News and other tidbits that Chad Cloman finds interesting enough to share
GCHQ, the surveillance arm of British intelligence, is trying to recruit computer-savvy employees by putting advertisements in the virtual worlds of video games. Reminds me of this post.
Link: http://ap.google.com/…
(via Kim Komando)
Being an early adopter for Sony’s high-definition Blu-ray technology may not be a wise choice. Some players are not able to handle the BD+ copy protection scheme (which is part of the standard but is only now being implemented).
Link: http://arstechnica.com/…
Back in late August a US Air Force B-52, flying from Minot AFB in North Dakota to Barksdale AFB in Louisiana, was found to have been armed with nuclear cruise missiles—unbeknownst to the flight crew (or anyone else in the military for that matter). After an investigation, the final reports are in and heads are rolling. Proper procedures, which have multiple checks to ensure this type of thing does not happen, were ignored. Many military careers have just effectively ended, with 4 colonels being relieved of their commands and 65 airmen losing their certification to work with nuclear weapons.
Link #1: http://ap.google.com/…
Link #2: http://www.latimes.com/…
Ever had a really long web address that you needed to send to someone, or to post in a comment somewhere—just to find that it gets split into pieces by the software? Or perhaps you have a complicated URL that needs to be entered by hand and is prone to error? TinyURL has been around for some time now, and it has the answer to this problem. Simply register the long URL, and TinyURL will give you a much shorter, email-safe URL with which to replace it. Clicking on the short URL will automatically redirect you to the long URL. The short URL never expires, so you can use it with impunity for as long as TinyURL is in existence.
Thanks to Josh for this topic.
Link: http://tinyurl.com/
The 2007 Ig Nobel prizes are out. Here’s the one for peace: “The Air Force Wright Laboratory, Dayton, Ohio, USA, for instigating research and development on a chemical weapon — the so-called ‘gay bomb’ — that will make enemy soldiers become sexually irresistible to each other.”
It’s not every day you see someone -asking- to be hit in the head with a shovel. The linked video is for a compound named D3O, and there’s a bit more explanation here.
I saw a similar (but more impressive) video where they drop an egg 72ft onto an inch-thick gel pad. The egg was unharmed. The gel pad is made of BetaGel, part of a line of AlphaGel shock absorption products from the Japanese company GELTEC.
Link: http://www.breitbart.tv/…
(via digg)
Google has a toll-free 800 number that can replace your phone company’s (expensive) 411 service, and it may also turn your Yellow Pages into just so much paper. The number is 1-800-GOOG-411, and the video on the linked web site has more details. Note that it does not look up residential listings, only businesses.
Thanks to Josh for this idea.
Link: http://www.google.com/…
I’m amazed he thought a grocery store would have that much change on hand.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/…
Now this is my type of “no trespassing” sign!
When running on electric only, hybrid cars are silent. This turns out to be a safety problem for people (both blind and sighted) who use their ears to identify moving automobiles.
Link: http://ap.google.com/…
Ever found yourself in need of a temporary email address that goes away after a day/week/month? The linked article has several disposable email providers—be sure to check the comments for even more.
Link: http://lifehacker.com/…
Here’s a neat shortcut for the power user. Rather than opening an FTP client and logging in, just use Windows Explorer.
Link: http://cybernetnews.com/…
(via Lifehacker)
