Corporate Spyware?

You may or may not be familiar with what spyware is. You probably just know that it's bad.

Spyware is a form of malware that monitors one's computer usage and can even steal login information, personal info, browsing history and more.

Spyware is bad news.

And now some companies might have spyware-esqe features built into their programs.

Wait what?

Electronic Arts' new Origin digital download service caused quite the stir when it was discovered that by agreeing to the EULA (that thing no one ever reads) you were essentially giving EA permission to monitor what you do on your computer such as software usage, take your personal information, track your browsing habits, and sell this information to advertisers.

And there's no opt out feature. You can't use the service unless you agree to their terms.

Origin is EA's computer platform for distributing their PC games digitally. This includes big name games like Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. If you want to play any of these games on your computer you need Origin.

So if you want to play one of these games, you have no choice but to agree to the terms.

2. Consent to Collection and Use of Data.

You agree that EA may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer (including the Internet Protocol Address), operating system, Application usage (including but not limited to successful installation and/or removal), software, software usage and peripheral hardware, that may be gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, dynamically served content, product support and other services to you, including online services. EA may also use this information combined with personal information for marketing purposes and to improve our products and services. We may also share that data with our third party service providers in a form that does not personally identify you. IF YOU DO NOT WANT EA TO COLLECT, USE, STORE, TRANSMIT OR DISPLAY THE DATA DESCRIBED IN THIS SECTION, PLEASE DO NOT INSTALL OR USE THE APPLICATION. This and all other data provided to EA and/or collected by EA in connection with your installation and use of this Application is collected, used, stored and transmitted in accordance with EA’s Privacy Policy located at www.ea.com. To the extent that anything in this section conflicts with the terms of EA’s Privacy Policy, the terms of the Privacy Policy shall control.

EA can then essentially gain access to your whole hard drive, not necessarily programs directly related to Origin.

This crosses an ethical line.

Say you have a house. You want to install a new kitchen in your house. But what if the company installing your new kitchen was also going to install cameras and listening devices throughout your whole house and collect data on your habits and other items in your house. And then sell that information to third parties.

Not cool.

That's what EA has done with Origin, but instead of your house it's your computer.

EA stands to make a lot of money selling your info to advertisers.

Is it okay for corporations that track information on your computer to sell that information to third parties?

Spying on you and using that information for profit?

Most certainly not.

EA did update the EULA for Origin in response to the outrage and said this:

“EA would never sell your personally identifiable information to anyone, nor would it ever use spyware or install spyware on users’ machines. We and agents acting on our behalf do not share information that personally identifies you without your consent, except in rare instances where disclosure is required by law or to enforce EA’s legal rights.”

 EA will still collect information from your computer, they just removed the clause saying they can sell it. Though that's no reason to believe they still won't.

Is EA opening the way for other companies to follow suit with more corporate spyware?

I sure hope not, but only time will tell.

We will have to be vocal in opposing corporate spyware if we want it to go away.

Keep your personal information how it belongs: personal.

Oppose corporate spyware. 

Computing bursts for Smartphones

Smartphones!

Everyone has them!

Well almost everyone. I don't have one (and I'm ok with that.)

But for the most part more and more people are getting smartphones. It's come to the point where you're pretty much the odd one out if you don't have one.

Well good news for those of you who do have smartphones!

A study team from the computer science and engineering departments at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan with what they call computational sprinting.

Transient behavior of initiation and termination of sprinting. Image credit: Computational Sprinting, Proceedings of the 18th Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecture (HPCA 2012).

Their method is aimed at all mobile environments, which mostly pertains to smartphones, but reaches other devices as well.

The researchers aim to overcome the current performance constraints present in current smartphones. The problem with the way current smartphones operate is that their processors are made for sustained performance, when in reality most smartphone applications are characterized by short bursts of intense computation punctuated by long idle periods.

The method of computational sprinting, along with the use of chips with over 12 processing cores would essentially fix this issue and result in better performance in handheld devices.

What does this mean for the field of computer science?

