Chad's News

Sealand is a decommissioned anti-aircraft platform seven miles off the English coast. The occupants have declared it to be a sovereign nation, but it’s not recognized as such, and the UK government has just decided to ignore them. Back in the year 2000, a company named HavenCo installed computer servers in Sealand, making it the ultimate data haven, unfettered by governments, laws, or regulations. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. The linked article has the full story.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

A new incarnation of an old virus is making the rounds, but this one has a strange feature. It prints pages and pages of garbage to your printer, and has already wasted thousands of pages for businesses that have been infected. According to the security experts who dissected the virus, the printing appears to be an unintentional side effect.

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/…
(via Kim Komando)

Back in the ’80s and ’90s, American Airlines sold passes that allow an unlimited amount of first class travel for the owner and a companion. Priced at about $350,000 originally, the people who bought them have never regretted the decision—although that’s not the case for American. They’re losing millions of dollars on these passes and are looking for any way to cancel them.

Link: http://www.latimes.com/…
(via Neatorama)

After a certain battle during the American Civil War, some soldiers discovered that their wounds were glowing in the dark. And these men were more likely to recover from their injuries. Modern researchers have concluded that the culprit was a bioluminescent bacteria named Photorhabdus luminescens. And one of the things that P. luminescens does is release a toxin that kills other, competing bacteria—thus acting as a primitive antibacterial.

Link: http://www.mentalfloss.com/…

The Pwn Plug (for those who aren’t familiar with the term “pwn”, here’s a definition) is a miniature computer about the size of a large AC adapter. You plug it into the wall and connect it to a network. It will attempt to hack into the network and then communicate with you, giving you access to the compromised network. A great tool for illegal hacking activities, you might think, but they actually sell quite a few to corporations that use them for in-house penetration testing and remote network management.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

The linked article explains how to erase personal data from a computer while still keeping the Windows operating system intact. This is useful, for example, when you’re giving an older computer to a friend or family member.

Link: http://www.komando.com/…

So you’ve got something on your computer that you don’t want anyone else to see. To this effect, you’ve encrypted the hard drive. But then you’re put into a situation where an official requires that you unlock the computer so they can inspect the contents (this could happen at a border crossing, for example). That’s where Plausible Deniability comes into play. It’s a feature of TrueCrypt, where you have two hidden encrypted volumes on the same disk partition, and the password you enter determines which one you actually see. So you enter the decoy password, and it unlocks the decoy partition which contains no sensitive files. The other hidden partition appears to be empty space containing nothing but random data. Note that this probably won’t prevent a computer forensics expert from realizing that you have a hidden partition, but the casual observer will probably be fooled.

Link: http://www.truecrypt.org/…
(via TechRepublic)

This is a neat idea. For a fairly reasonable price, you can drive a real tank, shoot machine guns, and even crush cars under the treads. What man wouldn’t enjoy this?

Link: http://www.driveatank.com/
(via Neatorama)

Here at Chad’s News, we really like 3D printers and think they have the ability to transform the world. Now one has been used to create a custom lower jaw that was subsequently transplanted into an 83-year-old woman. From the article: “The implant was made out of titanium powder – heated and fused together by a laser, one layer at a time.”

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/…
(via Kim Komando)

The linked article debunks three common economic misconceptions made by Americans. I believed all three and was surprised to find out they were wrong. Normally I take this type of article with a grain of salt, but the source is solid. Here are the misconceptions:

1. Most of what Americans spend their money on is made in China.
2. We owe most of our debt to China.
3. We get most of our oil from the Middle East.

Thanks to John LaRoche for this link.

Link: http://www.dailyfinance.com/…

I guess we’ve reached the twilight of the paper resume, seeing that so many are now submitted electronically. Which brings up the question of which format to use: MS Word or PDF. The linked article addresses the pros and cons of each and says the answer is neither. Instead, the author recommends using Rich Text Format (RTF). Note that all versions of MS Word have the ability to read and write RTF files.

Link: http://www.techrepublic.com/…

In the linked article, Wired has done some research into the beginnings of the computer password. It turns out that even back then they weren’t very secure.

Link: http://www.wired.com/…
(via Kim Komando)