Smartphone Company OnePlus got absolutely wrecked. News of this hack came out late last week and we didn’t have many details, but it’s bad. Over 40,000 users are subjected to credit card fraud via a script placed on OnePlus’s payment page. Oh, and it went unnoticed for two months!

The good news is that if you used PayPal or a saved, previously-used credit card you weren’t affected. OnePlus says they are “working with our current payment providers to implement a more secure credit card payment method, as well as conducting an in-depth security audit.” Here’s hoping they won’t find anything else!

If you use Gmail, chances are you still aren’t using two-factor authentication. That’s right, Google has stated that over 90 percent of their users still aren’t using two-factor authentication. I, unfortunately, am one of these people despite posting this weekly blog. Perhaps I should get on that.
Google software engineer, Grzegorz Milka, posits that this is because:

“It’s about how many people would we drive out if we force them to sue additional security.”

It’s a strange thought, at the surface, but let’s think about it. Most people want security, right? But they don’t really want to work for it, right? So, really, there’s no win-win except for the super-duper paranoid. Anyways, this wasn’t really a hack, just a statistic that says you’re more susceptible to a hack.
Go change your Google password, people.

Speaking of two-factor authentication, let’s talk about how Uber doesn’t care that their two-factor system is basically useless. There’s a bug in Uber’s two-factor authentication that’s rendering the security practically useless.

Uber, being the upstanding company that it is, ignored the issue for a few months, but they did eventually fix it. Good lord, people.

That’s it for this week! Stay safe out there and change your passwords for f*&k’s sake!

The post This Week in Getting Hacked: OnePlus Gets Pwned Edition appeared first on Colocation America.

The password manager on Windows 10 is a fantastic way to steal your password. Sigh. A program called keeper, which is installed by default can apparently allow any website to steal any password. Great. Travis Ormandy, a Google researcher, said this about the bug:

Allegedly, the developers of Keeper have issued a patch to fix this problem, which is good, but still. How does this happen?

The sensational headline will be to tell you that every single household in the United States has been exposed to a hack due to a massive leak. But in reality, it’s probably only 123 million Americans across billions of data points. So, nothing to worry about.

According to Infosecurity Magazine, this hack is comparable to the Equifax incident of earlier this year only because it affects nearly every household.

This time it’s (another) cloud storage “misconfiguration” which has exposed personally identifiable information (PII).
UpGuard Cyber Risk uncovered a data repository containing data from Alteryx which is a cloud-based data analytics firm. Alteryx is a partner of Experian, a consumer credit reporting agency (read: Equifax’s competitor). Oh geez. Credit companies need to get it together. For more information, please watch the following video from CNET:

Too many people are still using “Password” as their password in 2017. So basically, nothing’s really changed. Somehow “SplashData” scraped a bunch of passwords (that won’t come back to bite them anytime soon).

Over five million passwords were used in the survey and SplashData estimates that 10 percent of people (mostly in North American and Western Europe not surprisingly) are using at least one of the 25 worst passwords with 3 percent using the worst password.
Here’s the complete list:

1. 123456
2. Password
3. 12345678
4. qwerty
5. 12345
6. 123456789
7. letmein
8. 1234567
9. football
10. iloveyou
11. admin
12. welcome
13. monkey
14. login
15. abc123
16. starwars
17. 123123
18. dragon
19. passw0rd
20. master
21. hello
22. freedom
23. whatever
24. qazwsx
25. trustno1

My favorite is just “whatever,” with trustno1 also cracking me up. I have to change my passw0rd from “dragon,” to something a little harder to guess, and I suggest you do the same.

That’s it for this week. Stay safe out there and remember to change your password!

The post This Week in Getting Hacked: The Best and Worst Passwords of 2017 Edition appeared first on Colocation America.

The United States doesn’t need your stinkin’ approval to ask for encryption back-doors. That’s right, the United States government does not need the approval of the secret surveillance court to ask tech companies to build encryption back-doors for them.

But it’s okay because the U.S. government would also not say if it’s ever asked a company to do so. Which means we’re safe, right? Ugh. Call someone in your state government and complain about something like this and maybe we can enjoy our privacy again. Or, like me, don’t do that and be glued to privacy-stealing technology all day :). .

A new bill wants jail time for execs who hide data breaches. (But probably not for the government who ask for those back-doors, right? Eh, eh?). We didn’t report on the macOS High Sierra hack because we think this is far more interesting. If a company suffers a data-hack and don’t really tell anyone, then this bill wants them to be jailed for keeping it a “secret.”
This is great if anything about it ever happens. Companies like Equifax, Uber, and Yahoo have been hacked this past year and have used some shoddy disclosure practices to “tell” us. We should hold them responsible for that and hopefully this new bill will. For more information, read this great article about it on Wired.

Online mattress company, Casper, has been wiretapping you. But not in the cool “we’re hiding a wire in the mattress you just bought from us” way. Because that would be funny. Instead, they’ve been collecting information from visitors to their website to try and learn their identities and sell that data.

