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30 May 2010 19:39

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Culture: Super Mario Bros. Crossover: Some mad genius nailed a mashup

Here’s what’s great about this game. Not just the idea, but the mechanics. It NAILS the gameplay strengths and weaknesses of the various characters. source

25 Oct 2009 13:47

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Tech: Daily poll: The link between cancer and cell phone usage

  • Word on the street is that the World Health Organization is about to release a report linking long-term cell phone usage to higher levels of certain kinds of cancer. The study recommends restricting – but not banning – usage for children, and perhaps investing in some sort of hands-free setup. Which leads to the question – would you cut back on heavy cell phone usage if you knew it was cancerous? It seems that, unlike cigarettes, they have an essential use, so we couldn’t seem them going away. But what do you think? Vote above.source

24 Sep 2009 10:43

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U.S.: How’d they catch the Craigslist killer? Through his e-mails.

  • The first thing you start with is the email address. In this case, it’s an email address from Live.com, which is Microsoft. … A trace route does exactly what it says: traces the route that the email took, on its way from its origin, to its destination.
  • Secure IT Experts internet forensics expert Mark Rasch • Describing the process used to link Philip Markoff to the Craigslist murders. Rasch, a former head of the computer crimes unit at the U.S. Department of Justice, says that this narrowed it down to Markoff’s IP address, which led to his apartment building. From there, it was a matter of a more traditional stakeout. “They have to validate and actually get this guy’s fingers on the keyboard, and show that it was him, and not somebody else who sent that email.” Know what that means? It means you should probably avoid committing crimes on computers, because they can be traced. • source

19 Jan 2009 03:09

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Tech: YouTube’s much-wanted nifty new feature

  • Click to download Ever wanted to watch a video on YouTube, then save it for later? Well, you used to have to download a third-party app to do that, because the service seemed to frown upon it. No longer. Slowly but surely, YouTube is adding links to some of its videos allowing you to download them easily. Fans of open information, such as Lawrence Lessig, are applauding the move. source
  • Click to download Ever wanted to watch a video on YouTube, then save it for later? Well, you used to have to download a third-party app to do that, because the service seemed to frown upon it. No longer. Slowly but surely, YouTube is adding links to some of its videos allowing you to download them easily. Fans of open information, such as Lawrence Lessig, are applauding the move.
  • Obama’s vids the first YouTube is starting with copyright-free videos. As a result, the first videos picked for the honor were from Barack Obama’s ChangeDotGov channel. Check Obama’s January 17th weekly address for an example. (On a side note, how cool is it that we’ve evolved from “fireside chats” to YouTube weekly addresses?) source