John Drury

Black Friday is now a distant memory, but it's not too late to score a solid deal on a current-gen console in the days leading up to Christmas. Amazon is currently selling a PlayStation 4 hardware bundle that includes a PlayStation camera and two add...

Swastikas in any pattern are terrible. But swastikas — intentional or not — in the pattern of Hanukkah-themed items are even more jaw-droppingly terrible. And that’s exactly what a California customer says she found when she went shopping at Walgreens.

The Los Angeles Daily News reports that a 63-year-old grandmother outside of Los Angeles was shopping for Hanukkah gift wrap when she came across this particular product. “We were wandering around the store and saw the wrapping paper and I looked at it and said, ‘These are swastikas,’ and I just blew it. I didn’t know what to do,” she told the Daily News.

She brought the paper to the attention of the store’s manager, who assured her it would be removed from store shelves not just at his location but nationwide. Walgreens confirmed with the Daily News that they were in the process of removing the gift wrap from all store locations.

The wrapping paper was made by Hallmark and distributed exclusively at Walgreens. A Hallmark representative said that the pattern was unintentional and told the Daily News in a statement, “As soon as we were made aware of the situation, we began taking steps to remove the gift wrap from all store shelves and we will ensure the pattern is not used on any product formats going forward.”

Porter Ranch woman gets Hanukkah ‘swastika’ wrapping paper taken out of Walgreens stores [Los Angeles Daily News via HuffPo]

PlayStation rolled out a free PSOne theme for the PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 4 today.

The theme, which came packed into today's firmware update, brings with it the same flat grey look to your main screen and that fantastic original PlayStation startup music. You can access the new theme from the PlayStation Store. The free theme lands on the 20th anniversary of the original PlayStation.

Sony also announced a PSOne-themed PS4 today and rolled out a couple of neat videos, including this musical montage of the great music of past PlayStation games.

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Ooh, a game about building a space station so fancy it attracts visitors from far and wide! That sounds pleasant, The Spatials. What’s that? And you’ve got star systems and procedurally-generated planets to explore too? Well gosh! And missions to complete? Aren’t you a busy little thing! And combat and looting and levelling up and whoa whoa steady on there. I’m often hesitant about games trying a lot of things, concerned they might do too much not well enough, but I do like the sound of a lot of The Spatials. Which, it turns out, has been in early access for months.

… [visit site to read more]

BLACK FRIDAY IS NOW!
 
Haven't forgotten about the CAGs.
 
Main Store:
http://www.newegg.com/store/EventSaleStore/ID-42
 
Gaming:
http://www.newegg.com/store/EventSaleStore/ID-51
 
Under $100:
http://www.newegg.com/store/EventSaleStore/ID-168
 
50% or More:
http://www.newegg.com/store/EventSaleStore/ID-180
 
ALL DEALS:
http://promotions.newegg.com/nepro/14-6091/index.html


 
*Offer expires November 30th, 2014 at 11:59PM PDT, or when funds and/or supplies are exhausted, whichever is first. Does not include Pre-Order, Gift Cards, Marketplace or Open Box items. Cannot be combined with other promo codes, or promotions that include a free gift. Offer valid on Desktop Checkout/Purchases only. Total discount limited to $10 off $100+ with promo code NAFVC10 or $25 off $200+ with promo code NAFVC25. Enter promo code at checkout. Discount not applicable to taxes or shipping. Discount is applied before taxes and shipping are calculated. Offer is only valid for purchases made using Visa Checkout. Limit one discount per customer.

 

Upcoming deals at 12:01AM PST, 11/27/14.

 

Xbox One AC Unity Bundle $305 w/Visa Checkout

PS4 GTA V/Last of Us Remastered $375 w/Visa Checkout

Since I hadnt seen a blizzard BF post yet:

 

https://us.battle.net/shop/en/

If new requirements from the Food and Drug Administration end up sticking, you could be seeing calorie counts for most things you eat outside the home — from vending machines to chain restaurants, movie theater popcorn to pre-made sandwiches at the grocery store.

The rules are meant to show Americans how many calories are packed into our favorite foods, as we consume a third of our total calories outside the home, reports the New York Times.

“This is one of the most important public health nutrition policies ever to be passed nationally,” Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest told the NYT. “Right now, you are totally guessing at what you are getting. This rule will change that.”

Included under the rules are any food establishment with 20 or more outlets, which covers fast-food chains and sit-down restaurants; pizza chains; food in vending machines; amusement parks; prepared foods in supermarkets, grocery chains and convenience stores (if the food is meant to feed one person); and will even cover alcoholic drinks that are on the menu at establishments that serve food, but not, for example, a mixed drink at the bar.

