Technabob » dumb

Fbi Probes Case of Alleged School Spying on Students via Webcam

Shane McGlaun — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:30:57 +0000

Back when I was in school, I often suspected that the teachers were dumbasses. I was never able to get the proof I needed back then, but a bunch of outright morons at a school district in Pennsylvania have proven me correct once and for all. There is some serious trouble brewing over allegations that the district was spying on students using the webcams in school issued Apple notebooks.

The whole thing started when a student at Harriton High School in Lower Merion district was called in to see vice principal Lindy Matsko back on November 11, and told that he was “engaged in improper behavior in his home” and cited as evidence a photo captured on his computer by the webcam. The student and his family filed suit against the district, which the FBI got wind of and launched on official probe. The school said the remote activation is a security feature to help recover stolen notebooks.

To put the moron icing on the dumbass cake, the district says that the paperwork the students signed (mostly underage students mind you) to get the school issued notebooks said that the webcams could be activated without prior notification. The parents and families of the students were never notified of the webcam activation clause, henceforth known as the clause of absolute stupidity. Witold Walczak legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania said, “This is an age where kids explore their sexuality, so there’s a lot of that going on in the room. This is fodder for child porn.”

Brilliant.

[via Washington Post]

Dumbest Person Ever

Technabob — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 17:40:35 +0000

I’m really hoping this forum post over on Blu-ray.com is fake…

According to the poster of the thread, his friend was wondering why his shiny new Playstation 3 had stopped working, when he discovered the unthinkable. His buddy decided to duct tape over the vents in order to keep dust OUT of the console. Yeah, that’ll keep it nice and clean.

I think we might have a new candidate for the Darwin Awards.

[via CrunchGear]

PS3 Backwards Compat Whacked for Uk and Australia

Technabob — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 22:23:13 +0000

Sony has revealed that its PlayStation 3 consoles to be released in UK, Europe, Australia and other countries this Spring will no longer have the Emotion Engine chip on board. This reduces the cost to produce the console, and also will kill much of the PlayStation 2 backwards compatibility found in US and Japanese systems.

While some may see this as a move which could bring the cost of the PS3 down in the future, the fact of the matter is that the console has so few worthwhile titles at present, that just about the only thing worth playing on it are last-gen games. I’ve clocked way more time playing Okami and God of War (and playing Blu-Ray movies) on my PS3 than I’ve spent playing PS3 games.

Word is that the system will still be compatible with select PS2 titles and will retain compatibility with PS1 games through software emulation, but I think this is just one more reason NOT to pick up a PlayStation 3, and a serious backwards step. If Sony wanted to remove the hardware-based compatibility in 2 or 3 years, AFTER there are plenty of quality PS3 titles, that would be a different story, but frankly, this just smells like a cost-cutting measure due to the poor launch results for the console. Unsurprisingly, Sony has made no announcements to pass on the cost reduction to consumers.

Boo, Sony.

[via Gamesblog]