[Hydra]

The edition you are currently reading is the 264th edition of the HF News. To read any older editions of the HF News, please go here.

YouTube Award Returns?
To help promote Hack Forums, the YouTube award from five years ago may be making a return for round two. Members would be able to submit a video and if it meets the requirements, the award would be granted. There may also be a contest for the best videos. This is just an idea, help make it a reality by posting your feedback in the announcement thread. >>Source

User News

• brian188246 has reached 2,000 positive reputation.
  

Bans*

• Anima Libera was banned for reputation abuse.
  
• 420 Blaze It was banned for nonsense posting.
  

Vacations*

• CyberneticTitan took a vacation.
  
• Silver King took a vacation.
  
• Grеed took a vacation.
  
• fl3xy took a vacation.
  

Closures

• futana was closed.
  
• The Judge was closed.
  

Repfucks

• Anima Libera was repfucked.
  

Awards

• No notable awards were reported this week. To report something for a future edition click here.
  

* - As of the Friday prior to release.

Interview - Prada (Click to View)

.Sinister: Welcome, Prada to the 264th edition of the HF News! Have any shoutouts you want to make before we begin?
Prada: I would like to give a quick shoutout to lulz gang, Kondax, and everyone @ Titans except Angel

.Sinister: I'm going to start off by asking you to tell us a bit about yourself.
Prada: I'm a young thug that goes by the street name Prada. I started on this website for graphics and shit and I learned a looooot. I have been in a few groups, and they all were pretty dumb, until I joined Titans. They actually had intentions of doing things, so I worked hard and became a leader. I met a few friends on here and I still talk to them and play Xbox with them. I'm also really into music and anything else art related. You'll see me around constantly spreading my SoundCloud lol.

.Sinister: Interesting. Your SoundCloud huh? You know, one of our Writers, who will not be disclosed, mentioned you had a "dope mixtape on soundcloud". Is that true?
Prada: Yeah, I released a mixtape called Anti Social. It received a lot of good reviews and a lot of people on HF dig my stuff so its really awesome to hear. Its just something I like to do with my friends to have fun.

.Sinister: What gave you the idea of making mixtapes? Was it just for fun?
Prada: Well, I've been making music for a long time but this year I decided to actually put something together that made sense. It was my little project I guess. But, all in all, my friends and I do this for fun and we don't expect to get anything out of it. Regardless of whether I have 10,000 fans or only 1, I'm just gonna do what I'm doing now and enjoy it.

.Sinister: That's always good to hear. As a leader, what can you say about your group? Anything positive or negative?
Prada: I could never say anything negative about Titans even if I wanted to. It's honestly the dream group and it's what everyone has been praying for in terms of useful groups. A unique, unbiased, lenient, and fun group that acts like a family.

.Sinister: Are there any current or upcoming Titan events that you would like to share with us today?
Prada: Right now we're hosting Titans Clue. If you know the game clue, you will be familiar with how the game works. Rivalry and Happeh worked very hard on this event and they made it so awesome and relevant to HF.

.Sinister: Can you explain the game to those who don't know what it is?
Prada: Essentially, you're searching for a murderer. Initially you have a list of suspects to choose from and each day a clue is given and you have to piece together the puzzle yourself or as a team to find one of said suspects guilty. But, only one person can win the grand prize. Deceit, schemes, and intelligence all play a part in this game. We have a full list of instructions in the subforum itself. Unfortunately, you can't sign up any more as the event is in progress right now, but there are a solid amount of participants and I'm certain they will have a blast.

.Sinister: Best of luck to the participants. Now, tell us Prada. How did you end up on HF?
Prada: I ended up on HF because I wanted to learn more about graphics, and that was during the time of Graphic Masters. I followed them around for awhile and got help and feedback every chance I could. Graphics were really the main reason I joined and stayed on this forum.

.Sinister: If possible, would you like to see a group like Graphic Masters again? If so, why or why not?
Prada: I wouldn't like to see anything of that nature come back unless the people were qualified enough to do it. It's a very tough thing to approach and I think it would end up as a failed attempt at achieving what FBN/GM achieved.

