Wanting to stay relevant, the guy who programmed the popular Whack-a-Mole game wrote code into the program that causes the game to fail at a given interval. This is a common trick for many programmers: They write code so that the system will fail. I’ve seen that technique used many times, mostly to ensure that the programmer gets their final payment. But to consistently program something to fail is a con game. Glad this guy got caught.
February 26, 2011February 22, 2011Apple Water is HereA brilliant parody. Even the Apple fanboys should get a laugh out of this.
Comments Off on Apple Water is Here
February 19, 2011Is Google Evil?If you’ve been watching Glenn Beck, or not, you’ve probably heard about how he’s telling people that Google is evil. The same company whose motto is “Do no evil” is evil? This is probably the article Beck read to reach that conclusion.
Comments Off on Is Google Evil?
February 17, 2011Your Job is in DangerInteresting editorial in the Wall Street Journal today. The economy is changing. Not actually shrinking, but thanks to technology some jobs are just no longer necessary. Are we ready for the Butlerian Jihad yet?
Comments Off on Your Job is in Danger
February 16, 2011Lots of Facebook Friends Equals Lots of AnxietyThank God I don’t have that many Facebook friends!
Comments Off on Lots of Facebook Friends Equals Lots of Anxiety
February 10, 2011End of Humanity Now Only 35 Years AwayForget about the Mayan Calendar. According to futurist Ray Kurzwiel, computers will grow so fast and intelligent by 2046 that they’ll basically take over. Ray sees a benevolent future of mankind living forever. I see something akin to the Butlerian Jihad that Frank Herbert wrote about. Doom! Doom! D-Doom! February 8, 2011Cybercheating is a Big DealA majority of students cybercheat, taking information from the Internet and using it without citing the source or claiming it as their own. This is big. What’s worse, in my opinion, is that their attitude is that it’s okay because “everyone else does it.” That speaks to their character more than their academic skills. February 4, 2011Throw-Away Email AccountsHere’s a clever idea from Microsoft: Throw-away email accounts. They know that you often create a temporary email account to sign up for a service or to blog, with no intention of seriously using the account. Apparently now you can add up to five alias accounts to your single Hotmail/Live mail account. Super cinchy. Really smart.
Comments Off on Throw-Away Email Accounts
January 24, 2011AOL’s Profits Come From Ill-Informed GeezersAccording to the article below, AOL is profiting because a lot of old people who use computers are unaware that they don’t need AOL. Those users already have an email account at their ISP, but they still pay $25/month for AOL service just to use the email address. That’s a silly waste of money, but I can see how it happens: Too many people are misinformed and ignorant when it comes to computers. They just don’t know any better. That’s sad. January 23, 2011Two-Tiered Internet (in Britain)I wrote about this change coming over two years ago: A two-tier Internet service, though the way Britain is doing it isn’t what I predicted, and this isn’t the same thing as net-neutrality. No, the burden here goes on the web sites themselves: Pay more and get on the Internet faster. But don’t tell me that this gives an advantage to the big media companies. Here is the blog post I wrote on a similar subject in 2008. |