Because apparently they aren’t making enough money from selling their mattresses. The company, with the help of software company NaviStone, has been gleaning information like name, postal address, etc, without the website visitor’s consent. A big no-no. They are now under a federal lawsuit where I presume their defense will be to provide the jury with a soft place to sleep in order to slip some legal jargon past their sleepy dispositions.

There’s a flaw in Intel processors that allows malware to slip right in. Intel’s Management Engine, a process inside most recently manufactured Intel processors can be easily hijacked by hackers who, in turn, have unlimited access to everything on the device. Neat. The only way to stop this hack is to completely unplug the machine from power.

This is great, except some computer manufacturers have been shipping their machines with Intel’s Management Engine disabled by default, so this is all one giant mess. Watch the video above or read this awesome article for more information.

And finally….
Facebook may be trying a new form of captcha that uses a “clear photo of your face.” Yeah, so every time you want to log into Facebook you have to send them a current view of your face. I’m sure they aren’t using that for any sort of facial recognition AI. Don’t worry about it.

Facebook claims this is to prove you’re not a bot. I’ll claim that this will lead to a string of beheading incidents across the country as spurned lovers hack into their spouses account to see if they’ve been chatting with Jessica or not.
That’s it for this week. Stay safe out there and remember to change your password!

The post This Week in Getting Hacked: Even Your Mattress Can Hack You Edition appeared first on Colocation America.

It’s time for Colocation America Reviews: CONSPIRACY THEORIES

Chris L: Awwwwwwww snap! It’s time once again for CLA Reviews, where the staff of Colocation America takes a long, in depth look at some of their favorite stuff without ever coming to a definitive conclusion or actually reviewing it. This week, we tackle CONSPIRACY THEORIES! Spooooooooooky.

Samantha: This whole thing is a conspiracy…

Chris L: You got that right. This is my plot to take over the world– I’m a lizard person. Here’s a current list of Lizard People in Power

Samantha: Well, we knew that. So what is your favorite conspiracy?

Chris L: My absolute favorite conspiracy theory is that one day we will all be rounded up and placed into a secret underground city beneath Denver International Airport, as part of a much larger conspiracy of world domination by a secret, powerful organization

Q.C.: Jar Jar Binks was a trained Force user and a knowing Sith collaborator.

Chris L: Q–do you subscribe to that theory? As a fan of Star Wars, that has to hurt your entire view of the Universe, because literally the worst character of all time is somehow the most important cog in the story

Q.C.: It makes me chuckle quite heartily–it’s my favorite conspiracy theory, but I do not subscribe to it hahaha

Q.C.: Let’s go back to the whole beneath Denver’s airport thing. What’s this about?

Chris L: Okay, so the Illuminati/Lizard People/Dick Cheney will eventually round us up and place us in a giant underground city beneath DIA and the best part is that they told everyone their plan through a series of murals throughout the airport.

Samantha: this is a thing?

Chris L: This is 100% a thing. There are depictions of dead people, burning cities, Freemason symbolism and a whole host of other stuff. And they painted it all in murals along the walls of the terminals

Q.C.: This may be the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen

Chris L: If former Minnesota Governor and professional wrestler Jesse Ventura believes it, it has to be true. He was ‘The Body’, after all. That’s actually how I base most of my beliefs. “Does Jesse Ventura believe in this?” WWJ’TB’VD?

Samantha: where are you two coming up with these conspiracies?!

Chris L: THE INTERNET, SAM. What’s your favorite conspiracy?

Samantha: the man on the moon, duh

Samantha: the greatest conspiracy of all (who cares about JFK dying – it’s all about the fake moon walk)

Chris L: Do you think we landed on the moon?

Samantha: I don’t know but I can’t explain the lighting–it seems a little staged to me

Chris L: Didn’t Mythbusters attempt to debunk the “We didn’t land on the moon” crowd?

Samantha: I hope so

Chris L: Also, whatever you do, DO NOT tell Buzz Aldrin we never landed on the moon. He will punch you in the face:

Q.C.: Mythbusters did do something about the moon landing:

Samantha: Guys – real life, I am too lazy to watch this right now… What is the verdict? Is it a hoax?

Q.C.: It’s not a hoax because ‘MURICA

Samantha: Darn there goes my conspiracy!

Q.C.: Elon Musk is an alien who crash-landed on Earth and needs our help to build a new spaceship in order to get home

Chris L: so he’s like ET?

Q.C.: basically

Chris L: Elon phone home?

Q.C.: Exactly.

Chris L: What if you get onto a Space X ship, and instead of various high-tech controls, it’s just a Speak N Spell and a record player?

Q.C.: haahhahahahahaha. that’s all it takes

Chris L: That’s why it keeps crashing. They haven’t mastered Speak N Spell technology yet

Q.C.: hahahahha oh god

Q.C.: I remember reading about the US government’s MK Ultra Project a while back. Mind Control is a powerful thing

Chris L: Ohhh, Mind Control is always fun. Is that the one with the tests from like the 70’s and LSD?

