Authentication and Identity management support for access to applications and networked resources.
Multimedia production and support that includes Video Production, Streaming and Design and Illustration. Also inclusive of AV support , Conferencing support and Digital Signage.
Application support for all Administrative applications and databases. Also inclusive of Facilities and operational systems.
Delivering and supporting desktop computers, computer labs, printers and peripherals.
Support for all internet and voice services that include email, internet and network access, and telephone services.
Support for Security related services, including anti-virus software, virtual firewall, and encryption services.
Instructional technology and application support, with services that are inclusive of Learning Management systems (LMS), classroom and evaluation.
Application and server services and support, such as virtual server support, physical server hosting, and web application and site hosting.
Sophos Naked News - Thu, 03/26/2015 - 09:30
National Post Tech Desk - Thu, 03/26/2015 - 08:59
Twitter Inc. officially revealed on Thursday a new dedicated app for Periscope, the live streaming video platform that it acquired in February for a reported US$75-$100 million.
You may have heard some news: It involves a blue bird. #YouCanGuessTheRest #WeJoinedTheFlockInJanuary #AreWeUsingThisRight #IsThisThingOn
— Periscope (@periscopeco) March 13, 2015
The application, which has reportedly been in development for more than a year, syncs your Twitter account with Periscope. The platform allows users to live stream video from their smartphone, view a list of live feeds on the app’s home page, and also replay archived streams. After a stream is completed it can be replayed up to 24 hours later. Broadcasters also have the option to opt-out of this feature.
Currently Periscope can’t be launched directly from Twitter’s app, but this is something analysts expect could change in the future.
In terms of social features, viewers can send live streamers “hearts” that show up as small emoticons in the lower right corner of the screen, similar to the chat window on live streaming platform, Twitch, although more limited.
Download Periscope on iOS here: https://t.co/0tp7hwTwj2
— Periscope (@periscopeco) March 26, 2015
The more likes a video receives, the higher it’s ranked on Periscope’s front page. Periscope is currently only available on iOS devices, similar to competing live streaming platform Meerkat. Similar to Periscope, Meerkat also allows users to live stream video footage captured through their smartphone’s camera, directly to the internet.
Live streaming video from a smartphone has grown in popularity lately thanks to the launch of Meerkat, although apps like Ustream have allowed this functionality for a number of years.
An Android version of Periscope is reportedly on the way.
RelatedNational Post Tech Desk - Thu, 03/26/2015 - 08:56
It’s still a couple of weeks until the fifth season of HBO’s Game of Thrones premieres (and Heaven knows how long until George R.R. Martin’s sixth book). But if you’re itching for a fantasy fix right now you can catch up on Telltale Games’ Game of Thrones adventure series, the third episode of which launched this week.
The first episode, set just after the Red Wedding in the books and on the TV show, served as an introduction to the Forrester family – series surrogates for House Stark – and had a shocking final scene.
The second started laying the foundation for what was to come as the protagonists – including one we thought certainly dead – began playing the game proper, exercising whatever political power they had to help the Forrester family survive its ongoing clash with the Whitehill clan.
The third episode, which takes us up to the mid-season hump, has more of this positioning and maneuvering.
But for the first time I could feel seething anger and resentment boiling just under the surface of most of our heroes, and it’s coming close to bursting through.
Rodrik – eldest son and current master of House Forrester – is bullied harshly by the Whitehill soldiers stationed within his walls, and it’s up to you to determine how he deals with them.
Asher, the black sheep of the family, continues his journey back to Westeros from Essos, hoping to raise an army to bring to his clan’s aid and meeting the Mother of Dragons along the way.
Mira, the oldest Forrester daughter and handmaiden to Margaery Tyrell, attends King Joffrey’s ill-fated wedding in King’s Landing, forcing her to choose between her Lady and the possible help offered by Tyrion Lannister.
Former household member Gared Tuttle, meanwhile, finally swears his oath to the Night’s Watch, then encounters the man who murdered his family back on his farm.
At first glance it doesn’t seem like much is happening this time out. And, indeed, the primary plot isn’t pushed ahead in any significant way.
But this episode is particularly well written. It’s the first time the game’s protagonists haven’t been overshadowed by the brief appearances of more familiar characters like Tyrion, Cersei Lannister, and John Snow. It successfully encourages us to empathize with all members of the Forrester family, and if you give in it can have a marked impact on unfolding events.
Maybe it’s just a simple case of mirror neurons blindly firing inside my brain, but I actually felt anger while watching several scenes. And this fury coloured my judgment and affected my choices.
As I confronted a contemptible, small-minded tormentor, the world grew black around me, blotting out the lives of those who would be affected by my next decisions. I was determined not to back down to this little troll, consequences be damned.
