Modern Warfare 3 will hit store shelves just in time for the holiday shopping season this November, according to news obtained and released by Kotaku. According to the blog, “multiple sources” have confirmed that the game will be released on November 8th, 2011 and will pick up where Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2 left off, completely changing the way people perceive the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare shooter franchise.

Here’s what we know: Modern Warfare 3 will span the globe, much like the previous game. The player will fight street battles in major cities like London, Paris, and New York, and many of those awe-inspiring places will be open for the game’s multiplayer modes. Modern Warfare 3 will also reportedly tie up a number of loose ends from the previous two games that left players hanging, and pick up almost immediately after the cliffhanger ending of Modern Warfare 2.

The game will reportedly start us off in New York City as the Russians attempt to invade the United States, and eventually take us around the world through 15 missions as multiple characters until we get to the game’s climactic final mission in Dubai. Gamers will be able to play characters on all sides of the conflict, and control multiple vehicles new and old, and tons of new weapons and hardware.

Multiplayer also makes a strong comeback in Modern Warfare 3, and even includes new game types and tons of new maps in addition to some of the older, more familiar multiplayer modes. None of Kotaku’s information has been confirmed by Activision yet, but it all looks solid, and it is unlikely Activision will stay quiet for long with this much information out in the wild.

Read more at Kotaku

Google’s Chrome browser has finally been hacked

This video shows a sophisticated 0-Day exploit created by VUPEN to execute arbitrary code on Google Chrome bypassing its sandbox, ASLR and DEP.

One browser you will notice is missing from that list is Google Chrome, the reason being its sandbox security measures have made it very tough to crack.

In fact, Google uses three types of security measure in Chrome that make it very difficult to exploit. They consist of Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), Data Execution Prevention (DEP), and the most commonly referred to sandbox.

ASLR means the data used for the executable, libraries, heap, stack, and address space are never in the same location twice in memory. This makes predictions tough for the hacker making certain types of exploit very difficult if not impossible to use. DEP stops code execution from a non-executable memory region which means the common buffer overflow exploits don’t work. Finally we have the sandbox, which sees each tab you open in Chrome get its own process and is stripped of its rights meaning it can’t affect anything other than itself on the system and in the browser.

Tough as all those measures sound and indeed are, Chrome has had its sandbox compromised this week by security company VUPEN. The video above shows the hack using a sophisticated zero-day exploit that manages to run arbitrary code through the browser. Most importantly, it bypasses the sandbox, ASLR, and DEP security measures.

The exploit works on both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows systems and executes silently meaning it can be used without the browser or system crashing. In order for it to work a user would just have to visit a website created to take advantage of the vulnerabilities.

As it uses new zero-day vulnerabilities VUPEN has discovered, it would be possible to use it on the most recent version of Chrome most of us end users will be running. However, for that to happen VUPEN would need to make the exploit public which it has no intention of doing. The only other way this could be used in the wild is if some other hacker has managed to find the same or similar exploits. Let’s hope not.

Read more at Vupen

Fox.com hacked, X-Factor contestant details leaked

Fox.com hacked.

While all the attention is laser-focused on the Sony PSN and SOE hacks, other high-profile sites and databases are being targeted and compromised by hackers.

The latest to fall is Fox.com and with it the most personal of details about every X-Factor 2011 contestant. The details available for each contestant includes:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Date of Birth
• Gender
• Phone Number
• Location (State)
• Zip Code
• Audition type
• Number of performers
• Several unnamed optional fields

The hacker group which compromised the site and grabbed the database goes by the name of The Lulz Boat or more commonly LulzSec. They describe themselves as a small group who are separate from the likes of Anonymous, but may help them out from time to time.

The announcement of the information leak came via the LulzSec Twitter account and included a link to a torrent hosted on The Pirate Bay containing all the data. It seems Fox.com hasn’t been defaced in anyway, and LulzSec were just after information they could steal and post for everyone to see. They have also promised that there is more to come, so who knows what else they managed to grab from Fox’s servers.

While not a major breach on the scale of Sony’s current woes, it does show that some of the most popular networks out there are lax with their website and online security in general.

