Twitter account using social media to keep the PS4 DRM free.

After the muck up Microsoft has done with the antiquated DRM (digital rights management) on the Xbox One, many are now looking to Sony to present a next gen console that is used game friendly.

Twitter is the battleground where the new war is waged and the banners all say #PS4noDRM. Tweets are tagged with the hashtag, retweets are sent. Blows are close to being dealt and arrows are notched. The boiling oil is simmering.

It’s a simple but effective way for consumers to say how they feel and what they want. They want Sony to stick it right in the nose of Microsoft and say “Hey, play all the used games you want. Borrow your friend’s copy of Infamous Second Son. Have fun with your expensive gaming console, we’ll stay out of your way”.

Sony executives have to be listing as the grassroots campaign builds up steam. And listen they should as the console war hinges on which console policies stay consumer friendly. Microsoft has shown so far they would rather make policies that hinder the gaming community, policies that have enraged a large section of the community. MS has made things much, much worse with their “Mums the word” policy on the used games.

Sony has the chance to win back the market share they lost with the bungled PS3 launch. They could should make a single declaration that they won’t ban used games, that renting and borrowing will be a-okay with them. It would be a glorious revival of the brand.

Want to tell Sony that used games should be allowed in the next gen? Start tagging tweets with #PS4noDRM to get it trending. Tell Sony, hell tell Microsoft, that you won’t stand for it. Join the movement.

The Last Of Us Demo: A Peek At Greatness To Come

I recall in late 2011 hearing about a new franchise coming to Sony’s PS3. Little was known about it other than it was rumored to be a survival horror where people who suffered from some sort of infection took on zombie-like character traits. Sure, I was curious, but the game soon to be announced at that years VGA‘s, wasn’t immediately high on my radar.

As I watched, or perhaps I should say, suffered through Spike TV‘s annual gaming awards show, something amazing happened. The aforementioned game that turned out to be called, The Last Of Us, became much more desirable once that Naughty Dog logo was attached to it. I’m a bit of a Naughty Dog fanatic and my mind was blown to learn they had been working on a new franchise.

Now more than a year later, which included one short but no less heartbreaking delay, The Last Of Us is set to debut on a PS3 near you. Naughty Dog’s new IP releases June 14 and it’s almost sad how excited I am for that day to arrive. Months ago I pre-ordered the super deluxe and ber expensive Post-Pandemic Edition. This past weekend I got to play the demo to what I’m sure will be an instant classic.

The Last Of Us demo is somewhat short and consists of an area called The Outskirts. In this small glimpse of the game, you meet Joel, Ellie and another woman named Tess. I’d say aside from an introduction to some of the Infected, playing the demo is unlikely to spoil any of the game if you were concerned about spoilers.

I learned from the demo, that one of the most important defense mechanisms of The Last Of Us will be, sound. Knowing where and exactly what type of enemy you are dealing with beforehand will greatly help your rate of survival. Apparently there will be some type of weapon / item crafting system but in all honesty the demo was much too brief to really understand how it works.

I enjoyed the fluidity of the controls and how easily Joel moves and interacts with objects. Speaking of objects, I’d recommend searching every nook and cranny in hopes of finding items that will help you survive. That shouldn’t be much of a problem since even amongst the decay and ruins of your surroundings, Naughty Dog has crafted an amazingly beautiful and detailed environment for The Last Of Us.

The Last Of Us will be out on Friday, June 14, 2013. I for one can’t wait! Stay tuned to Don’t Hate The Geek for all of your The Last Of Us news, including my thoughts on the game after I’ve played it.

Black smoke reveals no new pope yet from first papal conclave vote

Papal conclave in Rome fails to elect new leader as police raid dents chances of frontrunner Cardinal Angelo Scola

Roman Catholic cardinals will continue to search on Wednesday for a new spiritual leader for the world's 1.2 billion baptised Catholics after black smoke poured from the chimney above the Sistine Chapel tonight, signalling they had failed to elect a new pope on the first ballot.

Shortly after 5.30pm in Rome, the papal master of ceremonies, Guido Marini, drew shut the doors of the Sistine Chapel, locking inside the "princes of the church" who are to elect a pope great enough to lead his church out of the maze of scandal and controversy into which it stumbled during the strife-torn reign of former Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned last month.

After listening to a homily by one of their number, the Maltese Augustinian, Prosper Grech, the cardinals held at least one ballot. But black smoke issuing from the chimney above the chapel two hours later showed that none of the cardinals had obtained the necessary two-thirds majority.

The cardinals now return to the Vatican's Santa Marta hotel for the night. They return to the Apostolic Palace for Mass on Wednesday morning and a new round of voting.

The 115 men who took part in the ballot had earlier filed into the chapel in two long columns as they chanted Ora pro nobis (Pray for us) in response to the names of the litany of saints and prophets. Dressed mostly in vivid scarlet, the cardinals advanced down the chapel towards Michelangelo's intimidating depiction of the Last Judgement where they bowed their heads before the altar and took their places in the stalls on either side.

The judgment the cardinals themselves will have to make in their assembly, or conclave, is among the most difficult in recent times. Benedict's abdication has robbed them of the chance that most of their predecessors had to swap opinions on a likely successor as the pope of the day advanced in age and infirmity.

According to a report in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, one of the two frontrunners, Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan, had secured the backing of up to 50 electors. But in the run-up to the conclave, several cardinals warned that an early result was unlikely because of the lack of a clear favourite.

The traditional wisdom has it that he who starts the election as the likely pope emerges a cardinal. But Scola is also handicapped by his close association with the controversial Communion and Liberation movement, and just hours before the start of the ballot there was a reminder of the scandals in which it has been entangled.

Anti-mafia investigators carried out dawn raids in Scola's diocese in an investigation into corruption linked to hospital supplies. Healthcare in Lombardy is the principal responsibility of the regional administration, which for the past 18 years has been run by Roberto Formigoni, a childhood friend of Cardinal Scola and the leading political representative of the Communion and Liberation fellowship.

Among those arrested was a local politician said to have organised expensive holidays for Formigoni that are central to an investigation into the former governor's affairs. Formigoni, who has been accused of, but not charged with, conspiracy and corruption, denies all wrongdoing.

Until recently, Scola was seen as the conservative group's most distinguished ecclesiastical spokesman but he has progressively loosened his ties to Communion and Liberation, and in early 2012 publicly rebuked the movement's leadership.

According to sources close to the cardinals' preliminary deliberations, Scola was the champion of a largely non-Italian faction that is challenging the entrenched power of the Vatican cardinals. His chief rival as the voting began was said to be the archbishop of Sao Paolo, Odilo Scherer.

The management of the Roman Curia, the central administration of the church, appeared to be foremost among the issues dividing the electors. Reports in the Italian media indicated that the final meeting of the cardinals before the Conclave witnessed a clash between the Vatican's top official, Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, and a Brazilian cardinal, Jo o Cardinal Br z de Aviz.

US deems North Korea nuclear strike unlikely without threat to dynasty

Intelligence report comes as North Korea state press say people ready to 'rain bullets on the enemy' amid increasing tensions

North Korea is unlikely to carry out its bellicose threats to unleash a nuclear attack on the US and South Korea unless the Kim dynasty's control of the communist regime is threatened, the White House intelligence chief said on Tuesday.

But James Clapper, the US director of national intelligence, cautioned that Pyongyang remains an unpredictable and serious threat because it is difficult to gauge at what point North Korea's leadership would feel its existence to be in jeopardy.

Clapper's assessment to a Senate committee on Tuesday came as the North Korean state press said people are ready to "rain bullets on the enemy" amid increasing tensions since Pyongyang announced the 1953 armistice with Seoul was at an end.

State-run television reported mass rallies across North Korea against the US and said Kim Jong-un had told troops to be on "maximum alert" for a potential war. Kim told troops stationed near disputed waters that have been the scene of previous clashes that "war can break out right now".

Earlier, North Korea threatened to launch a nuclear strike against the US and South Korea. North Korea has blamed Seoul's joint military exercises this month with the US for the increased tensions. But Washington said Pyongyang is lashing out with "belligerent rhetoric" after the UN security council imposed new sanctions over North Korea's underground test of a nuclear weapon last month.

"The intelligence community has long assessed that, in Pyongyang's view, its nuclear capabilities are intended for deterrence, international prestige and coercive diplomacy. We do not know Pyongyang's nuclear doctrine or employment concepts," said Clapper.

"Although we assess with low confidence that the North would only attempt to use nuclear weapons against US forces or allies to preserve the Kim regime, we do not know what would constitute, from the North's perspective, crossing that threshold."

Clapper described the threats from Pyongyang as "very belligerent" and said he is "very concerned about the actions of the new young leader", Kim Jong-un. "The rhetoric, while propaganda-laced, is an indicator of their attitude," he said.

Last week the North Korean military issued a statement saying it "will make a strike of justice at any target anytime as it pleases without limit".

Pyongyang's navy chas lashed with South Korean forces three times since 1999. Three years ago Seoul accused Pyongyang of torpedoing a South Korean warship, killing 46 sailors. In 2010, 50 South Koreans died when North Korea shelled an island claimed by Pyongyang.

One US official pointed up a warning by Barack Obama's national security adviser, Tom Donilon, on Monday in which he warned North Korea about the export of nuclear materials.

Donilon said that the "transfer of nuclear weapons or nuclear materials to other states or non-state entities" would be considered "a grave threat to the United States and our allies and we will hold North Korea fully accountable for the consequences".

The official said that, over the long term, for Pyongyang to share nuclear technology and know-how with the US's enemies is potentially a much graver threat than North Korea launching an attack itself.

