Saturday 31 March 2012

Google gets in on April Fools Day : Google Maps 8 Bit for NES with Video

Google Wants to give you the full Maps experience on the most popular computer system ever made, the Gameboy. Google has deployed thousands of servers to over come the limitations offered by the NES systems. A dial up cartridge allows you to get real time results from said servers.    Google Maps Related posts: Google Maps on Android now with indoor locations Google Maps on Browser updated for Android and iOS Google gets fined in France for Free Google Maps




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Google’s April fools’ Day prank

Google this time prank the people by introducing "Google Maps 8bit for NES". Users of Google Maps (www.maps.google.com) were greeted with a "Start Your Quest" box at the left side of the screen where users can view 8-bit landmarks, "be a hero and explore the world," and "find hidden monsters." Click the link to get on to the Google Maps directly:  http://goo.gl/i4onu A screenshot of Google's april fool idea What do you think of Google's April Fools' Day prank?




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3 Sites To Study The Roots Of Your Favorite Artists & Songs

Life without music is a life that would be much less enjoyable for most of us. Even before smartphones and iPods, we were finding ways to listen to our favorite songs everywhere we go through classics like the Walkman. Some people just can't be pulled off of their headphones or earbuds. As we grow older, our musical tastes begin to transform and branch out a little more. At 22, I'm going through that phase. Once a fan of nothing but hip-hop, I've used the wonders of the Internet to find artists I appreciate in genres like jazz and electronic. One of the easiest ways to look into new music that may be down your alley is to do a little research and look through artists that you already like. To help out, I've got a few for you that might do the trick. WhoSampled WhoSampled is a website that specializes in verifying and indexing user submissions revealing songs that have sampled others. Samples are most prevalent in the hip-hop genre, but they're common elsewhere. I've gone on WhoSampled looking through songs while bored and I've left having new favorite songs and an interest in new types of music. When you hear the original piece of a sample from a song that you're already in love with, there's an instant connection. It feels good to know where your music is coming from. WhoSampled covers not only samples, but remixes and covers as well. Second Hand Songs If WhoSampled tweaked your interest, Second Hand Songs goes by the same tune but more narrowly for cover songs. You'd actually be surprised how many hit songs weren't pushed mainstream by the original artist. SHS will help you find the original cover song artist or covers of original songs. A huge portion of the covers here have YouTube videos associated directly with them, for us visual people. You can also browse by new content or specific artists. As we speak, the SHS database is sitting at 39,896 works, 188,787 performances, 2,459 samples and 50,255 artists. That's a huge collection! AllMusic AllMusic (part of a network that also caters to movies and games ) is a deep and complete website that gives the user a full experience on music news and information, and offers a multitude of ways to find brand new artists you may have never heard about. AllMusic does a fantastic job of breaking down musical genres into subgenres that really let you isolate and pinpoint a particular area of interest. From there, there's hundreds of new and unfound artists you may stumble upon. One of their coolest features, in my opinion, is the way they associate music with moods . Through that page, you're able to pair up music with the way you're feeling, which completely changes the listening experience. It's a really great idea. Check out these other articles: 4 Alternative Apps To The iPhone Music App Find Free Music With Freemake Music Box [Windows] 5 Of The Best Websites To Watch The Latest HD Music Videos Samples, remixes, covers! I've tried to cover it all for you and I really suggest that any honest music fan check these websites out. You don't know what you're missing. Last.fm and Pandora do a great job of calibrating your music for the ears, but sometimes hard, manual research is the best way to go. Share more sites like these in the comments if you have any – I'd love to see.




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Cool Tech Deals Of The Week – Brother DCP-7065DN Laser Multifunction Printer w/ Networking & Duplexing $99.99 & More!

