Screws Securing Search Results

News: Is Your Dream Gaming PC Worth It?

The last week has been a trying one for me. On Sunday, there were four computers in my office, three of which were broken. The fourth was not really a computer, but more of a collection of parts that were cobbled together for the purpose of constructing a PC that would sneer derisively at the mere mention of turning down any game's ambient occlusion settings.

News: Hate Final Cut Pro X? Try Adobe Premiere Pro or Avid Media Composer

It's no secret. Professional video editors everywhere are irate at the newest edition to Apple's popular non-linear video editing software, Final Cut Pro X. As of right now, Final Cut Pro X has 503 five-star ratings in the Mac App Store. Not bad. But it also has 671 one-star ratings and 414 users who aren't sure what they think. It's such a bad update that it even earned itself a skit on Conan.

News: Of Coyotes and Chickens

In my earlier post about long-term strategies I promised I’d ask some of my neighbors who do what I call factory chicken farming (Let 1000 Chickens Bloom) if the coyotes that have shown up will change the way they play the game. The one guy who replied in any detail said that he wasn’t sure what he was going to do yet, but he thought that he was losing 50 chickens each time he harvested them pressing “Collect Bonus” using a coop.

News: So, Now What?

Fads, Fiascos and Good Stuff in FrontierVille This WeekThis is the first of what should, with luck, be a series of weekly columns.Fads firstIt’s St. Patrick’s Day in FrontierVille and it looks like staying that way for the foreseeable future, which will probably be about ten days. If you’ve ever lived in England you know about jackdaws, but I’ll explain for the rest of you. They’re small black birds who are notoriously fascinated by shiny things, and they love to peck the foil caps off milk b...

News: Groundhog 102

30 January 2011 Zynga’s new Groundhog Mission in FrontierVille allows two groundhogs to show up on your homestead at once. They’re very hard to kill; it takes at least 20 clicks to clobber each one.

How To: Enjoy Baking Yeast Bread

Baking bread might feel intimidating in advance. The fear to screw it up can make one chicken out and instead keep buying bread as usual at the store. Personally, I am very picky about which bread to eat, and learned over time that home baked bread bits them all when made properly.

How To: Things to Do on WonderHowTo (04/25 - 05/01)

WonderHowTo is a how-to website made up of niche communities called Worlds, with topics ranging from Minecraft to science experiments to Scrabble and everything in-between. Check in every Wednesday evening for a roundup of user-run activities and how-to projects from the most popular communities. Users can join and participate in any World they're interested in, as well as start their own community.

Make Your Own Nitrous Oxide: Hilarious Science

If you've ever had teeth removed/minor surgery, you most likely received some laughing gas, or nitrous oxide. This gas creates a happy, lightened feeling, and causes instant laughter. In this article, I'll show you how to make some. BUT BE CAREFUL!!! DO NOT proceed in this experiment unless you have EXTENSIVE knowledge of chemistry!!! Misuse of this procedure could result in the production of LETHAL GASSES! However, the set-up is quite simple, if done correctly should not lead to any issues. ...

News: Anonymity, Darknets and Staying Out of Federal Custody, Part Two: Onions and Daggers

In the first part of this series, we learned about darknets, as well as how they came about. But these patches of forgotten Internet are not the oasis of free information you might think. Despite being hidden—or just harder to come across—these networks are no more safe then anywhere else on the 'clear' Internet. The nature of networking and routing means your location is always known in server logs. It only takes one phone call to your ISP with your IP address to obtain both your physical ad...

Weekend Homework: How to Become a Null Byte Contributor (2/10/2012)

We're officially seeking Null Byters on a weekly basis who are willing to take the time to educate the community. Contributors will write tutorials, which will be featured on the Null Byte blog, as well as the front page of WonderHowTo (IF up to par, of course). There is no need to be intimidated if you fear you lack the writing skills. I will edit your drafts if necessary and get them looking top-notch! You can write tutorials on any skill level, and about anything you feel like sharing that...

News: Catch Creeps and Thieves in Action: Set Up a Motion-Activated Webcam DVR in Linux

When it comes to webcams these days, most people are using their laptops over desktops. The cameras are centered, integrated, and require no configuring. They're a cinch and usually have great resolution. So, then what do we do with all of those old wired desktop webcams that we've accrued over the years? Even if you still use an external USB one, chances are you're not using it daily, so why not come up with a better use for it?

