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10 Sep 22:56

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Lesson

by Zach Weinersmith


Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
Hollywood, call me. I can have this script done on a weekend.


Today's News:
06 Sep 19:39

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Tone

by Zach Weinersmith


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Hovertext:
Really, any noise other than hatred or complete lack of interest should not be allowed.


Today's News:
06 Sep 19:37

Excuse Me, Spider

by Reza
10 Aug 15:47

After 3 years of trying, Lord of the Rings Online's 'Great Hobbit Run' ends in confused success as a mob of low-level players gets lost inside Mount Doom and decides it's close enough: 'Sauron can kiss my butt!'

by Andy Chalk

The Great Hobbit Run is a Lord of the Rings Online tradition based on a simple premise: What if, instead of adventures and experience and becoming the savior of Middle-earth, a bunch of newbies just showed up at Chez Bilbo and then booked it straight to Mount Doom? It sounds like a terrible idea, at least in the very serious in-fiction context of saving the world from enslavement to evil. But as a silly good time in a very long-in-the-tooth MMO, it actually seems pretty great.

Organized by Twitch streamer BurkeBlack, the Great Hobbit Run (via GamesRadar) is an express trek from Bilbo Baggins' house to the fiery heart of Mount Doom, specifically for level one hobbits. That's not a hard-and-fast rule: Pre-run conversation mentions the LOTRO tutorial putting players to level 5, and someone in the party is judged rather harshly for joining in at level 41.

Low-level characters are obviously more in the spirit of the thing, but nobody's going to put too much effort into enforcing any rules, in part because the mob of non-stop hobbits attracts no small amount of attention, and latecomers, as it goes.

"Generally speaking, I encourage everyone to be level five hobbits, or level one hobbits, whatever they can get," BurkeBlack explained in a chat with PC Gamer. "If [people on] the server, though, they're high level and they see an army of hobbits running, and they're like, 'Wow, I'm gonna follow this, I wanna see what's going on with this,' we can't stop that.

"And I encourage the server to enjoy the fun too—it's a little bit of a game for them, like, 'Protect the hobbits! They're going to Mount Doom!' And they try to protect us a little bit."

Perhaps predictably, the first two runs did not go well. In 2023, the group apparently met its demise in the dark depths of Moria, and in '24 the wheels came off in Rohan.

The Great Hobbit Run of 2024 finished, and got as far as Rohan before the fellowship fell apart, this is further than Moria last year. Next year more streamers, more community! To Mt Doom! pic.twitter.com/9fbvD0ttI8July 8, 2024

In 2025, though, after more than six hours of struggles, the humble hobbitses finally pulled it off. BurkeBlack estimated than somewhere between 150 and 200 players started the journey, and 40-50 made it to the end, a winnowing wrought by time, exhaustion, and death. (Players who die during the run can use Mithril coins to catch up to the group, but they have to be purchased with real money.)

It seems fitting, somehow, that the end of this epic quest was a bit of a goat rodeo. It turns out that the interior of Mount Doom is dark and scary and a little confusing, and there was some debate about where exactly the whole thing was headed.

Eventually, amidst anguished cries of "You led us here!" (well, one cry), someone took the initiative and jumped into the lava. Shortly thereafter it was decided that the adventuring party was "Mount Doom adjacent," and that was close enough: A group photo was taken, and BurkeBlack shared some inspirational words:

"This is great. Three years in the running, here we are before Mount Doom. This is a nice juicy bit of lava. Just throw in the ring and there's gonna be more than enough, and Sauron can kiss my butt!"

Not exactly St. Crispin's Day, no, but it was sufficient for the moment—and then BurkeBlack and everyone else jumped into the lava, mission happily accomplished. Except, well, it came to light after the fact that the mission wasn't quite accomplished after all.

After 3 years of attempts, the Hobbits finally made it to Mt Doom and threw ourselves into the lava! Thank you tobthe helpers and everyone that joined this year long, but saddly I forget the ring back at the shire so we'll try again next year! pic.twitter.com/SaKSDuYQ7iJuly 8, 2025

Someone in the stream said there is a way forward from this point, but they forgot what it is and apparently it's "very difficult." A new goal for 2026, perhaps: BurkeBlack confirmed that he plans to make the run again next year, and hopes to attract an even larger group of adventurers.

