Dec 22, 2014 10:37 PM (This post was last modified: Dec 24, 2014 03:40 AM by Oak.)
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The edition you are currently reading is the 219th full edition. To read any older editions of HF News, please go here.
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HackerCraft Server Changes
After endless pleas from the community, HackerCraft was revived by Omniscient and allowed Robust to manage it. So many were excited for its return that one user, Edward Snowden., made a deal with Robust to invest $1,000 for the server. Part of the deal required Robust to split the earnings with him 50/50 and pay back the initial $1,000 investment once the server started making profit. The deal seemed to have fell through which prompted Edward Snowden. to open a scam report that caused an uproar in the HF community. After a long argument, a resolution was reached and Edward Snowden. will now be the new owner of HackerCraft, pending Omniscient's confirmation. You can read more about the scam report, here.
News with Omniscient and Some Possible Upcoming Changes
On December 16th, 2014 Omniscient took part in a podcast with the HFNT called the Omnicast. Throughout the podcast there was some talk on some possible upcoming features and changes for the site which are both good for some, not so good for others. During the Omnicast, Omniscient announced that he may try to use XMPP for notifications. The way this would work is if someone messaged you or quoted you in a post for example, you would get a little notification almost like Facebook telling you that you've received a new message, or have been quoted in a post, etc. This would be an amazing implementation and could help almost every member. Another possible feature mentioned by Omniscient is Account Security. Omniscient has mentioned this many times over the past few months and mentioned it again in the Omnicast stating that one day there will hopefully be something like an option in UserCP for Account Security that would give you a whole list of features to choose from regarding Account Security. This would be a great feature as one can never have too much account security. One of the changes talked about by Omniscient is the possible discontinuation of Ub3r. No certain facts are out there yet is to why Omniscient would do this but he did say that all Ub3r members who are already Ub3r will stay and all members who aren't will never be. If you'd like to listen to the Omnicast and hear all of this information for yourself, the recording can be found, here. Also if you're wondering why there aren't any changes or updates with XMPP, why your account upgrades or award purchases are taking a while to go through, or if your PMs to Omniscient aren't getting responded to quickly, don't fret, he isn't running away from us. Omniscient simply has holiday affairs to take care of and will of course spend time with his family. You can read Omniscient's post stating that here.
MOTM December Nominations Now Open
The nomination phase for December's Member of the Month competition is now open, and closes on Tuesday, December 30th, 2014. Member of the Month is a competition that awards one special member each month for their contributions throughout the community. The contest is hosted by Froggy. To learn more about how the competition works, click here! All upcoming nomination threads will now be located in the MOTM forum. You can view the thread here.
Clique: Welcome to this weeks edition of the HF news, this time we're joined with Vegas! What's up dude? Vegas: Not much at the moment. Relaxing after a pretty busy week. I'm moving out of Vegas so we're packing up the house and moving things here and there. Sure going to miss it.
Clique: So your alias is Vegas because you actually lived there? Did you ever get to see Omni? Vegas: It is! I've lived here most of my life now, it's going to be weird being away from the pretty lights.
Nah, not really. I mean I saw him once at EDC but I was hours into an awful car search after a pretty... erm... exhausting show, so I kind of just fangirled and went back to my night.
Clique: Where are you going to move to now? Moving because of jobs or something else? Vegas: Way up north. I'll be around the Maryland/Washington DC area.
My mother got a great offer for a new position and it kind of works out for my college path so I'm just going to tag along. I also just adore winter clothing <3
Clique: What else are you doing besides browsing HF and moving across america? Vegas: Trying to go out as hard as possible, tbh. Partying is my livelihood and I'll be damned if I don't leave a lasting impression on all those I've had the pleasure of turning up with out here. I just started diving into League of Legends too, so I'll probably let that keep me sane while I'm without my buddies up north.
Clique: You ever end up getting to level 30 yet? Vegas: Nope, think I'm just about to hit 24 actually. The grind is real. I imagine I'll be pouring plenty of hours in once I'm out of town though. I really don't know what I'm going to do with all of my time aside from Farcry 4, GTA5 and League. I don't even want to think about the Kingdom Hearts 3 / Final Fantasy 15 release. Social life will be a thing of the past for a while.
Clique: So are you more of a #PCMASTERRACE kind of dude or nah? Xbox or PS? Vegas: I like to think I'm a good mix.
While I would prefer to play most games on PC whenever possible, there are plenty of games that simply aren't available for it, or at least in a form I'll fully enjoy. MMOs are a great passion of mine, but so are fighting games. I enjoy blazblue, persona, soulcalibur and mortal kombat far too much to stick to only my PC.
