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Scrabulous be damned - Scrabble gets funky

Posted in Scrabble, PR, funny, Gaming on June 5, 2009 at 3:35 pm

Being a business IT journalist I don’t normally get tech games releases - it would be like throwing paper into a waste bin.

However I recently got a call from a PR who was trying to sell me an online version of Scrabble - I was a touch confused by this - surely she must have seen what IT PRO is - primarily focused on business IT right?

So I told her to look at the site again, but then she mentioned that I had written on Scrabble before. More confusion. Then suddenly a lightbulb switched on - I had written on Scrabble - basically a blog on a funny story where the Nintendo DS version of Scrabble managed to beat an eight year old with the word f***ers.

So now I’m writing on it. Yeah, the games cool enough and you can play it with one player, which is good if you’re in the office and you fancy a quick ten minutes of fun (see what I did there? managed to get the business angle in).

It also put me in mind to remember the whole Scrabulous saga, when Scrabble got into a battle with two Facebook app makers for ripping them off with a game which was basically Scrabble.

I remember being quite angry with Mattel and Hasbro, the owners of Scrabble, for their heavy-handed approach. But looking back I realise they had a point - they were getting ripped off and other people were making money out of their copyright.

However it seems to have worked out now. Scrabble has a working Facebook app of its very own and the game seems to be as popular as ever, with console, computer and online versions out for people to enjoy.

But in the end a board game like Scrabble is all about the interaction, the anger and the swearing - as Tim and Daisy from Spaced will tell you.

(I reckon Shazam is a word. Pantene ‘ProV’ definitely not).

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Pranksters sneak porn movies onto YouTube

By Asavin Wattanajantra in Editorial

Posted in sex video, moral, sex, funny, Youtube, Google on May 22, 2009 at 11:21 am

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Depending on your point of view, you’re going to find this either morally reprehensible, or absolutely hilarious.

As part of ‘Porn Day’, members of the 4Chan message board have claimed responsibility for uploading thousands of sexually explicit videos onto YouTube.

They managed to do this by hiding the porn with child-friendly and innocent footage of celebrities like squeaky-clean Hannah Montana, and famous virgins the Jonas brothers.

According to the BBC, many people (most likely sweet and innocent kids), started with footage of children’s videos and then started seeing adults performing hardcore sex acts.

Probably understandably, many viewers added these movies to their favourites and rated them highly.

OK - first time I read this story I couldn’t help smiling. I’m a libertarian at heart and I like a joke (especially on big corporate monoliths like Google and YouTube) and thought it was one of these rickrolling type pranks.

But then the mature old man in me kicked in and I thought maybe it wasn’t the best thing in the world for kids to flick on a Hannah Montana video and suddenly see people doing things illegal in some US states and world countries.

(Although the kid in me thought that if a tween was watching Hannah Montana or the Jonas brothers - they deserved everything they got).

Like a Warner Brothers cartoon I have an angel on my left side shaking his head and a devil on my right side going “hehehe”.

To be honest kids know about sex and need to learn about at some time - perhaps not in the way that these videos are showing - but hopefully a talk with the parents can sort out any strange thoughts they are having in their minds.

And the internet is like this - it’s wild, untamed and full of people wanting to be naughty - but kids educated and well versed in the ways of the world can hopefully navigate some of the difficulties.

I wouldn’t imagine any kids would be too corrupted by this.

Rated: 60% (2 votes)

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Ten funny sightings on Google Street View

By Asavin Wattanajantra in Editorial

Posted in Google Street View, funny, IT PRO, Google, internet on March 19, 2009 at 3:06 pm

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Google Street View has come to the UK, and the IT PRO team has already been playing around with it.

First up I did what everybody does - look up our houses and places of work. Then I tried to see if the cars whizzing around London with Google cameras managed to pick up interesting stuff. Our ex-editor Chris Green was doing the same thing - he managed to find himself on Google Street View!

I decided to have a look around the web and see if there was anything else interesting that Google Street View may have caught.

1 Woman decides to flash the Google camera car in Chicago

It’s pretty self-explanatory. Hopefully it will a van will never catch me when I’m in weekend drunk mode…

2 A sign that makes no sense in Washington

I guess the only reason why this sign would be up was due to there being a school for deaf children or something.

3 Plastering a car with post-it notes in Florida.

Admit it. This is cool. If I had that many post-it notes I would be all up for doing this.

4 Someone peeing into bushes in Paris.

You would have to zoom in to see this properly. I guess at least he wasn’ t doing a number two. These sightings are probably more common than you might think.

5 Somebody giving the Google Street View car a taste of its own medicine

Say cheese!

6 Another French man peeing in Lille.

Told you. Wonder if French men like being caught peeing by speeding cars with big cameras on its roof.

7 A dead cat

For those Google Street View surfers of a more morbid nature.

8 A house flipped upside down

My brain is melting…

9 An incredibly skinny Spanish guy

I’m sure this is simply a trick of the camera. Got a frame like one of those Indie dudes I see in Shoreditch with the stupid hats.

10 A French prostitute in Paris

Well I think she’s (or he?) is a hooker with those clothes and the gold boots.