"It's just fun," he said. "Lord of the Rings Online is an old game, but it really faithfully captures the essence of Lord of the Rings. It was just a fun adventure. The community loved it."

Until then, you can enjoy the entire epic adventure below.

02 Aug 00:28

people who are just finding out about internet tracking and data mining in the year 2025 and that…

beemovieerotica:

people who are just finding out about internet tracking and data mining in the year 2025 and that your special robot friend does not respect your privacy lol

02 Aug 00:24

thememedaddy:

01 Aug 23:36

Surprise! Google kills another service because they're bored

by Ellsworth Toohey

Google, continuing its proud tradition of pulling digital rug pulls, has announced it's killing off its URL shortener service because apparently maintaining perfectly functional tools is boring.

As reported by Google's own developer blog, it's giving users until August 2025 to find alternatives for their goo.gl — Read the rest

The post Surprise! Google kills another service because they're bored appeared first on Boing Boing.

22 Jul 02:54

Atlanta-based reporter has been in jail for over a month, for the U.S. crime of Journalism

by Ruben Bolling
Screenshot YouTube.com / FOX 5 Atlanta

Mario Guevara, a Salvadoran journalist who has lived in the United States for over twenty years, was arrested by Doraville, Georgia, police while covering the No Kings Day protest on June 14 in that town. Since then, he has been shuttled among various jail cells in Georgia, with ICE manipulating and defying the legal system to keep him incarcerated. — Read the rest

The post Atlanta-based reporter has been in jail for over a month, for the U.S. crime of Journalism appeared first on Boing Boing.

19 Jul 17:37

Dark Souls 2 player beats its hardest boss on NG+7 by wearing his clothes and committing seppuku 47 times

by Lincoln Carpenter

Dark Souls 2 is the black sheep of the Fromsoft herd, beloved only by those rare, intelligent, and cultured individuals who understand that, as Miyazaki himself says, much of what made Elden Ring so great can be traced back to changes the ill-loved sequel made to the Dark Souls formula. But even its most devoted defender probably wouldn't disagree that its DLC bosses were like, stupid hard.

But not hard enough that you can't beat them by stabbing yourself in the gut about four dozen times, as demonstrated by Dark Souls 2 player DSelizabeth with an awe-inspiring and/or absurd NG+7 Sir Alonne Seppuku-only kill.

The arguable apex predator of the rogues gallery of rude DLC bosses is Sir Alonne from the Crown of the Old Iron King. If you're not familiar, Alonne is a whole pile of cool guy archetypes mashed into one suit of armor: he's a depressed Dark Souls knight, and a wandering samurai, and an enigmatic figure who departed for parts unknown at the height of his powers.

He was also, by 2014 Soulsborne standards, an absolute bastard. While it's now a common (and painful) feature of Fromsoft boss movesets, Alonne was one of the earliest, worst offenders when it comes to attacks with lengthy animation delays that bait you into rolling early.

He could dash across the length of his boss room and chunk most of your stamina bar with one attack. He had long-distance wave attacks. He could kick your shield guard and parry your attacks. He also had, I'm willing to wager, the most controller-snapping boss runback ever seen in one of these games. It was part of a DS2 DLC trend of co-op centric side-missions that were just brutal in singleplayer.

Sir Alonne sitting in his boss room in the Crown of the Old Iron King Dark Souls 2 DLC.

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

All those speedbumps didn't prevent DSelizabeth from stunting on him with what is probably the world's highest-concept execution of the "stop hitting yourself" theory of combat arts. Wearing Alonne's own armor set and using his own sword, DSelizabeth gradually whittled down his NG+7-enhanced health bar with his weapon's unique seppuku skill.

Unlike the typical parry action, hitting the parry button with the Bewitched Alonne Sword makes the player plunge the katana into their own stomach, taking a chunk of damage in exchange for increasing its AR scaling and its bleed damage build-up.

Those damage buffs are irrelevant here, however, because DSelizabeth isn't actually hitting Alonne. Instead, the heroic sicko is killing Alonne with what would be an afterthought to most players. When you stab yourself with Alonne's sword, it briefly activates a pulse that slightly damages nearby enemies.