As for xbox vs ps, I've always been an xbl guy. Smooth ps visuals and a spectacular fighting controller are definitely advantage Sony, but psn never even compared to xbl for me.
Clique: What's your opinion of the writers and the news? Vegas: I find that they are as witty as they are punctual, in most instances. I'm pretty happy to have been invited, even if it was partially attributed to me embarrassing Clark (where ur bars at bruh)
Saturday not being around seems to have set a bit of overcast on the group. I was never very well acquainted with him because he never seemed like a nice guy tbh, but that's not what everyone else has to say about him, so who knows?
he stuff HFNT is putting out is enjoyable and a cornerstone to the community, and I'm glad to be a helping hand wherever needed.
Clique: If you had the power to change one thing on the forum, what would you choose and why? Vegas: You know, I really don't know what I'd do. I guess given the opportunity, I'd implement something a little more engagingly social. Maybe an original game for members? I've run forums in the past but never anything even remotely as well maintained, so I can't really speak much for changes. I'm just a forum junkie so I'd like to see more pointless social fun.
Clique: Awesome man! Any shoutouts you'd like to give to wrap this interview up? Vegas: Mm, lots of names come to mind. The entirety of the Red Lions for sure. Specially you Secrets <3
The Writers all deserve a shoutout too, as always. They're the ones that make this bundle of fun possible. No one in particular from the group. Especially not Clark. or Sir. or Clique. or Roger. or Ani. or Cade. or Harlem. Or Abide. Or Grin.
Clark: Welcome to this week’s edition of the HF News, today I’m joined by the member Trust. How are you today Trust? Do you have any shoutout’s you’d like to make? Trust: I'm quite fine and dandy, Clark. I'd like to shoutout to Baghead, Music Producer, Basquiat, Aura, Gary., and D3xus.
Clark: Great. So how did you stubble across HF? Why did you decide to register? Trust: To this day, I haven't a clue. It was either because I wanted to view a thread that I could not view as an unregistered user or because I wanted free stuff in the "Freebies and Giveaways" section like a real American.
Clark: Lol and what has kept you active thus far? Trust: You did Clark. I'm in love with yo-- I mean... definitely the community. Yeah, the community. I love coming on everyday and seeing new stories, new faces, and overall just having a good time with other people that I wouldn't have even had the chance to meet if it weren't for Hack Forums.
Clark: You don’t have to hide your love from me. With the Holidays approaching have you been doing any shopping? Do you have anything on your wish list? Trust: I'm a poor pleb. I'm giving my friends Christmas gifts on February 25 to save up more to get them better presents. I don't have much on my personal wish list besides Clar-- Gamecube games. I'm a huge fan of the Gamecube and if it's games weren't so darn expensive, I'd purchase them myself. Most games are worth more than the system itself.
Clark: Did you ever play Luigi’s Mansion? That’s the only game I ever played on GC back in the day. Trust: Hell yeah I did. I still own the game. Playing it today, it's a crap ton shorter of a game than I remembered. I beat it the first night I got it. Still an amazing game, however.
Clark: No doubt, kinda creepy too IMO. Tell us what you do as a Writ3r and how that experience has been so far Trust: I do Notable Threads. At first it was just me and then RDCA joined me. He did one edition and then the user Wind Waker replaced him. I love the Writ3rs. Most chill group on Hack Forums, in my opinion. Plus, we actually do something for the community. How many groups do that? .01?
Clark: RDCA was always an unreliable drunk. Yes we do contribute but I personally believe that groups aren’t obligated to contribute so it’s all good. How do you feel about groups in general on HF? Trust: Yeah, but he moved my feedback thread, that was cool of him. Kinda. I feel that too many groups are being treated as property to be bought or sold at a moment's notice. Too many users are buying into groups that get sold a month later. I like groups such as the Brotherhood. They've been around forever, don't accept buy-ins, and it feels like a family. That's just my opinion, though.
Clark: I agree. Would you ever be interested in a strip tease section for HF? Members such as myself can upload strip teases for other HF members and in return the uploaders can gain rep? This is one of Sir’s many suggestions Trust: Oh yeah, of course. Dang Sir has all these great ideas now-a-days. I wish I was like him. He's so HQ, wow.
