GeeG - Technology Gadgets Food Toys Fun Games

W00T - let the grilling and festivities begin! I hope all you have a great holiday and that the weather holds.. (for me too)

I'm getting these posts done early as I have today off and don't expect to be doing anything but grilling, relaxing, enjoying and plain having fun until Monday.

Be safe - don't blow off any fingers, bookmark us just in case you do- and can't type the URL next week

A perennial fav over here - this video is cool, then scary and then terrifying... A good thing to show someone when they are considering holding that M-80 when it goes off.

Link: http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=6715

It appears that the attackers are exploiting web sites which have older installations of some Cold Fusion applications. These applications have vulnerable installations of FCKEditor, which is a very popular HTML text editor, or CKFinder, which is an Ajax file manager. The vulnerable installations allow the attackers to upload ASP or Cold Fusion shells which further allow them to take complete control over the server.

If you administer anything of the sort - you would be well served to do your homework and mitigate the vulnerabilities.

Link: http://www.hackinthebox.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=32078

The site's been hacked and has been installing a vicious rootkit - f you have visited in the last week you may have some formatting and reinstalling to do....

Link: http://www.linkognito.com/b.php?b=1809

I've been thinking about this recently as I'm gearing up to set up a network in a Condo setting and this time I'm making something fun.

Some good / bad / funny ideas here.

Or any other day really....... Stay safe this holiday - or it just might be you we're all watching on You Tube next week (that is, after you get out of the hospital)

Link: http://torrentfreak.com/a-glimpse-at-the-pirate-bays-uncertain-future-090701/

(via Torrentfreak)

However, thus far GGF’s plans for the site and tracker are rather vague and uncertain. First of all there is a huge divide between what the Pirate Bay co-founders think will happen to the site and what GGF is telling the public.

TorrentFreak has spoken with Pirate Bay co-founders Peter Sunde and Fredrik Neij who both think that the Pirate Bay will stay pretty much like it is now for the time being. The only difference in the short term, according to their knowledge, is that the site will link to torrents hosted on a third party domain tracked by a third party tracker.

I don't think for a minute this is on the up and up - if you ask me this GGF company is a front for the RIAA and will kill off or ruin the site in less than a month.

Link: http://www.therentables.com/

Just got a tip on this fantastic mashup apartment search engine. It combines Google Maps, Social Networking, and Web 2.0 to make looking for an apartment a breeze... oh and comparing apartments was never easier.

• Real time rental listings
• No availability checks. Only available units are listed.
• Narrow your results with ease
• Use any combination of filters to find what you want. Clear filters to return to original results.
• Interactive map
  Drag the map to explore units that are available in the region. Zoom in/out for precision. Click on markers to view property details.
• Track and compare your favorites
• Add units to your favorites list for side-by-side comparison.

Check out the Street view too - now you can look at the whole neighborhood without even going there.

The site's code is clean - there's no evil Javascript - no foul pop ups, no malicious ads... this gets my thumbs up.

The Rentables is not an aggregator like some of the others out there. We contact landlords directly and have them post with us because we want to provide the highest quality posts for tenants.

Oh and if you're into the social networking part of it -

" you can connect to your peers on social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, and Bebo. You can share rental units that you like with your friends, and get their opinions. Alternatively, you can search TheRentables for Shared Accomodations to move into an empty room with an existing group. "

Thanks to Anton for the tip -

Link: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/07/agfa-rises-from-the-depths-with-cheap-underwater-camera/

If you are planning a vacation around water - or maybe you just live near water or have a pool... This would be a fun little toy to play around with. For $200.00 it's almost in the affordable range for fooling around with underwater shots and video. ( of course it shoots outside of the water too )

It can survive dunks of up to 10 meters (33 feet) and the waterproof sealing keeps out dust, too. The pixel count is kept deliberately small at 6MP to combat high ISO noise (the camera will shoot at up to ISO1600) and it will shoot VGA-quality video with sound.