A flaming enemy crawls toward the player in Dark Souls 2.

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

And when I say slightly, I mean slightly. To kill Alonne on NG+7, DSelizabeth had to commit seppuku 47 times. I counted.

A few of those were misses, admittedly. But it's still an impressive display of mastery over animation timings, character placement, lifegem and repair powders usage by the dozen, and the general coldheartedness necessary for killing a guy with the raw psychic damage of watching someone wearing his clothes disembowel themselves half a hundred times.

19 Jul 13:50

Japan's Lawson stores turn parking spots into mini campgrounds for $16 a night

by Ellsworth Toohey
Lawson near Mt Fuji, Japan ( jkcDesign / Shutterstock.com)

Taking advantage of rising hotel prices and the boom in shachuhaku (sleeping in your car), the Japanese convenience store chain Lawson has rolled out a new pilot program that lets travelers spend the night in select store parking lots, reports Tokyo Weekender. — Read the rest

The post Japan's Lawson stores turn parking spots into mini campgrounds for $16 a night appeared first on Boing Boing.

19 Jul 13:44

Trump turns on his own MAGA base: "I don't want their support anymore!"

by Carla Sinclair
Image: Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock.com

Donald Trump blasted his own MAGA followers in a panic-post this morning, calling them "weaklings" for demanding to see the Epstein files. He then blew them off as if they were flys hovering over his morning porridge: "I don't want their support anymore!" — Read the rest

The post Trump turns on his own MAGA base: "I don't want their support anymore!" appeared first on Boing Boing.

19 Jul 13:42

Tom the Dancing Bug: The Heroic Adventures of Lex Luthor

by Ruben Bolling
Support your friendly neighborhood independent comic strip: SIGN UP FOR THE INNER HIVE and you'll get each week's Tom the Dancing Bug comic at least a day before publication. Plus other exclusive content like extra comics, commentary, juicy gossip, puzzles, jokes, and Otis pics. 

Read the rest

The post Tom the Dancing Bug: The Heroic Adventures of Lex Luthor appeared first on Boing Boing.

14 Jul 03:26

He was devastated when his favorite Facebook game shut down, but at 10 years old, what could he do? 8 years later, he's got the rights, the original code, and is about to relaunch Dungeon Rampage on Steam

by Heather Newman

Angelos Mako was seven years old when he started playing Dungeon Rampage with his older brother, saving the good guys and slaying hordes of evil minions. A decade later, he also saved the game itself.

Dungeon Rampage was a simple Facebook game, a cartoony hack-n-slash that was procedurally generated, so the dungeons were always a little different. But for Mako, it was also an escape.

"My parents were going through a very nasty divorce. Dungeon Rampage was there for me. Every time they would fight, I would go into another room and I would play," says Mako, now 18, from his home in Greece. "It took care of me when when no one else could."

The end of the dungeon

Mako played DR daily, mostly on a computer he shared with his brother at home. It was a popular game in its time: More than two million people hopped in each month, and Mako was one of them for five years straight. Then the unthinkable happened.

"I came from school one day and saw a message Dungeon Rampage had shut down, and I was like, 'What?! Why?'" he says. "I couldn't fathom it. I couldn't understand why it happened. But even from that moment, I said that I'm going to find a way to get this back again. I had no clue how, but I had a dream."

Dungeon Rampage re-release screenshot.

Dungeon Rampage was played by millions back when Facebook games were thriving. (Image credit: Gamebreaking Studios)

I was fed up. I wanted this to come to life. I said, 'Okay, I'm starting from scratch. I'm taking initiative.'

Angelos Mako

Still, Mako was only 10, had school to attend, and the dream had to wait. He got into mods in Minecraft, played some Roblox, and years later met a creator in a Roblox game. They bonded, and he did some apprenticeships on that team's game, in Unity. While he was doing that, four years later, he ran across a Discord server that was trying to remake Dungeon Rampage and decided to join.

"I really liked the vision," he says. But practical problems and volunteer developers meant the group didn't make a ton of progress, and they were trying to reinvent the game, rather than restore the original. Mako took over the project in 2024.

