Jay McDaniel

McGruber writes "The NY Times has the news that federal judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, who ruled in 2000 that Microsoft was a predatory monopoly and must be split in half, has died. He was 76 years old. 'A technological novice who wrote his opinions in longhand and used his computer mainly to e-mail jokes, Judge Jackson refuted Microsoft's assertion that it was impossible to remove the company's Internet Explorer Web browser from its operating system by doing it himself. When a Microsoft lawyer complained that too many excerpts from Bill Gates's videotaped deposition — liberally punctuated with the phrase "I don't remember" — were shown in the courtroom, Judge Jackson said, "I think the problem is with your witness, not the way his testimony is being presented."'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

bill_mcgonigle writes with this news from from CNET: "Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D NY) disclosed that NSA analysts eavesdrop on Americans' domestic telephone calls without court orders during a House Judiciary hearing. After clearing with FBI director Robert Mueller that the information was not classified, Nadler revealed that during a closed-door briefing to Congress, the Legislature was informed that the spying organization had implemented and uses this capability. This appears to confirm Edward Snowden's claim that he could, in his position at the NSA, 'wiretap anyone from you or your accountant to a federal judge to even the president.' Declan McCullagh writes, 'Because the same legal standards that apply to phone calls also apply to e-mail messages, text messages, and instant messages, Nadler's disclosure indicates the NSA analysts could also access the contents of Internet communications without going before a court and seeking approval.' The executive branch has defended its general warrants, claiming that 'the president had the constitutional authority, no matter what the law actually says, to order domestic spying without [constitutional] warrants,' while Kurt Opsahl, senior staff attorney at EFF claims such government activity 'epitomizes the problem of secret laws.'" Note that "listening in" versus "collecting metadata" is a distinction that defenders of government phone spying have been emphasizing. Tracking whom you called and when, goes the story, doesn't impinge on expectations of privacy. Speaking of the metadata collection, though, reader Bruce66423 writes "According to the Washington Post, the Bush administration took 'bulk metadata' from the phone companies under voluntary agreements for more than four years after 9/11 until a court agreed they could have it compulsorily." Related: First time accepted submitter fsagx writes that Brewster Kahle of the Internet Archive has calculated the cost to store every phone call made in the U.S. over the course of a year: "It's surprisingly inexpensive. It puts the recent NSA stories (and reports from the Boston bombings about the FBI's ability to listen to past phone conversions) into perspective."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

schwit1 sends this news from Businesweek: "After 2,000 years, a long-lost secret behind the creation of one of the world's most durable man-made creations ever — Roman concrete — has finally been discovered by an international team of scientists, and it may have a significant impact on how we build cities of the future. Researchers have analyzed 11 harbors in the Mediterranean basin where, in many cases, 2,000-year-old (and sometimes older) headwaters constructed out of Roman concrete stand perfectly intact despite constant pounding by the sea. The most common blend of modern concrete, known as Portland cement, a formulation in use for nearly 200 years, can't come close to matching that track record. In seawater, it has a service life of less than 50 years. After that, it begins to erode. The secret to Roman concrete lies in its unique mineral formulation and production technique. As the researchers explain in a press release outlining their findings, 'The Romans made concrete by mixing lime and volcanic rock. For underwater structures, lime and volcanic ash were mixed to form mortar, and this mortar and volcanic tuff were packed into wooden forms. The seawater instantly triggered a hot chemical reaction. The lime was hydrated — incorporating water molecules into its structure — and reacted with the ash to cement the whole mixture together.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

By now, we all know about the benefits of standing desks, but replacing your own desk is a big leap of faith. If you want to practice with a standing desk before you decide to take the leap, this simple IKEA hack is really easy to build, and will barely cost you anything.

The top of the table is a $10 IKEA Lack side table, but the legs are custom cut from 2x2 spruce lumber that you could get at any hardware store. Just add some crossbeams and paint, and you're done. This isn't the first time we've featured an IKEA standing desk, or even one utilizing the LACK, but I like this design because it's an entire desk unto itself, and doesn't require stacking extra work surfaces on top of a normal desk. It's also very small, and could fit in the corner of your home office if you aren't ready to take the plunge into full-time standing. Check out the source link for more detailed instructions.

Decent Standing Desk for less than $20 | IKEA Hackers

coop0030 writes "Feel like someone is snooping on you? Browse anonymously anywhere you go with the Onion Pi Tor proxy. This is fun weekend project from Adafruit that uses a Raspberry Pi, a USB WiFi adapter and Ethernet cable to create a small, low-power and portable privacy Pi."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

We're in a day in age where battery powered electronics are just an annoyance to most of us. Charging, or even plug-in power is so much easier to use. Instructables user DIYHacksAndHowTos shows off how to convert those battery powered electronics to run on AC.

Although the process sounds pretty complicated, it's not as difficult as you might think. It uses a voltage regulator circuit, , a switch, and a dummy battery system to take up space. The dummy battery also makes the whole thing removable in case you want to revert back to the batteries. As with any project where you're working with electricity, you'll want to be careful, but the process here is pretty straight-forward. Head over to Instructables for the full guide.

Convert Battery Powered Electronics to Run on AC | Instructables via Hack a Day

c0lo writes "Kim Dotcom alleges, in an 20 min interview with the Australian public television, that Megaupload was offered up by the New Zealand's PM 'on a silver platter' as part of negotiations with Warner Brothers executives for shooting The Hobbit in New Zealand. He promises that he'll substantiate the claims in court. He also says that the extradition case the U.S. government is weak and the reason behind the latest delay in extradition hearing (postponed from August this year to March next year) is an attempt to bleed Dotcom dry of his money. Also interesting, Dotcom says that the latest debacle of the massive scale online online surveillance by U.S. spy agencies has triggered an 'explosion' of interest in mega.co.nz, the 'cloud storage' site with user generated encryption."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader writes "Simply put, the US government has failed in its role as the 'caretaker' of the internet. Although this was never an official designation, America controls much of the infrastructure, and many of the most popular services online are provided by a handful of American companies. The world is starting to sober up to the fact that much of what they've done online in the last decade is now cataloged in a top-secret facility somewhere in the United States. The goal has been to promote internet freedom around the world, but we may have also potentially created a blueprint for how authoritarian governments can store, track, and mine their citizens' digital lives."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

When out in the woods alone, or if you get separated from a group, it helps to have an acorn cap available. If you need to call for help (or just attention), redditor prater77 explains a simple technique you can use to create a very loud whistle.

An acorn cap makes an extremely loud whistle when used properly. If you are looking at your two thumbs, place them together. Separate the tips of the thumbs to make a V. Hold the acorn cap in your hands with the top rim of it crossing the V you made with your thumbs. Put your top lip on your thumb nails and the bottom lip below the thumb knuckles. Blow. Adjust your hold until you get a high pitched, very loud whistle. When fishing at night on rocky piers, I carry a few acorn caps in my pockets and fishing bag just in case I slip, fall, and get hurt.

