Fatbob

 

Bitcoin has generated a ton of buzz the world of cryptocurrencies, but it's not the only option.

We've compiled a list of the top alternatives, including open source services, payment systems and digital currencies that can be exchanged for traditional money.

1Litecoin

Litecoin is derived from Bitcoin's open source code, but has a faster block rate — two and a half minutes, compared to Bitcoin's 10 minutes. However, the two currencies are very similar structurally.

2Ripple

Ripple is a currency as well as a payment system. It can be used to transfer any kind of currency, so you can use it to move anything from Bitcoins to Yen. It was launched by Chris Larsen's OpenCoin company in 2012, which is now backed by Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, FF Angel LLC, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Vast Ventures and Bitcoin Opportunity Fund. Read more...

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(512): We need to make boob twerking a thing. I feel like that's why vine was invented.

You'd think the IRS would be the one organization it might be safe to trust with your precious Social Security Number. Think again. Thanks to a cock-up, the agency just put tens of thousands of the numbers out on the Internet for anyone and everyone to see. Fantastic.

It seems that when the IRS went to upload a bunch of records on the non-profit industry, some unfortunate soul simply forgot to redact the thousands of identifying numbers. Fortunately, the error was spotted by Public.Resource.Org, which likes to publish these kind of records, and the offending list of 9-digit numbers has already been removed. Still, it's disquieting to know they were out there at all, and who knows who saw them.

There have been worse breaches, like when the state of South Carolina got hacked out of 3.6 million SSNs. But it hurts to see the IRS—an agency that trades in these things by its very nature—compromise a bunch through sheer digital incompetence; no hackers necessary. [Boing Boing via The Daily Dot]

Image by chuckstock/Shutterstock

hypnosec writes "Nintendo has revealed that it has detected illicit logins in nearly 24,000 accounts on one of the main fan sites in Japan 'Club Nintendo' and account details such as real names, addresses, emails and phone numbers may have been accessed. According to Nintendo the mass login attempts have been made using a list of login credentials containing usernames and password obtained from some service other than Nintendo. The company revealed that it detected over 15 million login attempts out of which 23,926 were successful."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat may only be three years old but at the time of release it was already looking dated, mainly as it was still re-using assets and the engine from the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game. Now a modding team is ready to release a full overhaul of CoP entitled Misery 2.0.

This nine-minute-long trailer shows off a lot of beatiful scenery (make sure you watch past the 2:20 mark, otherwise you'd think all S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games were set inside dreary Eastern European buildings) and the new dynamic weather systems. There's also big changes to the inventory, faction system, upgrades to the guns and armour, new mutant designs, and more.

I have to be honest, the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. formula was wearing thin by the time Call of Pripyat was released but this Misery 2.0 mod has me interested in giving the game another shot. I've been itching for a full modding project to put my new PC through its paces but I'll have to wait until the 30th of July to give Misery 2.0 a try.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Misey 2.0 Will Make Summer Grimmer [Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

As Linux is arguably the most customizeable operating system between it, Windows, and Mac OS X; there's plenty of room to change just about whatever you please. Proper customizing can potentially lead to massive performance improvements, giving even the oldest hardware a new leash on life. I previously reviewed Xfce quite a while back as a great choice for resource-conscious users, but apparently there's a new kid on the block that is even more lightweight and great for the crappiest hardware imaginable.

Continue reading the article

Read full article: Using An Old Computer? Give It New Life With LXDE

There are two paths to gaining super powers that don't involve mutations, radiation, or intergalactic origins. You can go the RoboCop route, where your body—or what's left of it—is permanently melded to a robotic frame. Or the Iron Man route, where you temporarily don a robotic supersuit and kick ass. The latter approach is, of course, the most desirable, and thanks to Japan's Sagawa Electronics, for $124,000 it could be your reality.

The promo video for the company's Power Jacket MK3 makes the suit seem like an April Fool's Day prank, but Sagawa Electronics claims it's actually going to produce five of the units to be sold off to Tony Stark wannabes around the world.

The Power Jacket MK3 sadly doesn't let you fly, has no weapons (unless you include intimidation) and quite frankly looks a little frail. But its major joints are all assisted with electric motors so it should provide some added boost to your own muscles. You won't be flipping cars or battling Hulks, but no jar lid will ever become between you and your pickles ever again. [Sagawa Electronics via Gizmag]

(916): So when this rash is gone wanna hang out?

The world is your drone when you have a "Drone it Yourself" kit that clamps onto any airworthy object and makes it an unmanned aerial vehicle. [Read more]

Can you sit still while Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" is playing? Trick question! It's not even possible — you'll be bopping around in your desk chair before the chorus drops. Even Barack Obama can't get enough of the song of the summer.

In this instant Monday mood-booster, a taxi driver busts a move that looks suspiciously like the "Macarena" outside a busy Dublin bar. One woman accepts his challenge and lures him out of the car for an impromptu dance party

Watch the video above and just try not to dance along. By the way, are people in Ireland always having this much fun or do they just have an excellent PR team? Read more...