Q.C.: yeah it’s the one with the LSD

Chris L: What if they gave all of us mind controlling LSD and told us that we landed on the moon even though we didn’t?!

Samantha: Well rumors have it the US is behind LSD anyways…

Samantha: Speaking of the US government – did they hire Booth to kill Lincoln?

Q.C.: Woah woah woah

Chris L: What’s this about the government hiring Booth to kill Lincoln? I was under the impression he was a huge fan of the South and got all, “I’ll show him! Pow pow pow!” thing

Samantha: You haven’t heard this?! What?! Yeah they hired the actor to kill him

Chris L: I thought Kennedy had the market cornered on his own government setting up his assassination

Samantha: Well when in doubt blame the government

Chris L: THANKS A LOT, OBAMA

Chris L: Ok, let’s talk about this one, as it seems to be the most recent, most prolific….was 9/11 an inside job?

Q.C.: I heard speculation that jet fuel can’t melt steel beams. Is this true?

Q.C.: Let me rephrase. Jet fuel that’s ON FIRE can’t melt steel beams

Samantha: Umm I don’t know – can we phone a friend?

Chris L: Jet fuel 100% can melt steel beams, but definitely not dank memes. Also, check out this guy totally debunking that notion of jet fuel/steel beams.

Samantha: I went down a rabbit hole and found the real conspiracy conversation we should be having: Harry Potter’s conspiracy theories.

Chris L: As for Harry Potter, I’d love to hear what you think about this, as I have no knowledge of the Potter-verse

Q.C.: Wow some of those are stretching it a bit

Samantha: Like legit all of them. Clearly Harry and Hermione are siblings. Side note: apparently the first generation of Hermiones and Malfoys are upon us

Q.C.: I think we’re heading into “Fan Theories” on this one, which, I guess the Jar Jar one is a “Fan Theory” too hahaha

Samantha: Wait what is the Jar Jar one?

Q.C.: It’s way up at the top

Samantha: Is there any conspiracy that really makes sense? We need a Hodgens from Bones up on this

Q.C.: All conspiracies make sense to those who believe them

Samantha: Can we go to aliens? Does the government know about aliens? Are the X Files real?

Q.C.: Of course they are

Samantha:  Did you know that the government admitted they were behind the crash at area 51?

Q.C.: They did? Military experiment?

Samantha: yeah, they were testing some sort of flying thing

Chris L: I believe a few years ago, the government finally admitted to the existence of Area 51. Which means that they took all the secret stuff at Area 51 and moved it… to Area 52

Samantha: yep

Q.C.: lmao that makes perfect sense

Q.C.: Did y’all know that Throwback Thursday was created by the NSA to help build facial recognition programs and gather photos that otherwise would not be available online.

Samantha: but let’s take a moment and think about the NSA creating Throwback Thursdays – genius!

Q.C.: Right!?

Chris L: My tin-foil hat just got piqued by this NSA/#tbt thing

Samantha: for all we know, the NSA has been employing social media specialist

Chris L: That guy is great at hashtags. I’d love to see some references to this NSA thing

Q.C.: speaking of tin foil hats…

Q.C.: Here you go… You don’t think they’re utilizing this technology for facial recognition technology?

Chris L: Holy hell, those GCHQ tools are scary

Q.C.: Additionally, I love alternate universe conspiracies. Like the Berenstein/Berenstain bears alternate universe theory.

Chris L: Oh yeah, let’s dive into this

Q.C.: Had that one saved from when we talked about that a few months ago lol. I CLEARLY remember ‘Stein’ not ‘Stain’.

Chris L: Do you think that my Uber driver was correct in saying that we live in an alternate universe that separated due to the impact of the 2000 US Presidential election? And could the the Berenstein/stain argument be proof he is correct?

Q.C.: I can almost feel the ripples in time-space when I think about this one. Almost like an other-worldly force is jamming the signals in my brain. Cause I was 10 at the time. My brain was ripe for being manipulated by the unknown forces of space-time

Q.C.: Sam, do you remember Berenstein or Berenstain?

Samantha: (we have all been saying Bernstein bears wrong)

Q.C.: So it makes sense that my underdeveloped brain would have no comprehension of the impact of an election such as that. Therefore, I wouldn’t even realize I fell into an alternate universe until something very distinct from before that time, like the Berenstain Bears would trigger a brain-response which can be named nothing other than a brain f&%$. Now, a fully developed brain would understand what was happening, but not understand shifting dimensions. It would “fool” the brain into thinking nothing happened (like some people postulate kids see ghosts more than adults because the adult brain can’t logically explain what it’s seeing and therefore doesn’t “render” the ghost, unlike the fledgling child-brain). Anyways, my point here is that Al Gore, seeking retribution, has been slowly and methodically raising the temperature of the Earth to try and facilitate another rip in time-space to go back to the dimension in which he won the election.

