I’ve been hosting a series of mobile security panels for the AT&T Tech Channel alongside information security specialist Dino Dai Zovi. Above is the third episode, Dealing With Exploitable Mobile Device Vulnerabilities.

The rest are viewable over on the Mobile Security Show homepage!

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This is the (very rough) beta episode, and we’re working hard to get all the kinks worked out in time for our January 15th official launch! In the mean time, here’s all the relevant contact info:

twitgameon.reddit.com
@twitgameon
+twitgameon
game[at]twit.tv

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Some of Team Qore in London

When I joined the team at Qore in April of 2008 (April Fool’s Day!), I don’t think any of us had any idea of what to expect. Nothing like Qore had ever been done before. A subscription-based digital magazine? Available on the PlayStation? All I knew was that this was going to be interesting.

Since the show launched, I’ve had the opportunity to meet some of the smartest, most interesting people in the gaming industry, traveled the world to speak with incredibly creative game developers, and even had the opportunity to voice characters in the DLC for one of my favorite titles of all time. Plus, we’ve had an unbelievably talented group of people at Future Studios US that made the whole thing possible.

Qore is a growing and changing program, and one of those changes will be a new host for Episode 43 and onward. There will be more announcements coming soon, like who Qore’s new host will be (I think you’ll be super excited to get to know them!), so keep your eyes on the PlayStation Blog.

As for me, well, I’m already in overdrive with new project ideas and possibilities, and I’m excited to get started with the next chapter (I mean that literally too… I’ll be using some of this time to start my first NaNoWriMo novel)!

Thank you so much to the Qore viewers who have made doing the show so much fun, and to everyone on the Future Studios team (and at Future US in general… all my friends at PlayStation: The Official Magazine, GamesRadar, OXM and PC Gamer) for all their hard work, and of course to Sony and the folks at PlayStation for making it all possible.

As always, you can keep up-to-date with me on Twitter, Google Plus, Tekzilla, Sword and Laser, and right here on this blog. I’ll see you on the outside!

And if you’ve never seen Qore before, here’s a preview of Episode 41, out now!

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Despite the cold and the rain (check out my awesome rain boots, huh?) I set out to visit the HQ for the Go Game, a company that specializes in creating team building events and get-togethers. From their website:

The Go Game stages technology-fueled, creative games and activities for team building, marketing programs, sales training and just pure fun. Based in San Francisco, we stage unique, interactive events and scavenger hunts for groups of 3 to 10,000 players anywhere in the world

Joined by some of my friends, including my endlessly patient partner-in-crime Ryan Block, we traveled around the Mission district of San Francisco, completing quests and finding clues. Check out the video to see who was victorious!

For more of my Cruzearati videos, head over to YouTube or follow them on Twitter!

Related posts:

1. 3D Laser Backpack at UC Berkeley
2. Getting a look at the Looxcie
3. LG Speed Texting World Cup

Remember I mentioned that I was recording voice over for an upcoming game? I’m excited to say that I’ll be voicing not one… not two… but three characters (not all human) in the upcoming DLC for Fallout: New Vegas Old World Blues! There will be many more details coming in the next episode of Qore, hopefully out next week, including the names and descriptions of all the characters I’m voicing (none of them are named Felicia… sorry everyone!).

Anyhow, I really excited about it! The whole experience of recording voices for actual characters (and not just being myself) was totally new to me, and I loved it. Thanks especially to Jason Bergman from Bethesda, who helped to set the whole thing up! It’s safe to say that this truly is a dream come true for me.

And no, I don’t have any secret insider info on when the PSN situation will be resolved, but hopefully it’s soon!

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Here’s part of their performance from DNA Lounge!

If you want to download the song we (ok… they) made, called Cruzeratta, click here! They’re also on Twitter too.

For more videos, head over to Cruzearati.com, and follow the Twitter account here.

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For more videos, head over to Cruzearati.com, and follow the Twitter account here.

