News and other tidbits that Chad Cloman finds interesting enough to share
Here’s an interesting theory that goes against modern conventional wisdom. Boys are naturally inclined towards a certain amount of aggressive behavior, and violent video games are good outlets for it. Moreover this natural aggression is normal and healthy, and if suppressed, can hinder a boy’s development.
Link: http://arstechnica.com/…
Here’s an interesting bit of research. Two students revisited every Super Mario video game and, based on how far and fast Mario fell, calculated the acceleration due to gravity. The lowest is still more than four times the actual value, with the highest up by a factor of eleven.
Link: http://hypertextbook.com/…
(via mental_floss)
Scrabulous, which originally debuted on the web and later gained popularity on Facebook, was a blatant ripoff of Scrabble®. It became very popular, to the point where the folks at Scrabble noticed and took legal action. First Scrabulous was removed from Facebook and replaced by an official Scrabble app. Then scrabulous.com went under. But fear not, intrepid Scrabble-ites! It has resurfaced at a new site under the name of Lexulous. Note that when the scrabulous.com site went down, I was unable to find an official, free, online version of Scrabble other than the Facebook application. So back to Lexulous it is.
Link: http://www.lexulous.com/
GCHQ, the surveillance arm of British intelligence, is trying to recruit computer-savvy employees by putting advertisements in the virtual worlds of video games. Reminds me of this post.
Link: http://ap.google.com/…
(via Kim Komando)
Regular Chad’s News readers will recall previous posts about Second Life, especially regarding how real-world companies are setting up “stores” in the virtual world. Turns out that many of them aren’t profitable enough to maintain, and the companies are closing up shop.
Link: http://www.latimes.com/…
(via digg)
From the article: “I’ve seen more than a few interesting resume bullets in my time. The top candidate … has to be when someone put on their resume that they were the leader of a 6,000 member clan (guild?) on World of Warcraft.”
Link: http://www.bargaineering.com/…
(via Consumerist)
A man named Ben Schulz has become famous due to the actions of his online World of Warcraft character, Leeroy Jenkins. During a WoW campaign, he single-handedly killed his entire party by charging the enemy (NSFW language) without any preparation. The video of the event became a viral hit, with Leeroy’s fame going far enough to include him in a Jeopardy question.
Link: http://www.westword.com/…
(via digg)
Here’s a fun way to enhance your typing skills. It’s a free game called Word Shoot, where you shoot enemies by typing short words.
Link: http://cognitivelabs.com/…
(via Lifehacker)
Second Life, a popular MMORPG, allows one to exchange virtual money (Linden dollars) for real money at a varying rate. Now a player claims to be the first person to reach an online net worth that could be cashed in for $1 million. Anshe Chung managed to do this via virtual real-estate transactions over a 2½-year period. This raises some interesting tax questions, which Chad’s News has covered previously.
Link: http://money.cnn.com/blogs/…
(via Neatorama)
Press Release: http://www.anshechung.com/…
This article explains how the new Wii and PS3 motion-sensing game controllers work. The hardware can pick up spring deflections measured in tens of hydrogen atoms.
Link: http://www.cnn.com/…
(via Slashdot)
Sony released its much-anticipated PS3 game console on Friday. They only manufactured a limited number and did not even come close to satisfying the demand. Experts predict the PS3 will be difficult to obtain until next March. With this in mind, gamers starting lining up 11 days early. Enterprising criminals robbed entire lines. Some wackos desperate for attention bought one and smashed it with a sledgehammer. And, of course, the consoles are going on eBay for absurd prices. What I found most interesting, however, is that Sony is selling the consoles for a significant loss.
The Reuters news agency is opening a virtual news bureau in the online world of Second Life. The bureau will provide real-world news.