More about Video, Dancing, Daft Punk, Music, and Watercooler

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/canadian-cult-tv-show-trailer-581108

“5 fake tampons to smuggle your booze and 5 wrappers”

Ladies, apparently there’s a new way to smuggle booze, by using flasks that look like tampons. Similar: Shampbooze.

image via imgur

via TYWKIWDBI, Boing Boing

Marco Arment:

RSS represents the antithesis of this new world: it’s completely open, decentralized, and owned by nobody, just like the web itself. It allows anyone, large or small, to build something new and disrupt anyone else they’d like because nobody has to fly six salespeople out first to work out a partnership with anyone else’s salespeople.

That world formed the web’s foundations — without that world to build on, Google, Facebook, and Twitter couldn’t exist. But they’ve now grown so large that everything from that web-native world is now a threat to them, and they want to shut it down. “Sunset” it. “Clean it up.” “Retire” it. Get it out of the way so they can get even bigger and build even bigger proprietary barriers to anyone trying to claim their territory.

Well, fuck them, and fuck that.

Lockdown [marco.org]

I’m Egyptian

via

 

New submitter quarrelinastraw writes "For years, users have conjectured that the NSA may have placed backdoors in security projects such as SELinux and in cryptography standards such as AES. However, I have yet to have seen a serious scientific analysis of this question, as discussions rarely get beyond general paranoia facing off against a general belief that government incompetence plus public scrutiny make backdoors unlikely. In light of the recent NSA revelations about the PRISM surveillance program, and that Microsoft tells the NSA about bugs before fixing them, how concerned should we be? And if there is reason for concern, what steps should we take individually or as a community?" Read more below for some of the background that inspires these questions.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

There are tons of red, white and blue food recipes out there for your Independence Day party, but dying foods a few colors is pretty boring and basic. If you really want to impress, make firecracker cupcakes that actually explode in your mouth courtesy of Pop Rocks. It's a fireworks show in your mouth and only patriots are invited.

Link Via That's Nerdalicious

Volition's enforced rework of Saints Row 4 for Australia looks to be a "Low Violence" edition, at least according to the game's Steam page for the country. There are no details on what exact changes make the violence "Low" enough to satisfy the Aussie ratings' board, so we've reached out to publisher Deep Silver for clarification.

Last month, Saints Row 4 became the first game to be refused Australia's R18+ rating, which was introduced on January 1 - State of Decay soon became the second. An "alien anal probe," posited as a "visual depiction of implied sexual violence that is interactive," and the involvement of illicit drug use were cited as the two main reasons for the ban.

Deep Silver previously told us Volition is reworking the game's content for the country, so a Low Violence version makes sense in that regard. Whether it really makes sense when it comes to a game like Saints Row 4 is another matter.

Saints Row 4 'Low Violence' version pops up on Steam Australia originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 02 Jul 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We've shown you how to get your Google Reader data now that the service is dead, but you don't get everything available. If you really want to sweep up all that data from Google Reader, Reader is Dead is a tool that helps you do just that.

Read more...

Ever since Carl Jung first started giving people their personality types, there's been a divide between the introvert and extrovert camps. It's possible to bridge that gap, though. Here's how to coexist with different personality types.

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The popular RSS reader has been powered down, but there are still a few weeks to stop by and grab your stuff. [Read more]

Thanks Mike (from Spain)

 

Today, as a joke, my friends pushed me into the men's restroom and held the door shut. As I was trying to push the door open, I heard a voice behind me say, "Wow. Immaturity, huh?" I turned to find a guy taking a dump in one of the urinals. FML

Somewhere, a newshound is whimpering. On July 1, Google Reader headed to a nice RSS farm out west, where it will have lots of space to run around and make a ton of new RSS friends. At least, that's the story Google is sticking to

Bad news aside, you'll need a replacement RSS reader to get your news, and we have an interesting solution: Reddit.

While other options, like Feedly or the new Digg Reader, are seeing enormous growth, we think Reddit — or more specifically, a certain collection of news-based subreddits — has the potential to fulfill the needs of dejected RSS users. Read more...

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Google Reader's not quite dead yet, so as you're wiping away your tears, there are just a couple bits of business to take care of. You've got to export those feeds before it's too late. But did you know that Google's also been keeping track of all your Reader stats, including total items read? Of course they have been, and you can check out your own personal high score on the trends page. So how'd you do?

Nearly half a million Egyptians took to Cairo's Tahrir Square Sunday, demanding President Mohamed Morsi leave office exactly one year after he was elected. As military helicopters flew overhead, demonstrators used laser pointers to paint them in a multi-colored shower of light:

Image via Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images

It's unclear if the laser pointers were an act of civil disobedience or something more violent: Laser pointers can temporarily blind pilots, putting them in mortal danger. An American teenager was recently sentenced to 2.5 years in prison after aiming a laser pointer at a commercial plane for this exact reason. Read more...

More about Protests, Egypt, Arab Spring, Us World, and World