Internet News
News: A Rundown of the Privacy Policies for Major Mobile Carriers & ISPs
Most of us skip through documents like privacy policies and EULAs (end-user license agreements) because they're long and boring. But, as Congress just passed the SJR34 bill in early April, you're probably a little concerned about your personal data, so we summarized the privacy policies for major ISPs and mobile carriers in the US.
News: How to Increase Wi-Fi by Up to 3 Miles
Ok, so this may not be a how-to but more of a product review, but the device does give you some serious range on your Wi-Fi.
News: Few Advanced Tricks to Speed Up Firefox Browser
This video will guide you few advanced tricks to speed up Firefox browser. If you apply these tricks it will definitely increase the speed and make your browsers experience sweeter. Watch the video and follow all the steps.
News: Original Song- "Just for You"
Hey! Please check out my video! Like, comment, and SUBSCRIBE TO ME!!! PLEASE?!?! AND SHARE! That would mean the world to me!! BTW, this song is copyrighted, and any form of usage is triable by prosecution.
News: Inklewriter Lets You Write and Share Your Own 'Choose Your Own Adventure' Books
Remember those Choose Your Own Adventure novels? If your school was anything like mine, they were so popular you were lucky to find one to check out at the library. But there's no worries now, thanks to this handy HTML5 app, which makes it easy to write and share your own 'choose your own adventure' novels. inklewriter is a free tool designed to make writing interactive stories simple. Basically, you start typing and inklewriter helps you organize your story, making it easy to add, remove and...
News: Shop for the Best Cashback Deals Online with This Money-Saving Browser Bookmarklet
Online shopping is way more convenient than brick-and-mortar stores in a number of ways, not the least of which are the discounts. But with so many online stores and sites like Amazon which feature thousands of retailers, how can you know you're getting the best deal?
News: 11 Years Later, FreezeCrowd Finally Unleashes Its Photo Sharing Social Network to the World
You may not know him by name, but Eric Leebow is the man we can all thank for inventing social networking. At least, that's what he thinks.
Jonathan's Starbucks Card: A Social Experiment in Sharing Ends
Last month, mobile application consultant Jonathan Stark unleashed his Starbucks Card to the public as an "experiment in social sharing of physical goods using digital currency on mobile phones." Basically, he purchased a Starbucks Card and registered it via the Starbucks Mobile App for iPhone (there's an Android one, too) which allows caffeine addicts to pay for coffee and baked goods with their mobile device. He then took a screenshot of the barcode and let anyone on the web download it for...
News: Turn Google Maps into a Trippy Kaleidoscope with Rorschmap
Gone are the good old days of McNally Maps and Thomas Guides. When you have something as powerful as Google Maps, why bother with anything else? Plus, you can have way more fun with Google's version compared to its paper counterparts. You can find cool things, create a fake chase sequence, and even prank the whole world into thinking you're dead. I imagine the only enjoying thing you can do with those paper maps is make paper airplanes, maybe some decoupage.
News: Keep Your Web Browsing Secure with HTTPS Everywhere for Firefox
Web-spying technologies like FaceNiff, Firesheep and Newstweek are out there showing the world just how easy it is to see what you're doing online, but they're amateurish in comparison to what real hackers could do to you if they catch you browsing unsecured websites.
News: The Top 6 Apps for Enjoying Instagram Photos Away from Your iPhone (Mac or PC)
Instagram is one of the hottest mobile apps to date, yet they have no way to upload photos straight from your computer. You can log into the Instagram web app to like and comment on photos in your feed, but that's about it. Fortunately, there are third-party apps that let you do more on Instagram from your Mac or Windows computer, so you can enjoy Instagram pics on the big screen instead of your tiny iPhone or Android device.
News: What Ad Companies Are Tracking You Online? Find Out with the Collusion Firefox Add-on
The whole world is connected to the Internet, which means bank for advertising companies who track your every move online. Most of the content you see on the web is free, and that's because of advertisements. If there were no ads, none of us would be addicted to the Internet because none of us would be able to afford it.
News: Cantio Helps You Discover New Music (Using YouTube)
When it comes to finding great new tunes for your music collection, the last place you would think to look is YouTube. But more and more artists are posting music videos on the popular video hosting site as a means to getting noticed and hopefully—building a fan base. And since YouTube is not just a music video site, there's quite a bit of junk to sift through, making it virtually impossible to find new songs to add to your iPod's repertoire... unless you use Cantio.
The Google+ Project: Google's Social Network Takes On Facebook
Google recently unveiled the start of their new social network Google+, which is set to compete with Facebook and fix the awkward, broken aspects on online sharing they claim exist. It's currently only open to a limited number of Googlers during its "field trial," and if you weren't one of the lucky ones given an invitation, you can still sign up to be notified when Google+ is available in your area. You can also stay up to date on its Twitter page, GooglePlus.