If this new processing method for mobile devices takes root we might see a surge in more mobile computing systems being used in all fields, which by extension means more productivity in all other fields. As mobile computing becomes more and more efficient, computers are going to become smaller and smaller, reducing materials needed to produce them and as such production costs.

Computational sprinting may very well pave the way to processing breakthroughs in different areas of the field of computer science.

What does this mean for the public?

Computational sprinting, if it succeeds, will mean more powerful smartphones in your hand. Response times will be quicker and processing power will be much more efficient. Running multiple applications at once will be less strenuous on your phone.

A Technical Review of Gears of War 3

I needed to choose something in the field of computer science to review, and I thought why not a video game? A review of something interesting would be much more captivating and fun to write than say, a review of a compiler or a new programing language IDE. And best of all, you obviously don’t have to be in the field of computer science to enjoy this product!

I’m a computer science major and as you might guess I play a lot of video games. (Heck I write another blog about video games.) I’m very interested in not only playing games but learning about what goes in to making them.

Video games fit well into the realm of the field of computer science. They are as much a feat of programing and computing prowess as they are artistic and creative.

On the surface of a game we see the work of the artists, hear the work of the composer, and live the work of the writers, but beneath all of that is the work of the programmers, the designers, and the developers.

Thousands upon thousands of lines of code go into making a modern video game run well.  

Today I’m going to review Gears of War 3, a video game that came out last November.

There are plenty of websites out there with their own reviews of Gears of War 3 so I’m not going to run through things like the story or the multiplayer, but rather I’m going to focus on more technical elements of the game. I’m also not going to offer too much opinion or conjecture, because that’s something I do over on my other blog.

Gears of War 3 is a fantastic game. It runs on the now industry standard Unreal Engine, a physics/graphics engine that powers the game and dictates how different objects interact with each other and behave in the game world.

The Unreal Engine is such a popular engine for developers for a reason. It’s one of the best out there, and it absolutely shines in Gears of War 3, developed by Epic Games, the same company that produces the Unreal Engine.

Getting the lighting right before finishing the models. 

Gears of War 3 touts some of the most impressive lighting I’ve seen in a game to date. Lighting is something you might take for granted while playing a game; the way the light filters through particles in the air, the way shadows are cast, and the way explosions affect the light.

Many games struggle to get the lighting just right, but the lighting in Gears 3 is very impressive and something to admire when you play it.

The physics in Gears of War 3 are superb. The characters in the world have a real sense of weight when they slam into cover and run across the battlefield. They way bodies and chunks fly apart and react to the environment is also very well done. More impressive than the body physics is the water physics. Gears of War 3 has some very natural water that reacts how you would expect it to when something passes through it or splashes into it rather than just a pre-determined splash animation.

Physics are a hard thing to nail down in games, but Gears 3’s physics are spot on.

Graphics! “Are the graphics good Joe? I like good graphics!”

Though graphics are not what make or break a game, they are an important part of the experience. Gears of War 3 has some of the most impressive graphics on the current generation. The lines are crisp and the environment has just the right level of realism without edging too near to the uncanny valley.

You’ll have nothing to complain about when it comes to graphics in Gears 3.

One last thing that a lot of people overlook is the graphical user interface, or GUI. Essentially it’s the menus in the game.  Gears 3 has a very simple front end GUI that gets you where you need to be fast.

The only thing I found to be a bit odd was that the multiplayer options were buried within a few other menus, but not too deep to be a real bother.

When it comes to technical achievement Gears of War 3 does not fall short in a single area. I give Gears 3 a 5/5 in the technical aspects of the game. And if you were wondering I give it a 5/5 in the areas of story, gameplay, and multiplayer as well.

The Field of Computer Science

I'm an undergraduate student at NDSU and my primary major is computer science (I’m also majoring in international studies). That means when I grow up I get to be a scientist! A computer scientist.

How fun does that sound?

The field of computer science is broken into many different subfields, from computational complexity theory, to computer graphics, to programing languages, human computer interaction and much more.