Office Depot has the Brother DCP-7065DN Monochrome Laser Multifunction Printer/Copier/Scanner for a low $99.99 and free shipping. For more fresh hot deals, visit our Hot Tech Deals page, which is constantly updated. Brother DCP-7065DN Laser Multifunction Printer w/ Networking & Duplexing $99.99 (reduced from $179.99) and free shipping. Acer Aspire AS7750G Intel Core i5-2450M 2.5GHz 17.3in Laptop w/ HD 7670m $549.97AR (reduced from $649.99) and $9 shipping . Samsung WEP490 Bluetooth Headset $4.99AR  (reduced from $49.99) and free shipping after rebate and Coupon Code: "EMCYTZT1386″ (Exp 4/1). Zmodo PKD-DK4216 4 Camera 4ch H.264 DVR w/ Web/Mobile Phone Access $119.99 (reduced from $199.99) and free shipping after Coupon Code: "EMCYTZT1384″ (Exp 4/1). Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Software $79.99 (reduced from $99.99) and free shipping after Coupon Code: "EMCYTZT1382″ (Exp 4/1). Acer Aspire One Intel Atom N455 10.1in Netbook (Refurb, 1GB/250GB) $197.99 (reduced from $299.99) and free shipping. Pioneer SW-8 100W Powered Subwoofer (SINGLE) $79.99 (reduced from $159.99) and free shipping after Coupon Code: "EMCYTZT1379″ (Exp 4/1) . Canon EOS 60D 18MP DSLR Camera w/ 18-135mm IS Lens & 55-250mm IS II $1199.99 (reduced from $1099) and free shipping. Energy RC Micro 5 Pack 5.0ch Home Theater System $129.99 (reduced from $399.99) and free shipping after Coupon Code: "EMCYTZT1378″ (Exp 4/1) . Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless Bluetooth Headset Newest Gen $29.99 (reduced from $59.99) and free shipping.  




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Why Some BitTorrent Users Are Spoiled Children [Opinion]

Some BitTorrent users, it seems, are entitled idiots. The recent controversy about magnet links on The Pirate Bay is one example – people threatened to stop using the infamous piracy site because of the switch, which forced people to update their BitTorrent clients and not much else – but that doesn't come close to the entitlement another recent story reveals. Imagine this – you get all of your entertainment free of charge, courtesy of people who record it for you in their spare time and put it on the Internet. Then these people, who you're not paying, change the format they are offering this free entertainment in. Would you, realizing that you're getting free entertainment because of volunteers, just accept it? Or would you complain about it in the comments section of torrent sites? At least some people opted for the second choice. That level of entitlement is shocking. The Story So Far… More and more torrent sites are offering TV shows and movies as MP4 files using the x246 codec instead of the dated Divx standard. Why? Because the organizations that rip these shows and release them are changing, for a variety of reasons outlined in a document called The SD x264 TV Releasing Standards 2012 . Catchy name, I know. Simply put, the groups that initially rip these files switched formats. These groups typically upload the files to Usenet; from there they generally migrate to BitTorrent sites across the web. So BitTorrent users, because of the choice of strangers several layers removed from their favourite torrent sites, faced new formats while consuming their media. Instead of installing the new codec and moving on with their lives, however, people took to comment sections, representing the 99% of leechers against the nefarious 1% of uploaders. Here's a sample of the comments: "LOL, why are all your new uploads MP4 format? How do we get hold of you? We need the AVI format back, really frustrating as most DVD players don't play MP4 format which means we are back to converting format to AVI – how 3rd world LOL" Yeah, what's third world about that is the format offered, not the fact that you're still using a DVD player to play pirated media. Hook a computer up to your TV – it's not expensive. If your TV was made after 2005, it probably even has one of these: Problem solved. The next quote contains excessive all-caps, which doesn't exactly raise the level of discourse. "MP4 SUCKS AND IS A BULL $#!^ FORMAT. AVI WILL ALWAYS BE KING. MORE TROUBLE THAN IS WORTH. TIME TO GET MY DOWNLOADS FROM A BETTER SITE THAT OFFERS AVI AND I KNOW A MAJORITY OF THE DOWN LOADERS WILL DO THE SAME" "SO I THINK EZTV HAS A LIMITED LIFE SPAN LEFT IF THEY DO NOT TELL DOWN LOADERS TO GO BACK TO AVI IT IS PROBABLY ALL OVER FOR THIS SITE." Whoever you are – you are an entitled parasite, and are the reason why the height of entertainment for future generations will be entirely cellphone videos of cats. How are media companies supposed to keep viewers happy if people like you find reasons to complain about high-quality, advertisement-free content you've paid nothing for? Conclusion If these are the customers media companies need to make happy in order to be profitable, that chance seems remote. If they find reasons to complain about free copies of expensive-to-produce television episodes how is any company supposed to make money producing TV shows? Users on the Internet love to complain for services they pay nothing for. Ask Facebook – they've turned ignoring customer complaints into an art form, and they'll likely never pay the price for that. Behind these complaints, however, is a certain entitlement. People believe things should be given to them, for free, on their own terms. This makes sense with social networks, all of which profit by turning our friendships into commodities. If they're doing that, they should listen to the concerns of their users. This isn't the case for BitTorrent, though. You're getting something for free. Start acting like it. Thanks to TorrentFreak for the information . A version of this story appeared in episode 13 of the Technophilia Podcast . Image Credit: Child crying via Shutterstock