And upon encountering a particularly despicable murderer, I didn’t choose the high ground and turn the other cheek. I took revenge. And, given the chance, I chose to make him suffer. Badly.
In the books and TV show, the audience has become used to seeing beloved protagonists perish or forced to capitulate to those persecuting them. In that sense, they present a more realistic fantasy than that of the game, and especially this episode, where consequences to heroic actions seem to be relatively moderate. For the time being, anyway.
And boy, does it ever feel good to see some Game of Thrones heroes finally standing up and taking action against the people who’ve done them wrong, even if the offending players punished here are small potatoes compared to those on the story’s larger stage.
As with the Starks, the Forresters’ situation just seems to be getting more and more dire. But, at least with the decisions I’ve been allowed to make for them, they’re still showing remarkable pluck.
As of the third episode I am now firmly in their corner. I want to see them get the better of their enemies.
I admit, though, to being a little worried to learn the eventual consequences of my emotion-fuelled decisions.
National Post Tech Desk - Thu, 03/26/2015 - 08:44
Windows 10 Says “Hello”
In an effort to make authentication easier yet more foolproof, Microsoft has announced Microsoft Hello, a biometric scheme that will take advantage of multiple kinds of inputs to authenticate users. The company says that hardware partners are already working with it to produce devices with compatible facial recognition, iris scanning, or fingerprint readers.
Current fingerprint readers will work; for facial or iris detection, a combination of special hardware and software will accurately verify user identity. The cameras use infrared technology to identify the user’s face or iris and can recognize people in a variety of lighting conditions.
Another authentication scheme under development — designed to eliminate passwords while providing enterprise-grade security — is code-named Passport.
Website Encryption Becomes Affordable
Securing online communications in browsers to protect users from visiting fake or malicious websites will soon become less costly with the advent of Let’s Encrypt, a service that will provide free Transport Layer Security (TLS – the successor to SSL) certificates.
RelatedLet’s Encrypt is a new free certificate authority that describes itself as “built on a foundation of cooperation and openness, that lets everyone be up and running with basic server certificates for their domains through a simple one-click process.” Mozilla Corporation, Cisco Systems, Inc., Akamai Technologies, Electronic Frontier Foundation, IdenTrust, Inc., and researchers at the University of Michigan are working through the Internet Security Research Group (ISRG), a California public benefit corporation, to deliver this infrastructure in the second quarter of 2015.
OpenSSL Patches Multiple Vulnerabilities
OpenSSL has released patches for a dozen flaws, including several rated high severity, that could allow remote attackers to conduct denial of service attacks against affected sites. The security advisory recommends that users upgrade to the patched versions.
Switch Interoperability Initiative
The Register reports that Microsoft, Dell and Facebook are among a group of vendors who are working with data centre operators to develop software intended to abstract network silicon (usually switches) from the network operating system that runs on them. The Switch Abstraction Interface (SAI) will allow developers to code to a common API to control switches, regardless of manufacturer.
IBM Watson and Twitter Join Forces
On the heels of their partnership announcement last October, the New York Times reports that IBM and Twitter have launched their first products: developer tools and cloud-based data analysis services that mine Twitter data. The data services run on IBM’s Watson artificial intelligence technology and on its flavor of Hadoop, IBM BigInsights. The developer tools will allow people to write applications that pull in Twitter data.
Another WordPress PlugIn Flaw
A popular WordPress search engine optimization plugin, SEO by Yoast, has patched a couple of vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to seize control of affected sites. The publisher says the plugin has been downloaded over 14 million times. It recommends that users download the updated version as soon as possible.
National Post Tech Desk - Thu, 03/26/2015 - 08:32
Montreal-based video game studio Minority Media is betting virtual reality will be the future of gaming with their upcoming title, Time Machine, an unconventional first-person VR adventure set in the year 2070 that also features dinosaurs.
Minority Media’s previous two titles, Papo & Yo, a brave look at childhood abuse and Spirits of Spring, a game tackling bullying, are considered by many to be experimental “empathy games” – titles that aim to evoke specific emotions from the player.
But with Time Machine, the development studio is taking a different approach, harnessing the power of VR to create a new, immersive gaming experience. Since VR is often pegged as the next big innovation in tech as well as gaming, almost every manufacturer seems to be prepping their own version of the technology, whether it’s the Oculus Rift, Sony’s Project Morpheus, Microsoft’s Hololens, or even lesser known devices like Valve and HTC’s Vive VR headset.