.Sinister: Yeah, I can see where you're going with that. Besides HF, what do you do with your life?
Prada: I'm a cook at a restaurant. Nothing major - just a bar and grill type deal. I also hang out with friends like any other normal teenager I guess.

.Sinister: How good of a cook are you? What exactly can you cook?
Prada: I'm still learning, so I don't cook anything crazy. Just bar foods and fried foods like burgers, subs, wings, etc.

.Sinister: Hopefully you become a cooking guru one day. That's all we have for today. Thanks for your time, Prada! Do you have anything else to say before we wrap this up?
Prada: Thanks for interviewing me <3. Special shoutout to Mesh, who had to edit this interview and make my sentences readable.

[Hydra]

We publish the HF News every week yet we have aged members who don't even know we exist! Wear any of the signatures listed below to support us and spread the word about HF News, HF Wiki, and Writers altogether.

Support Signatures (Click to View)

1st

Code

[align=center][url=http://bitly.com/1FnhESq][img=500x150]https://i.imgur.com/rIEO5r0.gif[/img][/url][/align]

2nd

Code

[align=center][url=http://bitly.com/1FnhESq][img]https://i.imgur.com/POVfq7u.png[/img][/url][/align]

3rd

Code

[align=center][url=http://bitly.com/1FnhESq][img]https://i.imgur.com/bTTz7WE.png[/img][/url][/align]

4th

Code

[align=center][url=http://bitly.com/1FnhESq][img]https://i.imgur.com/pdoOihY.png[/img][/url][/align]

Rekindling Omnicoin

It has been an exciting week in the Omnicoin Subesction as we are beginning to see an increase in high quality threads, as well as products and services which only accepts Omnicoin as a form of payment.

A tutorial showing users how to purchase Omnicoin off of Bittrex has re-surfaced after being posted earlier this year. Some believe that this may be a sign of hope that Omnicoin may be gaining in popularity after a few months of hard luck. If you wish to purchase Omnicoin off of Bittrex and support the Omnicoin market, please head on over to http://www.bittrex.com and make your purchase today!

A user asked a simple question this week regarding Omnicoin's future: "What can we do to get OMC back on the map?" some big names in the Omnicoin scene including Omnicoin tycoons, as well as members of the Omnicoin development team responded with a variety of answers. Most revolved around the idea that Omniscient should not be the only person willing to take a financial loss for Omnicoin. After the posting of this thread, some users decided to accept Omnicoin as their only payment for a few products and services in the hope of reviving the Omnicoin market.

Project Sparkle, a mining pool created by Doctor Blue has gone offline for a short period of time this week, but was later fixed. This marks yet another week in which the pool has mysteriously gone offline. The pool seems to be back online and functioning correctly.

As a reminder, be sure to add your Omnicoin wallet to your account using https://hackforums.net/coins.php.

Weekly Highlights

• Project Sparkle - Mining Pool (pool.omnicoin.cc) by Doctor Blue
  
• [Tuto] How to acquire OMC step by step on Bittrex.com by Raoul Duke
  
• What can we do to get OMC back on the map? by Who Soup
  

SPAM Attack Compromises 13 Million Users
Widely used SPAM announced earlier this week that they had fallen victim to an attack that compromised the data of over 13 million users. Attackers exploited into the site's database using an exploit found in an outdated version of PHP used on SPAM's site. The company has said that they are launching an internal investigation to discover how specifically the breach happened and how similar attacks can be prevented. The company is yet to announce any coordination with law enforcement. In addition, customers are assured that their sites will remain online during the investigation. The company's sister sites, Hosting24 and Hostinger, are believed to have been unaffected by the data breach. The breach compromised client passwords, emails, IP addresses, and names. Many are critiquing the company for storing all of its clients passwords in plaintext, hopefully, this incident with spur some clearly needed increases in security measures.

