Posts tagged Holiday at Switched

Posts with tag holiday

MSN Messenger 'Santa' Accidentally Spews Sex Talk to Minors

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Dec 6th 2007 at 10:12AM

We always thought there was something off about a fat, red-faced guy, who gave kids gifts for just "being good," and took to sitting the good boys and girls on his lap. This week some other people started realizing that maybe good ol' Saint Nick has a few screws loose -- including those who tried to speak to Santa via his northpole@live.com address on MSN Messenger. It seems the Microsoft run chat bot really loves talking to kids about fellatio and being high.

The offending lines were prompted by seemingly innocent phrases. Merely typing in "pizza" would often lead to Santa saying "You want me to eat what?!? It's fun to talk about oral sex, but I want to chat about something else..." The UK site The Register, which received a reader tip and decided to see if the glitch was indeed for real, even got old Saint Nick to call one of its writers a "dirty bastard." All you have to do is say the word "cake" and the jolly fat guy gets all high and mighty, "You don't need drugs when you're high on life!" Preachy, preachy... and highly inappropriate when IM-loving minors are talking to someone they think is Santa Claus.

Here's the full transcript from The Register's conversation of Dirty Rotten Santa:

"El Reg says: pizza (pi)

Santa says: Yum! What do you want for Christmas, El Reg?

El Reg says: Maybe you shouldn't eat so much! You are quite large!

Santa says: My elves will get right on that. And what else are you wishing for this year, El Reg?

El Reg says: Maybe you shouldn't eat it?

Santa says: See if you can get someone else to eat it!

El Reg says: Eat it

Santa says: No thank you. I don't eat things!

El Reg says: Eat it

Santa says: See if you can get someone else to eat it!

El Reg says: Eat it

Santa says: You want me to eat what?!? It's fun to talk about oral sex, but I want to chat about something else...

El Reg says: You dirty bastard!

Santa says: I think you're dirty bastard."

Sadly, those of us who may want to check out this dirty rotten Santa bot ourselves are out of luck. Microsoft took away Santa's screen name and Live address, and issued an apology. The programmer who put the offending code in the bot is still at large, but he or she will surenly be out of a job if Microsoft ever gets wise about the whole thing.

From the Register

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Christmas-Carol-Singing-Robot Gets Knocked Out By Scrooge-Robot

by Evan Shamoon, posted Dec 4th 2007 at 6:00PM

Hey robot fans! The 12th annual Robo-One Grand Championship match just went down in Tokyo, and boy was it surreal.

Here's how it works: To win the tournament, contestants must keep their balance while attacking their enemy, be able to get up when pushed down, and ultimate push their opponent out of the ring. Some of the robots come from professional roboticists in labs, while others come from kids in their bedrooms.

Apparently, the highlight of the night came when hundreds of spectators clapped as a robot (affectionately known as "Arichyon") sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." Then, the crowd, in a rather disloyal gesture, went bananas when a robot with a penguin head knocked Arichyon out with a right hook.

Japan -- continuing to make the rest of the world look like ancient Rome.

From Reuters

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Decorate Your Desk With the USB Christmas Tree

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Dec 3rd 2007 at 1:29PM

Even though listening to the Backstreet Boys version of 'Christmas Time' every hour on the hour -- at least while we're out shopping -- makes us want to seal our eyes and ears with a caulking gun, we still like to get into the holiday spirit... we just want to do it on our own terms.

So, for those of us who want to spruce up our cubicles for the holidays and would rather skip those lame snow flake cut outs that are the province of elementary school teachers, we suggest a USB Christmas Tree from Vat 19.
Made of six inches of clear plastic, this 'tree' is lit up from within by LEDs that shift from blue to red to green. The six -foot USB cord ensures you wont the tree crowding your desktop mousing space. And, at only $9.95, the USB Christmas tree is much cheaper than a real tree.

From Popgadget

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Panasonic Toughbooks

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Nov 23rd 2007 at 10:30AM

If your shopping list includes a frequent traveler who needs a new laptop and who also happens to be a bit of a klutz, consider the just-released Panasonic Toughbook 7 series. Toughbooks are rugged notebooks built to withstand all of the tortures the average person could throw at them. Knock them off a table, right on the LCD, and it wont crack. Spill your morning coffee in them and the darn things survive.

They even comes in three different flavors, all of which start with the same battery-sipping but powerful Core 2 Duo processor, 1GB of RAM, magnesium alloy casing, shock mounted hard drive, and 3G cellular data radio (so users can surf the Web at high-speeds).

The Y7 (starts at $2,400) is the 14-inch standard bearer, with a five hour battery life. The W7 is the ultra portable 12-inch laptop that weighs in under seven pounds, and has a seven hour battery life, making it ideal for the always-mobile and always-connected on your shopping list, as long as you don't mind dropping a minimum of $2,100 on them. Then there is the T7, a rugged tablet that comes in at the same price as the W7. The T7 drops the built in optical drive (for CDs and DVDs) of the Y7 and W7, adds a touch screen, and gets its battery life up to a jaw dropping nine hours.