“Time Machine is a sci-fi adventure game we’re creating for VR entertainment platforms. We’ve been developing it right now for the Oculus Rift, although we haven’t really decided what [VR] platform it’s going to be released on,” said Rommel Romero, writer and community manager at Montreal’s Minority Media.
Minority MediaTime Machine takes place in an idealistic future.Time Machine takes place during a future era in the earth’s history where world peace has been achieved. You play as a scientist working for an international museum and one of your first assignments is to travel back to the Jurassic Era and try to collect data related to prehistoric life. In many ways the game sounds similar to Wii ocean exploration title, Endless Ocean, although with more structure and specific goals.
Rommel explained Time Machine’s first mission has the player interacting with dinosaurs and collecting data about the long-extinct creatures. VR has always been an area Minority Media wanted to explore, and now that the technology has caught up with the developer’s creative vision, Rommel explained the studio sees tremendous opportunity for the future of virtual reality.
“VR has always been on our radar from the beginning. Our creative director, Vander Caballero, worked on VR before he was in video games. He helped craft different prototypes for architectural companies interested in VR. We’ve had several ideas we wanted to bring to gaming and we felt conventional platforms weren’t sufficient to create the level of immersion we were looking for,” said Rommel.
“When the Oculus Rift and the Morpheus came around, we saw that technology was powerful and we bought a couple of Oculus Rift kits and experimented with them. We found out that the technology is actually capable of creating some of the ideas we had in the back of our heads for awhile.”
Minority MediaWith past releases Minority Media experimented with different kinds of storytelling and feels VR is the next avenue for advancing video game narratives, although Rommel emphasized Time Machine isn’t an “empathy game” in the traditional sense.
“Although we think VR is the ultimate empathy platform in many ways, because instead of you playing a character you see on the screen and feeling what you think the character might feel, you become the character in the story and there’s no more pretending there. It’s really you becoming the main driver of the events of the story,” said Rommel.
Rommel also explained the fan response to Time Machine has been considerably different from Minority Media’s past titles – the game was shown off for the first time at GDC and then PAX East – and that he expects the title will attract hardcore gamers as well as the casual gaming crowd.
“PAX is very hardcore gamer focused and contrary to what we’ve had with our previous games (the reception with gamers [when it comes to our past titles] has been luke warm with our games), with Time Machine, the minute players got into the whole idea of time travel, dinosaurs and virtual reality, there was a big flame that just switched on. The reaction was a lot of enthusiasm. The cool part was we also had some video game fans who weren’t that hardcore who enjoyed the game as well,” said Rommel.
Time Machine doesn’t have a solid release date yet and Minority Media hasn’t honed in on a specific VR platform yet, but hopes to release the game at the same time as when the first VR headsets hit store shelves late this year or early next.
National Post Tech Desk - Thu, 03/26/2015 - 08:13
Even analysts who initially bought the hype that John Chen would orchestrate the spectacular comeback of beleaguered BlackBerry Ltd. are beginning to change their tune.
Nomura Securities analyst Stuart Jeffrey is toning down his “positive bias” for the long-term prospects of the Waterloo, Ont.-based company, citing what appears to be “disappointing” traction for BlackBerry’s BES12 enterprise software in the hotly contested banking sector and “reduced confidence” in the number of free EZ Pass licences that it has upgraded into paying gold licences.
“Having been tempted by BlackBerry’s turnaround in previous quarters we are turning more cautious,” Mr. Jeffrey said in a note to clients. “While near-term dynamics into the May and August quarter could prove strong, we are increasingly concerned that this could prove temporary.”
RelatedThis note is the latest in a string of skeptical research reports about BlackBerry that have been published this week, only days ahead of the release of fourth-quarter results that are expected to cap the worst three-month sales performance for the company since 2006.
Analysts estimate BlackBerry will record revenue of US$783.1 million for the quarter ending Feb. 28, 20% lower than the same period last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Mr. Jeffrey’s estimate is even less at US$739 million.
Mr. Jeffrey trimmed his 12-month price target to US$9.70 from US$10.30, which is still a 4.5% potential upside on Wednesday’s closing price of US$9.28. He maintained a “neutral” rating on the stock, the same recommendation he’s held since at least 2010, according to Bloomberg data.
The market will be looking for clues during Friday’s earnings call that Mr. Chen will do more for the company’s balance sheet in fiscal 2016 than just cut costs — he needs to resuscitate sales.
“We suspect that the BlackBerry share price could exhibit some strong volatility as software and device volumes vacillate,” Mr. Jeffrey said. “The end result is BlackBerry is possibly more of a trading stock rather than a fundamental holding.”
