Issue 286 - Wednesday, 30th November 2016 - Kick Yourself Out, You're An Immigrant Too

• The Muni hacker becomes the hacked
• Proof that people suck at computers
• NZ internet is so much better than AU internet
• Electrolux wants to make the Uber of washing machines
• USA legislates the right to bag businesses

• Fallout 1.5: Resurrection
• Google has a nice photo screensaver for macOS
• Nintendo and Universal to make Nintendo themed areas at theme parks

NEWS

The Muni hacker becomes the hacked The Muni hacker/crpytolocker grenade thrower has received a taste of his own medicine, this time, getting owned himself. Someone reset his password by simply guessing the secret question/answer combo attached to the email address included in the Muni ransom, hahah. Meanwhile, Muni has begun to restore data and doesn't look like it intends on paying the ransom. Discuss

Proof that people suck at computers A recent report from the OECD that studied the computer skills of 215,942 people aged between 16 to 65, from 33 countries, found that people are pretty shit at computering. Only 5% of the OECD population has "high computer-related abilities" and only a third of them can do medium-complexity tasks. That's leaves 66% of people living amongst us who have computer skills equivalent of being able to put their pants on by themselves. Jakob Nielsen has a good summary of the report. Discuss

NZ internet is so much better than AU internet In other ICT rankings, New Zealand is now higher than Australia in the ITU global ICT development index. They're only marginally better than us, but the fact they have way better internet access than us and that their NBN-equivalent actually has room to grow (unlike ours) sees NZ in a much better position than Australia in the long term. Embarrassing. Also embarrassing is the fact people in Auckland can load a website hosted in Sydney faster than someone in Sydney can. Disgraceful, pathetic and sad. FYI, Wellington is a beautiful place and you don't need a visa to work in NZ. Think about it. Discuss

Electrolux wants to make the Uber of washing machines Electrolux has this crazy idea to make the Uber of washing machines. See, if you're not into the idea of owning a washing machine, or need extra washing capcity, the CEO of Electrolux wants you to be able to launch an app on your smartphone, find washing machines near you and enable you give money to the owner of that machine so that you can use it (with a cut for Electrolux I assume). I think this is stupid, but I thought Snapchat was stupid and look at it now. Discuss

USA legislates the right to bag businesses It will soon be ok to heap shit on businesses online in the USA. Congress has just passed the "Consumer Review Fairness Act" that'll make any provisions in a contract saying "youse won't say bad things about us on the internet and if you do, you gotta give us heaps of cash" void. Sounds like a good idea to me, but it's not as if people were really shackled from bagging businesses though and I would guess (like totally pulling it out of my arse, but based on a years working in retail) that a decent chunk of the complaints are actually bullshit pissant customers. Discuss

COOL SHIT

Fallout 1.5: Resurrection A mad cunt from the Czech Republic has made his own version of Fallout. Based on the Fallout 2 game, he made a mod called Fallout 1.5: Resurrection, that takes place between Fallout 1 and Fallout 2. It's an all original story and looks pretty cool if you're into the Fallout series of games. You need Fallout 2 to play, but it's pretty cheap on GOG. It's amazing how much effort some people put into these mods for no apparent reason besides they think it'd be cool to do it. Discuss

Google has a nice photo screensaver for macOS Google has released a screensaver for macOS that'll take nice photos people have uploaded to Google+ and rotate them around when you're not at your computer. It's pretty much the same as the screensaver on the Chromecast. I installed it and it is very nice - there should be an option to only show high res pics, some look a little blurry on the ol' 5K iMac. Discuss

Nintendo and Universal to make Nintendo themed areas at theme parks Nintendo and Universal Parks & Resorts are hooking up to make Nintendo themed sections at each of their theme parks: Universal Studios Japan, Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood. Sounds like a fine reason to visit Orlando and go hog wild visiting theme parks for a fortnight - Disney World, Universal, SeaWorld and Legoland. Take your kids there and you may as well submit your own application for parent of the year. Discuss

Here endeth the sizzle (until tomorrow!) --Anthony