Sony Hires Former Homeland Security Director

Sony Corp. has hired a former director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Most of you will recall that Sony Computer Entertainment was a victim of hackers, leaving its PlayStation Network service down for several weeks. In addition to being reamed in the press, Sony had to spend a ton of money to compensate its customers for the outage. The company is hoping that a Homeland Security expert will be able to defend SCE, Sony Music, Sony Pictures, etc. from future “cyber attacks”.

Here’s more from the LA Times:

Philip Reitinger, formerly the director of Homeland Security’s National Cyber Security Center, will join Sony in the newly created position of chief information security officer and a senior vice president.

Reitinger has also worked for the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice and holds a law degree from Yale, Sony said.

As a frequent flyer, when I think of the Department of Homeland Security I automatically think of its Transportation Security Administration — you know, those people that molest and take naked photos of you at the airport. I’ve been asking several of my Sony friends if they have to have their “packages” searched before entering the office. *snicker*

Seriously though, it’s a smart hire for Sony. Hiring accomplished hackers is a great way to bolster security, but hiring a “gubment” bigwig will make shareholders feel safer. Plus, I’m going to get at least a week of jokes to use on my Sony friends.

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Monday Housekeeping: Social Toolbar Buttons Like?

– After a horrific August with AnHosting, site performance seems to be solid again. If you notice any issues, please let me know. Traffic is up again and hopefully the next few months will help improve the site’s ranking. It took a major hit in August because of the constant outages. It’ll take some time, but I’m confident that the ranking will rise again. I’d love to get the Alexa numbers back under 100,000.

– You’ll notice a pretty significant change to individual posts. I removed the social buttons that are native to this WordPress theme and replaced them with a small toolbar at the end of each post. The change improves the load time of individual stories and improves functionality. The new toolbar is simple and implements several popular services. Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon buttons are present. The new toolbar makes it super easy for you to share any RPad.tv stories that you like. Play it with it and let me know what you think (please)!

– I did have a question about the toolbar placement. One of the options is to leave it floating on the left-hand side of each individual story. It’s much more noticeable, but in my opinion it crosses the line to the obnoxious side. Leaving it at the end of each story is subtler, but also easier to skip. What do you guys and gals think? Do you like the toolbar where it is? Would it bother you to see it floating on the left-hand side?

This Week’s Videogame Releases

It’s September! Do you know what this means?!? It means that my birthday is soon…and a rush of great videogames is upon us! Insomniac’s Resistance 3 is sure to dazzle PlayStation 3 owners looking for some excellent action. Driver: San Francisco adds a Quantum Leap-like twist to this fine vehicular-action series. Dead Island drew people in with its hauntingly beautiful trailer, but will the kids be pleased with the final product? Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine features a marine in space…kind of like another console shooter. Fans of vampires — the bloody kind, not the sparkly kind — will want to check out BloodRayne: Betrayal. Out of all the sweet games being released this week, I’m looking forward to Disgaea 4 the most. Tactical RPGs rule!

Any of you picking up new games this week?

Coffee Talk #394: What’s the Most You’ve Spent on a Game?

Remember when you’d buy a game at a store and that was the end of your spending? DLC, online fees like Xbox Live, monthly MMO subscriptions, item packs, etc. have made gaming more expensive than ever. I’m curious…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, the crappy playing conditions at the U.S. Open (tennis), celebrating Josh Beckett’s sprained ankle, or why people think Victor Ortiz has a chance against Floyd Mayweather, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

Remember when you’d buy a game at a store and that was the end of your spending? DLC, online fees like Xbox Live, monthly MMO subscriptions, item packs, etc. have made gaming more expensive than ever. I’m curious to learn what game you’ve spent the most money on. Was it an MMO that kept you addicted for years? Was it an action game with consistently great DLC maps? I want to know!

As for me, it’s probably Dragon Age. In addition to buying the game, I’ve purchased all the playable DLC and an expansion pack. That’s more than $100 on a single game! I understand that the economics of gaming are different and BioWare has provided me with dozens of hours of entertainment, but damn! It just feels expensive when you add it all up (no regrets though, I heart BioWare).

So what’s the most you’ve spent on a single game? Kindly share the title and the estimated dollar amount. Was it money well spent? Or does looking through the retroscope give you buyer’s remose?

Amazon Android Tablet Coming in November for $250?

TechCrunch’s resident Apple fanboy MG Siegler nabbed a helluva scoop on Amazon’s upcoming Android tablet. He claims to have had hands-on time with a prototype. Dubbed the Amazon Kindle, the tablet is slated for a November release for a price of $250. It uses a highly customized version of Google Android that focuses on Amazon services like Amazon Cloud Player, Amazon Instant Video, Amazon Kindle, and Amazon App Store. Here are some other details:

  • Seven-inch screen
  • No physical buttons
  • Interface similar to iTunes Cover Flow
  • The default Google Android apps are not present
  • Possibly running a single-core processor
  • Possibly only 6GB of internal storage
  • No camera

Some of you will remember that I’m pretty amped for Amazon’s Android tablet. I use a lot of Amazon and Google services, so it sounds ideal for me. That said, I’m alarmed that the default Android apps aren’t on the Kindle. It looks fantastic for “play”, but without the native Gmail app it’s far less useful to me for “work”.

