X10 Smarthome Security
I’ve been looking into home automation gadgets like X10 for quite some time now. My interest in home automation revolves around reducing power consumption, recording anomalous events with cameras as evidence and because I’m super lazy and only like doing things once (but the right way) and want my CFL’s to flick on when I stumble in after a long day at work. I also want to build a DIY BIDS: Burglar Intrusion Detection System.
I even admit to visiting my local library and borrowing books on the subject solely with the goal of pimping the geek out of my home. So did I find true trekkie bliss, full of motion sensing lighting, sexy sounding verbal computer readouts, intelligent power management and enhanced security?
Computer Security At Hotels
When was the last time you visited a hotel, plugged in your laptop, and logged into your gmail account?
Do you recall the last time you connected to Free Public Wifi to quickly check your eBay actions? Looking back, don’t you wonder who else may have been listening in on your Internet activity? Let’s find out how to protect yourself against unwanted network ‘wiretappers’…
Complete Unix Cron Job Crib Sheet
Do you only use unix once in a blue moon, need to setup crontab and can’t quite remember the order? (Without peeking at the image on the left)
Try out this handy cron job crib sheet which you can paste directly into your crontab as a reference each time you make a scheduled job change.
How to Read the NY Times Fast with Article Skimmer
NY Times article skimmer
The NY Times has a new prototype page called Article Skimmer for displaying news. After being spoiled by the efficiency of Google Reader, I like where they are going with it.
Free dia-like webapp
online flowcharting
Lifehacker brings us lovelycharts for all our “free, I don’t have time to download and install dia” needs.
Nice Desktop Setup … For Windows Vista
I found this beautiful desktop setup posted on lifehacker. Pretty nice. Inspires me to create something similar in OS X.
My Backup Failed and It Wasn’t My Fault
Penguin added for festivity bonus
One of my two recently purchased 1TB Seagate 7200.11 drives (model: ST31000340AS, firmware: SD15) decided to join the IBM deathstar family. Otherwise known as the deskstar, it’s apparently #18 on the list of worst tech products of all time.
This time, the drive decided to stop powering up fully instead spinning up and down like a yo-yo. Quick internet research revealed they are failing en mass due to a firmware bug. RMAing the sucker tomorrow for a reflashed one. This is just the latest proof regarding my knack for buying defective storage intended for backups.
Go Figure.
Read full article at:
The Register
Anyone else got one of these duds?
Dell Mini 10 – My Next Toy Purchase
Dell Mini 10 - Thanks Engadget!
Specs:
- 1280×720 glass screen
- Z530 1.6 GHz Atom
- 3G
- GPS
- 802.11n
- multitouch/gesture trackpad
- A decent sized netbook keyboard