Related posts:

1. Playing The Go Game
2. LG Speed Texting World Cup
3. Getting a look at the Looxcie

I really think Angry Veronicas could be a huge hit. Also, congrats to the winner of our ScreenBurn Poll, NeverDie and Rocktopia! For more videos, head over to Cruzearati.com, and follow the Twitter account here.

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1. 3D Laser Backpack at UC Berkeley
2. Playing The Go Game
3. Your new Tech Cruze-arati!

ScreenBurn
SXSW ScreenBurn is the video game element of the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive festival that merges the new media, music, film and video game industries all in one place. ScreenBurn connects independent developers, publishers, consumers, digital media professionals, and internet trend-setters and taste-makers from all around the world who attend SXSW.

SXSW Accelerator
A live audience, as well as a panel of expert judges will discover advancements in music related technologies. The best part? Product demonstrations by the most ambitious talents in the world with the most creative new ideas to change it. A glimpse of the industry’s future awaits, with a guided tour by emcees Brad King and David Hyman. We are grateful to them, as well as to our sponsors: Microsoft BizSpark, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, IBM, .CO, and Turner Broadcasting System.

Plutopia
To be held in Austin on Monday, March 14th, 2011, the event will be thoughtfully positioned as a well-crafted link between SXSW Interactive, Film and Music. Furthering our mission and intent to create unique “sense events,” this year’s extravaganza will include interactive installations, performances by world-renowned musicians / artists, talks, art exhibits, compelling projections, DJs, demonstrations, performance art, robots, projections, gaming fun, locally produced, artisanal food and beverages, and much more.

And finally, of course, I’ll be at the gdgt Live in Austin party on Monday night as well. Come say hi, get some great swag, and get hands-on time with tons of technology vendors.

I’ll be tweeting and posting video clips of everything, so stay tuned to my Twitter page and Cruze-arati.com!

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All about about.me from about.me on Vimeo.

I love this video that the About.me team created as an introduction to the service (I’m an advisor to the company). Check out the service, if you haven’t already, and let us know what you think! My profile, which you see in the video, is located here.

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What I love about this is that it gets people – old people, young people, people of all races and backgrounds – to stop for a moment and tell the world what they’re thinking. Folks have used it for everything from promoting their company to talking about politics or the weather. It’s all about exercising your free speech and making yourself heard.

From their YouTube Page:

Brooklyn Mobile is a internet videobooth. You can find it moving around in the downtown Brooklyn area. Mostly around Jay St, Fulton Mall, Livingston, Atlantic, Flatbush, etc but occasionally we travel further.

If you run into them, let me know! Tweet us @Cruzearati and send us the link to your video! They also do special events, so you can hire them to come to your next birthday party or wedding.

Here are also some photos from the (freezing) day, and check out more videos over at Cruze-arati.com!

Related posts:

1. Getting a look at the Looxcie
2. LG Speed Texting World Cup
3. My stop at TechShop!

I don’t want to spoil the ending for you too much, so check out my latest episode of Tech Unexpected for Cruze-arati.com. See what all the other Cruzearatis are up to on Twitter too!

And this should go without saying, but never text and drive at the same time!

Let me know on Twitter what kind of phone/keyboard you would use in a competition! Just use the hashtag #cruzearati.

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1. Getting a look at the Looxcie
2. The Amazing Brooklyn Mobile
3. My stop at TechShop!

There’s no shortage of ways to capture video clips these days: smart phones, Flip cameras, dSLRs… they can all take good quality video that can easily be uploaded to YouTube or Facebook to share with your friends and family. The downside? It’s an active process. You have to concentrate on getting the shot you want, instead of actually enjoying the moment you’re trying to capture.

On this episode of Tech Unexpected, I take a look at the Looxcie Wearable Camcorder. It sits on your ear like a Bluetooth headset (which technically, it is), and you can use your iPhone or Android device as a remote control to record and play the videos, and to trim the clips and send them off into the Internet aether once you’re done.

Is this something you would want to use? What would you use it to capture? I can also see it being very useful to record concerts or sporting events. At $199, is this something you would integrate into your tech collection?