Clark: Yes but he’s also got a drug problem. Get better Sir. How would you define “HQ”? Or can it be defined? Trust: That's okay. I do agree he needs to lay off the caffeine. As for HQ... HQ can not be defined, but it can be measured. Basically you have to ask yourself, "Am I more HQ or less HQ than Sir?" A prime example of a member more HQ than Sir is Yellows and a prime example of a member less HQ than Sir is Roger Waters. (Jk, love ya Rog.)
Clark: I’d like to thank you for your time. If you have any closing statements you’d like to make, feel free to do so now. Trust: Closing statements? Who care?
Dec 22, 2014 10:38 PM (This post was last modified: Dec 23, 2014 05:34 AM by Oak.)
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MineOmni.pw Goes Down with a Message
One of Omnicoin's pools has disappeared, leaving only a cryptic message in its place. MineOmni was today replaced, either by its operators, or by a hacker, with a message that simply read "LOL FUCK YOU OMNI". .Matt, the main owner and operator of the pool was as surprised as the rest of the community. He pointed out that the domain was actually owned by Krew, a member who was recently repfucked, and is currently vacation banned for half a year, and has made it clear that he will likely not return to HackForums.
"I am really content with how
efficiently the News Team has been
functioning lately. There have been
many changes in the last few editions
with how the group is monitored and
run. I'm excited to be a part of the
team for all of 2015. Happy
Holidays everyone!" -Froggy
"I have enjoyed the year and a half I
have spent with the HFNT, and I am
hoping the new year will bring as
many good memories as the past." -Harlem
"Thank you to all the readers of the
HF weekly news, I hope you enjoy the
next few days leading up to Christmas
to be merry and full of wonder. Merry
Christmas from Nightfall!" -Nobility
"I'd just like to wish all of our readers
a merry christmas and a happy
new years. I'd also like to thank
Sir for always being my hero." -Clark
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Christmas came early this year!
Enjoy this present from us to you!
A glorious edition if I do say so myself!
Staples Inc. Credit Card Breach
Office supply chain Staples Inc. has acknowledged recently that a sophisticated malware intrusion attack from earlier this year has affected many of its stores' networks. This attack has since resulted in, what may be, a very large credit card breach. Staples, Inc. has released an official statement claiming that up to 119 Staples chain stores were possibly affected between April 2014 and September 2014. It was also claimed that as many as 1.16 million customer credit cards and debit cards may have been stolen as a result. After an investigation, it appears that the attackers who are responsible for the Staples attack are not apart of the same group thought to have recently attacked Target and Home Depot. In late November 2014, a statement was released that an investigation would take place involving around 100 stores and, unfortunately, the repercussions of this attack may hit the Staples company really hard financially.
More on the Sony Attack: FBI's Official Statement
As many of you know, Sony was the victim of a recent attack by, what the the FBI is claiming, a hacking group from North Korea. The FBI has said, in an official statement, that it has determined that the North Korean government is at least partially responsible for the recent cyber-attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment. Though FBI said it wouldn't be able to disclose all of its sources and methods, it did state that it reached its conclusion through technical analysis of the data deletion technique that the malware in this attack had used. It has since been linked to other types of malware that the FBI has known to be developed by North Korean hackers. After a thorough investigation, there were similarities found in specific lines of code, encryption algorithms, data deletion methods, and compromised network functions that conclusively pointed to North Korea being behind this attack.
Backdoor Discovered Chinese Androids
Android security researchers have recently discovered a hidden backdoor in many Android devices sold by Coolpad, a phone manufacturer based in China. The “CoolReaper” vulnerability has exposed over 10 million Android users to potentially malicious attacks. The malware was seemingly installed and maintained by Coolpad, despite the numerous objections from customers. Though it is common for a device manufacturer to install custom software on top of Google’s basic Android mobile OS in efforts to provide some sort of additional functionality, the CoolReaper software is far more malicious than the simple collection of basic usage data. It is acting as a true backdoor into Coolpad devices. CoolReaper allows the company access to a variety of functions including the ability to download, install, or activate any Android application without consent of the user and without notification. It can also clear the user data, uninstall existing applications, disable system applications, send arbitrary SMS or MMS messages into the phone, and dial arbitrary phone numbers. Coolpad also has the ability to track various informaiton about the phone including GPS coordinates, application usage, and even text messages!
Google Releases End-To-End Chrome Extension to Open Source
The search engine giant Google has finally released its source code for End-To-End to open source via GitHub which enables Gmail users to encrypt, sign, and verify email messages within the Chrome browser, using OpenPGP. Google is referring this as the End-To-End alpha version which is awaiting feedback from the community. Sadly you cannot find it on Chrome Web Store due to it not being declared as a stable version. Google has already fixed the two bugs which were detected in its 'Vulnerability Rewards Program' and incorporated a new crypto library. While End-to-End will be available to anyone, Google acknowledges it’s likely not within the average user’s wheelhouse.
