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Posts with tag InternetCafe

Filed under: Internet, Security, Utilities, Features

Keeping it private (and safe!) on public computers

libraryEven if you have a computer at home, on occasion you'll find you need to use the public computers at a library, internet café, or your local copy shop. Traveling, technical glitches at home, or the sheer convenience of checking on something right now brings almost everyone to a public computer once in a while. It brings a few people -- whether they own computers or not -- to public computers daily.

I have a confession to make. In a former life, I was a systems librarian. I know what's on public computers. No, I don't have your personal information. I removed that from the public computers, along with a lot of keylogging software, viruses, and spyware. What I do have is a few little tricks to keep your private information private.

The cardinal rule of public computing is the most obvious. It's also the one most often broken. Sometimes there's no avoiding breaking it. Sometimes, though, it seems there is a digital variety of the "belief in immortality" that's usually attributed to young adults. This digital immortality seems to affect people of all ages.

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Filed under: Games, Internet

Three days into video game session, Chinese man dies

Run, Luke, Run!We've all heard the horror stories, often emanating from the neighborhood of the far east, of people who take their online gaming a little too seriously. These are folks that get real-life revenge for in-game defeats, like the guy who murdered (in real life) an online opponent for stealing his in-game weapon. There have even been cases, reportedly, where folks who were otherwise healthy just up and died while playing online games.

Apparently, the trend continues. Today, CIO Insight reported that a Chinese man died after playing Internet games in a Net Cafe for three straight days, ostensibly one that stays open 24 hours a day. If the case was like the previously mentioned Korean case, the one must wonder why, if starvation and dehydration were the culprits, the proprietors of the cafe didn't kick him out for being a bum and not ordering something to drink. Exhaustion was the stated reason for death, but even then--don't you think you'd fall asleep before allowing an Internet game to exhaust you? Perhaps not if you play with this level of intensity.

Featured Time Waster

Forumwarz - a potentially offensive time waster

I pwn UAfter spending the better part of an hour on Forumwarz I still can't decide if it's just sick or if it's kind of fun. It's a bit like a car wreck on the highway. I know I shouldn't be looking but I can't quite turn away.

It's sick, it's twisted, it's the internet on it's worst level and darn it, it's kind of fun. At least for a little while.

Forumwarz is a parody role-playing game that takes place on the internet - or at least the Forumwarz version of it. Your goal is to complete missions that are given to you through a mock up of GoogleTalk called Sentrillion.

Your first "friend" is ShallowEsophagus who begins giving you missions to pwn various forums by being a troll. Depending on the character type you are assigned at start up, you have tools like drooling on the keyboard or bashing your head on the keyboard that you can use to destroy forum threads and eventually, pwn a forum.

Future missions involve buying illegal software from the Russians, pwning more difficult forums and other internet oddness.

Completing missions gives you cash, called Flezz in game, and items that you can pawn or use in other missions. The game is NOT for those easily offended. It's crass, coarse and there are frequent f-bombs in the fake chat sessions.

This is also a game for a more mature audience as it requires you to shop at the Drugs R Fun store to get various concoctions to improve your playing, engage in certain cyber activities to get more Flezz and just generally use a more adult perspective.

If you can get past that, here are the more enjoyable and time-wasting aspects.

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