Blackberry cancels two smartphones and Blackberry Live for next year

The loss of the large financial numbers might be the cause of the cancellation of the upcoming smartphones from Blackberry as well as the next big live event for developers and partners coming next year. It was like a business disaster for Blackberry. Instead, they will be hosting the smaller events in the future around the globe for the next 12 months in order to cut costs.
Lastly, for smartphones, it seems that Blackberry is going to let Foxconn design the hardware for future low cost Blackberry smartphones.

Countdown to next year continues for Xbox 360 games

Phew, the Christmas celebration was over two days ago but unfortunately, I have a serious sickness since the beginning of this week so I wasn't able to do anything to celebrate. It was a shame for that to happen to me although many companies had planned something really big for that day.
Next stop will be the New Year's Eve and this on-going event will eventually last till December 31st with the different list of games so far for the Xbox 360. The second half of the event includes the Games on Demand and Xbox Live Arcade games but no DLC similar to the first half.

Caladrius and Raiden IV for Playstation 3 next year

I don't know what to say about Caladrius from what I saw on the net. It has the shyness break feature when attacking bosses that damage the clothes of the boss characters. The boss machines may have multiple pieces which may seem to make sense but then this feature is one of those downsides of the game. It may be the same to the main characters you're playing as when you get hit. We surely understand how the realistic battle works like your clothes get damaged and so is your body in which you get hurt but this is way too much in Caladrius.
OK, game concept aside, the Playstation 3 version of Caladrius will have additional stage and character so I guess that this is based on the arcade version that was recently released this year. It was originally an Xbox 360 exclusive but for the arcade version, the stage results screens are somewhat changed.
In addition to the Caladrius' release for Playstation 3, Raiden IV will be released for Playstation 3 as well with the new Overkill mode. Both games will be released next year with Raiden IV being the first.

Google Blackmail - College Humor

You know on what the fuck is Google thinking nowadays. First, the Google Plus integration to YouTube that I was almost able to report bad troll comments there, second, the private data collection through Google Plus service which makes Google even more evil than ever like they're siding with the cyber spying agencies like the GCHQ, NSA, etc. unlike Microsoft which is finally concerned about that and especially when the reasons to buy the Xbox One and Kinect for Windows V2 are starting to sound good, and recently the YouTube Content ID disaster. I don't know if that copyright disaster was fixed or not but don't fret, this is somewhat a good news to talk about this parody from College Humor regarding on what Google is nowadays.
Don't worry or rant like that, the video from College Humor about this blackmail thing from Google is more of the parody video. It's about Google trying to blackmail the fuck out of you to use Google Plus or they will advertise all the private shit of yours to some commercials or maybe the cyber spying agencies as mentioned above. Speaking of this fictional evil motive from Google, they will try to find anything inappropriate and show that off to the internet and those bad cyber spying agencies so that your future ends here.
What a nice move from College Humor for bashing on Google like that but the one I'm gonna bash on nowadays will be Google Plus for sure! Sure, it took College Humor like days to weeks to make such an interesting bashing video like that and we may somewhat encourage Microsoft to watch that freaking video.
Unfortunately, blogging about this on my Blogger blog is somewhat inappropriate as if Google will know what am I blogging. What if they think I've betrayed them like that like a rebel? Will my Google account be gone along with all my YouTube videos entirely from this? To make this bashing backfire however, it seems that all the bullshits I have mentioned here have to be removed because they have already pissed off the users that the users may end up ditching the Google services in favor of the others.
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymkA1N3oFwg

Privacy issues in Ubuntu 12.10

We're not sure if Canonical will do their best to increase privacy levels for Ubuntu but it seems that they're already do so and Android is one these OSes they want to teach a lesson of.
For some reason, switching from Mac OSX or Windows to Ubuntu is not recommended probably due to some privacy issues but there are some workarounds.
You can uninstall the unity-lens-shopping package from the terminal or something and disable Include online search results in the Privacy app. Not enough? Then you can switch to other desktop environments such as KDE, GNOME or Cinnamon. Just install one of them, log off and switch the desktop environment from the login screen and log back in.
Next is the installation of Ubuntu. During the setup screen, you can encrypt the new Ubuntu installation for security purposes. That is, before the installation process begins. Then, you're given the security key screen to enter your security password. This is probably the disk encryption and if you lose or forget this security key you have made, all data will be inaccesible and lost.
Another thing from EFF to Ubuntu users is that you may need HTTPS Everywhere extension for Firefox and Chrome.
Well, that is more of the summarized news divided into two parts from EFF website. We hope that Canonical can show Google on who's boss in privacy.