How to Pick Locks: Unlocking Pin and Tumbler Deadbolts

Lock picking is defined by locksmiths as "the art of opening a lock without the key". There's many ways to accomplish this, but I'm specifically interested in using a lock pick set. Since locks vary in shapes and size, it's better to stick with just one kind of lock at first. Most locks are based on fairly similar concepts, so sharing methods across locks is possible.

How To: Remain Anonymous and Chat Securely with Cryptocat

I'm sure we've all heard about MSN and Yahoo! Messenger, right? They can be useful, but the setup can be quite time consuming for those who need to use it just once or twice—and the privacy statements are a real bother. For example, we must provide our real details. You could use Fake Name Generator, but if you get caught, you will have your account suspended. I don't have a law degree, but to my understanding the United States recently passed legislation that gives the authorities the power ...

News: Flaw in Facebook & Google Allows Phishing, Spam & More

Here's a nasty little Null Byte. An open redirect vulnerability was found in both Facebook and Google that could allow hackers to steal user credentials via phishing. This also potentially allows redirects to malicious sites that exploit other vulnerabilities in your OS or browser. This could even get your computer flooded with spam, and these holes have been known about for over a month.

How To: Social Engineer Your Way Into an Amusement Park for Free

When it comes to social engineering, Null Byte is here to show you how it's done. Social engineering is the key fundamental to unlocking tons of possibilities and opportunities in your everyday life. So, what is social engineering? Social engineering can be called many things. It's taking nothing and turning it into something. It's taking the bad and making it good. Above everything else, it's the art of manipulating the world and people around you—coercing that salesman into giving you a low...

News: Performance Hacks & Tweaks for Linux

If you have made the switch from Windows to Linux, I want to congratulate you in advance. I'm sure you have noticed a huge performance increase when using Linux over other operating systems. This is only half the battle, though! Most users who are new to Linux end up using Ubuntu. I have no gripes with Ubuntu, but I do not agree with their philosophy. It almost mimics Windows. Ubuntu favors ease of use, and despite valiant efforts by the development team thus far (Ubuntu is crazy fast), all o...

How To: Extract Images and Text From PDF Files

Since PDF files are so popular in both our daily life and work, we see them everywhere. And sometimes we find there are terrfic images or text in the PDF files and we want to save them as seperate files for future use, such as in a presentation or post. Here's the question: how can we save those elements from the non-editable file formats?

News: Seize the Lightning! Carpe Fulgur Imports Japanese Indie Games to the U.S.

Carpe Fulgur translates to something along the lines of "Seize the Lightning" in Latin. Sometimes that is enacted with golf clubs by idiots. But the three intrepid indie video game localizers who work under that name are trying to do it the right way: metaphorically. They are translating and publishing Japanese games for the Americans market—games that have seldom been seen before because every other company thinks it's mad to release them here.

News: Operation Rainfall Fails to Secure Great RPGs for America... For Now

Different genres of social media have changed the world, but they are not omnipotent. In most cases this is a good thing, but not in the case of Operation Rainfall. It has been a purely well meaning social media movement that should have led to a great boon for the North American gamer public, but instead has served as a reminder of how stone aged Nintendo of America's (NOA) corporate thinking remains.

News: Friday Indie Game Review Roundup: An Amnesiac Retrospective

Three years ago, Double Fine productions held an in-house event called the Amnesia Fortnight. The company was split into four teams, each of which set out to spend two weeks developing an idea for a small game and present it to the other groups at the end of the duration. All of the ideas turned out to be winners, and founder/owner Tim Schafer secured publishing deals for all four games to be released on a combination of XBLA and PSN. In honor of the excellent Trenched becoming the third game...

How To: Protect Your Facebook Reputation with Reppler

Do you know how you are perceived by your peers? In real life and online? In the physical world, you could be seen as intelligent, thoughtful and hard-working, but on the Web you could be looked at as irrational, selfish and slothful. There's just something about the Internet that takes away a person's judgement and replaces it with impulsiveness—especially when it comes to Facebook.

Takoyaki: Decadent Japanese Street Food with Foie Gras and Caviar

Takoyaki, a very popular Japanese street food, is a spherical dumpling with grilled octopus. What's fun about cooking is that you don't always need to follow the classic recipe for things. I wanted to take this humble snack and turn it into something a little more decadent. Mine includes scallop, foie gras, dried mushrooms, and caviar. Here's what you'll need: