Still, the two technologies will work hand-in-hand to create some undoubtedly amazing things in the future.

Google I/O must be somewhat overwhelming for some developers. There’s a lot of ground to cover and you can only attend so many sessions in a day. That’s why a tight schedule is of the utmost importance so you better start building one now before it’s too late.

The Google I/O site has just been updated with the latest session schedule so that developers can start planning their days accordingly. All you need to do is sign in to your Google account and click on the plus button for each session you want to attend. It should go without saying, but clicking on the plus button doesn’t save you spot for that session. You might want to have a backup plan just in case your preferred session is full.

Speaking of sessions, Google developers will be on hand to discuss everything from Android to YouTube. The first two days will feature sessions on Android, Chrome, Google+, Google Cloud Platform and YouTube. The third day shaves off two categories to focus only on Android, Chrome and the Google Cloud Platform.

Beyond these official sessions, there will be plenty of developers wandering the show floor ready to talk shop with anybody else. In fact, Facebook has already said it will deploy a number of its developers at the event to talk with others about the Facebook SDK for Android.

On a final note, those who can’t make it to Google I/O will want to check out the schedule as well. The events with a little camera on them means that Google will be live streaming that session. You might want to start planning your weekend of watching Google I/O live streams now.

[h/t: DroidLife]

CISPA is all but dead once again, and the Senate is moving ahead with its own cybersecurity legislation. That doesn’t mean the fight is over though. In fact, the Senate might just propose a bill that’s worse, but the White House says that it won’t let that happen.

In an official response to the “Stop CISPA” petition on the We The People Web site, the White House says that any new cybersecurity legislation “must not violate Americans’ right to privacy.” The administration says that’s the reason why it issued a veto threat against CISPA earlier this month. That veto threat may led to CISPA’s death, but the White House says it’s still open to working with everybody to pass cybersecurity legislation.

To that end, the White House says that cybersecurity legislation is a must to counter the “constant threat of cyber crime, espionage, and attacks.” The administration, unlike the House, does admit there are already tools in place, however, to facilitate cooperation between the government and private companies to share threat information. It just feels that the current tools in place aren’t enough:

But you might ask, “Isn’t this collaboration already happening?” The simple answer is yes, but inefficiently. When it comes to information sharing, we need clearer rules to promote collaboration and protect privacy. Right now, each company has to work out an individual arrangement with the government and other companies on what information to share about cyberthreats. This ambiguity can lead to harmful delays.

There is broad consensus on the need for more threat-related information sharing — including among the leading privacy advocates we regularly engage on the issue. The essential question on which people across the spectrum disagree isn’t if we can share cybersecurity information and preserve the principles of privacy and liberty that make the United States a free and open society — but how.

The White House has admirable goals, but we’ve heard all of this before from the House. We were promised that CISPA would respect privacy and civil liberties, but that obviously wasn’t the case in the end.

To allieve the concerns of citizens, the White House says that it will only support cybersecurity legislation that adheres to these three principles:

It’s important that any information shared under a new cybersecurity law must be limited to what’s relevant and necessary for cybersecurity purposes. That also means minimizing information that can be used to identify specific individuals. For example, if a utility company is looking for government assistance to respond to a cyber attack, it is unlikely that it needs to share the personal information of its customers, like contact information or energy-use history, with the government.

Cybersecurity legislation needs to preserve the traditional roles for civilian and intelligence agencies that we all understand. Specifically, if legislation authorizes new information sharing between the private sector and the government, then that new information should enter the government through a civilian department rather than an intelligence agency. That doesn’t mean breaking the existing mechanisms that already work. For example, victims of cyber crime ought to continue to report those violations to federal law enforcement agencies and public-private information-sharing relationships that already exist should be preserved.

Any new legislation ought to provide legal clarity for companies that follow the rules and appropriately share data with the government. But it should not provide broad immunity for businesses and organizations that act in ways likely to cause damage to third parties or result in the unwarranted disclosure of personal information.

In short, the above takes care of pretty much every complaint privacy advocates had with the original CISPA. The White House says it will continue to apply the above principles in its on-going discussions with those in the Senate currently crafting cybersecurity legislation.

CISPA may be dead, but the issue of cybersecurity is far from over. We’ll continue to follow the Senate’s efforts as it works on its own cybersecurity legislation.

The iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 have been the subject of rumors and speculation since the beginning of this year. Most seem to think that the former will launch this year, and the latter is being saved for next year. A new report has come in to further back those claims.

Jefferies analyst Peter Misek is back on the iPhone 6 rumor beat with an update. He says that Apple will indeed launch the iPhone 6 in 2014 – June to be exact. He also speculates that the iPhone 6 will receive the oft-rumored display size upgrade.

So, where does Misek’s report leave this year’s rumored iPhone 5S? While the new device may not sport a larger display, Misek says it will have a better processor, a better camera and new mobile payment options in Passbook. If that’s not enough, he also says that Apple will finally offer the iPhone in a variety of different colors.

Even without a larger display, the iPhone 5S has the potential to shake everything up on the software side of things. 9to5Mac says that iOS 7 will sport a completely new redesign that ditches the realistic stylings of iOS in favor of a more “flat” design that you see on platforms like Windows 8.

Some people say that Apple needs to increase the size of the iPhone’s display to better compete with Android, but the iPhone may be able to wait out one more year if iOS receives a substantial upgrade. Software is always more important than hardware, and a completely revamped iOS could make everybody forget about the bigger iPhone until next year.

[Financial Post via BGR]

Robot Chicken has consistently remained one of the best shows on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. The team behind the show are some of the funniest people in the business, and the folks at Google were lucky enough to pick their brains for 30 minutes.

Watch this entertaining panel discussion with the “Robot Chicken” show leads — Seth Green, Matthew Senreich, Tom Root and Zeb Wells — at Google’s LA office on April 17, 2013.

Among the wide range of topics they cover: the genesis of the Robot Chicken Star Wars episodes (and what George Lucas is like in person), whether we’ll ever see Apocalypse ponies on the market, what sketch ideas have gone “too far” and why, and how Seth Green in “Entourage” and Seth Green in real life are not the same person.

On a related note, you might want to check out this previous Google Talk featuring the cast of Parks and Recreation.

At Google I/O last year, Google showed that it was serious about making Android a serious contender in the tablet space with the Nexus 7. It inched in on Apple’s turf later that year with the Nexus 10, a Samsung-built tablet sporting the largest resolution yet seen on a mobile device. Now Google may be teaming up with Samsung to do it all over again.

SamMobile reports that Samsung and Google are teaming up in 2013 to bring a Nexus 11 to market. The rumored tablet would feature an 11-inch display, a 8MP back-facing camera, a 2MP front-facing camera, and an Exynos Octa-core processor. The CPU is notable as it would be the first tablet to feature an octa-core processor. Samsung’s newest octa-core CPU has only been made available in the international Galaxy S4 thus far.

Of course, Samsung doesn’t intend to let Google have all the fun. The company is rumored to also be releasing an 11-inch tablet under its own Galaxy Tab brand. The rumored Galaxy Tab 11 would feature the same specs as the Nexus 7, but it would be powered by a dual-core Exynos CPU to cut down on costs.

As for other tablets, the report says that Samsung is planning to release a new Galaxy Tab 7 and Tab 8 later this year. The company is already releasing a Wi-Fi and 3G capable 7-inch Galaxy Tab 3 in May, but the rumored Galaxy Tab 7 would come with dual-sim support for those who frequently travel or want to operate on two carriers.

All of this is just a rumor for now, but most of it sounds pretty legit. The Nexus 11 sounds like a natural evolution of Google’s Nexus line. As for Samsung’s other tablets, it loves to release its Galaxy Tab and Note hardware in multiple sizes. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more Galaxy Tabs in the coming months.

The PlayStation Vita is in a bit of a rough spot. It doesn’t have a lot of great games. Sony hopes to remedy that situation by just a bit today with the handheld’s latest release.

Soul Sacrifice, a new title from Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune, launches today in the US exclusively for the PlayStation Vita. In celebration of the game’s launch, Sony has gone all out with a live action trailer that would be right at home in a direct-to-VHS movie about mystical warriors from the farther realm.

Soul Sacrifice, and its Monster Hunter-inspired gameplay, has already proven popular in Japan. Unfortunately, the genre has never really caught on in the US. That being said, it could find more success on the Vita as the handheld is starved for content.

To further tempt Vita owners, Sony will be offering the following items to those who purchase a digital copy of the game.