Excess Credit Search Results

News: Human Beatbox like Doug E Fresh

There are very few legends in this world. When it comes to beatboxing, Doug E Fresh is the O.G. legend. Below is an old school video of Fresh with Slick Rick performing 'La Di Da Di' in New York. At 3:52 Fresh goes off the hook, so be patient. There are very few legends in this world.

Modular Origami: How to Make a Truncated Icosahedron, Pentakis Dodecahedron & More

Last post, the Sonobe unit was introduced as a way to use multiple copies of a simply folded piece of paper to make geometric objects. In this post, we are going to explore that concept further by making two more geometric models. The first is the truncated icosahedron, which is a common stitching pattern for a soccer ball. The second was supposed to be the pentakis dodecahedron, but through systematic errors last night, I actually built a different model based off of the rhombic triacontahed...

How To: Make Knot Sculptures from Soft Metals

In mathematics, a knot is a closed circle in a three-dimensional space that crosses itself multiple times. Since it is closed, it has no ends to tie, meaning you can't actually create such a knot. However, if you tie the ends together after you create a knot in the standard way, you will have something that is close to the mathematical description. In this post, we will explore the creation of mathematical knot sculputures using copper tubing and solid solder wire.

Math Craft Monday: Community Submissions (Plus Polyhedral Stellation)

It's another Monday, which means it's once again time to highlight some of the recent community submissions posted to the Math Craft corkboard. Additionally, I thought we'd take a look at the process of stellation and make some stellated polyhedra out of paper.Rachel Mansur of Giveaway Tuesdays posted a video from animator Cyriak Harris, which zooms into fractal hands, where each fingertip also has a hand and fingers. A few more details can be found here, as well as some other really cool pic...

How To: Make a Self-Watering Greenhouse (In-Depth Tutorial)

I know it seems a little redundant to post this when I've already posted a video, but it is kind of hard to get more than a vague idea from the video alone. I hope this sheds a little more light on the subject. I'm sure it also seems like I'm beating this idea to death, but this one concept opens doors to further innovation. After I finish this article, I'm going to put another one up that shows a hinged, raised bed house and talk about some amazing things you can do from there.

News: Attack Balloons and SuperMonkeys: A Tower Defense Retrospective

Real-time strategy (RTS) was the most popular genre in PC games at one time. It put Blizzard on the map—one of the biggest game developers in the world. And it buried the once venerable turn-based strategy genre, the only survivor being the Civilization series. But like hair metal in the late ‘80s, RTS reached its saturation point. Many bands (games) were too similar and used ornamentation over innovation. Suddenly, the fans left. From ’95 to ’03, Command & Conquer releases were more like new...

How To: Smell Good and Stay Smelling Good

I've heard some people say that "brown people smell bad!" Ahem. Brown people don’t smell bad! Okay, some do, but so do people of all races and cultures. How a person smells has nothing to do with their race, but rather choices they make. I choose not to smell bad, and take steps to make sure that does not happen. Personally I cannot stand bad smells. It's something that makes me feel sick, so I try my best to make sure that I am not the cause of a certain odor. The following are steps I take ...

Build a Home Arcade Machine: Part 2

I assume at this point you have already completed your control panel using Part 1 of this How To guide. Now, if you are anything like me, you couldn't fight the urge to play, and you have your panel sitting on saw horses in the living room.

How To: Pop Delicious Popcorn on the Stove

Remember the oh so delicious buttery popcorn you could only get at the movie theater? You can actually make popcorn that tastes this good right in your own home. All you need are the right ingredients and a little practice. Once you try this delectable snack, you will never eat microwave popcorn again.

News: Should Kids Be Allowed to Use Facebook and Google+?

It's a question I've been pondering a lot lately. Technically, children under the age of 13 are not allowed to join Facebook. But according to a Consumer Reports in May, 7.5 million children 12 and younger are already on the site. Currently, federal law prohibits websites from collecting personal data from children without parental permission. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, as it is more commonly known, has been in effect since 1998, but has not been updated since.

How To: Clean Your Computer

I love my laptop. It goes wherever I go. Unfortunately, that means that it also gets pretty grubby after a while. The screen gets dusty. The frame gets smudgy. The spaces between the keys fill up with crumbs of questionable origins. And my desktop? That thing is a dust bunny magnet.

How To: MARK BURNETT on How to Become the Biggest Producer in Prime Time Television

Mark Burnett is, financially speaking, perhaps the most successful television producer today. While I had launched America's Most Wanted and COPS a decade earlier, Mark exploded onto network television with Survivor, the glossy and fantastical innovation to reality television. With Survivor now entering its 11th year, I recently interviewed Mark at the Los Angeles public radio station KCRW, where the podcast will be made available. Below, Mark's 10 steps from soldier-to-nanny-to-premiere-Holl...

News: The Right Linux Distro

As many of you Null Byters may know, I was planning on writing this article a week or two ago. Better late than never! So, let's get right to it then—choosing the right Linux distro for your needs.

News: Flaw in Wal-Mart Returns System Allows Major Thefts to Go Unnoticed

We love tearing apart security here at Null Byte. Several years back, upon returning items to Wal-Mart due to a malfunction, I noticed something very peculiar about the way their overall procedure goes. I brought the item up to the desk, and the woman asked if it didn't work, which I responded affirmatively. Without a moment's notice, she takes it right off to the defective items area and asks if I would like cash or store credit.

Community Byte: HackThisSite Walkthrough, Part 3 - Legal Hacker Training

Welcome to another Community Byte announcement from Null Byte! The goal of the Community Bytes is to teach people in a co-operative, hands-on manner. Learning from experience and immersing yourself in a subject is the best way to learn something foreign to you, so that is exactly what we do! In our sessions, we have started to both code and complete HTS missions. This means that there is something for everyone here, so make sure you join us.

How To: Organize a Halloween Scavenger Hunt

An alternative to trick-or-treating every Halloween is to have kids participate in a scavenger hunt. The activity provides the same excitement and still allows you to be with your kids while they participate. A scavenger hunt can be easily organized – here are some steps in preparing for a Halloween scavenger hunt:

News: Resurrecting the Video Game Magazine: PC Gamer Digital

PC Gamer represents all that was awesome about games journalism in the '90s, now sadly diminished. Brilliant, funny, full of integrity, and solid print sales were always present, and with the tragic exception of the latter, still are. Video game magazines were hit harder than nearly any other magazine vertical when the internet began its uncoordinated, but inevitable assault on print media. Magazines are now struggling to find their place in a world filled with more competitors than paying cu...

News: Boost Mobile. Is It Hot or Not

You and I know that everyone's lookin for a killer deal for cellphone service. A lot of us hear about good deals for the plans, or who's got the hottest phones at the moment. Though most of us these days are just looking for something simple, that has all we need, and is fairly cheap too. But how cheap is too cheap?

UPDATE: Wafaa Bilal’s Head Rejects Camera Implant

If you missed our previous posts on Iraqi artist Wafaa Bilal's attempt to go cyborg, here's the short and skinny: First, Bilal announced a plan to implant a camera in his head, a project entitled 3rdi, which would record his daily life while simultaneously feeding the images to monitors at the Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar. Then, he actually did it (and, yes, it was gnarly).

News: iPhone App = Confessional Aide = Absolution (Yeah, Right)

I'm not going to lie. I was Catholic. But one of my reasons for my faithful departure was having to tell my innermost secrets— my sins— to a silhouetted figure behind a latticed screen. With the creepy enclosed booth structure and separation of sinner and confessor, its anonymity was clear, yet deceiving. You always knew the priest and he always knew you. If I wanted total privacy, was there really a need for this intermediary to God?