Day: January 25, 2013

Why the User Interface in Hackers Hasn’t Aged That Badly

A lot of the stuff about the movie Hackers looks really dated now, especially some of the fashions and the way it depicts hacking. But the user interface still looks pretty good, compared to a lot of other stuff from the era. Paul Franklin, the Academy Award-winning special effects designer who’s worked on all Christopher Nolan’s recent movies, also worked on Hackers and holds it up as an example of a weird choice that panned out: More »

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Why the User Interface in Hackers Hasn’t Aged That Badly

BitTorrent Launches Dropbox Alternative

redletterdave writes “On Friday morning, BitTorrent launched the alpha test of a new, free public service called BitTorrent Sync, which allows users to securely back up and sync files over the Web using BitTorrent’s platform. Unlike competing services such as Box or Dropbox, BitTorrent Sync doesn’t store files on remote servers (which means that no third party has access to one’s files), and also has no storage limits other than what your devices can hold.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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BitTorrent Launches Dropbox Alternative

You Can Run Android 4.0 in Its Entirety Right on Your PC

Running certain Android apps on your desktop is nothing new with Bluestacks , but now you can get the whole dang OS running on your PC as a native application thanks to a little program called WindowsAndroid . More »

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You Can Run Android 4.0 in Its Entirety Right on Your PC

Why Aren’t Telephone Towers This Beautiful Anymore?

You’re looking at what was once the main junction for telephone connections in Stockholm. See all the wires? That’s because it was used for around 5,000 phone lines—literal lines—from 1887-1913. More »

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Why Aren’t Telephone Towers This Beautiful Anymore?

German Federal Court Rules That Internet Connection Is Crucial To Everyday Life

Qedward writes “Internet access is as crucial to everyday life as having a phone connection and the loss of connectivity is deserving of financial compensation, the German Federal Court of Justice has ruled. Because having an internet connection is so significant for a large part of the German population, a customer whose service provider failed to provide connectivity between December 2008 and February 2009 is entitled to compensation, the court ruled today. ‘It is the first time the court ruled that an internet connection is as important a commodity as having a phone,’ said court spokeswoman Dietlind Weinland. The court, however, denied the plaintiff’s request of €50 a day for his fax machine not working.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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German Federal Court Rules That Internet Connection Is Crucial To Everyday Life

Are You Getting Less Spam Mail?

The Economist has a chart from Kaspersky Lab , a security firm, that shows that spam mail is on a decline. Supposedly, it’s a combination of spam filters actually working, the authentication of senders and more police crackdowns on Nigerian princes. In fact, in the past year, junk mail has declined from around 80% to 67%. Do you guys agree with this study? Are you noticing less spam in your inboxes? More »

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Are You Getting Less Spam Mail?