Putting potential problems with digital distribution of game software aside for a moment, K and I have been playing in GameTap[1] a lot lately.
Monthly Archive for August, 2007
What on EARTH
Slashdot | BioShock Installs a Rootkit
Facts have surfaced that show that the recently released PC game BioShock installs a rootkit, which embeds itself into Explorer, as part of its SecureROM copy-protection scheme. Not only that, but just installing the demo infects your system with the rootkit.
Continue reading ‘BioShock DEMO Installs [Unwanted Software That Is Not Actually A Rootkit]‘
The power has been out at my offices since 9:15 this morning.
What does the IT department do when there’s no power?
Wait. Wait, and fool around with low-wattage generators. There may be no power, but we have email!
Keeping the gate far too closed
Quoth ångel: “Your verification question to assure I am not a bot gave me pause.”
Then came to me, in person, michele: “It ate my comment, a long one with a T. S. Eliot quote!”
So, something was awry with my theme and WP-Gatekeeper, and I shut it off in favor of Akismet.
This is kind of a shame, because I really like the idea of WP-Gatekeeper. It’s Captcha, but instead of a weird graphic, it asks you a question. The question is supposed to be obvious to a human, but non-obvious to a computer:
- What color is an orange?
- Which of the following is food: Rocket, grape, gravel.
- What compass point is usually “up” on a map?
It’s a fun little Turing test[1], and it seemed less obtrusive to me than regular Captcha.
Of course, Akismet is not obtrusive at all, but any sort of machine-judged anti-spam solution means you’re now counting on a machine to pass a Turing test, instead of a person. That still seems risky to me…
If it fails, let me know, so I can find yet something else.
- I’m pretty sure ångel is pretty advanced for a bot, and can pass most Turing tests. (What’s the emoticon for a raised eyebrow?) [↩]
The Lucky Way
Note: This is an old post. I actually did the upgrades, and then I was too busy playing games to release the post… Oops! I’ll talk about the new computer later.
I’ve been looking at upgrading my gaming computer. Currently, it’s aging pretty badly. Without laying out too many boring details:
- 2.0 GHz AMD Athlon[1]
- 1 GB DDR RAM
- AGP Video Card by ATI
- IDE Hard Drives
If you’re one of the people reading this who thinks, “That’s not bad at all! That will still run every application I use.” you may well be right. You have probably also never tried to run Bethesda’s Oblivion, or run Half-Life 2 Episode 1 with HDR turned on, or even considered BioShock or the other games coming into view. I won’t hold that against you. I even envy you a little bit. Your computing experience is a lot cheaper than mine, for starters.
Continue reading ‘Computer Upgrade Financing’
- As in, a single-core processor. [↩]
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