Briefly: Four Corners Highlights Hacker Threat, Play Wizardry 6-8, Gillard Likes Game Of Thrones

Brief news items of note for Lifehacker readers including: Aussies hoard their old mobile phones, play Wizardry 6-8 via GOG.com, Julia Gillard is a fan of Game Of Thrones.

  • A new poll from not-for-profit mobile phone recycler MobileMuster has found that Australians hold on to a whopping 5.7 million old unused mobile phones when they move house — that’s more than 65 tonnes of plastic and 45 tonnes of cooper. “Australians love their technology, but they seem very reluctant, or don’t know how easy it is, to recycle their unused mobiles safely and securely wrather than moving them from house to house cluttering up their lives,” said MobileMuster recycling manager Rose Read. If you fall into the handset-hoarding camp, read our guide on How To Sell Or Recycle Your Old Phone.
  • Tonight’s episode of Four Corners explored the rising threat of foreign computer hackers on Australia’s national security. The report looks at how overseas hackers have been targeting key Federal Government departments and major corporations in Australia in an attempt to steal national security secrets and vital business information. “Few in government or business will admit the full extent of the break-ins, with one expert calling it a “dirty little secret”. The Four Corners report airs tonight (Monday 27 May) at 8.30pm on ABC1. You can also catch the program on Tuesday at 11.35pm, ABCiview and at the 4corners website.
  • Game distribution site GOG has made the cult-classic RPG series Wizardry available for download. Wizardry 6 and 7 can be snapped up together for $5.99 while Wizardy 8 sells for $9.95. If you’re interested in RPG computer game history these titles deserve to be in your collection. (To celebrate the news, GOG also released a Wizardry/disco video mash-up which is pretty hilarious — watch it here.)
  • In other video game news, our sister site Kotaku has published a gallery of Jesse van Dijk best video game concept art. Whether you’re a gamer, a sci-fi fan or just appreciate staring at pretty pictures, his worth is definitely worth checking out.
  • According to a report in The Guardian, Australian prime minister Julia Gillard has become a big fan of the HBO sword-and-booty epic Game Of Thrones after catching up on previous seasons over the Summer break. The PM says her favourite character is Daenerys Targaryen — also known as the Khaleesi — in her fight to reclaim the Iron Throne. Read the full report here.
  • As we reported last week, the NSW Police Force has built and tested the 3D printable weapon known as The Liberator — you can now see a video of the explosive results. Vision of the manufacturing process starts at the 25-second mark, with test firings shown 45 seconds in. [Via Gizmodo]

The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

Here are the cheapest plans available for Australia’s most popular NBN speed tier.

At Lifehacker, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.

Comments


One response to “Briefly: Four Corners Highlights Hacker Threat, Play Wizardry 6-8, Gillard Likes Game Of Thrones”