Android Microsoft Word Fake Steals Data
A new strain of malware has been discovered on Android. It all starts with an application that poses as a genuine version of the well known Microsoft Word. Once a user is lured into downloading the fake application, an icon is placed on the home screen. As soon as the application is opened, the user is presented with an error saying the application is having issues, meanwhile malware is being installed on the device and a new Android service is being created. Once in place, the app crashes, sending the user to the home screen. The malware steals a user's contacts, IMEI ID, SIM card ID, text messages, and other personal information by emailing or texting the information to a given address. This type of malware is particularly concerning for users since mobile banking and two-factor authentication are often done via SMS. There are only about 300 known infections, but this malware has the potential to become very serious if its spread continues.

Cybersecurity Information Act Passes U.S. Senate
In the United States, Cybersecurity Information Act recently passed through the Senate with a 74-21 in favor of the bill. Many privacy advocates are concerned with the implications of the bill, citing the fact that it may allow for further government surveillance. Part of the concern is how the act is worded, it has an inherent lack of technical wording which has led advocates to believe that the lawmakers may not totally understand the law that they are passing since they can not offer up the needed language for such a bill. Unlike prior cybersecurity bills, the White House has no plan to veto this bill. The main goal of the law is to make it easier for companies to share data about cyber security and cyber security threats with the government by setting up a way for the DHS to receive and distribute such information. In addition to there being no obligation for companies to share such information, the information is not allowed to contain personally identifiable information or information not relevant to cybersecurity. While the bill has passed the Senate, it still needs to move through the House before being passed, which could entail language changes.

China Plans to End One Child Policy
After 36 years, China has decided to officially end its "one child" policy. In 1979 the Communist state introduced this law, limiting every family to only one child each, in order to control rising population. Families who broke this law by having more than one child were punished with heavy fines, termination of their employment, and forced abortions. Over the past couple of decades, China has slowly become more relaxed about the policy, introducing some caveats. Families in which one parent was an only child, families in rural areas whose first child was a girl, and some ethnic minorities, were sometimes exempt from the law. The effects of such drastic measures in the past can be seen now in the imbalance of age distribution among the population, with 30% of China's population over the age of 50. The new policy will now allow two children per family, for everyone. Some experts suggest that this will not solve the population distribution issue overnight, as the fear of multiple children is still very deeply embedded in the modern Chinese culture.

Fire Kills 27 People in a Bucharest Nightclub
At least 27 are confirmed dead, and 180 injured after a fire erupted inside a Romanian nightclub Friday evening. The club was host to rock band Goodbye to Gravity who was playing a concert to launch their new album, Mantras of War. About 400 people were in the club when the pyrotechnics display went horribly wrong, setting surrounding decorations on fire. Victor Lonescu, a survivor of the fire, said “People were fainting, they were fainting from the smoke. It was total chaos, people were trampling on each other.” Authorities are working diligently to identify the dead and injured, and the Romanian interior ministry warns that the death toll could continue rising as more victims succumb to their injuries. Many of the fatalities of the night were due to being trampled in the rush to exit the club. Prosecutors have now launched a criminal investigation to address the incident.

British Resident Released From Guantanamo After 13 Years
Shaker Aamer, a Saudi citizen and British resident, was captured in Afghanistan in 2001. He was turned over to the United States, who locked him up in Guantanamo Bay prison, believing that he had ties to Al-Quaeda. Inside the prison, Mr. Aamer led a massive hunger strike attempting to negotiate with authorities. In 2007, Tony Blair asked the United States to release Aamer and four other British residents, the four were released, but Mr. Aamer was held as he was considered a greater threat. A six-agency task force reviewed the cases of all remaining detainees in 2009, and among others, recommended that Mr. Aamer be transferred. After numerous negotiations, Shaker Aamer was finally released to Britain, rather than Saudi Arabia, where the US government wanted to send him. Mr. Aamer made a statement through his lawyer saying “My thanks go to Allah first, second to my wife, my family, to my kids and then to my lawyers who did everything they could to carry the word to the world,” he said. “I am overwhelmed by what people have done by their actions, their thoughts and their prayers, and without their devotion to justice I would not be here in Britain now.”