Computer science might just be one of the most important fields out there today. The advent of computers and computer scientists has completely reshaped society and the way the world functions. There are computers in virtually every device and system in existence today.

The work done in the field of computer science affects almost all other areas of study as well as shares ideas with them. Computer science research often includes other disciplines such as linguistics, mathematics, physics, statistics, and logic.

Most of the work done in the field of computer science actually involves manipulating programs and software, not the computers themselves.

"Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes." - Edsger Dijkstra

Who goes into computer science?

Well, me, for one.

Who else? Anyone really. It takes a lot of patience and the ability to think logically, but anyone can get into computer science if they’re interested in doing more with computers than facebook.

Computer scientists want to use technology to make the world better and more exciting.

Let’s imagine a world without computer scientists. A world with no one to write new programs, no one to manage databases or information systems, a world with no one to come out with new operating systems, or cell phone apps.

What would that world be like?

It would suck wouldn’t it?

When you text someone next think of this: someone had to code a program in your phone that allows you to compose a text message. Almost every simple task that we take for granted is affected and made possible by computer science.

The website on which you're reading this text was only made possible by computer science. Someone had to code this webpage and all its elements. 

Computer science is a very complex and diverse field that has found its niche in every facet of society. 

My Nook Dilemma

I love reading.

I'm glad my parents got me into reading books when I was younger. Movies are nice and all, but books do so much more for you.

Being a big geek and tech lover, the next logical step in being such an avid reader would be getting an e-reader no?

I really think I would enjoy getting a Nook (I love Barnes & Noble). My roommate has a Nook, my girlfriend has a Nook, and my other friend has a Nook. They seem pretty great. Having one would be great for travelling; I could have as many books as I wanted and they would take up no space!

I want one. I think :\

BUT


I love books! Real books. Having a real book in your hands feels so much better than reading off an e-reader. You can see how far you've made it through a book and track your progress. You can feel the paper in your fingers.  Then when you're done with it you can put it on your shelf, almost like a trophy.


I love owning books. I just put up a bookshelf in my room the other day so I could fill it with my books. It feels good to have a shelf full of books rather than a shelf full of movies.

I would rather have something like this in my home than something like this:

I even collect books in Skyrim! My character in Skyrim is a deprived murderer with hardly any morals, but I go out of my way to collect books and fill my house with them.

My house in Skyrim looks like that, but with more books. LOTS more books. I don't even read the books I grab in Skyrim, but I collect them nonetheless! 

I love the satisfaction of having a collection of books, which in the end seems to be the biggest deterrent to me getting an e-reader. 

Do you have an e-reader? Which do you prefer? How do you feel about all this? Do you love owning real books? Or are you indifferent? 

I'm torn on this decision... I would love to hear your advice! Leave comments below!

The Amazing Adventures of The Rogue and Neon Girl!

I stumbled onto this site today.

I was chilling with my girlfriend between classes and I decided to make Neon Girl, who she claims her superhero would be. She's neon girl because she's so pale.

I also decided to make myself a super hero. The Rogue. (Not simply Rogue because that's already an X-Men character.)

This is Neon Girl. She uses bright light of her neon skin to blind and stun her enemies. 

This is The Rogue, Neon Girl's superhero boyfriend. He has an awesome magical sword, but if the baddies are too far away for the sword he just shoots them. 

Together The Rogue and Neon Girl fight crime and evilness in Fargo! They prowl the city looking for people who just don't know how to park properly or are just plain douche bags and they deal with them appropriately.

Their arch nemesis is the Evil Count Drunkass! *Dun dun duunnn!*

Count Drunkass's super powers include toxic belches, pinpoint accurate projectile vomiting, insulting women, smashing things, and more. 

He is Neon Girl and The Rogue's greatest foe. They have encountered him many times but have yet to defeat him. 

Bison Man

I really love this picture and want it framed in a fancy antique frame.

I like to think he was some kind of wild west superhero vigilante who was transformed into a bison man after being struck by lighting while touching a bison. 

This picture is just bad ass. 

The end.