"I didn't know that making a game is pretty hard," he says, laughing. At the same time, people were joining the server and asking a key question: What happened if the original developers chose to copyright strike the remake?

"We were like, 'Oh yes, that's a very big problem.' I was fed up. I wanted this to come to life," Mako says. "I said, 'Okay, I'm starting from scratch. I'm taking initiative.' And I went directly to try and get the copyright of Dungeon Rampage."

The sleuthing starts

Mako had the credits screen from the game, and decided that he'd make a LinkedIn account and message everyone he could find. "People replied, actually. That's the weird part."

He spoke with Jason Yeung, the original creative director, who said that the attempt to remake Dungeon Rampage was a cool project, but that he needed to speak with Mike Goslin, who had run Rebel Entertainment, the original Dungeon Rampage developer. One thing led to another: He spoke to Goslin on the phone, who then introduced him to the CEO of the parent company—and he got his license agreement.

Mako was ecstatic. Only one thing brought him back to earth: "Because I started from scratch again, we didn't really have a game," he says. So he talked with all the developers of the original game that he could find. The original lead artist got him some art source files. But no one seemed to have the code.

Image 1 of 3

Dungeon Rampage re-release screenshot

(Image credit: Gamebreaking Studios)
Image 2 of 3

Dungeon Rampage re-release screenshot

(Image credit: Gamebreaking Studios)
Image 3 of 3

Dungeon Rampage re-release screenshot

(Image credit: Gamebreaking Studios)

About the same time, he had read the book Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design, written by Scott Rogers. Buoyed by his recent success contacting people on LinkedIn, he attempted to connect with Rogers—who accepted. A short time later, Rogers posted a message on the platform saying Gamebreaking Studios was looking for clients for co-development.

Mako messaged him to ask exactly what that was, and before he knew it, they were discussing a deal to remake Dungeon Rampage as a Steam game using Unity. But the money just wasn't working out.

Gamebreaking Studios CEO Taylor Hellam

Gamebreaking Studios CEO Taylor Hellam (Image credit: Gamebreaking Studios)

"My first engagement was getting added to a LinkedIn message," Gamebreaking CEO Taylor Hellam said. "'Hey, Angelos is making this game. He wants our help. He wants to know how much it would cost to remake Dungeon Rampage.' The first thing I did was click on the Steam page and I'm like, this is a preexisting game. Does he actually have the IP license to this thing? My first reaction was suspicion. Pretend he does have the IP license, what would it cost us to make this from scratch?"

They couldn't come to an agreement that worked, and the project seemed destined to stall again. Mako had no budget, the studio had no capital for the project, and discussions with publishers were promising but not particularly fruitful.

A careful girl saves the day

Finally, Mako tracked down the last engineer on the project, and they started to chat.

It turned out he might have the files of the last build on a laptop—only he had given it to his seven-year-old daughter to play with.

...When we got the source code off of a laptop and were told that this hasn't been running in years, we were like, 'We could solve this thing.'

Gamebreaking CEO Taylor Hellam

Miraculously, the laptop—and the files—were still intact.

"We were very happy that she didn't accidentally delete the files," Mako says with a laugh.

At that point, Gamebreaking was intrigued, Hellam said.

"We're obviously really moved by Mako's story and his passion," he says, "but also we're a sucker for a good technical challenge. So when we got the source code off of a laptop and were told that this hasn't been running in years, we were like, 'We could solve this thing.' "

Gamebreaking agreed to partner with Mako to update the files and release the game, and got to work. It turned out to be a tougher challenge than they expected; it wasn't just a Flash game, it was Flash and C++ and a PHP backend, and when one part got fixed, it seemed one of the other pieces would break.

The first boot

Finally there came a day when it seemed like all three might be working, and Gamebreaking co-founder Sean Saleh urged Mako to jump on a video call to give it a test. The studio and Mako had been talking for three months at that point.

At first, the game just threw another error. "I thought I was trolling," Hellam says. But then a magical thing happened: It ran. Saleh recorded the call—you can see the moment it started working below.