Twitter to Pry into User's Installed Apps List
The popular micro-blogging site Twitter is set to start snooping user's Smartphone and Tablets to collect their installed app list with their new feature named 'App Graph'. They justify the action in their own words, "deliver tailored content that you might be interested in." According to Twitter, this feature will create more relevant timeline and will incorporate the company's recently announced Instant Timeline feature. Although Twitter mentions that you will receive an alert when the new feature is enabled, you may peruse this article to opt out of this feature.
Dutch Government Focuses on Facebook and Google over Citizen' Privacy
Dutch government is probing after the data usage policy of the world's largest social networking site, Facebook, which was announced a day after the Hague-based Data Protection Agency (DPA) warned Google, world's leading search engine, that it was breaching data protection laws by using personal details for targeted advertising. Google faces a €15m fine if it doesn't fix the alleged breaches by the end of February 2015 and the verdict for Facebook is yet to be announced. This announcement came after the new privacy policy of Facebook which will take effect from January 1, 2015 was announced few months prior. While Google is awaiting resolution, Facebook has stated that their privacy policy is compliant to all relevant laws.
New e-Sports Inspired Game
The creator of the Final Fantasy series is currently making a new co-op multiplayer game for your mobile device that may possibly be "e-Sports inspired". What that exactly means is, well, you guessed it; the game may just become one of the popular competitive games up-to-date. Tera Battle, the name chosen for the game, allows up to only three players on a team. This new game is very complex, but may be a fun, action-packed game gamers are looking for. Sort of like a card game, you will battle like a strategy based game, similar to Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokemon cards.
Advanced Warfare: New Zombie Trailer
The new and upcoming gamemode for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare will let you play as one of the following characters in-game: John Malkovich, Bill Paxton, Rose McGowan, and Jon Bernthal. Upon being released sometime in 2015, the four new characters to the zombies mode will be from the infamous military company, Atlas. Completely new to the war scene, these four are not professionals, no; they are the quite opposite. Just coming out of basic training, these individuals should be expecting a lot worse! In addition to the DLC in which this gamemode is in, the Havoc DLC pack also includes new multiplayer maps and weapons at players disposal. Recently, Call of Duty has posted a newer video regarding John Malkovich and the other survivors stories. You can see the 59 second clip here.
Halo 5 Beta Available Soon
It's almost that time of the year, yes. Christmas! An announcement has been made by Game Informer stating that the newest edition to the Halo series, Halo 5: Guardians will be releasing a public beta for the Xbox One on December 29, four days after Christmas. This is a nice, small gift from the creators of the new game we could say. Some cannot handle the wait; saying they want to play the game now or get it earlier. Don't worry! Game Informer has also stated that Xbox Live Preview Program members are getting codes to download the game TODAY! If you're one of the selected lucky few apart of the invite-only program, the you should be expecting a code inside your messages inbox sometime later today. The beta will offer players to play some Multiplayer modes that will be seen upon the initial release of the game. The beta can be accessed from December 29 (earlier if you are apart of the XLPP program) to January 18th. Interested in a small clip regarding the game? Click this link see the new official trailer.
Possible GTA: 5 Problems
A recent article has been made stating that some of the newer updates being offered to Grand Theft Auto: V can only be downloaded and applied to New Gen consoles, including PS4 and Xbox One. As much as Rockstar is still constantly assisting those in the Xbox 360 and PS3 games, it was said that with all these new graphics and things being added, it may only be out for New Gens. As of today, players should be expecting heists for multiplayer and Christmas-based themes sometime this month or next year. A new feature which can be recognized almost instantly in the New Gen versions is the First-Person View that is offered. This will remain New Gen only. Xbox 360 and PS3 players won't be left in the dark, don't worry; Rockstar will not give up on players who don't own the Xbox One or PS4.