For a picture-based tutorial, check out WikiHow.

If lost in the woods, don't shout for help. Look for an acorn cap. | Reddit

Photo by Dirt Time.

An anonymous reader writes "Some journalists ran into Steve Wozniak at the airport and asked him about iOS 7 and PRISM, where he made an interesting comparison about how the US is becoming what it once feared most. In communist Russia 'you couldn't own anything, and now in the digital world you hardly own anything anymore (YouTube video). You've got subscritpions and you already said ok, ok, agree and you agree that every right in the world belongs to them and you got no rights and anything you put in the cloud, you don't even know,' says Woz. 'Ownership was what made America different than Russia.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

ColdWetDog writes "The ongoing story of Myriad Genetics versus the rest of the world has come to an end. In a 9-0 decision, the US Supreme Court has decided that human genes cannot be patented. From a brief Bloomberg article: 'Writing for the court, Justice Clarence Thomas said isolated DNA is a "product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated." At the same time, Thomas said synthetic molecules known as complementary DNA, or cDNA, can be patented because they require a significant amount of human manipulation to create.' Seems perfectly sane. Raw genes, the ones you find in nature are, wait for it — natural. Other bits of manipulated DNA / RNA / protein which take skill and time to create are potentially patentable. Oddly, Myriad Genetics stock actually rose on that information." Adds reader the eric conspiracy: "The result for Myriad is that they still have protection for their test, however the decision also allows researchers to work with the DNA sequences that are predecessors to the cDNA used in the test." Here's an AP report on the ruling, as carried by the Washington Post.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

New submitter BioTitan writes "New York City may be the first state to crack down on 3D printed guns. Two pieces of legislation were introduced on June 13, one in the City Council that only allows licensed gunsmiths to print the guns, and another in the State Assembly that would make it illegal for anyone to print a gun. Cody Wilson, creator of the first 3D printed guns, and founder of Defense Distributed, told The Epoch Times, 'Such legislation is a deprivation of equal protection and works in clear ignorance of Title I and II of U.S. gun laws.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Having been an only child, I didn't know how quickly sibling rivalry began. But when my kids were toddlers, they seemed to argue and fight over every little thing. The absolute best parenting hack that I have relied on is color coding the kids. I still rely on it in some areas. Here's how to do it and everywhere it applies.

Color coding is very simple. Assign each child a color. You can pick them or let them choose. Stick with the basic colors—red, blue, green, yellow, orange. Color coding will keep you from adopting that imaginary kid "not me!" (Who didn't follow the rules? "Not me!")

Making it work is easy. Whatever area you find chaos, use the color code system.

• In the kitchen, I bought each kid a set of dishes (cups, plates, bowls, mugs) in their color. This kept me from washing a million cups a day. Also at a glance you will be able to tell who didn't put their dishes in the sink/dishwasher, or follow whatever kitchen rule you have.
• Also, I did this with bath towels. Each child got a set of towels in their own color. Again, at a glance you can tell who left their towel on the floor, etc.
• Buy color coded laundry baskets. Now you can quickly sort laundry for each child as you take it out the dryer.
• Buy school supplies in the color code system (backpacks, pencils, pencil pouches, etc).
• If your kids have identical devices (MP3 players, tablets, cell phones), as my now teenagers do, there is a way to color code here too. They will no doubt customize their gadgets but to keep down confusion about chargers, swap out the data cables for colored ones. You can do this for the wall charger too but I just simply recommend a marking those with finger nail polish or permanent marker in their color. With color coding, you don't have to hear "hey, that's mine".

Believe it or not, they will form the habit of picking up after themselves because they will not be able to blame it on anyone else. If your kids do chores, like mine, color code their tasks. All they have to do is check the chart, see their color, and they know what they're doing for the day.

Color coding also works for scheduling too. If you need to keep school and extracurricular activities straight for each kid, color code.

You can use color coding for many things or just a few. Whatever works best for you. Basically, whenever you hear "not me!" or "that's mine!", or you're asking yourself "who's supposed to be doing what?", you can color code.

Photo by Pottery Barn Kids.

There are a ton of different types of Arduino boards, and figuring out which one you want isn't always an easy process. Over on Tested, they break down the main differences between the most common Arduino boards.

Tested digs into the key features and differences on a handful of boards, including the Arduino Uno, Leonardo, Due, Micro, LilyPad Arduino, Esplora, Yun, and Robot. If you're in the market for an Arduino, or you're just getting started with DIY electronics, Tested's breakdown of what each board actually is can be a huge help when you're deciding what you need. Be sure to check out our starter guide to get going on your first project.

Know Your Arduino: A Practical Guide to the Most Common Boards | Tested

Most people have to keep track of at least a few keys. The easiest way to do that is to just keep them all on one key ring. But the more keys you have, the bulkier the ring is to carry in your pocket. Here's an alternate design for holding and organizing your keys that's a little more efficient. The design is very similar in construction to a Swiss Army Knife, with the keys arranged on two parallel bars. Each key can be rotated into the handle for compact storage and rotated back out for use.

Check out this video of steps 1-7 (complete details on each step below):

Step One: Materials and Tools

• Two pieces of wood (about 1" x 3.75" x 1/8" each)
• Thin sheet metal (about 2" x 3.75")
• Two #8 machine screw lock nuts
• Two #8 machine screws, 3/4" long
• Ten #8 machine screw washers
• Glue that's able to bond wood to metal
• Wood stain (optional)
• Polyurethane (optional)

Tools

• Drill and bit set
• Tin snips
• Sand paper/sanding block
• Small binder clamps
• Pencil
• Ruler

Tip: Paint stir sticks are a good size to be used for the wood pieces. These are generally free at the paint section of most hardware stores. For the sheet metal, I used a baking sheet that I found at Dollar Tree for $1. This yields about 13" x 9" of metal.

Step Two: Cut the Wood and Metal to Shape

Use whatever rounded object you have readily available to trace a semicircle onto each end of the wood pieces. Then using a saw or knife, cut along the outline. Trace the shape of these wood pieces onto the sheet metal. Using a pair of tin snips cut out two pieces of sheet metal that are a little smaller than the outlines.

Step Three: Drill the Bolt Holes

Make a stack of the two wood pieces and the two metal pieces. Make sure all the pieces are centered, and hold them together with a binder clamp.. Mark the centers of the semicircle on each end. They should be about 2.75 inches apart. Using a 3/16 drill bit, drill through all four layers at one of these points. Insert a screw into this hole to help keep the layers lined up. Then drill the second hole. Remove the two metal pieces and re-drill the holes in the wood pieces so that the holes are wide enough to accommodate the head of the machine screw and the lock nut respective. You may wish to wrap the wood pieces in tape to prevent them from splitting when drilling larger holes. When you're done cutting and drilling, sand all the surfaces and edges smooth.