Link: http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewstory&threadid=99632

Ok - I am dubious about video game to movie projects as I never saw a truly good one... but freakin Asteroids ? you gotta be kidding me? At least there's no plot for them to screw up.

scene 1 : pew pew pew (boom) pew pew (baboom)

Scene 2 : wooo wooo wooo wooo wooo ( boom )

You had to know this was coming..... heh,

Link: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/can-you-get-fit-in-six-minutes-a-week/

It just might be possible.....

what researchers have been looking at recently is whether humans, like that second group of rats, can increase endurance with only a few minutes of strenuous exercise, instead of hours? Could it be that most of us are spending more time than we need to trying to get fit?

Everyone's got 6 minutes eh?

Link: http://www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk/12-gauge-shot-glass.html

This submitted by Marcus -

Fire off a few rounds with our set of 12 Gauge Shot Glasses. Load each barrel with your favourite tipple, aim and fire!

little pricey at Price £12.99 ($21.25) but cool to have for your bar.

Link: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/evolution-of-gmail-labels.html

Finally - your labels will act more like folders. For me this seems natural, I'm liking this.

For our latest set of changes, we looked at how you access labels on the left side. In other email applications, folders get the royal treatment and are given a seat at the top near your inbox. But in Gmail, labels were stuck in a box below Chat — almost like we were telling people, "you don't want to use these." In testing, we discovered that it worked best to remove the terminology altogether and just place custom labels right under the system labels (e.g. "Inbox"):

Link: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/110442/WORLD-EXCLUSIVE-NASA-finds-missing-moon-landing-tapes

This is rather incredible news - it should really put the nail in the coffin for the moon landing conspiracy folks....

viewers have only ever seen such poor quality footage because the original analogue tapes containing the pictures beamed direct from the lunar surface were lost almost as soon as they were recorded.

Instead, a poor quality copy made from a 16mm camera pointing at a heavily compressed image on a black and white TV screen has been the only record of the event.

The Sunday Express can now reveal that the missing tapes containing the original high quality images have been found.

If the visual data can be retrieved, Nasa is set to reveal them to the world as a key plank of celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of the landings next month.

The tapes show in much more detail than almost anyone has previously seen the surface of the moon beneath the patriotic symbol of the US flag.

Link: http://www.divinecaroline.com/24138/76680-revenge-nerds--four-reasons-dig

Actually the article says " nerds " and I take issue with that - Geeks are not nerds ... anyway, geeks and nerds alike have reason to be happy cus apparently the ladies love us,

well - some of 'em anyways

Heh, I like it.

Link: http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=4847

Zdnet has an excellent article on hardware if you're building a new system (or upgrading your current). They give three levels of builds (good,better,best)

Here I’ve put together a list of the best high-end and mid-range and budget components currently available. So if you’re thinking of buying, building or even upgrading a PC, this list is a must-read for you!

Is it just me or is everyone having a hard time with this Pirate Bay news? I'm still in denial, though I'll have some posts with alternatives soon.

I also know it's summery and sunny somewhere ... (know how?) cus the internet is in Summer mode. Yep, news and tech, fun and games - they're all hard to find now.

Funny how the net has an off season just like TV -

Well, enjoy - the lad and I are gonna get some LAN gaming in tonight I think ... cus well, there's nothing on TV

Rob

Funny parody on those talking dog movies...or baby movies..or pig......

Bloop Bleep Zap! - come on, you can't beat the classics for sheer fun.

Link: http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=41740

Oh boy... thats an ID ten T error for sure

Link: http://thereifixedit.com/

A collection of fixes that we in the business call "mickey mousing it"

and oh man, there are some fantastic mickey mouse fixes here!

Link: http://nowthatsnifty.blogspot.com/2009/06/food-on-stick.html

One of my favorite things of all time at a fair or carnival is any darn thing on a stick. Somehow even lame food becomes cool when you put it on a thin piece of wood.

This gallery not only has the usual fair foods - but some incredibly unusual foods as well ... see below.

Oh my freakin god - they're making a movie out of it....

if anyone thinks the whole world is gonna up and end in 2012 please mail me all your money and any unused credit cards....

Link: https://blogs.sans.org/computer-forensics/2009/06/29/hard-drive-errors-and-replacements/

Did you know you can replace your own head stack or amp? You actually can - this post takes you through the motions.

If you get good enough you can start your own HD recovery business.

Link: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10275970-93.html

We barely knew 'ye - and I never liked ya.....

Remember Joost - they were initially a peer to peer video delivery service with an app I didn't approve of for so many reasons (never mind the EULA) ... that didn't fly.

Then they redesigned (just recently) into a flash site playing tons of content - and I actually liked that.

However they couldn't compete against the likes of You Tube and Hulu.

So now they fold and will focus on other projects doomed to fail - which is kinda surprising since the developers were the same guys who invented Kazaa and Skype.

All I wanna know is where the heck is my electric belt they were talking about? (real newsreel from the 30's)

Link: http://www.everyjoe.com/thegadgetblog/dell-s2409w-full-hd-monitor-drool-factory/

for only $219 !

* Full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution
* 16:9 dynamic aspect ratio
* Support for HDMI, DVI, and VGA
* Compatibility with VESA mounts
1000:1 contrast ratio, 300 cd/m brightness, 5ms response time, and 160° / 170° viewing angle, and 0.276mm pixel pitch

you can get one HERE

Link: http://www.out-law.com//default.aspx?page=10128

There's a growing sentiment on the uselessness of password masking these days. Some are starting to think it just confuses most users.. I dunno, I'm kinda on the fence ... What I do like is the option to mask or not. This method pleases everyone.

What do you think ?

Websites should stop masking passwords as users type because it does not improve security and makes websites harder to use, according to two of the technology world's leading thinkers.

Usability expert Jakob Nielsen and security expert Bruce Schneier have both said that websites should stop blanking out passwords as users type them in. They say that the practice inconveniences users with no security benefit at all.

Link: http://dmytry.pandromeda.com/games/index.html

Got a decent graphics card? Works on all Operating Systems - (yes even Linux) ...

Polynomial is a 3D space shooter with mathematically generated fractal scenery and models. It is easy to get started - you fly around, shoot some stuff, collect some other stuff, and dodge enemy bullets, all while admiring the trippy scenery and self-repairing by flying close to stars. When you're comfortable, you can set difficulty to "Insane" (press esc) for a very fast paced gameplay.

It really does not install - just sits in a folder. So no worries there - try out the demo... and check out the screenshots!

Link: http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-sold-to-software-company-goes-legal-090630/

Holy Christmas ! I never thought I'd see the day. There's a lot of confusion - double talk, conflicting statements... etc (heck, feels like I got Duke Nukemed again)

The jist of it is that they sold out for 7 million -

1 -

Software company Global Gaming Factory X (GGF) says it is in the process of acquiring The Pirate Bay and file-sharing technology company Peerialism.

2-

The company says that after it has completed the acquisition it will launch new business models so that copyright owners get paid,

3-

Peerialism has developed a new P2P distribution technology which will be used on The Pirate Bay. The technology is said to be backwards-compatible with BitTorrent although details are scarce at the moment.

Originally word was that TPB would take down the tracker - this may not be the case.

At any rate the end of an era is at hand

Some more details at this link

If you don't get notified hit help/check for updates...

On nifty feature is the update feature will tell you what extensions won't work with the new version - I have surprisingly few fails..

Bummer - I'm using Aero Fox as my skin - Guess it's back to Noia 2.0 for a while....

I bet there's plenty of you out there that never heard of this - and you are in for a treat.

This is how it is described-

Audio clips from online dictionaries sing the hits of yesterday and today. The fun of karaoke meets the word power of the dictionary.

The first time I heard these I was doubled over laughing, now these songs are a sure fire must play at parties. I've assembled 9 beauties for you and if you like 'em you can get plenty more at their website http://www.dictionaraoke.org/

Have yourself a blast ! Cheers !!!

Rob

-note these radio features change weekly - if you followed an older link you'll get this weeks updates.