If you do get one, show it off! Just take a video with your Looxcie camera, upload it to YouTube and tweet us the link to @Cruzearati with the hashtag #LooxcieHere.

Oh, and P.S: When I told Devo she could be internet famous “too,” I was referring to her becoming famous like Mr. Littlejeans. He’s extremely famous on the internet.

Related posts:

1. LG Speed Texting World Cup
2. My stop at TechShop!
3. The Amazing Brooklyn Mobile

Just to be clear, Chevrolet is paying me to shoot the episodes (full disclosure and whatnot!), but the segments we’ve shot so far are very much in the vein of my other projects: we’ll drive and travel all over the country, meeting awesome people in the tech industry, reviewing some hot new gadgets, and heading to conferences that are highlighting everything cool the tech industry has to offer.

So stay tuned! Check out the Cruze site at Cruze-arati.com and follow all the Cruze-arati on Twitter @cruzearati, plus keep an eye out for my tweets and blog posts announcing the new videos.

If you have any ideas for shoots, let me know in the comments! And take a look at my bio video below to learn more.

Related posts:

1. Getting a look at the Looxcie
2. LG Speed Texting World Cup
3. My stop at TechShop!

And speaking of the contest, here’s my interview question below! Head over to the Best Job Ever site to enter in your answers in the comments. Good luck! Here’s the rules page too, if you want to check those out.

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A few months ago I spent a few days in LA working on a shoot for Sony, un-related to my work on Qore. The end result is a series of videos where myself, Nigel Barker (“noted fashion photographer” for you ANTM fans) and Joe Penna (YouTube sensation MysteryGuitarMan) help you pick the right technology for you, called Meet the Experts!

Some of the topics are well-traveled territory for most of you Tekzilla fans out there, but if you know someone that needs help picking out the right kind of TV, or wants to know how to make their entertainment center wireless, then just send them our way!

The shoot was a blast, and thanks to the entire crew for making the whole thing come together.

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Whew, that was a big trip! I went with the Qore team to Japan for two weeks for shoots, and we travelled from Osaka to Kyoto to Tokyo on a whirlwind tour of the country. This was my fourth time in Japan, but it definitely the most comprehensive (and exhausting!) trip I’ve probably ever taken!

I can’t tell you too much about the developer interviews that we did, but I’ve posted TONS of photos from the culture piece that we shot. From snow monkeys to toilets, we covered some really random and awesome stuff.

I can’t believe how much news I missed around here, too. I didn’t even know HP bought Palm until yesterday. /facepalm.

Anyhow, happy to be home! Keep your eyes open for Japan content on Qore in upcoming months, and in the meantime check out the trailer for the new episode, out today!

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1. Introducing Qore!

In the most recent episode of Tekzilla, you’ll learn that I have incredible… eye-mouth coordination? Something like that. Stick with it through the credits, there’s plenty more where that came from.

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Is Roxxxy the kind of thing that will stay very niche, or are we looking at the future of sex toys?

Roxxxy is expensive and the bar to entry (ahem) is too high for most consumers insofar as access, acceptance and maintenance, not to mention it’s made as a boutique item from a single inventor. For any sex toy to go from niche, obscurity and cult status, it must be affordable, widely distributed, mass produced, have name brand recognition, be easy to use, and achieve mainstream acceptance; the Rabbit Habit vibrator (popularized on Sex and the City) is a perfect example of this. Roxxxy in its current form will most certainly remain niche, especially as other ‘sex robot’ manufacturers worldwide have already surpassed Roxxxy on many levels. And we shouldn’t forget that RealDoll has already cornered the lifelike sex doll market while Roxxxy is little more than a cross between RealDoll and a Tickle Me Elmo.

Why are people so obsessed with the idea of sex robots?