The rules will go into effect a year from now, though we’re probably going to see plenty of legal and political challenges from certain parts of the food industry, including grocery stores and other places that make food for takeout.

The National Grocers Association said: “Grocery stores are not chain restaurants, which is why Congress did not initially include them in the law. We are disappointed that the F.D.A.’s final rules will capture grocery stores, and impose such a large and costly regulatory burden on our members.”

Vending machine operators were also trying to get out of the regulations, and will get an extra year from the FDA to comply with the new rules. Vending machines will have to show calorie counts on stickers or signs near each specific food for sale, or near the button to select it.

Sen. Tom Harkin, who helped create the labeling requirement in the law, said the rule “closely mirrors congressional intent.”

“This rule is consistent with our bipartisan agreement and will help to protect and strengthen access to healthy, nutritious foods for families around the country,” he said in a statement.

Many chain restaurants, like Panera and McDonald’s, already include calorie counts on their menu boards nationally. And in cities like New York, where chains have had to post calories on menus since 2006, or the 18 or so states that already have menu-labeling regulations, consumers are already used to this kind of thing.

Previously: Report: Chain Restaurants Have Cut An Average Of 60 Calories From New Menu Items

F.D.A. to Require Calorie Count, Even for Popcorn at the Movies [New York Times]

GameStop's Black Friday ad has apparently leaked, spilling dollar-saving deals all over the Internet's floor. The retailer will reportedly offer the Xbox One holiday bundle that includes Assassin's Creed: Unity and Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag for...

Microsoft today announced that it is furthering its commitment to cross-platform development with an expanded open source program for its .NET platform and additional support for operating systems outside of Microsoft Windows.

"With billions of devices in the market today, developers need tools that target many different form factors and platforms," said S. Somasegar, corporate vice president, Developer Division, Microsoft. "Through Visual Studio and .NET we are committed to delivering a comprehensive end-to-end solution for developers to build and manage applications across multiple devices and platforms."

After releasing several .NET libraries earlier this year to the open source community, Microsoft confirmed it would open source the full server .NET stack, making it available to developers via Github. The company also is expanding .NET to run on third-party platforms such as Linux and OS X and is working with the open source Mono project to ensure these cross-platform operations are ready for enterprise-level applications.


As part of its Connect() event, Microsoft also unveiled its next generation Visual Studio 2015 developer suite with expanded cross-platform support. Additionally, the Redmond company announced the immediate release of Visual Studio Community 2013 and Visual Studio 2013 Update 4.

This open source initiative is part of a broader campaign to support platforms outside of Windows and Windows Phone. The company now offers Office on the iPhone and iPad and is continuing its support for Apple's OS X platform. An updated version of Office for Mac is rumored for release sometime in 2015.

So Groupon is selling the PS4 today for $399, which is no big deal, but they also have a coupon code for 10% off any Goods purchase. The code is SALE, and should drop your price to about $360. Not as great as some of the Black Friday bundles, but if you want the console only, it's not bad.

http://touch.groupon.com/deals/gg-sony-500gb-playstation4-console-3

Assassin's Creed Unity has some issues, that's clear, but not all of those issues are necessarily bad things. I mean, check out the amazing glitches the game is producing.

The videos I've pulled from YouTube below including a sighting of the famed Unity fireplace hermit, incredible rag doll physics and let's not forget the invisible kart racing.

Head, meet crotch

Just a touch of hovering

Sign hanging

Standing room only

The fireplace hermit

Come back with that body

Just hanging

France's first mime

A really hard landing

Invisible kart racing

Roof scramble

Do you have any favorite glitches? We'd love to see them in comments.

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People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is setting up shop in the massively popular online world of Minecraft.

This Saturday, PETA will open the digital doors to its own Minecraft server, which will be home to a recreation of the organization's headquarters, vast vegetable and flower gardens and an abandoned circus and slaughterhouse. Most importantly, PETA's Minecraft won't allow players to harm animals, be they chickens, pigs or mooshrooms.

"Priority number one is that no animals can be harmed in PETA's Minecraft," said Joel Bartlett, director of marketing innovation for the group.

The group partnered with Minecraft builders Hyperscale to create the world for them, Bartlett said. The servers will open up Saturday at 10 a.m. ET...

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Walmart published its Black Friday deals this morning, which include 3DS XL, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One bundles. It also includes three separate sales, an online-only component, and two items that are guaranteed to be in the store.