Zeitgeist of this year from SlideShare

I may be freaking afraid to blog about the Zeitgeist of last year as there were already major spoilers for sure but this year's Zeitgeist may be somewhat safe to blog about.
So the keywords at Slideshare blog mentioned were, Bitcoin, Twerking, NSA, Cronuts, Google Glass, etc. I know three of them and there will be somewhat worst moments to talk about this year probably due to a bunch of controversies ever since last year.
OK, the keywords were not the points of that blog post at SildeShare. It is all about the usage of online presentation service this year. The presentations are more visual and shorter and more mobile users are using SlideShare. Hopefully, I will take note of that blog post so that I can improve myself.
I'm sure the top best and worst stuffs or moments of yours of this year can be done late at the beginning of next year because I believe that your moments of this year are somewhat not finalized yet until we reach next year. For Slideshare, you can come up with a presentation like that and tag #Zeitgeist2013.

More Kinect for Windows V2 developer kits

OK, it seems that the Xbox One console was already out in the west and the east still has yet to wait for its release. Yesterday, the Playstation 4 was already out in Singapore and today, it is being released in Malaysia and it might be the reason to see many people queuing up for it. However, the Kinect for Windows V2 is likely to be released next year so we'll keep on getting more news about it.
The good thing is that it's easy to port the existing Kinect V1 technologies to Kinect V2 by some kind of upgrade to the new APIs.
Last time, the developer kits were sold to thousands of developers and now more are interested in this kit. So, the next program will begin sometime next year.

Beatmania IIDX Spada First-Time Play

What the hell, what should I do next then? It appears that my efforts in attempting the songs from IIDX Lincle and Tricoro are for nothing when my data was transferred to the latest game, Beatmania IIDX Spada.
Now, the way you start the Step-Up Mode for the first time is a JOKE! You start off with the lowest level instead of whatever Tier-Level of your choice you want like in the previous game. This is like going for the Spada adventures 22 x 5 times!
The real progress started with the Grade Certification mode and holy shit, it was already that difficult for me because I'm not used too much to the actual IIDX controller. Sure, I made a big progress in LR2 with the keyboard but that's not the point without the actual IIDX controller. I still need to get used to scratching and pressing the keys at the same time if I want to clear Level 8 songs with Auto-Scratch turned off. So, I passed the first-level grade with 12% of groove guage left. Seems that the end section of various songs may be the pain in the ass when scratching and pressing at the same time.

Better encryption from Microsoft (Part 2)

Now it looks like how Microsoft will plan to encrypt and secure the data inside the company premises against the cyber spying agencies we know of. First, they're using thousands of servers inside the data center to encrypt the data before it is sent to another center or even if it is not transmitted.
However, even with such plans like this, there are still vulnerabilities. First, the cyber spying agencies can do the mirror move on Microsoft by sending someone there to spoil Microsoft's plans and try to leak more data back to them. Or maybe, they can kidnap someone from Microsoft to force him to work with them like a fucking slave. If that's the case, there should be additional security that should be implemented to Microsoft as soon as possible as the secret plans are already known to the public and soon the privacy enemies like those cyber spying agencies will do something to Microsoft as well.

Project Diva Arcade Future Tone

Wow, there are like three Project Diva Arcade machines today compared to five and there is some new arcade machine that is the virtual coaster ride kind of thing. How is that an arcade game when you're riding on the virtual coaster that is similar to having a virtual ride in the theater?
Discoveries aside, all the PDA machines there were upgraded to the latest game and I already gave one machine a try. So I started off with the songs from Project Diva F as if this is the new objective starting this year. Funny thing is that I may end up treating this game as the next Sound Voltex due to the freaking Touch Slider as if I may get some complicated challenge in playing songs in Sound Voltex in the future.

Megatex December 2013 Edition

This will be the last IT show of this year before moving on to next year and the new discoveries so far were the new Rangers bluetooth keyboards. The first one was the remote control with the keyboard on the other side and its mouse control is equivalent to the Wii Remote. The second one has the touch pad mixed with number pad on the right side and the function key allows you to switch which mode for the one on the right. It's sort of like the gaming keyboard with the touchscreen on the right side where you can use the apps there.
Other than those discoveries there, there wasn't anything else that was new there. It seems that the current stuffs on display at Megatex are already available for purchase at whichever shopping complexes.

