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[10/14/12] - HF News - Printable Version

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[10/14/12] - HF News - Oak - Oct 14, 2012

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The edition you are currently reading is the 113th full edition. To read any older editions of HF News, please go here.

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HackerCraft
The last week has undoubtedly been a busy one for our Administrator Omniscient as he has propelled himself into a new business venture that is closely tied to HackForums. Specifically, Omniscient has invested into a Minecraft "Faction" server dubbed "HackerCraft". The server, although it will not be attached in a business manner to HackForums, will be primarily vacated by members of the HackForums community along with an allotted subforum and award designated for users of the new server. The server is currently in an Open-Beta phase where anyone is wholeheartedly welcomed to participate in. As of right now, entry to the server is free of charge and according to Omniscient, the only things that will be paid will be donations and factions. On that note, factions are increasingly becoming hot commodity in the HackerCraft section which will surely lead to some good business possibilities once they are available for purchase! The server is planned to go into it's full version within the next week which surely many anticipate.

The Empire Fully Paid Off
One of the final official usergroups of HackForums has been fully paid off by Tibit yesterday. The statement was official when Omniscient tweeted "The Empire group is now fully paid for with a $0 balance due. Thanks to Tibit for making on-time payments." With official custom groups no longer being created, this occurrence will surely become more and more rare. Congratulations on Tibit for his group staying here for good. 

HJT Recruitment Approaching
The highly anticipated event of the HiJackThis crew opening its doors to its training course and subforum is coming increasingly near. T3h Hack3r, the head leader of the HJT Team, created the "Hackforums HJT Training Program: Applications Thread" which will be used for the application process. This along with official statements from HJT Teachers stating that nearly everything is ready to go is leading to many twiddling their fingers and preparing themselves in anyway possible. All questions, concerns, or updates can currently be found here  

New Award
As previously mentioned, Omniscient has implemented a new award that correlates with the new "HackerCraft" server that Omniscient has invested and spearheaded. Very little is currently known on how one would receive the award as the current description states "You cannot obtain this award yet. You can only drool at its beauty and elegance." Currently, only one member of Hack Forums has received this intriguing award whom goes by Third. The reason for him receiving the award was for creating the official logo of HackerCraft which can be found here. The award will surely become the center of speculation and talk as the server goes from Open-Beta to open.

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User News
Fresh Prince, BELLAGIO and iDuL reached 1000 reputation points.
Chris resigned from Staff.

Repfucks
Bans
Awards
Group Leadership Changes
None.

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Mr. Anderson - How Romney Failed the Entire Presidential Debate
Mr. Anderson - Mitt Romney Leads Us Into An Age Of Stupidity
The Merovingian - Julian Assange running for senator
malichi - Fact-checking the U.S. vice presidential debate
 

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Interview - Ethereal
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Interview - -Analog-
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* - Oak - Oct 14, 2012

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Halo 4 Leaked
The much awaited first person shooter, Halo 4, has been widely leaked onto the internet. The illegitimate copies were uploaded onto various sites this week and have already been downloaded thousands of times! Gameplay videos, cut-scenes and play-throughs have been uploaded to YouTube, so you may want to stay away from those if you don't want any spoilers. It's not recommended that you download these illegal copies for obvious reasons (legal issues) and wait until the official launch. Halo 4 is dated to be released on November 6.

Forza Horizon Demo
Are you a keen driver? Well, the Forza Horizon Demo hit the Xbox LIVE Marketplace earlier in the week. You can download it now and enjoy racing around in some very fine cars. 

Xbox LIVE Country Migration
Microsoft is now allowing users to migrate their Xbox LIVE accounts between regions, which was officially announced on the Xbox forums earlier this week. However, you may want to read the details about the migration because it may not be best for some people. "Some of the services and content that you are currently benefiting from in the country originally registered may not also be available in the country you are willing to migrate to. All of your current subscriptions, except for Xbox Live Gold if you had any, will be cancelled. You may lose the ability to re-download some, if not all, of the content in your download history. Any content that you will subsequently download after the account is migrated will be subject to any applicable geofencing rules of your new location." The process can take up to six weeks to complete, so don't fret if it's not done overnight. 

Australian THQ Office Closes
The THQ office located in Melbourne, Australia is officially closed. THQ wrote the following statement about the closure: “THQ confirms it has made changes to its publishing organization in Australia. In line with THQ’s corporate strategy to focus on wholly-owned IP and move away from affiliate label programs, we have evaluated how best to take our more-focused product lineup to market in the territory. After a thorough analysis, a decision has been made to move from a direct sales model to a distributor model, which means that our Melbourne publishing office will be closing. Approximately 18 employees were impacted by this action.” THQ is set to release WWE 13 on October 13.

Forward Unto Dawn
The second episode of Forward Unto Dawn was released on Friday. The series is set to release each week until the Halo 4 launch, where limited edition buyers will receive a copy of Forward Unto Dawn. You can view the latest episode below.