Check out the breakdown below for help navigating the labyrinthine deals and make sure you check out our links to other Black Friday deals at the bottom of this post.

Event one, starts 6 p.m. Thursday

Guaranteed either in stock or rain check for first hour.

Xbox One with Halo: Master Chief Collection and a $30 Walmart gift card for $329.

16GB iPad mini wifi with $30 Walmart gift card for $199.

DS

3DS XL Super Mario Bros. 2 Gold Edition bundle for $149.96

Games

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is on sale...

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The weird part of this Assassin's Creed: Unity video is where Arno jumps through a rift in time and travels from French Revolution-era Paris to a Paris filled with electricity, zeppelins, machine guns and the Eiffel Tower. And possibly Nazis. That's...

Cards Against Humanity, the party game for horrible people, is at it again with their second Holiday Bullshit event. Called Ten Days or Whatever of Kwanzaa, it offers fans of the card game ten mystery gifts throughout the month of December in exchange for $15.

Last year's inaugural wave of Bullshit was a cavalcade of surprises, featuring physical goodies like games, comics, original art and a one of a kind CAH card with the purchaser's name on it. The greater internet benefitted as well from a series of comedy videos that were released simultaneous to each gift.

But the biggest benefactor, by far, of the Holiday Bullshit event were thousands of classrooms across America. CAH used...

The second season of Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls hasn't reached PC and Mac just yet, but that doesn't mean fans can't properly hype themselves for shinier gear while they wait. A recent Battle.net post details some of the changes due to launch with the...

Lots of us have fond memories of playing The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. But how does that Nintendo 64 version, released in 2000, hold up to today's graphics and, more importantly, the upcoming remake?

Ninten2TV created a little side-by-side comparison showing The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask running next to The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D so you can decide for yourself.

The bigger, more important question is: Why did someone at Nintendo decide that they had to up the creep factor for the moon? It was already nightmarish.

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From NFL sidelines to product placement in various movies and TV shows, Microsoft has been making a huge marketing push to get its Surface tablets in the hands of people you see on TV. But what’s that distinctive-looking Surface stand actually propping up? In the case of CNN, it’s probably an iPad.

Last night, the CNN election center news desk was arrayed with Surface Pro 3 tablets for Anderson Cooper, et al, to follow the latest election news (or, more likely, check out NBA and NHL scores).

But viewers noticed that, when shown from certain angles, some folks at the CNN had a dirty little Apple secret hiding behind that $799 Microsoft tablet — iPads:

CNN commentators using Microsoft @surface tablets as iPad stand. Facepalm. http://t.co/BPxWTf2zhI—
Adam (@adamUCF) November 05, 2014

[via Gizmodo]

The Swindle is dead, long live The Swindle. This Steampunk heist game was what Size Five Games planned on doing in lieu of another Ben & Dan / Time Gentlemen, Please point and click adventure, but lead dev Dan Marshall wound up quasi-cancelling it when he couldn’t find the fun, to borrow a line from Blizzard. Given that he’d also axed third Ben & Dan game Revenge of the Balloon-headed Mexican, he was in danger of developing A Reputation.

Instead, perhaps his reputation will be as the Uncanceller, for The Swindle is resurrected and rebooted as a quicker, simpler, gadgety action-stealth game, with its new form borrowing a few pages out of Spelunky’s high-speed procedural generation book.
… [visit site to read more]

In a letter written for Bloomberg Businessweek, Apple CEO Tim Cook has publicly come out as gay while declaring his support for equality.

Cook, who has typically kept a low profile on his personal life, says that his decision to publicly acknowledge his sexuality was done to "bring comfort to anyone who feels alone" and to "inspire people to insist on their equality."

I’ll admit that this wasn’t an easy choice. Privacy remains important to me, and I’d like to hold on to a small amount of it. I’ve made Apple my life’s work, and I will continue to spend virtually all of my waking time focused on being the best CEO I can be. That’s what our employees deserve—and our customers, developers, shareholders, and supplier partners deserve it, too. Part of social progress is understanding that a person is not defined only by one’s sexuality, race, or gender. I’m an engineer, an uncle, a nature lover, a fitness nut, a son of the South, a sports fanatic, and many other things. I hope that people will respect my desire to focus on the things I’m best suited for and the work that brings me joy.

Cook has expressed his thoughts on equality numerous times throughout the past couple of years, which include highlighting the subject in a speech at his alma mater Auburn University and establishing his and Apple's support for the Employment Nondiscrimination Act in an op-ed written for The Wall Street Journal.


