tetris

Adobe launched its Flash player for the Android 10.1 operating system back in June, and now Apple is getting the same treatment, but under the table. The same hacker group that released the Web site jailbreakme.com has released an early version of Flash for jailbroken iPhones.

The program is called Frash (pause for Jeff to laugh), and at the moment it can only handle Web sites with basic Flash animations, so don't expect to watch streaming videos from sites such as YouTube or Vimeo just yet. Keep in mind that jailbreaking your iPhone does make it vulnerable to a certain security exploit revealed last week. Of course, Apple is planning to patch the issue, so you may want to hold off on updating apps like Frash until then.

You've probably heard of cars that run on vegetable oil, but what about a vehicle that runs on methane gas extracted from human waste? Engineers at GENeco are testing a Volkswagen Beetle, aka "Dung Beetle," that uses methane harvested from bacteria stored in sewage decomposition containers.

The thought of a fart-powered car might tickle your gag reflex, but there's no denying its energy efficiency. Our own Rory Reid on Crave U.K. said the waste from 70 homes can create enough gas to run the Dung Beetle for 10,000 miles, and it's also carbon neutral since all of it normally is released into the atmosphere when the sewage converts to methane.

Join us in the second half of the show where we'll discuss yesterday's epic Classic Tetris World Championship in Los Angeles. More than 200 players competed in the Championship organized by former Nintendo World Champion player Robin Mihara, but only Jonas Neubauer was able to beat the other eight players in the semi-finals and win the trophy and $1,000 prize.

We asked for TerrorByte lyrics over the weekend and you guys certainly delivered! Check out today's submission from Mark after the break, and don't forget to send yours to the404(at)cnet(dot)com! If you just want to leave a comment about the show, feel free to give us a ring at 1-866-404-CNET or BBM our phone at 2482F452; we'll be waiting!… Read more

Tetris has a very special place in my heart. As a child, my parents wouldn't buy my brothers and sister and I a Nintendo. They wanted us do "play outside" and "enjoy our youth" and "build character." We, of course, wanted to play Punch-Out!!!, Duck Hunt, and Metroid.

Then my cousin introduced my grandmother to Tetris. She was hooked. When we asked our grandparents for an NES they basically told my mom and dad that if they didn't get us one they were bad parents. Thanks Grandma, and thanks Tetris.

And now … Read more

The board game Blokus has long been a family favorite in the Broida household, but there's just one problem with it: to really enjoy the game as it's meant to be played, you need four players. Consequently, either everyone plays, or no one does.

Blokus for iPhone adds AI to the mix, meaning you can finally go it alone if you choose. But virtual opponents are just the tip of the gameplay iceberg: you can also play against other iPhone/iPod/iPad users, either locally (via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi) or online.

In case you're not familiar with the game, Blokus could best be described as four-player Tetris--except that instead of trying to nestle various block shapes together, you link your like-colored blocks by their corners. The object is to place as many of your own blocks as you can while blocking the other players from laying theirs.

It's a snap to learn, and endlessly fun to play because the outcome is always different. The actual board game does offer two- and even three-player variants, but they're just not the same as squaring off with a foursome.

Interestingly, the app offers similar variants--some of which are a little confusing. For example, "Classic 4" is the standard game, though you're the only human player. Same goes for "Classic 2," in which you take on the role of a second human player. "Duo," its name notwithstanding, is another single-player exercise, but played on a smaller board with just two colors instead of four.… Read more

Are you the sort of person for whom "American Idol" just doesn't do it any more?

Do you crave the days when "Ally McBeal" at least brought a smile to your lips with its unisex toilet? Is your DVR merely populated by countless repeats of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" (which doesn't seem all that hard, frankly), put there by your louche, pot-smoking lover?

Well, then, please allow me to save your life.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, game company Oberon Media has somehow found something in common with both the Tetris … Read more

I don't know who you are, Erin, but this Tetris Dress that you made makes me kind of want to marry you. There isn't much more to say about this great garment than that. And sorry, people, but it's a one-of-a-kind, so you can't buy one. But if you're the crafty type you can get the fabric here and make your own fashion tribute to the iconic '80s puzzle game. I really hope this becomes a trend.

Erin, call me?

I met a perfectly lovely young woman this weekend who told me that when she was a teenager she took Ecstasy, snorted coke, and inhaled pot as if it were dim sum on a Sunday morning.

So I found myself relieved beyond the effects of a hot stone massage to discover that research on teenage girls has shown that when they play Tetris it has a wonderfully positive effect on their brains.

The Mind Research Network, which appears to be a nonprofit organization that examines brain injury and mental illness, decided to spend three months of its life and donations … Read more

While we wait for the big-screen adaptation of Halo to hopefully come out in the next couple of years, we must wonder about the real-life looks video games of yore may have taken. Modern games already look like awesome high-definition movies, but what about their heavily pixelated predecessors?

German photographer Patrick Runte has taken on the idea and has come up with some fairly funny recreations of old 4-bit video games as they would have looked in real life. The games adapted include Tetris, Pac-Man, and of course Pong. He even goes off the grid just a tad to bring us a pinball recreation. Rad.

Runte's a good photographer and there are many more (not so geeky) images on his site. In the meantime, check out a couple more of his game shots after the jump.

… Read more

Quinn is a free, "falling blocks"-style arcade game with simple, solid gameplay and thoughtful multiplayer extras. Quinn doesn't tinker with the time-honored format for this popular type of game: four-block "tetromino" shapes fall down a vertical game board, and you have to move and rotate them into a neat stack along the bottom. Every time you complete a horizontal row of blocks, that row disappears and lowers the entire stack, giving you more room to maneuver the infinite supply of incoming, ever-faster-moving pieces.

Quinn does the basics well--the game runs smoothly, and you can … Read more

On Saturday, Tetris, the famous falling-blocks puzzle game, turns 25.

Tetris was created by Russian programmer Alexey Pajitnov in June 1984. He had an immense love for puzzles, and he felt compelled to create a game that allowed players to arrange distinctive puzzle pieces along the bottom of a field or "matrix." Pajitnov chose the name Tetris by combining the words "tetromino" and "tennis."

The game was first made available on the IBM computer. It quickly enjoyed popularity and was ported to a variety of other platforms. In 1987, it became a major hit in the United States.

But it wasn't until Nintendo released its version of Tetris for the Game Boy in 1989 that Tetris reached critical mass. According to The Tetris Co., the Game Boy version of Tetris sold more than 35 million copies.

Pajitnov made very little money from his popular game during that time. Prior to the release of Tetris on the Game Boy, a series of legal disputes ensued over who really owned Tetris. Atari Games, the former Soviet Union government, and Nintendo all fought in court over the rights to the title.… Read more