Brandon Dimmel

Just when Sony fans and PlayStation 3 owners began rubbing their hands with delight over the seemingly imminent destruction of HD-DVD by Blu-ray, along comes a mean-looking green ogre to even things up. In a surprise move, both Paramount and ... Dreamworks, those responsible for the "Shrek" series of films, have stated that future movies released to the public will appear exclusively on the HD-DVD format. Flicks distributed under MTV Films, Paramount Vantage, and even Nickelodeon Pictures, subsidiaries of Paramount, will also go to the Toshiba-supported technology. It all comes within ... (view more)

Doesn't it make you feel good when a friend (or perhaps love interest) sends you a cheery, heart-felt e-card? In a world where Hallmark demands $5 or more for syrupy sympathy quotes, it's nice that there's a safe, electronic alternative. But, how ... safe are e-cards? According to one recent report, not very. Fake greetings are now making their way to unsuspecting victims via email, and it's unloading a plethora of new and nasty viruses on the computer of Joe Public. (Source: sj-r.com ) Although e-card viruses and Trojan threats are nothing new, this new form of greeting appears especially ... (view more)

Given the somewhat surprising popularity of the iPhone (come on, that price is rich), it's less-than-surprising that a host of third party options are headed towards the device. First up may be eBooks and even old-school text games, both taking ... advantage of a generally reliable service, awesome resolution, and long-time projected growth. For those of us who rarely leave the nauseating glow of the computer screen, eBooks have become a popular alternative to the rainforest-ruining fare of yesterday. Granted, sometimes there's just no replacement for the feel of a good, physical book, but for ... (view more)

We here at Infopackets have taken a few good looks at the 'Storm' Trojan virus , a bug that has been infecting unfortunate PC owners since the beginning of 2007. Now, speculation is that the Storm will take advantage of, well, the storm, ... capitalizing upon the public's interest in Hurricane Dean. This is fair warning. Although Dean is now tailing off in power as it ravages Mexico, it nonetheless remains a fairly popular news story. Its line of destruction in crossing the Caribbean captivated many of us, perhaps because of family links or vacation destinations. Regardless, we care, and it's ... (view more)

Need a job? At some point, all of us will be in that very position. However, nobody will ever want their identity stolen, although that's just what's been happening on one of the web's most popular job posting sites. InformationWeek recently ... reported the dirty doings of one particular advertising agency responsible for banners on the immensely popular and universal Monster.com. Uncovering the scam was security company SecureWorks, who discovered that one guilty party was responsible for thousands upon thousands of stolen identities. (Source: washingtonpost.com ) How'd they do it? The thieving ... (view more)

And now for a report that is sure to surprise no one but stimulate many: Facebook users expose themselves to identity theft and virus attacks. Wagging their fingers on this one is Sophos, a well-known web security company based in Boston, MA. Sophos ... has even gone so far as to set up their own fake account, in order to develop some interesting insights on the Facebook phenomenon. Although still trailing long-time society site MySpace, Facebook is one of the fastest-growing pages on the 'net. It allows a user to create his or her own mini-site, invite chums to become their online "friends" (it ... (view more)

Love your iPod, iPhone, or iMac? If you're an owner of any of these popular devices, there's a good chance you've been impressed with Apple's products in the past. For the last few years, it has experienced almost unrivaled satisfaction from ... consumers. Unfortunately, that seems to have changed. According to the University of Michigan's annual rankings (cited through the American Customer Satisfaction Index, or ACSI), Apple dropped some five percentage points in its overall customer satisfaction ranking. That's a plummet from an impressive 84 to a still-stellar 79. Also dropping in the ... (view more)

Friday, fellow Infopackets writer Marissa Reaume reported on Halo 3's more-than-impressive 1 million pre-order plateau. That's never been seen in the video game world before, even with massive hits like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Metal Gear ... Solid (pick one), or, heck, Halo 2. But, there's one game you shouldn't write off before Halo 3's massive launch in a month or so: Bioshock. Released in demo-form on Xbox Live last week, it's a tough challenge for Bungie's Halo 3. Both are first person shooters (meaning the player sees nothing but his hands and/or weapon), and both thrust the gamer ... (view more)

We face stress just about everywhere. Bills, meetings, bullies beating up our kids -- there seems to be no end to the pressure everyday North Americans routinely face. That's why it's not so surprising that a recent report has found that one in ... three office workers suffers from a unique form: stress caused by email. Although the study was been performed upon British subjects by Glasgow and Paisley universities in the United Kingdom, office (and even home) workers around the world can relate to its findings. According to researchers, as emails pile up, so does the frustration. It can ... (view more)

It's the calm before the storm. As I write this, the threat of a zero-day virus exists in third-party software utilized by Microsoft, and few seem to know about it. The hole lies in DirectX Media Software Developers Kit, or SDK, which is regularly ... included in Microsoft's own products. It takes on the form of an ActiveX control, a measure created before the turn of the century for crafting plug-ins for programs like the web's most dominant web browser, Internet Explorer. So, what's the threat?!?! Calm down. For now, there have been no reports of anyone being attacked. What it takes, however, ... (view more)