Step Four: Assemble the Frame

Insert the machine screws through the holes in the metal plates. Then add the washers and keys. Four keys and five washers will fit perfectly on a 3/4-inch screw in the sequence (sheet metal, washer, key, washer, key, washer, key, washer, key, washer, sheet metal). Using this sequence, two keys and three washers will fit on a 1/2-inch screw. Likewise, six keys and seven washers will fit on a 1-inch screw.

Alternatively, you can conserve space a little bit by eliminating the washers, but the keys will tend to stick on each other. If you have an odd number of keys you can fill the space with two washers. When you're done adding keys and washers, add the second piece of sheet metal. Then, tighten everything together with the two lock nuts.

Step Five: Glue the Wooden Panels

Apply a thin layer of glue to the outside of one plate and press on the wooden panel. Do the same for the second panel, then use binder clips to hold everything in place while the glue dries. You may wish to add a layer or two of card stock to prevent the clamps from denting your wood panels.

Step Six: Apply Paint and Polyurethane (Optional)

Once the glue dries, your Swiss Army Key Ring is ready to use, but I chose to take it a few steps further by applying stain and polyurethane to make it look a little nicer. To apply the stain I just used a piece of cheesecloth. When the stain was completely dry, I applied the polyurethane with a sponge brush.

Step Seven: Done!

This design saves space in two ways. First, the keys are mounted parallel to each other and don't fan out. Second, the double folding design allows the blades of both sets of keys to fit within the space of the handle.

This design is also a better way of organizing keys. Because they're always in the same orientation, it's faster and easier to find the one that you need.

Swiss Army Key Ring | Instructables via MAKE

---

Jason Poel Smith is a contributor at MAKE.

Want to see your work on Lifehacker? Email Tessa.

If you're looking for an easy way to remove stickers from plastics and furniture without resorting to harsh gunk removing chemicals, all you need is a little coconut oil and baking soda. Equal parts mashed together will give you a slightly abrasive paste, perfect for removing residue or glue from almost any surface.

Over at Rosy Blu Handmade, Michelle notes that this worked like a charm to get an old stubborn sticker off of a plastic vacuum cleaner that had been there for years. I actually tried this myself, and I found that one teaspoon of coconut oil and one teaspoon (or a little less) of baking soda worked wonders on already-soft residue, but the tougher stuff required me to drag out the Goo Gone anyway. Keep that in mind, your mileage may vary.

A number of the commenters at the original article (link below) noted that you could do the same with other types of oil, like tea tree oil (which is a bit more astringent and may cut through more, but is as expensive as coconut oil) or even baby oil, if you don't want to use coconut oil for cleaning. One of the benefits of coconut oil in this case is that it forms a paste as room temperature, so you don't have a liquid with baking soda at the bottom. In that way, it works really well.

You still may need a firm edge to scrape away the sticker after applying your homemade goop remover, but give it a try—you may have the ingredients at home already, and a quick Google search shows that coconut oil and baking soda together are great for a lot of other things, too.

DIY Gunk Remover: Non-Toxic Recipe to Remove Sticky Adhesive Residue | Rosy Blu Handmade

When you have a computer, a tablet, and a media center, you might have three keyboards for each. The Logitech Bluetooth Easy-Switch Keyboard, however, can pair with all three so you only need a single input device.

Logitech's Easy-Switch Keyboard offers three different Bluetooth pairing buttons so you can quickly switch the keyboard between different devices as needed. Whether you want to just switch just between phones and tablets or add your computer into the mix, you can. The keyboard itself somewhat mirrors Apple's Bluetooth Keyboard in its size and chiclet key style, but adds function to that form. If you like Apple's keyboards but want something with a little more functionality, you should check this one out. While it may cost a little more than your average keyboard, since it can effectively take the place of three it isn't a bad deal when used as designed.

Logitech Bluetooth Easy-Switch Keyboard for Apple Devices ($88) or Windows ($60) | Amazon via The Wirecutter

Getting picture frames straight can take a little work with a level or a good eye. Reformed villain blog Evil Mad Scientist suggests placing rubber feet on the back of your frames to keep them in place.

Packs of rubber feet stickers can be found at craft stores for fairly cheap. By attaching some to the backs of your framed pictures, you can ensure the photo or artwork stays level. As a bonus, this creates a buffer so that you don't risk damaging your walls with the pointed corners of the frame.

Cure that crooked picture frame with rubber feet | Evil Mad Scientist

Perhaps you hate typing passwords but want to keep your phone and computer secure. Thanks to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, you can adapt your mobile devices to automatically unlock your computer, themselves, and even your front door by using a couple of apps and defining a few rules.

Bluetooth connects your smartphone to a variety of devices, but only works in a limited range. This downside becomes a secret feature when you turn your Bluetooth-capable devices into a virtual skeleton key. When your smartphone comes into range, you can set up rules to make it unlock your computer automatically. When it connects to your Wi-Fi network, you can tell it to disable its passcode lock because it's safe at home. This way you don't have to bother entering any passwords when you aren't concerned with your device's security. In this post, we'll show you how to set it all up.

What You’ll Need

For the most part, you already have everything you’ll need and just need to download a few apps. In some cases you’ll need extra gadgets. Here’s a basic overview, but you’ll find the details in each section:

• A Bluetooth-enabled smartphone

• A Bluetooth-enabled computer

• A variety of apps, outlined in their respective sections in this post

Unlock Your Computer

You can already pair most computers with your smartphone over Bluetooth, but nothing really happens when you do. You can use this functionality to transfer files or share an internet connection through options already available in their operating systems, but with a little extra effort you can also use it to unlock your computer when you’re close by. The methods differ depending on your operating system, so just follow the instructions relevant to you.

Note: We’re not including Linux instructions in this post, but that doesn’t mean you can’t unlock a Linux machine with Bluetooth. Check out this tutorial for more information.

Windows

To accomplish a Bluetooth proximity unlock within Windows, you’ll need the BTProximity program. Download it and follow these instructions to set it up:

1. First you need to pair your smartphone with Windows. Open up your smartphone’s Bluetooth settings and make sure it’s on and discoverable, then head over to your Windows PC and right-click the Bluetooth icon in your system tray. From the pop-up list, choose Add Bluetooth Device and follow the on-screen instructions to pair your phone.

2. Open up BTProximity and click the button to install the Unlock Component.

3. Check the box next to “Lock when device goes out of range” and set the number of attempts you want your computer to make. It’ll attempt three times by default, but if you want quicker locking when you step away you should reduce this setting to one. Additionally, a higher check interval can cause battery drain if you’re using a laptop.