Again, it’s a great scoop from Siegler and I highly recommend checking out the article. When you’re done with that, please let me know what you think of the Amazon Kindle Android tablet.

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Random Thoughts (Not a Review!) on Justice League #1

I’ve read Justice League #1 about a dozen times since I downloaded it earlier in the week. As some of you know, this comic book kicks off the DC Universe reboot. Characters are getting modernized, costumes are being updated, origins are getting revamped…and it all starts here (Goonies?). While I’m still not sure about the entire reboot, I can say for sure that I enjoyed Justice League #1. Here are some random thoughts on the issue (with minor spoilers).

– The image above is one of my favorite panels in the book. I love how it shows off Hal Jordan’s brashness. I also love the slight smirk on Batman’s face. And really, this is what’s cool about the reboot and Justice League in particular. Seeing how superheroes react when they meet each other for the first time is cool.

– You can tell that this comic book was made with tablets in mind. A lot of the older books I’ve downloaded have some awkward panels that make scrolling on a tablet feel awkward. Obviously the artists and editors didn’t think about tablets when they were making these books a decade ago (or more). Justice League #1 was completely smooth on my iPad 2. While I miss some of the creative things artists can do with odd-sized panels, the new style works much better on tablet computers.

– The new costumes are pretty cool so far. The Green Lantern one isn’t too different, but Jim Lee’s take on Batman and Superman is fresh and modern. A lot of the little details, such as Batman’s lobster-like gauntlet, look cool and make sense. Superman’s costume, with its built-in cape, is definitely interesting. He only had a splash page and I can’t wait to see more of the new outfit. Wonder Woman didn’t appear in the first issue, but I’m pleased to see that the revamped Wonder Woman knows that it’s easier to fight evil in pants than in a bikini.

– I’m probably in the minority here, but I love where Geoff Johns is going with Victor Stone. As some of you know, I’m fascinated by tweener superheroes and I can’t wait to see how they revamp Stone’s origin as Cyborg.

– Justice League #1 did what it was supposed to do — get me interested in the new DC Universe. I like the direction this book is going in and I’m curious to see how the rest of DC shapes up. I’ll definitely pick up a few other books — definitely Justice League International — and will probably buy more than I planned on simply because this issue was so intriguing.

PlayStation 4 Coming in 18 Months?

You already know that Nintendo will have a new console (Wii U) in 2012, but what about its competitors? Well if Bitmob’s source is to be believed then you can expect a new PlayStation in about 18 months (Q1 2013). According to the site:

An anonymous source shared a quote with me, direct from what they described as a “high-level meeting” at Sony: “PlayStation 4 in 18 months.”

My source — who, I hasten to add, isn’t a neophyte, an outsider, a gossip, a fake, or a show-off — remains convinced for excellent reasons, and I trust that conviction. PlayStation 4 in 18 months. Done deal.

Some of you will recall that the PlayStation 3 launched in November 2006 and that Sony has been adamant about the console having a 10-year lifespan. Launching and supporting a new system would detract from that. Then again, Sony has had a rough (though still successful) outing with the PS3. Perhaps it might be wiser to start anew and learn from its mistakes this generation in order to dominate once more.

What do you think? What are the chances of the PlayStation 4 hitting in 2013? Is Bitmob’s source believable or is it just a bunch of hot air?

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Netflix Picks: The Wedding Banquet

Isn’t this the month that we’re supposed to cancel our Netflix subscriptions because of the price hike?!? Ha! Before you do that, I urge you to check out The Wedding Banquet. This recent addition to Netflix streaming is one of my favorite films of all time. It covers New York, Asian-American issues, generational-gap issues, cross-cultural issues, and homosexual issues. It’s a fantastic movie that will make you laugh, cry, and think. Please, please, please check it out before you cancel your Netflix sub!

Now its your turn to suggest one movie we should all watch. Please make sure it’s available on Netflix streaming.

Coffee Talk #393: Are Phones Getting Too Big?

At IFA 2011, several mobile phone manufacturers showed off super-sized models. I’m talking about electronics that some feel are too big to be considered a phone, but are too small to be considered a tablet. Two examples are…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Klatch’s Panama Kotowa Duncan, the soul-crushing struggle of job hunting, or AJ Burnett raising his game to mediocre levels, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

At IFA 2011, several mobile phone manufacturers showed off super-sized models. I’m talking about electronics that some feel are too big to be considered a phone, are but too small to be considered a tablet. Two examples are the Samsung Galaxy Note (5.3-inch screen at 1280 x 800) and the HTC Titan (4.7-inch screen at 800 x 480). Considering that some people feel that phones like the HTC Thunderbolt (4.3-inch screen) are too big, I’m curious to see how consumers will react to these larger phones.

As for me, I’m all for phones like the Galaxy Note. I love that it packs a large screen and a high resolution. Right now I’m alternating between the Thunderbolt and the T-Mobile G2x by LG. While the four-inch screen on the G2x is certainly large, lately I’ve found that I prefer the larger screen on the Thunderbolt. More than anything else, I use my phone for reading. Whether it’s web sites or emails, a larger screen and a higher resolution would make things easier and more enjoyable for me.

How about you? What do you think of phones featuring screens that are larger than 4.7 inches? Are they too big? Or could you see yourself rocking one?