wow

Death and taxes in virtual worlds

I wrote previously about China's attempt to tax virtual goods and currency, and now the BBC reports that Sweden and South Korea have also moved to clarify the tax rules for virtual money.

In April 2008 Sweden's tax office published a clarification to its tax laws which said that in-game transactions are taxable--in theory. I am sure Ben Franklin was referring to Linden dollars when he wrote, "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

The taxation subject seems to be more a case of what happens when virtual money … Read more

Initial 'Wrath' impressions (or why I suck at leveling)

My name is Eric Franklin and I am a World of Warcraft slacker. You wouldn't know it, however, judging by the weekend I had. From Thursday morning until Sunday night I collectively played more than 40 hours of the new WoW expansion, Wrath of the Lich King.

I played whenever I could, but with household responsibilities, a guest in town, and annoying necessities like eating, bio breaks, and sleep, I am unsatisfied with my progress after four days.

I decided to level one character straight from 70 to 80 and forgo creating a Death Knight for now. I thought maybe I could get to 77 by the end of the weekend and earn the use of my flying mount. Especially since by Saturday afternoon Death Knights--which start at level 55--were running around at a higher level than my Warlock, who started at 70!

Did I mention that I'm on a PVP server and that I mostly only quest by myself? That may have something to do with my slow progression. As much as I wanted to level quickly it was not always up to me. No, guys with names like Foodfoodz would kill me constantly and then offer food to my still warm body. Seriously. … Read more

Inside CNET Labs 22: Nerds of a few different colors

Neeeerrrdddsss!!! We got black nerds, brown nerds, and yellow nerds represented here. It's a nerd fest as I prep for the Wrath of the Lich King launch.

Then Dong and I give out some helpful World of Warcraft add-on security hints and general Internet shopping security tips. This includes Dong's password-protection techniques. Can you believe people still fall for phishing?

Finally, a user has a problem with one of my extremely biased monitor videos.

BTW, we'll be announcing the winner of our tagline contest in the next episode.

To subscribe to this podcast, visit us at our … Read more

What we Craved this week

Yeah, we know: You've got grown-up concerns like checking your 401(k) value, and getting advanced tickets to see Quantum of Solace this weekend.

So we understand you probably didn't keep up with Crave as religiously as usual this week. But no worries--we've got a quick roundup of what you missed.

A $300 laptop before Black Friday?

A Storm is a-brewin' starting November 21.

WoW, those are some intricate, well-thought-out costumes.

American Airlines says it's OK to use your phone as a boarding pass.

Survey says: the BlackBerry has twice as many issues as the iPhone. … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 852: Tempest in a Twitter teapot

Turns out a lot of people are all too happy to hand over their password to some unknown Web site just to find out if they're popular. Oh, people. When will you learn? Also, Microsoft Live gets a purpose, Valleywag loses its teeth, the BlackBerry Storm gets a release date, and we're all going to become (a) elves in the Wrath of the Lich King or (b) total buffsters on the new EA Sports Active Wii game. Listen now: Download today's podcast Episode 852

BlackBerry Storm gets release date http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2008/11/13/verizon-announces-blackberry-storm-release-date-november-21st-199/… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 847: Don't stand behind the hologram

The U.S. Army prepares to test and deploy ghost soldiers in MMORPGS and possibly also the real world. They may be decoys, folks, but remember: they're still light-based projections that won't stop a bullet. Also, it appears Apple will finally activate over-the-air podcast downloads for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Which, yeah. Ya think? Geez. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 847

Hey Microsoft, Yahoo’s for sale--for real this time http://www.crn.com/software/212000962

Obama, McCain campaigns both hacked, files compromised (thanks rpcaldiera) http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/05/221222… Read more

Rovio now navigating to a store near you

Last week, we reported that Wrex the Dog was showing up at select U.S. e-tailers. On Monday, WowWee, maker of CNET editor Bonnie Cha's favorite work companion RoboSapien, announced that Rovio the roving robotic Web camera is now beginning to show up at some e-tailers.

While Wrex is cute and all, he doesn't really serve any functional purpose. Rovio, however, is cute and extremely functional. His three roving wheels let him move in pretty much any direction. Using an indoor GPS system, Rovio is able to, quite impressively, find his way around the house.

His Wi-Fi-enabled Webcam … Read more

The 404 171: Where we're on the RIGHT coast

Quick health update: Wilson is doing well and is on the miracle, three-day, cure-all Z-Pack. MTI fills in for another awesome show where we cut into our fillet of coastal beef, hook up a few treadmills to World of Warcraft, tell a turtle to stop snitching, and give you a Justin PSYu update. I'll give you a hint: it's in monochrome.

My favorite story on today's show involves a research turtle that accidentally stumbled upon a marijuana field in in our nation's capitol. The little guy was walking around with a GPS transmitter strapped to his … Read more

NZXT's new Avatar mouse: license to pwn

It's always been my pet peeve in gaming when the guy on the other side blames the equipment (i.e. "I have bad lag" or "my mouse skips") for his defeat, making my pwnage a little less glorious. Well, get a new mouse, I say.

And not just any mouse, a good gaming mouse.

NZXT, a company that makes accessories for gamers, released on Monday the newest of those mice. Called Avatar, the mouse is designed to provide gamers with significant enhancements in gaming with a few breakthrough features.

First, it sports a 2600dpi optical … Read more

'World of Warcraft' to sell token device for added security

The makers of World of Warcraft are offering players of the online role-playing game an optional layer of security in the form of an electronic token device called Blizzard Authenticator designed to prevent unauthorized access to an account.

The lightweight device, which fits on a keyring, provides a unique, one-time six-digit numeric code that the account holder includes when logging in. It is used in addition to a password and account name.

It was offered to attendees at the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide invitational in Paris over the weekend and will be available for $6.50 through Blizzard's online … Read more