Countdown to next year with Xbox 360 game sale

As if the countdown to next year and this year's christmas are like the best or something, Microsoft has decided to put in the various games for Xbox 360 as part of this upcoming countdown with the countdown discounts. Certain Games On Demand games, XBLA and DLCs will be discounted until December 23rd. The event is said to last until December 31st.

XOLO to launch their new Windows Phones next year

XOLO is the indian manufacturer that will launch their Windows Phones and tablets next year. This is when after ZTE announced the same thing previously.
Also, the previous average news was that Microsoft was planning to purchase Nokia's device business that may somewhat affect the future of Windows Phones. Previously, it seemed that Nokia was the reason to buy the Windows Phones, leaving other manufacturers to be left out, going back to selling their Android devices. We don't know if XOLO and ZTE can extend or restore back the future of Windows Phone for sure.
Right now, there isn't any technical detail about this but we're sure that there will be more news coming in next year that I can blog about here.

First Xbox One Indie games to launch in March next year

Well, you can probably use Project Spark or the C++ to make indie games for Xbox 360, Xbox One and Windows 8. But then, it may seem that Project Spark is something like Kodu Game Lab which may be way too simple when it comes to creating games with that. I don't know what to say about Kodu Game Lab when I discovered and tried it the last time. There may be similar games such as Minecraft or Little Big Planet in which Project Spark is going to be something like that where you can make custom levels with supported kinds of gameplays you want.
The previous announcement from Microsoft is the ID@Xbox program that will support self-publishing of the indie games. Previously, there wasn't Kinect support at all and the Xbox 360 Indie developers didn't have access to Xbox Live. I don't know the release date for this program but I can assume that it was already released.

Panasonic’s 20” Windows 8.1 4K tablet delayed

4K, meaning technology involvement of the resolution! This upcoming tablet is unfortunately delayed until mid-February next year for US and Japanese markets due to the fact that the device may affect the radio waves of other appliances. As an attempt to fix the problem, they will try to incorporate some new parts and change the design of the device. The resolution is really huge but the device uses the retina display like feature for that. Downside is that it is extremely expensive!

Original shows coming to Xbox 360 and One next year

What the hell? What happened to Windows Media Center for Xbox 360 already? It’s already unstable in terms of performance when connected to the computer on the network but with Metro apps such as the Pictures, Videos and Music apps on Xbox 360, you should be able to view the contents without any problem.

Apparently, the original shows will be arriving to both Xbox 360 and One next year but I don’t know what the app for those will be like for Xbox 360. The easy thing is that you will need the Xbox Live if you want to watch those TV shows but then, I don’t know what the list of channels will be like on my Xbox 360 console on MY NATION. Sure, there will be foreign channels but I don’t know how you will pay monthly for that if this is Xbox Live service.

Privacy features removed in Android 4.4.2

It may seem that Android was built from scratch to have a sophisticated and strongly enforce system of per-app permissions but many of those privacy-sensitive permissions are poorly delineated and confusing. It’s like many of those permissions are poorly implemented on the apps and the worse thing is that you can’t allow both security and privacy on Android at the same time.

This may be a fundamental problem with the previous Android models as if you install the app with some poor permission system or you avoid installing it at all. Back then, that was an improvement on Apple IOS which didn’t even have the permissions model. But after various privacy scandals, the apps on IOS will be forced to ask for permission but that’s not enough. No apps or services are allowed to collect data as part of those scandals.

In Android 4.3, there were finally privacy protection enhancements but they were removed in later releases. You can unlock this functionality by installing tools like App Ops Launcher that allow you to control most of the privacy-threatening permissions your apps may dare to obtain.

It’s a shame that my Android device is not able to run Android 4.3 and besides, I feel like it’s already risky in trying to install CyanogenMod on it for privacy enhancement purposes. This means, I don’t know if CyanogenMod can work on my Android device even after various research done weeks or months ago. Good thing is that you can backup your apps to the SD-card before you attempt to install this.

CryptBox

The email from the makers of this software I received this year was somewhat interesting due to the fact that it mentioned that you can protect your data from hackers and even the spying agencies that have been spying on people’s private stuffs. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to be brave enough as this software is on Windows only and the company is Microsoft certified like there’s no other OS version for awesome data encryption.

Well, it’s basically none other than the data encryption and backup software. There are more recent products coming in from those makers as well so I’m looking forward to them.

