commands

We knew the moon would attack someday

Earth Vs Moon is a fast-paced, well-made, and often funny arcade game that bears a close resemblance to the Atari classic Missile Command, along with quite a few homages to other beloved old-school video games.

The setup is similar to Missile Command: three stationary bases along the bottom of your screen that fire missiles up at incoming targets with a limited ammo supply. Earth Vs Moon makes great use of the touch screen (you tap to target), offering an improvement over the original game's trackball controls and the Atari 2600's joystick. Many of the game's levels play … Read more

U.S. Cyber Command prepped to launch

Washingon's new U.S. Cyber Command is prepped and ready but is still waiting for Senate approval of its new commander before it can open for business.

The new command would unify and administer the U.S. Department of Defense's vast computer networks to better defend against cyberattacks. In June, Defense Secretary Robert Gates approved the creation of Cyber Command as a unified, sub-division of U.S. Strategic Command to operate the Defense Department's information resources of 15,000 computer networks across 4,000 military bases in 88 countries.

Cyber Command is seen within the Defense Department … Read more

How to get DRM-free PC games: Just wait

Gamers have long known that patience is rewarded with cheaper, less-buggy games. But does that adage hold true for the inclusion of digital rights management as well? Not always, but history does show us that time makes even the strictest of DRM less sucky.

This could become especially important given the latest round of DRM implemented by both Ubisoft and EA, a system that requires players to have a constant connection to the Internet in order to play. Otherwise, they're simply kicked out to the main menu until a connection can be had again.

Needless to say, this new … Read more

Get 3 classic Command & Conquer games for free

What's better than a freebie? A freebie that's actually decent. Case in point: Electronic Arts is giving away three awesome real-time strategy games--one of which all but defined the genre.

For a total cost of zero dollars, you can download Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, and Command & Conquer: Red Alert.

Yes, they're old, but so is this giveaway--as I've just learned from CNET's John P. Falcone, who wrote about these and other free PC games more than two years ago.

Yes, the graphics look dated--really dated. And, yes, you have to jump through some downright obnoxious hoops to get them to run on Windows XP or later. (Hey, thanks and everything, EA. But would it have killed you to provide a simple installer?)

On the other hand, you're in for hours, days, maybe even weeks of solid RTS entertainment. The very first time I played Tiberian Dawn, which was originally known simply as Command & Conquer, I became a lifelong fan of the genre. Red Alert was even better, and GameSpot agreed, awarding it a 9.5.… Read more

Hands on with Kia's new voice command

LAS VEGAS--Kia takes a page out of Ford's playbook by partnering with Microsoft to include advanced voice command systems in its cars. Kia calls its Microsoft-powered system UVO and, similar to Ford's Sync, it lets you connect Bluetooth phones and MP3 players, and use voice command to control them.

We got a demo of the system at CES in a new Kia Sorrento, the first model that will feature it.

UVO uses Microsoft's voice recognition technology, and the system understands commands in a variety of contexts. During our demonstration, we told it to "Play Sirius channel … Read more

Tinker with Mac settings

MacPilot is another good option for fiddling around with your Mac, optimizing it to run better and unlocking the hidden potential of OS X and many applications--all without having to use the command line. MacPilot's graphic interface and file browser give you access to an almost staggering number of customizations, commands, key combos, and more, all organized around specific applications (include Apple and some third-party apps) as well as categories like Disks, Startup, Logs, Tools, and Power. You can do everything from changing the boot mode (64-bit or 32-bit) to tweaking the behavior of the Finder and Dock to … Read more

Quick Tip: Fix an Apple Software Restore font issue

This tip is courtesy of macosxhints.com user "winddog" describing a solution to a font issue when attempting to use Apple Software Restore with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. An error stating that the font, Lucida Grande, has been changed and restored is seen when booting from an imaged drive and logging into each user account on your Mac.… Read more

NORAD posts rare video of its command center

This is not your "War Games" fan's NORAD.

If the picture in your head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command's operations center is straight out of that 1983 Matthew Broderick movie, you may need to replace it.

That real-life command center, where personnel from the militaries of the United States and Canada keep a watchful eye out for threats from the sky, is no longer buried deep under Cheyenne Mountain. It is, however, still in Colorado Springs, Colo. Today, it is housed at Peterson Air Force Base, and it is a joint venture with the … Read more

Pingo penguin brings Facebook connection to life

Have hundreds of Facebook friends and still feel lonely and bored? Well, that's not new. What is new is the fact I probably have just what you want. It's a robotic penguin which, apart from being cute, can bring Facebook connections to life, quite literally.

About the size of a small chicken egg and taking the shape a penguin, the new device is called Pingo. It's an interactive electronic playmate that can move around your desk, express moods, respond to voice commands, sing songs, and read aloud e-mail messages, headlines, stock quotes, and weather.

Despite its little … Read more