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28 Jul 14:21

A 1:110 Scale LEGO Model of a NASA Space Shuttle

by Justin Page
20 Jul 16:33

Archer Visits Bob’s Burgers in an Amazing Crossover Episode Animated by a Fan

by Justin Page
18 Jul 16:25

Wolf trees

by Jason Kottke

Wolf Tree

I took this photo of a wolf tree over the weekend. When thick forests were cleared for pasture and farming by settlers to colonial America, single trees were sometimes left by design or accident. In the absence of competition for light and space, these trees were free to branch out and not just up. They grew tall and thick, providing shade for people & animals and some cover for predators like wolves. Being the lone tree in an area, wolf trees were often struck by lightning or afflicted by pests that had nowhere else to go, contributing to their grizzled appearance.

In some cases, they grew alone like this for hundreds of years. Then, as farming moved to other places in the country, the pastures slowly turned back into forests, the new trees growing tall and straight with an old survivor in their midst. Wolf trees often look like they’re dead or dying, partially because of their age and all the damage they’ve taken over the years but also because the newer trees are crowding them out, restricting their sunlight and space. But they still function as a vital part of the forest, providing a central spot and ample living space for forest animals, particularly birds.

More reading on wolf trees, including the possible etymology of the phrase: Wolf Trees: Elders of the Eastern Forest, the Public Land Journal, and What’s up with the “Wolf Tree” at Red Rocks Park? (specifically about the tree in my photo, which might date from the 1700s). I’ll leave any possible metaphorical meaning of the wolf tree as an exercise to the reader.

Tags: this is a metaphor for something
10 May 16:45

An Ingenious Low Cost Way to Easily Make Almost Any Solid or Semi-Solid Object Touch Enabled

by Lori Dorn

Electric Guitar Touch Enabled Electrick

Scientists Yang Zhang, Gierad Laput and Chris Harrison, who work in the Human Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University have created “Electrick” a truly ingenious, yet low cost and simple process that makes just about any solid or semi-solid object touch-enabled for input and interaction with electronic devices. Using a combination of electric field tomography, conductive paint and circuit stickers, an item of any texture can immediately present upon a screen.

We introduce Electrick, a low-cost and versatile sensing technique that enables touch input on a wide variety of objects and surfaces, whether small or large, flat or irregular. This is achieved by using electric field tomography in concert with an electrically conductive material, which can be easily and cheaply added to objects and surfaces through a variety of fabrication methods such as painting, 3D printing, injection molding etc.

Frontal Lobe Electrick Touch Enabled

Steering Wheel Touch Electrick

via Gizmodo

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The post An Ingenious Low Cost Way to Easily Make Almost Any Solid or Semi-Solid Object Touch Enabled appeared first on Laughing Squid.

08 May 18:08

The Best Time of Year to Sell Your Unwanted Crap

by Kristin Wong on Two Cents, shared by Andy Orin to Lifehacker
Photo by David Stanley

We’ve told you the best times of year to buy anything, but what if you want to sell your junk, not accumulate more of it? Here are the best months to sell everything that’s currently collecting dust in your closets.

The folks at OfferUp, a site and app that lets you buy and sell stuff locally (sort of like the previously mentioned TagSale) sent us some data and insight on when you should sell your junk to get the most bang for your buck.

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  • Baby Gear: July or August
    Summer is the best time to sell your old cribs, strollers, and other baby gear, because data show that the most babies are born in late summer. OfferUp said the average cost of a crib on their site in July was $80, a full 12% more than the average cost in October.
  • Cars: March
    Because so many dealerships have President’s Day sales in February, many buyers end up selling their older models around this time. OfferUp recommends waiting out the peak period and selling in March instead. “You could get $243 more dollars on average by waiting a month, and will see less competition with other listings,” a rep said in an email.
  • Jewelry and Engagement Rings: November
    Many people gift jewelry for the holidays, so if you have any high-end items to sell, you’ll probably do well to list them in November. Plus, December is a peak time for engagements. In November, the average price of engagement rings on OfferUp’s site is $840, compared with $690 in October.
  • Furniture: September
    We’ve told you before, rental rates spike around September, making it a really terrible time to look for an apartment—but a really good time to sell stuff to people moving into apartments. This goes for patio furniture, too. October is one of the best months to buy patio furniture because so many big box stores have sales going on, but if you’re selling patio furniture, September is an optimal month for it. You get in before the clearance items roll around and while renters are still looking to furnish their new backyards. OfferUp says sellers average $140 for patio items in September as opposed to $115 in October.

