glitches

How many times have you been checking out a map of Flagstaff (or Salt Lake, Albuquerque, or Denver) in Apple Maps on your new iPhone 5 and then wanted to quickly swipe diagonally to the Four Corners monument only to find that iOS 6 suddenly goes lag and unresponsive?

Never? Really? Guess I'm the only one obsessed with such geographical oddities. Well, some game developers have been reporting issues with the iPhone 5 not responding to rapid diagonal swiping. If the bug is more than just an iOS software glitch, it could limit the functionality of certain gestures. … Read more

The software glitch that gobbled through the monthly data allotments of some iPhone 5 users may be affecting subscribers on carriers other than Verizon Wireless.

Last week, iPhone 5 users on Apple's online support community complained that they were blowing through their data plans even when they were spending the majority of their time on Wi-Fi. Over the weekend, Apple issued a software update that fixed the problem for Verizon Wireless customers. Verizon issued a statement saying that the glitch had been fixed and no one would be charged for any overages related to the glitch.

It's still … Read more

Nokia is taking extreme measures to rectify a glitch found in some Lumia 900 smartphones, offering new and existing customers a $100 credit for their troubles.

Some early Lumia 900 customers found that their phones failed to get a data connection, an issue Nokia confirmed and said it is fixing. As a peace offering, the company is offering this promotion both to appease existing customers and entice potential new ones, with the $100 fully covering the $99.99 handset.

There's a lot riding on the launch of the Lumia 900, which Nokia is banking on heavily as its comeback … Read more

If you've ever been to a casino, you know that the general purpose of the exercise is to, well, lose.

Very occasionally, people do win. But do they always come out with the money?

I muse on this state of world affairs because of the painful tale of Behar Merlaku. Merlaku, a 26-year-old Kosovar Albanian, was reportedly pushing the buttons on a slot machine in Bregenz, Austria, when it suddenly told him he had won a lot of money: forty-three million euros--which, at current prices, is just under $57 million.

Few on this earth would have felt anything other … Read more

If you're like me, you enjoy killing orcs, zombies, spiders, clowns, Kagouti, Vahzilok, and dark Jedi as much as the next guy. But every now and then you put down the mouse and think, is this all there is? Can't I just explore pretty places and, um, pet cute animals or something? Maybe hug people?

That's when you want Glitch.

Unfortunately the game just went back into beta, and it can take a few weeks to get an invite. But if you're looking for something cute and different, it's worth checking out.

Glitch, developed by Tiny Speck, is a browser-based side-scrolling MMO with pleasant graphics and music and a PG-13 sense of humor. There's some easy platform-hopping and coin-collecting, and a little prodding to cooperate and socialize. It's free--you can pay to get more costume options, but you don't need them.

The crux of the game is balancing the demands of your mood and energy levels. You can cook food, make cocktails a la Kingdom of Loathing, grow crops, mine rocks, and so on. That all takes energy. Meanwhile, everywhere you go, trees and pigs--fine, piggies--want to be petted and watered or fed; other players can be hugged or kissed--or mooned or "splanked," if you have a moon or a plank on you.… Read more

The natural evolution of software is to go from beta to fully launched. So the decision today by Tiny Speck to revert its recently launched virtual world back to beta may leave some scratching their heads.

After a long period in closed beta, Tiny Speck in September formally pulled the curtains back on Glitch, a virtual world that takes players "inside the imagination of ancient giants." The company was founded by Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield, along with fellow Flickr veterans Cal Henderson, Eric Costello, and Serguei Mourachov. Butterfield explained today's decision to CNET by saying that as … Read more

The latest antivirus detection file update of Norton Antivirus blocked access to Facebook after mistaking it for a phishing site, Symantec told CNET today.

The problem was fixed yesterday within hours of it being noticed, according to a statement from Symantec, which acquired Norton and its antivirus software a decade ago. "The issue occurred due to content within the site being falsely identified as a phishing risk," the company said.

"We are aware that some Norton customers encountered a security warning page when attempting to access the Facebook Web site," Symantec said in a statement. "… Read more

Update (Tuesday, 12:21 p.m. PDT): All 109 of the instant-entries to Glitch are now gone.

You could soon be inside the imagination of ancient giants. That is, if you sign up for Glitch, the first game from Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield's new company, which is launching this morning.

As CNET was first to report, Glitch is from Tiny Speck, the San Francisco-based startup run by Butterfield and other Flickr veterans including Cal Henderson, Eric Costello, and Serguei Mourachov. It is a puzzle-heavy, Web-based social game built around sending players billions of years into the past to develop … Read more