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Search for Scheduled Public Google+ Hangouts!

Google+ might not have made a big dent in the social media niche but it has a popular feature in Hangouts. Hangouts allow small groups to conduct video chat online. There are many Hangouts which are very informative and it would be great to catch up on a few.

GPHangouts.com is a website that is like a search service and directory for public Hangouts.

Search Googleplus Hangouts Search for Scheduled Public Google+ Hangouts!

For instance I searched for WordPress related hangouts and straight away I got a link to a public Hangout.

A lot of users also tend to schedule public Hangout sessions and add them to the website's directory. To schedule a Hangout session on the directory, users need to use their Google ID to sign in. I guess this is insurance against spammers who might schedule fake Hangouts.

Users can even search on Google+ for current Hangouts which are happening. But there is not option to schedule Hangouts.

Try out GPHangouts and drop in your comments.

Link: GPHangouts

Related posts:

-- This Post Search for Scheduled Public Google+ Hangouts! is Published on Devils Workshop .





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Get A New Desktop Look With The Hope Theme [Linux]

I simply love how customizable Linux really is. You can transform just about anything and get a completely different desktop while still running Linux. For a fanboy like me, it's a thing of beauty. Speaking of beauty, there are so many different Gnome Shell themes and GTK themes in existence, that it's downright awesome. One of those themes is called Hope, an icy blue theme that is sure to make your boring desktop a lot more interesting. Download & Installation Ubuntu users can install it by adding a PPA repository and installing the package. Simply open a terminal window and run the following code: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kokoto-java/omgubuntu-stuff && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install hope-gtk-theme . Everyone else can get the Hope GTK theme from here , and can be easily installed by extracting the contents of the download into your .themes folder inside your Home folder. If you use Nautilus, you can hit Ctrl + H inside your home folder and all hidden folders (those with a period in front of them, like .themes) will suddenly appear for you to see, making the extraction process a lot easier. From there, you should probably use Gnome Tweak Tool to change your theme to Hope. That's pretty much it! If you want, you can also choose to use a dark toolbar version, which will be appropriately named Hope-DT. This option should also show up in Gnome Tweak Tool. Theme Features This new feature brings a lot of nice changes when compared to the default Gnome 3 theme, named " Adwaita ". The title bars are now almost black, and give a nice contrast compared to the rest of the desktop. Hovering over the window control buttons will highlight them, so that there is emphasis on whichever button you're hovering over. I'm not sure if this was a previous version of the GTK3 or if this originated in the GTK2 theme, but at one point the rest of the window control button turned into an icy blue. Speaking of icy blue, other key areas are now that color. The buttons that follow the GTK styling are now softer and are surrounded by an icy blue glow. Anywhere you usually see orange in Ubuntu, you'll see icy blue instead. With the Dark Toolbar version, some toolbars will appear just as dark as the title bars. This may be a good change for some people, but not everyone. It really depends on your taste. This will be most notable in Nautilus and in a few other applications, but generally there won't be much of a difference between the two for most applications. Conclusion Hope is a theme that I really like, and have liked since the Gnome 2 days. Its port for Gnome 3 is very well done, and has been my preferred theme for a few months now. Hopefully you well enjoy the clean look it brings as well. There is also a Hope Gnome Shell theme included within the download for this GTK3 theme that I may be reviewing soon, but until then, you can simply follow the instructions on the download page for proper extraction and enable it using Gnome Tweak Tool. Do you like the Hope theme? What's you're favorite GTK3 theme? Let us know in the comments below!




