parties

In online game, Tea Partiers make 'zombie' targets

A new online video game company has come up with a controversial new twist on the traditional zombie-killing gaming concept: the zombies targeted for kill are prominent figures in the Tea Party movement.

The game, Tea Party Zombies Must Die, features a handful of Tea Party members--including Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, and a blood-spattered, bra-clad Michele Bachmann--who the gamer is instructed to kill with either a "melee weapon" (in the first level, at least, it's a crowbar) or a gun.

Other featured Tea Party targets include: "Generic pissed off old white guy zombie," "Pissed off stupid white trash redneck birther zombie," "Factory-made blonde Fox News Barbie who has never had a problem in her life zombie," and "Glenn Beck Zombie (Back from the dead!)."

Upon the player's death, one is told, "You got Teabagged! P.S. You didn't have health insurance, so you died. P.P.S. There's no such thing as God, so you died for eternity."… Read more

The 404 892: Where estamos agradecidos de haber sobrevivido el huracan Eirene (podcast)

Hurricane Irene is over, but all we have to show for it is the five extra pounds we each gained from eating non-perishable foods (read: Dominos) all weekend.

The storm left tons of buildings, roads, and trees damaged, but the award for "Worst Irrevocable Damage" goes to Mayor Bloomberg for "trying" to address the Spanish-speaking population in their native language--and the subsequent Twitter parody @ElBloombito: "Go to worko. No excuso!"

CNET's own Sharon Vaknin makes her debut on The 404 Podcast today to replace our co-host Jeff Bakalar, who's currently re-evaluating his decision to live in Hoboken, N.J.

Joseph Kaminski from CNET Labs also joins us to discuss the stories of the day, including an app that lets New York drivers sell public parking spots to the highest bidder, a history lesson on the classic Windows XP default wallpaper, a big corporation making money off the hacker group Anonymous, and a secret list of celebrity XXX domain names removed from the adult market.

The 404 Digest for Episode 892

App lets NY drivers sell public parking spots to highest bidder. Ever wonder where the Windows XP default wallpaper came from? "@ElBloombito Twitter page bites back at Bloomberg's Spanglish. Secret list of celebrity .xxx domains removed from market. Time Warner gets royalties on every Anonymous mask worn on TV.

Episode 892 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Kia hamsters roll into a new ad campaign

Those hip hamsters of soul are back in a new ad campaign featuring "Party Rock Anthem," by the electro-pop group LMFAO.

The Kia hamsters have rolled through suburban neighborhoods and urban streets and are now in a dark, video game-inspired world to "Share Some Soul," in a new ad campaign.

The new campaign will feature 30- and 60-second TV spots as well as in-cinema, digital, and social media elements, Kia said in a statement.

The 60-second spot, available now on YouTube (check it out after the jump), will make its television debut on August 28 during … Read more

iCloud gets tested and priced

Skype releases and then pulls its iPad app, Microsoft stops publishing the locations of millions of mobile and Wi-Fi devices, and Apple opens up iCloud.com for testing and reveals pricing for extra storage.

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

Tea Party leader arrested on piracy charges

A leader of a South Carolina Tea Party group has been arrested for allegedly selling pirated software.

Anthony Trinca, 61, is accused of selling versions of Microsoft Office, Windows, Adobe Photoshop, and Rosetta Stone language programs that were counterfeit, news site TG Daily reported today, one of several outlets to write about it. Trinca, president of the Grand Strand Tea Party, was arrested on Tuesday after someone to whom he allegedly sold software resold some of it and refused to give a refund when a buyer insisted it was pirated, according to the police report. … Read more

Twitter beefs up your control over third-party apps

Twitter is now giving its users more control and clarity over what information third-party apps are allowed to access.

As defined in a recent blog, third-party apps are those that "automatically share your tweets on other networks, connect you to players on gaming platforms, or instantly tweet whenever you update your blog."

Common examples include third-party Twitter apps such as TweetBot, TweetDeck, and Twitterific. But they can include any Web site or service that taps into your tweets.

Such third-party apps need your permission to access certain information about your account. But in an effort to be more … Read more

5 steps for editing or deleting words in the Android dictionary

When typing out words that the dictionary on your phone doesn't know, it's easy to add them by tapping on them, or selecting add. Unfortunately, there are times when even the words we add are still not the correct spelling or format that we want the words to appear in. Here are five easy steps for fixing or getting rid of words you added by mistake:

If you are using the default keyboard that came with your phone:

1. Open the global Settings area on your phone.

2. Choose Language & keyboard from the list.

3. Now open … Read more

How to enable third-party app installation on most Android phones

With the arrival of Amazon's App Store, Android users have a new way to get their app and game fix. But while it is--overnight--the best known alternative app store, it's by no means the first. Third-party Android app stores such as AndAppStore, SlideMe, Handango, and GetJar and game developers such as Gameloft have been peddling their wares outside of the Android Market for some time now.

Additionally, smaller developers often offer alpha or beta versions of upcoming apps, while hackers and enthusiasts will sometimes make useful applets available to the Android community on forums and blogs. There are … Read more

Disable third-party cookies in IE, Firefox, and Google Chrome

European advertisers fear they will face a huge new obstacle this May when the European Union's Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive takes effect. The so-called Cookie Directive will require that users explicitly allow Web sites to leave cookies and other data on their machines, according to Raul Mendez on ChiefPrivacyOfficers.com.

It's unclear whether the opt-in requirement will be satisfied by the browser's setting that allows first- and third-party cookies. This uncertainty hasn't prevented some pundits from predicting the end of the world for the European advertising industry, as reported by TechCrunch Europe's Mike Butcher.… Read more

Twitter tells third-party developers to stop building clients

Twitter today told developers explicitly that they should stop making third-party clients, citing repeated privacy policy violations and an inconsistent user experience.

Ryan Sarver, who leads the company's platform team, said in an announcement on the company's developer discussion group that existing third-party clients can continue to operate but they will be held to rigorous standards of privacy and consistency. The micro-messaging company said it now makes the top five Twitter clients (including its Web site) and says 90 percent of its active users use its apps at least once a month.

The key quote is:

Developers have … Read more