What to do with a pile of leaves!

Leaves 06

Words to live by!

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, Body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"

Social Security agency warns of e-mail scam

By Jaikumar Vijayan, Computerworld, 11/10/06

The U.S. Social Security Administration is warning the public about a fraudulent e-mail purporting to be from the agency and designed to lure users into divulging personal information.

In a statement published on its Web site, the SSA said it has received several reports of an e-mail being circulated with the subject header of "Cost-of-Living for 2007 update." The e-mail is designed to appear as if it were from the agency and provides information about a 3.3 percent benefit increase for 2007. It then proceeds to ask the recipient for personal information warning that those who failed to provide it by Nov. 11 would have their accounts suspended indefinitely.

The mail contains a link to a Web site designed to look like the official one where users are asked for information such as Social Security numbers, as well as bank account and credit card information, the statement said.

Perceived Risk vs. Actual Risk

From: Schneier on Security - A weblog covering security and security technology.

I've written repeatedly about the difference between perceived and actual risk, and how it explains many seemingly perverse security trade-offs. Here's a Los Angeles Times op-ed that does the same. The author is Daniel Gilbert, psychology professor at Harvard. (I just recently finished his book Stumbling on Happiness, which is not a self-help book but instead about how the brain works. Strongly recommended.)

The op-ed is about the public's reaction to the risks of global warming and terrorism, but the points he makes are much more general. He gives four reasons why some risks are perceived to be more or less serious than they actually are:

Online ID Theft Hyped

From: Schneier on Security

Does this surprise anyone?

While keylogging software, phishing e-mails that impersonate official bank messages and hackers who break into customer databases may dominate headlines, more than 90% of identity fraud starts off conventionally, with stolen bank statements, misplaced passwords or other similar means, according to Javelin Strategy & Research.

"An insignificant portion of identity fraud actually starts with the Internet," said James Van Dyke, president of Javelin, who pointed out that many firms still rely on simple security questions such as one's mother's maiden name. "The Internet always grabs the headlines, but it is individuals who are close to the victims, such as family and friends, that are doing most of it," he said.

The new ride!

The new ride with David sticking his head through the "hole" in the roof. 

Let's Go P S U- Full Intro

Penn State 2005 Season

Penn State Football 2005 Season In Review

Penn State Football 2005

Pursuit of Perfection

Penn State Pride - Gladiator Style

Gorilla Snot Hair Gel

Gorilla Snot Hair Gel

In the USA, Gorilla Snot is used to help guitarists hold on to their picks. But in Mexico, it's used as a hair gel.

Pandora Internet Radio - Find New Music, Listen to Free Web Radio

Pandora Internet Radio - Find New Music, Listen to Free Web Radio

Bombs Away

Pissed off Hurricane Weatherman

Monkey Lander

Cool Breakout game

Red thread factsheet

Red thread factsheet: "RED THREAD ON TURFGRASS"

Red thread occurs in the spring and fall during humid periods when the air temperatures are between 16°C and 24°C (60°F and 75°F). The disease is especially severe on slow-growing nitrogen-deficient turf. Bluegrasses (Poa sp.), fescues (Festuca sp.), ryegrasses (Lolium sp.), and bentgrasses (Agrostis sp.) can be affected. Fine-leaved fescues and some ryegrasses are particularly susceptible.

Jameser's Tech Tips: Tip #6: Recovering Deleted Files

Today's tip is on recovering deleted files from your hard drive... Accidentally deleting files is something we all try to avoid, but it can happen on occasion...
Jameser's Tech Tips: Tip #6: Recovering Deleted Files

Gmail - Nmap 4.10 Released

Hello everyone,

I am pleased to announce the release of Nmap 4.10. The 10 Google SoC students are hard at work and have already produced some interesting patches. And I'm itching to make some big changes as well. So I decided to produce a release before destabalizing the tree with all of this development work. Especially since 4.10 includes many important changes that deserve to go out ASAP. For example, we have integrated all of your version detection submissions (about a thousand) for Q1, bringing the DB up to 3,441 signatures representing 401 protocols! The output format has been changed a bit to allow multiple ignored port states. So if you scan a machine with thousands of ports in both the filtered and closed states, your terminal will no longer be flooded with pages of output. Meanwhile the ICMP rate limit detection algorithms have been tweaked for better performance. Oh, and we're putting out a call for ASCII artists. ./configure for details. Read on for dozens of other changes.

As always, Nmap is available from:
http://www.insecure.org/nmap/download.html

Gmail - Nmap 4.10 Released

Hack Attack: Turn your $60 router into a $600 router - Lifehacker

Of all the great DIY projects at this year’s Maker Faire, the one project that really caught my eye involved converting a regular old $60 router into a powerful, highly configurable $600 router. The router has an interesting history, but all you really need to know is that the special sauce lies in embedding Linux in your router. I found this project especially attractive because: 1) It’s easy, and 2) it’s totally free.
Hack Attack: Turn your $60 router into a $600 router - Lifehacker

Inside the Linux boot process

The process of booting a Linux® system consists of a number of stages. But whether you're booting a standard x86 desktop or a deeply embedded PowerPC® target, much of the flow is surprisingly similar. This article explores the Linux boot process from the initial bootstrap to the start of the first user-space application. Along the way, you'll learn about various other boot-related topics such as the boot loaders, kernel decompression, the initial RAM disk, and other elements of Linux boot.
Inside the Linux boot process

Schneier on Security: Data Mining Software from IBM

In the long term, corporate data mining efforts are more of a privacy risk than government data mining efforts. And here's an off-the-shelf product from IBM:

IBM Entity Analytic Solutions (EAS) is unique identity disambiguation software that provides public sector organizations or commercial enterprises with the ability to recognize and mitigate the incidence of fraud, threat and risk. This IBM EAS offering provides insight on demand, and in context, on "who is who," "who knows who," and "anonymously."

