September, 2014 - Softonic English

Titanfall’s update 6 out tomorrow with new mode

Repawn’s Titanfall, the multiplayer shooter that sees soldiers and huge mechs (Titans) fighting side by side, gets its sixth update tomorrow. The biggest change is a new mode that omits the huge robots altogether, called Pilot Skirmish.

The new mode is an 8 versus 8 match, with no additional AI (artificial intelligence) soldiers, and no Titans. That makes it more like a traditional FPS multiplayer match, although the parkour-like abilities of the pilots means it will still be very fast. Respawn say Pilot Skirmish will not be included in ‘Variety Pack’ playlists, due to its difference in player size. Normal Titanfall matches have 6 human players.

Other changes in update 6 include new modes for colorblind players, and the ability to buy individual ‘burn cards’, which give you additional powers during games. Players will now no longer be penalized for joining a game late – if you do so and win, it counts in your stats, but if you lose, that will not appear on your record.

Read the official update from Respawn for more details.

Minecraft 1.8, The Bountiful Update, is out now

The latest major update to Mojang‘s massive creative survival game Minecraft is now available. We’re now at Minecraft 1.8, ‘The Bountiful Update‘, so called because of the many changes and items it introduces to the game.

If you own Minecraft, you’ll receive the update automatically when you start the game’s launcher, and the number of changes is huge. You can see the full list over at developer Mojang’s blog. There are new blocks like Granite and Red Sandstone, doors and fences that now come in all wood variants, and the ‘max render distance’ (how far you can see) has been extended by 512 blocks. These, are only a few of many updates in the latest version– Minecraft 1.8 has had the longest development time of any update at over 300 days.

The update also fixes some bugs. The main ones fix the behavior of ‘Creepers’ so that they do not cause damage unless they’re activated by a human (they were being activated with ‘iron golems’, which was a mistake). Creepers are the now iconic Minecraft monsters that roam around slowly until they are close to a player, at which point they speed up, giving chase before exploding, destroying your constructions or your player (or both).

Download Minecraft for Windows and Mac.

Source: Mojang

Apple is ‘actively investigating’ possible iCloud security breach

The huge theft of private celebrity photos this weekend has led to speculation that they were found as a result of hacking Apple’s iCloud, it’s cloud backup system for iOS devices. Apple has responded saying it is ‘actively investigating’ this possible violation of iCloud security.

There are a number of theories about how a hacker might have gained access to data stored in iCloud. One is the victims failing to have ‘two factor authentication‘ enabled on their phones. This system, which is becoming increasingly popular, means that to access your account, you need to give both your password and a special code, typically sent to your mobile device at the moment you attempt to sign in. Apple introduced this in March 2013 (calling it two-step verification), but users are not obliged to use it.

Another theory is that a hacking tool, shared on Github, which allows you to repeatedly guess Apple ID account passwords, might have been the culprit. There is no evidence this is true, but Apple did not fix this vulnerability until yesterday. Now, you have limited attempts at guessing a password before it is reset.

The attacks could also be the result of ‘phishing’, where users are sent authentic-looking emails which ask then to enter their login details. As ever, the best advice is to never give up your login details by email, and double check that any site you do enter is legitimate.

The leak could also be the result of simple device theft. Whatever it turns out to be, even if it’s an exploit of poor security, it’s very likely to be a criminal act that could result in prosecution, as happened with a similar celebrity story in 2005. Theft of private data is illegal, and the insistence by some users on the use of Reddit and 4Chan to widely distribute the photos, where people do not reveal the source of the leaks, suggests that the leaker is very aware of this illegality.

We will return to this story when we have more details.

Source: Re/Code, The Next Web

Month: September 2014

Titanfall’s update 6 out tomorrow with new mode

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