 

[Hydra]

GTA 5 Halloween Update Detailed, Not Coming to Last-Gen
Grand Theft Auto V is observing Halloween with an exceptional in-amusement occasion. Rockstar Games on Thursday reported GTA Online: Halloween Surprise, which sees the arrival of spooky things, for example, cars and masks, and in addition a slasher-themed enemy mode. Like GTA Online's latest upgrade, Lowriders, this one is coming exclusivey to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. Likewise, GTA Online's Halloween Surprise occasion presents another "Slasher" enemy mode, which backings up to eight players. "Run, shroud, and battle to get by in the obscurity as the player assigned as the Slasher stalks their prey with a shotgun," it said. "Utilize your new electric lamp to explore on the off chance that you set out, yet be mindful so as not to uncover your position or you'll rapidly get to be prey. Make due for 3 minutes and you'll find the opportunity to give back where its due with your very own shotgun."

PS4 Shipments Reach 29 Million Units As Sony's Game Division Thrives
The PlayStation 4 sent another four million units amid the quarter finished September 30, conveying the console's new aggregate to 29.3 million, Sony declared today as a major aspect of its most recent income report. By correlation, Sony delivered 3.3 million PS4 consoles amid the same quarter a year ago. Sony's gaming division, which it calls Game and Network Services, posted income of ¥360.7 billion ($3 billion) amid the quarter, up 16.5 percent contrasted with the same period a year ago. The uptick in deals was driven by expansions in PS4 diversion deals, however counterbalance by lower PlayStation 3 deals contrasted with a year ago. Working income, in the interim, was ¥23.9 billion ($199 million), contrasted with ¥21.8 billion ($180 million), an increment of 9.8 percent. Once more, the increment was driven to some degree by solid PS4 programming sales.

Xbox One Exec Responds to PS4 Price Cut, Losing Call of Duty DLC Exclusivity
Taking after the PlayStation 4 value cut recently, Sony's console and Microsoft's Xbox One are currently offered at the same $350 beginning cost. Going into the Christmas season, Microsoft no more has the value advantage, yet this doesn't stress Xbox showcasing official Aaron Greenberg. He tells GameSpot in another meeting that recreations drive console deals and gloats that Microsoft has the best lineup in its history with titles like Halo 5: Guardians and Rise of the Tomb Raider. Regardless of the fact that it's insufficient to surpass the PS4, Greenberg said he's certain that the Xbox One can stay "aggressive" with Sony's console this occasion. "For us, since honestly since we've been around here, we've truly centered around over-conveying on worth," Greenberg said. "Thus I think you saw that with the Xbox 360 era where we concentrated on conveying awesome quality for our fans; we keep on doing that. We've been really forceful both in evaluating and what we're doing with our recreations lineup and with awesome decision of packs. So we feel truly content with where we're at.

Tesla Autopilot Saves Uber Driver From Crash
How does someone narrowly avoid a potentially fatal car crash without ever touching the steering wheel or attempting to brake? Lucky for one Uber driver, his ride is a Tesla. Jon Hall, a Seattle native and owner of a Tesla Model S P85D, posted a dash cam video Wednesday on YouTube that shows how he avoided a collision thanks to the auto-pilot. Ever since Tesla’s Autopilot system rolled out earlier this month, Tesla fans have raved about its impressive semiautonomous features. Once in the driver's seat, you can choose settings on the big screen and turn on autopilot, but that immediately brings up a safety warning that some drivers seem to be ignoring. Several other videos have surfaced on YouTube documenting the frightening results of peoples' experimentations with this new technology.

Windows 10 to Automatically Download on Windows 7 or 8 PCs
Microsoft is to make Windows 10 a 'recommended update' next year, meaning those running updates will have it downloaded and will be prompted to install. As the company explains in a formal blog post, "depending upon your Windows Update settings, this may cause the upgrade process to automatically initiate on your device." According to their blog, the installer for Windows 10 will start once it has been downloading, presenting users with a popup. Users will be able to decline the update, once the installer has started, or prevent the update from being downloaded by manually blocking it in Windows Update. Even as public outcry grows over its increasingly aggressive attitude, the tech giant shows no signs of slowing the rollout of its new operating system.