4. Check the box next to “Unlock when device comes into range” and check the box next to “Faster Unlock” if you want BTProximity to perform fewer checks (less secure) and just do its job quickly.

That’s all you have to do. Once you’ve set things up your phone will unlock your computer when you step within its range.

OS X

To accomplish a Bluetooth proximity unlock within OS X, you can use a couple of apps. Proximity costs nothing but requires a bit of extra setup, but Bluetooth Unlock offers a more straightforward, scriptless process for $2. We’ll take a look at how to set up both options so you can pick your preference.

First, let’s look at Proximity. Download it, install it, and follow these instructions:

1. First you need to pair your smartphone with OS X. Open up your smartphone’s Bluetooth settings and make sure it’s on and discoverable, then head over to your MAc and open System Preferences (Hard Drive → Applications → Utilities → System Preferences) and choose Bluetooth. Click the + button in the lower left corner and follow the on-screen instructions to pair your device.

2. From the main System Preferences window, choose Security, click on the General tab (if not already selected by default), and check the box next to “Require password immediately after sleep or screen saver begins.”

3. Open up AppleScript Editor (Hard Drive → Applications → Utilities → Applescript Editor) and create a new script. Save it as UnlockComputer and put the following code into it:

   tell application "System Events"
   set ss to screen saver "Random"
   start ss
   end tell

4. Create another script, save it as LockComputer, and put the following code into it:
   

   tell application "System Events"
   set ss to screen saver "Random"
   start ss
   end tell

5. Open up Proximity and find it in your menu bar. Click on it and choose Preferences.

6. In the Bluetooth Device section, click Change Device and choose your smartphone.

7. In the Out of Range Script section, click Change and choose the LockComputer script.

8. In the In Range Script section, click Change and choose the UnlockComputer script.

9. Close the Preferences window and give it a try.

If you prefer using Bluetooth Unlock, download it, install it, and follow these instructions:

1. Open up Bluetooth Unlock and click the Device button to pair and select your smartphone.

2. Choose whether you want automatic unlocking to happen if the device is in range or has a minimum signal level. If you choose minimum signal level, you’ll probably want to set it fairly low.

3. Enter and confirm a password to use to unlock your Mac in the event you don’t have your phone (or something just doesn’t work right).

4. Change any other settings you’d like, click Save, and close the window.

That’s all you have to do. Now you can unlock your Mac with your smartphone.

Automatically Unlock Your Phone When You’re at Home

You lock and unlock your phone even more than you do with you computer, so a password gets pretty annoying when you have to keep entering it every five minutes (but you should have one). Nevertheless, you may want to protect your phone when you’re out and about in case it falls into the wrong hands. Using wireless proximity tricks, there’s a compromise: you can keep your smartphone password locked when out but unlocked when at home.

Because of iOS’ current restrictions, this feature only works on Android out of the box. That said, if you have jailbroken iPhone you can get the same functionality. Follow the instructions for your mobile operating system of choice.

Android

Tasker, which automates just about anything on your Android, can disable password lock when connected (or even near) a specified Wi-Fi network. Download it, install it, and follow these instructions to set it up:

1. Download and install the Secure Settings Tasker plug-in.

2. From the Profiles section, add a new State context.

3. Select the Net category, then Wifi Connected.

4. Specify the SSID of your Wi-Fi network in the settings.

5. When finished, add add a new task to this profile and name it “Disable Lock.”

6. Add a new action to this task and choose the Plugin → Secure Settings category.

7. Tap the Edit button under the Configuration header.

8. Under the DEV ADMIN ACTIONS header, tap Password/Pin.

9. This should be set to Disabled by default. Check the box next to Device Admin Enabled.

10. Click the disk icon to save your settings and then save your task in Tasker.

11. Now you have to repeat the above steps to create a profile to enable your PIN or password lock. Start by creating a Profile for Wifi Connected like before. Enter the same SSID but this time check the box beside Invert before you save the profile.

12. Add a new task to this profile and name it “Enable Lock.”

13. Add a new action to this task and choose the Plugin → Secure Settings category.

14. Under the DEV ADMIN ACTIONS header, tap Password/Pin.

15. Tab the Disabled button to toggle it to Enabled. Choose a password or PIN option, and enter the password or PIN you want to use.

16. Device Admin Enabled should be toggled on, but if not check the box beside it.

17. Tap the disk to save, then save your task in Tasker.

Now you’ll have a PIN/password lock enabled only when away from home.

iOS (Jailbroken)

While we hope Apple allows this feature in iOS sometime in the future, right now you must jailbreak your iPhone in order to get it. You’ll also need an app called CleverPin ($2). Purchase and download it from Cydia, install it, and follow these instructions to set it up:

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.

2. Scroll down the list of options to find CleverPin and tap on it.

3. Slide the Enable switch to on, then do the same for the Connected to Network switch.

4. Tap Networks. Provided you’re at home and connected to your primary Wi-Fi network, tap Add Current Network.

When connected to this network, iOS will not require a password to unlock your iPhone. You can also use CleverPin to disable password lock when playing music, charging the battery, or when you have airplane mode enabled. Feel free to turn on these features as well if you like them, or add any other Wi-Fi networks you’d like to use to disable password lock.

Unlock Even More Stuff

Using wireless proximity to unlock your devices just scratches the surface. If you want to take on a bigger project, you can even unlock your front door with Bluetooth. For a good chunk of change, products like Lockitron and UniKey will give you wireless locks for your home with corresponding smartphone apps. If you don’t want to spend a bunch of money, however, you can build a wireless unlocking device using an Adruino. As time progresses, we’ll see even more widely-available smartphone unlocking options like safes and vehicles. Until then, enjoy unlocking your technology with your presence.

Canned fruits and vegetables have a reputation for not being as packed with nutrients as their fresh counterparts, but as The New York Times points out, by the time that produce actually reaches you, both canned and fresh are on pretty equal footing.

In fact, canned fruits and vegetables sometimes retain more of their nutrients than fresh produce. While freshly picked fruits and vegetables start with more vitamins, by the time they're shipped, packed, and end up in your shopping basket they've lost some of their luster:

Canned produce can lose some of its nutritional value as well, particularly water-soluble nutrients like vitamins B and C. But over all, the nutrients in canned fruits and vegetables tend to be relatively stable because they are protected from the deteriorating effects of oxygen, a fact emphasized in an extensive report on the subject published in The Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture by researchers at the University of California, Davis.

“Fresh fruits and vegetables usually lose nutrients more rapidly than canned or frozen products,” the researchers wrote. “Losses of nutrients during fresh storage may be more substantial than consumers realize” and may not be reflected on nutrition labels.

