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Redbox launching video game rentals in June

Posted by Harshad

Redbox launching video game rentals in June


Redbox launching video game rentals in June

Posted: 28 Apr 2011 08:54 PM PDT

Redbox launching video game rentals in JuneStarting June 17th, Redbox will begin adding video games to 21,000 of its rental kiosks.

Says Joel Resnik, vice president of games at Redbox:

Historically, video game products have not been available at grocery stores, drugstores or convenience stores. We make it very convenient by having our kiosks in front of the places people are at every day.


Rentals will cost $2 per night, and will include games for the Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360.

For the last few months, Redbox has been testing the video game rentals at 5000 kiosks, including locations in Orlando, Austin and Reno.

Users can search for available titles online.

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Android 2.3.4 adds video and voice chat support to Google Talk

Posted: 28 Apr 2011 08:37 PM PDT

Android 2.3.4 adds video and voice chat support to Google TalkIn an announcement that should make Android device owners with front-side cameras very happy, Google has said that Android 2.3.4 will add video and voice chat support to Google Talk.

The first users to get Android 2.3.4 will be Nexus S owners.

Outside of the major update to Google Talk, the firmware will bring a few bug fixes and improvements, and should be rolling out in the coming weeks.

Says Google:

You can now video or voice chat with your friends, family and colleagues right from your Android phone, whether they're on their compatible Android tablet or phone, or using Gmail with Google Talk on their computer. You can make calls over a 3G or 4G data network (if your carrier supports it) or over Wi-Fi.

In your Google Talk friends list, a video or voice chat button will appear next to your contacts and you can simply touch the button to connect with them. Any text chats from the person you're talking with will be overlaid on your phone's screen so you can read them without having to leave the video. And, if you need to check something else, the video pauses automatically so you can go back to your phone's home screen or another app. The audio will keep going even though the video has paused.

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Foxconn workers arrested for leaking iPad 2 design before launch

Posted: 28 Apr 2011 08:24 PM PDT

Foxconn workers arrested for leaking iPad 2 design before launchThree Foxconn employees were arrested in late 2010 for violating Apple's trade secret agreement and leaking details about the design of the iPad 2, and were charged this week.

All three of the employees were arrested in China in December, over three months before the iPad 2 was unveiled by Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

The alleged leaks let accessory makers create designs, some of which were very close to what the final product was, including the rounded back, camera location and new speaker location.

Foxconn is a major producer of Apple products like the iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air but made headlines last years after a slew of suicides at their factories.

It was then reported that worker's families were making more money from the suicide compensation than the workers were making in three years of labored salary.

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Geohot insults Sony, but denies any involvement with PSN breach

Posted: 28 Apr 2011 07:47 PM PDT

Geohot insults Sony, but denies any involvement with PSN breachNot that he really had, George "Geohot" Hotz has denied all involvement with the recent PSN security breach.

For our latest coverage on the hack that got 77 million people's personal info stolen, check here: Sony sees first lawsuit over massive PSN security hack

Taking some parting shots at Sony but denying all involvement, Geohot wrote out a long blog post.

Hotz recently settled with Sony over a lawsuit for his involvement in creating custom firmwares for the PS3 that allow for homebrew.

Writes Hotz:

To start, I sure am glad I don't have a PSN account about now. And, as a onetime victim of identity theft, I feel for everyone who's data has been stolen. I'm not going to make cracks at Sony for flipping a shit when /their/ data is compromised, and not even having the decency to apologize when it's your data that's misappropriated.

And to anyone who thinks I was involved in any way with this, I'm not crazy, and would prefer to not have the FBI knocking on my door. Running homebrew and exploring security on your devices is cool, hacking into someone elses server and stealing databases of user info is not cool. You make the hacking community look bad, even if it is aimed at douches like Sony.

One of the things I was contemplating back in early January was a PSN alternative, a place for jailbroken consoles to download homebrew and game without messing up anyone else's experience. Unfortunately events led me off of that path, but gamers, if I had succeeded you would have a place to game online with your PS3 right now. I'm one of the good guys. I used to play games online on PC, I hated cheaters then and I hate them now.

Also, let's not fault the Sony engineers for this, the same way I do not fault the engineers who designed the BMG rootkit. The fault lies with the executives who declared a war on hackers, laughed at the idea of people penetrating the fortress that once was Sony, whined incessantly about piracy, and kept hiring more lawyers when they really needed to hire good security experts. Alienating the hacker community is not a good idea.

Now until more information is revealed on the technicals, I can only speculate, but I bet Sony's arrogance and misunderstanding of ownership put them in this position. Sony execs probably haughtily chuckled at the idea of threat modeling. Traditionally the trust boundary for a web service exists between the server and the client. But Sony believes they own the client too, so if they just put a trust boundary between the consumer and the client(can't trust those pesky consumers), everything is good. Since everyone knows the PS3 is unhackable, why waste money adding pointless security between the client and the server? This arrogance undermines a basic security principle, never trust the client. It's the same reason MW2 was covered in cheaters, Activision even admitted to the mistake of trusting Sony's client. Sony needs to accept that they no longer own and control the PS3 when they sell it to you. Notice it's only PSN that gave away all your personal data, not Xbox Live when the 360 was hacked, not iTunes when the iPhone was jailbroken, and not GMail when Android was rooted. Because other companies aren't crazy.

And let's talk about Sony's use of the word illegal. It is illegal, criminally so, to break into someone else's servers. But when the same word is used to refer to streaming a song from a non RIAA approved website, or to *gasp* playing a homebrew game on your PS3, respect for the word and those who say it is lost.

Weighing in quickly on the whole hacker vs cracker thing. I am a hacker. Whoever did this were hackers also. The media will never start using the word cracker. To me, a hacker is just somebody with a set of skills; hacker is to computer as plumber is to pipes. And the same ethics should apply, if you want to mess with the pipes in your own house, go for it. But don't go breaking into people's houses and messing with their pipes. (Note that I do not endorse water piracy)

To the perpetrator, two things. You are clearly talented and will have plenty of money(or a jail sentence and bankruptcy) coming to you in the future. Don't be a dick and sell people's information. And I'd love to see a write up on how it all went down...lord knows we'll never get that from Sony, noobs probably had the password set to '4' or something. I mean, at least it was randomly generated.

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Sony sees first lawsuit over massive PSN security hack

Posted: 28 Apr 2011 07:29 PM PDT

Sony sees first lawsuit over massive PSN security hackEarlier this week we reported that following 5 days of downtime, Sony had finally confirmed the reason behind the PSN outage, sparking outrage from concerned gamers.

Sony said hackers had stolen PSN account info, forcing the company to shut down PSN and Qriocity as it rebuilds its services. The company noted that your "Name, address (city, state, postal code), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login, and handle/PSN online ID, profile data, including purchase history and billing address (city, state, postal code), and the subscriber's PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers" had been compromised.

Even worse, the company says your credit card info and expiration date are likely to have been compromised, as well.

Today, the first lawsuit over the breach has surfaced, filed on the behalf of Kristopher Johns of Alabama.

Johns is accusing Sony "of not taking reasonable care to protect, encrypt, and secure the private and sensitive data of its users."

Furthermore, the suit alleges (via Cnet) that Sony took far too long to notify customers of the breach, and that their information had been stolen. By taking 5 days Sony did not give its users a chance "to make an informed decision as to whether to change credit card numbers, close the exposed accounts, check their credit reports, or take other mitigating actions."

Seeking class action status, the suit is demanding monetary compensation and free credit card monitoring for all 77 million PSN users affected.

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