I gave an Ignite talk in OSCON 2010. It wasn’t recorded, but Brady had us record them the next day. I just discovered that the video was produced and posted to youtube . Ignite talks are very difficult, you don’t control the timing of the slides and you’ve got 5 minutes to get across enough of a complicated topic to be interesting. Take a look, tell me what you think? The airlines, fares, and frequent flyer programs a complicated semi-opaque rules based system. Systems are hackable. This talk will show examples of how to hack and manipulate. It’ll include how to fly around the world, in first class, for free. How to get free upgrades, and why somebody would do a mile run.

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Ignite OSCON 2010 – Hacking Frequent Flyer Programs

So Nintendo’s first home console was the Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom, right? Nope. The company’s first foray into home video gaming actually dates back to 1977 , six whole years before the Famicom was released in Japan. More

The Postal Service is offering a $20,000 buyout to thousands of veteran workers as part of its bid to eliminate 7,500 administrative jobs, the agency announced Thursday.

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Postal Service offering $20,000 buyouts

We weren’t expecting to hear too much about it, but RIM’s year-end / Q4 fiscal 2011 earnings call uncovered a good bit of information surrounding BlackBerry OS 6.1. As you’ve likely learned by now, we weren’t exactly throwing our iPhones and Droids into the nearest refuse bin after handling the Torch , and it seems as if quite a few bigwigs at RIM were equally disappointed. In response to a question about the rollout of BB OS 6.1, we were told that it would truly be a “major upgrade” over what’s out there now, and rather than being an incremental update, it’ll be more like “an overhaul.” The company made no bones about its excitement for the release, and frankly, we’re having a hard time keeping our expectations in check after listening in. Thankfully, we’ll be able to get our paws on it at some point this spring, with a number of elements to be teased at BlackBerry World this May. Naturally, we’ll be there to keep you up-to-date with how it’s rolling along. RIM deems BlackBerry OS 6.1 a ‘major upgrade,’ promises a spring release originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 17:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Japan’s world-class transportation infrastructure couldn’t withstand this month’s 9.0-magnitutde quake, but their construction teams are still amazing. This stretch of highway was repaired in just six days by a Herculean road crew. This is the triumph of Japanese engineering. [ Jalopnik ] More

Ugh, you know, I love Facebook, but sometimes it’s really frustrating how the targeted ads aren’t relevant enough to me and my consumer lifestyle. Like, yeah, I enjoy pizza and videogames, but couldn’t it be more precise and creepy

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Facebook Is Reading What You Write to Sell Ads. Live. Wtf

You know that feeling you get after burning through a thousand curls? Neither do I. But I believe the bros when they say they’re sore afterwards; and of course later, the muscles become stronger.

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Researchers Create Material That Gets Stronger With Increased Stress

If you’ve put off installing anti-theft software like Prey for so long that your laptop gets stolen before you get a chance, Consumerist reader Ryan notes that Dropbox can actually help you locate your missing computer. More

Every year, new services launch that stream movies and TV online, and we’re reaching the point that you no longer need a cable or satellite TV subscription to enjoy all the medium has to offer. But which services are the best?

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Hulu Plus vs. Netflix: Picking the best movie and TV streaming service Technology

recoiledsnake writes “The upcoming release of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Server will remove the formerly bundled open source Samba software and replace it with Apple’s own tools for Windows file sharing and network directory services. In both Mac OS X Server and client editions, Samba enables Macs to share files with Windows clients on the network and access Windows file servers. It has also later allowed Mac OS X Server to work as an NT Domain Controller to manage network accounts and make roaming profiles and home directories available to Windows PC users

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Apple Remove Samba From OS X 10.7 Because of GPLv3