Chinese Galaxy S4 variant shows up in video

As Samsung gets another day closer to the launch of the Galaxy S4, a supposed Chinese variant of the upcoming phone stole some thunder recently by showing up on camera. Today, you get a lot more to look at as the owner of this smartphone released a video to help prove the legitimacy of his claim.

So far this year very few manufacturers have kept to a specific design language. If you take a look at the BlackBerry Z10 or the HTC One, these phone are wildly different in design from what has been expected from either company in the past. Everyone is looking for lighter, thinner, stronger phones with the best screen and the best battery life.

What each of these new handsets have in common is they are endlessly compared. More often than not though, users are still interested in comparing these phones to the Galaxy S3 . The comparison isn’t usually about specs, either. The design of the Galaxy S3 is both iconic and unique to Samsung, and is popular enough that it should surprise no one to see that the Galaxy S4 looks nearly identical to the S3.

The video offers a quick rundown of a version of the Galaxy S4 that is unlikely to be seen outside of China — the dual-SIM design just isn’t used in many other places.

When the phone boots, you can see the TouchWiz flavored Android 4.2.1, complete with lockscreen widgets and other visual cues to the latest version of Android. As the phone is used, you see much more of Samsung’s version of Android, including the “natural” sounds and animations. The camera is shown off for a brief moment, but not much is gained from that bit of the video. All told, the experience looks and feels like a slight bump all around and not a major overhaul or a reinvention.

While some may have been looking for a brand new look and feel from Samsung, it’s important to remember that they have a product that works right now. They don’t have to guess anymore, their hardware is selling better than any other Android phone right now and very few of their customers seem to mind their version of Android. Samsung’s presentation for the Galaxy S4 will likely focus on software improvements, like the eye scrolling and other gesture systems. Whether or not this will hurt Samsung in the coming year has yet to be seen.

Now read: Possible Galaxy S4 photos pop up just before official launch

Google shows off apps for Glass

We’ve all seen the Glass demonstration videos from Google, but the app driven ecosystem we live in today demands that there be a little more than Google juice flowing through the headset. During a recent SXSW presentation, Google took to the stage to show off early app partners for the launch of Glass.

The core concepts surrounding Glass focus on being able to deliver short bursts of information as the core content system. Similar to how notifications are delivered in Android, Glass can only display small blocks of text or icons in the tiny projector screen. This design also ensures that there’s never enough information on the screen to take your attention off of things, like the road in front of you. Google has made it clear in the past that the bulk of Glass apps would be based on RESTful services, so almost everything you’ll be doing with those apps will require a data connection. Google’s presentation gives a deeper look at what you can expect from the experience in general.

Photos and video are an integral part of Google Glass. Using your voice or just touching the side of the headset, you an capture the world around you from the perspective of your eye. Once the photo is taken, you can share it through services like Skitch or Path. Instead of forcing you to do those things right when the photo is taken, the option is added to your timeline. These apps are stripped down, super simple versions of the those used on smartphones and tablets today. You can share to existing groups, or in the case of Path, you can interact with shared photos through Path emoticons that now take up the whole screen.

When text messages and emails come in to Glass, you are offered a brief pop up on the headset with the information. You can choose to have the text read to you by Glass, or hover for a moment while you scan over it. When you want to reply, you can use your voice to populate the fields. This same setup can be applied to any service that displays text on the headset. For example, when demonstrating The New York Times app for Glass, the user is shown the headline for the article with the featured image in the background. When you find an article you like, you can tap and have it read to you. Sharing options from here are similar to Path or Skitch, with simple minimal feature sets.

In their presentation for developers, Google made it clear that this was the way they expected all apps to function. Their presentation focuses on distraction free presentation setup where the information is made available to the user as a timeline based on when the events occurred. If you have too many notifications or do something to pollute the user’s timeline, your service will likely be uninstalled quickly. So it will be interesting to see how many developers use or abuse Glass for their app.

Now read: Photo shows how Google Glass will work in direct sunlight

Lomography's Smartphone Scanner Digitizes Film Right To Your Mobile Device

Lomography has made sharing photos from a film camera a heck of a lot easier with its new Smartphone Scanner that's finally available from the company's online store. It replaces a desktop scanner and PC with a compact collapsible rig that uses your smartphone's camera to digitize negatives and slides.

The $60 scanner is mostly designed to complement the collection of film cameras that Lomography is best known for, allowing analog enthusiasts to more easily share their shots on social networks and other digital distribution means. But it'll work just as well with the carousels of slides in your parent's basement, or any non-printed photos since it relies on a glowing panel to illuminate a translucent medium.

There's also an accompanying app enroute that will allow the raw scans to be inverted, tweaked, and color corrected as needed. But you're also able to use whatever app you already rely on for correcting shots, just remember to skip the old-timey filters because that effect will come naturally now.

[Lomography]