It’s also worth pointing out that the first of the year through March might not be the best time to sell your old stuff in general. Think about it: we all clean out our closets after the holidays or around springtime, so you’ve got more competition from other people selling their own unwanted crap. Also, thrift stores often see a spike in donations at the end of the year as people try to claim last minute tax-deductions.

Of course, sometimes it’s just worth selling your junk as soon as possible just to clear yourself of the clutter. If you want to get a little more cash, though, consider your timing.

15 Mar 23:32

A Former FBI Hostage Negotiator Explains How to Ditch a Bad Tinder Date

by Patrick Allan
Photo by freestocks.org.

If you’ve ever been on a horrible first date but felt obligated to stick it out to the end, this tip is for you.

It’s hard to get a good sense of who someone is with just one encounter, but sometimes you can tell they’re not “the one” almost immediately. Maybe they said something offensive. Maybe they seem overly aggressive. Or maybe they just reek of serial killer. Whatever it may be, you don’t need to stick it out and waste both of your time if you don’t want to.

Admittedly, this is difficult to do. One on hand, you don’t want to be rude. On the other, you don’t want to trigger some angry, entitled behavior from them. In a way, you feel like this person’s hostage. So, Chris Voss, former lead kidnapping negotiator for the FBI, shares some advice in an episode of MarketWatch’s “Everyday Hostages.” Start with an apology, since that braces them for bad news and makes them curious, so they listen more closely:

“I’m sorry. I’m sure this is going to make you feel like I’m a bad person, and I’m going to seem self-centered and self-absorbed. But I’m afraid I’m gonna have to go, and I’m going to need you to let me go.”

Saying that you need them to let you go makes them feel a little more in control and empowered. And when they “give” you the go-ahead—not that you actually need it—they’ll believe they did the right thing, which makes them feel a little better about themselves. Then, give another apology if you feel the need, and make your getaway.

Of course, if this seems a little too forward for you to try, you can always pretend to go to the bathroom, or have a friend call you pretending to be someone important. But, if they seem nice enough, consider giving it to them straight. Who knows? Maybe they’re dying to get out of there too.

27 Feb 15:07

Do robots deserve rights if they achieve consciousness?

by Jason Kottke

A new video by Kurzgesagt explores the question of machine’s rights. Do machines deserve rights? Perhaps not right now, but what about if they achieve consciousness at some point in the future? (And what does that even mean?) If machines are programmed to feel pain and suffering, do they deserve protection? Or will machines not be allowed to be programmed to suffer and therefore be exempt from rights, for the potential benefit of humans? One thing seems certain: when the shift from machine as thing to machine as thinking, feeling being occurs, it will happen pretty quickly and humans will handle it poorly.

See also The Philosophy of Westworld and Bill Gates’ assertion that the robots who replace people in the workplace should pay taxes.

In a recent interview with Quartz, Gates said that a robot tax could finance jobs taking care of elderly people or working with kids in schools, for which needs are unmet and to which humans are particularly well suited. He argues that governments must oversee such programs rather than relying on businesses, in order to redirect the jobs to help people with lower incomes.

Tags: Bill Gates   robots   video
25 Jan 21:07

A Hilarious Bad Lip Reading of Donald Trump’s Presidential Inauguration

by Justin Page
21 Dec 15:48

This $9 Thermos Is The Pinnacle of Koozie Technology, and a Great Stocking Stuffer

by Shep McAllister on Deals, shared by Shep McAllister to Lifehacker
Thermos Stainless Steel Beverage Can Insulator, $9

Let’s be honest here, thin fabric koozies are mostly useful for decoration; they don’t really keep a can cold for very long. This imposing metal Thermos contraption though? It’s the real deal.