National Post Tech Desk - Thu, 03/26/2015 - 08:01
Companies concerned about entrusting their outsourced security operations to a location based outside of Canada now have another option. Hewlett-Packard Co. today opened a Security Operations Center (SOC) in Mississauga, Ontario — its tenth globally and fourth in the Americas. It is designated a regional SOC; HP has one main security delivery SOC in each of the Americas, APJ, and EMEA, with additional regional SOCs dedicated to specific segments or subsets of its service offerings.
Globally, HP’s more than 5,000 security professionals deal with 23 billion security events per month for over 1,000 customers and over 500,000 managed security devices.
“The HP Canadian Security Operations Centre will give clients access to cutting edge security technology, expert staff and the most up-to-date information on vulnerabilities, to help monitor threat activity and respond quickly to minimize disruption to the business and free up in-house IT resources to drive innovation,” said Bruce Pearce, vice-president and general manager for enterprise services at HP Canada.
HPHP Security's global footprint.The facility is staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and is designed to the RCMP’s specification for secret installations, so it is ready to accommodate public sector organizations.
The Canadian SOC focuses on medium and large companies in need of managed security services (MSS). It will provide day-to-day security management and threat detection services as well as protection against growing cybercrime attacks, and will use HP ArcSight Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) to aggregate data from client SIEM implementations for more effective monitoring and response times. Should additional services such as data loss prevention be required, HP will deliver them from its Americas global SOC in Plano, Texas.
In Canada, customers will have access to local Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 support, according to Dave Ouellette, director of worldwide managed security services at HP. Should further escalation be required, staff have access to resources at the global SOC in Plano. The SOC also provides monitoring for HP’s cloud customers.
“Any time a global managed security services provider such as HP makes significant investments in Canada, it’s great news,” said Kevin Lonergan, analyst with the Infrastructure Solutions Group at IDC Canada.
“By opening a Canadian based SOC, HP will be providing highly skilled jobs and opportunities for Canadian IT professionals,” he went on. “From a customer standpoint, having another MSSP with local infrastructure and security professionals is certainly a positive. A Canadian based SOC will also allow HP to provide MSS to organizations with strict data residency regulations like the public sector, as well as businesses that fear their data crossing boarders due to foreign regulation such as the PATRIOT act.”
In addition, he noted, with the current lack of qualified security professionals, coupled with Canadian organizations’ IT budget constraints, the MSS model is an attractive alternative to in-house security.
Sophos Naked News - Thu, 03/26/2015 - 05:11
Sophos Naked News - Thu, 03/26/2015 - 04:38
Sophos Naked News - Thu, 03/26/2015 - 01:46
Globe and Mail Technology - Wed, 03/25/2015 - 15:17
National Post Tech Desk - Wed, 03/25/2015 - 14:49
Shares of BlackBerry Ltd. are trading near the lowest level this year leading up to the release of fourth-quarter results that are expected to cap the worst three-month sales performance for the company since 2006.
Analysts estimate BlackBerry will record revenue of just US$790 million for the period ending Feb. 28, almost 20% lower compared to the same time last fiscal year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. BlackBerry is also expected to slip back into the red after a surprise adjusted earnings per share in the third quarter snapped a streak of six consecutive quarterly losses.
Its shares fell 2.6% Wednesday to $11.61 in Toronto, having already dropped 8.9% this year.
One of the reasons why the sales estimate is so dismal is because its new Classic device became available in Europe and U.S. midway through the quarter, a delay that Scotia Capital analyst Daniel Chan estimates will push back the recording of revenue on as many as 400,000 smartphones to the company’s next fiscal year.
Recognition will be even further delayed as BlackBerry waits to record the sale until a wireless carrier sells the smartphone to its customer. In both cases, the sales aren’t lost, just deferred.
RelatedBut the company’s reliance on its low-margin hardware segment, which has steadily declined since 2009 to 46% of total revenue as of the third quarter, is diminishing. Analysts at UBS Securities said in a note to clients this week that BlackBerry “would be better off” without devices and called for an outright exit the same month that the ailing Waterloo, Ont.-based company said it will release several new phones in 2015.
Likewise, Goldman Sachs called its hardware sales “‘empty calories’ as these are not profitable.”
When BlackBerry’s chief executive John Chen speaks Friday on the conference call, analysts and investors will look for signs that the turnaround specialist will do more than prune costs in the coming fiscal year. Mr. Chen needs to prove people are buying what BlackBerry is selling and, more specifically, show the path of how he intends to make good on his promise to double software sales to US$500 million in fiscal 2016, plus an additional US$100 million from its BBM mobile-phone messaging service.
“Whether software revenue will track to the target” and “when the trajectory will be clear” is considered by TD Securities analyst Scott Penner to be the company’s “primary question,” he wrote in a note this week.