We suspect a few of those contestants will have already turned their phones off having received many prank calls from people downloading the list and checking its authenticity.

via Reddit

Ultimate Extras make an unfortunate return to Windows 8

 The History Vault looks like it could really come in handy on the computers I administer (both at home and at work), the cloud profile synchronization will make switching between my desktop and laptop much more seamless, and the Windows Storeis set to provide a more convenient way for average users to discover and download new programs. With Windows 7, Microsoft did a very good job of fixing the annoyances created by Vista, and while the list of irritation in Windows 7 is substantially shorter, I think most of us are still hoping that Windows 8 is just as big a step forward as Windows 7 was.

What I don’t want to see is the return of past annoyances — like Ultimate Extras, for example, whichWinRumors says could very well make an unceremonious return in Windows 8.

In case you’re too young to remember or merely tried to block all recollection, Ultimate Extras was one of the biggest disappointments ever pushed by Microsoft. Users ponied up multiple hundreds of dollars for Vista Ultimate, partly because of the promise of awesome, exclusive content that would be made available via Windows Update later on. In the end, a handful of games was about all Ultimate users had to show for their hard-earned cash.

Now, Ultimate Extras have re-appeared in the leaked Windows 8 builds which are being shared on torrent sites. It’s my sincere hope that one of the two situations is true here:

1. This is only happening because Windows 8 is still in the very early stages of development, and Ultimate Extras won’t be part of the final release.
2. Microsoft does plan on offering Ultimate Extras in Windows 8, only this time they’ve learned their lesson and will offers some seriously amazing downloads.

If neither of those turns out to be true, Microsoft will further alienate Windows enthusiasts. People who are willing to pay the inflated price for a tricked-out version of an operating system need to be handled like VIPs — not forgotten about and left holding the bag.

More at WinRumors

The Dog

Rasta Dog. 

The smallest dog(10 cm). Boo Boo.

The ugliest dog in the world. Sam.

The dog world's largest. His name is Gipson and measures 108 cm at withers.

The dog towel, new breed ^^.

Redbox kiosks to offer video game rentals

If you thought that Redbox kiosks were only good for snagging a movie to watch on the way home from a long day at work, get ready to think again. The famous red disc-dispensing kiosks will start spitting out video games starting on June 17th, offering titles for the PlayStation3, Xbox 360, andNintendo Wii for $2 per day.

The new game rentals have been in testing at about 5,000 locations around the country for some time now, but Redbox says they’re finally ready to expand the program to their other 21,000 kiosks. According to the press release, video games will be introduced at the same time as Blu-Ray discs at Redbox locations nationwide. “Redbox will make discovering the latest games as easy as a trip to the local grocery, convenience, or drug store,” according to Redbox’s VP of Games, Joel Resnik.

It’s difficult for Redbox’s move not to be seen as a shot across the bow of companies that also rent games, like GameFly and Blockbuster (the latter now owned by Dish Network.) Blockbuster is the only competitor that has a local kiosk presence to compete with Redbox, while GameFly’s business model relies entirely on disc-by-mail.

It’s also clear that Redbox isn’t about to take the threat from a newly purchased Blockbuster lightly, and is looking for ways to differentiate itself from other services like Blockbuster and Netflix. Next month, it’ll be as easy as walking up to the kiosk outside your local convenience store to pick up a game you’ve wanted to try but didn’t want to buy. At $2/day, it won’t even hurt so much if the only way you can return it is to wait until your local grocery store is open the next day so you get access to the kiosk to drop off your disc.

Read more at Redbox via Engadget

Beyond the Labyrinth on 3DS looks gorgeous

Nintendo released the 3DS with the big selling point being the 3D without glasses. But it’s easy to forget, especially with the current crop of games, that the hardware offers up a lot of graphical performance over what the DS could ever achieve. It’s no PSP 2 (NGP), but it can produce some stunning visuals.

If you need proof of that look no further than the latest batch of screenshots for Beyond the Labyrinth. Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu has just posted them on its website and I think you’ll agree we should all start expecting better looking games on the platform.

The visuals remind us a lot of Ico, which is no bad thing. As for the story and gameplay it looks to be a 3D dungeon type affair with the main character being a young girl as seen in the images. Apparently she will be very vocal as you play through the game suggesting she might be the hint system and this is a game with some maze-like navigation puzzles.

Beyond the Labyrinth is being published by Konami and developed by tri-Ace. Previous titles from them include the Star Ocean, Valkyria Profile, and Resonance of Fate.

We don’t know when the game will be released, but it is thought to be around 60% finished making us think a mid-2012 launch is on the cards.