Schneier on Security: Data Mining Software from IBM

Get 10 Copies of New Ubuntu Linux on CD Shipped Free

The New Ubuntu Linux 6.06 (Dapper Drake) will be released in early June. You can get up to 10 copies shipped to you absolutely free including 64 bit and Mac versions.

Get 10 Copies of New Ubuntu Linux on CD Shipped Free

Firefox 2.0 Bakes in Anti-Phish Antidote

Mozilla has reached the latest development milestone for its next-generation Firefox 2.0 "Bon Echo" browser with a little anti-phishing help from Google.

Anti-phishing capability, which Mozilla has branded "Safe Browsing," is one of the marquee features in Firefox 2.0 and one of the reasons a third alpha is necessary. Now baked into Firefox 2.0 alpha 3, Google Safe Browsing is triple-licensed under the Mozilla Public License (MPL) 1.1, the GPL 2.0 (define) and the LGLP (define).

It is also built into the Google Toolbar, which is available for both Firefox and IE.
Firefox 2.0 Bakes in Anti-Phish Antidote

Inhabitat » Blog Archive » GROUNDBREAKING MATERIAL: OLED illuminated surfaces

Imagine a house without a single light fixture - but instead walls, ceilings, furnishings, and accessories all sources of light. Thanks to research at Princeton University and the University of Southern California (USC), almost any surface in a building can become a light source with OLEDs.
Inhabitat » Blog Archive » GROUNDBREAKING MATERIAL: OLED illuminated surfaces

TechEBlog » Top 10 Strangest Gadgets of the Future

This week, our editors have compiled a list of the “Top 10 Strangest Gadgets of the Future”, from solar powered LEDs to memory LCD screens, it’s all here. Which ones are your favorites?
TechEBlog » Top 10 Strangest Gadgets of the Future

Growing glowing nanowires to light up the nanoworld

The nano world is getting brighter. Nanowires made of semiconductor materials are being used to make prototype lasers and light-emitting diodes with emission apertures roughly 100 nm in diameter--about 50 times narrower than conventional counterparts. Nanolight sources may have many applications, including "lab on a chip" devices for identifying chemicals and biological agents, scanning-probe microscope tips for imaging objects smaller than is currently possible, or ultra-precise tools for laser surgery and electronics manufacturing.
Growing glowing nanowires to light up the nanoworld

Carbon Nanotube Computers

Researchers at IBM have overcome an important obstacle to building computers based on carbon nanotubes, by developing a way to selectively arrange transistors that were made using the carbon molecules. The achievement, described in the current issue of Nano Letters, could help make large-scale integrated circuits built out of carbon nanotubes possible, leading to ultrafast, low-power processors.
Technology Review: Emerging Technologies and their Impact

Schneier on Security: El Al Doesn't Trust the TSA

El Al Doesn't Trust the TSA

They want to do security themselves at Newark Airport, as they already do at four other U.S. airports.

No other airline has such an arrangement with U.S. officials, authorities acknowledged. At the four other airports, El Al has installed its own security software at bomb-detection machines, which authorities said is more sensitive than that used by American carriers.

Schneier on Security: El Al Doesn't Trust the TSA

Schneier on Security: The Problems with Data Mining

The Problems with Data Mining

Great op-ed in The New York Times on why the NSA's data mining efforts won't work, by Jonathan Farley, math professor at Harvard.

Schneier on Security: The Problems with Data Mining

Schneier on Security: Smart Profiling from the DHS

Smart Profiling from the DHS

About time:

Here's how it works: Select TSA employees will be trained to identify suspicious individuals who raise red flags by exhibiting unusual or anxious behavior, which can be as simple as changes in mannerisms, excessive sweating on a cool day, or changes in the pitch of a person's voice. Racial or ethnic factors are not a criterion for singling out people, TSA officials say. Those who are identified as suspicious will be examined more thoroughly; for some, the agency will bring in local police to conduct face-to-face interviews and perhaps run the person's name against national criminal databases and determine whether any threat exists. If such inquiries turn up other issues countries with terrorist connections, police officers can pursue the questioning or alert Federal counterterrorism agents. And of course the full retinue of baggage x-rays, magnetometers and other checks for weapons will continue.

Schneier on Security: Smart Profiling from the DHS

Schneier on Security: Diebold Doesn't Get It

Diebold Doesn't Get It

This quote sums up nicely why Diebold should not be trusted to secure election machines:

David Bear, a spokesman for Diebold Election Systems, said the potential risk existed because the company's technicians had intentionally built the machines in such a way that election officials would be able to update their systems in years ahead.

"For there to be a problem here, you're basically assuming a premise where you have some evil and nefarious election officials who would sneak in and introduce a piece of software," he said. "I don't believe these evil elections people exist."

If you can't get the threat model right, you can't hope to secure the system.

Schneier on Security: Diebold Doesn't Get It

Strange New Products: A Camera That You Can Download

Linatree claims to have made the first free downloadable pinhole camera that you can print out, cut out, and assemble together. Check out their Flash animation instructions.