But it certainly won’t be easy. The software arena is fiercely competitive, dominated by the likes of Mobile Iron, AirWatch and Good Technology. That’s why Scotia Capital’s Mr. Chan will be listening carefully for “initial indicators” that show if and how many businesses are activating and paying for licenses to its latest enterprise software update, BES 12.
Of the 36 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, only five rated BlackBerry’s stock a buy, 20 a hold and 11 a sell. Its stock has a 12-month price target of $11.26, 3% below its current level.
Financial Post
cpellegrini@nationalpost.com
National Post Tech Desk - Wed, 03/25/2015 - 13:42
From far away battlefields to backyards and bank vaults, Hardline changes the rules of engagement, and it’s all about the Benjamins.
Battlefield Hardline is the breakout cops and robbers adaption of Electronic Arts’ Battlefield franchise. Developed by Visceral, the creators of Dead Space and (allegedly) the End Game DLC for Battlefield 3, we find ourselves with a substantially different Battlefield game.
Although it uses the same engine as Battlefield 4, and it sports the ‘Battlefield’ title like the great online military games which preceded it, Hardline distinguishes itself from the rest by limiting the scope of the battlefield to infantry, lightly armoured civilian vehicles, and a focus on game styles compatible with the cops vs. robbers narrative.
Some might say that this seems to be less than what BF4 offered, but for the same $120 when all is said and done. To these Battlefield fans, still bruised by the rushed and uncomfortable launch of BF4, Hardline is likely something they will eventually buy, but not necessarily right away. After all, Battlefield 4 is alive and well, finally optimized, and there is still DLC to be released!
Thankfully, I don’t believe Hardline was made for those players. Where once Battlefield catered solely to those who craved vast game environments layered with interconnected land, sea, and air warfare, with the advent of Hardline, Battlefield can now appeal to a broader fan base who may have found the traditional Battlefield experience to be overwhelming, even frustrating when you factor in how rude a TV-guided missile from 800 meters can be when you are trying to line up a shot.
Conversely, if your idea of the perfect evening includes hanging from the window of a cop car, spraying machinegun fire at a rap music blasting muscle car in hot pursuit, then EA and Visceral likely had someone like you in mind at the outset of the game’s development.
If the thought of “tazing bros” who would just as well ask not to be tasered is something that connects with you on a personal level, and if you’re familiar with the term “quick scope,” and you do not find it to be objectionable, then you can be certain that the boys down in marketing have already drafted and long since recycled Bristol board charts of the pie and non-pie varieties, all to better understand the wallets of yourself and people like you.
If, and I’m sure I’m going out on a limb here, you also happen to believe in your heart of hearts that there is no place for the two-man crew of an M1 Abrams main battle tank in a game that really should be about the bond between a player and his assault rifle, then you are certainly being surveilled by marketers right now, as there can be no doubt that this game was made specifically for you.
EABattlefield HardlineThe single player campaign is passably good, but not the main draw. That’s fine, of course, as all a satisfactory Battlefield campaign needs to do is to familiarize players with the game’s particular mechanics, and to teach us how to function online without being annoying about it. Hardline does this fairly well, actually, and it looks good while doing it too. With regard to the storyline, I thought they missed a good opportunity to take themselves a little less seriously, because while bad jokes can get a grin from time to time, no amount of cheesy drama is going to make anyone care.
As Officer Nick Mendoza, you deal with themes of greed and corruption within the police force, and frequently find yourself exchanging fire with swarms of well-funded cartel thugs on the outside. The progression of the game follows the unfolding of Mendoza’s journey of self-discovery. He’s a complex guy, I guess.
From episode to episode, you’re wielding a police badge that can be used to arrest criminals, an advanced police intelligence scanner that tags enemies and high-level targets carrying outstanding warrants, and a Taser for when you want the arrest, but the situation is deteriorating fast.
While the badge and the Bill C-51-esque police intelligence scanner do not make it into the online gameplay, the same spotting function used by the spy tool is already a crucial part of the online Battlefield experience whereby known enemy locations are shared with one’s team. Furthermore, with the use of a Taser, or police baton, online players can be subdued and “interrogated” to reveal enemy positions as yet unknown to your team. Other neat toys unique to Hardline are the grappling hook for scaling buildings, and the zip-line for sliding between structures.
