farmville

On today's Buzz Out Loud, Jason confesses his noob security mistake, Consumer Reports wants the world to know they STILL don't recommend the iPhone 4. Plus, Mark Zuckerberg's Hollywood moment isn't going to be as fun as he hoped, and we predict the MPAA will go nuclear if rumors of a permanent HDCP crack are true.

Last century's cash crops included tobacco, cotton, and sugar cane. Now we have magic cauliflower and super berries, too--and even though they can't be sold at market, some people still toil from dawn to dusk cultivating them.

People spend not just real time but also real money growing these crops in virtual farming games that combine the allure of both games and social networking in what is usually a cute and deceptively simple package. They can be addictive: many users come back at least once a day to micromanage their farms and deal with other users' requests.

On … Read more

The social network stands up to Googlezon's net neutrality proposal, and meanwhile plots Foursquare's demise. Also Farmville pulling up stakes at MSN, and your car's tire pressure sensors can be hacked by drive-bys. Everybody panic!

Editors' note, Wednesday 6:52 a.m. PDT: TheChive.com has fessed up: It's a hoax. "We couldn't have pulled this one off without the help of this adorable young woman," an actress named Elyse Porterfield, the Chive-sters said in a short, photo-filled blog post.

Heroism is in even shorter supply than employment these days.

So how can one not be transported to a better place by the story of the personal assistant who seems to have had enough of her boss and decided to reveal his true being? Which, as Mark Zuckerberg has taught us, … Read more

Update, July 7: This post has been updated to include additional games.

It's time to add a new selection of entries to our list of PC games well-suited for Netbooks. Especially as we expect to see many of these low-cost, low-power laptops in the hands of students during the back-to-school season, it's important to have a little action/RPG/adventure/puzzle break handy when one gets tired of taking lecture notes.

As usual, many of these entries are re-releases of classic games, originally available when even high-end computer hardware was at best comparable with today's entry-level systems. Online services such as Good Old Games and Steam are great resources for these.

One important exception is the new online gaming service OnLive, which takes current high-end PC games, renders the 3D graphics remotely, then streams you the video as you play. It sounds like a crazy idea, but it actually works pretty well, even on Netbooks. Check out our extensive hands-on look at OnLive here.

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Clearly the biggest news to come out of Steve Jobs' keynote for the World Wide Developers Conference was the announcement of the iPhone 4, which is coming June 24 with preorders starting June 15. But among the feature announcements and hardware teaser images, Jobs also announced the availability of some new apps that will take advantage of the new hardware.

Netflix for iPhone was a welcome announcement, with the iPad version of the app already popular with its streaming "Watch Instantly" capabilities. According to Apple, now you'll be able to start a movie on your iPad or … Read more

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--To an unenlightened observer, Ron Haidenger's demonstration of playing a video game by tilting a piece of cardboard back and forth looks more than a little bit nutty.

But to anyone wearing his company's computer-enhanced glasses, which seamlessly delete the image of the cardboard and replace it with a metal ball spinning through a gleaming three-dimensional maze, it's a near-hypnotic experience.

"The response no matter where we show it is phenomenal," says Haidenger, manager of Vuzix's consumer division. "There's a huge hunger in the market for AR hardware."

AR is, of course, short for "augmented reality." The concept isn't entirely new: it's crept into public consciousness in the last few years in the form of those virtual yellow line markers in broadcasts of football games and heads-up displays in some cars.

But a new crop of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists has more ambitious plans. They gathered here this week in the Santa Clara Convention Center for a conference that's not called one--the official title is the first Augmented Reality Event--to come up with concepts that will convince all but the most technophobic that they should be looking at the world through a new set of spectacles. … Read more

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced new privacy features for the site on Wednesday. The controls are simpler but not private by default. You still have to seek out privacy settings and change them if you care about controlling who sees what.

But this does seem to be an improvement.  Here is a short

You can now control who can see and interact with each and every thing that you post on a day-to-day basis. Facebook is calling this Granular Data Permission. There is also just one setting that turns off access to your information by third party sites … Read more

The mood over at Farmville is less "Animal Farm" and more "Charlotte's Web"--or that's what the big tech companies involved would like us all to think.

In what may be the culmination of one of the past year's silliest Silicon Valley high-stakes playground games--or, perhaps more appropriately, barnyard games--social gaming giant Zynga and social network Facebook have put out a press release to announce that they are not, in fact, feuding. Actually, they've reached an agreement! For five whole years! In the name of all that is good and right in … Read more