Twitch's Latest Adventure: Collaboratively Install Arch Linux
Remember Twitch Plays Pokémon? For those who do not, Twitch Plays Pokémon was an attempt to crowd-source a game using Twitch.tv. Apparently that was 'easy mode' compared to their next event. Saturday, October 31, Twitch viewers will be invited to do something altogether more challenging: install Arch Linux. Using the same Twitch chat-driven concept as the collaborative Pokémon playthrough, anyone will be able to enter commands and control the installation process. According to Twitch's webpage, "every ten seconds, the most popular keystroke in Twitch chat will be entered into an Arch Linux virtual machine." The launch page recommends taking a look at the Arch Linux Wiki, beginner's guide, and a list of bash commands.

Group Leadership Changes

• Nobility is now a leader of Axiom.
  
• MeshCollider is now a leader of Legends.
  

Site Group Recruitment

• HF News Team // Become a Writer - Apply now!
  

Current Open Group Recruitments

• Crypto | Official Cryptocurrency Group | Creation Team Recruitment
  
• Null | Official Recruitment
  
• [LEGENDS] Official Recruitment - Network Exploitation and Programmers!
  
• [Official Group Royalty] > Looking for Developers & Designers <
  
• [SPECIALISTS] General Recruitment
  
• The Brotherhood \\ Recruitment
  
• The Brotherhood \\ Gaming Sector Recruitment
  
• Titans | Official Recruitment
  
• Writers - Wiki Team Recruitment
  

Group Related Buy-ins & Informational Threads

• Axiom | Official Group | Re-brand Inc | Leader Spot | PP / BTC / WU [$1K]
  
• [Divine] || Official Group || Leadership Position Available || [$900]
  
• Official Group Divine
  
• Titans | Official Group
  
• Titans: Wicked Games - LAST DAY // HALLOWEEN EVENT
  

Group Sales Threads

• [FOR SALE] AnimeFAN! Offical User Group
  
• L'appel du vide FOR SALE
  

Site Statistics

• Total (Click to View)
  • Posts: 48,400,958 ( +0.09% )
    
  • Threads: 3,379,477 ( +0.11% )
    
  • Members: 2,923,879 ( +0.13% )

• Average (Click to View)
  • Daily Posts: 13,966.16 ( -0.01% )
    
  • Daily Threads: 975.16 ( +0.006% )
    
  • Daily New Members: 843.7 ( +0.02% )
    
  • Posts Per Member: 16.55 (-0.06% )
    
  • Replies Per Thread: 13.32 ( ~ )

Ban Statistics

• Last Week's Bans (Click to View)
  • Staff Bans: 96
    • ... Change from Last Edition: -18
  • Vacation Bans: 9
    • ... Change from Last Edition: +2
  • Combined Bans: 105
    • ... Change from Last Edition: -15

Forum Counts

• Tab Counts (Click to View)
  • Notable Sections
    • Lounge Threads: 441,662 ( +0.12% )
      
    • Lounge Posts: 6,262,065( +0.12% )
      
    • RANF Threads: 47,903 ( +0.10% )
      
    • RANF Posts: 622,371 ( +0.09% )
  • Common
    • Threads: 718,820 ( +0.13% )
      
    • Posts: 10,619,508 ( +0.12% )
  • Hack
    • Threads: 660,362 ( +0.07% )
      
    • Posts: 5,789,437 ( +0.12% )
  • Tech
    • Threads: 199,025 ( +0.07% )
      
    • Posts: 1,687,027 ( +0.05% )
  • Code
    • Threads: 158,403 ( +0.06% )
      
    • Posts: 1,368,319 ( +0.05% )
  • Game
    • Threads: 417,494 ( +0.09% )
      
    • Posts: 4,340,263 ( +1.13% )
  • Groups
    • Threads: 6,539 ( +0.10% )
      
    • Posts: 285,284 ( +0.08% )
  • Web
    • Threads: 76,273 ( +0.11% )
      
    • Posts: 554,467 ( +0.13% )
  • GFX
    • Threads: 126,900 ( +0.04% )
      
    • Posts: 953,617 ( +0.04% )
  • Market
    • Threads: 846,974 ( +0.12% )
      
