People's Lives Search Results

News: Book Review - Egg on Mao by Denise Chong

“Of a generation who remembers Tiananmen Square, 1989, I considered how some excuse – the lack of, or slow progress on, human rights in China because ‘times have changed’, or because other concerns, including making money, come first, or because rights, freedom, and democracy are somehow different issues there than in the West.” Denise Chong

News: Lyrid Meteors Time Lapse Video and Still Pictures

The peak of the Lyrid meteor shower of 2012 was the night of Saturday, April 21, and I went to Whiskeytown Lake near Redding, California and took about 1,000 pictures. I used 3 Panasonic GH2s with various lenses and edited all of the shots together to make the time-lapse video below. You really have to watch it in full screen at 720p or 1080p HD in order to appreciate it. This is only my second attempt at a time-lapse video and my second attempt at filming meteors, but I was pretty happy with...

News: Lawyer for Pakistani Drone Victims Denied U.S. Visa

A Pakistani lawyer who represents victims of U.S. drone strikes has been forced to cancel a trip to the United States after the U.S. government failed to grant him a visa. Shahzad Akbar was scheduled to speak later this month at an International Drone Summit in Washington, D.C. Akbar is co-founder of the Pakistani human rights organization, Foundation for Fundamental Rights. He filed the first case in Pakistan on behalf of family members of civilian victims.

News: The Trayvon Deception

If you've been reading, watching or listening to the news, you sure know about the Trayvon Martin case. If you visit this site often, you may also have noticed that I've not put up any news on this case. I have my reasons. And this post will describe why.

News: Planet Poem Poetry Competition!

April is poetry month! During April Planet Poem will host the first Planet Poem poetry competition. People will be able to post two poems to our world. Two groups of four students will vote on the winner. The grand prize winner will win a French Beret!

News: Introduction to Link Building

This article is going to cover the basics of link building. Why do we want to build links? First of all, what is a link? A link is a hyperlink, actually. You click on it and it brings you to another webpage. I'm sure you've all clicked on links before. Well, what we want to do is we want to build links from other sites back to our own site. Why do we want to do this? Google’s problem, as I see it, and this is based on thousands of hours of research, reading articles and watching videos and li...

Goodnight Byte: HackThisSite, Realistic 5 - Real Hacking Simulations

Last Friday's mission was to accomplish solving HackThisSite, Realistic 5, the fifth and last in my series of realistic hacking simulation missions. This time, telemarketers are invading people's privacy, and it was up to us to stop them! The job was to get root on the site and delete the contact database in order to return the right of privacy to its victims.

Listen In: Live Social Engineering Phone Calls with Professional Social Engineers (Final Session)

We had a blast during last week's social engineering calls. One of our attending social engineers was so clever that she convinced several people on Craigslist that lost items were hers, even if it seemed she couldn't be trusted. But females are better social engineers, naturally. Some say that females have a special knack for manipulating men, but I think that's preposterous. I can't see why that would be true in a million years (note my sarcasm).

News: Organize Yo'sef! Part One

It’s that time of year (in the U.S. anyway) when people are focused on getting organized -- or rather wishing they were organized. Being organized is great, it affords physical space, mental space and all but insures higher efficiency. But wishing and doing are two entirely different things. Wondering how to achieve the bliss of knowing where your stuff is? It’s easy... if you start small and don’t waste your valuable time watching TV shows or reading magazine articles on “how to” do it.

Community Byte: HackThisSite, Realistic 4 - Real Hacking Simulations

We'd like this to be one of the last HTS mission announcements, at least for now. As soon as Null Byte finds a server to play with (anyone want to donate one?), we are going to start doing root the box competitions, which is like king of the hill, except you have to hack a server and maintain access. Each server will have numerous known security holes. But for now, back to the normal flow of things...

