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Filed under: Fun, Internet, Features, Web services, Social Software

Learn a new language at Babbel, por favor

Babbel.com

If you can't get enough of the English-language Weblogs, Inc. blogs, you can always check out some of the ones we serve up in other languages -- Autoblog Chinese or Engadget Spanish, for example. What? You don't know any other languages? Well, it's time you learned.

Babbel is a well-designed Web site designed to teach you a foreign language. It's part instruction, part wiki, and part social (isn't everything these days? What's next? A social network for wood stork enthusiasts? But we digress). Babbel incorporates a few different methods to facilitate learning one of the five languages they offer: Spanish, French, Italian, English, and German.

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Filed under: Business, Internet, Web services, Social Software

Wikipedia used for spreading a virus

wikipedia used to spread virusFalse Wikipedia information was apparently submitted which was used as a link to a malicious string of code. The German version of Wikipedia page about the Lovesan/MSBlast worm was altered and the links to a fix for the bug were changed to a piece of code that maliciously attacked user's computers if they clicked on the link. There was no word on long the infected page was live, but it was deleted the second the editors discovered it. Wikipedia has gone through all versions, backdated ones, and archived ones and removed and replaced the vandalized version. Pretty scary situation over there at Wikipedia. They rely almost solely on the public to submit information, and the public relies in turn on these posters to be somewhat accurate. It's a little blow to the online encyclopedia, and I'm sure they will be tightening security and procedures a little more, starting on Friday when the bug was discovered.

Filed under: Audio, Security, News, P2P

The DRM problem solved?

NotesThe Germans have always been known for their stalwart adherence to the "textbook" way to do something. They produce some of the finest products in the world, which of course you knew. The Germans have done it once again, and this time it may be a good solution to our real-world DRM problem. The German company Akuma is letting their customers download music without DRM. The MP3 files contain a small high-pitched "watermark" that identifies the song's purchaser. This allows people to play the song on any device they want without restrictions, and allows law-enforcement to catch anyone who shares songs on file-sharing P2P networks. I think the idea is brilliant where the best of both worlds can comfortably collide, giving everyone what they want. The question I have still is how easy would it be to remove the "watermark" from the song? What about converting it to another format? Will this loose the track's "watermark" or not? It may not be the perfect solution, but then again it may be. At least now, someone is thinking about both sides of the DRM story, not just the big bad wolf, but the little pigs as well.

Filed under: Internet, News

TOR servers seized by German officials

TOR servers seizedThe Onion Router (TOR) provides anonymous web-surfing and privacy online and is a free download. The German authorities seized several TOR servers in in effort to crack down on a child porn ring. While I despise and oppose anyone involved in the despicable practice of child porn, I do feel for those whose servers were taken, since it seems that they are not to blame for this, but others using the TOR-circuit to hide their identity. It should not be assumed that anyone trying to "hide" their identity is a criminal, which the German authorities haven't done...yet. We'll see how this case plays out, but it looks as if the police will not press charges to server owners and users, unless they find conclusive evidence against a certain person.

[Via Slashdot]

Filed under: Windows

Knuckles RPG to help you learn Japanese

Knuckles in China LandI'm not sure why this game is called Knuckles in China Land, but it's a learning game for practicing your Japanese characters--Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji--or your Japanese, Indonesian, or German vocabulary. The game stars Knuckles from the Sonic the Hedgehog games (unlicensed, I'm sure) and takes the form of a traditional RPG, except that instead of fighting battles with monsters, you must master characters and vocabulary words. It comes with libraries which include thousands of characters and words, but if you want more it also has a Vocabulary Editor to add your own.

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With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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