MIT’s Sloan School of Management has designed a new web-based simulation program, known as Platform Wars.

The simulation is meant to imitate the competitive video game world, and users play the part of senior management within a prominent video game hardware platform producer. To win, participants must rightly make decisions involving their business. It can be played individually against simulated competitors.

Platform Wars was designed originally to inform business students at MIT of the challenges involved in the video game industry, but is now available for the public to download at no cost here.

A Cambridge man was charged today with computer intrusion, fraud and data theft after he allegedly hacked into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s network to access protected JSTOR files.

Aaron Swartz, 24, was a fellow at Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, according to the Boston Globe, and could have accessed JSTOR legally for legitimate research.

Swartz allegedly broke into a restricted computer wiring closet in a basement at MIT and to access MIT’s network from a computer switch in the closet between September 24, 2010, and January 6, 2011.

He used this access to get files from JSTOR, a non-profit organization that compiles academic articles for research purposes, and download them to his computer. Swartz is charged with distributing these articles on various file sharing websites.

“Stealing is stealing whether you use a computer command or a crowbar, and whether you take documents, data or dollars,” said United States District Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz. “It is equally harmful to the victim whether you sell what you have stolen or give it away.”

Swartz faces up to 35 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million under the charges brought against him.

The indictment claims that Swartz stole over four million articles from JSTOR. The quantity of downloads affected JSTOR’s computers, crashed some of its servers and blocked some of MIT’s computers from accessing the site.

Despite efforts from both the university and JSTOR to block Swartz’s computers, he apparently prevailed and found new ways into the systems.

“The New England Electronic Crimes Task Force has taken an aggressive stance in the investigation of computer intrusions and other cybercrimes,” said Steven D. Ricciardi, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service in New England. “Through this task force, the Secret Service and our partners on the Cambridge and MIT Police Departments demonstrate the importance of cooperation among law enforcement to focus resources and respond effectively to investigate and prevent this type of fraud.”

Swartz has previously advocated the elimination of barriers to distribution of information online, and for public distribution of information in libraries. He is a co-founder of reddit.com and the founder of Demand Progress, a non-profit political action group that opposes the “corrupting influence on big institutions.”

So far, the government is not aware of any personal information being stolen from JSTOR.

CAMBRIDGE–How many ex-mathematicians does it take to write and perform a hit play?

Just one, apparently.

Gioia De Cari’s "Truth Values" opened last year at the Central Square Theater to rave reviews and a week added to the run. One year later, after two sold-out stints in New York and San Francisco, she’s back by popular demand. It doesn’t take a mathematician to analyze those statistics, and De Cari backs it up: this one-woman tour de force blasts through our often unconscious misconceptions of gender and academia with honesty, wit, and energetic exploration of life’s variables.

Although the story is intensely personal, any thinking person will be enticed by its universal themes as well as by De Cari’s effortless impressions of (and interactions with) the 20 plus characters she takes on in the academic circus. An audience largely populated by the MIT community offers a unique context, worth taking advantage of, including cues to laugh at select math jokes (did you know that mentioning "number theorists" is funny?).

What De Cari presents is not a rant against injustice. "Romp," in fact turns out to be accurate. It’s a unique journey of self-discovery with unexpected results that lead her to question the nature of truth. In fact, the concept played with in the show’s title of applying numerical values to truth could have been more directly explored. The show’s greatest strength, the intimacy with which De Cari relates her personal experience, could at times be its greatest weakness. When she gets personal without broadening her points with analysis, she comes off as the kind of funny friend relating a hilarious or heartbreaking anecdote over lunch, whom we care for, but eventually feel a strong urge to walk away from But those parts are few and far between. To apply that description to the whole show would be irredeemably reductive. There is no absence of theatricality in her performance or points of interest in most of her stories.

Lawrence Summers, former Harvard University president, made remarks as recently as 2005 regarding the inferiority of women in the sciences, which De Cari mentions in "Truth Values." I was fortunate to be able to attend the performance after which Nancy Hopkins, the M.I.T. biologist who walked out during that speech, participated in the talkback. She astutely pointed out that "if someone had made those remarks about another minority in the field, they would have been fired immediately." Summers, however, has been promoted to Director of the White House National Economic Council. As De Cari deftly illustrates in her writing and performance, events like these cannot go unaddressed.

For that reason, it is highly recommended to stay for a talkback if possible (September 19, 22, 23). The Boston community is rich with academic anecdotes from all perspectives. "Truth Values" achieves dialogue in a vital and entertaining fashion: precisely what good theater should do.

"Truth Values" runs through September 26 at Central Square Theater.

CAMBRIDGE — Even though he dropped out, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates went back to school. He visited the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this week as part of a three-day tour to five Universities across the country.

Gates wowed student and faculty with a speech about philanthropy called, "Giving Back: Finding the Best Way to Make a Difference." It is quite a change from programming computers.

Gates now has left his duties at Microsoft to focus on two large problems the world is facing: health and education, and certain populations are suffering more than others.

"There are health problems, sanitation problems government problems," Gates said. "All of those problems make life so much for difficult for the bottom two billion, versus particularly the richest one billion. These are really big things that we haven’t given enough attention too."

