China has said that it is willing to cooperate with the US in an effort to curb future cyber-attacks allegedly coming from within its borders. The country said it is ready to open a "constructive dialogue" to help put a stop to internet related attacks.

In a report released by the Associated Press, a spokesperson for China's foreign ministry said that he condemned the recent attacks. "Cyberspace needs rules and cooperation, not wars. China is willing to have constructive dialogue and cooperation with the global community, including the United States."

The response from China comes after White House national security adviser Tom Donilon released a statement saying "China should take serious steps to investigate and put a stop to these activities," and asked the country to "engage with us in a constructive direct dialogue to establish acceptable norms of behavior in cyberspace."

Ben Heck of Xbox 360 Laptop, 3D Printing, and other Maker fame has just released the latest installment of his popular web show. Normally I would not consider this news, but the topic of this week's Ben Heck Show was just too cool to not cover.

This week's episode is part 1 of a 3 part series in which Ben manages to stuff a PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and a Wii U into a beautiful yet small laser cut enclosure. He is calling the creation the "Ultimate Combo Gaming System". In this first installment, we see a mild mannered Ben Heck tear everything apart in preparation for the build.

The mashup of gaming consoles should give everyone some ideas on what to do with their current consoles to make room for the next-gen devices coming out later this year. You can check out the full episode at source #3 below. Would you like to see more Maker / Hardware hacking content here at TweakTown? Let us know in the comments below.

In a move that few saw coming, Microsoft has released parts of the software used to control its Kinect hardware into the Open Source world. Twenty two code samples have been released into CodePlex for Makers, Hardware Hackers and third party engineers to use to develop their own Kinect based projects.

The code samples are available in C++, Visual Basic and C#. Anyone wanting to use the code will need to download Visual Studio, .NET and the Kinect for Windows SDK. The code allows for face tracking, depth of field, as well as audio capture and voice controls.

In what I consider a very smart move, Microsoft said that it released the code because it wants to get feedback from the developer community as well as rapidly speed up development for the Kinect as well as improve its software. All the code samples are released under the Apache 2.0 license and can be downloaded at Source #2 below.

Chris Hurley, co-founder of YouTube, is looking at getting back into the video website business after selling his video streaming site to Google for a nice $1.65 billion. Hurley has now begun teasing his new venture, where he said during a Q&A session with Digg founder and Google Ventures partner Kevin Rose: "I wish [South by Southwest] was a month later because I could unveil the new product."

He didn't go into much detail, but added that the new product is "primarily video-based...and gives flexibility for people to work together and create content." It looks like we should expect a next-generation YouTube, and that's not a bad thing at all. Digg founder Kevin Rose asked him if that was his intention, where he responded with: "We're not setting up to [kill YouTube]-now. There's always going to be a place for YouTube." His intention, instead, is to create a platform better suited for collaboration."

Facebook is used for a million and one things these days, but child trafficking - you'd think not. Misty VanHorn, a mother of two in Oklahoma has tried to sell her two children on Facebook. She was arrested on the weekend for alleged trafficking of minors on Facebook, trying to sell her 10-month-old and 2-year-old for $4000.

VanHorn reportedly offered the kids up for sale more than once, offering her innocent 10-month-old girl for $1000. Alternatively, you could buy a package deal which included both kids for $4000, where she actually had someone interested. VanHorn was dealing with a woman in Fort Smith, Ark., according to The Oklahoman. Because she was dealing across the state line from her home in Sallisaw, she might be charged with a federal crime.

Her Facebook message to the Fort Smith-based woman said: Just come to Sallisaw, it's only 30 minutes away and I'll give you all of her stuff and let y'all have her forever for $1,000. Why was VanHorn trying to sell her children? She wanted the $1000 to bail her boyfriend out of jail, where ironically she's being held on a $40,000 bail. Her kids are now in the custody of the state's department of human services, who alerted the police in the first place.

Intel has a bit of a problem on its hands. It's probably not as terrible as the Sandy Bridge SATA controller issue, but it could end up being another costly fix for the chip giant. According to Fudzilla, the problem cannot be fixed by a mere software update. Rather, the chipset will require a new revision to take care of the issue.

The bug isn't too major. If a USB 3.0 port is being used when the system is put to sleep (S3 state), the device will need to be reconnected upon waking the machine. It's nothing more than a slight hassle, but this is the second chipset glitch experienced by Intel in less than a year.

Motherboard vendors are saying that June is still the planned introduction for Haswell, so it looks like the first batch of motherboards could possibly be coming with the buggy chipset. We'll know more as the proposed launch period nears.

Rovio has announced that the new Angry Birds Toons show will be available through Rovio games on smartphones and tablets. Not only are they using their wide distribution channel, they will also be making the series available from select video-on-demand channel providers, Smart TVs, and select TV networks around the globe.

The first episode of the series will be launching this upcoming weekend. CEO Mikael Hed said the following:

We've long wanted to tell our fans the story of the Angry Birds and the Bad Piggies, to introduce their personalities and their world in detail. We're delighted to introduce all this through our new channel, with easy and instant access to the stories in the palm of your hand. With over 1.7 billion downloads, we can reach a far wider and more engaged global audience than traditional distribution would allow. Launching the channel, and partnering up with some of the best video-on-demand providers and TV networks, is an important milestone for us on our journey towards becoming a fully fledged entertainment powerhouse.

Steam posted an announcement that Tomb Raider has been updated. While the update should be automatically applied when the game is next started, you may have to restart the Steam client. This update brings with it fixes for some of the problems that were discovered shortly before launch and immediately after.

This means that users with NVIDIA cards should have fewer issues relating to the game. NVIDIA was forced to make a statement last week after many users experienced less-than-optimal gameplay. The update includes the following fixes:

- Addressed some stability and startup issues on machines that have both Intel and NVIDIA graphics hardware.

Whether you like Arduino or not, you have to admit that the small Italian company founded my Massimo Banzi has truly revolutionized the way the DIY world does things. Today Arduino released its next official product, the GSM Shield.

Arduino has paved the way for things such as cheap, easy to use development boards, all the way to DIY gaming controllers, and now they are looking to truly connect the internet of things wherever you may be. The GSM Shield partnered up with Telefonica Digital to "design a tool that is greatly simplifying the process of building Internet of Things applications based on the GSM mobile phone network".

The GSM Shield also includes a Telefonica SIM card that includes a worldwide data tariff which can be used anywhere there is a cellular signal. Features include the ability to have the Arduino send an SMS message when a sensor or data set reaches a specific threshold, or even send and receive voice calls directly to your Arduino based project.

Comic books have made a comeback in recent years thanks to blockbuster movie releases such as Iron Man, X-Men and The Avengers. Marvel, looking to capitalize even more on this revolution, has released over 700 first in series issues through its Android / iPhone app ComiXology as well as its online store of the same name.

The free digital editions will cover mainstream favorites such as Spiderman, X-Men, Avengers, Thor, and the Punisher as well as other popular and obscure titles. The freebies are tied in with Marvel's appearance at the South by Southwest festival and are aimed at generating new customers who may not yet be into comic books.

The free comic book deal only last until Tuesday at 11pm ET. As of the time of this writing, the ComiXology site (Source #2) is getting slammed with traffic and I have only been able to connect every three or so tries. I am sure the traffic will taper off as the day progresses. If you are unable to reach the site, keep trying.