Unless you are overly patient with the criminals in the game, you’re probably going to spend some time just blowing them away. This is precisely what made the single player palatable for me, the freedom to choose whether to sneak about to make the arrests, go in guns blazing, or slip through to find the objectives while avoiding unnecessary trouble altogether.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex1GlZS-t7c&w=640&h=390]
Of course, it’s the multiplayer that matters, and there’s little doubt that Visceral has done an excellent job here. I did the math, and I have logged over 800 hours online since Battlefield 1942, and 238 of those hours are from BF4. What Hardline brings to the franchise represents a fast paced alternative to the core Battlefield experience which some of us have probably played more than enough.
Even in existing vanilla modes like Conquest and Team Death Match carried over from previous titles, Hardline immediately feels different from others in the franchise. Specifically, it is the time to kill that has been reduced. The effect of this is that you either die really quickly, or you learn to take cover, and adjust to a world where it only takes a couple shots to take a player down.
Progression through the online ranks is done via a cash-based system that uses money earned from multiplayer kills and team-support actions and objectives to acquire weapons and their modifications, car upgrades, and class-specific gadgets. Classes are similar to BF4 with Operator playing the role of the medic, Mechanic primarily repairing vehicles in the absence of a need for anti-tank support, Enforcer for shotgun wielding and ammo resupply, and the Professional class that uses sniper rifles that don’t seem to punish players for playing fast and loose, rather forcing the reliance on laying prone and taking calculated shots.
Given the fact that the heavy artillery and jets are stripped from the game, Hardline’s bread and butter can instead be found in the civilian cars and clever cash-based games for infantry warfare.
Leading the popular online modes is Hotwire, a modification of the classic Conquest game mode, where instead of stationary capture points that must be held, in Hotwire, the capture points are vehicles, and they must be driven. This game mode is a lot of fun, because once you get the vehicle up to speed, you are racking up the points in a hurry, and anyone sitting inside repairing or shooting out of the windows receives points too, and this will ensure that you have a posse of backup whether you ask for it or not. All the same, of course, this will also draw heat from the opposing team, and this can come in the form of an RPG, roadside C4, or a well-placed sniper shot through the windscreen.
The downside to Hotwire is that it’s almost too easy to grind for points; on day one I was giggling at the sight of 4,000 points (the equivalent of 40 kills) just for driving in circles, and the next day, I was a little upset that my go-to Hardline level-up technique was to drive a Hotwired car in circles inside an empty parking garage.
Another fan favourite is the online mode Heist. Here, the police must secure a bank that is being robbed, while the criminals find a way into the vault, and are tasked with escaping with the cash to extraction points outside the building. It’s difficult to beat the police, but when it happens, the payout and thrill can be very rewarding.
EABattlefield Hardline has a relatively developed single player compared to many games in the series.Also included are two game modes originally popular in the Half-Life mod, Counter-Strike: Rescue and Crosshair. In Rescue, we have 5 vs 5 hostage rescue, and with Crosshair, the objective is to protect or kill the player-controlled VIP, depending on whether you are a cop or a criminal.
Finally, there is the wildly popular mode Blood Money. Here, players are tasked with rushing a crate full of cash in the middle of the map. Once the players have the green, they must take it back to their own team’s vault. The game then becomes one of attrition, as you must steal from the enemies’ cash vault, while protecting your own. The game ends when either team hits $5,000,000, or when the clock runs down.
What I like so much about this game style, besides the easy money, and aside from the explosion of bills that occurs when you frag someone carrying a red duffle bag of cash, is that it presents an interesting risk vs. reward scenario each time the player is kneeling before the open vault. When the enemy team has been fought away from their cash, friendly players can crouch before the pile of green bills, and hold a button to steal. A smart player will watch how close the enemy is, and choose to take no more than is safe before running off into the bushes. If, however, you just want the money, and you aren’t thinking about the consequences, then you will take, and take, and take, and before you know it, the money is fluttering through the air, and you are flat on your back.
Thinking forward to the much, much anticipated Star Wars Battlefront, to the problems with the BF4 launch, and to the early doubts concerning the price and value of Hardline, I can’t help but think there could be a parallel between the greedy Blood Money player, carelessly filling his pockets at the vault, and a hungry publisher looking to make another dollar. Time will tell how accurate this similarity turns out to be, but I’m betting on EA giving the community exactly what it wants, and not taking too much, because all things considered, they’ve been pretty good to us thus far.
Hardline‘s release was smooth, and although it did feel like a modified BF4, it also plays like something novel and worthwhile all on its own. If you have recently built a gaming PC, and you don’t yet have Battlefield 4, I would recommend buying that title first, and then grabbing Hardline down the road when the price drops.
If you already have BF4, and you’ve got the cash to spare, then it’s all about the Benjamins, baby, and you might as well make it rain with Battlefield Hardline.
