After they relaxed the rules a bit to allow the users to manipulate the computers to do certain activities online, Charlie Miller was able to crack the code in 2 minutes. The rules required that he was only able to manipulate the O.S. using only software and bugs that were built into the system.  Miller was a former NSA operative who is best known for cracking the Iphone.  For his efforts he won $10,000.  The contestants had to sign a nondisclosure agreement so he can't release what he did or how he cracked it.  Apple started patching their software right after the competition.PC owners have to take some relief that their Vista operating system wasn't the first to be hacked.

Many would have picked the Windows OS to be the first to be hacked and the Mac to be hacked last.  This points out a major reason why Apple has less infections and less attacks.  It is not because the machines are so much more well built, don't get me wrong, Mac makes Windows looks stupid, but why try to hack something that only 3 percent owns.  Windows OS are so much more mainstreamed that you can attack so many more people on PC than Mac.  At least now when Mac owners brag about their systems, Windows owners will have something to say.

 Source: Robert McMillan, IDG News Service

Depending on who you get the statistics from, 1 in 12 or 4-8% of the male population is color vision deficient (politically correct term).  Oddly, the genetic deficiency is much more common in men than women.  The most common deficiency is the lack of red and green cones in your eye.  You could say that their vision is blue enhanced!   While color blind gamers might have problems coordinating their wardrobe, the more common problem is distinguishing who is on your team, which flag to capture or solve countless puzzle games which rely on the user to match up colored tiles or find colored jewels.  

So, what can game developers do?

The fixes are relatively simple to implement. Any time color-specific information is used as a game mechanic, give multiple options for those colors. A simple shift to different hues, or even a drastic increase in contrast between two colors would make these issues go away for color blind individuals. Patterns and shapes can also be used to great effect; a flag with wide stripes across it would be fix the issues people experience in games like Battlefield 2142.  

There is some hope.  Games like Hexic will let you turn on shapes to augment the colors.  Peggle Extreme has a colorblind mode that adds a triangle to the green pegs and a + sign to the purple pegs. GRAW has a selectable colorblind HUD with.  Games like Guitar Hero are easy to learn the fret positions rather than the colors while games like Audio Surf fail with its alternate mono-chromatic mode that does nothing to help the color challenged.  

Considering how many players potentially are inflicted by this condition, lets hope more game producers take this into consideration and  include subtle game design decisions that will make the games we play friendly for all.  If they dont, PC users will be forced to rely on their video card drivers to correct color vibrance.  

Source: Become a Robot,  ars technica

So for those of you who are Achievement Whores do I have the website for you. Unlock The Achievement (UTA) have cooked up a really cool idea, an internet scavenger hunt. With Prizes. First go register an account over at Unlock The Achievement , it takes 30 seconds with no email confirmation, make sure your logged in then start your searching. They have 40 some odd websites that have "achievements" each hidden on them that look like a 360 power button with a lock in the middle, you click these locks and it will shoot you back to the UTA sight and add it to your unlocked achievements. I'm not sure if its on purpose or not but they only have the top right portion of the power button lit up in green and it kinda reminds me of an inverse RROD. You can take a look at it after the break. I would recommend launching the button link in a separate window since UTA servers are really slow under the heavy load right now and it will allow you to keep looking.

For those of you who haven't had a chance to check it out yet, Valve has released Meet The Scout for their release of TF2 for PC. For clarification sake thats just TF2 as a stand alone product and not part of the Orange Box in Stores.  

For those a little confused by my bi-lingual comment, theres also a Spanish version for our Spanish 3-PG gamers. Both are attached after the break, or if you want the Hi-Def version head on over to Game Trailers.com