TechSpoon - Symantec on 60 Minutes

Watch CBS Videos Online

This is worth watching, gain some insight into internet security. It's important to stay protected, the web is like the wild west and you wouldn't leave your house without your Colt Peacemaker would you??

*Update:
Apparently, CBS has made a few reporting errors and perhaps that is why the video was taken down.

While watching the original video, the "Russian gangs" of...kids...really stood out to me. I couldn't help but think, "bull shit."

Explain this - the US has the greatest education system in the world. I find it hard to believe that 14 year old geeks from Russia are out-smarting professional geeks in the US that have Masters and PhDs in Engineering and Computer Science. I don't find it difficult to believe that some extremely intelligent kid could create some sophisticated programs, but the photo of these "Russian gangs of kids" that CBS displayed gave me reason to doubt it. I guess I was on to something, along with a lot of other people. Apparently, CBS reported some incorrect information about those kids.

GameSpoon - Zero Punctuation: Resident Evil 5

Needless to say, I don't really give a damn about Resident Evil 5. I didn't have much of an issue with the game until I found out that Capcom is forcing people to invest more money into the game if they want to play online. Well, it might not be a lot of money, but it's the concept behind that - how far will this micro-transaction (aka "nickel and diming") bullshit go? I've already been a sucker for many other games - Halo 3, COD 4 & 5, Fable 2, Fallout 3, Street Fighter 4...I just don't really want to invest in RE5, because I just don't really have a drive to do that.

However, I still love Capcom and Yahztee's colorful review of the game just makes me want to play Resident Evil 4 again, maybe I'll fire that game up this weekend!

GameSpoon - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

This is the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 teaser and it has grabbed my attention.

I never really gave COD much of a chance when the game originally came out. COD 1 didn't grab my attention, I felt woozy playing COD 2 and I (mistakenly) bought COD 3 for the Wii at launch - hey, I really wanted to play an FPS on the Wii...needless to say, the COD series and I got off to the wrong start. That all changed the day I bought COD 4.

COD 4 changed me, but I was late to the series. I was am a hardcore Halo fan. So, while everyone else in the world jumped on the COD 4 ship, I stayed on shore in my Halo 3 multiplayer safe-haven. I missed the boat on this one and I had no clue what I was missing out on, until multiple friends finally convinced me to get the game. I pay homage to those friends now!

COD 4 is one of the greatest games I've ever played. I'm thrilled at the fact that Modern Warfare 2 is on the horizon! I can't wait to learn more about the game that is coming to us on November 10th, 2009.

However, it will be a sad day, because I LOVE Call of Duty: World at War! If you don't own that game, you better go buy it. It is awesome and I'm extremely addicted to it...it rocks.

SeriousSpoon - American Nightmare

The following came from CNN.com:

NEW YORK (CNN) -- There is a chill wind blowing across this land of ours.

People are losing faith in their ability to realize the American dream. While AIG pays out $165 million in bonuses to people who arguably contributed to the need for the federal government to hand them $170 billion of our money, and while politicians lie about who crafted the language that allowed this kind of stuff to happen (Are you listening Chris Dodd?), the average American is seeing his future disintegrate in front of his eyes.

Here are some numbers that suggest we are losing hope:

A CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll shows 39 percent of those surveyed say they're very confident they'll be able to keep up their quality of life. That's down from 45 percent a year ago.

Fifty percent of homeowners with a mortgage say they're very confident they can keep making their house payments. Again, that's down from 58 percent a year ago.

Also down are the percentages of Americans who are confident they can pay their other debts, things like credit cards and car loans.

When it comes to saving for long-term goals, it's even worse.

Only 24 percent of parents say they're very confident they'll be able to pay to send their children to college, and only 22 percent of those who are still working think they'll be able to save enough for retirement.

This used to be the country where each succeeding generation could look forward to a better quality of life than their parents enjoyed.

In the meantime, as the federal government continues to print money that isn't worth the paper it's written on and as our national debt soars past $11 trillion, a United Nations panel is set to recommend that the world ditch the U.S. dollar as its reserve currency in favor of a shared basket of currencies.

One of the enduring strengths of the dollar has been that it has always been the currency of choice in times of crisis. But that's not the case anymore. Our ballooning deficits have driven down the value of the dollar so much that the Chinese government recently asked for guarantees from Washington that the Treasury bills they own are safe.

All of this isn't lost on the average American. Last week there were protests and demonstrations by taxpayers in cities all around the country who are beginning to object in increasing numbers to runaway government spending, taxes, bailouts and our growing national debt. These protests were called tea parties. Has a familiar ring to it, doesn't it?