Strange New Products: A Camera That You Can Download

Top 10 must-haves - CNET.com

You may be shocked not to find an iPod on the list below. Well, here comes some more shocking news. The iRiver Clix, thanks to its excellent compatibility with the revamped Windows Media Player 11 and MTV Urge music service, joins the party this week. Yup: no iPod, no iTunes...and no doubt about it. Oh, and the Windows Treo shouldn't get comfy, because the Treo 700p looks mighty promising. Mighty promising indeed.

Top 10 must-haves - CNET.com

The Command Line in Windows XP: commands that everybody can use

The Windows command line is a mainstay for systems administrators and power users but is relatively unknown to many PC users. The purpose of this site is to make the power and utility of the command line more familiar to a wider community of computer users. Also under-appreciated are the related resources of batch files and scripts and these will be discussed as well.

The Command Line in Windows XP: commands that everybody can use

Technology Review: Emerging Technologies and their Impact

Carbon nanotubes -- incredibly strong, electrically conductive, hollow molecules of carbon about a nanometer in diameter -- have for more than a decade been prized by materials scientists. They've added them to batteries to increase their surface area and are developing light-emitting nanotubes for telecommunications.

Technology Review: Emerging Technologies and their Impact

HOW TO: Get Through Having Your Identity Stolen - Consumerist

After our last post on identity theft, regular Consumerist commenter trixare4kids sent us a great, well-crafted email detailing her own experience having her identity stolen. Better yet, she wrote us a personalized How To for getting through an identity theft crisis.

HOW TO: Get Through Having Your Identity Stolen - Consumerist

Digital Air - Camera Array Imaging and Image Processing Technologies

The links below detail a variety of Digital Air's innovative visual effects techniques. Each page includes technical notes, an example, and a brief description of the equipment and process used to produce the example.

Digital Air - Camera Array Imaging and Image Processing Technologies

Transparent VW Phaeton Factory in Dresden | NetworkWorld.com Community

No, it really is transparent! This has to be the world's cleanest car building factory! (Be patient, the page that loads from the VWvortex Forums is huge -- not a good format choice.)

Transparent VW Phaeton Factory in Dresden | NetworkWorld.com Community

BBC NEWS | Americas | 'Brazilian Stonehenge' discovered

Brazilian archaeologists have found an ancient stone structure in a remote corner of the Amazon that may cast new light on the region's past.

The site, thought to be an observatory or place of worship, pre-dates European colonisation and is said to suggest a sophisticated knowledge of astronomy.

BBC NEWS | Americas | 'Brazilian Stonehenge' discovered

Technology Review: Emerging Technologies and their Impact

A novel process for squeezing hydrogen out of biomass could mean a cheaper and easier way to make hydrogen for fuel cells.
By Duncan Graham-Rowe

A small company in Madison, WI has developed a novel way to generate hydrogen cheaply and cleanly from biomass.

In the next couple of weeks, the technology, developed by Virent Energy Systems, will be used for the first time to continuously produce electricity from a small 10-kilowatt generator at the company's facility in Madison. The unit is fueled by corn syrup, similar to the kind used by soft drinks manufacturers, says CEO Eric Apfelbach.

Technology Review: Emerging Technologies and their Impact

Popular Science: Mini Machines Photo Gallery

Today’s advanced micromachining techniques give scientists the ability to fabricate complex objects on a scale never before possible. And things just keep getting more interesting. See for yourself in this gallery of tiny wonders, from miniature submarines capable of sailing through your blood vessels to tiny eyeglasses for houseflies.

Popular Science: Mini Machines Photo Gallery

Schneier on Security: Major Vulnerability Found in Diebold Election Machines

May 11, 2006
Major Vulnerability Found in Diebold Election Machines

This is a big deal:

Elections officials in several states are scrambling to understand and limit the risk from a "dangerous" security hole found in Diebold Election Systems Inc.'s ATM-like touch-screen voting machines.

The hole is considered more worrisome than most security problems discovered on modern voting machines, such as weak encryption, easily pickable locks and use of the same, weak password nationwide.

Armed with a little basic knowledge of Diebold voting systems and a standard component available at any computer store, someone with a minute or two of access to a Diebold touch screen could load virtually any software into the machine and disable it, redistribute votes or alter its performance in myriad ways.
Schneier on Security: Major Vulnerability Found in Diebold Election Machines

Pursuing the Invisible with Einstein's Lens

Though he couldn't be observed directly, the Invisible Man knew his presence could be betrayed by his effect on visible things. Employing a similar principle, a team led by Andrew Gould of Ohio State University will hunt for hard-to-see celestial objects, like black holes and dark matter, by observing how they affect light coming from stars behind them.
Pursuing the Invisible with Einstein's Lens

Schneier on Security: Computer Problems at the NSA

Computers are integral to everything NSA does, yet it is not uncommon for the agency's unstable computer system to freeze for hours, unlike the previous system, which had a backup mechanism that enabled analysts to continue their work, said Matthew Aid, a former NSA analyst and congressional intelligence staff member.
Schneier on Security: Computer Problems at the NSA

My News and Stories.: Students drive 15 miles on 0,35 ounces of Hydrogen!

My News and Stories.: Students drive 15 miles on 0,35 ounces of Hydrogen!

Students from the Danish college of technology (DTU) have develeped a new and innovative fuelsystem which eleminates the loss of hydrogen in a fuel cell.

By eleminating the loss of hydrogen in the fuel cells, the Danish students have made hydrogen power "cost efficient" and have layed a major piece in the hydrogen engine puzzle.

The new fuel system was developed while working on the new hydrogen car "DTU Dynamo". Last year the car set a new world record by driving 15 miles on 0,35 ounces of hydrogen. This equals to the 450 miles per gallon of gas.
This new invention has already been patented, and a new development is said to be underway.

