Month: October 2018

Enlarge / Alex Jones in Cleveland in 2016. (credit: Brooks Kraft/ Getty Images)

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his company InfoWars may have had their accounts yanked from Twitter, but that has not erased their presence from the platform. According to a CNN report, Twitter took action on Monday and suspended 18 additional accounts associated with Jones and InfoWars. The decision came after the Daily Beast reported last week that numerous accounts were still sharing InfoWars' content.

All of the newly suspended accounts were "under the InfoWars umbrella," according to a statement from a Twitter spokesperson provided to CNET. Some of those suspended include the InfoWars Store account and the InfoWars "Real News" with David Knight show account.

Twitter claims that it banned the accounts in part because they were trying to circumvent the initial ban of Alex Jones' and InfoWars' primary accounts by sharing content from the conspiracy-theory outlet. The accounts reportedly received "numerous violations and warnings" before finally being suspended. This deluge of suspensions comes after Twitter reportedly already suspended five other accounts for disseminating InfoWars content.

Enlarge / Cyber airmen cybering in the cyberspace. (credit: U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Thomas Karol)

The US Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) is engaging in a campaign to deter further disinformation operations by Russian operatives—individuals like those employed through Russian companies as part of the "Project Lakhta" program described in last week's Justice Department indictment of Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova—by letting them know that they are being watched. According to a report from the New York Times' Julian E. Barnes, USCYBERCOM has directed operations to identify, track, and directly message individuals involved in disinformation campaigns associated with the upcoming midterm elections.

The Cyber Command operation, described by unnamed senior military officials, is limited in scope and does not involve directly threatening Russian operatives. The measured steps are meant to avoid an escalation of operations by Russia to more serious computer-based attacks on US information systems and infrastructure.

The operation reflects a more aggressive stance outlined in President Trump's recent executive order on national cyber strategy, which called for building a stronger deterrent. The new policy was accompanied by a loosening of Obama administration limits on use of offensive "cyber weapons" and a more "offense-forward" posture in information and network operations.

Enlarge / The view of the Athenian Acropolis in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey shows ancient Greece in all its colorful glory. (credit: Screengrab courtesy of Dr. Kira Jones)

When Assassin's Creed: Odyssey debuted earlier this month, it received widespread praise for the quality of its world-building and narrative. Some historians say it also deserves high marks for its attention to historical detail in recreating ancient Greece. Notably, the game showcases colorfully painted statues, temples, and tombs dotted about the virtual city.

Yes, it's true: contrary to all those pristine, gleaming white marble sculptures we see all the time in museums—the ones we long thought defined the Western aesthetic of the Classical era—Greco-Roman art was awash in color. Art historians have known this for awhile, of course, but the knowledge hasn't really moved beyond the confines of that rarefied world. That might change, now that it's a feature in a hugely popular game.

The 11th major installment in the popular gaming franchise, Assassin's Creed: Odyssey takes place in in year 431 BCE, detailing a fictional history of the Peloponnesian War that pitted Athens against Sparta. Ubisoft's development team took their world-building so seriously, they brought on a historical advisor to help get the details just right.

Welcome back to "War Stories," an ongoing video series where we sit down with game designers and ask them to tell us about game development challenges that almost sank their projects. In previous instances, we've been lucky enough to get some time with the likes of Lord British (of Ultima fame) and Paul Neurath (of Thief), among others. This time, we've scored big: we tracked down the creators of the Star Control series—none other than Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III.

Star Control was a fun little Space Wars-alike, but it's the second game in the series that truly became famous. Star Control II is the last—and many would say best—entry in the sorely missed Starflight-style space exploration/RPG genre that flourished in the 1980s and '90s. That pedigree is strongly represented in the game's form—in fact, Ford and Reiche even had the assistance of Starflight alum Greg Johnson in fleshing out aspects of SC2's design and dialog.

Control them stars

For the few Ars readers who might not have played Star Control 2 (or its later open source re-release, The Ur-Quan Masters), it might be difficult to see why I'm so effusive in praising a game that turns 26 years old next month. And I admit to no small amount of personal bias here, as SC2 is one of my favorite games of all time. But the game is just so damn good—from the tight plotting, to the wonderfully written and varied alien dialog, and especially the beyond-addicting two player melee combat with hilariously unbalanced ships.

Dell

Today, Dell announced availability of new models in its Latitude Rugged and Latitude Rugged Extreme laptop lines: the 5420, 5424, and 7424. These follow up on the previous 4414 and 7414 models.

The line is aimed at professional users working in factories, on offshore oil-rigs, in the military, in disaster-relief situations, and the like. Dell says it chose the Latitude brand, which is usually targeted at the enterprise space, in part because it aims to align the configurations of its Rugged and Extreme Rugged lines with those of the standard Latitude line in such a way that administrators can use the same image to deploy and manage systems across product lines.