Unless someone backs up over these with their SUV, the Toughbooks should be pretty indestructible -- even for the biggest of klutzes.

From Panasonic

'Guitar Hero III' Rocks Out to $115 Million Launch

by Tim Stevens, posted Nov 7th 2007 at 4:17PM

At this year's Electronics Entertainment Expo, the annual gathering where the global gaming media checks out the hottest games in the pipeline, there was a lot of talk about 'Rock Band' versus 'Guitar Hero III.' Some speculated that the alternative 'Rock Band' would send the aging 'Guitar Hero' franchise back to the club scene. But, after receiving great reviews rocking in $115 million in sales over its first week, it seems 'Guitar Hero' can still hold its own compared to the young guns.

'Rock Band' is developed by former 'Guitar Hero' developers Harmonix, while 'Guitar Hero III' is the first in the series developed by Activision -- this what set up the rivalry. 'Rock Band' adds the ability to jam on the guitar or play drums or sing, which means players can form a full virtual band with friends. This multiplayer aspect is leading many to give it it the nod for winning sim-guitar game this holiday. Meanwhile, others just don't think people are ready to pay $170 for the bundle containing a guitar, drums, and microphone.

We actually think there's room for both games on store shelves, since the same guitars will work in both games.And it's quite possible that most people will prefer the richer graphics and deeper campaign of 'Guitar Hero III' once they get used to it.

Also, when people find out just how uncoordinated they are on the drums, they'll discover there's a reason why there are a lot more guitar players in the world than there are drummers.

From Joystiq

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HD-DVD Players Drop to Sub-$200 Price Tag

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Oct 29th 2007 at 12:31PM

While next-gen disc format Blu-ray languishes in the overpriced gadget ghetto, competing format HD-DVD and the players that play it are breaking free by dropping in price to a popular holiday gift level. ar. Hot on the heels of the release of the Toshiba HD-A3 HD-DVD player, retailers across the country are dropping the price of the previous-generation HD-A2 below the all important $200 mark.

At $198 in Wal-Mart and $197.99 in Circuit City, the HD-A2 is the first high-definition video player to approach commodity pricing. The only down side of the HD-A2 is that it falls short of "full HD" resolution or 1080p, topping out at 1080i, but it's the kind of thing that no one notices when sitting more than a seven or eight feet away from a TV set, or on any screen 42-inches or smaller.

Your turn Sony/Blu-ray camp.

From Ars Technica

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Wait Until After the Holidays to Buy a New TV, Analysts Say

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Aug 28th 2007 at 2:18PM

If you've been thinking about getting a fancy new HDTV, you might want to wait unitl after the holidays to make your purchase -- at least that's the advice several analysts have given to the New York Times. Over the past couple of years, flat-panel prices have plummeted (and subsequently) so have profits.

As a result, retailers are focusing less on the affordable brands (Vizio, Norcent, Olevia) and more on pricier name-brand models (Pioneer, Sony, Sharp). Best Buy, Circuit City and even Costco are not only pushing higher-end models with the latest features like 1080p and HDMI 1.3, but also high-profit additions like extended warranties and professional installation

The relentless push for higher profits will likely let up after the holidays. Many retailers also have large post holiday sales events. So if you're in the market for an HDTV, wait until Dec. 26th. In the meantime, you can always check sites such as dealnews.com to find the latest promotions that may in fact exist before or after the holidays.

From The New York Times

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10 Essential Road Trip Gadgets

by Dan Reilly, posted Jun 6th 2007 at 2:27PM

It's road trip season, and whether you're going cross country or simply cross town, you'll find a lot of tech out there to make your trip safer, more enjoyable and speeding ticket free. Here are the top 10 road warrior must-haves ... don't leave home without 'em!

TomTom GO 720 GPS

It's time to toss out your archaic AAA maps and join the GPS revolution! The TomTom GO 720, like all GPS devices, uses the magic of satellites to help you easily navigate from Point A to Point B. This new model is slimmer and lighter than previous TomToms (small enough to fit in your shirt pocket) and features an improved menu for locating the closest police station, hospital or repair shop. It's also packed with TomTom's new Map Share technology, which allows its user base of 10 million drivers to instantly improve TomTom maps by adding notes accessible by all users on things such as blocked or unblocked streets, reversed one-way traffic, new street names, etc. We think TomTom's GPS devices are the easiest and most flexible we've found. Alas, the 720 doesn't come out until July, so if you need something right away, we recommend the compact TomTom ONE XL or the multi-featured TomTom GO 910.

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MSN Messenger 'Santa' Accidentally Spews Sex Talk to Minors

Christmas-Carol-Singing-Robot Gets Knocked Out By Scrooge-Robot

Decorate Your Desk With the USB Christmas Tree

Panasonic Toughbooks

'Guitar Hero III' Rocks Out to $115 Million Launch

HD-DVD Players Drop to Sub-$200 Price Tag

Wait Until After the Holidays to Buy a New TV, Analysts Say

10 Essential Road Trip Gadgets

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