Thermos’s stainless steel can insulator uses vacuum insulation and thick walls to actually provide a barrier between your beverage and the outside world. They go so far as to claim that it will keep a can cold for up to 3 hours, and even if that’s a little bit of marketing hyperbole, what could possibly be in that can that takes more than an hour to drink?

Even during the winter months, it has the added benefit of protecting your bare skin from cold, damp cans, which makes this a great holiday stocking stuffer.

Nearly 2,000 Amazon reviewers have given the Thermos a 4.6 star review average, and you can get one (or more!) for just $9 right now. Bottom’s up!

More Deals


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19 Dec 22:40

Ted Williams, the Man With the Golden Voice Checks In Five Years After a Video of Him Changed His Life

by Lori Dorn

In 2011, a video of Ted Williams, a 53 year-old homeless man with an amazing radio voice captured the world’s attention, leading to a number of job and housing offers, including one with Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. Since that time, Williams has relapsed with drugs and alcohol twice, but in an interview with the OWN network, Williams shared his positive attitude towards the future and giving back to the Columbus, Ohio community from where he came.

Ted Williams was on track to having a career in radio. His voice was perfect for the medium. Tragically, drugs and alcohol interfered, and before Ted had a chance to get his life off the ground, he was living on the streets.

via reddit

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15 Dec 20:47

James Webb Space Telescope Celebrated in Stunning New Video

by Matt Williams

NASA has some high hopes for the James Webb Space Telescope, which finished “cold” phase of its construction at the end of November, 2016. The result of 20 years of engineering and construction, this telescope is seen as Hubble’s natural successor. Once it is deployed in October of 2018, it will use a 6.5 meter (21 ft 4 in) primary mirror to examine the Universe in the visible, near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths.

All told, the JWST will be 100 times more powerful than its predecessor, and will be capable of looking over 13 billion years in time. To honor the completion of the telescope, Northrop Grumman – the company contracted by NASA to build it – and Crazy Boat Pictures teamed up to produce a short film about it. Titled “Into the Unknown – the Story of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope“, the video chronicles the project from inception to completion.

The film (which you can watch at the bottom of the page) shows the construction of the telescopes large mirrors, its instrument package and its framework. It also features conversations with the scientists and engineers who were involved, and some stunning visuals. In addition to detailing the creation process, the film also delves into the telescope’s mission and all the cosmological questions it will address.

In addressing the nature of James Webb’s mission, the film also pays homage to the Hubble Space Telescope and its many accomplishments. Over the course of its 26 years of operation, it has revealed auroras, supernovas and discovered billions of stars, galaxies and exoplanets, some of which were shown to orbit within their star’s respective habitable zones.

On top of that, Hubble was used to determine the age of the Universe (13.8 billion years) and confirmed the existence of the supermassive black hole (SMBH) – aka. Sagitarrius A* – at the center of our galaxy, not to mention many others. It was also responsible for measuring the rate at which the Universe is expanding – in other words, measuring the Hubble Constant.

This played a pivotal role in helping scientists to develop the theory of Dark Energy, one of the most profound discoveries since Edwin Hubble (the telescope’s namesake) proposed that the Universe is in a state of expansion back in 1929. So it goes without saying that the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope led to some of greatest discoveries in modern astronomy.

That being said, Hubble is still subject to limitations, which astronomers are now hoping to push past. For one, its instruments are not able to pick up the most distant (and hence, dimmest) galaxies in the Universe, which date to just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. Even with “The Deep Fields” initiative, Hubble is still limited to seeing back to about half a billion years after the Big Bang.