Of course, both fresh produce and canned produce are still healthy, and either option is better than nothing.

Really? The Claim: Fresh Produce Has More Nutrients Than Canned | The New York Times

Photo by Romana Klee.

Whether or not your child grows up to be the next Zuckerberg, programming is a highly useful skill for him or her to learn. It teaches vital problem-solving, creativity, and communication skills. Plus, it can be downright fun for you both. Here are some of the best tried-and-true apps for teaching kids of all ages how to code.

There's No Time Like the Present

Perhaps there's no better group to teach coding to than children (cue in Whitney Houston song about children and our future). Kids absorb information and use new technologies like they're old hat. (Just ask any parent who's given an iPad to a diapered child or the dad who raised his kids on the command line.)

It's hard to imagine the amazing apps and tools they'll develop when they're older if we get them started learning how to tinker now. But most importantly, when you introduce your child to programming, in the process he/she's not just learning to code, but also coding to learn, as MIT professor Mitchel Resnick writes.

For my part, I think of coding as an interest my daughter already has that I want to foster, the same as for reading or drawing. At 7-years old, she's too young to think of it in terms of "If-then" statements, but the impetus is still the same: she wants to make a game or an animation and doesn't even question that the tools are within her reach. The awesome apps available today engage her curiosity and teach her the fundamentals through exploration and play. In other words, the best way to learn.

Here are the apps we've tried and others that come highly recommended by other Lifehackers/parents. Many of them are iPad-based, simply because that touch interface is more intuitive for young kids, but there are desktop and web-based apps as well for students of all ages.

Programming Games for the Youngest Learners

The best apps for the youngest children are centered more on graphics and simple animations than the actual code itself. While most of these types of game-like educational apps are rated for ages 8+, if your kid is old enough to read, understand cause and effect, and motivated, you can introduce the games below to even pre-K learners.

Daisy the Dinosaur (iPad, free): On a dinosaur kick, Elise discovered this app on her own and we installed it a few years ago. The app prompts kids to manipulate a character, Daisy, through challenges that involve loops, events, and other programming basics (e.g., when touched, move dinosaur forward). It's a very stripped-down, basic program, but the simplicity is a big plus for young kids. There's a free-play version in this app as well, so you can make Daisy jump in the air or walk backwards at will. (The novelty of this, however, wears off as soon as kids discover the stellar kids' animation tool Toontastic, which doesn't teach code logic, but rather storytelling basics).

Move the Turtle (iPhone/iPad, $2.99): Similar to Daisy the Dinosaur, Move the Turtle teaches basic programming concepts by manipulating one graphical object through challenges. Yes, a cute turtle (like Logo back in the late '60s to '80s). This app was recommended by several Lifehacker Twitter followers, but Elise refused to try it because: the concept was the same as Daisy the Dinosaur, you could only do certain things with the turtle, and she wanted to do whatever she wanted with more characters. In other words, she had outgrown single-task-based educational apps. Still, with Move the Turtle, kids can learn a great deal of logical programming concepts, as Wired's Geek Dad asserts. (I prefer Move the Turtle's puzzles and interface over Daisy the Dinosaur, but who am I to argue with a 7-year-old?)

Graphical Tools for Beginners of All Ages

Moving past the simple single-character-manipulation apps, you'll find apps that teach programming through drag-and-drop interfaces with coding blocks. Think LEGO, but with code. In these, your child can pull in code parts to manipulate more than one object (and access more commands, variables, and events) to create animations or games.

Hopscotch (iPad, Free): From the makers of Daisy the Dinosaur, Hopscotch is a visual introduction to programming for kids ages 8-12. Kids can select preset characters or create text objects and manipulate them by dragging-and-dropping method blocks. For example, you can move an object by a set amount on the X-Y axis, change the scale, or repeat actions. The app offers just right amount of controls for kids just starting out. They're very limited in what they can do, but this means kids can play with the iPad on their own and learn how each basic method works. (So, you don't have to feel guilty saying "Find out for yourself" when your kid asks "How do I make the monkey move backwards?") In one week, Elise made eighteen animations on her own on Hopscotch, substituting text blocks for the characters she wanted to animate. Most of those animations were simple explorations of what you can to the objects, but she learned things like how to position objects with math and time events.

Scratch (Web, Free): An MIT project specifically designed for kids ages 8 to 16, Scratch has been used by educators and parents around the world to help kids develop animations, interactive stories, and games through drag-and-drop code blocks. It was the first programming tool I introduced my daughter to, when I was taking a programming course a few years ago. I remember saying, "Hey, Elise, isn't this neat? By changing this block I can make this dog meow like a cat." She was hooked ever since.

Scratch remains our favorite programming tool, mainly because it offers so much control. It's like Hopscotch, above, but more robust, and like App Inventor, below, but more user-friendly. In Scratch, there's a huge gallery of objects you can use or customize. (Don't underestimate the importance for a kid of coloring a character just so.) And with the vast array of methods available, you can make them do just about anything. Elise wanted to make a game called "Spider Run" (like Temple Run, but with a mechanical spider chasing you and spikes in the ground that slow you down), and the only tool we've discussed so far that could really pull this off is Scratch. Although they can't be turned into bonefide mobile apps, your kids' creations can be saved and shared on the site.

Stencyl (Windows, Mac, Lunux; Free): Scratch is our favorite so far, but Stencyl, which I just learned about from our own Thorin Klosowski, is next up for us. It "pays homage" to Scratch but specifically designed to create games and can publish to every platform (iOS, Android, Flash, HTML5, Windows, and Mac). Over 12,000 games have been created using Stencyl; I can't wait to try it.

Other suggestions: Robert Hirsch on Google+ had these additional iPad recommendations:

DynamicArt [$2.99] is much like scratch but is more focused on making procedural drawings
[...]
Kodable [Free] is very kiddie-ish and makes kids perform procedural programming to solve puzzles.

There is a similar one called A.L.E.X [Free] which does the same thing with robots

I dont think this is for a 7 year old, but there is Codea [$9.99], a Lua interpreter for the iPad. Lots of cool things have been done with it, but its object oriented and may be tough for a kid to learn unless you happen to know Lua already to help.

More Robust Coding Tools for Older Kids (and the Young at Heart)

The apps below are more advanced, focusing on both on the code itself and visualizing how it works.

App Inventor (Web, Free): Formerly a Google project, now hosted by MIT, App Inventor is much like Scratch with its drag-and-drop coding blocks. It includes, however, every method, function, and other coding element you might use to create an Android app—and for good reason. After fiddling with App Inventor, you end up with an actual Android app.

This makes the online tool really robust, but the interface isn't young-kid friendly. It's probably best for at least junior high school kids or older (e.g., adults), as there are no instructions and the features aren't all that intuitive to use.

