Cyborg Snail Turned Into Living Battery A snail transformed into a living battery has moved the world one step closer to having tiny cyborg spies underfoot. The pioneering experiment harnessed a snail's blood sugar to "recharge" an implanted battery — the first time researchers have shown sustainable generation of electricity in a living creature's body over several months. If the snails' bodies can create enough electricity to power microelectronics, they could act as living sensors or detectors for the U.S. military and Homeland Security. "In this [direction] the biofuel cells are expected to operate in small creatures (snails, worms, insects, etc) providing sustainable electrical power for various sensors and wireless transmitters," said Evgeny Katz, a professor of chemistry at Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y. Katz and his colleagues implanted the snail with electrodes made of thin sheets of carbon nanotubes — called Buckypaper — that could conduct electricity.
Weekendhacker News, Videos, Reviews and Gossip - Lifehacker Since it's hard to trust what companies that get your data will do with it, the best way to maintain your privacy online is to minimize what you give them. Create accounts with pseudonyms or variants of your name (yes, even Facebook and Google+). Supply only profile information that is absolutely necessary, and lie about critical stuff like birthdates. Turn off all app- and ad-related functionality on Facebook and other sites wherever possible. Aggressively manage all forms of cookies and other persistent storage. Diversify your digital life by using services from different companies, and provide each with different profile information and email addresses. And remember that "opt out" usually does not mean your information won't be collected and stored, it generally only means that you won't be served up constant reminders of it (e.g., targeted ads, browsable web history, etc).
The Doomsday Clock from the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists tackles biotechnology SCOTT OLSON/AFP/Getty Images Shortly after the end of World War II, Albert Einstein, referring to the new global danger of nuclear weapons, uttered his now famous warning: “Everything has changed, save the way we think.” Accordingly, he and Robert Oppenheimer established the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to help warn the public about the dangers of nuclear war. Perhaps the most visible face of the bulletin—for which I am currently co-chair of the board of sponsors—is the “Doomsday Clock.” Created in 1947, the clock graphically reflects how close humanity might be to human-induced apocalypse, in terms of the “number of minutes to midnight”—at which time, presumably, time itself will no longer matter. Nuclear weapons continue to be the most urgent global threat to humanity: Recent developments in Iran, the continued tension between Pakistan and India, and the United States’ consideration of developing a new generation of nuclear weapons are all cause for great concern.
2011 About.com Readers' Choice Awards Winners - About Web Browsers - Best Privacy/Security Add-On Privacy and security while browsing the Web is important to all of us, as evidenced by the fervent voting in this category. The five finalists featured an impressive selection of tools intended to make everday life on the Web safer. After more than three weeks of non-stop action, the readers have made their decision. The reigning champion in the 2011 Best Privacy/Security Add-On category, for the second year in a row, is NoScript! 2010 Winner: NoScript
JAP -- ANONYMITY & PRIVACY [ English | German ] Protection of Privacy on the Internet JAP (called JonDo in the scope of the commercial JonDonym anonymous proxy servers - AN.ON remains free of charge) makes it possible to surf the internet anonymously and unobservably. Without Anonymization, every computer in the internet communicates using a traceable Address. the website visited, the internet service provider (ISP), and any eavesdropper on the internet connection can determine which websites the user of a specific computer visits. How it works Instead of connecting directly to a webserver, users take a detour, connecting with encryption through several intermediaries, so-called Mixes. Since many users use these intermediaries at the same time, the internet connection of any one single user is hidden among the connections of all the other users. Outages and maintenance times Because JAP is a research project, it is continuously being further developed. Support requests WWW:
Sandboxie - Sandbox software for application isolation and secure Web browsing Sell Used Cell Phones and More. Get Paid to Recycle Used Electronics @ BuyMyTronics.com Credit unions have the best credit card deals This post comes from Mitch Lipka, consumer advocate at dealnews. Looking for a better credit card deal? Consider getting it from a credit union. A recently released study (.pdf file) by the Pew Safe Credit Cards Project examined the credit card market since the federal Credit CARD Act was passed two years ago. Pew found that the cards offered by credit unions give you a better deal, across the board. Lower interest rates. The lowest advertised APR that Pew found in its study was 9.99% for a card issued by a credit union versus 12.99% from a bank. Dire predictions didn't come true There was a brief period before the rules imposed in the law took effect, so companies pushed interest rates higher. Estimate your credit score for free "Whatever increases in advertised interest rates we saw going into 2010 have not continued into 2011. Today's best savings rates The study also found that overdraft fees have become increasingly rare among banks and nonexistent at credit unions.