News: Should You Change Your Password? Find Out If You've Been Hacked or Not
Six months ago, 1.3 million registered users of Gawker Media had their passwords compromised when the site was hacked by Gnosis. The passwords were encrypted, but 188,279 of them were decoded and made publicly available for all to see. Just three weeks ago, Sony Pictures was hacked by LulzSec, with 1 million passwords taken and 40,000 made publicly available. Comparing the two data sets, Troy Hunt found 88 accounts on both sites that used the same email address, and of those accounts, 67% use...
News: Oops, New York Times... Why Is Your PayWall So Easy to Hack?
When the New York Times paywall first went up, there was a whole lot of balking. The idea seemed egregious to most, and the digerati's overwhelming conclusion was that the system would fail. But interestingly enough, there is speculation that the NYT is actually experiencing an increase in their print subscriptions, which according to Business Insider founder Henry Blodgett, is due to users feeling less guilt over buying the print media if, after all, the digital version is no longer free.
News: Protect Your Dropbox Files from Prying Eyes (+ 2 Alternative File Hosting Options)
Dropbox continues to make headlines with their recent programming blunder which left the accounts of its 25 million customers wide open during a four-hour time span. During the duration, anyone in the world could access any Dropbox profile by typing in any password. And seeing as this wasn't the first security failure, everyone, including the most loyal users are considering dropping the Dropbox.
News: Google +1 Button Now Available for Websites
Google's sociable equivalent to the Facebook Like button is finally here, and it works very similar to your favorite social network's recommendation system, except it shows up directly in Google search results. Whenever your Google friend gives a website or webpage the +1, you'll see it in your search results, as long as you're signed into your Google Account.
News: Flickr Images Corrupted by GlitchBot
The term glitch always seemed best suited for computer programs, video games and electronic equipment, where a slight irregularity in the device or system would create a temporary malfunction with annoying, sometimes even amazing unexpected results. Only the effect was never really considered artistic—until now.
News: MacRecipes Catalogs All 313 of MacGyver's DIY Hacks
Can you really make an explosive from salt, sugar and weed killer? Does glycerol and water actually recover text from burnt paper? Is it possible to develop film with a first aid kit and some orange juice? MacGyver says yes.
News: Yale Opens Up Online Digital Library with 250,000 Free Images
Yale University has opened up its museum archives to the public in digital form, providing free online access to high-resolution images from its cultural collections, making it the first Ivy League school to do so in this fashion. Currently, there's over 250,000 "open access" images available from their new online collective catalog, with the goal of providing scholars, artists, students and all other worldly citizens royalty-free, no-license access to images of public domain collections with...
Obtract: Become More Productive by Wandering Through Mazes
Are you a well intentioned busy bee plagued by a lack of focus? Whether you've been diagnosed with a legit case of ADHD, or you've been plainly labeled "scatterbrain", Obtract may be just the solution for properly channeling your concentration.
News: Google Music Now Live in Beta Mode
At Google I/O this morning, Google finally announced the launch of its much awaited Google Music service. It's currently in invite-only beta mode, but they claim it will open up to the masses soon enough. To start syncing your music library with Google's Cloud now, you need make sure you're signed into your Google Account, then click here for a personal invite. It's currently free for a limited, undisclosed amount time.
News: Google's New "Search Globe" Visualizes Search Volume by Country
Want to see which country or city uses Google the most? Try Google's new eye-stimulating tool, Search Globe.
News: Keysmash Your Way to Convincing Hacker Code, Just Like in the Movies
Hacking can't be that hard, can it? At least, that's what it seems like thanks to movies like Hackers, The Net and that last Die Hard flick. Even the Jurassic Park girl's got some game. They all look like they're typing 20wpm, yet can generate a screen full of code in the blink of an eye. Amazing. As long as they're some isolated computer nerd who's glued to their PC all day long (which is pretty much all of us these days, thanks Internet), they're a bona fide hacker.
News: Compose DIY Meditiative Music with Otomata, an Online Audio Toy
It's more addictive than Angry Birds, perhaps as relaxing as transcendental meditation, and satisfyingly simpler than GarageBand. It's Otomata, a newly programmed generative sequencer designed by Batuhan Bozkurt, a Turkish sound artist, computer programmer, and performer. But really, it's best described as an audio/visual music toy that anybody can play online—with beautiful results.