Alice (Windows, Mac, Linux; Free): Carnegie Melon's Windows, Mac, and Linux desktop app uses a unique 3D programming environment to teach kids the fundamentals of programming. It's more advanced than other kid-friendly programming tools, though great for older kids. A welcome feature: kids can see the code behind their projects in the software. Not-so-welcome: You need Java runtime to run Alice.

Video Lessons from Pluralsight (Web, Free): Online training site Pluralsight offers three video courses for kids, teaching them how to program in C# using Visual Basic, use Scratch, and use App Inventor. If your kids are old enough to sit through video instructions, these could help supplement the hands-on training they get through play.

Codecademy and Khan Academy (Web, Free): These interactive online tools are better suited for older kids (maybe middle grade and above) and adults. They're one of the best ways to learn to code, though, because you can see the changes as they happen in the split screen. Codecademy teaches web fundamentals, jQuery, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP, and more. Khan Academy's coding environment uses JavaScript.

What We've Learned About Teaching Kids to Code

We've had a lot of fun using the apps above, but I think that's because we've looked at them not from a "let's learn programming" mindset but from a "hey, want to make something? We can use this to do it" mentality. In Sarah Mei's presentation on teaching Ruby to Kids, she talks about setting specific goals when you set out on this adventure, such as "I want Lily to be so excited that she explores things on her own after we're done." For us, learning to program isn't the end result, but making something (through trial and error and learning basic skills in the process) is.

So along the way, I've learned as a parent to bite my tongue. The hardest part is refraining from hovering over my kid's shoulder and stopping myself from saying "no, use this function, not that one." Instead, I'm learning the features in the apps she's using so I can say, "hey, look at what this does" or "what happens if we do this" and we discover together where we can go from there.

I hope my wife is not reading this, but it has been said that being in a relationship is kind of like running a business. You have to make sure that the money coming in every month is not less than that being spent, you have to make sure that the kids (and pets) are […]

The post Three great apps for COUPLES that you should know about appeared first on freewaregenius.com.

Chrome: YouTube Pause allows you to solve one of the most first-world problems around: figuring out which YouTube tab you need to pause. This extension just gives you one button that silences them all.

Whether you're watching multiple videos, have so many open tabs that you can't see the favicons anymore, or you just like having an easy-to-find pause button anywhere in the browser, this extension is handy. We discovered this while searching for a Chrome alternative to YouTube Smart Pause, a Firefox extension that automatically pauses YouTube if you switch to another tab. While a pretty big majority of you seem to prefer Chrome over Firefox, it looks like there's something for everyone!

YouTube Pause | Chrome Web Store

J.F. writes:

I’ve been at an airport so often this year that I’ve started playing Spot the Excited Rookie. Recently some airports (EWR and FLL at least) have started requiring that passengers hold on to their boarding passes through the detectors. The most recent flight (out of EWR) involved an apparent rookie who challenged a passenger without a boarding pass, though it was required to get past two other TSA personnel.

Rookie: “Everyone: Hold on to your paper boarding pass as you go through the detector!” (seeing someone without a boarding pass) “You! Where’s your paper boarding pass?!”
Passenger: (confused) “I… I don’t have one.”
Rookie: (accusingly) “Then how did you get back here?!”
Passenger: (still confused) “I have an electronic boarding pass on my phone.” (points at the X-ray machine which has already taken in his effects)
Rookie: (disappointed) “… Fine. Go on.”

I have a cracked screen on my phone, and for that reason this year I’ve been getting paper boarding passes to make easier the lives of the TSA people. Because of Excited Rookie, though, I’m going with electronic boarding passes from now on. I’ve got 21 segments already and probably another 15+ to go before the end of the year. Apologies to the guys that have to decipher it.

Withholding my name would be appreciated, though I am admittedly curious about the various back-room procedures available to supervisors.

—-

Dear J.F.,

One of the rare, cool TSA supervisors I knew used to refer to the Excited Rookie screeners you speak of as the “Barney Fife Types.” I always thought his term was brilliant, and perfectly encapsulated the mentality of those screeners. I knew many, many of the “overly-excited, delusional, power tripping” types. Not all of them are new TSA screeners; some of them have been at TSA for years, and will always just be like that, I’m sorry to say. They likely emerged from the womb in Barney Fife fashion, commanding the doctor in the delivery room to surrender all tools over 7 inches and put his hands up.

The Barney Fife TSA screeners are the ones who honestly believe that every day they hit the checkpoint floor is a day in which at least one Al-Qaeda operative will pass through the airport, either in a dry or live run. They have been told in TSA training videos that there are terrorists everywhere; that there are dozens, if not hundreds of cunning, patient, well-organized sleeper cells spread out across the U.S.,  just waiting to come alive and hit the nation’s aviation system with a vengeance, and they believe it. The Barney Fife TSA screeners go through the day firm in their conviction that the terrorists are always nearby– watching, waiting, and plotting to destroy truth, freedom, apple pie, happiness and puppies. And the means by which the ever-lurking terrorists at the airport will accomplish this is, obviously, by repeating what worked so well for them in the past: either 9/11– this time with the use of some sort of advanced terrorist laser to vaporize the reinforced cockpit door– or with a riff on the Bojinka Plot that the TSA loves to drill into every TSA screener’s head.

(The beauty of the Bojinka Plot for the TSA training department is that it is an actual thing that the TSA can point to that basically covers every movie plot terrorist scenario that the organization needs its screeners to believe in, packaged in one convenient location: are the terrorists going to try to assassinate the Pope? Simultaneously bomb 11 airliners? Hijack and crash a plane into CIA headquarters? The answer is yes, according to the Bojinka Plot featured 37 times in every TSA screener’s recurring training module.)

So basically, J.F., what you are probably seeing with those TSA screeners who leap up and figuratively shout “AHA! Gotcha! Terrorist!” when discovering things such as the fact that you are not holding a boarding pass because it is on the same phone that they just commanded you to run through the x-ray machine, are people who believe that they have just thwarted that day’s terrorist run. In your case, J.F., the plot that the Barney Fife TSA screeners will believe they have thwarted will be some variation of the following:

You are a deadly, brilliant terrorist whose only obstacle to taking down a plane is the fact that your name is on some sort of watch list. U.S. intelligence agencies have collectively fallen asleep at their respective command centers, and accidentally allowed you to walk into a U.S. airport equipped with I.E.D. components, ready to bring the pain. It is now up to  TSA screener Barney Fife to save the United States of America.