10 things you should know about building a PC from scratch

Building your own PC offers numerous benefits, from enabling a high level of customization to keeping costs to a minimum--but it also requires a lot of planning and decision making. These recommendations will help guide your choices, from motherboard to processor speed to video requirements.

read more | digg story

Magellanic gemstones in the southern sky

Hubble has captured the most detailed images to date of the open star clusters NGC 265 and NGC 290 in the Small Magellanic Cloud - two sparkling sets of gemstones in the southern sky.

read more | digg story

New Meat Eating Dinosaur Discovered: The Mapusaurus

Huge meat-eating dinosaurs roamed in groups in Argentina, scientists say

read more | digg story

James Bond's new phone reveiled

You know his name, you know his number....you also know what car he likes to drive - Aston Martins. Well now our favourite secret service agent has been kitted with a Nokia 8800 cellphone with an engraved Aston Martin logo. And it costs a Pretty (Money) Penny too.

read more | digg story

When an Algorithm Takes the Wheel - Jaguar's New XK Sport Car

Algorithmically controlled sensors, suspension adjustment and other electronic functions are not what you are supposed to notice when you drive Jaguar's new XK. The car's highly automated driving control, Jaguar engineers say, is supposed to transparently keep you out of trouble while you embark upon a high-powered car driving experience.

read more | digg story

Funny Way to Park a Plane.

"A Varig airlines cargo plane from Brazil sits parked at the Mexico City airport with its nose up in the air after the cargo was unevenly distributed on Wednesday April 12, 2006." - Yahoo Photo.

read more | digg story

Interesting Google Calendars

I've collected a bunch of calendars (iCal and others) you can add to the new Google Calendar. Maybe it's of interest to some of you.

read more | digg story

First Images from Venus Express

ESA's Venus Express has returned the first-ever images of the Venusian south pole, from a distance of 206 452 kilometres, showing surprisingly clear structures and unexpected detail. The images were taken 12 April during the spacecraft's initial capture orbit after successful arrival on 11 April 2006.

read more | digg story

Jupiter's aurora feels Europa's light touch

Astronomers have detected a bright spot with a trailing tail in Jupiter's aurora, caused by an electromagnetic connection to the planet's moon, Europa. You can also watch a movies of the aurora.

read more | digg story

Vespa goes hybrid

Vespa has developed two scooters that feature hybrid engines to give you even better gas mileage

read more | digg story

Google Calendar Is Launching Tonight

It looks like Google Calender could be launching tonight! The official Google Calendar logo was found on Google's servers and calendar.google.com redirects to the actual CL2 login screen now.

read more | digg story

A look at NASA's computer setup!

Here's a video from NASA's press event for the 25th anniversary of its first shuttle launch: A look at 'Discovery,' a supercomputer that turns out any kind of space-related data at an incredibly quick rate. NASA's Rupak Biswas gives the tour.

read more | digg story

Attack at the Speed of Light

After decades of expensive, well-publicized failures, laser weapons may finally be on the horizon. Can scientists end the era of bombs and bullets?

read more | digg story

Life hacks for Disney's fastpass system

Waiting in line at Disney's attraction sucks major balls even with fast pass system under your belt. Now you could know the little "secrets" to optimize your fast pass experience.

read more | digg story

Digg Google IG Module Now Live

We are happy to announce our first Google IG module. The module will display stories that have been promoted to the homepage, along with stories your friends have dugg. Enjoy!

read more | digg story

Last minute dodge takes takes Mars rover to safety

Good news for rover fans - Spirit is safe for the winter. It had been heading for a north-tilting spot - to make sure its solar panels got enough sunlight during the imminent winter to survive - when a sand trap appeared (nice pic). But, despite its bust wheel, it scooted round and it now sitting pretty. Way to go little guy!!

read more | digg story

Saturn's Moon 'Best Bet For Life'

That is the view of a senior scientist working on the Cassini spacecraft, which has been studying Saturn and its moons for nearly two years. Dr. Bob Brown told a major conference in Vienna, Austria, Enceladus contains simple organic molecules, water and heat, the ingredients for life.

read more | digg story

Mighty Optical Illusions

Best viewed when you're supposed to be working...

read more | digg story

Total eclipse as seen by astronauts on the ISS

From NASA's Earth Sciences and Image Analysis site, this photo was taken by the Expedition 12 crew aboard the International Space Station.

The International Space Station (ISS) was in position to view the umbral (ground) shadow cast by the Moon as it moved between the Sun and the Earth during the solar eclipse on March 29, 2006. This astronaut image captures the umbral shadow across southern Turkey, northern Cyprus, and the Mediterranean Sea. People living in these regions observed a total solar eclipse, in which the Moon completely covers the Sun’s disk. The astronaut photograph was taken at approximately 2:00 p.m. local time. The terminator of the eclipse—the line between the light and dark parts of the Sun’s disk— is visible as it passes across central Turkey. This total solar eclipse is the fourth to have occurred since 1999. The portion of the ISS visible at image top is the Space Station Remote Manipulator System.

read more | digg story

Installing Ubuntu and Transitioning from Windows to Ubuntu

These two articles are geared towards people who would like to jump on the Linux boat, but aren't sure where to start, or what exactly Linux can be used for--especially if all they've worked with is Windows.

read more | digg story

Puzzle of leaping liquid solved (video available)

Dutch researchers believe they have cracked the physics behind a mysterious bouncing behaviour of liquids, first seen more than 40 years ago.

read more | digg story

Phoenix Mars Lander: Getting Down and Dirty On the Red Planet

The next Mars lander is undergoing assembly and testing, being readied for departure next year to explore the martian arctic. This probe is equipped to dig deep, quite literally, into an ongoing mystery�the history of water on Mars and the planet�s potential as an extraterrestrial address for life.

read more | digg story

Hubble's Sharpest View of the Orion Nebula - BEAUTIFUL

"More than 3,000 stars of various sizes appear in this image. Some of them have never been seen in visible light. These stars reside in a dramatic dust-and-gas landscape of plateaus, mountains, and valleys that are reminiscent of the Grand Canyon."

read more | digg story

simple and easy Linux File Structure Tree image

it lays out the file structure for linux in 2D graphically, which is especially useful to a new linux user. although it's not much of a web page, it is still very useful. probably won't make front page

read more | digg story

OMG! So many distros!

Check out this listing of linux screen shots! What a huge list!

read more | digg story

The Most Advanced Flight Deck

The world's biggest airliner also has the smartest cockpit, with screens that show more and make it easier to fly.

read more | digg story

Announcing: Movie-Plot Threat Contest

Schneier on Security
A weblog covering security and security technology.

For a while now, I have been writing about our penchant for "movie-plot threats": terrorist fears based on very specific attack scenarios. Terrorists with crop dusters, terrorists exploding baby carriages in subways, terrorists filling school buses with explosives -- these are all movie-plot threats. They're good for scaring people, but it's just silly to build national security policy around them.

Read article

World's First Fossil-free Hybrid Vehicle

The innovative Saab BioPower Hybrid Concept, making its world premiere at the Stockholm Motor Show (March 30 - April 9, 2006), delivers zero fossil CO2 emissions, enhanced performance and a range of energy-saving features by combining the use of pure bioethanol fuel and electric power generation for the first time.

read more | digg story

"Easy Button" Hack

MAKE Flickr photo pool member TommyBear turned a $5 Staples Easy Button into a switch for his garage door. Here's how you do it, easy!

read more | digg story

Windows Linux Dual Boot Tutorial

This tutorial was written to help set up a dual boot on a SATA drive but it will also work for PATA. In order to have a fully functional Windows/Linux dual boot system it is preferred that Windows is loaded first. After that you can load Linux and easily dump the boot configuration on Windows NTLDR file (comparable to Linux boot file).

read more | digg story

64GB USB 2.0 flash drive. Yes, flash.

Insanely huge storage for a flash drive that size. Yes, it is 6-4, sixty four, gigabytes, of flash memory. This dwarfs many hard disk based portable usb drives as well, and at a fraction of the size. Imagine a 60 gigs flash based iPod..

read more | digg story

Cerium Oxide Nanotubes Get Noticed

"Cerium oxide nanotubes have potential applications as catalysts in vehicle emission-control systems and even fuel cells," says Brookhaven chemist Wei-Qiang Han, the lead scientist involved in the work.

read more | digg story

Safely install and test software in a virtual layer

This step-by-step guide details how you can safely install software to a virtual layer without running a virtual machine using Altiris Software Virtualization Solution. The guide shows how to install Firefox Bon Echo Alpha to a virtual layer that snags all attempts that the program makes to write to your system.

read more | digg story

Cassini's View of Jupiter's South Pole!

Cassini took many photographs of Jupiter on the way to Saturn, including this unusual montage of its southern pole. This photograph was made up of 36 separate images, stitched together on computer.

read more | digg story

How to build a dead silent PC

yep that humming noise you have to hear 8 hours a day can be completely silent, you read that correctly, absolutely no noise.

read more | digg story

Roll Your Own Firewall

A comprehensive user friendly guide to setting up your own firewall on GNU/Linux.

read more | digg story

Cute Cousins

Cute Cousins

David (5), Sara (13) and Leah (8 months) - March '06 

These lego creations just get better and better!

I've seen lego aircraft carriers, buildings and even the golden gate bridge. But IMHO this one takes the "lego cake" so far...

read more | digg story

British To Flight Test 5,600 MPH ScramJet

"If everything goes to plan, the experiment will begin at a height of 35km. As the engine continues its downward path the fuel in the scramjet is expected to automatically ignite."

read more | digg story

Solar Powered Plane Might Fly Continuously For Weeks

Called the Zephyr, it's an aircraft that can fly continuously using nothing but solar power and "low drag aerodynamics". The combination of solar panels on the upper wing surface and rechargeable batteries allows Zephyr to be flown for for many weeks and even months.

read more | digg story

SpaceX Falcon 1 "is lost" after launch

After successfully leaving the launch pad under its own power, the first Falcon 1 failed: "We did lose the vehicle," says Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX vice president of business development.

read more | digg story

Sell your used books to Barnes & Nobles (Shipping covered)

You can see how much they pay for any book with ISBN. If interested, you can complete the transaction and they will send you a prepaid postal cover to send the book. After the book is received they will mail you the check. Though the rate offered is pretty less (it depends on the demand for a book), you can make some money out of the unused books.

read more | digg story

Linspire Mini

Linspire has announced a Mac Mini-like computer that will retail for $399 and come preloaded with Linspire. Just throw Ubuntu or Debian on there and you'll be all set!


read more | digg story

I-Mesh GIG of RAM runs Windows at blazing speed!