National Post Tech Desk - Wed, 03/25/2015 - 13:40
Nielsen, the company that measures TV audiences, will begin offering data on viewing by Netflix Inc. and Amazon Prime subscribers for the first time starting midyear, Chief Executive Officer Mitch Barns said Tuesday.
“That will be the last significant portion of overall television content viewing that we don’t already measure,” Barns said in an interview with Bloomberg. “We really will have a full set of capabilities in the market to measure what we call the total audience across all screens, devices and platforms.”
Netflix and Amazon.com Inc. have been unwilling to share what their subscribers watch. That’s given them leverage in negotiations for movies and reruns, and made it hard for TV networks to assess the value of past hits or determine if streaming is hurting traditional viewing.
To help them figure that out, New York-based Nielsen has been testing technology that measures Netflix and Amazon audiences by listening to shows and sharing the results with select clients. Nielsen set-top boxes capture the data for the company. It doesn’t work for original Netflix shows like “House of Cards.”
RelatedNetflix, based in Los Gatos, California, declined 3.1 percent to $424.67 at 12:33 p.m. in New York. The stock had gained 28 percent this year through Tuesday. Nielsen gained 1 percent to $43.69 and was down 3.3 percent for the year.
Netflix has long said it doesn’t need to reveal viewer data because it doesn’t sell ads or pay fees to cable operators.
“Collecting ratings on streaming services is an outdated mode of doing business,” said Cliff Edwards, a Netflix spokesman. Amazon, based in Seattle, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The growth in streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime has coincided with a drop in live television viewing, especially among the young. The number of U.S. homes with subscription streaming services jumped to 41 percent from 36 percent a year earlier, according to Nielsen’s Total Audience Report released last week.
To reach younger audiences, CBS Corp., Time Warner Inc. and Dish Network Corp. are offering online video packages that don’t require a cable TV subscription. Fans of the most-watched TV network can buy CBS All Access for $5.99 a month in some areas. Next month, Time Warner’s HBO will begin selling an Web-only service with Apple Inc. for $14.99,
Netflix has more than 57 million members worldwide, including more than 39 million in the U.S. Amazon Prime has about 40 million members, according to a recent estimate by ChannelAdvisor Corp., an e-commence company based in North Carolina.
National Post Tech Desk - Wed, 03/25/2015 - 11:49
The chairman of Canada’s broadcast regulator said a report that a subsidiary of BCE Inc. manipulated news coverage because of commercial interests is “disturbing.”
“One of the pillars of Canada’s broadcasting system — and, in fact, of our country’s democracy — is that journalists are able to report news stories independently and without undue editorial interference,” Jean-Pierre Blais, chairman of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.
Mr. Blais has made a number of recent regulatory decisions that are expected to hit the bottom line of broadcast and cable companies such as BCE, which owns the CTV television network.
A news report Wednesday said an executive at the network’s parent Bell Media instructed journalists not to put Mr. Blais on air after a CRTC ruling that will give Canadians more choice in picking their cable and satellite packages.
Related“An informed citizenry cannot be sacrificed for a company’s commercial interests. Canadians can only wonder how many times corporate interests may have been placed ahead of the fair and balanced news reporting they expect from their broadcasting system,” Mr. Blais said.
“That a regulated company does not like one of the CRTC’s rulings is one thing. The allegation, however, that the largest communication company in Canada is manipulating news coverage is disturbing.”
He said the CRTC has been “entrusted” by Canadians, through Parliament, to defend the principles of fair comment, freedom of expression and journalistic independence.
“We expect Canada’s broadcasters to live up to their responsibilities and adhere to a high standard in their news and information programs.”
National Post Tech Desk - Wed, 03/25/2015 - 11:42
SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook Inc on Wednesday opened up its Messenger service for developers to create apps and for consumers to communicate directly with retailers, in the social media network’s latest effort to expand its reach.
The push to transform Facebook’s messaging service into one that operates independently of the company’s social media network comes as it faces intensifying competition from Twitter Inc and Google Inc, as well as from fast-growing messaging apps such as Snapchat and WeChat.
Facebook unveiled the new features at its annual developer conference in San Francisco, for the first time allowing developers to create apps that function inside the Messenger app, which has more than 600 million users.
Forty different apps will be available on Messenger in the coming days, allowing users of the service to send each other sports clips and animations, Facebook said.
Another feature will allow consumers to use Messenger to send a text message to make a restaurant reservation or to receive a notification that a product purchased online has shipped.
“We want to reinvent the way people and businesses are communicating,” David Marcus, Facebook’s vice president of messaging products, said at the conference. “Lots of companies have tried to build chat services and a bunch of other things but they’re not that good.”
More than 40 developers have already made apps for Facebook’s Messenger app, Marcus said.