Illustration of the depth by which Hubble imaged galaxies in prior Deep Field initiatives, in units of the Age of the Universe. The goal of the Frontier Fields is to peer back further than the Hubble Ultra Deep Field and get a wealth of images of galaxies as they existed in the first several hundred million years after the Big Bang. Note that the unit of time is not linear in this illustration. Illustration Credit: NASA and A. Feild (STScI)

Illustration of the depth by which Hubble imaged galaxies in prior Deep Field initiatives, in units of the Age of the Universe. Credit: NASA and A. Feild (STScI)

As Dr. John Mather, the project scientist for the James Webb Telescope, told Universe Today via email:

“Hubble showed us that we could not see the first galaxies being born, because they’re too far away, too faint, and too red. JWST is bigger, colder, and observes infrared light to see those first galaxies.  Hubble showed us there’s a black hole in the center of almost every galaxy. JWST will look as far back in time as possible to see when and how that happened: did the galaxy form the black hole, or did the galaxy grow around a pre-existing black hole?  Hubble showed us great clouds of glowing gas and dust where stars are being born. JWST will look through the dust clouds to see the stars themselves as they form in the cloud. Hubble showed us that we can see some planets around other stars, and that we can get chemical information about other planets that happen to pass directly in front of their stars.  JWST will extend this to longer wavelengths with a bigger telescope, with a possibility of detecting water on a super-Earth exoplanet. Hubble showed us details of planets and asteroids close to home, and JWST will give a closer look, though it’s still better to send a visiting robot if we can.”
Basically, the JWST will be able to see farther back to about 100 million years after the Big Bang, when the first stars and galaxies were born. It is also designed to operate at the L2 Lagrange Point, farther away from the Earth than Hubble – which was designed to remain in low-Earth orbit. This means the JWST will subject to less thermal and optical interference from the Earth and the Moon, but will also make it more difficult to service.

With its much larger set of segmented mirrors, it will observe the Universe as it capture light from the first galaxies and stars. Its extremely-sensitive suite of optics will also be able to gather information in the long-wavelength (orange-red) and infrared wavelengths with greater accuracy, measuring the redshift of distant galaxies, and even helping in the hunt for extra-solar planets.

A primary mirror segments of the James Webb Space Telescope, made of beryllium. Credit: NASA/MSFC/David Higginbotham/Emmett Given

A primary mirror segments of the James Webb Space Telescope, made of beryllium. Credit: NASA/MSFC/David Higginbotham/Emmett Given

With the assembly of its major components now complete, the telescope will spend the next two years undergoing tests before its scheduled launch date in October of 2018. These will include stress tests that will subject the telescope to the types of intense vibrations, sounds and g forces (ten times Earth normal) it will experience inside the Ariane 5 rocket that will take it into space.

Six months before its deployment, NASA also plans to send the JWST to the Johnson Space Center where it will be subjected to the kinds of conditions it will experience in space. This will consists of scientists placing the telescope in a chamber where temperatures will be lowered to 53 K (-220 °C; -370 °F), which will simulate its operating conditions at the L2 Lagrange Point.

Once all of that is complete and the JWST checks out, it will be launched aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from Arianespace’s ELA-3 launch pad in French Guayana. And thanks to experience gained from Hubble and updated algorithms, the telescope will be focused and gathering information shortly after it is launched. And as Dr. Mather explained, the big cosmological questions it is expected to address are numerous:

“Where did we come from? The Big Bang gave us hydrogen and helium spread out almost uniformly across the universe. But something, presumably gravity, stopped the expansion of the material and turned it into galaxies and stars and black holes. JWST will look at all these processes: how did the first luminous objects form, and what were they? How and where did the black holes form, and what did they do to the growing galaxies? How did the galaxies cluster together, and how did galaxies like the Milky Way grow and develop their beautiful spiral structure? Where is the cosmic dark matter and how does it affect ordinary matter? How much dark energy is there, and how does it change with time?”

Needless to say, NASA and the astronomical community are quite excited that the James Webb Telescope is finished construction, and can’t wait until it is deployed and begins to send back data. One can only imagine the kinds of things it will see deep in the cosmic field. But in the meantime, be sure to check out the film and see how this effort all came together:

Further Reading: NASA – JWST, Northrop Grumman

The post James Webb Space Telescope Celebrated in Stunning New Video appeared first on Universe Today.