I've never seen Windows move so fast! Could this be real? If so I want some now. (link goes direct to google video of it windows machine running I-Mesh RAM)

read more | digg story

Gmail power tips - Become a Gmail master

This article describes techniques and add-ons for getting the most out of your Gmail account, including how to set up mouseless navigation and quick, automated replies. It's a great resource for anyone who uses Gmail as their primary email client.

read more | digg story

PortaPuTTY - Portable Putty for USB

Finally, someone has hacked the venerable PuTTY ssh client to store its settings in the filesystem rather than the registry. That means, settings are easily copied to other machines and especially your USB flash drive.

read more | digg story

Who owns the Internet pipes?

...a map of the North American Internet backbone, including 134,855 routers, colored by telecom company (Verizon, AT&T, Qwest, Level 3, Sprint Nextel, cable companies, smaller players)... while AT&T and Verizon have the biggest piece, they don't dominate enough to be considered monopolist candidates.

read more | digg story

Mozilla - Lightning (Calendar) RELEASED!!!!

The Lightning Project is a redesign of the Calendar component. Its goal is to tightly integrate calendar functionality (scheduling, tasks, etc.) into Mozilla Thunderbird.

read more | digg story

OLD APPLE SWITCH ADS!

here are all the old apple switch ads including tony hawk, will farrel, will as santa, and even the parody by dave chapell.

read more | digg story

Wikipedia wallpapers

Here is another reason to raise the "I love Open Source" placard higher.

Check out these GFDL wallpapers on Wikipedia.

Enjoy! ;-)

read more | digg story

Rare 1972 Documentary on ARPAnet

I seldom-seen look at the beginnings of the Internet we know and love. Watch the architects of ARPAnet explain what it is and what they envisioned for the future of ARPAnet and networks as a whole.

read more | digg story

List of only the best Windows Open-Source Software

Perfectly simple and great for getting non-techies using F/OSS. Open Source Windows is a 'simple list of the best free and open-source software for Windows'. The site is based on Open Source Mac, which has been on Digg previously.

read more | digg story

Automatix kicks Ubuntu into gear

Automatix installs a laundry list of applications, plugins, and utilities that are supposed to turn a barebones Ubuntu install into desktop perfection. You can pick and choose what you want. Need codecs of various kinds? This is so not legal in some countries.

read more | digg story

Automatix kicks Ubuntu into gear

Automatix installs a laundry list of applications, plugins, and utilities that are supposed to turn a barebones Ubuntu install into desktop perfection. You can pick and choose what you want. Need codecs of various kinds? This is so not legal in some countries.

read more | digg story

Fold.com Public Beta now online:Firefox Only

Firefox has set the standard for safe and secure access to the internet. At the moment only Firefox or compatible browsers are supported by Fold.

read more | digg story

10 Best Security Live CD Distros (Pen-Test, Forensics & Recovery)

A summary of the 10 best LiveCD distributions dealing with security (pen testing, forensics & recovery). With links to download and a little information about each one.

read more | digg story

Google Launches "Google Mars"

Google has just launched a new service called "Google Mars" that lets you browse the martian land just as you would with Google Maps.

read more | digg story

The Perfect Linux Firewall -- IPCop

This tutorial deals with setting up a Linux firewall based on IPCop.

The first part describes how to install the IPCop firewall and create a small home office network, in the second we create a DMZ for hosting your own web server and the Copfilter proxy for filtering your application layer ingress and egress network traffic.

read more | digg story

The Pirate Bay: Here to Stay?

An article on WIRED explains how there's a national movement behind the site.

MPAA and RIAA ....TAKE THIS

read more | digg story

The Linux Dictionary

Look up over 24,700 definitions about everything you ever needed to know about Linux, and then some.

read more | digg story

How To: Kubuntu Wireless

This guide tell you how to get wireless working on Kubuntu; step by step through use of ndiswrapper.

read more | digg story

Physics question: Can the plane take off?

A plane is standing on a runway that is made of a large conveyor belt. The plane fires up its engines, but as it moves forward, the conveyor belt senses the speed of the plane's wheels and moves at exactly the same speed in the opposite direction. Can the plane take off?

read more | digg story

Who needs to pirate software with a list like this?

List of free softwares

read more | digg story

Package Tracking With Google Maps

I've just published an update to my universal package tracking tool that now enables you to view a map of your package�s progress as it travels across the country in addition to an RSS feed of shipping status.

read more | digg story

More than 30 excellent, hand-picked game downloads...

A great post featuring 30+ of the greatest (perhaps even the best) freeware downloads. Included games: GTA, GTA2, Apprentice, Freeciv, Anarchy Online etc... Not mods, not shareware. Just free and legal. Oh, there is some surreal humor there too... Enjoy. You will!

read more | digg story

Ubuntu Lite

Ubuntu Lite is a unofficial Ubuntu project aimed at letting users with older PCs run Ubuntu Linux. Low amounts of memory and slow CPUs alike can now use the most popular Linux distro.

read more | digg story

New Knoppix Live-CD that Boots in Under a Minute!

Accelerated-KNOPPIX Ver.1.0 just came out today, and the whole thing boots in under a minute, and retains all of the functionality of the original Knoppix CD. I wonder how fast it would boot off of a hard drive?

read more | digg story

Dijjer, better than BitTorrent?

I wrote this story which attempts to introduce us to a new open-source, GPLed peer to peer framework called "Dijjer", built by the folks who run revver.com. It solves many of the shortcomings BitTorrent suffers from.

read more | digg story

Best Regular Expressions site ever!