Everything has gone according to plan for you, but there is just one problem: the fact that your ticket will come up with an enhanced screening mark on it, due to that watch list you’re on. Though you were cunning enough to have avoided being captured by police and intelligence agencies up until now, and to have discovered a surefire way to slip everything you need to destroy an airplane past the TSA’s regular security, you could never figure out one thing: how to defeat the formidable TSA enhanced screening that will arise on account of the four “S”s that will appear on your boarding pass. There is simply no getting around this fatally daunting aspect of security for you, and so you’ve decided there is no choice: you are going to have to ninja your way on-board the plane without any sort of boarding pass, Allah willing– past the airline people who are checking for boarding passes, past the TSA Travel Document Checker with his light and loupe,  past the ever-vigilant Officer Fife, and, finally, past the airline employee who scans everyone’s ticket before allowing them to board. Your meticulously-wrought plan will bring you eternal glory in heaven, if only you can overcome the problem of getting your surgically-implanted terrorist laser and body cavity-stashed bomb past security without the benefit of a boarding pass. 

That, J.F., is more or less what’s playing out in the minds of those Officer Fifes as they freak out and accusingly question you as to why you are standing in front of them sans a boarding pass, and then look sort of disappointed when there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for it. It is what’s either going through their minds, or through the minds of the managers or other TSA higher-ups who have made holding your boarding pass in your hand as you go through the scanners or walk-thru metal detectors a big ass deal, thereby traumatizing the screeners on the floor into reacting that way.

Either way, I think it’s funny that you’ve decided to fuck with them.

-NJR

Send all letters to takingsenseaway@gmail.com

(link)

I just found the other former TSA screener’s blog. He had a decent thing going there, and then suffered the all-too-common new blogger’s fate: he ran out of steam after a few months of writing, and abandoned the site. Unfortunately, the links to the pictures he drew on the exit lane at his airport are now dead, except for two.

His comics were pretty good. I just read nearly his entire blog (the first time I found it, I only read a couple of his posts along with his comics), and am a little creeped out by how universal certain TSA employee experiences seem to be (read his posts on doctor’s notes and gum-chewing. It’s uncanny). If you’re reading this, Sean, put those TSA comics back on your site, please, and knock out a few more posts.

From his blog:

My Name is Sean Langdon and I just resigned from what should be known as the joke of airport security. This is the organization known as the Transportation Security Administration. The airport I worked at was The Greater Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Airport (CVG) I began working for them on day one of their roll out nearly seven years ago.  I like many others thought in the beginning that we were serving our country.  But let me tell you it was seven years of pure hell and seven years of my life wasted.

I’d like to buy this man a beer.

EDIT 6/7/2013: For anyone interested in putting together a comprehensive collection of online writing by current or former TSA screeners, for whatever research-related reason, I point you to one last source: TSORon, over at the FlyerTalk forum. He is most certainly either a current or former TSA employee, probably current, assuming he has not died or blabbed himself out of his job, as his is the classic profile of a “lifer”; someone who will be at TSA up until the very end. You can read through all his posts by clicking here, and then  ”statistics.”

On April 1, I announced the Sixth Annual Movie Plot Threat Contest:

I want a cyberwar movie-plot threat. (For those who don't know, a movie-plot threat is a scare story that would make a great movie plot, but is much too specific to build security policy around.) Not the Chinese attacking our power grid or shutting off 911 emergency services -- people are already scaring our legislators with that sort of stuff. I want something good, something no one has thought of before.

Submissions are in, and -- apologies that this is a month late, but I completely forgot about it -- here are the semifinalists.

1. Crashing satellites, by Chris Battey.
2. Attacking Dutch dams, by Russell Thomas.
3. Attacking a drug dispensing system, by Dave.
4. Attacking cars through their diagnostic ports, by RSaunders.
5. Embedded kill switches in chips, by Shogun.

Cast your vote by number; voting closes at the end of the month.

This paper (full paper behind paywall) -- from Environment International (2009) -- does a good job of separating fact from fiction:

Abstract: In recent years there has been an increased concern regarding the potential use of chemical and biological weapons for mass urban terror. In particular, there are concerns that ricin could be employed as such an agent. This has been reinforced by recent high profile cases involving ricin, and its use during the cold war to assassinate a high profile communist dissident. Nevertheless, despite these events, does it deserve such a reputation? Ricin is clearly toxic, though its level of risk depends on the route of entry. By ingestion, the pathology of ricin is largely restricted to the gastrointestinal tract where it may cause mucosal injuries; with appropriate treatment, most patients will make a full recovery. As an agent of terror, it could be used to contaminate an urban water supply, with the intent of causing lethality in a large urban population. However, a substantial mass of pure ricin powder would be required. Such an exercise would be impossible to achieve covertly and would not guarantee success due to variables such as reticulation management, chlorination, mixing, bacterial degradation and ultra-violet light. By injection, ricin is lethal; however, while parenteral delivery is an ideal route for assassination, it is not realistic for an urban population. Dermal absorption of ricin has not been demonstrated. Ricin is also lethal by inhalation. Low doses can lead to progressive and diffuse pulmonary oedema with associated inflammation and necrosis of the alveolar pneumocytes. However, the risk of toxicity is dependent on the aerodynamic equivalent diameter (AED) of the ricin particles. The AED, which is an indicator of the aerodynamic behaviour of a particle, must be of sufficiently low micron size as to target the human alveoli and thereby cause major toxic effects. To target a large population would also necessitate a quantity of powder in excess of several metric tons. The technical and logistical skills required to formulate such a mass of powder to the required size is beyond the ability of terrorists who typically operate out of a kitchen in a small urban dwelling or in a small ill-equipped laboratory. Ricin as a toxin is deadly but as an agent of bioterror it is unsuitable and therefore does not deserve the press attention and subsequent public alarm that has been created.

This paper lists all known intoxication attempts, including the famous Markov assassination.

Ray Wang makes an important point about trust and our data:

This is the paradox. The companies contending to win our trust to manage our digital identities all seem to have complementary (or competing) business models that breach that trust by selling our data.

...and by turning it over to the government.

The current surveillance state is a result of a government/corporate partnership, and our willingness to give up privacy for convenience.

If the government demanded that we all carry tracking devices 24/7, we would rebel. Yet we all carry cell phones. If the government demanded that we deposit copies of all of our messages to each other with the police, we'd declare their actions unconstitutional. Yet we all use Gmail and Facebook messaging and SMS. If the government demanded that we give them access to all the photographs we take, and that we identify all of the people in them and tag them with locations, we'd refuse. Yet we do exactly that on Flickr and other sites.

Ray Ozzie is right when he said that we got what we asked for when we told the government we were scared and that they should do whatever they wanted to make us feel safer. But we also got what we asked for when we traded our privacy for convenience, trusting these corporations to look out for our best interests.

We're living in a world of feudal security. And if you watch Game of Thrones, you know that feudalism benefits the powerful -- at the expense of the peasants.

Last night, I was on All In with Chris Hayes (parts one and two). One of the things we talked about after the show was over is how technological solutions only work around the margins. That's not a cause for despair. Think about technological solutions to murder. Yes, they exist -- wearing a bullet-proof vest, for example -- but they're not really viable. The way we protect ourselves from murder is through laws. This is how we're also going to protect our privacy.

Facebook regularly abuses the privacy of its users. Google has stopped supporting its popular RSS feeder. Apple prohibits all iPhone apps that are political or sexual. Microsoft might be cooperating with some governments to spy on Skype calls, but we don't know which ones. Both Twitter and LinkedIn have recently suffered security breaches that affected the data of hundreds of thousands of their users.

If you've started to think of yourself as a hapless peasant in a Game of Thrones power struggle, you're more right than you may realize. These are not traditional companies, and we are not traditional customers. These are feudal lords, and we are their vassals, peasants, and serfs.

Power has shifted in IT, in favor of both cloud-service providers and closed-platform vendors. This power shift affects many things, and it profoundly affects security.

Traditionally, computer security was the user's responsibility. Users purchased their own antivirus software and firewalls, and any breaches were blamed on their inattentiveness. It's kind of a crazy business model. Normally we expect the products and services we buy to be safe and secure, but in IT we tolerated lousy products and supported an enormous aftermarket for security.

Now that the IT industry has matured, we expect more security "out of the box." This has become possible largely because of two technology trends: cloud computing and vendor-controlled platforms. The first means that most of our data resides on other networks: Google Docs, Salesforce.com, Facebook, Gmail. The second means that our new Internet devices are both closed and controlled by the vendors, giving us limited configuration control: iPhones, ChromeBooks, Kindles, BlackBerry PDAs. Meanwhile, our relationship with IT has changed. We used to use our computers to do things. We now use our vendor-controlled computing devices to go places. All of these places are owned by someone.

The new security model is that someone else takes care of it -- without telling us any of the details. I have no control over the security of my Gmail or my photos on Flickr. I can't demand greater security for my presentations on Prezi or my task list on Trello, no matter how confidential they are. I can't audit any of these cloud services. I can't delete cookies on my iPad or ensure that files are securely erased. Updates on my Kindle happen automatically, without my knowledge or consent. I have so little visibility into the security of Facebook that I have no idea what operating system they're using.

There are a lot of good reasons why we're all flocking to these cloud services and vendor-controlled platforms. The benefits are enormous, from cost to convenience to reliability to security itself. But it is inherently a feudal relationship. We cede control of our data and computing platforms to these companies and trust that they will treat us well and protect us from harm. And if we pledge complete allegiance to them -- if we let them control our email and calendar and address book and photos and everything -- we get even more benefits. We become their vassals; or, on a bad day, their serfs.

There are a lot of feudal lords out there. Google and Apple are the obvious ones, but Microsoft is trying to control both user data and the end-user platform as well. Facebook is another lord, controlling much of the socializing we do on the Internet. Other feudal lords are smaller and more specialized -- Amazon, Yahoo, Verizon, and so on -- but the model is the same.

To be sure, feudal security has its advantages. These companies are much better at security than the average user. Automatic backup has saved a lot of data after hardware failures, user mistakes, and malware infections. Automatic updates have increased security dramatically. This is also true for small organizations; they are more secure than they would be if they tried to do it themselves. For large corporations with dedicated IT security departments, the benefits are less clear. Sure, even large companies outsource critical functions like tax preparation and cleaning services, but large companies have specific requirements for security, data retention, audit, and so on -- and that's just not possible with most of these feudal lords.

Feudal security also has its risks. Vendors can, and do, make security mistakes affecting hundreds of thousands of people. Vendors can lock people into relationships, making it hard for them to take their data and leave. Vendors can act arbitrarily, against our interests; Facebook regularly does this when it changes peoples' defaults, implements new features, or modifies its privacy policy. Many vendors give our data to the government without notice, consent, or a warrant; almost all sell it for profit. This isn't surprising, really; companies should be expected to act in their own self-interest and not in their users' best interest.

The feudal relationship is inherently based on power. In Medieval Europe, people would pledge their allegiance to a feudal lord in exchange for that lord's protection. This arrangement changed as the lords realized that they had all the power and could do whatever they wanted. Vassals were used and abused; peasants were tied to their land and became serfs.

It's the Internet lords' popularity and ubiquity that enable them to profit; laws and government relationships make it easier for them to hold onto power. These lords are vying with each other for profits and power. By spending time on their sites and giving them our personal information -- whether through search queries, e-mails, status updates, likes, or simply our behavioral characteristics -- we are providing the raw material for that struggle. In this way we are like serfs, toiling the land for our feudal lords. If you don't believe me, try to take your data with you when you leave Facebook. And when war breaks out among the giants, we become collateral damage.

So how do we survive? Increasingly, we have little alternative but to trust someone, so we need to decide who we trust -- and who we don't -- and then act accordingly. This isn't easy; our feudal lords go out of their way not to be transparent about their actions, their security, or much of anything. Use whatever power you have --- as individuals, none; as large corporations, more -- to negotiate with your lords. And, finally, don't be extreme in any way: politically, socially, culturally. Yes, you can be shut down without recourse, but it's usually those on the edges that are affected. Not much solace, I agree, but it's something.

On the policy side, we have an action plan. In the short term, we need to keep circumvention -- the ability to modify our hardware, software, and data files -- legal and preserve net neutrality. Both of these things limit how much the lords can take advantage of us, and they increase the possibility that the market will force them to be more benevolent. The last thing we want is the government -- that's us -- spending resources to enforce one particular business model over another and stifling competition.

In the longer term, we all need to work to reduce the power imbalance. Medieval feudalism evolved into a more balanced relationship in which lords had responsibilities as well as rights. Today's Internet feudalism is both ad hoc and one-sided. We have no choice but to trust the lords, but we receive very few assurances in return. The lords have a lot of rights, but few responsibilities or limits. We need to balance this relationship, and government intervention is the only way we're going to get it. In medieval Europe, the rise of the centralized state and the rule of law provided the stability that feudalism lacked. The Magna Carta first forced responsibilities on governments and put humans on the long road toward government by the people and for the people.

We need a similar process to rein in our Internet lords, and it's not something that market forces are likely to provide. The very definition of power is changing, and the issues are far bigger than the Internet and our relationships with our IT providers.

This essay originally appeared on the Harvard Business Review website. It is an update of this earlier essay on the same topic. "Feudal security" is a metaphor I have been using a lot recently; I wrote this essay without rereading my previous essay.

EDITED TO ADD (6/13): There is another way the feudal metaphor applies to the Internet. There is no commons; every part of the Internet is owned by someone. This article explores that aspect of the metaphor.