© Thomson Reuters 2015, with files from Bloomberg
RelatedNational Post Tech Desk - Wed, 03/25/2015 - 09:43
Making games is hard work. Especially when you’re doing it on your own and in addition to a regular 9-to-5 job.
But that’s the challenge Woodbridge, Ont.-based professional illustrator Peter Lacalamita set for himself a two-and-a-half years ago when his love of monster movies and flying games drove him to begin creating a game of his own: Sky Battles, an aerial combat game set in 10 large environments against a host of massive beasts. It even has player-versus-player multiplayer.
Working on his own under the name Magnetic Studio – he’s a self-described “lone wolf” with few connections to Toronto’s thriving indie game community – the 45-year-old family man has spent his weekends designing, building, and marketing his passion project.
It finally launched this week on Steam via Greenlight, a system in which games are chosen by players to be published on Valve Corp.’s PC and Mac game platform.
Post Arcade caught up with the busy Mr. Lacalamita on the eve of his game’s launch. He talked about trying to find enough time in each day to do everything required of a guy running a one-man shop, his Greenlight campaign strategy, and the power of receiving a few kind words when you need them most.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWgLwpnzk1s&w=620&h=315]What’s your game about? Give us the elevator pitch.
Planes… Giant Robots… Fire breathing dragons! Pilot your plane and battle giant robotic monsters with unique capabilities in ten fantastic settings. Then take to the skies in online multiplayer dogfights and show the world who’s boss. Do you prefer to silence you enemies by stealth, or would you rather destroy your foes in a salvo of missiles?
Where did the idea come from? What drove you to undertake such an ambitious project?
I love creating characters and love monster movies like King Kong, Pacific Rim, and Cloverfield. I’m really inspired by games like Shadow of the Colossus, War Hawk, and Crimson Skies.
The awesome thing about indie game development is that you can do it all yourself, release it to the world and observe and learn from the global game community. Strangers become allies in your journey to create an interactive experience and you become better for that.
I have always loved creating. It’s in my DNA. The driving force behind making Sky Battles is to make a game that I would want to play and be able to say: “Hey, I made this!”
You made this game completely on your own. What’s the hardest part of building a game from scratch by yourself?
The art is fun and it’s what I know best. Programming can be difficult but there are always places online that you can get help, such as Unity forums. I think marketing is the most difficult because it’s hard to make a game while marketing at the same time. There are only so many hours in the day.
Did you encounter any hurdles along the way that seemed as though they might be insurmountable at the time?
Programming is about problem solving. Every gaming project I’ve worked on has had several challenges that had to be re-thought or re-designed or re-considered. There have been times when I thought I might be at my wits end. But after taking a break from these kinds of problems it’s quite often that you can attack it and solve it with the help of a fresh perspective.
It seems most worthwhile endeavours are battles within yourself that are ultimately overcome by consistent effort and a never-give-up attitude. Kind words from game testers, game forums, and family members always helped me through the rough days.
Sky Battles is launching on Steam through Greenlight. What was that process like?
The game launches on Steam first and will be followed by a mobile launch later.
The Steam Greenlight campaign was interesting. I had little knowledge of Steam a year ago and what I quickly found out is that it has many hardcore members that love games and are willing to engage with them through chats, leaderboards, achievements, and other social-minded features. This community of Steam members is what makes it such a force in the industry.
My Greenlight campaign generated over 14,000 votes in 200 days. My primary way to get votes was to advertise in my game demo that I released for free online. I also did free giveaways to encourage votes.
The feedback you get from Greenlight alone is worth it in the end. It influenced the development of Sky Battles.
How are you going to measure success now that Sky Battles is finally launching?
It will be great if Sky Battles sells amazingly well but I’ve learned a lot through this experience which will help me on my next project.
For me, sales aren’t the only barometer for success. Reviews aren’t always either because there will always be people who don’t like an aspect of a game for personal reasons.
Making indie games – especially on your own – is notoriously hard work. What led you along this path?
I’ve been working in digital arts for over 20 years and I know I can work within a large team. I’ve done so before.
However, I love being indie and I do see game development as an art form similar to filmmaking or visual art. Based on my own experience I’ve always been able do both and that has worked out for me.
What’s next?
I have lot of ideas for new missions with new monsters to battle. I’m considering doing a multiplayer racing mode update and adding new planes and new weapons. If the community supports it, I’d love to keep expanding it. There will be a mobile release and it would be great to do a console version. We shall see.
The preceding interview has been edited for length and flow.
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Sophos Naked News - Wed, 03/25/2015 - 05:19
Globe and Mail Technology - Wed, 03/25/2015 - 04:31
