First Timers Search Results

News: Students Exploring the Branches of Government

Our class had been assigned interviews with political representatives from different branches. In these interviews we asked questions that we had generated about their career position, advice to young activists, our government system, getting involved, and their opinion on certain laws. Here are the results from the two interviews that were done.

News: Block Cell Phone Signals on the Carrier of Your Choice by Hacking a Radio Frequency Jammer

Cell phone jammers, a DIY endeavor for the darker crowd. I'm pretty sure we've all considered having one at some point: whether the obnoxiously loud woman next to you is announcing private bedroom stories to a crowd on the subway, or your kids are grounded from using the phone (and consequently snagged a hidden prepaid phone), sometimes having a cell phone jammer comes in handy.

SUBMIT: Your Craziest Funny Face Photo by January 30th. WIN: Massive Gummy Bear

This week's challenge will be the final Phone Snap Challenge, so let's make this count, everyone! To close off Phone Snap, we'd like to get a little silly. So start practicing all of your funny faces in the mirror and get those photo editing apps ready! Photograph somebody's funny face with your cell phone—whether it be your own, a family member's, a friend's, or your pet's, and post your very best shot to the Phone Snap community corkboard.

Congress: The Law Makers

The Website above is about congress. It has the recent activities of Congress. It also allows you to contact them to stop any law which you might disagree with. This is a great way to help make a decision that might effect others.

Community Byte: HackThisSite, Realistic 2 - Real Hacking Simulations

The community tore up the first realistic mission last week. You've applied the techniques learned in the basic missions to a real scenario, so I'm pretty content. The realistic missions are where the learning gets intense and where we can apply real knowledge to extremely realistic situations. We will also be continuing the normal Python coding and hacking sessions. These sessions are created to bring our community together, to learn from each other, and grow together. Everyone is welcome, f...

How To: Send SMS Messages with Python

In this article, I'll show you how to send SMS messages with Python. You'll need Python 2.7 or later, urllib and urllib2. The code basically uses an online text messaging service to "POST" html data, as if a person was entering the data themselves. The uses for something like this are unlimited. For example, I modified the basic code so I would receive a text message letting me know every time someone rang my doorbell. The program could interface with Arduino through a serial port, and send d...

Jowlers: How to Photograph Yourself Mid-Seizure

It's time to get silly with your cell phone photos! This How-To will have you violently shaking your head back and forth. Why? To capture a shot mid-seizure, producing a "Jowler", a still image of the face one makes while vigorously shaking one's head. Click through for more information.

Goodnight Byte: HackThisSite, Realistic 1 - Real Hacking Simulations

Last Friday's mission was to accomplish solving HackThisSite, realistic 1. This is the first in a series of realistic simulation missions designed to be exactly like situations you may encounter in the real world. This first mission, we are asked to help a friend manipulate the website voting system for a Battle of the Bands vote count in his favor.

Preparing Builds, Part 1: Terraforming

Throughout this integral guide, I'm going to aid you along the path to bigger and better builds. Often times, people just jump in and build, but we mustn't hurry things if we want our builds to be all the more satisfying when they are finished. Building the actual builings should be the easy (and the most simple step in any great build), but we have to start with what's underneath your pixelated feet.

How To: Make a Prank Stun-Baton

In this article, I'll show you how to make a portable prank stun-baton. Powered by static electricity, simply charge up the baton, and discharge it for a static surprise. The concept behind this device ties in with Leyden jars, and their tendencies to retain static electricity.

News: Advanced Cracking Techniques, Part 2: Intelligent Bruteforcing

Following the first part in this series on advanced cracking techniques, we are going to go over how we can intelligently crack passwords using the old-fashioned bruteforce method. These unique cracking techniques aren't widely used, because most crackers are Script Kiddies who have no idea what the concepts are behind cracking passwords, thus, word won't get around too quickly.

News: Useful Vocabulary

Words that will help you with your writing Alliteration - The repetition of aconsonant sound. This si important because it makes words stand out, and because it can help set the mood for something.

How To: Encrypt And Decrypt Text In Python

In this article, I'll show you how to create a simplistic AES python based text encryptor. You'll need python 2.7 and PyCrypto (found here). The code is fairly simple, a user enters an encryption key (which basically tells the program how to scramble the text, using an algorithm), then the text to be encrypted. The program takes the key and text and inputs it into the "cryptograph" or code-based algorithm from PyCrypto. PyCrypto can use 16, 24, or 36 character encryption keys, but for the sak...

News: A Simple Trick to Help Stabilize Your DSLR

We're about to get real here... DSLR filmmaking has made every would-be filmmaker's dreams of shooting a feature that looks as good as a 'professionally shot' Hollywood film a reality. These consumer-level cameras bring with them many advantages, but they also have their disadvantages - namely, they were never intended to be used primarily as video cameras, and so their design doesn't exactly make using them easy or comfortable (especially when you're shooting long takes). Thus, you're gonna ...

How To: Create a Hidden Bridge in Minecraft

Welcome to Minecraft World! Check out our advanced tutorials and come play on our free server. A hidden bridge can be both a cool part of your home and a defense against your enemies in PvP! The design is simple, you can use it to create lava traps, and it ensures that no redstone is left exposed.

News: 2012 Film Festival Submission Deadlines

It's that time of year again, filmmakers... time to make your new year's resolutions. And no, I don't mean quit smoking or stop drinking - smoke and drink all you want SO LONG AS YOU FINALLY GET THAT FILM FINISHED AND SUBMIT IT TO A FESTIVAL OR TEN. Rajo has signed up for a withoutabox.com account and scoured the internet for the latest film festival submission deadlines just so he can clue you in to which ones are coming up soon - whatta guy. And just for fun (a.k.a. future reference), here'...

How To: Make a Gmail Notifier in Python

In this article, I'll show you how to make a simple Gmail notifier. Python can do various things in terms of notifications; sending commands to an Arduino unit, playing sounds, opening windows, etc. The code below simply plays some music, but the possibilities of notification methods are endless. If you aren't familiar with python, there are many sites with tutorials like this one, or this one.

iCinegraph vs. Kinotopic: Which Cinemagraph App Is Best for You?

How do you review an app that refuses to work for you? I was quite excited this week to review iCinegraph, an iPhone App that simplifies the creation of cinemagraphs. However, if this was a car review it'd be the kind of review where the car under consideration is never able to start (do those reviews even exist?). The reviewer has the keys to the automobile, the interior lights come on, and perhaps there's air conditioning. But, the car itself? Unfortunately, it never moves on its own power.

How To: Join the Fight Against SOPA and PIPA

Amazingly, a lot of people I know haven't even heard of SOPA or PIPA. Now, every English-reading person with an internet connection will finally have those two four-letter acronyms emblazoned in their minds. For the entire day today, Wikipedia's English-language site will be in total blackout in protest against the proposed legislation in the United States. And that's not all. MoveOn, Reddit, BoingBoing, Mozilla, WordPress, TwitPic and other popular websites are down today in protest.

How To: How Anyone Can Retire Early & Wealthy, Part 3: The Stock Market

If you've read Alex Long's last two articles in this series (Part 1 and Part 2), you know by now that making money rarely is risk free, and generally plays out to be a high risk-high gain/loss scenario. The best way to make money is to have money, so for this article, lets assume a financial backing of about $10,000 dollars. For the sake of simplicity, I'm going to be working with online trading systems in this article. Some stocks are traded on exchanges, where buyers meet sellers and decide...