15 Dec 18:06

A Mesmerizing High Definition Video of M&M’s Chocolate Candies Dissolving in Water

by Lori Dorn

Yan Liang from Beauty of Science captured through mesmerizing high-definition video, the absolutely beautiful images that unfolded when colorful candy shell of M&M’s chocolate candies dissolved in water.

We dropped m&m chocolate in water and discovered something really wonderful!
This 4K time-lapse video was shot with a Sony A7R M2 camera to capture the beautiful details of m&m dissolving.

Orange

Blue

photos via Beauty of Science

via PetaPixel

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15 Dec 14:29

A Wonderfully Clever Skull and Crossbones Hair Bun Cover Hand Fashioned Out of Wire

by Lori Dorn

Skull Crossbone Bun Full

Salt Lake City wire artist Kyle Wyatt of Wyre Art has created a wonderfully clever Skull & Crossbones Bun Cover that is both slightly terrifying and and slightly gentle at the same time. Because these bun covers are handmade, Wyatt is able to sell different sizes for different hair types. These and other handmade hair accessories are available through the Wyre Art Etsy store.

The skull is made of 18 gauge galvanized steel, and the crossbones are 16 gauge. Sizes vary based on customer preference – 5″ x 2″ for longer/thicker hair, 5″ x 1.5″ for longer/regular hair, 4.75″ x 1.75″ for mid length hair, and 4.5″ x 1″ for shorter hair. CURRENTLY TAKING BACKORDERS – WILL BE AVAILABLE IN JAN 2017.

Skull Crossbone Bun Alone

Skull Crossbone Bun

photos via Wyre Art

via So Souper Awesome

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12 Dec 14:56

The Kid Should See This/Travel tip/Quora email digest

by Claudia Lamar

Listenable:
Some of the best music being written these days is for movie soundtracks. Because they usually lack dialog and lyrics, I find movie scores easy to listen to while working. If you want some suggestions to start with, this is a decent list of the best scores since the start of this century. Quite a few of them are available on Spotify. — KK

Learning:
The website The Kid Should See This gathers the best short videos that explain how the world works. Subjects includes nature, science, technology, art, politics, So far they have collected 2,600 videos that “are not made for kids, but are perfect for them.” The videos are really great for any do-it-yourselfer, for any life-long learner. In fact, the site might be called “The Adults Should See This.” — KK

Edible:
I drop one Nuun tablet into my glass of water in the morning and another before I go to bed. Nuun tablets contain sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. It’s very likely a placebo effect, but I feel better and more replenished from drinking water with a Nuun tablet in it. In any case, it’s a fizzy, citrusy treat that I look forward to. — MF

Travel Tip:
Here’s an easy way to approximately convert Centigrade to Fahrenheit: “double the Centigrade temp, subtract the first digit of the result from the result and add 32.” Example: 16 C = (32-3)+32 = 61 F. (This tip appeared on Fodor’s Travel website.) — MF

Tool:
I’ve been using the Clarisonic Mia2 for a couple of months now and I’ve seen a definite improvement in the appearance of my pores and brightness of my skin. It does a really great job at removing my makeup and exfoliating. I can’t imagine living without it now. — CD

Followable:
I am signed up for frequent email digests of the top questions in my Quora feed. I get these at least once a day, and often find myself falling down the rabbit hole and discovering new blogs and books and recommendations. One question I am following with really interesting perspectives and answers is: How do I become strong mentally? — CD

Get the Recomendo weekly newsletter a week early by email.

-- Kevin Kelly, Mark Frauenfelder and Claudia Dawson

07 Dec 21:22

Pebble Is Dead, and Its Customers Are Completely Screwed

by Alex Cranz on Gizmodo, shared by Andy Orin to Lifehacker
Image: Gizmodo

Pebble, one of the best-known smartwatch brands, is dead. Rumors about the company’s demise have been swirling since The Information reported a potential Fitbit buyout last week. Today in a post on Kickstarter, Pebble confirmed that Fitbit was acquiring “key Pebble assets” and that Pebble would “no longer be operating as in independent company.”

