Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Video Distraction: Further Up Yonder


"Further Up Yonder" by Giacomo Sardelli
"I wanted to use pictures taken from the International Space Station to tell a story and share the message sent by the astronauts who worked on the station in the last 11 years.

They are working to open a Gateway to Space for all humankind, but people on Earth must understand that they have to get rid of the concept of borders on our planet if they want to follow the astronauts to new worlds in outer space. While the cosmonauts speak a day passes on Earth, from dawn to sunset, until the Gateway opens with a burst of light. The ISS then gains speed and goes faster and faster, the astronauts are leaving our planet which they see spinning faster and faster, merging earth, oceans and people together, ready to follow them, Further Up Yonder."

Friday, November 23, 2012

Tech Links: November 23, 2012

Billionaires basements: the luxury bunkers

Billionaires' Basements: the luxury bunkers making holes in London streets. A new billionaires’ craze for building elaborate subterranean extensions is making swiss cheese of London’s poshest streets – but at what cost?

Entertainment


Every Gesture Used to Beat Angry Birds Visualized on Paper

Instant Google Street View. Type something (slowly) and teleport around the world.

Nuclear Power Plant Simulation Game

Taliban accidentally CCs everybody on its mailing list

Internet


Google and Bing autocomplete what they think they know what you're thinking. Sometimes they get it wrong. "People who study online behavior also say the autocomplete feature reveals broader patterns, including indications that the questions people ask of search engines often veer into the sensitive and politically incorrect." There's even a Tumblr devoted to Google Poetics.

In an attempt to make itself less desirable to copyright infringers, starting November 27, RapidShare will begin capping non-paying users at 1 gigabyte of outbound downloads per day. (Paying users will have 30 gigabytes.) Meanwhile, controversial Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom is planning a January debut for his new Mega service - which plans to insure itself against litigation by having all hosted material encrypted by the uploader's browser before transmission.

What does proper authorization to access a computer system mean? Robert Graham of Errata Security writes about the recent conviction of Andrew Auernheimer (aka weev) for “hacking” AT&T. Two years ago, weev discovered a bug in AT&T's website that exposed the email addresses of customers with iPads. According to weev, the flaw was reported as per responsible disclosure practices by first informing AT&T before bringing it public. However the FBI investigated and arrested him under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). On 20th November 2012, he was found guilty of identity fraud and conspiracy to access a computer without authorization.

Reading & Discussion


Mr. Fix-It: The engineering mentality

What does proper authorization to access a computer system mean? Robert Graham of Errata Security writes about the recent conviction of Andrew Auernheimer (aka weev) for “hacking” AT&T. Two years ago, weev discovered a bug in AT&T's website that exposed the email addresses of customers with iPads. According to weev, the flaw was reported as per responsible disclosure practices by first informing AT&T before bringing it public. However the FBI investigated and arrested him under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). On 20th November 2012, he was found guilty of identity fraud and conspiracy to access a computer without authorization.

Resources & Utilities


Responsify is a browser based tool, which allows you to create your own responsive template. Think of it as a foundation for you to build upon. You can customise the grid to suit your content, rather than trying to make the content fit the grid.

Science


David Brin points to Asteroid belts at just the right place are friendly to life -November 6, 2012 , saying "This combination is calculated to be rare, in perhaps just 4% of solar systems. That rarity offers yet one more new, rather daunting candidate for the Fermi Paradox."

XKCD explains explains the major parts of the Saturn V rocket.

Software


The Frightening Things You Hear at a Black Hat Conference

Technology


Five years ago today Jeff Bezos’ Amazon.com released the Amazon Kindle, a move that would revolutionize the publishing industry. While often controversial, most recently for its international tax avoidance schemes, Amazon has been very successful and has made millions for its founder. What has Bezos done with some of his tax-free millions? Well for one, he launched and landed a rocket vertically.

Video Distraction: World's Biggest Pile Of Leaves



17 feet tall. 60 feet around. Over 1,000 bags and 1 BIG JUMP!

Photo: Rare Fire Rainbows


Rare Fire Rainbows: It looks like a rainbow on fire but these circumhorizontal arcs aren’t rainbows. They are caused by light passing through high-altitude cirrus clouds. The sun has to hit the clouds at precisely 58 degrees and have just enough crystals in order to form in the sky.


Monday, November 19, 2012

Art: The Litter Bug


"The Litter Bug" by Mark Oliver
"Arthropod sub-species of the Insecta class. A creature whose instinctual and physical qualities have adapted so uniquely to the modern urban environment that it has rendered itself, by nature of camouflage, virtually invisible in it’s normal habitat.

When seen in isolation ‘Litter Bugs’ appear to be composed of everyday ‘found’ objects."

Friday, November 16, 2012

Tech Links: November 16, 2012



This graphic shows the evolution of the scrollbar from Xerox Star (1981) to OS X Lion (2011).

Business


Are ‘second-hand e-books’ possible?

Taxing Amazon: An investigation

What's It Like To Work For Tim Cook? A Former Apple Sales Exec Dishes

Entertainment


Writing Poems With Google

Gadgets


"The Surface's Keyboard Cover Is Literally Coming Apart at the Seams."  (Hard to believe, coming from the company that invented the red ring of death.)

Reading & Discussion


How a Robot Will Steal Your Job

I Am A Terrible Programmer. Some words of wisdom from Dan Shipper: "Like most things in life, the answer to what a good coder is, is somewhere in between the guy who wants to get it out fast and the guy who wants to make it beautiful."

No one disputes that the information age raises serious concerns where our civil liberties are concerned, but the ACLU takes paranoia to new heights when it imagines what it might be like to Order Pizza in the future.

Resources & Utilities


Sanebox Is Priority Inbox for Gmail Done Awesome

Tutorials


How to Commit Internet Suicide and Disappear from the Web Forever

How to: sell your old gadgets online

Two guides to actually keeping online communications secret.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Lecture: What’s Missing from High School Physics



Physics forms the backbone of our understanding of the universe, but our high school physics curriculum are more than a little lacking when it comes to things from the past 150 years.

Photography: European Southern Observatory


Check out Wired’s gallery In focus: European Southern Observatory celebrates 50-year anniversary for some amazing images from one of the world’s leading astronomical institutions.


Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Video Distraction: Watch Our Story In One Minute


Watch Our Story In One Minute, a mesmerizing tapestry of footage tracing the cosmic and biological origins of our species, all sewn together to the sounds of original music by MelodySheep.