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RunKeeper Adds Ability To Set Specific Goals And Inform Your Friends About Them [Updates]

RunKeeper , one of the most popular fitness applications on the market, has issued an update that allows users to set goals and tell their friends about said goals, which is a feature that users were clamoring for. Keeping track of your runs is obviously useful, but for some people, setting goals and seeing them locked in will help keep them more motivated to get out there and run! RunKeeper's new update allows users to set four types of goals. Users can set a goal to make a specific distance by a certain date. For example, a user may want to run 5 miles by July 1st. Users can also set goals for cumulative distance. Do you want to run a total of 100 miles between now and the end of the summer? Well now you can set that as a goal. The last two types of goals are completing a race and losing a specific amount of weight in a time frame of your choosing. Once you lock in your goals, you can share them with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. This gives you a real sense of accountability, as everyone will know whether you have succeeded in your goal, and they will see your failure if you do not succeed. You can also invite others to follow your progress and cheer you on. RunKeeper is available for iOS , Android , Windows Phone 7 and Symbian . Source: TheNextWeb




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One Year Of The Future Hackers - Let Me Tell You A Fairy Tale!

On April day, in the beautiful city , a young guy-next-door decided to create a site to promote ethical hacking and started curating his  thoughts and knowledge on a site. He named it The Future Hackers for it was his belief that hacking should always be delightful. He started writing, but he wrote sporadically and felt his messages were going into the black hole of the big bad web without being heard. He got tangled up in her big move from Hell to Heaven and He did not write for almost a month!! But he was a passionate hacker at heart, he just needed to channel his creativity with dedication. And luckily, he did just that! She rolled up his sleeves, created her inspiration board and started tapping up the key board!  He wrote about his style inspirations, hacking sense and shared  little computer tips and tricks.




 He wrote about the Internet,technology, and the software which he like the most. He talked about everyday hacks and he talked about the latest updates in the ethical hacking field  and he wrote about how to combined the two! It took him 8 months to realize the direction of his site and whittle out the sharp focus for it. He has been writing almost everyday since December 2011 and  renewed focus and writing now gets almost 50,000 page views a month. It is still a small site, still learning the tricks of the trade and still growing every day. The best part of her journey so far- the interesting, creative, dedicated, stylish and over all awesome people he meets during the course of his site journey! he is happy when he write articles and tutorials, he is grateful for the love and support he got for it and he thanks his readers, his critics  who inspire him to give his best!


Moral of the story - What Dr Seuss said in the book Oh,The Places You'll Go - 

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose

I chose Ethical Hacking. I chose The Future Hackers. Happy first birthday my Site!