New Tools Find Cheap Private Student Loans Until recently, banks and other private lenders have made it hard for anyone to shop for college loans, in some cases because they didn’t want to compete by cutting profit margins. But several web entrepreneurs and state agencies have developed new tools to help students and parents find private loans that, in June of 2010, charged as little as 1.78 percent in interest. [Read 7 Ways Private Student Loans Are Getting Better] Before shopping for private loans, students and parents should first apply for federal student aid, including low-cost government loans, lenders say. [Read about cheaper, easier federal student loans. ] Students who need more than the federal government’s student loan maximums should consider cutting their costs or switching to a cheaper college instead of borrowing more, many financial aid officers suggest. [Read about a proposal to give relief to those with private student loans.] Here are three kinds of web tools that can help find private college loans:
Safe Hex - safe computing tips to defend against viruses, worms, trojans, and other malware. Please note that this document is quite dated (last updated in 2008). Some of the infomation is still of interest so I'm keeping the document up for posterity only. Some of the old links have been removed. Safe Hex - A collection of suggestions intended to help you defend against viruses, worms, trojans (oh my!), malware and other questionable code. You can use the Windows Update and Office Update sites to keep your system up-to-date. 3. Note that security holes may be discovered in these programs as well (though probably less frequently), so it's a good idea to check for updates regularly. You'll be able to import your IE Favorites to most of these browser alternatives. 4. Never open email attachments from someone you don't know Never open email attachments forwarded to you even if they're from someone you know Never open unsolicited or unexpected e-mail attachments until you've confirmed the sender actually meant to send them. 5. Warning - Microsoft RTF Security Bulletin - May 22, 2001
The WWW Security FAQ Lincoln D. Stein <lstein@cshl.org> & John N. Stewart <jns@digitalisland.net> Version 3.1.2, February 4, 2002 This information is provided by Lincoln Stein (lstein@cshl.org) and John Stewart (jns@digitalisland.net). New version 3.1.2, added Lithuanian mirror site. version 3.1.1, fixed a vulnerability introduced by the untainting a variable example. Mirrors The master copy of this document can be found at See this page for a listing of mirror sites or if you are interested in becoming a mirror site yourself. Introduction What's New? Corrections and Updates We welcome bug reports, updates, reports about broken links, comments and outright disagreements. Please understand that we maintain the FAQ on a purely voluntary basis, and that we may fall behind on making updates when other responsibilities intrude.
How To Backup Files From Web ~ Best Hacking Techniques Here is step to step tutorial that explains how to backup files from web. You’ll learn how to backup your files which is on facebook, all google services as gmail, youtube, docs etc, twitter, picasa and other diverse sites. So, let’s start with facebookFacebook is one of the most famous sites to store your stuff and to share it in public. But it creates problem, when your facebook account is hacked or account deleted or temporary down or unavailable. So, what should we do? In that condition, the best way is to backup your whole data (account) as facebook has built in backup system. After signed in, click on right top corner button (gear icon) and then, click on account settings. In this way, you can backup (download) all of your stuffs of facebook account but note, you cannot backup photos the others of tagged you in your facebook account. Then, download photograbber (zip file) software in your computer as click on the link. Now let’s see Google. Let’s start with Google- Youtube