Is Privacy Important?

Over the past two months, I have been asking myself and my social networks the same question. The answers I have sought to uncover were masked by partisan politics and moral indecision. Following the advice of Richard Ledgett (of the NSA) I continued to learn and dig into the facts about Internet and Cyber Privacy. What I found, and what I learned, opened my eyes to a world that I had never seen before – the world of digital warfare. We All Need a Mentor At my first teaching job, I worked with “At-Risk” High School Students in Colorado. It was an eye-opener in a number of...

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Shifting Privacy

Privacy is important to me. I had forgotten that. As a technologist, and an amateur hacker, I spent five years of my life learning the means to hack by joining gangs and buying books. Back then, I was an idealist, and definitely toed the grey line of technology. I thought I was awesome – I had created an alias that I used to learn about hacking and I had this great little rig (8″ eePc running BackTrack) that I used to exploit networks around the College. I still remember the first time that I broke a into a WEP Network. It was exhilarating, liberating, and mostly terrifying. My...

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Game Review: Dead Trigger 2

Dead Trigger is one of my favorite iOS franchises. Even though it has been in my Pocket since I first owned an iPhone 3, I have never taken the time to review a game in the franchise. When the first game came out, I spent hours leveling my character so that I could smoke a couple of zombies with the crossbow and golden gun. Dead Trigger had everything you wanted: waves of endless zombies, creative weapons, and an engaging storyline. Dead Trigger 2 has been out for some time now and it takes the mold made by Dead Trigger and creates a more engaging story and improves upon its own gameplay mechanics.

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Game of the Week: Eclipse New Dawn for the Galaxy

Eclipse is an epic board game. I have not had the pleasure of trying the physical game, but I have seen it played in videos. What an intense game!

Eclipse for the iPad is also a significant undertaking. If you have never seen the game before, think of it as a mixture of Carcassonne and Risk. Each player uses a turn to expand (placing tiles), build armies and fleets, or grow their economic might. As the game evolves, it becomes more and more difficult. Players change the physical board in each round, making more opportunities and removing play options each turn. I have seen strategies range from Isolationist to Scientific to Conquest. In my world, Eclipse fills a critical gaming niche: Hardcore SciFi Strategy.

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Game of the Week: European War 2

This game is old, for the app store, but is a fantastic game that I have not had a chance to review yet.

When I was in college, say 10 years ago, my friends and I would play board games. I very clearly remember the first time we played Axis and Allies. It is a game about managing resources, waging war, and making strategic alliances. The only games that have ever come close to that on the iPad are the European War Series.

A few months ago, I wrote about the more recent game in the European War Series, the Napoleon Wars. In that game, you can control the forces of the American and French revolutions. In European War 2, you explore a different, more recent, and more publicized war, World War 2.

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