Gates is planning to discuss these issues with other schools, but he has a special relationship with MIT. He even joked around about how he retook a physics class here and had a really tough time with it. All the students seemed to know the professor he was referring too. Other professors were pleased Gates mentioned MIT’s contributions to the world.

"He has mentioned many times MIT’s technology are very useful to our society," said Professor Venkat Vummadi. "He has mentioned it many times with props in the interest of biology and vaccines."

Gates is using an endowment of $33.5 billion to bring vaccines and medication to developing countries. Children die at very high rates because no one makes enough malaria vaccines in Africa. Gates plans to supply the funds for pharmaceutical companies to mass produce vaccines, and safely store them so they wont go bad.

Gates is deadlocked on this new goal. He chose MIT and the other universities to speak to because they have similar goals. Now he will move onto the next school and then go back to his benevolent work for the world.

CAMBRIDGE — President Barack Obama addressed state officials and a crowd at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Friday to encourage the nation on becoming a leader for the global economy in clean energy.

The speech, delivered at MIT’s Kresge Auditorium, praised the school’s faculty members and students for their commitment to energy research and achieving new advancements in clean energy technologies. He spoke about his excitement after touring the school’s Energy Initiative program laboratories and the benefits that these new technologies can bring to the world.

“Windows that generate electricity by directing light to solar cells; lightweight high-power batteries that aren’t built but are grown. That was neat stuff. Engineering viruses to create batteries; more efficient lighting systems that rely on nanotechnology; innovative engineering that will make it possible for offshore wind power plants to deliver electricity even when the air is still,” said Obama.

He pointed out that every country has recognized that the world’s energy supplies are growing scarcer and “that’s why the world is now engaged in a peaceful competition to determine the technologies that will power the 21st century. The nation that wins this competition will be the nation that leads the global economy,” he said. “I am convinced of that. And I want America to be that nation. It’s that simple.”

Obama also promoted Ricovery Act Investments that are creating advancements in wind energy as well as creating jobs. He said the Act includes $80 billion to create thousands of jobs for Americans developing new battery technologies for hybrid vehicles, modernizing the electric grid and doubling the country’s capacity to generate renewable electricity.

Susan Hockfield, the president of MIT, said that having Obama speak about renewable energy at the university can motivate more students in getting involved in new energy technology and policy development.

“It’s enormously energizing. The Energy Initiative has become a real centerpiece at activities here at MIT. And having the president here to make a major statement about energy really confirms and amplifies the work that’s already been done on campus” said Hockfield.

MIT’s Energy Initiative program director Ernest Moniz said that energy research conducted around the country has helped the US be a frontrunner for leading the global economy in clean energy. However, he said there’s still much work to be done.

“United States still has, in my view, the world’s foremost science, technology and innovative system. In the other hand, we cannot be complacent. We can compete as long as we have the resources sustained and commitment from the highest levels, which the president demonstrated today” explained Moniz.

Obama has been the second president to visit MIT but was the only one who met with faculty members and received a tour of school laboratories. The previous presidential visit was made by Bill Clinton who delivered a Commencement address in 1998.

Video report by Melissa Unger

While we loathe these so-called “surveys” that aim to do little more than give some website free press, we here at Blast are tempted enough this time to single out that MIT has been ranked in the top five worst colleges for “booty calls.”

OnlineBootyCall, a “casual dating site,” has compiled its list of the worst colleges in the US to hook up at plus a ranking of the top 10 schools to get laid with some of their own wording thrown in.

None of those top 10 “best” schools are here in Boston.

Worst 5 Colleges to Have a Booty Call

5. MIT – Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MIT is famous for its engineering and math programs, as well as their many brilliant pranks. We applaud their deft use of irony, when they named their two official school mascots: the “engineers” and the “beaver.” Sadly for students, the two never meet.

4. Oral Roberts University

Don’t let the name fool you, Oral Roberts is a Christian college located in Tulsa Oklahoma, where up until 2003, a strict dress code forced men to wear button-down shirts and women to wear long skirts. Its most notable alumnus is Ned Flanders. No booty for you here.

3. Princeton University

A common saying in the Ivy League is: “Harvard sucks, and Princeton doesn’t matter.” For good reason, this forgettable campus is bridled with stuffy Ivy leaguers too caught up in their tight J. Crew vests and Burberry scarves. With names like Archibald, Chance, or Skyler, you know these Harry Potter types are not getting any action.

2. BYU – Brigham Young University

This would have made our top ten best schools for Booty Calls back in the 1800′s, when having multiple partners was the rage in Utah. Nowadays, the Princeton Review ranks BYU as the #1 “Stone Cold Sober School.” Sadly, you’ll find no parties and no booty calls on this campus.

1. United States Military Academy at West Point

Just as they were ranked the #1 Best College in America by Forbes, West Point also came first on our list. With a male to female ratio of 85 percent, your chances of hooking up are looking quite slim. West Point’s free tuition is great for the budget, but terrible for booty.

Top 10 Colleges For Hookups

10. New York University
9. Maryland University
8. DePaul University
7. University of Georgia
6. Ohio State University
5. San Diego State University
4. University of Texas at Austin
3. University of Southern California
2. Florida State University
1. Arizona State University

HEY MIT KIDS! Does this piss you off? Is this patently false? Share your MIT hook up story in the comments section for a chance to win Heroes Season 3 on DVD