This is completely in line with a Bloomberg report last night that claimed only chunks of Pebble were being sold to Fitbit, namely its intellectual property, software engineers, and testers. Designers and other staff will be let go and current products (and all other assets) are, according to Bloomberg, expected to be sold to pay the shuttering company’s debt.

And that leaves Pebble’s loyal customers out in the cold. While Pebble’s Kickstarter note ends on a happy note of gratitude to its many loyal customers, those customers are, in fact, royally screwed.

“One-to-one Pebble support is no longer available” and “any Pebble currently out in the wild is no longer covered by or eligible for warranty exchange.” This means, no matter when you purchased or received your Pebble device, you are on your own—and if your device dies, you’re simply out a device. Any warranty you might have been promised from Pebble directly is void. (If you didn’t purchase from Pebble, but from a site like Amazon, you may still be able to return the product for cash or store credit.) You can also expect to see zero software support (or updates) going forward, despite Fitbit’s acquisition.

If you took part in Pebble’s recent Kickstarter, which launched on May 24 and raked in nearly 12.8 million dollars, and you have not received your product, then you are, again, screwed. As of today Pebble will no longer be shipping devices. Pebble 2 backers who haven’t received a device won’t receive one. The Time 2, Core, and Time Round, originally intended to ship last month and later scheduled to ship in January 2017, are completely canceled.

Pebble promises those smartwatch-less backers will receive a refund, which is great! They deserve a refund! However those refunds will take place through the Kickstarter system and aren’t expected to be completed until March 2017, nearly a year after many backers dropped their cash on the project.

And that, more than the loss of cool tech and the the honoring of warranties, is the real kick in the pants. Pebble, essentially, bamboozled 12.8 million dollars out of its customers and then sat on that money for the last 6-7 months. Worse the company wasn’t up front about the rumors and its own reported demise, instead leaving backers twisting in the wind for the last week, surreptitiously updating the expected ship dates for products that it had good reason to know it might never be able to ship.

This isn’t just a major blow for the already dying smartwatch market, it’s a blow for crowdfunding in general. Pebble was one of crowdfunding’s most notable successes, and its continued reliance on crowdfunding for each product launch suggested that we were seeing the beginnings of a new kind of business plan, where companies could be supported by their fans rather than angel investors.

If Pebble, one of Kickstarter’s biggest success stories, can fail so spectacularly then why should a consumer put trust in any of the smaller crowdfunding campaigns out there? Just when it was looking like at least some crowdfunding could be trust, Pebble has proven that you jut can’t. Invest in the crowdfunding future at your own risk.

We reached out to Pebble for comment, and we’ll update if the company responds.

[Kickstarter]

23 Nov 16:38

Silence, a new film by Martin Scorsese

by Jason Kottke

It’s been three years since The Wolf of Wall Street and Martin Scorsese is finally coming out with a new film. Based on the novel by Shusaku Endo, Silence is the story of a pair of Jesuit priests who travel to Japan in the 17th century to find a third priest and to convert the Japanese to Christianity. Adam Driver, Liam Neeson, and Andrew Garfield star.

Two years ago, Tony Zhou made an episode of Every Frame a Painting called Martin Scorsese - The Art of Silence.

Since Scorsese has been working on making Silence for over 20 years, Zhou’s video must have been a little wink to the director’s true fans.

Tags: Martin Scorsese   movies   Silence   Tony Zhou   trailer   video
22 Sep 20:13

500 Million Yahoo Accounts Hacked, Change Your Passwords Now

by Thorin Klosowski
500 Million Yahoo Accounts Hacked, Change Your Passwords Now

Yahoo has confirmed that information from at least 500 million user accounts was stolen in 2014. While the information was leaked earlier today, it’s worse than we initially thought. If you have a Yahoo account, it’s time to change your password.