Earlier this year, Apple also marched in support of the LGBT community during the 44th annual Pride parade, and issued a statement in support of Supreme Court gay marriage rulings in 2013. The company also has a section about diversity on its website, which goes into detail about its efforts towards improving employee diversity and its commitment towards equality and human rights.

Note: Due to the controversial nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Both Verizon and AT&T appear to be engaging in some unsavory customer tracking techniques, using unique identifying numbers to deliver targeted advertisements to customers in what's called "Relevant Advertising." As outlined by Wired, Verizon is altering the web traffic of its customers by inserting a Unique Identifier Header or UIDH, a temporary serial number that lets advertisers identify Verizon users on the web.

According to Jacob Hoffman-Andrews of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the UIDH serves as a "perma-cookie" that can be read by any web server to "build a profile" of internet habits. Verizon users cannot turn off the UIDH, but opting out of the Relevant Mobile Advertising Program prevents the information from being used to create targeted ads.

Verizon has been using Relevant Advertising techniques for two years, but the tracking has gone largely unnoticed until recently, when extra data from Verizon customers was noticed. AT&T appears to be engaging in similar tracking activities, and is testing its own Relevant Advertising system.


According to Forbes, AT&T is testing a similar code insertion program that will allow websites to track AT&T customers. Like Verizon, AT&T has plans to make the tracking codes temporary as a "privacy-protective measure," but according to one of the researchers that discovered the tracking, Kenneth White, the codes that AT&T is sending to some customers are persistent.

AT&T does not currently have a mobile Relevant Advertising program. We are considering such a program, and any program we would offer would maintain our fundamental commitment to customer privacy," read a statement from AT&T. "For instance, we are testing a numeric code that changes every 24 hours on mobile devices to use in programs where we serve ads to the mobile device. This daily rotation on the numeric code would help protect the privacy of our customers. Customers also could opt out of any future AT&T program that might use this numeric code."

Unlike Verizon, AT&T will not include the unique identifier code in the IP packets of customers who have opted out of the company's Relevant Advertising program.

Both Verizon and AT&T customers can check whether their devices are sending identifying codes by visiting a website created by aforementioned security researcher Kenneth White. Verizon customers appear to be unable to opt out entirely, but AT&T customers can visit the following website on their mobile devices (while connected to the AT&T network) to turn off Relevant Advertising: http://205.234.28.93/mobileoptout/.

A number of major retailers, most notably Walmart, have yet to allow shoppers to use the recently launched Apple Pay system at checkout, and national drugstore chains Rite-Aid and CVS stopped offering Apple Pay as an option after only a few days. That’s because all of these retailers are part of a consortium working on a competing system called CurrentC, which by the way, has already been hacked.

BusinessInsider reports that people who signed up for the beta test of the CurrentC app have received e-mails alerting them to the fact “that unauthorized third parties obtained the e-mail addresses of some of you.”

A rep for the service then confirmed that it learned of the breach in the last 48 hours. The rep tried to minimize the scope of the hack by claiming that “Many of these email addresses are dummy accounts used for testing purposes only. The CurrentC app itself was not affected.”

While the stolen data is just e-mail addresses and not more sensitive information like payment or account data, it does call into question the security of CurrentC, which is being developed by the Walmart-led Merchants Consumer Exchange (MCX), a coalition aiming to, among other things, reduce swipe fees, the amount of money that retailers pay to banks and credit cards for handling transactions.

CurrentC would not only cut out the middle man and allow stores to keep more of the money from each purchase, it would also allow the retailers to better track users’ shopping and buying habits, presumably across multiple stores.

There is still little doubt that Walmart and the other MCX retailers will ultimately launch CurrentC, but if consumers don’t choose to use it, the service could end up in the trash bin of retail history.

After all, people don’t need a mobile payment system, especially one that provides no more privacy than shopping with a credit card. And while the stores might benefit from saving the few percentage points they currently pay in swipe fees, there is no indication that these savings will be passed on to shoppers.

itmakesnosense:

“Not all those who wander are lost.” 

― J.R.R. Tolkien

A few years back, AT&T ticked a lot of wireless customers with so-called “unlimited” plans by announcing that it would throttle data speeds for users who passed certain monthly thresholds. Though customers tried to sue in response, AT&T’s terms of service generally prevent class action suits from customers and force users into private, binding arbitration. But even though millions of customers can’t sue, the federal government can.

Today, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it had filed a lawsuit [PDF] against AT&T Mobility for allegedly misleading customers by charging them for unlimited plans but reducing their speeds when they passed certain thresholds.

