Marcus' Tech News Blog

SNES/Genesis to your PC

Marcus — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 23:11:53 +0000

Have you lost your SNES system but still have the games? Are you looking to spend a ridiculous amount of money on a Super Nintendo system adapter? Look no further than Retrode 2. Retrode 2 is an adapter for the PC in which you can plug in your old Super Nintendo games and also Genesis games. Pre-orders are now taking place at $84.99.

Of course you can always go to Ebay and buy a Super Nintendo for $5.50 with games and controllers.

Yesterday FedEx, today UPS

Marcus — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:26:48 +0000

Youtube video

Yesterday a FedEx employee was caught on camera throwing a computer monitor over a high fence, effectively destroying the monitor. We all knew UPS isn’t immune from rogue employee behavior but this time the employee knew the camera was there unlike the FedEx employee. The UPS driver saw the camera and gives it the middle finger, then when he gets to the door step, throws the unknown package on the floor. So far no response from UPS, but I’m sure FedEx is glad they’re not the only ones in the news this week.

Digital Journal

Skype, changing the way humans live

Marcus — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:31:47 +0000

Since 2007 Skype has seen a 900 percent increase in calls alone. Being able to talk to see and hear someone on the other side of the world without having to leave your home, is one of the greatest and and beneficial offerings from the technology industry.

How can Skype be beneficial? Selia Mae Jackson layed on her bed nearing death, with her sister physically unable to visit her started up Skype and was able to see her sister Jackson surrounded by 11 or 12 people.

Another great idea is a woman Jamie Van Houton, decided to have her baby shower over Skype. Houton didn’t need to clean up after people or cook any food. There’s no word how she received her baby shower gifts though.

Another great use of Skype is seeing your child when your away. Parents can read, sing, or do just about anything to appease their child. No more E-mailing children when parents are away, just fire up the computer and audio/video is up and running.

There are tons more ideas to do with Skype and to be able to use this kind of technology for free is almost indescribable. Now if only smell-o-vision was possible!

Yahoo

Google activates 700k Android devices every day

Marcus — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:06:13 +0000

In case people didn’t know how popular Android is, Google vice president announced today that Google activates 700k Android devices every day.

Last month Google stated only 550,000 devices were being activated every day, up from daily total of 500k in June. In total, Google has activated more than 200 million Android devices in total around the world.

CNET

Verizon suffers nationwide data outage

Marcus — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:58:13 +0000

As of last night, Verizon customers are suffering from a nationwide data outage affect many 4G users. Verizon Wireless customer support representative stated “As of 6:28 Eastern time, they are confirming a nationwide outage affecting all 4G phones and to expect little to no network connectivity. There is no ETA for resolution, of course”

Verizon users had to switch to 3G until the 4G is resolved.

As of now Verizon states “Verizon wireless 4G LTE service is returning to normal this morning after company engineers worked to resolve an issue with the 4G network during the early morning hours today.

Man dresses like Mario to win Nintendo 3DS

Marcus — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:50:29 +0000

Nintendo asked Facebook fans what they would do to win a free Nintendo 3DS, Gustavo Valdez told them he would dress up like Mario for one month.

Nintendo called him on his bluff and Nintendo rewarded Valdez at the end of the month by having Mario go to Valdez and presenting him with an actual Mario costume and 3DS as promised.

Of course Valdez could have worked one week and paid for the $200.00 device himself, I guess whatever floats your boat.

Digital Trends

FedEx employee tosses monitor over fence

Marcus — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:42:14 +0000

A FedEx employee was caught on camera tossing a persons computer monitor over a fence damaging it. The camera footage was taken from the package recipients home in which he states that his front door was open and the FedEx employee only had to ring the bell and he would have come to grab the package.

As of now 4.6 million people have seen the video on Youtube. FedEx responded to the video stating “All of us here at FedEx have seen the video and quite frankly we were shocked”, Shea Leordeanu -FedEx spokesperson. Leordeanu also added “this won’t be his best day”.

FedEx has replaced the customers monitor free of charge and is actively seeking out the FedEx employee.

Who knows how many other packages this guy has broken costing many companies thousands of dollars. Should he be fire? Yes he should!

Secure text messaging Android

Marcus — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:27:02 +0000

A new app in beta on Android called SecureText, allows users to securely text other people but only if the recipient has SecureText installed. All the text messages are stored in an encrypted file on the Android device. If messages are somehow sniffed through the air, hackers won’t be able to decode the messages as they are encrypted. I haven’t used it but some users in November report recipients not receiving their messages. As of December there have been no comments connected with this problem.

If you want to download the app, just go to Android Marketplace and search Textsecure.

Google Wallet App fails Forensic Analysis

Marcus — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:47:04 +0000

Performed by Andrew Hoog of viaForensics, he discovered several vulnerabilities after a high level forensic analysis and in it was able to obtain account balances, cc details, and more. Hoog stated a low level forensic analysis was needed to discover other vulnerabilities. Great idea, bad implementation.

Digital Forensics Magazine

ViaForensics

Intel cuts Q4 revenue due to flood

Marcus — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:33:21 +0000

With the massive amount of flooding that took place in Thailand, many hard drive companies who have their supplies built there are taking a massive decrease in production. The floods have wiped out many of the major hard drive manufacturers production supply and as such there won’t be much supply for consumers to demand.

Intel which also hosts its production line in Thailand has now lowered its Q4 revenue forecast by $1 billion due to the shortages. They expect to be caught up by the first half of 2012.

Don’t companies know not to put all your eggs in one basket?

Engadget