Chris L: Continue…

Q.C.: There’s this…

Q.C.: And this…

Chris L: Oh god, he’s bringing the facts, too

Q.C.: Many of these articles are hiding behind the façade of El Nino

Chris L: Can you type up this theory and put it on a Geocities website with a bunch of whirling sirens, maybe a dancing baby or two? Don’t forget the MIDI file of spooky music

Al Gore trying his hardest not to let his true lizard form show…

Q.C.: I don’t speak Spanish well, but my loose translation leads me to believe that “El Nino” means “Manbearpig”

Chris L: Keep going…

Q.C.: Also…

Q.C.: Al Gore…

Q.C.: El Nino….

Q.C.: 2 letter first name, 4 letter last name

Chris L: OH

Chris L: MY

Chris L: GOD

Chris L: rips glasses off

Q.C.: Hey guys, I have to investigate this rapping at my office door. That’s weird, I wasn’t expecting visitors….

Chris L: Hmmmm…

Q.C.: Give me a second here

Chris L: I mean, I probably wouldn’t…Given the subject matter

Q.C.: Ok, it was just the UPS guy

Chris L: Oh, good. Were you expecting a package?

Q.C.: No, but I’ll just put it in the corner for now. I’ll open it in a bit

Samantha: You know what they say, “behind every good conspiracy is UPS”.

Chris L: I love that that’s UPS’ new marketing slogan.

Q.C.: Interesting absence there, Sam. Don’t talk for a while and suddenly, after I receive this package I wasn’t expecting, you show up

Samantha: sorry, I had a phone call with the government and they said stop

Chris L: Yeah, your absence was very….CONSPICUOUS

Q.C.: AYOOO

Q.C.: Wait. Did they call you?

Samantha: wait – you guys know my aunt is a Congresswoman, right?

Q.C.: What’s her party? Is she democrat?

Samantha: Everything you have said, I am taking straight back to the government

Q.C.: Why would you do that?

Samantha: nope, not Democrat. But parties are overrated

Q.C.: Oh, then she subscribes to the notion that the liberals control the weather, right? Which, I don’t even think I need to source. It’s just that obvious.

Samantha: Trumps hair is running for president so clearly it doesn’t matter any more

Q.C.: https://www.algore.com/. Look how frightening that first slider is

Samantha: climate change is scary?

Q.C.: Al Gore getting more politicians in his pocket is scary. Haven’t you been listening?! Oh god, they wiped her memory

Samantha: climate change – real or not?

Chris L: DO NOT CONTINUE FURTHER ONTO LEADER GORE’S WEBSITE.

Q.C.: There’s something far more sinister afoot than asking that question

Q.C.: Actually, this doesn’t make sense. The government, as it stands, would want to prevent Gore from going back. Unless, the people he’s teaming with would hold higher positions had he served in the Oval Office. In which case, why would the government want to wipe Sam’s memory, and take over Chris’s computer? UNLESS….

Q.C.: THIS HAS BEEN THE DIMENSION WHERE AL GORE HAS SUPREME EXECUTIVE POWERS ALL ALONG.  He hasn’t been trying to open another rip in space-time–he’s been trying to seal any that pop up!

Chris L: BOW TO OUR OVERLORD GORE! ALL HAIL SUPREME LEADER GORE! MASTER OF THE LIZARDS! CONTROLLER OF THE CLIMATE! RULER OF SPACE AND TIME AND CLIMATE!

Samantha: Guys – just stop, we all know it’s the same people that have been in power since white folk crashed into this land

Chris L: AL GORE WAS ON THE MAYFLOWER

Samantha: time travel?

Chris L: AL GORE IS FOREVER AND ETERNAL! ALPHA AND OMEGA! PRAISE OVERLORD GORE! TIME ETERNAL!

Samantha: sorry – one last thing – is Al Gore real or is he in our imagination?

Q.C.: Guys…Al Gore…GA LOER…GAOLER

Q.C.: He’s the keeper of our prison

Chris L: HAIL GAOLER GORE!

Q.C.: he’s the Gaoler, the supreme overlord. Albert Gore…GLOBATE…HE IS THE GLOBE! The jailer of the globe!

Chris L: HAIL GLOBATE GAOLER!

Q.C.: GLOBATE GAOLER’S GLOBAL JAIL IS UNDER DIA. DENVER….DENVER, COLORADO

Q.C.: COLORADO AVALANCHE = ILLUMINATI CONFIRMED

Samantha: we should just ask Jay Z

Q.C.: Wait

Q.C.: Former Colorado Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy is the Gaoler of the DIA prison apocalypse thing, brought on by the 2000 election, where #tbt is used to generate what everyone looked like in the year 2000, so when Al Gore goes back in time he can know what everyone looks like and take out his competition

Chris L: YOU KNOW TOO MUCH.

Q.C.: It all makes sense now. I can’t believe I’ve been so blind. It took a Children’s book series for me to see it all straight

Q.C.: well, that and a box of Sour Patch Kids

Samantha: it makes sense as to why he is obsessed with climate change – he knows what the future holds

Q.C.: To sum all of this up: JFK caused WW3. He sent himself back in time to kill himself, causing a paradox and prevented WW3 from happening. That’s what I’ve learned from all of this, which I’m sure you guys have too

Samantha: I feel like we really blew the doors wide open on this one! Great job everyone!

Chris L: ALL HAIL GLOBATE GAOLER!

The post Colocation America Reviews: Conspiracy Theories appeared first on Colocation America.

Like most people my age (I’m 29, calm down), my first foray into games and gaming was the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), but video games had begun gaining traction as early at the 70’s with the spread of arcades and coin-operated games across the country. Gaming made its way into the home with the introduction of the Atari 2600 in 1977 and had become a cultural phenomenon by the time the NES rolled out in North America in 1985. By 1990, Nintendo released the Super Nintendo and Sega had released the Genesis and we were off to the console races that still continues this day with the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

So, let’s eat a giant glowing mushroom, hop in a pipe, and take a trip down memory lane as we look back on how the technology behind gaming has taken leaps and bounds in only a few decades, as well as see how the technical specs of the early consoles match up to the latest and greatest in video-gaming.

ATARI 2600 (1977)

Specs:

• CPU: 1.19 MHz MOS Technology 6507
• Storage: Hahahahahaha what are save points?
• RAM: 128 bytes
• ROM: 4kb
• Audio/Video: Plug it into the back of your TV, yo.
• Resolution: 160 x 192 pixels

# of Atari’s Needed to Match Xbox One’s Specs: ALL OF THEM. TWICE.

At the peak of its popularity, the Atari 2600 was THE home video game system, selling over 30 million copies. It would take double that amount to even start the Xbox One.

NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM (NES) (1983)

Specs:

• CPU: 8-bit microprocessor
• Storage: Hahahahahahaha again, save points?
• RAM: 2kB
• ROM: Varies from 8 kB to 1MB, with 128 kB to 384 kB being standard for most games
• Audio/Video: Plug it into the back of your TV, yo.
• Resolution: 256 x 240 pixels

# of NES’ Needed to Match Xbox One’s Specs: 4,000,000

Luckily, the NES solid a gajillion (approximate number) of consoles, becoming the best-selling video game console of all time. ALL TIME. Still, four million is a lot of equal the computing power of Microsoft’s flagship console.

SEGA GENESIS (1988)

Specs:

• CPU: 7.6 MHz 16/32-bit Motorola 68000 CPU
• Storage: Nope, still none.
• RAM: 72 kB
• ROM: (No specs given for game cartridges)
• Audio/Video: Plug it into the back of your TV, yo.
• Resolution: 320 x 224 pixels

# of Genesis’ Needed to Match Xbox One’s Specs: 111,111

111,111 Genesis’ (Genesii?) are needed to match the computing power of an Xbox One. If the SEGA Genesis’ CPU was as fast as Sonic the Hedgehog, the console wars might’ve played out a bit differently.

SUPER NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM (SNES) (1990)

Specs:

• CPU: Nintendo-custom 5A22 processor, based on a 16-bit 65c816 core
• Storage: Still not there yet, although save points started showing up! Hooray!
• RAM: 128 kB
• ROM: Could handle up to 128 Mbit, but the largest game was 48 Mbit, and the smallest was 2 Mbit, so somewhere in between.
• Audi/Video: Still not HD. Standard AV cables.
• Resolution: Progressive: 256×224, 512×224, 256×239, 512×239

# of SNES’ Needed to Match Xbox One’s Specs: 62,500

Not bad, but it’s still a lot. I would love to see Battlefield 4 attempt to render on SNES.

PLAYSTATION (PSONE) (1994)

Specs:

• CPU: 32-bit RISC MIPS R3000A (33.8688 MHz)
• Storage: Memory cards! YES!
• RAM: 2MB
• ROM: CD’s! The PlayStation, while not the first to use CD-ROMs, popularized the movement by showing that they could be produced cheaper than the game cartridges and produce better technical results.
• Audio/Video: A/V Multi-Output– S-Video Components, RCA Composite…you choose.
• Resolution: 256×224 to 640×480 pixels

# of PSOne’s Needed to Match Xbox One’s Specs: 4,000

Now we’re getting (sorta) closer! Oh man, if you didn’t waste hours playing Crash Bandicoot or marathoning Metal Gear Solid (Just unplug your controller, move to player 2. I’m on to you, Mantis) I don’t really think we could be friends.