Once they were into the game's lobby, it was only a matter of minutes before they were playing the game. Buggy, misbehaving, occasionally perplexing—but it was alive again. Mako was a little teary-eyed. Hellam was ecstatic.

"I was like, finally we were holding up our end of the bargain!" Hellam says. "It was a really incredible moment watching him play for the first time. And then I didn't hear from him for two days because he was just playing nonstop." Mako says he "missed some dinners" that week. "It was a very emotional time."

Getting it ready for prime time

They set up a Kickstarter campaign that blew through its $25,000 goal. (It's at $61,000 now; that page includes free demos). The team got access to the original game's Facebook page and gave it a tweak, then watched the excited fans jump on the change.

The Gamebreaking Studios team.

The Gamebreaking Studios team. (Image credit: Gamebreaking Studios)

He was the first person to play this game in over a decade.

Taylor Hellam

"All we did was change the cover photo there and everyone reacted like crazy," Hellam says. "Everyone was like, 'Oh my god, is the game coming back? What's going on?' Over the next week, our wishlists doubled. It was insane."

The game was freemium when it was originally released, but will now be a complete, one-time purchase. It's headed to early access on Steam thanks to Mako and his Gamebreaking partnership. It's on more than 100,000 wishlists, Hellam says.

"He was the first person to play this game in over a decade, which is really cool," Hellam says. "He definitely deserved to be the one to play. He was the one who got it to come back."

"It's a very fun game and it's been a very fun game forever," Mako says. Those first days of playing again "were the first days of discovering fire as a caveman. That's my best analogy of this."

14 Jul 02:57

Artificial Gravity

Low gravity can cause bone loss, so we're pleased to report that, since we initiated capsule motion, the number of bones in each crew member has been steadily increasing.
14 Jul 02:33

Sorry, but Ubisoft says you have to destroy your physical games

by Grant St. Clair
Bewarethewumpus

"The EULA is effective from the earlier of the date You purchase, download or use the Product, until terminated according to its terms. You and UBISOFT (or its licensors) may terminate this EULA, at any time, for any reason. This EULA will terminate automatically if You fail to comply with any of the terms and conditions of this EULA. Upon termination for any reason, You must immediately uninstall the Product and destroy all copies of the Product in Your possession."

Ah, Ubisoft. There's no better company to represent the soulless, cynical triple-A video game industry, although Xbox seems to be trying to take that crown as of late. In between making waves with their aggressively mediocre games, they occasionally take time out to make waves with their terrible policy decisions, such as revoking games after periods of inactivity, but their latest change might be their worst yet. — Read the rest

The post Sorry, but Ubisoft says you have to destroy your physical games appeared first on Boing Boing.

10 Jul 02:10

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Darwinning

by Zach Weinersmith


Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
Later, the darwinian eats the creationist and uses the calories to protect his offspring.


Today's News:
07 Jul 19:59

After 15 months and 3,800 hours of 'worst case' usage, one independent test finds OLED burn-in is now almost a non-issue

by Jeremy Laird

OLED is very nearly the perfect display technology. But two possible problems remain. The first, limited full-screen brightness looks like it's been cracked by Samsung and LG's next-gen panel tech. And now new evidence that burn-in isn't necessarily much of a worry is here.

YouTube channel, Monitors Unboxed, has been running a long term test with MSI's MPG 321URX (we also reviewed the refreshed MSI MPG 322URX this week). It's a 32-inch 4K model running Samsung's QD-OLED tech.

Monitors Unboxed chose a 32-inch 4K monitor because the idea was to perform a worst-case scenario assessment of OLED burn in. Instead of gaming, then, the monitor was used for daily work duties involving lots of fairly static elements, including the Windows task bar and a regular setup of two application windows arranged side-by-side.

Mitigating measures, including auto-hiding the task bar or using dark mode across the Windows UI, were also not exploited. Monitors Unboxed did allow the monitor to run its built-in panel and pixel refresh routines, otherwise known as panel compensation cycles, but only overnight and not in a manner that interrupted usage.

Monitors Unboxed used the screen for about eight hours a day, but those cycles are supposed to run every four hours. Again, the idea here is worst-case scenario.

