News and other tidbits that Chad Cloman finds interesting enough to share
The linked videos are parts 1 and 2 of a pseudo-documentary where rail workers perform a “complete thermite weld” to connect train tracks. I was a bit surprised by the lack of safety equipment—the workers were manipulating molten metal in short-sleeve shirts. And the guy was pretty nonplussed when the handle of his sledgehammer caught on fire.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/…
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/…
(via Neatorama)
Long-term Chad’s News readers may recall this article, where a website was destroyed during a Google scan because the Google crawler doesn’t process JavaScript. And Firefox power users may be aware of the NoScript extension, which disables JavaScript for all websites by default (and which frequently shows up on “Top 10 Essential Add-ons” lists).
With all this in mind, you’d think web developers would know better than to design security measures that rely on JavaScript being enabled. But apparently not. Time Warner Cable distributed 65,000 cable modems that allow users to perform simple administrative functions via a web page interface. Advanced controls are hidden from the user, but they’re hidden via JavaScript. Disable scripting and poof! it’s a few easy steps to get the modem’s login credentials. To make matters worse, all 65,000 modems have the same username and password. Thus, a malicious hacker can reconfigure people’s modems from anywhere on the internet. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Link: http://www.wired.com/…
(via Kim Komando)
For the United States, tonight is when we “fall back” one hour and end daylight saving time.
Over at UserFriendly, artist J.D. “Illiad” Fraser lists five movie concepts that will terrorize your inner geek. My favorite is “Windows Me: The Rebirth.”
The linked article has some really neat jack-o-lanterns. The Spider-man one is good, but I think the Predator is the best by far.
It seems like copyright holders go ballistic every time a new medium is developed, then that medium ends up becoming a major revenue source. Ars Technica did some research and has determined this is not a new phenomenon.
Link: http://arstechnica.com/…
Lifehacker has posted the ultimate guide to Windows 7. If you need to know it, then the linked article probably has it.
Link: http://lifehacker.com/…
Windows 7 is now available for purchase. Apparently it’s much better than Windows Vista. PC World has a review with things you need to know about the new release, and Kim Komando also has some information. For the power user, Lifehacker has a list of tweaks that still work. If you’re planning to buy an upgrade version, be aware that there are limitations, and make sure that your existing hardware and software are supported.
Link: http://arstechnica.com/…
In yet another case of science fiction becoming science fact, researchers have been working on nanoparticles that home in on cancer cells and destroy them, without damaging the rest of the body. Much, much better than chemotherapy. I hope this technology makes it to the mainstream.
Link: http://hplusmagazine.com/…
(via Slashdot)
This photographer’s work is being shown at the most exclusive gallery of all: the Moon. Astronaut Charles Moss Duke left a family photo on the Moon during the Apollo 16 mission in 1972.
Link: http://gizmodo.com/…
(via digg)
Following in the footsteps of Microsoft this week, Adobe has released fixes for 28 security problems in Adobe Reader and Acrobat, including one for a vulnerability that’s in the wild. Since the web runs on PDF files, I suggest updating now.
Link: http://news.zdnet.com/…
According to the linked article, Microsoft has plans to include a 128-bit version of Windows 8 (not to be confused with Windows 7 which will be released next week). Here at the Chad’s News network command center, we weren’t aware that 128-bit CPUs were even on the horizon, so this is somewhat of a surpirse.
Link: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/…
(via Slashdot)
