Hasta La Gadget!

A group of concerned “ordinary citizens” are calling on their fellow travelers to make the day before Thanksgiving (November 24th) National Opt-Out. The event is an attempt to protest the perceived privacy invasions of the TSA’s full body scanners.

The group is asking that travelers opt into a security pat-down, rather than the submit to the scanners–oh, and here’s the rub: the organization wants you to do it in full sight of fellow passengers so “every citizen [can] see for themselves how the government treats law-abiding citizens.”

A man named Brian Sodegren runs the group. He calls himself “just an ordinary citizen who is concerned about what is happening. The event is his attempt “to provide an educational platform and outlet to highlight what is going on.”

The group hopes to help do away with “naked body scanners” and “government-approved groping.”

Numerical combination locks have kept our stuff safe for hundreds of years. (Thanks, numerical combination locks!) But why not mix things up a little bit? How about a lock with a cheat code, instead of a passcode? More »

Last Friday, California police arrested a 23-year-old “man” who has been accused of hacking into the email and Facebook accounts of more than 3,000 women. Once in their various accounts he would search for, and often find, sexually-explicit photos of the women, and then send the photos to the victims’ contacts and post them on their Facebook accounts.

The suspect, George Samuel Bronk, was arraigned on Tuesday following an investigation involving Federal authorities and the California Highway Patrol’s Computer Crimes Investigation Unit.

Bronk first came to authorities’ attention after a Connecticut woman told police that someone had stolen explicit photos from her email and posted them onto her Facebook page. Police were able to trace an IP address to Bronk’s computer where they found that Bronk had gained access to almost 3,200 women’s email accounts.

It is thought that he tricked the emails into resetting their passwords based on pre-answered personal questions which he was able to guess based on info available on the women’s Facebook pages.

This guy deserves to do some time for what amounts to harassment and acting as a Peeping Tom on a cross-continental scale. But 3,200 accounts. That’s a lot. Almost, in a strange way, impressive. This guy could probably have found Osama Bin Laden or invented some kind of new Twitter had he put his hacking talents and seemingly endless amount of free time into good rather than evil.

via Switched

Really, TSA? Are you honestly so stoked to disappoint? If you’ll recall, the American Transportation Security Administration got up close and personal with a first-generation MacBook Air after wrongly assuming it was an Apocalypse-bringer, and even after adjusting rules so that iPads, netbooks and other smaller electronics could fly through carry-on screening equipment without being unpacked, we’ve still heard of (and personally experienced) occasions where agents have demanded that tablet PCs be ran through naked. If there’s a lesson to learn here, it’s that the TSA is consistently inconsistent, and you’re probably better off putting everything you own in a separate grey bucket for the sake of covering your bases. The same applies to Apple’s new 11.6-inch MacBook Air, which is cleared to undergo TSA scanning while packed under the aforesaid amended rules. In theory, you shouldn’t have to remove it from your backpack as you struggle to reach your gate, but if we had to guess, we’d say you’ll be ask to take it out and re-run it if you try. But hey, you’re only being victimized and scrutinized in the name of security, so it’s all good. Trust us.

11.6-inch MacBook Air cleared to remain packed through security, but we’d remove it anyway originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 10:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Let’s set the scene: you let that last Bm chord ring out, the crowd roars in the background, the fog fades and the lights go down. A drip of sweat falls from your brow and lands softly on the pick guard of your shiny new Fender. A smile graces your face, you slowly remove your weapon of choice from around your body and slam it down whimsically on your guitar stand. Exit stage right. Meanwhile, you’re munching on a week-old Honey Bun and some prankster from that mosh pit on the left is making off with your six string. Tragedy.

In order to keep this awful, awful scenario from happening to you, The Rock Lock Company was born. Chris Goulet turned a bright idea into a product you can buy, with this here buckle simply snapping around your guitar neck, looping around something immobile and locking into place. Of course, you’ll need a tech to remove it prior to rolling out for your first song, but it’s probably worth the $49.99 asking price for all those other moments. Hit the source link to get your pre-order in, but only if you enjoy free shipping as a bonus.

Rock Lock protects your guitar from theft, runs at least one roadie out of a job originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Oct 2010 11:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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