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Dungeon Hunter 3 now free in Google Play Store

Dungeon Hunter 3 has been a long time coming, but Gameloft finally delivered the Android version to the Google Play store today. Like recent Gameloft releases, DH3 is a freemium title, which has its ups and downs. You can grab the game for free right now, but be prepared to receive a couple spam alerts in your notification bar to buy more Gameloft coins. "Hero, you are needed in battle! This is your time to conquer! Evil has once again flooded over the sacred land of Gothicus. Face your destiny and enter the endless waltz of battle, victory and glory. 16 massive arenas are waiting for you now. Hero, this is your time to conquer!" If you can put up with all the freemium annoyances, DH3 looks like an awesome followup to DH2. The latest adventure has 16 different arenas, each of which can be played at 5 different levels of difficulty, to provide an extended replay value. Players can choose from 4 new classes – Warlord, Astromancer, Trickster or Shaman – and unlock over 1,000 items. I still enjoy all the Gameloft games, so I'm downloading this now. Let me know if you give it a try and please chime in about Gameloft's freemium strategy. Dungeon Hunter 3 Gameloft PLAY QR POWERED BY APPAWARE




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iPod Nano Touch Concept

Enrico Penello designed a new iPod concept : iPod Nano Touch Concept. The concept includes some features like WiFi, front facing camera that enables Facetime calls, weather status, ability to record Nike+ exercise results, classic apps like time, music, radio, images & podcasts.  




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Autogyaan: Hyundai Launches the New Fluidic i20 – iGen i20

Hyundai, which has become a strong force in the domestic market , specially the small car segment courtesy the Hyundai 'i' series. The premium compact car i20 has been a star performer and sooner or later it was bound to receive a design update. The Hyundai i20 been the Korean car makers big ticket seller ever since it was launched in 2008, courtesy its wide choice of variants on offers, great mileage on the road, cavernous seating and great styling. That being said, it was only a matter of time before the company's globally successful premium hatch received the very delectable 'fluidic' design treatment, which it now has very proudly adorned. The iGen i20 showcased in Geneva earlier this year. This is the same car as showcased at the Geneva Motor Show, 2012. It has been launched in 12 varieties for the Indian market. The new iGen i20 as it is called will replace the previous model . The new i-Gen family hatch hasn't just gotten pretty on the outside with a more heptagonal grille and attractively flowing body lines, but like the 2008 model once again it looks to set standards in its class of vehicles with features like a Rear Parking Camera with display in the cabin mirror, an Electro Chromic Mirror offering anti-glare vision which offers Anti-glare vision during night time, an Auto-Headlight Control Function, Clean Air-Cluster ionizers and rain sensing wipers. Speaking about the New i-Gen i20, Mr BS Seo, Managing Director and CEO said, "The New i-Gen i20 is a bold new offering with stylish looks and a host of unique features. Our extensive surveys indicated that the customer is seeking hi-tech and innovative features, we have incorporated the research findings in the i-Gen i20 to offer a high value proposition."   HMIL managing director and CEO BS Seo said the company has incorporated research findings in the new i-Gen i20 to meet requirements of hi-tech and innovative features seeking customers. There were talks about a new 1.1 litre 3 cylinder U-II diesel engine with BlueDrive technology for the next gen model in European markets, and that's exactly where it's headed. For India, the fluidic i20 settles for a more powerful and refined 1.2 Kappa petrol engine with a Dual VTVT mechanism which delivers 84PS of power, a 4PS scoop over the previous Kappa mill. The diesel variants will be priced from Rs5.96 lakh to Rs7.44 lakh and the automatic variant at Rs7.67 lakh (ex- showroom Delhi). While the petrol variant is powered by 1.2 litre engine, the diesel option has a 1.4 litre engine.   Related posts: Autogyaan: Hyundai's new Sonata Priced at Rs 18.52 lakh AutoGyaan: Unreleased Hyundai Tucson ix35 for India caught by iGyaan spies AutoGyaan : 2012 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid coming to India starting 23 Lac




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Motorola DROID RAZR and HTC Rezound Android 4.0 update scheduled for next week