    • Posts: 7,913,762 ( +0.09% )
  • Money
    • Threads: 128,648 ( +0.08% )
      
    • Posts: 1,710,619 ( +0.09% )

Membership Counts

• Groups (Click to View)
  • Null
    • 33 Members ( ~ )
  • Specialists
    • 24 Members ( -5 )
  • Red Lions
    • 26 Members ( ~ )
  • Archive
    • 25 Members ( ~ )
  • Crypto
    • 6 Members ( ~ )
  • L'appel du Vide
    • 113 Members ( +2 )
  • The Brotherhood
    • 34 Members ( -1 )
  • Echo
    • 59 Members ( ~ )
  • AnimeFAN!
    • 83 Members ( -1 )
  • Pirates
    • 231 Members ( +15 )
  • Axiom
    • 62 Members ( +3 )
  • Divine
    • 30 Members ( ~ )
  • Titans
    • 65 Members ( +41 )
  • Royalty
    • 19 Members ( -1 )
  • Legends
    • 33 Members ( ~ )

News Delay
Sorry for the delay, Hack Forums went down during the day on Tuesday and then got busy so was unable to post the news until today.

HF and Chill Anyone?
Shall we? ;)

November...December...2016!
Almost there guys, less than two months away!

[Hydra]

Battlestations is a quick section of the HF News featuring two battlestations, which is a picture of a computer/tech setup. Members of Hack Forums can take a high quality photo of their computer setup(please make sure it is a clear and quality photo) and send it to me in a PM by clicking here and including an IMGUR link of your battlestation. If there are no submissions for that week, I will grab two battlestations from /r/battlestations.

shadowfax217's Battlestation

(Click to View)

Peevedkitten's Battlestation

(Click to View)

Spoiler (Click to View)
Happy Halloween! (Click to View)

View Team (Click to View)

• Scholars
  • Vegas
    
  • Raptor.
    
  • Wires
    
  • MeshCollider

• Compilers
  • Prada
    
  • Vanill‌a

• Journalists
  • Headlines
    • Odus
  • User News
    • 630 & illuminati▲
  • Notable Threads
    • Trust & Grievous
  • Interviewers
    • .Sinister, Armada, Optimized, & Mugu
  • Group News
    • Nobility & OPEN
  • Site News
    • illuminati▲ & OPEN
  • Omnicoin News
    • Who Soup
  • Hacking News
    • Goodies & Ginsum
  • Security News
    • Harbo5 & -Hyperion
  • Gaming News
    • Premortal & Red Sоx
  • Tech News
    • Аngel & Gladly
  • World News
    • Happeh & Phreakdaline
  • Art Gallery
    • Ren
  • Comics
    • Grin

• Support
  • Graphic Designers
    • Designer & Ren
  • On-Call Team
    • Saged', ven0m, Wires, | Flawless |, Curt., Cin, & zer0
  • Task Reminder
    • -Nas
  • Supervisor
    • Froggy

[King of Hearts]

First post. Another great edition of the news :)

[Canonsx130]

Gonna read it now. Thanks for another edition!
EDIT: Weren't you guys supposed to make some drastic changes to the News this edition? Did I miss something?

[Ninetales.]

:( I hit 1K rep and it was posted on the news list and I didnt make the thread. hokay

[Who Soup]

that skull by vector master is pretty dope! what thread was that from?

EDIT:

whoops nvm haha

[Chemical Warfare]

Nice edition, 'twas a good read

[Pharcyde]

Awesome. Yet another edition ;). Cheers!

[Redwall]

Nice job as always.
🤝

[Phreakdaline]

Man that downtime messing with the news lol. 😁 Glad to see it wasn't too far behind.

[Hash G.]

:( I hit 1K rep and it was posted on the news list and I didnt make the thread. hokay

It'll be in the news the next week, it was reported too late.
Good job guys.

[wander is a multi dwc]

How is the Wiki Team recruitment not a part of the Site Group Recruitment section?

[Who Soup]

Man that downtime messing with the news lol. 😁 Glad to see it wasn't too far behind.

on top of that I was harassing hydra when the site was down 🤣