Petition on ECPA Reform

Okay, signing the petition at White House website requires that you have the account but it’s way obvious that we can make this reform happen. However, although the petition had hit 100K signatures, the administration still has yet to respond. This is all about restoring the privacy in the US in which everyone in the globe is concerned because the United States is not the only one being the victim of cyber surveillance and it seems that the governments in various countries have no rights to gain access to the people’s private stuffs without any warrant.

Speaking of warrant, those with search warrant may have the rights to look around the house like trying to search for the criminal for example and that was like the proper way in the first place.

Of course, this is somewhat the first step in putting the end to this devilish cyber spying in the US and we have to do the same for other countries as well.

YouTube Copyright Claim Disaster– Great Disaster For Gamers

Well, this blog post may be somewhat posted as part of the next year’s new year resolutions for some reasons.

• It’s an emergency affection to the gamers’ YouTube accounts regarding the false or stupid copyright claims.
• The unknown reasons for the unknown culprits to make false copyright claims.
• Maybe YouTube and Google themselves are fucked?

So, who’s going to do some investigation of this situation by then? I was like a little bit affected by this for sure as if like a few videos of mine were marked with Content ID Claims. Two of them were acknowledged for whatever reason with the recent acknowledged video being fully playable with sound.

Anyway, enough of that account of mine since the little affection but the major affection lies with popular gaming channels that are being flooded with all the bullshits out there. Some company named IDOL, which distributes the individual music companies. Has that company got to do with idol management besides music? If that is for video game music, that will be the bullshit situation we have ever seen. This kind of news is EVERYWHERE!

The brave thing is that many game publishers have already sworn on Twitter that the content claims are not coming from them. Well, it may be true because the names of the claimers look kind of fake but THIS IS NOT THE FIRST FUCKING TIME I HAD SEEN THE FALSE COPYRIGHT CLAIMS FOR YOUTUBE! The company named, IDOL, still has yet to do something about this fucking situation.

Lastly, the situation can get worse for gamers on YouTube. Channels that are labeled, Managed, will be exempt while channels that are marked as, Affiliate, will have to go through the approval process to get their videos accepted. This change will eventually happen next year in January and I don’t know what will happen next.

It’s like Google and YouTube had betrayed us all by merging Google Plus with YouTube in a stupid way. Do we use Google Plus a lot? NO, BECAUSE WE PREFER THE POPULAR SNS SITES! It’s also like they want our ASSES SPIED ON YOUTUBE LIKE IT HAS BEEN ALREADY HAPPENING AND SUPPORTING ALL KINDS OF TROLLS INCLUDING PATENT TROLLS!

Well, they’ve better remove this bullshit completely and revert back to the previous state people prefer or there will be a bad chance that we will end up bashing on YouTube and Google Plus and the worse thing is that I will eventually DITCH the fuck out of YouTube in favor of Nico Nico Douga and post my future gaming videos there. Seems that Google and YouTube might have messed with Angry Joe and pissed him off but I have been pissed off even more than he was by Google probably due to the fact that the Google Plus is a real betrayal to the freedom. This is sort of like they took us, gamers, for the ones who blow shit up.

Windows Threshold to be released next year?

Similar to Windows Blue which is Windows 8.1, Windows Threshold is the upcoming update to Windows 8.1 that will be coming in sometime next year. The previous news might have said that the product will be released in Spring two years later according to Mary Jo Foley but now, it looks like it will have additional features.
Speaking of additional features, there will be the return of Start Menu and the allowance of Modern apps on the desktop. It may be useful for desktop and laptop users but then, there were already third-party apps that are similar. It's way obvious that Stardock had made those emergency enhancement programs for Windows 8 users that Microsoft had seen them like they wanted to add their own versions of those features officially.
In fact, the Windows Phone devices still haven't got the Blue update until sometime next year and we can imagine that they will get the Threshold update the year after the year of Blue update.

Nexus TV next year

While there may be smart TVs from Samsung and LG, it seems that Google hasn't dominated the Smart TV market. What's helping Google though is the fact that certain third-party manufacturers have been manufacturing their Android TV boxes which allow you to hook them up to the TV. There may be USB keyboard and mouse of course but then, they don't seem to function well as a real Android TV or perhaps the answer to Apple TV.
The real Android TV is the fact that it's a Smart TV device powered by Android that will allow you to watch TV content, movies, listen to music, view pictures and so on. Also, this upcoming Nexus TV will have strong gaming features that allow you to play with the customized touchscreen controller and be released in the first half of next year.