Though Verizon was the first U.S. carrier to offer an Android 4.0 device, they will be the second carrier to push out an Android 4.0 updates to a couple phones in their lineup. A leaked picture of Best Buy's computer system shows that Verizon will be releasing the Android 4.0 OTA update for the Motorola DROID RAZR and RAZR MAXX on April 4th, while the HTC Rezound will receive the update on April 6th. In late January, we got a sneak peek at what Motorola's Android 4.0 build would look like with their updated version of MotoBLUR. HTC's Android 4.0 update will feature HTC Sense 3.6, similar to what we've seen on the HTC Vivid . It's encouraging to see Android 4.0 updates making their way to consumers' handsets, but we're only scratching the surface. HTC, Motorola, Samsung and others still have dozens of devices which are expected to be updated to Ice Cream Sandwich – a process that will most likely continue throughout the summer. Do you plan on holding on to your current Android phone and waiting for your Android 4.0 update or will you move on to something new with Android 4.0 pre-installed?




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DKFBootKit Malware- First Android BootKit

NQ Mobile Security Research Center has recently uncovered a new malware –DKFBootKit.

 This malware is identified when monitoring and analyzing the evolution of earlier DroidKungFu variants.

While it uses known techniques to piggyback malicious payloads into legitimate apps, it intentionally chooses legitimate apps that require root privilege to facilitate its payload. Specifically, by taking advantage of the root privilege, DKFBootKit adds itself as a part of the boot sequence of the original Android system and replaces a number of utility programs (e.g., ifconfig and mount). By doing so, the malware can get started even before the entire Android framework is bootstraped.

Android Malware

To the best of our knowledge, this malware is the first of its kind in moving towards a full-fledged bootkit on Android, which represents a serious threat to mobile users. Based on our initial investigation, we have so far identified more than 100 infected malware samples and it seems this number continues to grow at the time of writing this report.

HOW IT WORKS?

Based on our analysis, DKFBootKit repackages legitimate apps by enclosing its own malicious payloads in them.  However, the victim apps it chooses to infect are utility apps which require the root privilege to work properly. In the samples we analyzed, the infected apps range from ones managing apps installed on the phone, unlocking popular games, to others providing the license keys for some (premium) paid apps.

These apps seem to have legitimate reasons to request root privilege for their own functionality. It is also reasonable to believe that users will likely grant the root privilege to these apps. However,DKFBootKit makes use of the granted root privilege for other malicious purposes, namely comprising the system integrity.

We believe DKFBootKit is much more stealthy than the earlier DroidKungFu variants, which rely on existing exploits to gain root privilege. In the following, we show a screenshot of one DKFBootKit-infected sample that intends to provide the license key for a paid version of ROM managent app.

hostapphost-root

Based on our study, DKFBootKit adds a common background service to victim apps, which once run will release a hidden executable program.

This hidden program will check whether it has the root privilege. If not, it terminates itself. Otherwise, it mounts the system partition as writable, copies itself into the /system/lib directory, replaces several commonly-used utility programs (e.g.,ifconfig and mount), and alters related daemons (e.g., vold and debuggerd) and bootstrap-related scripts.

The purpose seems to allow itself to run earlier than the Android framework is initialized to start other apps. Moreover, the malware itself contains a bot payload that phones home to several remote C&C servers and waits for further commands. It's worth mentioning that becauseDKFBootKit utilizes the root privilege, it can execute arbitrary commands. We are still in the process of actively monitoring DKFBootKit C&C servers. An initial investigation of these C&C servers show that the related domains were registered in January, 2012.

Mitigation:

Due to the fact that DKFBootKit utilizes the root privilege and can be remotely controlled to install or remove apps without user's knowledge, we believe it poses serious threats to mobile users. To avoid becoming a victim, please follow common-sense guidelines for smartphone security:

1)  Only download applications from trusted sources, reputable application stores, and markets, and be sure to check reviews, ratings and developer information before downloading.

2)  Never accept application requests from unknown sources. Closely monitor permissions requested by any application; an application should not request permission to do more than what it offers in its official list of features.

3) Be alert for unusual behavior on the part of mobile phones and be sure to download a trusted security application that can scan the applications being downloaded onto your mobile device. NQ Mobile Security users are already fully protected from the "DKFBootKit " threat. NQ Mobile Security  for Android is available for download at http://www.nq.com/mobilesecurity and on Android Market.