NINTENDO 64 (N64) (1996)

Specs:

• CPU: 93.75 MHz 64-bit NEC VR4300 (MIPS R4300i) with 24 KB L1 cache
• Storage: MORE MEMORY CARDS!
• RAM: 4 MB RDRAM (Rambus DRAM)
• ROM: Game cartridges, running at 264 MB/s. The Nintendo 64 was one of the few consoles that took advantage of the cartridges, using them as additional RAM, allowing for real-time data streaming.
• Audio/Video: A/V Multi-Output—S-Video, RCA Composite…you choose.
• Resolution: 480i standard resolution

# of N64’s Needed to Match Xbox One’s Specs: 2,000

Now we’re talking; the N64 was THE console (in this writer’s opinion) of the 90’s. If you didn’t have an N64 equipped with Goldeneye 007, I REALLY don’t know if we could be friends. For real, I will ruin all of you with Jaws inside The Stacks.

XBOX (ORIGINAL) (2001)

Specs:

• CPU: 32-bit 733 MHz, custom Intel Pentium III Coppermine-based processor
• Storage: 8 or 10 GB onboard HDD, used primarily for game saves and to reduce load times. 32MB memory cards were also available to ransfer saved game files.
• RAM: 64 MB DDR SDRAM
• ROM: CD/DVD-ROM
• Audio/Video: A/V Multi-Out, including composite, S-Video, etc.
• Resolution: Sweet, sweet HD, up to 1080p, depending on your TV.

# of Xbox’s Needed to Match Xbox One’s Specs: 125 

Think about that—from 2001, when the Xbox was originally released, until now–it would still take 125 times the power to match the hardware of today.

PLAYSTATION 2 (PS2) (2000)

Specs:

• CPU: MIPS R5900-based “Emotion Engine”, clocked at 294.912 MHz
• Storage: No onboard HDD, 8MB Memory Cards were available. Also, PS2 had an expandable HDD port on the back of the console.
• RAM: 32 MB RDRAM (Direct Rambus DRAM)
• ROM: CD/DVD-ROM
• Audio/Video: A/V Multi-Out
• Resolution: More of that sweet, sweet HD goodness.

# of PS2’s Needed to Match Xbox One’s Specs: 250

The PS2, the most popular console of all time—selling a record 155 million units worldwide—still wasn’t able to match the technical specs of the first Xbox, and would need double the amount to match the Xbox One’s specs. I was—and still am—a PlayStation guy, and I’ll be damned if I didn’t spend hours upon hours with friends crowded around my copy of Grand Theft Auto 3. Get your armor, get your weapons, go on a rampage, pass the controller off when you die. Ahhh, the memories.

And beyond that, we enter the HD era, where both Sony and Microsoft’s consoles are so far advanced and in line with the most recent technology, that their only rival is the actual PC’s that are the frontrunners in technological advancements. Consoles have become more than just video game systems, as evidenced by both the introduction of the PS3 and Xbox 360 as home entertainment systems with their own vibrant OS’s, allowing for the viewing of Blu-Ray movies, music, and streaming services like Netflix; a that trend continues today with the release of the PS4 and Xbox One as home entertainment giants.

If you’re wondering why we skipped over a few consoles like the SEGA Dreamcast, or the Nintendo Gamecube, you’re probably one of the only people that bought those consoles, and I feel bad for you. But I do respect your dedication to niche products while your friends were all having tournaments on Madden ’04 for PS2 or Xbox. I’m sure you had a blast playing Animal Crossing.

We hope you enjoyed this look back at the technological growth of video game systems! Feel free to comment about your favorite gaming consoles and memories!

The post Then vs. Now: Video Game Consoles appeared first on Colocation America.

And that’s what we’ll do today, as we take a look back at some of the more forgotten things of the early Internet and how they compare to the awesome, super-duper Internet that we have today.

The Internet: THEN VS. NOW

Content Management Systems

THEN: Angelfire, GeoCities, Tripod

NOW: Tumblr, Medium, WordPress, Blogger, etc.

But long before there was a whole host of self-publishing platforms, there was Angelfire and GeoCities. You know how WordPress and Tumblr make it incredibly easy for you to create a website? Now take all of that ease-of-use and intuitive UI and throw it into a garbage can, then light the garbage can on fire and you have the Angelfire and GeoCities platform.

Owned by Lycos (HA!) and Yahoo!, respectively, Angelfire and GeoCities were the prime go-to for anyone who felt like they needed a website, and in the early Internet, EVERYONE thought they needed a website. And there were some doozies, too. Here’s a Google Image search for “GeoCities pages” to give you a good idea of what people were working with: Lots of black backgrounds with extremely bright, colorful text; lots of flashing sirens and animated GIFs of dancing hamsters; THAT STUPID DANCING BABY. You think the pop-up ads or videos that display on websites are annoying? You haven’t experienced anything until you’ve waited for your 14k dialup to load a page FULL of dancing baby GIFs.

Search Engines

THEN: Lycos, AltaVista, AskJeeves, Netscape Navigator

NOW: Google (Sorry, Bing)

Remember that “trash can fire” analogy for the website platforms I made above? Well, imagine trying to find a website by rooting through that on-fire trashcan and you can imagine what using Lycos or AltaVista was like.

