Ipod hacks

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"iPod hacks have been created to aid users in using their iPod more efficiently, or to customize their product, making it more individual or for novelty purposes. Their creation has also been to create new features, possibly that Apple Computer wanted to disguise to aid sales of another product." Hello world .. here's how you can convert your iPod into pretty much anything that comes to your mind as long as Apple hasn't figured out a pre-emptive strike .. ala Bush. More here ... Oh, yes ... this channel and this s&t reporter are in no way responsible if you blow up your iPod using information freely available on the Internet ... though if you record it using your video camera .. we may do a story on it :) ....

"Microsoft vs Computer Security"

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"Why the software giant still can't get it right" The headline and the tag above are both from the best article on the Internet today. According to aldaily.com and me ... It's on Slate ... go read it here. Continuing in the same vein .. here's my take, from a far more geeky perspective. The big secret (that everyone knows about) is that the biggest threat to data security comes from trusted employees, NOT pimply faced teenagers who think lack of sleep is a fashion statement. Which means everything you do to keep unwanted outsiders outside, is fairly pointless. Yesterday evening I was speaking to a gentleman who's trying to keep companies safe from their own employees (or recent ex-employees). . Before you think guards in blue uniforms let me add that he's into security of a completely different sort. He helps people....

Earthquake!

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There have been five earthquakes off the US coast in the Gulf of California today. The weakest was 4.4 on the Richter scale. And the strongest was 6.7 on the Richter scale. Oh, and there was a minor earthquake in Latur as well. Slight tremors were felt around 4.30 in the evening. Earthquakes are absolutely fascinating. And they aren't all that rare. It is estimated that there are 500,000 detectable earthquakes in the world each year. 100,000 of those can be felt, and 100 of them cause damage. So there are around 150 earthquakes with a magnitude greater than 2.5 every week. Which works out to around a little over 20 everyday. That's almost one every hour. And while we are talking about cool earthquake facts. Here are some more: Before electronics allowed recordings of large earthquakes, scientists built large spring-pendulum seismometers in an....

The Google PC

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So, is Google launching a PC of its own? According to the LA Times they are ... From the article: 'Sources say Google has been in negotiations with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., among other retailers, to sell a Google PC. The machine would run an operating system created by Google, not Microsoft's Windows, which is one reason it would be so cheap -- perhaps as little as a couple of hundred dollars.'" There's a lot of talk about an alternative to Windows. Having been a Linux user on and off and despite having enjoyed it, I have to admit that there is no credible alternative to Windows. If only because its so easy to get things done on a windows machine. And that's not because Windows is a great software. It's because someone who knows how to get it done is not more than a phone call away.....