Source: NQ Mobile Security Center

Stay Safe..

Hv gr8 day!





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‘Anonymous’ says it won’t shut down internet

Will hackers, allegedly associated with a group called Anonymous, shut down internet today? According to the group's Twitter account, from where it communicates with the world, the answer is no.  What is this #OperationGlobalBlackout nonsense? I thought we settled this back in February? It won't happen. Stop asking us about it! > .




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Cool Websites and Tools [March 30th 2012]

Check out some of the latest MakeUseOf discoveries. Most of the listed websites are FREE or come with a decent free account option. If you want to have similar cool website round-ups delivered to your daily email, subscribe here . Add Your Website Here!   Drugcite – Starting a new prescription can be scary. While it can cure whatever is ailing you, it can also cause some unpleasant side effects. Most of the time your doctor will tell you of anything important, but sometimes you want a second opinion. That is why DrugCite exists. It is a place that displays the side effects of drugs. Read more: DrugCite: See Drug Side Effects Reported To The FDA By Users   iDeal Chooser – Online shoppers do a bit of research to find out which online retailer is offering the lowest price for their items. If an item's price is expected to drop, then shoppers keep checking back for lowered prices across various websites. Of course doing this is very time-consuming and inconvenient. Here to automate the process is an excellent service called iDeal Chooser. Read more: iDeal Chooser: Compare Product Prices Online & Set Price Drop Alerts     ColdTurkey – Facebook and numerous other websites provide you with a constant source of distraction when you are working on your computer. As a result, you end up wasting important work hours on checking status updates and conversing with friends or streaming videos online. To solve this problem for you, an app called Cold Turkey presents a solution. Read more: ColdTurkey: Block Distracting Websites When You Are Working     TwitWipe – Twitter users post all sorts of updates on their accounts. From major events such as birthdays to mundane details. If you feel that you have been over-tweeting using your account, it is time to delete your tweets. Doing so manually can be extremely time-consuming. Thankfully there is an app called TwitWipe that lets you do it all in a single go. Read more: TwitWipe: Conveniently Delete All Your Tweets At Once     TangoCard – Many people send gift cards to their relatives and loved ones during the holiday season. However, you may not know what the other person wants. What if you can send them a gift card which they can exchange for their favorite brand or retail store gift card? It's possible, thanks to a service known as Tango Card. Read more: TangoCard: A Gift Card Which Allow People To Select Gifts Themselves   Add Your Website Here! These are just half of the websites that we discovered in the last couple of days. If you want us to send you daily round-ups of all cool websites we come across, leave your email here . Or follow us via RSS feed .




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HTC One S handset seized by French authorities as HTC-Hub is sued by HTC France

It's a sad night for HTC fans in France and across the globe as HTC France has taken legal action against HTC-Hub (currently the largest HTC blog on the web) for releasing an unboxing video of the HTC One S. The handset, which Bruno obtained through a confidential source, has also been seized by French authorities. At this point, we're not sure what legal charges have been brought against HTC-Hub, but it looks like everything has stemmed from a lack of communication from Hopscotch, HTC's PR agency in France. Bruno approached Hopscotch a few weeks after Mobile World Congress to inquire about HTC One demo units. While HTC typically sends out demo units to members of the press several days before the actual launch with an embargo agreement (an agreement to not publish any information about the phone before a specific date or time), Hopscotch informed Bruno that demo units would not be available in France until the launch of the HTC One next week. Members of HTC-Hub decided to take the matter into their own hands and were able to secure the HTC One S without help from HTC or its PR company, meaning there were no legal restrictions as to when they could share images, videos or information about the device. We know that quite a few bloggers in Europe have been using the HTC One S and HTC One X for a few days already, but no major site has given any hands-on account of the devices due to the embargo which they all agreed to. We don't know how things will progress with Bruno and the rest of his team at HTC-Hub. From the personal communication we have had with Bruno, it's obvious that this whole situation could have been resolved without legal action. We don't want to point fingers at HTC and say that they are in the wrong since we are not directly involved and may be missing some key details, but we'll be monitoring the situation and let you know if there are any interesting updates. What are your thoughts on the situation? If HTC-Hub managed to obtain a demo unit of the HTC One S from a different source should they be legally required to abide by an embargo that they never agreed to?