MSI MPG 321URX burn in

The image above has been enhanced to exaggerate the burn in, it's barely visible in reality. (Image credit: Monitors Unboxed)

Monitors Unboxed's testing has now hit the the 15 month mark, around 3,400 to 3,800 hours of unforgiving on-time and 413 panel compensation cycles. And the results? There is a little burn in and it has progressed slightly since it first become clearly apparent at the six month mark. But it's still only mild and is only noticeable—and then only just—over certain background colours.

Overall, Monitors Unboxed concludes that, "the outcome to the point has been relatively good. Burn-in has so far been quite minor."

Leading into this update, Monitors Unboxed was optimistic the 321RUX would have a level of burn-in after two years that isn't distracting for everyday use and believes the monitor is still on track to achieve that. At this point, the channel estimates the MSI panel should be good for around two to three years as used, though that estimate could be extended.

Given this testing is about as bad as it gets for an OLED panel, you can probably expect even better performance from more varied usage with plenty of gaming and other non-static content thrown in. So, three years plus and maybe as much as five years of fairly heavy usage.

Screen queens

(Image credit: Future)

Best gaming monitor: Pixel-perfect panels for your PC.
Best high refresh rate monitor: Screaming quick.
Best 4K monitor for gaming: When only high-res will do.
Best 4K TV for gaming: Big-screen 4K gaming.

Of course, most modern LCD monitors will easily give five to 10 years of reliable service. So OLED monitors still have something to prove. But Monitors Unboxed's testing largely squares with our experience with OLED monitors, which is to say we've seen little to no burn-in, including with OLED panels in laptops.

All of which is to say the OLED burn-in is almost, but maybe not quite, a complete non-issue. If you're hoping for something like 10 years usage, OLED probably isn't a good pick. But anything up to about five years of general use and gaming looks pretty plausible at this point.

It should be noted that this only directly applies to Samsung's QD-OLED panel tech as used in the MSI MPG 321URX. But broader experiences of LG's competing WOLED tech, including our own, suggests it offers burn-in resistance that's at least as good as QD-OLED. In general, then, it all looks pretty positive for OLED burn in.

07 Jul 19:58

'Sheer practice and willpower': Real-life telekinetic heroine PerriKaryal beat Elden Ring's bosses by thinking about a cricket jumping and twitching her inner ear, and Nightreign is next

by Jess Kinghorn

Most gamers have at least entertained the fantasy of going full Jesse Faden, tearing up the Oldest House in Control, and playing videogames with just your mind. Exceedingly few actually embark on a tech project that makes that a reality. Twitch streamer PerriKaryal has defeated many of FromSoftware's toughest customers using predominantly the power of her thoughts alone.

When I speak to PerriKaryal shortly before she flies to Rotterdam for TwitchCon Europe, I ask who has been her favourite Soulsborne boss to beat with her big brain. "Rykard [from Elden Ring]. 100% Rykard," she answers, going on to add that using mind control to dodge during the snake-face's second phase, "feels like flying."

"If you watch the live streams, I have a smile on my face the entire time."

Across PerriKaryal's various online bios, she offers the phrase "I do ✨projects✨" by way of self-description, with her most wellknown tech adventure incorporating a consumer-grade EEG from Emotiv for a largely hands-free control scheme. Using Emotiv's brain-computer interface software, the streamer has essentially keybound specific spikes of brain activity to inputs on a virtual gamepad that has allowed her to beat Elden Ring using 'mind control'.

All of that said, it's nowhere near as straightforward as thinking about dodging and witnessing thy Tarnished instantly begin rolling all over the shop.

The streamer PerriKaryal is seen concentrating via a picture-in-picture stream. She's playing Elden Ring: Nightreign via a hands-free EEG control scheme. Her hands are seen, palms pressed together, in a contemplative gesture as she stares intently at the game screen.

(Image credit: FromSoftware, Bandai Namco, Twitch, PerriKaryal)

"There's a misconception that it's easy and that it's really intuitive because it's in your brain, it's your thoughts—and it's kind of the opposite," PerriKaryal says. The tech creator goes on to explain that rather than the steep cost of the EEG or the technical challenge of coding being the main obstacles, the reason you don't see more folks playing games with brain-computer-interface control schemes is simply "because it's really, really, really hard to do."