We’re spoiled with Google’s finely tuned, tailored search results that seem to know exactly what we’re looking for. If you wanted to find something, in say 1997, you’d hop on Lycos.com and get on their search engine and basically hope for the best. You might get what you’re looking for, or you might find a GeoCities page about Robin Hood. Who knows? Definitely not Lycos, that’s for sure. Using AltaVista or Lycos was like fishing with a giant net instead of a rod and reel; you might catch a tuna, you might also catch a lot of boots. There were TONS of boots in Lycos’ search ocean.

Instant Messengers

THEN: AIM, ICQ

NOW: Google Hangouts/GChat, Skype, GroupMe, Slack

Kids will never feel the stress of having to choose the perfect username for their AIM account (LilTuna74), then setting the perfect Away message using the perfect Dashboard Confessional lyric (“and I’m flawed, but I’m cleaning up so well”) to perfectly describe how you’re feeling. It all had to be so perfect.

It was an easy to way communicate with your friends after school, barring your parents receiving a phone call and kicking you off the dial-up. Now, we are connected more than ever, with platforms that allow more than just your standard text and smileys. All the major messaging platforms support pictures, videos, GIFs, and any other conceivable form of media—the biggest thing AIM allowed was for you to change the background color of your text. And it had to be perfect.

And there was always the person you know with xXx_BaBySwEeTiE6969_xXx, and you avoided them like the plague in real life too. Probably because they had the plague. Oh yeah, there were bots too. For instance, SmarterChild was a popular robot on AIM, and would basically parrot anything you said.

Forums

THEN: AOL Chatrooms

NOW: Reddit

Long before upvotes and downvotes and sharing ideas or content, there were the AOL Chatrooms, where the only rules were there were no rules, except that you had to ask A/S/L to EVERYONE. And even then, they might lie.

You know how Reddit took a stand against hate groups, and began removing some of the more hate-filled subreddits that plagued their site? Those people probably started on AOL Chatrooms. You could log in through your AOL CD (brought to you by USPS), and then head into a specific chatroom, covering a wide range of topics from News to Sports, all the way down to specialized, niche markets like Furries and meet people that were interested in the same things as you, even if that same thing is dressing up and acting like an anthropomorphized wolf. Or, you could anonymously spew hate-speech and just be a general troll.

The only thing that hasn’t changed is that people still lie about their A/S/L, and that beautiful woman you’re talking to is probably a fat dude in his 40s. Oh, and people being anonymous jerks, that hasn’t changed.

Actually, I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same.

The post The Internet: Then vs. Now appeared first on Colocation America.

On to the links!

-Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the oceans—which, by the way, it was NEVER safe to go in the ocean in the first place (this is how I think most sea-dwelling creatures think when we enter their realm)—comes the largest great white shark ever recorded on film. Its name is Deep Blue and its over 20 feet long and WILL MURDER YOU IF YOU STEP INTO THE OCEAN COME AT ME BRO. You’ve been warned.

-Scared of the oceans now and want to take to the skies? Well guess what, IT’S NOT SAFE FOR YOU IN THIS ZOO, EITHER. Here’s video of an eagle taking down a drone in the Australian wilderness with the swiftness. This is like real life Top Gun, but with claws.

-A Ned Flanders-themed metal band? A Ned Flanders-themed metal band. Stupid, sexy (HARDCORE!!1) Flanders.

-If you’ve ever had a dog, at one point you’ve taken a car ride and your dog has stuck their face out the window and had the wind blow their cute, adorable faces back. This is like that, but with humans. And in slow motion.

-Do you like getting hammered drunk but hate the whole idea of having to actually drink liquid to get the desired results? Well, now you can go to a bar filled with vapors that smell and taste like Gin & Tonic’s, or Manhattan’s, or Vodka & Sprite’s (if you’re a college girl) and get hammered FROM THE AIR. This is literally the future, and the future is great and totally wasted.

See you next week!

The post Friday Fun Blog: It’s Not Safe For You In This Zoo Edition appeared first on Colocation America.

On to the links!

-You know what’s adorable? Tiny dogs. You know what’s EVEN MORE adorable? Tiny dogs sneezing. Here’s a little Pomeranian puppy sneezing the cutest sneeze I’ve ever seen in my life. Stop, my non-existent ovaries can only handle so much.

-If you’re not up on pop culture, rappers Drake and Meek Mill are currently embroiled in a rap beef; diss tracks have been released, words have been Tweeted, the whole nine yards. If you don’t feel like reading about the beef, here’s the whole thing explained in Game of Thrones GIFs.

-Sword made of fire? SWORD MADE OF FIRE.

-Have you ever been to the strip club and thought to yourself, “Self, I have all this cash, but ‘making it rain’ the traditional way doesn’t get these greenbacks out of my hand quick enough. I need something that can deliver this cash to these lovely ladies in a quick manner!” Well, I have the product for you! Check out the Strip Club Cash Cannon—now you can fire Benjamin’s at strippers at the same rate as a automatic weapon!