Yahoo is notifying potentially affected users right now, but the information that was accessed by what they’re calling a “state-sponsored actor” includes tons of personally identifiable information, though thankfully no credit card numbers or bank account information was accessed. Here’s what Yahoo released today:

A recent investigation by Yahoo! Inc. has confirmed that a copy of certain user account information was stolen from the company’s network in late 2014 by what it believes is a state-sponsored actor. The account information may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords (the vast majority with bcrypt) and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers. The ongoing investigation suggests that stolen information did not include unprotected passwords, payment card data, or bank account information; payment card data and bank account information are not stored in the system that the investigation has found to be affected. Based on the ongoing investigation, Yahoo believes that information associated with at least 500 million user accounts was stolen and the investigation has found no evidence that the state-sponsored actor is currently in Yahoo’s network. Yahoo is working closely with law enforcement on this matter.

Instead of waiting from that email from Yahoo to confirm your info was included in this breach, it’s best to change your password right now. Use strong passwords, get a password manager, and don’t use the same password as you do for other sites. It’s also a good time to enable two-factor authentication on that Yahoo account.

http://lifehacker.com/lifehacker-fac…

An Important Message to Yahoo Users on Security | Yahoo

13 Sep 15:21

xkcd Lays Out a Timeline of Earth’s Average Temperature Since the Last Ice Age

by Glen Tickle

xkcd Timeline of Average Earth Temperature

xkcd has laid out a timeline of Earth’s average temperature since the last ice age glaciation in a detailed strip that starts at 20,000 BCE and continues through today with predictions for what the average temperature will be by the year 2100. The image shows the drastic increase in temperature due to climate change since the industrial revolution.

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06 Sep 20:52

This Free Course Teaches You Everything You Need to Know About Digital Photography

by Thorin Klosowski
This Free Course Teaches You Everything You Need to Know About Digital Photography

If you’ve been itching to learn photography but aren’t sure where to start, former Stanford professor and Google teacher Marc Levoy has released his entire course, which includes video lectures, slides, and more online for free.

The class is set up like any college class would be, with two classes a week and each class covering different topics, from the basics of image formation to lighting. Each week also has a bit of history mixed in alongside assignments to keep you occupied. The course isn’t set up for a ton of users, so if you run into a problem loading anything, this workaround should help with the slides, and Levoy’s YouTube page has all the videos.

Lectures on Digital Photography | Marc Levoy via DIY Photography

23 Aug 14:02

How to Make Your Netflix Look Good

by David Nield on Field Guide, shared by Andy Orin to Lifehacker
How to Make Your Netflix Look Good

Are you really getting the best possible look at Stranger Things (or whatever other show you’re currently bingeing)? The answer depends on both the way you’ve configured the app and even which browser you’re using. Here’s what you need to know.

First of all, there are the obvious settings screens, which you can find on the web by clicking Your Account in the drop-down menu under your avatar and username. Select Playback settings and you can tell Netflix to always use a high video quality rather than automatically adjusting it to your connection speed.

You will be restricted by what plan you’re currently on—only standard and premium users get access to HD and Ultra HD streams. If you’re watching on a mobile device, there’s a similar quality setting, but keep in mind that high-definition video can quickly eat through your data plan.

How to Make Your Netflix Look Good

What you might not know is your browser can also make a difference. Because of the way they handle HTML5, streams in Chrome, Firefox, and Opera are capped to 720p HD, and you need to fire up Safari, Microsoft Edge, or Internet Explorer to be guaranteed the full 1080p video goodness.

Here’s the Netflix support page on the topic. Press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S while watching to see the available bitrates. If you’re seeing a maximum of 3,000 or less then you’re stuck on 720p. To specify the video quality to use, choose a bitrate and click Override. Hitting Ctrl+Alt+Shift+D will show the actual current resolution up on screen.

On Windows, switching to the Windows 10 app rather than using your browser is another way of maximizing the video quality you’re seeing. And of course, you’re going to want to make sure your broadband connection is working as well as it can be (simple tools such as SpeedTest.net can help with this).