Here (Click to View)

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Drone Over Israel Was Confirmed To Be Hezbollah's
Last week, the HF News featured an article titled “Possible Hezbollah Drone Struck Down”, where it explained that the Israeli Air Force picked off a drone that was suspected to have been launched by Hezbollah. It turns out the Israeli Government's assumption was indeed correct. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the Lebanese Hezbollah leader, confirmed that Hezbollah did send in the drone. Nasrallah boldly stated “[t]he resistance in Lebanon sent a sophisticated reconnaissance aircraft from Lebanon... it penetrated the enemy's iron procedures and entered occupied southern Palestine” while giving a televised speech. If you are unaware, Hezbollah and Iran have mutual interests and also carry a friendship. As of lately, the Israeli government has made threats to bomb Iran's nuclear development sites, which are suspected by the Western world to be a means to create a nuclear arsenal. Iran has countered the threats with promises to launch an attack on Israel and the U.S. military bases that are situated in the Middle East. The Iranian Government proclaimed that the drone incident illustrates that Israel's Iron Dome “does not work and lacks necessary capacity,” however the Iron Dome is a system meant to defend against short-range rockets, not drones. 

Chinese Compulsory Evictions On The Rise
Local bureaucrats in China have been pressed to meet economic goals and other special interests. This has led to such officials selling off land to entrepreneurs while inhumanly sacrificing the original holders of the land. This is entirely legal, as the state claims to control all of the nation's land. The entire ordeal has led to an increase in social unrest and more citizens speaking out. Amnesty has made claims that the evictions leave the former inhabitants with little forewarning and minuscule compensation. As a result of the evictions, Amnesty has constructed an 85-page report titled “Standing Their Ground.” After the study was conducted, Amnesty asserted that “[t]he forced eviction of people from their homes and farmland without appropriate legal protections and safeguards has become a routine occurrence in China, and represents a gross violation of human rights obligations on an enormous scale.” It was even shown that some situations had resulted in death. There has been a backlash towards the Chinese government by citizens demanding more rights, but Premier Wen Jiabao stated that the problems “are still very serious and the people are still very concerned about them.”

Blasts In Kenya Injures Officers
As a form of revenge for the deployment of Kenyan soldiers in Somali, Somali terrorists and those extending support to them are suspected of lighting off bombs in the area of Mombasa and Nairobi. The most recent explosion occurred in Eastleigh. Eric Kiraithe, a Kenyan Police spokesman, stated, “[w]e believe the first blast was intended to lure onlookers, members of the public, and that second blast was meant to harm them...one police officer was wounded, but his injuries are not life threatening.” The bombing occurred on Friday night, and civilians were left unscathed. Spokesman Kiraithe would not make any hints as to who was responsible, as instigation of the bomb site is still ongoing. It was reported by television channels that a total of 3 police men had been injured altogether. There has been ongoing tension between the Somalis and the Kenyan government, which ultimately has acted as the catalyst for these explosive events. 

Anonymous and WikiLeaks: A Broken Alliance
It seems to be that Julian Assange and his controversial website WikiLeaks will no longer have the support of the infamous hacker community Anonymous. High-profile Anonymous Twitter profiles have tweeted things such as describing WikiLeaks as a "One Man Julian Show...[that] was an awesome idea, ruined by egos." Anonymous has remarked that "[w]e have been worried about the direction WikiLeaks is going for a while." They continue to explain, "[i]n the recent month the focus moved away from actual leaks and the fight for freedom of information further and further while it concentrated more and more on Julian Assange...But WikiLeaks is not--or should not be--about Julian Assange alone." Julian Assange's time spent with Lady Gaga seems to have acted as the straw that broke the camel's back, as Anonymous declares "that's great for him but not much for our interest." They continue to say that they are more worried about bringing about transparency in government.

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Samsung
Samsung's S3 Mini was released earlier this week. Being a smaller size than the original Samsung Galaxy S3, this phone is targeted towards users who need something small and compact. The phone runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS. The price and availability for the S3 Mini hasn't yet been officially announced by the company. Just like the original S3, the S3 Mini also incorporates S Voice that is a response to Apple's Siri Eye tracking feature, TouchWiz user, a 4-inch Super Amoled screen, direct call, and Smart Alert, along with various other minor features. The S3 Mini supports 3G, WiFi and Bluetooth. However, it lags using the LTE feature. With a reduced price, this new release from Samsung is expected to sell in the millions. 

Blackberry
Research In Motion's (RIM) newest L-Series phone was supposed to be a secret, although a rep demonstrated the mobile along with its new BlackBerry 10 OS to a Mexican site named Hola Telcel. The site also posted a video online about this. This isn't the first leak of pictures/videos in regards to the mobile. The video shows the ability of the new BlackBerry's OS to virtually rewind the photos taken in order to set the best expression that you prefer. BlackBerry users are counting on the device to compete better against Apple and Android Smartphones: particularly Samsung. The company hasn't released any other specifications about the handset yet.

Amazon
Amazon, as a result of antitrust settlements reached in April between the Justice Department and the publishers Hachette, Harper Collins, and Simon & Schuster, posted a FAQ about a credit that may become available to certain e-book buyers. If the settlement deals are approved by law, then they will start to credit the eligible users' account(s) with money. Users can also request a check payout. Amazon said that they will start to email the users who are eligible for the credit once approved by court. Amazon said that the credit will range from 30 cents to $1.32 based on the type of ebook purchased. The ebook should be purchased only from the publishers Hachette, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin, or Macmillan and should've been purchased in between April 1, 2012 and May 21, 2012.

Apple
After all the lawsuits and legal declarations against Samsung, which in result further soured their relationship, Apple has finally realised its dependency on Samsung for chips. Currently, Apple is working with a Taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company. The company is working on a 20-nm chip manufacturing process. An Asia-based news report said that Apple will turn to TSMC for quad-core chips. The changes brought by the chip can efficiently increase a device's performance and will enable a longer battery life for the device. At present, Apple nor Samsung have changed after their shift from 45-nm chip to 32-nm chip. Reports predict that this chipping process will be complete by the end of next year.

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Pussy Riot Member Freed From Moscow Prison
An appeals court unexpectedly freed one member of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot, but upheld the 2-year sentences of her two bandmates. All three band members were imprisoned for their protest-performance of Russian president Vladimir Putin inside a cathedral this past August. The musician, Yekaterina Samutsevich, was freed because guards stopped her before she was able to perform. The case has caused international condemnation from countries in Europe and the Americas, including a statement of “disappointment” from the White House. 

The Black Keys Release New Live EP
The Black Keys released their new live EP, Tour Rehearsal Tapes, earlier this week. All of the material was produced last winter in the studio by the band, composed of guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney. All 6 tracks were taken from last year’s El Camino and 2010’s Brothers. It is currently available for purchase on iTunes. The band has also announced that they will begin recording their 8th studio album early next year. 

Music Video Of The Week
Spoiler (Click to View)

Member Submitted Videos
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This is basically my own little corner to type up my thoughts and some standpoints on different topics.
There's something in us that always makes us want to be the best in some category. Our very genetic foundation pushes us forward, to thrive and succeed in what calls us. However, there are those out there that choose to ignore their "calling" and do only what will make others happy, or make no one happy at all. It's important not to fall under this same mindset, as we need to do what makes us happy, and do what we're good at. The quote "If you like what you do, you'll never work a day in your life" comes to mind. Just try to understand yourself and follow your dreams, is all I can impart with you today.

** - Oak - Oct 14, 2012

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"What will you do on the new HackerCraft server?"

"I think Omni put a lot of effort and planning into the server,
but I still doubt it will last, considering the attention it is gaining
- many griefing communities have promised to ruin the server. I
will wait for the server to be fully released, I will stay on the server
and be a dedicated player if all turns out well."
-The Dark Knight

"What I always do on Minecraft. Punch trees and kill
things. Perhaps hit Omni with a Potion of Poison or Weakness?"
-name

The topic for next week is "How useful is the Marketplace on Hack Forums to you? Explain?"

To send in your entries for the next edition, PM Sir.


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Special Interview This Edition



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HF News Team

* - Analog- - Oct 14, 2012

I hope everyone enjoyed my headlines, first time doing them :3

* - Douchebag # 145 - Oct 14, 2012

Ahh, nice to see that we are finally out.
I'll read through it now -- this Sunday afternoon's edition of the Saturday night news.


* - V For Vendetta. - Oct 14, 2012

I like your headlines Analog! It's really good! :)

* - Strokes‌ - Oct 14, 2012

(Oct 14, 2012 03:21 PM)Yellows Wrote:  
Ahh, nice to see that we are finally out.
I'll read through it now -- this Sunday afternoon's edition of the Saturday night news.

It's the Sunday news now 😉 😉

* - Gооn - Oct 14, 2012

It's just turned monday for me. I used to read it sunday morning.

* - Cyba - Oct 14, 2012

Thanks again for an amazing news Sir, I'll be reading it through in a minute.

Regards,
Cyba.

* - Eternal. - Oct 14, 2012

(Oct 14, 2012 03:20 PM)-Analog- Wrote:  I hope everyone enjoyed my headlines, first time doing them :3

Well done, congrats on doing the headlines for the first time!

* - Lemur - Oct 14, 2012

(Oct 14, 2012 03:20 PM)-Analog- Wrote:  I hope everyone enjoyed my headlines, first time doing them :3

I really enjoyed them, awesome job for your first time!

* - Cozyman - Oct 14, 2012

iDuL is pretty cool and I just looked at the staff page and realized someone was missing like yesterday.

* - Douchebag # 145 - Oct 14, 2012

Quick flaw I saw:

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I am obviously aware he is "Tibit", not "Tidbit", but you are misrepresenting what Omniscient said.

Thanks for the edition!

(Oct 14, 2012 03:22 PM)Strokes Wrote:  It's the Sunday news now 😉 😉

At least it's not Sunday night's news, 🙃.


* - St. Jiberish - Oct 14, 2012

Another great article of the news, thanks man!

* - Douchebag # 145 - Oct 14, 2012

Ahh, didn't know that we skipped over to Sunday.

Quick question.

Didn't the news used to be on Sunday?
Then Monday?
Then Wednesday?
Then Thursday?
Then Saturday?
Then Sunday (now)?

...I think we are missing a news.