If you still have an old PC, you’re in luck. A new Linux distribution based on Lubuntu will give any old PC a new lease on life, designed for non-technical users and optimized for popular web sites. Read more…
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Xtra-PC Helps Non-Technical People Install LInux on an Old PC
Human-made satellites have long been able to harness the sun’s energy as it washes over them outside the protection of our atmosphere. But what if we could beam all that solar power down to Earth? The science fictional idea may be a reality sooner than you think. Read more…
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Japanese Scientists Just Beamed Energy Through the Air
Designing a car that can break the world land speed record is a tricky balancing act. It has to be incredibly fast and lightweight, while also offering unparalleled protection on the track. Not only in case there’s a conventional crash, either; even a tiny pebble could have devastating consequences for a vehicle travelling at up to 1, 000mph . To protect the British Bloodhound supersonic car , which Andy Green will be piloting in a record-breaking attempt later this year, the team has developed special panels that are effectively bulletproof . They’re constructed from millions of woven glass fibres that intentionally fray and soak up energy when hit by a fast-moving projectile. In the video below, engineers test their durability by firing a small shard from a cannon. Thankfully they’re up to the task, giving Green one less worry when he tries to break the current record (763mph) in South Africa. [Image Credit: Bloodhound] Filed under: Transportation Comments Via: Sky Source: Bloodhound
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The ‘1,000mph’ Bloodhound car is so fast it needs to be bulletproof
I like food that’s as close to being alive (or fresh, depending on your perspective) as possible. That’s partly because it tastes better but also because it’s tingly to see food move when you don’t expect it too. This blooming chocolate dessert is a mover, all right. As you pour the cream onto the dish, the chocolate strip opens up like a flower. Read more…
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Chocolate dessert blooms like a flower right before you eat it
We told you that YouTube would support 360-degree videos . Now, they’re here: as of today, Google’s streaming video service now serves up videos that let you look in any direction —not just where the camera is pointing. Needless to say, this could be a Big. Freaking. Deal. Read more…
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YouTube’s Ready To Blow Your Mind With 360-Degree Videos
I can’t even begin to understand how this little boy’s brain is working, or exactly what the method is, but it’s fascinating. (more…)
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Watch this Indian kid compute math astonishingly fast with an unusual method
Android 5.1 has been available to Nexus devices for a little while now, and it looks like one of its neatest features – sorry HD Voice and Device Protection – isn’t quite ready for public consumption yet. Thanks to a little bit of sleuthing by Pocketables editor-in-chief John Freml, it looks like you’ll eventually be able to log into a Google VPN when you connect to one of those potentially sketchy open WiFI networks out there. To be clear, it takes a bit of work to even get the service responsible for that secure surfing running, and even then it doesn’t yet work the way it’s supposed to — all Freml could coax out of it was a dialog box touting the feature and a link to a still-inactive Google support page. Still, considering just temperamental (not to mention potentially tricky) some of those wireless networks can be, Google’s onto something really, really important here. The inclusion of a system-level VPN is a great idea on its own, but it takes on even more significance in light of Google’s recently confirmed MVNO plans. Google SVP Sundar Pichai noted in an interview at this year’s Mobile World Congress that it’ll eventually roll out the “Nexus” of wireless services ; that is, it won’t necessarily compete with the industry’s lumbering giants for customers. Still, it’s clear that WiFi is going to play a crucial role in Google’s newest mobile push – the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that it’ll essentially combine T-Mobile and Sprint service with available WiFi networks for phone and data connectivity, and you can bet the search juggernaut has a vested interest in keeping its users’ information safe from ne’er-do-wells. Filed under: Mobile Comments Source: Pocketables
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The latest version of Android could keep your data safe on public WiFi
The fallout from Hillary Clinton’s homebrew email setup is getting weird. The Department of State just shut down part of its unclassified email system in an attempt to eradicate malware they just found from Russian hackers. But State’s spokespeople say everything is okay. Probably. Read more…
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Fearing Hackers, U.S. State Dept. Has Shut Off Part of Its Email System
Google leaked the complete hidden whois data attached to more than 282,000 domains registered through the company’s Google Apps for Work service, a breach that could bite good and bad guys alike. The 282,867 domains counted by Cisco Systems’ researchers account for 94 percent of the addresses Google Apps has registered through a partnership with registrar eNom. Among the services is one to shield from public view all personal information included in domain name whois records. Starting in mid 2013, a software defect in Google Apps started leaking the data, including names, phone numbers, physical addresses, e-mail addresses. The bug caused the data to become public once a registration was renewed. Cisco’s Talos Security Intelligence and Research Group discovered on February 19 and five days later the leak was plugged, slightly shy of two years after it first sprung. Whois data is notoriously unreliable, as is clear from all the obviously fake names, addresses and other data that’s contained in public whois records. Still, it’s reasonable to assume that some people might be more forthcoming when signing up using a privacy-enhancing service that promises to hide such data. Even in cases where people falsified records, the records might provide important clues about the identities of the people who made them. Often when data isn’t pseudo-randomized, it follows patterns that can link a person to a particular group or other Internet record. As Cisco researchers Nick Biasini, Alex Chiu, Jaeson Schultz, Craig Williams, and William McVey wrote: Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Epic Google snafu leaks hidden whois data for 280,000 domains
We last checked in with TechReport’s grand SSD torture test back in June , when the first drives in the six-drive roundup had failed. The drives to first fall victim to the unending barrage of data writes were the Intel 335, one of two Kingston HyperX 3Ks (the one tasked with an non-compressible workload to stymie its compression-happy Sandforce controller), and the Samsung 840. All three failed short of 1PB of writes, but it’s also important to note that all of them—even the TLC-equipped Samsung 840—far exceeded their manufacturers’ stated write lifetimes. But now the experiment has come to its grand conclusion : all the drives have finally gone silent, their controllers unresponsive, their NAND cells heavy with extra electrons . The TechReport’s post-mortem is glorious in its depth and detail, with tons of data points and charts describing the course of the experiment and the fate of each of the drives. Tech-savvy buyers who might be worried about SSD lifetime decreasing even as SSD capacity skyrockets should have their fears assuaged by the ridiculous number of writes the tested drives endured; the drive that survived the longest survived more than 2.4 petabytes worth of sustained writes. That’s probably about 240x as much writing as a typical consumer SSD would need to endure over its lifetime. Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Consumer SSDs benchmarked to death—and last far longer than rated