According to the FTC, AT&T failed to adequately disclose to customers that this throttling could occur, and that it could have a drastic impact on a customer’s use of the service. Some unlimited users’ access to AT&T data was allegedly slowed by as much as 90%.

And when customers attempted to cancel their service because this throttling, AT&T would charge hefty early termination fees for those who were still under contract with the company.

While AT&T repeatedly made the argument that it was only throttling data for those users responsible for gobbling up the most data each month, the FTC estimates that at least 3.5 million AT&T customers were throttled some 25 million times since the program began in 2011.

According to the FCC, by changing the terms of customers’ unlimited data plans while those customers were still under contract — and by failing to adequately disclose the nature of the throttling program to consumers who renewed their unlimited data plans — AT&T violated the FTC Act.

“AT&T promised its customers ‘unlimited’ data, and in many instances, it has failed to deliver on that promise,” said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez in a statement. “The issue here is simple: ‘unlimited’ means unlimited.”

We’re reaching out to AT&T for comment and will update if we hear back.

One of the ironies here is that while AT&T continues to punish unlimited users who account for the highest amount of monthly data use, it’s giving away oodles of free data to customers who will never likely use it.

In late September, AT&T offered a promotional deal that doubled the amount of data available each month to new customers, meaning someone signing up for a shared data plan with 15GB allotted for each month would be given 30GB at no extra charge. However, since most people still don’t use more than 2-3GB of data each month, that’s basically like giving people food they will never eat. It sounds like a good offer, but it isn’t.

Both AT&T and Verizon previously offered unlimited data plans when they each began allowing the iPhone on their networks. They both eventually stopped offering unlimited plans to new customers, and have been accused of using throttling to get customers to switch to tiered data plans that limit a user’s access to data and impose hefty overage fees for those that go over that limit.

Over the summer, FCC Chair Tom Wheeler expressed his concern about throttling the data of wireless customers with unlimited data plans. He said it was “disturbing” and “deeply troubling” that Verizon and other providers appear to be using the excuse of reasonable network management to keep customers from getting what they paid for.

“I know of no past Commission statement that would treat as ‘reasonable network management’ a decision to slow traffic to a user who has paid, after all, for ‘unlimited’ service,” wrote the Chair in a letter to Verizon, which later opted to not move forward with plans to throttle its LTE customers who were still on unlimited plans.

Go behind the scenes to see how Sledgehammer Games spent the past three years building Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

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Marvel Studios has its Sorcerer Supreme, according to a report from Deadline. Benedict Cumberbatch, star of Sherlock and Star Trek Into Darkness, has reportedly been cast to play Doctor Strange in Marvel's 2016 feature film.

According to Deadline, Cumberbatch is in final negotiations to play Marvel's most famous magic user, Doctor Stephen Vincent Strange, after talks with another rumored star, Joaquin Phoenix, didn't pan out. Marvel hasn't officially confirmed the casting yet, but the company has a press event scheduled for tomorrow, Oct. 28, in Los Angeles. The Hollywood Reporter is also reporting that Cumberbatch is set to star in Doctor Strange.

Marvel's cinematic take on Doctor Strange will hit theaters in 2016, the same year...

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With two years lost to a studio closure, Rise of Nations creator Big Huge Games is ready to return to the world of strategy.

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In case you’ve been living under a livestream-shielded rock for the last three years, Games Done Quick is a pair of charity speedrunning marathons ran every year by the community. The larger of the two is Awesome Games Done Quick, taking place in January. It’s a massive event, gathering dozens of speedrunners, requiring months of preperation and watched by hundreds of thousands of viewers over the a full week. More importantly, it makes an absolutely ridiculous amount of money for charity, pulling just over a cool million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation at AGDQ 2014 alone. Over on the Speed Demos Archives forums, Event Director Mike Uyama laid out the finalised schedule for 2015 and it’s a doozy.

… [visit site to read more]

On Oct. 28, the PlayStation 4 will receive a new feature dubbed Share Play as part of the console's 2.0 system software update. Share Play will let PS4 owners share their games over the internet, which Sony has likened to a "virtual couch." In a new video released by Sony Computer Entertainment, the company walks us through how that works and what the new feature really does.

With Share Play, PS4 owners virtually share a DualShock 4 controller. That feature lets another player take control of your game — to help you through a particularly tricky section of a game, for example — and lets another player join you for a local multiplayer session, virtually.

Those sharing features are available to other players, even if they don't own the...

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Viewed through the idea that it's a standalone expansion to Sid Meier's Civilization 5, Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth streamlines gameplay in the long-running strategy series to enhance the pace of the historically-strapped franchise. As a...