Mar 30
Are you still looking for that perfect way to relax after work? Oscar-winner and occasional performance artist Tilda Swinton has a unique way to unwind after a long day – just lay down for a nap. In a glass box. In the MoMA.
Mar 30
Satisfy your Martian curiosity in an eyepoppingly hi-rez way with Estonian photographer Andrew Bodrov’s lovingly stitched-together panorama. It could be the next best thing to being there.
(Credit: Screenshot by CNET)
A stunning 4-gigapixel panorama of Mars, compiled from images captured by two mast cameras aboard NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, could be one of the most detailed views of our distant neighbor yet.
The panoramic picture of Gale Crater derives from 295 images that were digitally stitched together by Estonian photographer Andrew Bodrov. In its final form, the mosaic stretches out to an astounding 90,000 by 45,000-pixel resolution.
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- Curiosity Rover discovers conditions suited for ancient life on Mars
- Get lost in a stunning 320-gigapixel image of London
Despite some computer problems, Curiosity’s mission continues to result in impressive discoveries. Several weeks ago, … [Read more]
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Mar 30
Those of you using Skype in Windows 8 will be happy to know that Microsoft’s just bumped the app to version 1.6. It’s been a few months since the last update, and this revision brings more features to the table, including contact blocking and a slew of performance tweaks. You’re now able to block users, with an option to remove or report the offending party. Speed and reliability have been improved, especially when loading contacts, and a number of bugs have been fixed, including one where the outgoing video was not always displayed after switching cameras. The update’s available in Windows Store, so what are you waiting for?
Filed under: Microsoft
Source: Skype Blogs
Mar 30
The authorities in the Netherlands and other countries are currently investigating a man whom they say is at the center of the recent cyber attacks against Spamhaus, an anti-spam group. Sven Olaf Kamphuis, who calls himself the “Minister of telecommunications and foreign affairs for the Republic of CyberBunker”, started a war against Spamhaus because the anti-spam group blacklisted two of Kamphuis’s companies, CB3ROB and CyberBunker.
The New York Times states that Kamphuis asked for support from hackers to launch attacks against Spamhaus. He wrote on his Facebook,
“Yo anons, we could use a little help in shutting down illegal slander and blackmail censorship project ‘spamhaus.org,’ which thinks it can dictate its views on what should and should not be on the internet.
Kamphuis later stated that he had no direct roles in the attacks against Spamhaus, and that it was actually the work of Stophaus, an anti-Spamhaus group, that was directly to blame. He states that Stophaus was also at fault for causing the internet lag that affected many consumers in the past week. Dutch authorities, however, have discovered evidence that contradicts Kamphuis’s statement. Greenhost, a Dutch internet hosting service, discovered the digital footprints of one of Kamphuis’s companies, CB3ROB, in the digital attack against Spamhaus.
A security specialist at the University of Amsterdam, J.P. Velders, stated, “It’s very clear that he has a big role in this, even if there isn’t 100 percent airtight proof that he is behind it.” Velders says that authorities need to figure out how much he was involved in these cyber attacks, and how they can take action against him.
Kamphuis worked at XS4ALL, a Dutch ISP, where one of his ex co-workers stated that he was constantly reprimanded for hacking into his boss’s computer system. The ex co-worker also stated that Kamphuis was a very eccentric person, and that he “hates authority in any form.” Erik Bais, owner of A2B-Internet, a company that used to work with Kamphuis’s company, stated that Kamphuis is “like a loose cannon” and that he doesn’t have “regard for repercussions or collateral damage.”
Kamphuis is currently discussing his distaste for Spamhaus publicly on his Facebook. There he states that he is an internet freedom fighter who is along the same lines as Julian Assange and that what Spamhaus is doing is censorship. He stated that Spamhaus as acted “without any court verdit, just by blackmail of suppliers and Jew lies.”
[via The New York Times]
Authorities investigate CyberBunker “minister” over cyber attacks is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Mar 30
Will anyone camp out for this?