"It's really, really, really hard to do."

In order for the EmotivBCI software to register PerriKaryal's thoughts, the brain activity has to be markedly distinct. Thinking thoughts that activate distinct parts of the brain often requires a layer of abstraction; in Elden Ring: Nightreign, PerriKaryal imagines pushing a block forward to dodge and a cricket jumping while also pulsing her inner ear muscles to attack. But, as you may already be aware, this multiplayer game requires far more than just those two inputs.

A decidedly different beast compared to Elden Ring, Nightreign features a battle royale-style shrinking ring. You'll blitz through foes in the hopes of harvesting enough XP to take on the bosses that lie at the map's centre. For PerriKaryal, 1000 ms ping from her EEG device complicates even basic co-ordination with her teammates. But Nightreign is a step-up for the 'mind control' setup in particular as there's also "way more buttons"; different button combinations conjure different skills, but as the EEG control scheme can't register more than one input at a time, Nightreign is basically impossible to play purely via brain activity.

PerriKaryal's full setup can incorporate voice commands to manage trickier inputs, while eye and head tracking offer hands-free camera control. Still, watching PerriKaryal play Nightreign with this predominantly hands-free setup is no less impressive—especially as getting just one of these brain activity inputs to work even semi-reliably is far from a solved problem in the wider neurotech space.

"I've [spoken to] neurotech companies specifically about how the hell I've managed to get so many inputs working at the same time—they're like, 'We don't know how you've done this,'" the streamer shares, going on to add, "The answer is just sheer practice and willpower—and clearly, you know, too much time on my hands."

Brain Training

Besides time, PerriKaryal also has a Master's in Psychology. Alongside beating Elden Ring's bosses with just her brain, the streamer also shares her neuroscience knowledge with her Twitch audience through educational Just Chatting streams, taking things "trapped away in the steel box of rigorous academic institutions" and making them more accessible.

"I like to take news and analyse the psychology of it without forcing people to read academic papers," She explains, then jokes, "I read the papers and then I make it Girly Pop."

Despite what you may expect, the streamer describes her experiences on Twitch as being largely positive.

The streamer PerriKaryal is seen concentrating via a picture-in-picture stream. She's playing Elden Ring: Nightreign via a hands-free EEG control scheme. Her hands are seen, clasped under her chin, in a contemplative gesture as she stares intently at the game screen.

(Image credit: FromSoftware, Bandai Namco, Twitch, PerriKaryal)

"Twitch is a very interesting platform, and you get a lot of good apples with [the] bad apples, as you do on all social media. And there is an opportunity when something's live for people to try and mess it up for you," she concedes, before then adding, "But my experience has actually been really, really positive, especially since I started doing tech projects like the mind control—people are really hyped for it in general! I really like the community that I built, because I think I've managed to drag people with similar interests into one place, and people are really nice."

"I read the papers and then I make it Girly Pop."

Indeed, during mind control challenge runs, it's not uncommon to see the streamer's chat flooded with encouraging messages to the tune of 'Go, Perri, go!' and 'You've got this!' Besides educational lectures and her headlining 'mind control' setup, the tech creator has also presented an interactive '3D stream' to her audience.

"Basically you can go around a [holographic] point cloud [representation of] me. All of the comments on Instagram [were like], 'Why is no one, you know, dive bombing into certain areas?' [...] There was, like, maybe 30, 40 people on the stream. There was no one doing that, because they were all very respectful. And that's kind of the community, and I really like it."

PerriKaryal streamed live from this year's TwitchCon Europe, playing Elden Ring: Nightreign at Bandai Namco's booth. The tech creator has also previously run 'mind control competitions' at similar in-person events.

For instance, during the long running annual LAN party The Gathering in Norway, PerriKaryal invited eventgoers to try their brain at a simplified Doom-like game.

She recalls this first tournament of thoughts, "People would just put on the headset— I taught them how to just get the one command fairly quickly, because that's not too tricky to do. It's not perfect, but it's doable! And then they tried the game a couple times, and whoever got the high score won a little headset that Emotiv gave me to hand out—which was really nice of them as well. And we were going all day, which was really, really, really fun."