Great regex tutorials, resources, quick starts, etc. A whole site just about regex!

read more | digg story

500 Simple Exeriments anyone can do

Explorium, San Francisco's Museum of Science, art, and human perception has a page dedicated to 500 simple experiments anyone can do. It's all hands on! I wrote a bigger review of the site here:
http://www.sharewonders.com/2006/02/26/exploratorium/

read more | digg story

Invisible CAT5

ever wanted to run Ethernet cable everywhere in your house? don't want to sink cable into walls? This is 2.4mm thick CAT5 cable that sticks to walls and is almost invisible (well, except for the 2.4mm bump I guess).

read more

Linux File Structure - Graphical Representation

Great if you are *nix noob, this could aid as a quick reference of where you will find the files you are looking for :-)

read more | digg story

Google adds TONS of new widgets for Google's Personalized homepage

I noticed that there are a crapload of new user-created widgets for Google's personalized home, sweet!

read more | digg story

Alphabetical Directory of Linux Commands

Alphabetical Directory of Linux Commands

read more | digg story

footerest

Tabletop nuclear fusion device developed from PhysOrg.com

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a tabletop accelerator that produces nuclear fusion at room temperature, providing confirmation of an earlier experiment conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), while offering substantial improvements over the original design.
[...]

Ubuntu & Windows Graphical HowTO for Dual Booting

This is a step by step graphical howto for dual booting windows xp and ubuntu linux.

read more | digg story

10 Guides for a New Ubuntu User

Links to 10 Guides that are very useful to a new Ubuntu user.

read more | digg story

Damn Small Linux 2.2 has been released.

Damn Small Linux 2.2 has been released. Many new features and bug fixes.

read more | digg story

My sysadmin toolbox

I've been working as a Linux admin for more than six years, and using Linux for a little longer. Like a lot of Linux administrators, I started with Red Hat, but now I use Debian stable at work and Gentoo at home. Recently, NewsForge asked readers to "let us know about your most valuable utilities." Here are mine.

read more | digg story

LEGO Difference Engine

Here's a fully-working three-digit Difference Engine (made famous by Charles Babbage) built entirely out of LEGO.

read more | digg story

New EasyUbuntu website!

Check out this new EasyUbuntu website! Now you don't have to search through blogs to find it. The new website has a clean layout with detail information :)

read more | digg story

MacGyver is BACK!!!

Our Favorite 80's super geek of all things non-techno is back. Check out the Super Bowl Ad early!

read more | digg story

HOW TO: Speed Read!

Learn the techniques to read anything faster!

read more | digg story

Thumbdrive not full yet? Fill it with these office tools

http://portableapps.com/suite has portable firefox, portable thunderbird, portable sunbird, a word processer, and a web editor program. all under 10 mbs.

read more | digg story

SeaMonkey 1.0 Released

The SeaMonkey Council is proud to announce SeaMonkey 1.0, the first end-user release of their internet suite.

read more | digg story

The Ariel Atom 2, the fastest car on 4 wheels.

This is the Ariel Atom 2, the 2nd fastest street car in the world (next to the Enzo Ferrari). And it doesnt even have any body work. With 300 HP and only weighing in at 500 KG, its got the best HP to weight ratio for any street car. "It'll go from 0-60 in 3.9 seconds, if you can shift fast enough."
And it only costs $80 000!!!!

read more | digg story

How To Use BitTorrent in 5 Easy Steps

How to get started downloading files using BitTorrent in 5 easy steps! Uses Azureus and Pirate Bay as an example. Written for friends and family, it's a great tutorial for beginners!

read more | digg story

Home theater system modelled after the StarTrek enterprise bridge

"..I became aware of the new developments in the area of home theaters and digital video that would finally allow me to indulge my love of the big screen and science fiction, in particular."

Direct Link to the photo gallery is: http://www.reighn.com/theaterphoto.html

read more | digg story

How to make your own Ethernet Patch Cord : A No Nonsense Guide

This simple, no nonsense guide, will teach you how to make a good Ethernet patch cord at a fraction of the price it would cost you to buy it pre-manufactured. A 10" cat5e patch cord can cost you up to 7$ in a store. If you make your own cable, each of them should cost you around 1,20$.

read more | digg story

Awesome High Resolution Wallpapers

High resolution wallpapers that are presized for you to standard sizes of 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024 and 1600x1200, as well as to widescreen size of 1680x1050, resulting in sharp pictures without distortion.

read more | digg story

Get your Ubuntu box up and working in full throttle as quickly as possible.

This little program lets you choose to install Firefox 1.5, OpenOffice.org 2.0, Multimedia Codecs, DVD Playback, Skype, VLC, and many other essential apps.

read more | digg story

How to Install Firefox 1.5 in Ubuntu Linux

For those are not as terminal savy, this wiki gives a great step-by-step guide how to install Firefox 1.5.

read more | digg story

4 GIGAPIXEL CAMERA!!

Pull the camera out of a retired U2 spy plane put it on a pushcart and voila a 4 gigapixel camera!! Image resolution is absolutely amazing!!! From full panorama picture right down to treads of a tire in the distance!!!

read more | digg story

Geek to Live: Lifehacker Pack

A very nice listing of free programs from lifehacker.com. Take that Google Pack :-P

read more | digg story

The ultimate Google command list

Did you know you can search for any phone number with just [phonebook: name here], or can find the weather in any city with just [weather: city name]? Try out the filetype: command with mp3 or avi and see what you get.

read more | digg story

Tracing An Email

A guide that shows the processes required for tracing an email. The guide is broken up into three parts Enabling Email Headers, Understanding Email Headers and Tracking The Orginal Sender.

read more | digg story

Computer First Aid Using Knoppix

Windows just crashed. The computer won't boot back up. Those "System Recovery Disks" that came with your computer will erase all of your data. Now Knoppix will be your hero.

read more | digg story

Does our Sun have a hidden companion star?

