Rapid Web News

Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) has launched a ‘recruitment drive’ over Xbox Live using banners and videos to entice 18-34 year olds. They’ve hooked up with recruitment firm TMP Worldwide to run a six week campaign to not only include banner ads but also some kind of in-game content, a statement from a GCHQ spokeswoman states:

“…Quick thinking, problem solving, and teamwork were identical to the core criteria that the agency looks for in its recruits. The 18-34 age brackets, which accounts for the majority of Xbox Live players, is also ideal for the agency. As well as tackling traditional threats GCHQ’s work is also about helping government departments, such as the Ministry of Defence, to protect their information and communication systems…”

“…This means we can offer excellent training and careers for people with specialist technical skills. However, the fact remains that many potential candidates remain unaware of GCHQ and what we do. Using video on Xbox Live helps carry our message to the right people in a creative and innovative manner…”

Things like this have been tried before for all those who played Splinter Cell: Double Agent back in ’07 but if you agree to the ‘Xbox LIVE and Games for Windows LIVE Terms of Use’ there is a specific section on spamming;

5. How You May Not Use the Service.

In using the Service, you may not:

Use any portion of the Service as a destination linked from any unsolicited bulk messages or unsolicited commercial messages (“spam”); or send, either directly or indirectly, any spam through the Service.

Which is fair enough, I’m a techie I see TOO MUCH spam during my working day I don’t want to be blasted with it on my console. A further statement reads;

Use the Service for commercial purposes (except as expressly permitted by us) – ahh so as long as you say it’s ok to put this spam on (and I assume at a very handsome exchange of cash AND disguising it as a recruitment drive) it’s ok? Shouldn’t we have a say seeing how we pay for the service? Shouldn’t we at least be allowed to turn that off? Not sure I want banners appearing at crucial points during COD just because I managed to drop someone with a pistol from the other side of the map. Guess it’s just a case of do as I say not as I do but I’m sure the lure to potentially become the next Bond for some of you will be just too strong.

Now I’ve been a gamer for more years than I care to recount so whenever I see a news story claiming that playing violent games will somehow turn me into the next Ted Bundy it makes me a little annoyed. I’m 34 now, blatantly old enough for pretty much anything, except slippers – not sure I’ll ever be ready for those, so why can’t I make an informed decision as to how I entertain myself? I’ve never seen any game as a ‘Murder Simulator’. Mortal Kombat had its fair share of blood and for those who could pull of fatalities it was more of a chuckle than anything else; Kitana’s kiss of death fatality has never put me off girls…

Then you have things like Postal, Loaded, any GTA, Soldier of Fortune, Manhunt, GOW heck even original Doom allowed for blood and guts, the list is endless but none of them made me want to take to the streets with an array of weaponry. Which is why it surprises me when a big title is being released the ‘Is violent video gaming a knockback to our whole society?’ discussion starts all over again! Halo 3 sold 8.1 million, GOW and GOW 2 a collective of 10 million sales Metal Gear Solid 4 – 4.5 million, GTA 4 almost 7 million and with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 already flying off the shelves (approx 3 million pre orders alone) do the government really think developers are pushing players over the edge?

Ubuntu 9.10, the user-friendly, free, Linux-based operating system, is to be released tomorrow (the 29th of October 2009). Canonical, Ubuntu’s corporate sponsor, states that Ubuntu 9.10, codenamed Karmic Koala, ‘puts the user at the heart of its new design’, and being an Ubuntu user myself for about three years and a Linux user for significantly longer, I can certainly agree.

Having been a tester of Ubuntu 9.10 during its development, I can tell you that Ubuntu 9.10 will feature the following upon its release.

• E-mail and Chat Features – Ubuntu 9.10 will feature a built-in instant messenging client, Empathy, which can connect to many of the most popular instant messaging services, including Yahoo, Gmail (Google Talk), MSN (Windows Live), Jabber, AOL, QQ and many more. In addition to instant messaging, the latest version of the e-mail and personal information management program, Evolution, is included. Evolution can manage your contacts, e-mail, schedule, tasks and memos – all for free.

• Internet – Ubuntu 9.10 ships will the very latest version of Mozilla Firefox, which is much faster and excellent for browsing modern websites and web applications which are heavy on dynamic client-side content, such as Javascript. Complex web pages such as Facebook, Google Maps and others will load and work lightning fast.

• Music and videos – Music and videos are managed with ease in Ubuntu 9.10. Simply plug in your iPod, PSP, MP3 or MP4 player and use the built-in media player, Rhytmbox, to download, store, buy and play your music collection. Ubuntu 9.10 can play many video formats with no problems and anything it can not play it will offer to download and install the required codecs automatically, and for free.

• Office and productivity – Word processing, spreadsheets or presentations can all be handled by the latest version of OpenOffice.org which is including in the latest version of Ubuntu. OpenOffice is compatible with all other office applications including, but not limited to, Microsoft Office.

• Store, share and synchronise – Ubuntu 9.10 features integrated ‘Ubuntu One’ service, which allows you to easily and seamlessly synchronise your contacts, notes, files and folders between all your Ubuntu computers. Even if you are on a computer running Mac or Windows you can still access all your files online, meaning you’ll never be at computer without your files.

• Software centre – The brand new software centre for this version of Ubuntu allows you to download and install thousands of free and open-source applications automatically with only 2 or 3 clicks.

• Gaming – Linux-based systems are generally not well known for their gaming prowess. However, Ubuntu 9.10 ships with the ability to download over 400 fun games directly from the built-in software centre. All these games are still completely free and installable with only a few clicks.

This latest version of Ubuntu provides advantages for both business workstations and home user desktops. Although not mentioned in this article so far, for enterprises and small home/offices, the server edition of Ubuntu 9.10 is also released tomorrow alongside the desktop edition.

For more information about Ubuntu, visit the official Ubuntu website.