By Jack Cafferty (CNN.com)

Will anything improve?

GameSpoon - Punch-Out! (Wii)

Awesome!

GameSpoon - Halo 3

I have been on a huge Halo kick lately, it came out of nowhere, but I love it. I loaded up Bungie.net to check the latest news and I came across this sweet gem - Halo 3 Bungie Employees' killtage 3!

RandomSpoon - J-Thrash's Directorial Debut

This is what happens when Jason is in charge of Windows Movie Maker. I call it "It's done in the forest".

Enjoy!

JapanSpoon - Manzai!

Here's a shot of Japanese culture for you, thanks to Kotaku!

The Manzai group Audrey promotes the new DSi colors - lime green, pink and metallic blue. Let's watch...



According to Kotaku:

"Manzai" is a type of comedy where one member is the straight man, and the other is funny man. Here, the straight man, Masayasu Wakabayashi, has the colorful DSi handhelds in his pocket. The joke is that funny man Toshiyaki Kasuga doesn't want the pink DSi, but the green one.

That's cool, but...where's the metallica blue DSi? Well, I think the joke will make more sense if you watch an earlier TV spot with this Manzai group (i.e. the pink shirt)! Again, thanks to Kotaku:



According to Kotaku:

In this ad, the straight man Masayasu Wakabayashi says today we're going to talk about the DSi — namely the camera. Funny man Toshiyaki Kasuga appears, wearing a pink sweater and says "Kasuga's camera is pointed at you, ladies."

"Run away quick, please," Wakabayashi says to the ladies, gesturing. He then says let's take a picture and snaps one of Kasuga.

He then says you can take pictures of "creepy Kasuga" with the DSi camera to which Kasuga replies: "Hey, you don't really think I'm creepy, do you?" Wakabayashi says if he really thought that, why would he be doing manzai with him. They both laugh hahahahahaha. BYE!

I love Japan!

GameSpoon: Doomsday Arcade: Episode Five

... wow!

Watching this really made me want to listen to some Megadeth for some reason.

Awesome

GameSpoon - The King of Fighters XII

HELL YEAH!

SNK Playmore's The King of Fighters XII will be coming to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in July - worldwide! This is fantastic news, previously there had been no word regarding a non-Japanese release of this amazing hand-drawn game.

According to Kotaku's article, the game will be reinventing itself, returning "to a core set of characters, relaunching with a new look but retaining the classic feel" (Kotaku).

"I couldn't think of a more appropriate way to commemorate The King of Fighter's 15-Year Anniversary than with a gorgeously animated, high-definition installment that updates the KOF legacy for a new generation." said Shane Bettenhausen, New Business Development Director of Ignition Entertainment. "While other fighting games have abandoned the time-consuming process of creating beautiful 2D art, KOFXII fully embraces the refined aesthetic beauty that only human hands can produce" (Kotaku).

This is fantastic news to hear, riding on the tails of the Street Fighter 4 release. Combing SF4, KOFXII and the new Tekken that's in the works - it's time to seriously consider building out a custom arcade stick from Arcade-in-a-Box.

I think I know how I'll be contributing to the global economy

RantSpoon - Quake Live's John Carmack

As a web developer, I sometimes get the feeling that we're looked down upon by non-web programmers (such as C++ people). I think that people view the web as something simple, because the primary tag-based language, HTML, is fairly simple.

Well, if people haven't noticed...the web is extremely different from the state it once was back in the early '90s. HTML is not responsible for just how cool and complex the web has become - it is not an easy job. Worst of all, web developers/designers have to account for a variety of browsers that each seem to handle code their own way - it's the wild west out there folks!

Anyway, it was great to read this quote from John Carmack during an interview with GameSpy regarding Quake Live:

What went not-so smoothly was building the website functionality, and the backend server side. A lot of that was just ignorance on our part. There's a little bit of hubris there, when you're a hotshot game developer and think that the website development stuff can't be all that challenging. We were somewhat disabused of that notion. It's easy to get something working, but the compatibility problems were quite a bit of effort.

At least some non-web developers had a bit of insight into the complexity of creating web applications.

Check out Quake Live Beta when you get a chance!

GameSpoon - Street Fighter 4 Training Manual

You love Street Fighter 4, don't you? I do! Well, Capcom sent out a sweet training manual to the press during the launch of Street Fighter 4; well fear not, now you too can own this manual...for FREE!

"How is this possible?" You ask. I'll tell you! Capcom's Unity site has the PDF version of the training manual up on their site for download, you can find it here:

SF4 Training Manual [capcom-unity.com].

Thank Capcom for this awesome-ness!