Chrome apps on Android and IOS

Hmm, the Chrome apps may look kind of pointless to use on whichever devices you’re using such as the desktops, laptops, tablets, mobile phones, etc. probably due to the apps already existing on those devices all along. The mobile apps on tablets and mobile phones are already useful enough but why do you need Chrome apps on those things? We don’t know what those apps are and especially for the games so why do we need to use Chrome apps when we already have better kinds of app to use?

Well, it’s more or less a pointless move from Google but it isn’t on Chromebooks themselves as if you can use those apps on those laptops instead! Jolicloud on the other hand has recognizable services and apps and I’ve already been using it on the live USB probably due to the fact that it can be officially downloaded.

The Chrome apps were already launched in September for desktops and now, they’re going to be available in January next year as well.

Better encryption from Microsoft will be completed by the end of next year

Well, this is taking a long time for this super encryption to be completed and deployed against the evil cyber-spying agencies we already know of and news of such spying scandal has been everywhere around the globe and everyone already knows it. In fact, we already saw a recent news on what they have been up to against the internet users. The services that will be encrypted are, Outlook.com, Office 365, Skydrive and Windows Azure.

Using the highest key length so far which is 2KBit and we’re not joking about that, this is by far the best-in-class industry cryptography Microsoft has planned. Another encryption standard called Perfect Forward Secrecy will also be implemented as well.

Under Legal Protection Reinforcement, it seems that Microsoft had already taken lawful actions against the bad things the governments had attempted to do against the customers. We don’t know when did Microsoft do this to protect us but they said that they will continue to protect us in the future to preserve their ability to alert us when some idiots DARE to force them to hand over the customer data. Of course, the consequences for such refusal are complete BULLSHIT! If Microsoft can continue to protect us, then there may be a reason to use their products again. But until the day of super-encryption, our computers and servers running Apple or Microsoft OSes are nothing but malware-infected junks. Even our tablets and phones are the similar victims as well.

China wants Microsoft to extend the Windows XP Support

Can't you even see that Windows XP is getting DAMN old that we've had enough of using it? It was interesting looking back then in the early 2000s but when the newer operating systems were likely to come out, it might look like I couldn't wait to try them. Nowadays, we're using the recent Windows OSes like Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, etc. And if that's the case that Windows XP's extended support will be ending next year in April, the other editions of Windows XP may have different support ending dates such as the fact that Windows XP Embedded is living even longer than the usual Windows XP editions.
OK, it seems that Windows XP is still the most used operating system in China with Windows 7 being the second most used OS. It was a brave move for Microsoft when it comes to Windows 7 due to having done it right after the performance disaster caused by Windows Vista. Lastly, if the extended support of Windows XP is likely to end next year April, then what about Windows Virtual PC for Windows 7, then? At this rate, it will look like we're using other virtualization software like VMWare, VirtualBox, Parallels Workstation, etc. but if you do have Windows 8, you can use Hyper-V.
So, having to end support like that for Windows XP can spell security disaster for China and cause even more piracy to happen. And that's what happens when Windows XP is made way too popular until today.

Valve joins Linux Foundation

Maybe next year, I'll probably start using SteamOS straight away as the next year's New Year Resolutions just like using Windows 8 as part of last year's New Year Resolutions. It seems that Valve joins the Linux Foundation like they're trying to promote their SteamOS to ensure that the gaming on Linux gets popular with Linux version of Steam. Games that are on Steam are already playable on Mac OSX and Linux OSes and it may seem that Ubuntu is one of the most popular Linux distributions.
Every year, they will be paying between $5000 and $20000 after joining the Linux Foundation.

Outdated Electronic Communications Privacy Act

This outdated cyber-law takes you back to the 80s when it was passed before the users had access to the computers and emails. As this is outdated, hundreds of government agencies have access to the people's content in the cloud without the warrant. So much for the progressing technology that even cloud computing has been affected by this illegal access.
The good thing is that both parties of Congress are supporting the reform of this law but we don't know what are the proper criteria like probably due to the fear that someone may make things even worse with this reform as if the main fault may lie with him. Unfortunately, the opponent against this reform is Securities and Exchange Commission, which is trying to prevent this reform from happening and allow further spying to occur.
So in the end, it seems that the illegal access to your stuffs is even worse than what NSA can do so we must make sure that this reforming should happen as soon as possible.
As the link https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/reform-ecpa-tell-government-get-warrant/nq258dxk, looks so freaking governmental, I'm leaving this action-taking to you. You will need your whitehouse.gov account if you want to sign this petition.