News: Coming Soon! Get a Hot (Um, Imaginary) Girlfriend on Facebook
Okay, look behind your shoulder. Now check behind the other. Anybody looking? No? Then read on... Here's the scenario: You're single. You're an avid Facebooker. You're tired of your sans hottie reputation, and you're yearning for some much needed street cred. Well, Facebook street cred.
News: Turn Your Browser into 3D
The title 333DDD may evoke a familiar NSFW project by the name of 3DD... but, sorry guys, this one isn't about boobs in the third dimension. Artist Mark Beasley’s 333DDD project is “a javascript bookmarklet that converts images on the current page into red/cyan anaglyphs.” Here's a simple (and awesome) way to waste time today:
News: Block Charlie Sheen From Your Browser with F.A.T.'s "Tinted Sheen" Extension
There are currently two camps on the internet. The first camp—those who are slurping up as much Charlie Sheen tiger blood as possible (hence Sheen's newly bagged Guinness Book of World Records status for most Twitter followers)— drastically prevails. The second camp—those who would rather not hear poor Charlie's ravings—is, however, much smaller. If you fall into the latter camp, Greg Leuch of F.A.T. has a solution for you. Leuch—who is also responsible for the Justin Bieber Mention Blocker—h...
Technology Begets Art: Google Earth Gets Trippy
Enter the warped geography of Clement Valla, a recent R.I.S.D. MFA graduate who fancies himself a sort of Google Earth preservationist. The artist's "Postcards from Google Earth, Bridges" series manipulates the software's alogrithmic mappings as an exploration of human/computer relationships.
News: Facebook Photo Album Hacked (You Can Do It, Too)
When the much buzzed Facebook profile page redesign was released back in December, French artist and co-director of ad agency La Bande Originale Alexandre Oudin came up with an innovative way to maximize the visual possibilities of the page. His clever "hack" created a ripple effect of copycats across the web.
News: Google's New Pimped Out Profile Page Heavily Inspired by Facebook
Err, I'd say "inspired" is putting it lightly. A recent Google Profiles redesign reveals a new profile page that looks nearly identical to the current Facebook profile page.
News: Play Google Streetview Zombie Apocalypse!
You never know when the zombie apocalypse may hit your hood, and now, thanks to writer and designer Mike Lacher‘s new Google streetview mashup, you can test run your evacuation plan. Just enter your location and dodge those little red markers (re: zombies) on the map. As you move with the arrows, zombies come at you from all directions (choose your level: Easy, Normal, Hard, I Am Death Incarnate) and try to eat your brain. The game is in beta, and you can currently play it on Google Chrome. H...
News: Google Bets $20K You Can't Hack Chrome
Since its inception in 2007, the Pwn2Own computer hacking contest has been challenging the vulnerability of mobile phones and web-related software. In 2010, the fruit of two full days of hacking came down to the exploitation of the following web browsers: Safari 4 on Mac OS X, Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7, and Firefox 3.6 on Windows 7. The winners walked away with the successfully hacked computer, plus a cash prize, but they left one Godly browser intact: Google Chrome. Even the savviest ...
News: 8-Bit Your Browser with Pixelfari (So Awesome)
Love, love, love it! Pixelfari converts Safari to 8-bit, turning everything into old school Nintendo-style pixely fonts and graphics.
News: DIY Instant Indoor Skydiving
If you're like me, just the idea of skydiving triggers nearly-pee-in-the-pants petrification. But with a little imagination, plus Google Image Search and a projector, and all of us ninnies out there can pretend to do the real thing:
News: Massive Gawker Hack Reveals the Web's Most Stupid Passwords
This past Sunday, a group called Gnosis launched a massive hacker attack on Gawker media, one of the web's most popular blog networks (Lifehacker, Gizmodo, Jezebel, io9, Jalopnik, Kotaku, Deadspin and Fleshbot). 1.3 million registered users' passwords were compromised, and 188,279 of them were decoded and made public. The biggest takeaway? Many Gawker denizens use downright dumb passwords. (Guess they didn't see their own Lifehacker's story on avoiding such a thing.)
News: Cute Japanese Girls Use Google To Try On Clothes
A group of four giggly Japanese girls put on a digital fashion show with a projector and Google image search. Clever ad spot for Google Japan, directed by Wieden+Kennedy Tokyo. More from Wieden+Kennedy:
News: New Facebook Profile Page Released
While the new Facebook redesign doesn't include many usability changes, the visual tweaks are a definite improvement to the old design. Perhaps the best feature is the ability to scroll photo collections infinitely, as well as the new visual prominence given to your personal stats and photos (job, dating status, location, etc.).
News: The Facebook "Super-Logoff" Method (for the Privacy Paranoid)
If you would like to restrict what appears on your Facebook page, here's a novel way to retain ultimate control, coined the "super-logoff" method: