Britain develops a security camera that can see through clothes

By Mark O’Neill

total-recall.jpgNotch another one up to the Brits. In true “Total Recall” style, a security camera has been developed which can “detect weapons, drugs, liquids, and explosives hidden under people’s clothing from up to 80 feet away”.

“ThruVision, in collaboration with the European Space Agency, created the T5000 camera which uses passive imaging technology to identify objects through their emission of natural electromagnetic rays. Apparently, people and objects emit low levels of electromagnetic radiation that can pass through walls and clothing, and the T5000 camera can distinguish the different types of T-ray waves without exposing a person to harmful radiation associated with X-ray screening. ”

But kinky voyeurs shouldn’t go rushing to the airport to apply for security jobs.   If and when these machines ever go online, they are designed to NOT show anatomical parts of the body.   Damn.    The US military is also apparently testing the technology.

How the Mind Works

Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened — as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding — she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.


Pontiac G8 GT Spy Hunter-like Commercial

2008 Pontiac G8 GT

Have a look at what the marketing folks at Pontiac / GM came up with to present one of the coolest-looking car they ever manufactured, the Pontiac G8 GT. The idea of using Spy Hunter, a video game from the 80’s, to advertise the G8 is absolutely brilliant, as the target-market for this particular car are people who started playing games in this era, just like me. Enjoy!

Harvard University Hacked. Personal Data Uploaded to BitTorrent

There is a reason for information security and best practices. Ignoring things like setting strong passwords and having an account lockout policy will have perilous consequences. Just ask the 10,000 applicants to Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences who had their personal information, including their social security numbers, uploaded to Bit Torrent. That data is there because the Harvard server admin used an easily guessable password.

From the AP here:

Harvard says about 10,000 of last year’s applicants may have had their personal information compromised, with 6,600 having their Social Security numbers exposed.

The school says it will provide the applicants with free identity theft recovery services and help them with credit monitoring and fraud alerts.

The details of the hack were posted last month at Torrent Freak here:

A Harvard University website has become the victim of a major security breach. A torrent currently tracked by The Pirate Bay which links to a 125mb .zip file, claims to be the backup from the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences website.

The backup contains three other major database files and a .NFO file included with the release says in broken English: “Maybe you don’t like it but this is to demonstrate that persons like tgatton(admin of the server) in they don’t know how to secure a website.”

A file included with the release labeled password.txt carries a message:

Thomas gatton….stupid people, you don’t use a secure password.

This appears to be a reference to Thomas Gatton, Systems Administrator and User Support Specialist at Harvard.

It’s one thing to be rejected by an Ivy League School. Its quite another for the Ivy League School to allow you to become the victim of identity theft.

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Heavily encrypt your ZIP and RAR files with SecureZIP

By Mark O’Neill

Despite the proliferation of file storage sites on the internet such as Dropbox, I am still a bit of an old fashioned geek at heart and I always end up emailing big files to people by zipping them first. But old-fashioned as I am, I am also paranoid, so I always encrypt my zips with a password.

Then I email the recipient a riddle to solve, and the answer to the riddle is the password to open the ZIP file. To this day, my mother still hasn’t been able to open the ZIP file containing the Christmas photos from 2006. I think she is going slowly nuts. “JUST TELL ME THE GODDAMN PASSWORD!”. I think my inheritance is at stake.

But even though I have given the zip file a password, I am still convinced that the folder is not as strong as it could be. So when I discovered the FREE SecureZIP, I decided to give it a trial run.   It is supposed to provide zipped folders with much stronger encryption standards and make it much harder for people to break in by brute force.

It supports not only the ZIP format but also RAR, which is quite interesting as I work with RAR files a lot. It also apparently integrates into Microsoft Outlook as well as Comodo secure email certificates. Since I don’t use either, I couldn’t test those, so if anyone out there wants to try that out and report back, that would be super thank you.

SecureZIP also integrates with your computer’s virus scanner so any incoming ZIP files are automatically scanned for potential threats.

Where we’re going, who needs 7-Zip?

Automower: The incredible lawn-mowing robot

The Automower

Since summer is quickly approaching, and since we northerners haven’t seen anything green for the past five months, I thought a post reminding us of warmer temperatures would be appreciated.

A Swedish-based corporation named Husqvarna just released what many will consider the perfect lawnmower. Not only does it mow your lawn without any human intervention, but it will also return to its docking station automatically for a charge when its battery is starting to get low on power.

Dubbed “the Automower,” this suburban-dream-come-true looks a bit like a vacuum cleaner without a wire. According to Husqvarna, the device needs an initial “learning period” of two to five hours to get used to its environment before getting to work. Once the learning phase has been completed, the Automower can apparently be left alone for the whole summer. It will go out on a pre-determined schedule, mow your lawn, and then get back to its docking station for a recharge when it’s ready.

Before putting our little friend to work, you will need to set the boundaries of where it can and cannot go. To do this, all you need to do is install a metal wire around the perimeter of your yard and around the spots where the Automower should not go.

The best thing about it? It doesn’t make any kind noise or pollute the air. And no need to pick up the mowed grass clumps, either! The Automower cuts the grass so finely that there is no need to pick it up. It simply stays on the ground and naturally fertilizes your lawn.

Geek Fashion from MoMa: The Icon Watch

Being a sexy geek includes sporting the latest in computer-oriented fashion as often as possible. Everyone knows the Mac watch icon. The pesky bugger constantly popped up whenever you needed to be doing something, asking you to kindly wait about four hours until your task was completed.

MoMa Design has decided to bring this icon into reality by creating a stylish plastic watch perfectly resembling the infamous icon. Although it’s pretty cool looking, I would prefer to wear the Windows hour glass on my wrist thank you very much.

It’s available right now via their online store for a reasonable $75. Go ahead, pick one up. All the cool geeks are going to have one.

Icon Watch

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Vinyl: Plays music, holds it

I don’t know about you guys, but my DVD’s are lying in a pile on my floor mixed in with laundry and magazines. I guess if you’re the type that likes to keep your precious optical media nice and tidy, this retro DVD holder should do the trick.

It is made out of records so be prepared for a trip down memory lane!

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