Debris disks discovered around two nearby stars look strikingly like the Kuiper Belt in the outer part of our solar system, astronomers said today. Each disk has a sharp outer edge that might be caused by an unseen companion star. Our own Kuiper Belt is thought to have similarly abrupt outer bound.

read more | digg story

Star Wars:Empire of War DEMO!!!!!

After many failed attempts of turning the Star Wars brand into a decent RTS, Petroglyph looks to set things right with the release of the Empire of War demo. Set in the time period of Luke, Han and Chewy, you command Land, Space battles. Any Star Wars fan has to download this.

read more | digg story

Ubuntuguide reborn

Ubuntuguide - unofficial starter guide for UbuntuLinux users has been upgraded and updated for Ubuntu5.10

read more | digg story

Best (most useful) list of windows utilities I have ever seen

This is bar none the best list of windows utilities I have ever seen. OK, I already knew about approximately half of them and the list is from 2005 but the ones I was not aware of are golden. I know people are tired of these lists but just check it out and see. My apologies if this is not news to you.

read more | digg story

A nice collection of technical reference cards

A bunch of useful reference "cards" (some span a few 8x11 pages) for programming, database, administration, text editors, etc in both Windows and *nix.

read more | digg story

Make an Invisible person in your photo

Here is a fun Photoshop tutorial. I think it would also be neat to make a coloring book of your photos with this tutorial.

read more | digg story

Top 100 essential downloads

Check out top-100 essential downloads of free software & freeware for Windows XP all in one page..

read more | digg story

HUGE list of linux commands ... on one page!

This page just warms my command line-lovin' heart: it's a massive collection of a buttload of Linux commands, with a short explanation of each one, organized alphabetically within sections.

read more | digg story

10 websites you should know about

10 websites you should defiantly know about.

read more | digg story

Thunderbird 1.5 Released

Mozilla has released the first major update to Thunderbird. Version 1.5 includes an automated update system, in-line spell checking, an a bunch of other additions and improvements. Enjoy.

read more | digg story

Space propulsion breakthrough: new spacecraft ion engine tested

The European Space Agency and the Australian National University have successfully tested a new design of spacecraft ion engine that dramatically improves performance over present thrusters and marks a major step forward in space propulsion capability

read more | digg story

Hard drive recovery utilities: when you can't afford to lose that data

Just imagine this: you've been working on that important paper for the past 2 weeks, and you are just about to finish it. The deadline is in a few days. You save your document, go for a coffee and when you get back, your screen is black[...]

read more | digg story

The Most Popular Myths in Science

Chewing gum does not take 7 years to digest, that dog you just kissed has a cleaner mouth than you do, plus much more from LiveScience.com

read more | digg story

Centralize your music to gmail

this cool app was something i was looking for for quite some time. With offline mode you dont need the network.

read more | digg story

Over 6500 tutorials on 500 categories

Tutorials for: 3DS MAX, AutoCAD, Blender 3d, Bryce 3d, Cinema 4D, Database, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, Illustrator, Lightwave 3D, Maya, MM Fusion, MS Office, P2P File Sharing, Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop(a lot), Premiere, QuarkXpress, CSS, HTML, Web Designing, Web Hosting, Java, PHP, Python, Visual Basic, Visual C, and many more.

read more | digg story

Linux Software Installation methods

A description of the various methods of installing software on linux, with pictures. An interesting article for beginners and experts alike.

read more | digg story

Learning to Use Regular Expressions

They have a lot of good tips here.

read more | digg story

Easily Increase Your PC's Speed!

This rough guide gives you a few tips to increase your computers (PC only) speed, through tweaking specific settings! It really works!

read more | digg story

Can't find a distro you like?

Well, this site might be the cure. It makes picking a distro FUN !!!

(That sounds like a cheesy advertisement)

Seriously. Check it out ;)

read more | digg story

Google Earth War

Cool war game using Google Earth. Players generate revenue to fund their armies. You can also start/join alliances and try for world domination. Nice idea and it's improving daily.

read more | digg story

Google map of open webcams

This is a Google map of unprotected/open camera streams obtained from Google searches. The IP addresses for each camera has been mapped to it's Geolocation.

read more | digg story

Plasma thruster tested for Mars mission

The technology was recently verified at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris...The HDLT uses solar electricity from the sun to create a magnetic field through which hydrogen is passed to make a beam of plasma, powering ships through space

read more | digg story

Download Free CD Covers

FindMyCover is powered by ajax and allows you to easily download CD covers. Works fast and is simple to use.

read more | digg story

A little Linux can revive a pokey PC

If you have an old PC just standing there in the corner give it a new lease on life...

read more | digg story

Free online file storage and sending

This is an extensive list of online file storage services and/or large file size email sending services. Includes any known restrictions, etc. All are free.

read more | digg story

Ultimate Boot CD

A utility CD that can do wonders for your computer

read more | digg story

800+ Online Classic Arcade/Nintendo Games

This site offers you the chance to play the great 80's classics. These old arcade games are gaining a new lease of life thanks to an emulator that restores them to how they were upon their release.

read more | digg story

MAC Address: Do you know what the OUI is?

The oui is the first 6 digits of a MAC address (FYI).
Using firefox with the Advanced option "Begin Finding when you being typing" checked makes searching for stuff really easy. Just type the six hex digits and you know who really made that NIC.
Reasons for not digging this are encouraged in the comments.

read more | digg story