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  • CircuitLab Offers Easy Circuit Building on the Web and iPad

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    If you like to sketch out your circuit designs rapidly, cleanly, and on the web or your iPad, CircuitLab makes it dead simple. The free tool includes an easy drag-and-drop interface, circuit analysis, easy printing, and more. Watch the video above to see the creators of CircuitLab whipping up a simple circuit to showcase the app, then hit up the link below to try it out. CircuitLab [via Hacked Gadgets] How to Make Your Laptop Choose a Wired Connection Instead of Wireless HTG Explains: What Is Two-Factor Authentication and Should I Be Using It? HTG Explains: What Is Windows RT and What Does It Mean To Me?

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  • Why Is Vertical Resolution Monitor Resolution so Often a Multiple of 360?

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Stare at a list of monitor resolutions long enough and you might notice a pattern: many of the vertical resolutions, especially those of gaming or multimedia displays, are multiples of 360 (720, 1080, 1440, etc.) But why exactly is this the case? Is it arbitrary or is there something more at work? Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-driven grouping of Q&A web sites. The Question SuperUser reader Trojandestroy recently noticed something about his display interface and needs answers: YouTube recently added 1440p functionality, and for the first time I realized that all (most?) vertical resolutions are multiples of 360. Is this just because the smallest common resolution is 480×360, and it’s convenient to use multiples? (Not doubting that multiples are convenient.) And/or was that the first viewable/conveniently sized resolution, so hardware (TVs, monitors, etc) grew with 360 in mind? Taking it further, why not have a square resolution? Or something else unusual? (Assuming it’s usual enough that it’s viewable). Is it merely a pleasing-the-eye situation? So why have the display be a multiple of 360? The Answer SuperUser contributor User26129 offers us not just an answer as to why the numerical pattern exists but a history of screen design in the process: Alright, there are a couple of questions and a lot of factors here. Resolutions are a really interesting field of psychooptics meeting marketing. First of all, why are the vertical resolutions on youtube multiples of 360. This is of course just arbitrary, there is no real reason this is the case. The reason is that resolution here is not the limiting factor for Youtube videos – bandwidth is. Youtube has to re-encode every video that is uploaded a couple of times, and tries to use as little re-encoding formats/bitrates/resolutions as possible to cover all the different use cases. For low-res mobile devices they have 360×240, for higher res mobile there’s 480p, and for the computer crowd there is 360p for 2xISDN/multiuser landlines, 720p for DSL and 1080p for higher speed internet. For a while there were some other codecs than h.264, but these are slowly being phased out with h.264 having essentially ‘won’ the format war and all computers being outfitted with hardware codecs for this. Now, there is some interesting psychooptics going on as well. As I said: resolution isn’t everything. 720p with really strong compression can and will look worse than 240p at a very high bitrate. But on the other side of the spectrum: throwing more bits at a certain resolution doesn’t magically make it better beyond some point. There is an optimum here, which of course depends on both resolution and codec. In general: the optimal bitrate is actually proportional to the resolution. So the next question is: what kind of resolution steps make sense? Apparently, people need about a 2x increase in resolution to really see (and prefer) a marked difference. Anything less than that and many people will simply not bother with the higher bitrates, they’d rather use their bandwidth for other stuff. This has been researched quite a long time ago and is the big reason why we went from 720×576 (415kpix) to 1280×720 (922kpix), and then again from 1280×720 to 1920×1080 (2MP). Stuff in between is not a viable optimization target. And again, 1440P is about 3.7MP, another ~2x increase over HD. You will see a difference there. 4K is the next step after that. Next up is that magical number of 360 vertical pixels. Actually, the magic number is 120 or 128. All resolutions are some kind of multiple of 120 pixels nowadays, back in the day they used to be multiples of 128. This is something that just grew out of LCD panel industry. LCD panels use what are called line drivers, little chips that sit on the sides of your LCD screen that control how bright each subpixel is. Because historically, for reasons I don’t really know for sure, probably memory constraints, these multiple-of-128 or multiple-of-120 resolutions already existed, the industry standard line drivers became drivers with 360 line outputs (1 per subpixel). If you would tear down your 1920×1080 screen, I would be putting money on there being 16 line drivers on the top/bottom and 9 on one of the sides. Oh hey, that’s 16:9. Guess how obvious that resolution choice was back when 16:9 was ‘invented’. Then there’s the issue of aspect ratio. This is really a completely different field of psychology, but it boils down to: historically, people have believed and measured that we have a sort of wide-screen view of the world. Naturally, people believed that the most natural representation of data on a screen would be in a wide-screen view, and this is where the great anamorphic revolution of the ’60s came from when films were shot in ever wider aspect ratios. Since then, this kind of knowledge has been refined and mostly debunked. Yes, we do have a wide-angle view, but the area where we can actually see sharply – the center of our vision – is fairly round. Slightly elliptical and squashed, but not really more than about 4:3 or 3:2. So for detailed viewing, for instance for reading text on a screen, you can utilize most of your detail vision by employing an almost-square screen, a bit like the screens up to the mid-2000s. However, again this is not how marketing took it. Computers in ye olden days were used mostly for productivity and detailed work, but as they commoditized and as the computer as media consumption device evolved, people didn’t necessarily use their computer for work most of the time. They used it to watch media content: movies, television series and photos. And for that kind of viewing, you get the most ‘immersion factor’ if the screen fills as much of your vision (including your peripheral vision) as possible. Which means widescreen. But there’s more marketing still. When detail work was still an important factor, people cared about resolution. As many pixels as possible on the screen. SGI was selling almost-4K CRTs! The most optimal way to get the maximum amount of pixels out of a glass substrate is to cut it as square as possible. 1:1 or 4:3 screens have the most pixels per diagonal inch. But with displays becoming more consumery, inch-size became more important, not amount of pixels. And this is a completely different optimization target. To get the most diagonal inches out of a substrate, you want to make the screen as wide as possible. First we got 16:10, then 16:9 and there have been moderately successful panel manufacturers making 22:9 and 2:1 screens (like Philips). Even though pixel density and absolute resolution went down for a couple of years, inch-sizes went up and that’s what sold. Why buy a 19″ 1280×1024 when you can buy a 21″ 1366×768? Eh… I think that about covers all the major aspects here. There’s more of course; bandwidth limits of HDMI, DVI, DP and of course VGA played a role, and if you go back to the pre-2000s, graphics memory, in-computer bandwdith and simply the limits of commercially available RAMDACs played an important role. But for today’s considerations, this is about all you need to know. Have something to add to the explanation? Sound off in the the comments. Want to read more answers from other tech-savvy Stack Exchange users? Check out the full discussion thread here.     