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Friday 30 March 2012

Anonymous Hackers plans Internet blackout on March 31

"Anonymous" hackers are planning a Global BlackOut attack on March 31 to knock out the HTTP internet to protest against anti-piracy laws and attempts of governments to control the web.anonymous-mask-dxxJmZ

There are 13 DNS servers that host the core databases for translating Domain Names to IP addresses. Anonymous hackers have announced "Operation Global Blackout", promising to cause an Internet-wide blackout by disabling the core DNS servers.

Anonymous  Hackers wants to bombard those 13 servers with traffic using a distributed denial of service attack. If the servers get too overloaded, they'll crash and therefore be unable to fulfil DNS lookups rendering all domain names useless.

DNS root servers

 

"It's wrong to believe that the Internet is a system that rests upon 13 servers only –it's a more complicated structure. Theoretically, if these servers are disrupted, users can experience some inconveniences and even mistakenly take them for a blackout." Read ICANN Blog 13 DNS servers

Anonymous hackers are more famous not only for their attacks but for slogans and threats.

Anonymous_never_forgive

 

Can Hackers  take down DNS root servers ?

  • there are 13 Root Servers, It it not possible to shut down every of them. Even every root server is under control of various companies and they have different hardware and different ways to protect it. If any root server will get down, They can migrate it to other servers.
  • Anonymous Issue the Date 31 march 2012 for there attack, obviously there will be 100's of Security Experts aware about the attack and working at backend for Security and resolving the issues.
  • Internet users don't use Root servers service directly, they are the master servers(God of Internet). Whereas internet users are connected to slave servers , provided by their internet service provider (ISP). Slave servers synchronice there data with root servers (master servers).
  • Root servers are implemented as clusters of hosts using anycast addressing. Anycasting is a tweek to the Internet routing table so that traffic destined for an IP address is redirected to a different local server.

what do you think , that Anonymous will shut down the web?

Interpol has launched Operation Unmask to deal with the group and arrested 31 alleged members in two different phases in February and March, 2012. There are around 2.3 billion internet users in the world and more than one million of them are affected by cybercrime every year while $388 billion dollars is the global cost of such crimes.

Stay Safe..

Hv gr8 day!





ifttt puts the internet to work for you. via task 796658

Bump Pay Lets You Transfer Money To Friends With A Bump [Updates]

Bump , the popular sharing app for Android and iOS, has sprung a baby brother in the form of Bump Pay . With Bump Pay, instead of sharing photos and contacts, you can share money. Simply enter the required amount and bump phones with your friend. The money will be transferred from your PayPal account into your friend's account. Bump Pay is currently available only on iOS, and can be downloaded as a standalone app from iTunes . It is currently not a feature in the regular Bump app, but rather a Bump Labs project, which is aimed at testing exciting new features for Bump before they are incorporated into the actual app. In order to use Bump Pay, both parties need to own a PayPal account. Bump Pay lets you choose between two security levels: enter your PayPal account every single time, or let Bump Pay remember your PayPal password. The former is probably the safest way to prevent people from bumping your money. Bump Pay only works in person, of course, and cannot be used to transfer money if you can't physically bump devices with your friend. Last year, PayPal incorporated Bump's API in their own iOS app, which made it possible to transfer money by bumping. That feature is no longer available on the PayPal app, but is now newly available as Bump Pay, and may even be incorporated into Bump in the future. What do you think of Bump Pay? Will you use this method to transfer money? Source: CNet




ifttt puts the internet to work for you. via task 796545