(Credit: Geoffrey Morrison)
Normally, you’d think a rumor that never comes true, despite being circulated continuously for years, would shrivel up and die. Such is not the case with the legend of a fabled Apple TV set, which later became an Apple HDTV set, and now apparently is an Apple 4K screen, according to the latest iteration of the gossip.
But after all this time, the more pertinent question becomes not “will there be an Apple TV?” but “do we still care about an Apple TV?”
According to recent research from Retrevo and Bizrate Insights, the answer for a majority of consumers is pretty clearly yes, but the Apple faithful aren’t nearly as stoked for an iTV as they have been for the iPhone in the past.
Related stories
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- … [Read more]
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Mar 30
Public transit doesn’t have to be a total bummer if you’ve got a nice enough hub for it all to connect to. That seems to be the logic behind the upcoming 1.5-million-square-foot, San Francisco Transbay Transit Center. Some are calling it the city’ “Grand Central,” and if it lives up to the plans, it’ll certainly be grand. More »
Mar 30
I’ve got enough trouble keeping track of where I set down my iPhone, so I can’t imagine how often I’d lose my cellphone if it were this small.
The Willcom WX06A Phone Strap 2[JP] phone measures just 1.26″(W) x 2.75″(H) x .42″(D) and weighs only 32 grams. That makes it about 1/3rd the size and weight of an iPhone 5. This diminutive phone is small enough to fit into one of those tiny jeans pockets, and can be held between the thumb and index finger to make calls.
Of course, a phone this small comes with other practical limitations beyond just the potential of losing it. For starters, if you have normal, human-sized fingers, good luck using the keyboard to dial and make calls. It’s also got a tiny little battery that can only provide enough juice for 2 hours of calling time.
The Phone Strap 2 was released about a week ago, and Willcom says they’re only going to be making 12,000 of them. Maybe they’ll include them in boxes of cereal as a giveaway.
[via Impress Watch(JP) via NewLaunches]
Mar 30
Cook should revisit the plaid trousers. They’d be every bit as distinctive as Jobs’ trademark mock turtleneck.
(Credit: Whitbaker)
OK, fanboys and -girls, it’s time once again to haul out your digital scrapbooking materials and add to your collection of Apple-related odds and ends.
It’s been a fun month for Apple miscellanea. We saw the surfacing of a rare video of Woz circa 1984, which was digitized from a videotape found in a basement. And earlier there was the Fast Company interview with Ying Hang “Hannah” Zhang, the young Starbucks employee who took the “prank” call Steve Jobs made during the unveiling of the iPhone in 2007 (“I’d like to order 4,000 lattes to go, please. No, just kidding. Wrong number. Thank you. Bye-bye!”).
Now we get to check out Tim Cook’s groovy plaid pants and moppy head of hair courtesy of images from his 1975 and ’76 high school yearbooks, posted on Reddit last night by Redditor Whitbaker, who explain… [Read more]
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Mar 30
We all use computers every day, but at some moment in each of our lives, there was that first meeting. A first interface, if you will. You might not remember the real first time you used a computer, but there’s got to be one shining gem of nostalgia that sticks out in your mind. What is it? When you look back on it now, is it laughable or just plain awesome? What was your first time like? More »
Mar 30
To all the people who keep on asking me for instructions on building a replica of Iron Man’s arc reactor (or Wonder Woman’s invisible jet): a) my offer was clearly a joke, b) for the millionth time, I didn’t make the arc reactor, this guy did and c) you’d be better off buying this T-shirt from ThinkGeek. It’s a black t-shirt with a chest-mounted light that looks like the arc reactor in Iron Man 3.
Unlike Tony Stark’s arc reactor, the one on this t-shirt doesn’t provide power. In fact it needs three AAA batteries for it just to light up. The chest panel is connected to a battery box via a cable, but I don’t know where the battery box is located. I hope it’s not too big that you’ll have to tuck it into your pants pocket or something.
You can order the t-shirt from ThinkGeek for $30 (USD). No instructions or assembly required.
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