Video Game Release Dates for the Week of December 18th, 2014:
Trine: Enchanted Edition - PS4 - December 23rd, 2014
Resogun - PS3, PS4, PS Vita - December 23rd, 2014
Fieldrunners 2 - PS3, PS4, PS Vita - December 23rd, 2014
Switch Galaxy Ultra - PS3, PS4, PS Vita - December 23rd, 2014
ef: A Fairy Tale of the Two - PC - December 24th, 2014
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse - Wii U - December 25th, 2014
DLC Release Dates for the Week of December 18th, 2014:
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel ‘The Holodome Onslaught’ DLC - December 16th, 2014
X Rebirth: The Teladi Post DLC - Steam - Free all through December
The Pirate Bay Falls, Open Bay Rises
Last week The Pirate was shutdown in Sweden, servers were seized along with all information on the servers related to TPB. The founders of The Pirate Bay have been known to backup the small site and said they could easily have it up again within minutes if it ever shot down. It seems they will not be doing that, but perhaps they are doing one better by leaving TPB down. The Open Bay project is aimed at mirroring the 3 million files TPB had, as well as an additional 5 million from other related sites.This will make it harder for media enforcers to act as TPB essentially is like the Hydra. One head cut off, many more grow back in there place. Of course if you wish to start such a website, there is heavy legal risk and it is ill advised for you to do so.
Sony Hack Reveals Many Secrets, Including Extreme Anti Piracy Law Plans
The Motion Picture Association of America has had documents leaked from Sony servers that proves they are planning a strike on a huge company code named "Goliath" in regards to piracy. So the dubbed the plan "Project Goliath" in which they go into detail about how Goliath aids piracy with the use of search engines, helps spread awareness against laws such as SOPA and Pipa. In the documents they state their budgets, $500,000 a year towards a law fund, and 70,000 a year to investigating Goliath. They state they will put Goliath in the spotlight negatively over the next few years to slowly sway public opinion, and in the end win. Goliath is obviously Google, and Google has decided to act in a preemptive strike. They not only filed a law suit against State Attorney General Jim Hood but they have filed a petition to the MPAA and is publicly attacking and promoting the destruction of site blocking done by the MPAA.
Song Fights Guardians Of Peace; Compromises Leaked Pirated Movie Torrent Seeds
Sony was hacked by a group who calls itself the Guardians of Peace and they leaked a variety of content including documents, emails and unreleased movies or movies still in theaters. The movie Fury has already been downloaded millions of times since it's leak, which could potentially hurt profit from box office revenue. Sony has added bad seeds to the torrents of these movies with thousands of servers on Amazon's networks. This move does not take down the content, it just makes it much harder to find the real content because of so many useless files that all look legitimate.
BlackBerry Returns: Trimmed Budgets and More
BlackBerry has been surviving through their severe financial problems surprisingly. According to John Chen, the man in charge of saving BlackBerry, they have changed the 5 billion dollar budget from last year to only 150 million this year. The past few years BlackBerry has slowly stopped releasing smartphones. The new route for BlackBerry is mostly expected to be on the software. BlackBerry has at least recovered out of the path to bankruptcy, and it is not clear if BlackBerry will go back to creating smartphones, or if they will continue to focus on software, but either way BlackBerry is slowly but surely making a comeback.
Amazon Fire Phone Updates
Finally, some much needed updates for Fire Phone users. The new version of Amazon's OS comes with a huge list of updates and neat features. A unique new feature allows your phone to translate text in photos and identify paintings or other artwork. Amazon added this feature to Firefly, and they have already begun planning many more features for Firefly. Some other features include Best Shot for the camera app, MMS character count, and an Office app for viewing documents. These are good improvements for the Fire Phone, but Amazon will have to continuously release updates like this one to make the phone desirable.
DARPA Mind-Controlled Robotic Arm
For years, scientists and engineers have tried to make a successful bionic arm. The idea of being able to replace a limb and gain back complete function with just the use of your mind is astonishing, and DARPA is getting closer to that goal. Back in 2012, doctors surgically implanted neural sensors in a disabled woman's brain. The sensors were placed on the part of her brain that controlled her right arm and hand. The software works by reading the brain to operate the arm and it is getting extremely accurate. She was able to move blocks and even eat a chocolate bar with the robotic arm.
Watch the video below if you want to see Mrs. Scheuermann using the arm:
Dec 22, 2014 10:39 PM (This post was last modified: Dec 23, 2014 05:53 AM by Oak.)
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Want your New Years Resolution featured in the New Years Edition? (Edition #220)
Send Sir your resolution by clicking here!
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Every week - assuming we get enough submissions - the HF News will feature the best submitted battlestation.
Send Sir a message by clicking here and including an imgur link of your battlestation!
(Dec 23, 2014 06:04 AM)Narrate Wrote: Froggy: I'm not in Nightfall. :(
Nobility (I think that's who it was): That's because you're not a core writer you whore.
who the fuck is this nobility guy you think is so funny
cuz fuck him
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