Every Single Article Written by N - All 1343
Is 4chan In Decline?
The internet started as bulletin boards. You dialed into them on an individual basis to chat with others, one post at a time, your identity backed only by a handle. Those bulletin boards later became the dial-up ISPs we knew as Compuserve and AOL. Then we didn’t need them anymore. We had raw access to the internet, we didn’t need those walled gardens. But for many communities – from web forums to IRC chats – the need for anonymity is still strong. That last bastion of anonymous hope? 4chan. But in an era where presenting yourself exactly as you are, with your identity exposed for all to see, makes a lot of economic and social sense, where does 4chan fit in the grand scheme of things?
Ever Wanted To Own A World of Warcraft Server? Well, Here’s Your Chance!
No, I’m not talking about the little private pirate servers you kids run and tweak variables and play with yourselves. That’s just sad, this is cool. After recently upgrading their hardware, some of which has lasted since the game’s tumultuous launch in late 2004/early 2005, these now-obsolete Hewlett-Packard server blades have been encased in glass and adorned with a plaque indicating the name of the server it hosted and its service period. The blades go for auction in four waves starting on October 17th with net proceeds going to St. Jude’s for kids.
Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil – Movie Review – An Almost-Clever Slasher Film
I almost didn’t see this film. When Kelly pitched it to me as ‘rednecks in the woods, but different’, every possible stereotype flooded my mind. I became sick almost immediately with ‘casual southern’ fatigue. Thankfully, this film’s a little bit more than that, but only a little bit. If you’ve ever seen a slasher film, you know the formula: group of college kids end up somewhere and are terrorized by the locals, torn to bits one by one. But in Tucker and Dale that the formula is flipped and our rednecks (Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine) are in fact the ones terrorized by the college kids.
Rage – The Final Review
You are about to witness the last, and most definitive, review about Rage. I have spent the past two weeks working out of a subway car, we call it the Fez Bar (pictured above), building this for you while Rob stands guard. It is comprehensive, it is thorough, it is pretty much everything you need. Plastered everywhere in the game’s marketing is the fact that this is indeed a game by id Software, makers of Doom and Quake. But, despite the pedigree, you’re gonna toss a lot of that out as the Mesquite-based shooter house has spent the better part of a decade assembling this post-apocalyptic adventure. Playing Rage will make other games look flat. It will make Fallout 3 look like chess. It’s also incredibly fun to play. Stay tuned for our Final Review of Rage after the break!
What Windows Phone Needs To Survive
Dear Microsoft,
You’re screwing this whole thing up. No, I take it back, not everything. Windows Phone as an OS, now with Mango, is now competent and as other major outlets have said, remarkably similar in capability or better than Android or iOS. So how can Apple unveil one phone this month and do almost as much business as your entire lineup this quarter before it even releases? You guys are absolutely failing in your obligation to provide this industry with a new standard. You’re putting billions behind it because you realize this is your only stable attempt to bridge the ecosystem between Windows and the post-PC universe, yet you have little to show for it. They’ve even been out for a year and I still don’t have one. Look, I don’t run your business, but I did try to save Best Buy, so let me try to bail you out, too.
The Thing (2011) – Movie Review – Limp Remake Imitating Prequel
If you were in any way, shape, or form anticipating this film, then the only optimistic thing you’re going to get out of this review is the gorgeous picture above of the dazzling Mary Elizabeth Winstead with a flamethrower. In anticipation of seeing this Thing, I went on Netflix last night and saw Jack Carpenter’s 1982 Thing and left it with the knowledge that I had seen a great horror film. Twenty minutes into this prequel, I began to hate it immensely. Why? Because despite claims otherwise, this film is an almost note-for-note remake of that better film; a suspense-free, overproduced imitation.
Facebook-Killer Diaspora Is Asking For More Cash, Do We Even Care Anymore?
Diaspora – n. – A group ejected from its homeland.
And so it was a year and a half ago, during the last big Facebook privacy kerfuffle, that a quartet of NYU students announced to the world their intention to build an open-source social network. By being decentralized with an altruistic agenda, they wanted to win over the people that Facebook alienated through foggy permissions to their content. With Diapsora, you would be free of corporate influence and data mining, allowing you to share your information at your own discretion. They asked for $10k through crowdfunding site Kickstarter and after a month, received twenty times that amount. So now you’re thinking “who in the world is Diaspora and why have I never heard of them before?” Well, that’s perhaps a key point because Diaspora is now asking for even more money.
Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop – Movie Review
It’s hard to believe it’s been almost two years since that drama between Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien went down over the Tonight Show. NBC eventually bought O’Brien out to the tune of nearly $45 million and prohibited him from being funny on TV for six months. So what did he and his production and writing staffs do in the meantime? Hatch a 45-date musical/comedy tour aptly named ‘The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour’. So while Conan and his crew went radio silent, they shot a documentary about the whole thing.
Dear Occupy Wall Street, You’re Just Wasting Your Time Now
Protests can be very interesting. In countries where they’re restricted or forbidden, they can be powerful enough to lift governments right off their feet. Where they’re systematically permitted and protected, they tend to be far more benign and symbolic. The greatest protest in American history is undoubtedly the Boston Tea Party in which colonists dumped three ships’ worth of tea into the harbor in direct response to external price controls. (If only Occupy Wall Street had thought of it first, eh?) This action was a huge building block for revolutionary rhetoric before the British were ousted in a protracted, bloody war. Occupy Wall Street pretends to be that important – with the vague goal of overhauling (or removing) our capitalistic system – but it’s ultimately a social media-enabled flashmob that’s gone on too far long to be effective.
Tesla Shows Me My Next Car, Won’t Take My Money
Tesla, bleeding edge electric car manufacturer, recently had a media day at their Fremont, California factory to show off the latest version of their Model S sedan. Engadget got to ride along and show off the car’s massive center console, all of which has whet my appetite for a nearly silent and incredibly modern vehicle that will sell for less than $100k when fully decked out. What, you don’t have a hundred large lying around for a new state-of-the-art ride? Well, turns out, neither do I…