She laughs when she remembers, "There was this guy that got really obsessed with it. I only let people have half an hour sessions, to be fair, but he just kept coming back—had to start again, but just kept coming back! He won, and he deserved it, so that was very, very fun."

Chipping In

The origin story behind both her streaming career and her 'mind control' setup began in her uni days.

"I got super into brain-computer-interfaces, because that's something I didn't do at uni. I just used the EEG to record data when people were scared or whatever it was [...] But BCI is really, really interesting."

For instance, a team at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research in New York have created a two-way BCI that not only allows patients to move paralysed limbs, but returns sensation as well. As for non-invasive BCI developments, Cognixion's Axon-R headset is attempting to leverage AR alongside machine learning to give locked-in-syndrome patients a voice again.

"So I don't know about you, but I'm a little bit concerned about getting a chip in my head."

But alongside these scientific advancements that may genuinely help more people one day, Elon Musk's Neuralink brain chip or Gabe Newell's BCI company Starfish have enjoyed big tech business buzz in recent years. I ask PerriKaryal about big tech's recent infatuation with so-called 'brain chips.' Though excited about the wider scientific field, she's also cautious, saying, "We're seeing [it a lot] with AI as well, [but] I think sometimes there's this big rush to do as much tech, tech, tech as possible, and not enough pulling back with safety. So I don't know about you, but I'm a little bit concerned about getting a chip in my head."

She's definitely not the only one. Still, BCIs continue to be a source of fascination for the Twitch streamer.

"And so I got super into that, and realised, 'Okay, you can make it record your pattern of brain activity. It can remember it. You can keybind it,'" she explains, before quipping, "And it just spiraled out of control."


Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.
Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.

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Dehumidifier

It's important for devices to have internet connectivity so the manufacturer can patch remote exploits.
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Under the two-domain system, anyone who punches you is technically an Archaean pathogen.
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mapsontheweb: The 3 tallest mountains - depending on how you...



mapsontheweb:

The 3 tallest mountains - depending on how you measure them.

by thinkaboutmaps

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Tom the Dancing Bug: Know Your ICE Agent

by Ruben Bolling

Support your friendly neighborhood independent comic strip: SIGN UP FOR THE INNER HIVE and you'll get each week's Tom the Dancing Bug comic at least a day before publication. Plus other exclusive content like extra comics, commentary, juicy gossip, puzzles, jokes, and thrilling contests.  — Read the rest

The post Tom the Dancing Bug: Know Your ICE Agent appeared first on Boing Boing.

07 Jul 16:46

Comcast's WiFi Motion service discloses your movements "to third parties without further notice"

by Rob Beschizza
Comcass

Comcast's terms of service specify that they'll use their WiFi Motion service to tell the police or any other third party about your movements at home, should you turn it on. [via Hacker News]

Subject to applicable law, Comcast may disclose information generated by your WiFi Motion to third parties without further notice to you in connection with any law enforcement investigation or proceeding, any dispute to which Comcast is a party, or pursuant to a court order or subpoena.

Read the rest

The post Comcast's WiFi Motion service discloses your movements "to third parties without further notice" appeared first on Boing Boing.

30 Jun 19:07

Bad Habits

by Reza
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On the Roof

by Reza
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Every sign has a story.

tagedeszorns:

Every sign has a story.

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it sucks that even todo lists get affected by the adhd ‘absorption of stationary objects into their…

cookiethebirddoll:

cookiethebirddoll:

it sucks that even todo lists get affected by the adhd ‘absorption of stationary objects into their environment thus leading to effective invisibility’ thing

yeah my to-do list is empty. what do you mean “what about those five items?” those are just part of the ui obviously

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Tom the Dancing Bug: A busy, busy day at the airport

by Ruben Bolling

Support your friendly neighborhood independent comic strip: SIGN UP FOR THE INNER HIVE and you'll get each week's Tom the Dancing Bug comic at least a day before publication. Plus other exclusive content like extra comics, commentary, juicy gossip, puzzles, jokes, and insider theme park gossip.  — Read the rest

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majorarc: mariacallous: Government | Harva...

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depsidase: