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[9/2/13] - HF News

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The edition you are currently reading is the 158th full edition. To read any older editions of HF News, please go here.

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W4TCHL1ST Members - Update Terms
For those of you who have been accepted into the Writ3rs via the W4TCHL1ST, it is now time to update the term on your post. If you need a reminder on what that means, please re-visit the W4TCHL1ST thread and view the "W4TCHL1ST Terms" section. You'll have to update your terms by the 7th of October if you wish to stay on the list. To those who aren't on the list but whose post remains, please update your terms as well and you will be reviewed shortly.

Possibility for "HackForum Official Tools"
Omniscient recently posted a thread asking which tools the community would like to see most. These tools are a possibility, ranging from HackForum's own "Text Editor" to "Resolvers" and more. We do not know much of these tools, but Omniscient closed the thread and claimed, "For now I have a decent list to get me started on this." There is no estimate on when these tools would be released, but Omniscient also stated "Don't hold your breathe on this." It seems that these tools would be open for "ub3r/3p1c" upgraded members only. Not much is known about "3p1c" but it is possible it will surface before these tools are released. You can read through the entire discussion thread here.

"Movies, Films and Cinema" Title Changed
After some discussion about missing a television section, and questioning on why there's a given section overhauled with spam requests for Netflix accounts, the past title has officially changed. "Movies, Films and Cinema" has retired and up holds the "Movies, TV, and Videos" section. This section welcomes the posting of YouTube videos and episode discussion; hopefully now some control will be brought to the videos posted in the Lounge. View Omniscient's post here.

"Lannisters" Group Changed
A group, titled "The Lannisters" has officially changed. The Lannisters was popularly titled from HBO's Game of Thrones. Not so long after the group was branded and set up, it was changed again, because of the high demand for the past gaming group it was known for, "Legacy". Once more, the invite-only gaming group returns. By the mysterious name, shockingly accepted by Omniscient, *#@&%! is up. Recruitment for several of the groups factions can be found here.

"Join Group" Function For Upgraded Members Only
Recently, Omniscient changed the "Join Group" function to be allowed for upgraded members only. It seems that group owners have complained one too many about the flooding of requests to join groups through the Group Memberships page, and Omniscient decided to change the plugin's function for this issue. Omniscient did not remove the function entirely for the belief that less abuse will go through the "Join Group" function if it is limited to upgraded members only. Omniscient also stated "Any group owner wishing to add a regular member can still do so by manually adding them." You may view the thread here.

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User News
  • Yellows has hit more than 24,000 posts.
  • Diabolic is now a member of the Mentors.
  • zombiehacker has hit 1,000 reputation points.
  • Starstruck is now moderator of the Halo section.
  • Krew has hit 1,000 reputation. You are one sexy...
  • Morchid has been promoted to the Mentor status. You deserve it!
  • Kn1ght is no longer a staff member. Thanks for your contributions to the forum.
  • Perfect Cell has made more than 10,000 posts since his registration here at Hack Forums.
Repfucks Active Bans* Expired Bans* Vacations Closures Awards Group Leadership Changes
  • Lani and Invisus are no longer leaders of the group Illuminati.
  • Cody‍ removed himself as leader and moderator of the group 143.

* - As of scheduled release date for the HF News edition.

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Gaming Thread - Sony Gaming Device Mega Thread - Vandal - A massive informational thread in regard to the entirety of Sony gaming products.

Group Thread - Writ3rs- Wiki team - Recruiting. - Viral Dragon - A thread created for the purpose of recruiting members onto the hard working, prestigious team of the HF Wiki Writ3rs.

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Interview - Anonymous
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Interview - Starstruck
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Xbox One Voice Commands - Not available in some regions.
Microsoft announced that voice control will only be available in 10 regions at launch. However, the 'Xbox On' command will only by available in 5 regions at launch. Microsoft said they are trying to deliver the best quality voice control for the Xbox One, which can take some time. Voice control will be available in more regions in the future, but an exact date has not been revealed. "Our vision is to bring conversational voice control and voice search to every country where we sell Xbox," a Microsoft representative said. "At Xbox One launch, we will offer voice control in 10 of our 13 launch markets, with eight total languages: English US, English UK, French, Spanish MX, Spanish ES, Italian, German, and Portuguese. There will be some voice experience variations in different markets at launch; the 'Xbox On' voice command will only be available in five markets (United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, and Germany) and will come to others in the near future." "There are many complexities associated with delivering a great voice experience around the world, and we're working hard to add more voice features and more countries; we'll share more details in the future." The delay may be worth the wait, but how many people would actually use the voice control feature? Let us know by posting below.

Introducing, the Nintendo 2DS
Nintendo has announced the Nintendo 2DS. It will feature two screens and two cameras, however unlike the 3DS, the device is not hinged which has caused a lot of hate. If you have a 3DS, you'll be happy to know that the 2DS is backwards compatible with 3DS games. Nintendo said that they are still committed to the 3DS and 3-D capability. "It doesn't mean that we are not committed at all to 3D and that we don't think that's a really valuable, unique eye-popping feature for a lot of gamers," Moffitt told GameSpot. "We just wanted to continue growing the installed base and needed to find a way to get to a price point that was more accessible for a broad swath of consumers." This new handheld console will launch alongside Pokemon X and Y in the United States and Europe on October 12.

PvZ 2 - Downloaded nearly 25 million times.
Electronic Arts, owner of PopCap Games have announced that the popular new release game Plants vs. Zombies 2 has been downloaded nearly 25 million times. Earlier in the month (August), the game reached 16 million downloads. EA also announced some other statistics about the game; 5.4 billion zombie waves, 10 billion plants planted and gamers have logged over 81 million hours in-game. These are some pretty impressive statistics... who knows what milestones the game will reach in September? You can download the game on iOS.

Video of the Week
GTA 5 is probably the most anticipated game this year. Rockstar Games recently released another trailer that will feature on TV. This particular trailer will debut during Breaking Bad. You can watch it now below.


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Better Biome Generating to Come
Previous allegations and claims by Mojang have stated that they'd alter the ocean biome in addition to actually bringing more biomes to Minecraft. That being said, though, they've never actually stated how they'd do it until now. With recent news, it's said that oceans are to be much smaller (and thus generating more land). Minecraft developers had stated that the update is being pushed due to complaints regarding too large of oceans, too uneven/random biome generation, and not enough variation in general. It's said that such update will be coming to Minecraft in it's upcoming update, 1.7.

Mash-Up Pack Coming to Minecraft: Xbox 360!
After the recent TU12 patch for Minecraft for the 360, a Mash-Up pack was promised to be released with it or shortly after. After a week, though, fans haven't seen any sight of it. On August 30th, however, a Tweet was made by 4J Studios hinting the pack's release in the upcoming week. "We're looking forward to the release of the trailer for the first Mash-up Pack this Sunday! Thanks @hat_films :) #MinecraftXBLA," says 4J Studios. For those that don't know, Mash-Up packs are similar to that of resource packs for the PC, making the game's theme completely different (in terms of default skin, items, blocks, music, etc.), thus probably exciting many 360 users.

HackerCraft's Return!
After a thread posted by Omniscient regarding the server's future was made, many users stated that they'd love the return/continue of it. That being said, Omniscient took people's opinions into thought and thus made a thread stating that the server would continue. In exchange for a free 100 slot server, as Omniscient stated, he'd honor a free paid-sticky for the user granting him said deal. In the thread regarding the server's return, you can see that he's also taken into consideration the much favored return of factions and PVP.

For the current moment (while things are settling in and as Omniscient sets them up), the server is now in beta. A thread was made regarding such, allowing users to connect freely while everything is underway. Due to past problems, he stated, the server will likely not use its old world and everything will be reset. As a positive, however, users who bought Pow3r in the past will be honored with such and receive it on the newer server. If you'd like to mess around with the beta while everything gets taken care of, connect at beta.hackercraft.net.

Featured Server of the Week: Hackercraft Beta
As it was announced that the server was in its beta, it'd be best to get on with a few friends and get a head start on the action. The server features popular aspects such as PVP and Factions, making it awesome to play on. If you find any bugs, please post them in the aforementioned thread regarding its beta, as it truly helps the server out. Connect today at beta.hackercraft.net!

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Obama Seeks Approval From Congress for Syria Action
United States President Barack Obama will seek authorization from Congress before launching any military action against the Syrian regime for allegedly using chemical weapons in a mass killing that claimed the lives of 1,429 people. The president came to the unexpected decision during a walk Friday evening with his chief of staff. In his statement, Obama condemned Assad's regime, describing the alleged chemical attack as "an assault on human dignity" that "presents a serious danger to our national security." He had previously characterized the use of chemical weapons as a "red line" that Assad should not be permitted to cross. Obama pledged that any military involvement would be of "limited duration and scope." Before saying Saturday that he would seek approval from Congress, the President made clear that "we are prepared to strike whenever we choose."

Man Robs 3 Banks 48 Hours After Prison Release
A man accused of attempting to rob three banks in Bucks County, Pa., within an hour and a half had just been released from prison two days prior, and used his bail release form to write at least one of his demand notes, police said. Luke Radick, 26, of Howell, N.J. was arrested just a few hours after he robbed three banks. Radick allegedly presented a demand note ordering tellers to raise their hands and give him money. Investigators say this demand note was the one written on the back of his bail release form. He ran off after a teller handed him some money. Police along with the FBI Fort Washington office launched a manhunt for Radick and had him in custody by 3:55 p.m. On his way into an arraignment hearing, Radick told NBC10 he did it "for the money." When asked if he was sorry he did it, he replied, "No, I'm sorry I got caught."

Teen Sentenced to 3 Years in Delhi Gang Rape Case
An Indian teenager was sentenced to three years in juvenile detention on Saturday for the December gang rape of a trainee physiotherapist, the first verdict in a case that sparked debate over whether India is too soft on young offenders. Police say the 18-year-old and five adult men lured the 23-year-old woman and her male friend onto a New Delhi bus where they repeatedly raped her and beat them both with a metal bar before dumping them on to a road. The woman died in a Singapore hospital two weeks after the Dec. 16 attack. Four of the teenager's co-accused are still on trial and face the death penalty if convicted. The teenager pleaded not guilty to all 13 charges including rape, murder and robbery. His trial was held behind closed doors to protect his identity and media were barred from reporting on any details of the proceedings.

Japan's Radioactive Ocean Plume Will Reach US Waters in 2014
A radioactive plume of water in the Pacific Ocean from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, which was crippled in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, will likely reach U.S. coastal waters starting in 2014, according to a new study. The long journey of the radioactive particles could help researchers better understand how the ocean’s currents circulate around the world. Ocean simulations showed that the plume of radioactive cesium-137 released by the Fukushima disaster in 2011 could begin flowing into U.S. coastal waters starting in early 2014 and peak in 2016. Luckily, two ocean currents off the eastern coast of Japan have diluted the radioactive material so much that its concentration fell well below the World Health Organization’s safety levels within four months of the Fukushima incident.

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Amazon Kindle Users to Expect a Refund?
Due to a recent lawsuit against Apple (along with a few other publishing companies) regarding the fix of eBook prices, any user that purchased an eBook from Amazon (from publishers including Simon & Schuster, Hachette, Penguin, HarperCollins, and Macmillan) any time between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012, are entitled to a refund of anywhere between $0.30 and $1.32, as stated by the US Attorneys General. However, if there is no appeal in court (during its settlement in December), users will just simply not attain the refund.

New to Nintendo: 2DS!
After announcing its $50 price-cut on their popular system, the Wii U, Nintendo announced that they're also releasing a newer product, the 2DS. The 2DS, much like the name suggests, will be similar to the 3DS (another handheld device by Nintendo.) However, as you can tell, will only offer games in two dimensions. The system will be priced at $120 and will likely feature popular (and probably retro) 2D games such as Mario, but in turn will also turn any 3DS games into 2D. Surely it's a restriction, but perhaps due to the price difference, some users might enjoy it.

Target's Response to Online Videos
Target's new service, "Target Ticket", is said to be released in the near future, allowing users to buy, rent, and order TV shows, movies, and videos, similar to Netflix. Details about the service were released earlier this year, but nothing sufficient has really come out until recently. Target has decided to not release an official statement regarding the matter yet, but rather has said that they're just testing the service with a few team members. However, they have partnered with a popular company, UltraViolet, in order to further continue the means necessary to release the upcoming product.

Further Analyzing Your Performance?
A new app, Strike Social, was just recently released in order to further analyze your views (amongst other things) on YouTube. Best of all, the app is free and has a reliable interface that works well. Though it's free at the current moment, the company's CEO, McKenna, stated that as the service gets bigger, a premium version of such will be released, introducing further/more exclusive services. The site is still in it's "1.0", thus there may be bugs of many kinds, but it is expected and is not permanent. As of right now, over 100 data queries are searched amongst Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube to find out exactly where your views are coming from and how many there are. In the future, however, users can expect to see the release of advertising tools (which will likely be for premium) among other perks.

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Miley Cyrus at the VMAs.
Nothing new with Miley Cyrus, she's still trying hard to get rid of that "Hannah Montana" image she created as do most Disney stars (just look at Selena Gomez.) First she tried "twerking", then hanging out with rappers, and finally in her new song she mentions doing "molly" and cocaine. Well, she really stepped up her game this time by twerking, molesting an innocent foam finger and deciding to touch all over Robin Thicke, a married man with a kid all while doing this live, on national TV. To be he honest, it probably wasn't even her idea to do this. It was most likely her agent, who was once the agent of Britney Spears. Britney Spears once did a similar "shock" performance as Miley back when she was younger and got the same response as Miley Cyrus did. Massive uproar and media attention, which boosted her career. iit can be said that Miley was trying to get the same effect. As Charlemagne put it, "Miley Cyrus Wanna Be A Nigga So Bad. She Swears She's Ratchet Pussy." The only thing left is a porno.

Kendrick Lamar Starts Beef with Fellow Rappers.
It's about time for some competition and beef in the rap industry like in the golden age of hiphop. In Big Sean's new song "Control" from his album H.O.F, Kendrick disses Big Sean on his song as well as Jermaine Cole, Big KRIT, Wale, Pusha T, Meek Millz, A$AP Rocky, Drake, Jay Electronica, Tyler, and Mac Miller. Funny thing is, most the rappers not mentioned, decided to respond like Lupe Fiasco and sadly, B.o.B. Even A$AP Rocky mentioned how people not even mentioned are getting butthurt:
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K.Dot even mentioned how he had to "dumb down" his lyrics due to the fact that his audience would probably not have understood his verse. That's just sad.

Eminem Releases New Song, "Berzerk".
Eminem is taking it back with a 80's beat similar to the Beastie Boys. Straight from his upcoming new album, "Marshall Mathers LP 2" is sure to be a hit. Though Twitter was on fire when Em released the song with little prepubescent kids, who probably listen to 2Chainz and Lil Wayne. People don't like the unfamiliar and the unpredictable, which exactly why Em named it "Berzerk"; Kanye got the same reaction when Yeezus was released. Another reason many didn't like it was because people don't want to listen to classic hip hop music with that boom bap rhythm. Eminem is doing what he wants, what he feels like. He doesn't need to put out a highly offensive song to get attention anymore; he already gets attention.

Pusha T "My Name is my Name" Cover Art Released.
One of the most anticipated albums of the year is Pusha T's "My Name is my Name". With his recently single he released, "Numbers" proved Pusha T's new album was something to take seriously. With features from Kanye West, Big Sean, Kendrick Lamar, Rick Ross and Pharrell, Pusha T's My Name Is My Name will be released October 8. He kept the cover relatively simple just like Kanye:
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Music of the Week:
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This is basically my own little corner to type up my thoughts and some standpoints on different topics.
Budgeting. In this mainly capitalistic world that we live in, money really does make the world go 'round. Sometimes it can be difficult to budget your finances into categories of what you want and what you need. I'm not only talking about those who are living on their own and having to afford food, clothes, and shelter. Even those who live from meager summer job paycheck to paycheck while living at home or still going to school have budgeting concerns. When you start to enter the adult world, all of a sudden, your money has places it needs to be: in the bank or in the tank. Then, those few financial scraps that you can gather have to be divided between certain amenities to keep yourself sane. Personally, I had the cash to either afford a Chromebook for my upcoming classes or a few games that I had been interested in. While it was a tough decision, I decided to get myself the Chromebook and save the trouble of trying to get one later on. And whaddya know? You wouldn't be reading this right now if it weren't for that decision to purchase the Chromebook that I am currently typing on. Be wary of where you spend your money--what you want, may not always be what you need.
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"How do you feel about using Gravatar for avatar changing? Is it useful and convenient, or possibly obstructing and annoying? Please share."

"Gravatar is a brilliant and renowned service to provide specifically free
Avatar hosting to well known sites. Obviously this plugin does have both the
pros and cons. However, the way Hack Forums is using Gravatar is not
anything to be uneasy about simply because its just used to load an avatar
uploaded onto their servers instead of using Hack Forums as their image
source or a populated image hosting service(imgur, ImageShack, etc). The
members of HF ought to use the feature of linking avatars or uploading them
to HF upon its return, but for now rather use Gravatar and maybe they'll
warm up to the service once they use Gravatar on other sites."

-#Beau

"Personally, I think it's a waste of time. I'm pretty sure 75%
of the users on this site wont use it. And then there's the anonymity issue. If
you use the same avatar/profile picture for every social network site you use,
you're easily identified and tracked. It's easier to track because you can just
use a reverse image search, find out everybody who's using that icon, and
boom. You just got doxxed son."

-kayy6688

"I don't think it's going to be changing a whole lot, and honestly I don't
even see people frequently using it on HF. I kind of feel that a better feature
could have been added, or problems could have been fixed instead, but seeing
that some people are apparently struggling with avatars at the moment it is
probably a fine thing. I won't be making any use of it in the future though."

-Invisus

"I think it's a good addition 'till we get our old avatar option
back. But, if this was a substitute for it I'd definitely be disappointed. Gravatar
is good because you can easily crop your pictures to fit, but here on HF the
avatars end up being really small and that's quite annoying."

-Ynne

The topic for next week is "How do you feel about possible Hack Forums Tools? Would you use them?"

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



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HF News Team
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As always, fantastic job Writ3rs. I like the change with the GFX Gallery.
Enjoyed reading this weeks edition, well done to Sir and the writ3rs crew :).
I love the HF news, really liked it!
Nice job Sir!
Im never in the news so i will add it here And I hit 7,000 post this week too woot.
Cool GFX work, liking the animations and such.
I got the master donation award as well, but I was not in the news.

It seems like this news is only for the "popular" members of HF, kind of bias'd if you ask me and kind of a joke. But good writing you did write a lot of content. But you should include all members in the news and not just the Popular your "Bros" That would make this much more high quality as it sort of seems low quality to miss me and krew ! :) & who knows how many other members :)
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SneakyBoots Discord or HF convo me.
(Sep 2, 2013 11:08 PM)Blazin Wrote:  I got the master donation award as well, but I was not in the news.

It seems like this news is only for the "popular" members of HF, kind of bias'd if you ask me and kind of a joke. But good writing you did write a lot of content. But you should include all members in the news and not just the Popular your "Bros" That would make this much more high quality as it sort of seems low quality to miss me and krew ! :) & who knows how many other members :)
You were in last week's edition. Look.

7k posts is also nothing special, you won't see anyone featured for 7k posts. Krew was featured, though, for a vacation ban.

If you honestly think we only go after "popular" members, you obviously don't even read the HF News.
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Thank for this new issue !
I love reading this !
(Sep 2, 2013 11:14 PM)Oak Wrote:  You were in last week's edition. 7k posts is also nothing special, you won't see anyone featured for 7k posts.

If you honestly think we only go after "popular" members, you obviously don't even read the HF News.

It seems as though Sir and I are on the same page on this matter.

Blazin, if I would have not included you, it would have been nothing but a simple mistake on my behalf.
I wonder why Cody removed himself from 143.

Great issue as always.
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The GFX gallery was pretty badass this week.
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Oh, also, as always, guys, please be sure to let me know how I did on the User News and Notable Threads! Also, please remember to report all happenings in this thread: Weekly Reports - Think something should be in the News? Post it here by Sir

Thanks!


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