–Obligatory Space Post of the Week: It turns out that one of the most beautiful features on Earth—the auroras in the northern sky—can also happen on other space objects, not only in our own solar system, but in star systems beyond. Researchers have found aurora on a small star or brown dwarf around 18 light years away from Earth.

See you next week!

The post Friday Fun Blog: Beef Edition appeared first on Colocation America.

On to the links!

-This deer screams just like Adam Sandler. Not much beyond that, except the deer can probably write a funny movie still. BOOM, ROASTED.

-I’m not sure if you’ve ever driven on ice, but it’s incredibly difficult. Glaciers are made of ice. These people had a bike race down a glacier. How do you think it went? If you answered, “Everyone crashed immediately,” then YOU WIN!

-Continuing with our theme of “doing stupid stuff”, check out this pro surfer light himself on fire then surf in a wave. Waves: Nature’s fire extinguisher. Oh, this was sponsored by Red Bull? Makes sense, now.

-Do you get freaked out by snakes? Me too. Well, check out this creepy snake from 120 million years ago that had tiny hands and feet. Tiny hands and feet by themselves are way creepier than snakes, but snakes with tiny hands and feet are the creepiest thing ever. That’s a scientific fact, BTW.

–Obligatory Space Post(s) of the Week:

1. More hi-res photos are coming in from the New Horizons probe that flew by Pluto last week. The latest image shows a second mountain range made entirely of ice, on the edge of Pluto’s “heart” on its surface.
2. Scientists have discovered a second Earth-like planet, Kepler-452b, that lies within the “Goldilocks Zone” of habitability. Unfortunately, it’s nearly 1,400 light years away, and you will never reach it in your lifetime. However, check out what the difference between Earth and Kepler-452b would be if humans were to colonize it.

See you next week!

The post Friday Fun Blog: Dumb Idea Edition appeared first on Colocation America.

WHOOP WHOOP WHAT IT DO! IT’S YA BOI COLY ALL UP IN THA HOUUUUUUUSE! It’s about time they give me something to do and let that LOSER Chris take his talents to South Beach or something. Hey Chris, you’re a big wrestling fan, right? (Editor: Yes) Well guess what, your time is up and my time is now!  Huh? How about that?! (Editor: A John Cena reference—I get it) In your face! (Editor: He acts like I don’t read this before it goes up)

Let me formally introduce myself–I’m Coly, I’m a magical talking shield. I love long walks on the beach and beef Stroganoff. Here’s a picture of that time I went back in time and rode a dinosaur.

Chris Pratt ain’t got nothin’ on me!

Let’s get this new era of the Fun Blog kicked off right—ring the bell, school’s back in, SUCKA!

On to the links!

-Do you have a beard? Of course you do, you hipster. Now, you can keep your precious face-fur dry when you’re doing laps with this slick new swimming cap that wraps around your face. How quickly do you think it takes someone in Florida to rob a bank wearing one of these? I give it two weeks. Ha, Florida!

-Researchers and scientists have gotten together to make some sweet, magical science-y love and possibly developed a way for your brainwaves to be your password. Your brain reacts to certain words and that brainwave would essentially be your password. Instead of remembering a complicated phrase or set of characters for your passwords, you’d listen to a few words being spoken and your brain’s response would unlock whatever. As a magical talking shield, I find all of this ridiculous.

-Did you know that we have only mapped like 20% of our oceans? There’s a whole world down there that we don’t know about. Well, *I* know about it since I’m a magical talking shield that can go wherever he wants, but you mere mortals have no clue what’s going on down there. Ha, stupid air-breathers! Anyways, scientists have found previously undiscovered species off the deep waters in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Undiscovered to YOU—I personally know like half the creatures in this video. There’s Mikey, Snee, Gary, Bruf, Clem, Flaggy, Dom, Goose, Whon, JoJo and Teets…

-It’s #NationalDonutDay, and that coincides with this week’s Obligatory Space Post(s) of the Week! NASA wants to land on Mars and colonize one day, and to do that, they’ll need to deliver gigantic payloads of supplies and other goods that will be used by the colonizers without slamming them into the surface at hundreds of miles per hour. How are they going to do that? GIANT INFLATABLE SPACE DONUTS. If NASA really wants to get this going, they should partner with Dunkin Donuts or Krispy Kreme. God, the cross-promotion is just delicious!

–Obligatory Space Post(s) of the Week: The probability of life in the universe is really good, so why haven’t we seen aliens visit Earth or come in contact with them at all? That is called the Fermi Paradox, and it’s all explained in this handy animated video. Personally, those underwater creatures look pretty alien to me. Especially Clem.

That’s it for this week! Enjoy your weekend!

The post Friday Fun Blog: Coly Edition appeared first on Colocation America.