Community Byte: HackThisSite, Realistic 3 - Real Hacking Simulations

We're aiming for this to be one of the last HTS mission announcements, at least for now. As soon as Null Byte finds a server to play with, we are going to start doing root the box competitions, which is like king of the hill, except you have to hack a server and maintain access. Each server will have numerous known security holes. But, for now, back to the normal flow of things...

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: Downgrade and Jailbreak Your iOS Devices Stock Firmware for the Holidays

Lots of people are going to be getting the latest iOS devices this holiday season. But what good is a portable device if you don't hack it? Jailbreaking on the latest stock iOS, version 4.3.5, is a bit of a trivial endeavor. Not many people know how to downgrade from this firmware to a firmware that can be jailbroken (pre-iOS 5). If you want the added functionality and the complete control over your device that comes with jailbreaking, then read on.

News: Kaplan University Adult Continuing Education Online Business School–Complete Y

Carol Platt was caught in the middle of the economic downturn with no backup plan. Searching for a stable job in an unstable economy proved to be difficult without a college degree. Her work history and past successes were overlooked. It had always been a dream of hers to complete her degree; after a failed first attempt, she was unsure of her ability to follow through. She began researching online education options and felt that Kaplan University stood out; she decided to complete her colleg...

News: Make Windows Vista Run Faster - free!

More Speed without buying expensive hardware. Windows Vista was never the step up in performance that people hoped for after XP. In fact a lot of people preferred the old XP or Linux until windows 7 arrived. Nevertheless there are a few things you can do to make your Vista OS system run faster and smoother.

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.

News: Steve Jobs and His Legacy

I was working on a different Google+ Insider's Guide post when suddenly, my Google+ stream started filling up with news of Steve Jobs' death. Since that moment, many people in the tech industry have paused to reflect on the legacy that Steve Jobs left behind, and talk about what his vision meant for the rest of the industry, and for them personally. There's no tech sector that was untouched by Steve Jobs' influence, and that includes Google.

News: Indie Developer Fights Pirates with Piracy

No Time To Explain is the first game by two man indie developer tiny Build Games. It's a fun and very stylish platformer in it's own right, available for $10 from the tiny Build website. Articles about the game on RockPaperShotgun, Destructoid, and other prominent PC sites helped it develop substantial hype and raise more than $26,000 via Kickstarter to fund development.

News: 15 Brilliant Google+ Female Photographers to Circle

In a previous article where I suggested 104 photographers to follow on Google+, I received a lot of criticism because over 90% of the listed photographers were men. While women are currently not a majority on Google+, they are a definite presence, and they are active. Today, I highlight the best female photographers I've found on Google+ so far. This time I'm taking a slightly different approach. Since the best way to get to know photographers is through their work, I've included one photo fo...

News: The Best Places to Play Scrabble Online

There's nothing better than playing a game of Scrabble, feeling the smooth wooden tiles in your hand and savoring the heavy fumes of cardboard, cheap wood and plastic as you rearrange the letters on your rack into the perfect word. You try to keep a straight face while you watch your opponent sweat, but you can't help but release that diabolical grin of self-admiration as you play the elusive triple-triple. The score's recorded and you feel sorry for your bitter rival, but then you remember y...

News: Fix Your Google+ Frustrations with 18 More Chrome Extensions

Antimatter15, author of the popular Surplus Chrome extension, was suspended from Google+ for using a pseudonym instead of a name that fits Google's community standards. As such, he's no longer supporting the extension, and if you're using it, now might be a good time to find a replacement. It's a reminder that nothing on the web is guaranteed to work forever. Luckily, there's no shortage of innovative coders whipping up creative and useful Google Chrome extensions.

How To: Get Your Suspended Google+ Profile Reinstated

Last week, we discussed whether Google should require you to use your real name for Google+ profiles. Google is working on eliminating fake profiles, and in the process, they've booted some real people, including actor +William Shatner. If you find out that your Google+ account has been suspended, you can appeal the suspension and get your profile reinstated.