People have fantasized about sex with robots since at least 1886, thanks to science fiction, when the first female android mate was made popular in French author Auguste Villers novel “The Future Eve” (“L’Eve Future”). In it, a fictional Thomas Edison creates a human female android for a despondent male friend who hates his real-life fiancée so much he wants to kill himself. Edison kindly offers to make him a robot replica of the fiancée, but without all that bothersome personality. Sex with robots is the ultimate manifestation for our fantasy of having sex with things that have no feeling, free of consequences.There are many advantages to sex with a human, and many things you will not get — yet — from a machine, like skin touch, smell, eye contact, tenderness, etc. Those things that humans alone can provide (so far) are only part of the sexual experience, but they are so fraught with intensity that they can often dominate the experience. Since we are socialized to not be blatant about physical pleasure, even if we’re blatant about sexuality, engaging in that kind of physical expression, and focusing on the purely penetrative and rhythmic, is liberating for many, including women.

I think it’s important that we reconsider calling an item with no robotics and no movement (or actuators) a robot. There are no robotics in Roxxxy, save for sensors that only transmit feedback for audio responses.

Would a male version of a doll like this ever work for women?

Yes, absolutely. Probably even more successfully than for men, provided she’s handy with tools and has rudimentary programming skills when her Robert PattinsonXXX Love Doll has a system crash. What’s fascinating is how openly and unquestionably women have embraced sex with machines: whether vibrators, or large-scale sex machines such as those seen as infamous machine sex websites where it’s only women, machines and authentic orgasms. According to “The Technology Of Orgasm” by Rachel Maines, women have been having orgasms with machines since at least 1860, and the first at-home self-stimulation device was widely marketed to women in 1918 so it’s proof positive that on our own, women have no inhibitions about having sex with machines. We’ve been doing it much longer than men. It’s true that a machine enables huge variations in how one conjures an orgasm, as in speed, stroke, size, vibration, steadiness, how long it all lasts — things that wouldn’t be possible with a human.

Should real women be worried about being replaced in the bedroom?

Not at all. In the same way that men joke — sort of — while buying vibrators for their girlfriends and wives that they’re worried it might replace them, it’s an ungrounded anxiety that simply isn’t true. By 2010 we’ll see toys that realistically mimic certain human elements of the sexual experience. But people will always have to suspend an element of disbelief to complete the fantasy; you can’t fool all of the senses, and sex with another person is a sense-reliant experience. For some people, and only some (not most), they are more than happy with having a fantasy lover than a real life companion or mate, but because their orientation does not suit them for intimate human relationships. These people will be happy to have a sex robot to manifest their fantasy instead of a human being, but again, these aren’t the people you’ll see at singles’ bars or dating meetups in the first place.

Despite the creator’s claims, there have been lots of sex robots out there. What makes this one different? Better? Creepier?

Yes, worldwide there have been many sex robots, and his efforts have been exceeded by many companies and manufacturers (First Android, Zoltan and Alice + Kiri, Le Trung’s Project Aiko, Kokoro/Actroid). What makes this one different is that a) unlike First Androids the body does not move, and b) also unlike First Androids, it has programmable personality programs. Roxxxy is not a robot. I’m not sure how advanced the AI is, if indeed it is a genuine ELIZA-style (AIML) AI (artificial intelligence computer entity, a program that is a natural language chatterbot). Or if it’s just a canned response ‘bot, that reacts to certain stimulus with preset phrases. We don’t know what he’s running, so we don’t know if the programming is as advanced as a ‘virtual girlfriend’ like KariGirl or A.L.I.C.E. So in many ways, it’s one step forward and many steps right in place. It’s definitely creepier, as it’s so clearly based on the face and body of one particular girl. It’s no better than a RealDoll (a high quality item), not by far, but it is a different experience. Roxxxy certainly has more hype than any other sex “robot” innovation standing — or not.

Further reading on Asylum

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I mentioned that I was going to guest on an episode of The Gloomers, and here it is! I had so much fun recording with them, and I love how my animated-self turned out. I also did a behind-the-scenes interview with Moses the day we recorded, which you can view below:

For more Gloomers, become their fan on Facebook and subscribe to the show on YouTube!

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