Hasta La Gadget!

SACRAMENTO — As the Democrats who control the Capitol congratulated themselves over this week’s state budget deal, another dynamic emerged: support from across the political divide for Gov. Jerry Brown’s thrifty ways.

Republicans who a few years ago had enough clout to hold up spending plans and block tax increases now rely on the governor, once the epitome of liberalism, to give them a voice in budget talks. They praised Brown as “conservative” and “restrained” — even if their support lacked a certain warmth — saying he at least attempted to put the brakes on the Legislature’s more generous Democratic leadership.

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Earlier this month, Microsoft announced that it took down 1,400 Citadel botnets with the help of the FBI, and now Ballmer and Co. have divulged just how big of an impact the effort had. According to Richard Domingues Boscovich, the firm’s Digital Crimes Unit assistant general counsel, the operation freed at least 2 million PCs across the globe from the malicious code — and that’s a conservative estimate by his reckoning. It’s believed that more than $500 million has been stolen from bank accounts thanks to information gleaned from keystrokes logged by computers afflicted with the software. Though the chief botnet organizer is still on the loose and many machines are still burdened by Citadel, Domingues Boscovich says they “feel confident that we really got most of the ones that we were after.”

[Image credit: Edmund Tse, Flickr]

Filed under: Microsoft

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Source: Retuers

Okay PRISM. It’s enough already. Erosion of privacy! Whatever. Apathy is setting in. But actually we should probably all be putting some thought into what we’re doing with our private information. Maybe you’re already trying to. But it can feel like the walls have eyes no matter where you go. Prism Break is a guide to opting out.

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Nintendo was coy when it announced that its first free-to-play game will launch before the end of next March, divulging only that it wouldn’t belong to the Mario or Pokemon franchises. However, the firm’s Shigeru Miyamoto revealed to IGN that its first gratis title would be a Steel Diver game — yes, as in the 3DS launch title — featuring four-person multiplayer. Don’t expect a rehash though, as the pricing model will change the game’s design. Kyoto’s gaming powerhouse hasn’t settled on what business model they’ll lean on quite yet, but CEO Satoru Iwata mentioned during an E3 analyst Q&A that its unpaid games would be “balanced and reasonable.” The Big N noted that “free-to-play games, if unbalanced, could result in some consumers paying extremely large amounts of money, and we can certainly not expect to build a good relationship with our consumers in this fashion.” There’s still no word regarding which consoles this free installment of Steel Diver will grace, but Miyamoto teases that it’s something they’re hoping to show “relatively soon.”

Filed under: Gaming, HD, Nintendo

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Via: Joystiq

Source: IGN

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

Filed under: Misc, Internet, Google

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