High-Tech Costume of the Day
Alright, this guy’s costume is pretty damn cool. Kudos for the use of technology, +1 for the wig. Thanks to C. Carmichael for the picture and the laugh.
![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
HardForum.com is the bombdigity.
[H] Enthusiast Archives: June 2009Archive Listing
Building A Crash-Proof Internet
Building a crash-proof internet? Is there really such a thing or is it just a pipe-dream lying at the bottom of the ocean waiting to be dug up by a boat anchor?
Eight years on, and events have proved otherwise. A series of catastrophic failures seems to suggest that the internet is rather more vulnerable to accidents, earthquakes or misplaced ships' anchors than people thought. At tens, perhaps hundreds, of places around the world, the net seems to be hanging by a thread.
AOL Hands Out Your Passwords Over The Phone
You have to skip to page four of this horribly pathetic story about a dude busted by his wife downloading porn to get to the really good stuff...AOL giving your password to anyone that calls in claiming to be your spouse. Get this:
"Listen to me," the wise voice said, "I get calls from nice women like you all week long. Here's what I'm going to do. I'll change the password on your husband's account and give it to you. You read his mail and see what he's been up to. If he's telling you the truth, fine, go back to him. But if he isn't, leave the jerk."
So, if you want to hack someone’s AOL account, just call in and claim to be the wife of a guy watching porn and they’ll lock you him out of his account and give you full access. Way to go AOL.
Winning Teams Join to Qualify for $1M Netflix Prize
Remember that $1 million prize that Netflix was offering a few years ago? (Don’t feel bad, I forgot too) Well, it looks like two teams combined their efforts to win the prize.
Two front runners in the contest, Team Pragmatic Theory and Team Bellkor in Chaos, joined forces and submitted an algorithm that was 10.05 percent better than the one Netflix uses to recommend movies to its subscribers. The result was published on the Netflix Prize leader board on Friday.
Holy Crap Video of the Day
Did any of you know that you could do this? I need to play with lighters and clear CD inserts more often. Thank Ed_Ed for the linkage.
Apple iPhone 3GS Overheating Reports
There are reports that Apple’s new iPhone 3GS is overheating and killing small children. Okay, I added the part about killing small children but there have been reports of people waking up in bathtubs full of ice in a seedy hotel south of the border with certain organs missing and their iPhone no where to be found.
Is the Apple iPhone 3GS having overheating issues? I've seen some reports circulating on the Web today that indicate some handsets might indeed be affected. And I have my own tale to add to fray
Microsoft Introduces New Ways to Help Teachers
This week at the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) 2009, Microsoft Corp. is showcasing innovative technologies that enable teachers to engage their students more deeply by adapting teaching to the unique needs of each learner. These tools range from the introduction of Windows 7 education-friendly features to a new collaborative initiative between the Microsoft Innovative Teachers Network (ITN) and the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies, as well as a variety of free software and services to help teachers enhance the education experience for their students.
Sunday June 28, 2009
Have the Lost Apollo 11 Tapes Been Found?
There’s an article on the Bad Astronomy blog about how the tapes containing the original high quality footage of the Apollo 11 moon landing may have been located by NASA. If this is true, say goodbye to the grainy, poor quality images you’re currently used to. I hope it’s true.
You’ve seen the footage: Neil Armstrong in his bulky suit, stepping off the lunar module’s footpad. …Well, it turns out that’s because this iconic scene, shown millions of times in the ensuing years, is not the original footage. It was actually taken using a 16mm camera aimed at a screen at NASA’s Mission Control room. And the screen was only showing highly compressed data, so the end result is the lousy stuff we’ve grown used to.
TPB to Release Streaming Video Site Free of Copyright Restrictions
The guys at The Pirate Bay aren’t hiding while their case is reviewed for appeal. They’re working on a competitor to YouTube currently named "The Video Bay" that will not remove user-posted content that may violate a copyright law somewhere. It’s in a test mode right now and TorrentFreak can tell you more.
How long it will take before the site will be opened up to the public is unknown. Pirate Bay’s TiAMO told TorrentFreak that there is still a lot of work to do behind the scenes. The encoder is not finished yet and the design is also a work in progress.
The Story Behind Lenovo’s Keyboard Change
Lenovo spent almost a year researching a pair of design changes that went into their latest ThinkPad refresh. Check out the article to see why extra-large Delete and Escape keys needed so much time. Let’s just say that you don’t change a person’s keyboard lightly.
It may seem like a small change, but David Hill, vice president of corporate identity and design at Lenovo, points out, "Any time you start messing around with the keyboard, people get nervous." …To understand Lenovo's concern, turn the clock back to the 1800s.
[H]ardware Roundup
Cooling
Nexus XiR-3500 Copper edition CPU cooler @ OC3D
Evercool Transformer 4 CPU cooler @ OverclockersOnline
Motherboards
DFI LANParty JR 790GX-M3H5 mATX (AMD 790GX chipset) @ SPCR
ASRock M3A780GXH/128M (AMD 780G chipset) @ Phoronix
Power Supplies
In-Win Commander 650W & 750W @ Bjorn3D
BFG ES-800 800W @ Hardware Secrets
850W PSU roundup (Antec, Enermax, Seasonic) @ Xbit Labs
Video
Galaxy GTX 260+ @ Hardware Bistro
Sapphire Radeon HD 4650 512MB @ The Tech Lounge