News and other tidbits that Chad Cloman finds interesting enough to share
Here at Chad’s News, we’ve been keeping an eye on 3D printers and the interesting things they can do. The linked article shows the results of a car (the Urbee) with a body completely created by 3D printers from Stratasys. This is the stuff of science fiction come true.
Link: http://www.fastcompany.com/…
(via Kim Komando)
I’m not quite old enough to remember when phone numbers were something like “WHItehall 1212”, but I’ve seen references to that nomenclature in older movies and books. I do, however, remember only needing to dial the last 5 digits (e.g., 6-4085 versus 856-4085) after moving to Wyoming in 1976. How things have changed in a few short decades—these days I have to dial the full 10 digits because Denver has two area codes. For those like myself who are curious about these types of things, the linked article explains the older numbering system and its history.
Link: http://scheong.wordpress.com/…
(via Neatorama)
A professor at a Swedish university had his laptop stolen. It contained 10 years of academic work, which he had not backed up. But disaster was averted when the considerate thief dumped all the data to a USB drive and mailed it to the professor. The man should purchase a lottery ticket, with luck like that.
Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/…
(via Slashdot)
Did you know that the simple act of plugging a USB thumb drive into your computer will often run (AutoRun) a program that’s on the drive? So an easy way to compromise computers is to put malicious software on some USB drives and scatter them around on the ground. Quite a few people will pick up such a drive and plug it into their computer to see what’s on it.
The recent Stuxnet worm used USB drives to get inside Iranian power plants and infect their control systems. It was designed to work even if AutoRun had been disabled. Just browsing the drive and opening a folder was sufficient to infect the computer.
This type of attack can be prevented by education. Simply put, be very careful about using a USB drive from an unknown or untrusted source. And if you find it laying on the ground in your company’s parking lot, throw it away (or report it to your computer security personnel if such exist).
Link: http://www.slate.com/…
(via The Consumerist)
Back in 1956, test pilot Tom Attridge managed to shoot himself down while flying a fighter jet. He fired the bullets during a dive, went beneath them, then flew through them at Mach one as they slowed and their trajectory changed. The damage was bad enough that the plane crashed.
Link: http://www.aerofiles.com/…
(via Neatorama)
The linked article allows you to opt out of receiving the yellow pages. It lists the various distributors for your ZIP code, and in most cases you can opt out online. I hardly ever use the yellow pages anymore, thanks to the internet, and it’s ridiculous to take them from the doorstep and just throw them into the recycle bin.
Link: http://www.ypassociation.org/…
(via Kim Komando)
Update: The original link no longer works, so use this one instead.
Sony is discontinuing sales of the cassette Walkman, 31 years after its initial release. For those of us old enough to remember, it was a revolutionary product that ushered in the era of the personal stereo. iPods and such are now taken for granted, but the Walkman was the precursor of them all.
Link: http://www.electronista.com/…
(via Neatorama)
Eight people crammed into an extended-cab pickup, none of whom were wearing seat belts, and with at least one person in the bed of the truck. Driver lost control and rolled the truck. All eight passengers were ejected—two died, two were in serious condition, and the remaining four were all hospitalized. Sigh…. There should be a Darwin Award in there somewhere.
Researchers have discovered some interesting effects of background white noise. First, as the noise increases the perceived taste of food becomes blander and crunchier (which helps explain airplane food). Second, for students with problems focusing, white noise brought their performance level up to that of other students. Unfortunately, the noise worsened the performance of normal students—so there’s not a one-size-fits all solution here.
From personal experience, I like having background noise on all the time. For example, I turn on the radio when I go to bed. And back in my college days I had music playing pretty much 24/7. It seems to help. I know other people, however, who can’t sleep or concentrate when there’s noise in the background.
Link #1: http://www.bbc.co.uk/…
(via Slashdot)
Link #2: http://www.behavioralandbrainfunctions.com/…
(via Ars Technica)
A 20-year old man named John Winkler was being transported in the back seat of a police car on Interstate 25 in Colorado. He managed to free himself from the seat belt, open the door, and jump out of the car while it was traveling at 60 mph. He was still handcuffed with his arms behind his back. He did not survive the escape attempt.
Microsoft says it’s seeing a huge increase in the number of Java-based security exploits. Many if not all of the attack vectors are known bugs that have been fixed in the current Java Runtime Environment (JRE), but non-power users probably don’t think much about keeping Java updated. So it might be a good idea to install the latest version.
Link: http://arstechnica.com/…
A bit on the pricey side, but this Jedi-styled bathrobe is pretty neat! Wish it had been available when I was purchasing a robe last year. There’s also a Sith version.