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  • The Chemistry of Snowflakes [Video]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Snowflakes start out as tiny bits of dust high in the atmosphere and end up drifting down to us as intricate water crystals. Check out this video to see the process start to finish. Courtesy of the American Chemical Society and Bytesize Science, we’re treated to a well explained and illustrated journey from the beginning of the snowflake formation process until the end. [via Neatorama] How to Access Your Router If You Forget the Password Secure Yourself by Using Two-Step Verification on These 16 Web Services How to Fix a Stuck Pixel on an LCD Monitor

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  • What You Said: How You Monitor Your Computer

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Earlier this week we asked you to share your computer monitoring tips and tricks, now we’re back to share the wealth. Read on to see how your fellow reader monitor their gear. One of the more popular monitoring tools, thanks in part to the amount of things beyond just hardware it can monitor, in the comments was Rainmeter. Lee writes: I don’t really monitor my computer constantly, only when something is hanging up and I need to see what’s causing it. That being said, I do have Rainmeter so I can quickly see how much RAM or CPU is being used. For anything more detailed, I just go into the task manager and sort by RAM or CPU. Shinigamibob uses a wider range of tools to get a more in-depth look at difference aspects of his computer: 7 Ways To Free Up Hard Disk Space On Windows HTG Explains: How System Restore Works in Windows HTG Explains: How Antivirus Software Works

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  • Compact DIY Office-in-a-Cart Packs Away Into a Closet

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Many geeks know the pain of losing a home office when a new baby comes along, but not many of them go to such lengths to miniaturize their offices like this. With a little ingenuity an entire home office now fits inside a heavily modified IKEA work table. Ian, an IKEAHacker reader and Los Angeles area geek, explains the motivation for the build: I had to surrender my home office to make room for my new baby boy ;) I took an Ikea stainless steel kitchen “work table”, some Ikea computer tower desk trays, two steel tabletops, and two grated steel shelves to make an “office” that I could pack away into a closet. Hit up the link below to check out the full photo set, the build includes quite a few clever design choices like mounted monitors, a ventilation system, and more. Home Office In A Box [IKEAHacker] HTG Explains: How Antivirus Software Works HTG Explains: Why Deleted Files Can Be Recovered and How You Can Prevent It HTG Explains: What Are the Sys Rq, Scroll Lock, and Pause/Break Keys on My Keyboard?

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  • This Week in Geek History: The Call of Cthulhu, the Columbia Shuttle Disaster, and the Birth of Facebook

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    This week in Geek History saw the beginning of the Cthulhu horror mythos, the Columbia space shuttle disaster, and the birth of Facebook. Also, check out our new addition “Other Notable Moments” at the end for more facts and trivia from this week in Geek History. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC How to Integrate Dropbox with Pages, Keynote, and Numbers on iPad RGB? CMYK? Alpha? What Are Image Channels and What Do They Mean? How to Recover that Photo, Picture or File You Deleted Accidentally How To Colorize Black and White Vintage Photographs in Photoshop How To Get SSH Command-Line Access to Windows 7 Using Cygwin The How-To Geek Video Guide to Using Windows 7 Speech Recognition Stylebot Customizes Web Pages in Chrome, Now Has Downloadable Styles Blackberry, Dell, Apple, and Motorola Tablets Compared [Infographic] Encrypt Your Google Search Queries Vintage Posters Showcase the History of Tech Advertising Google Cloud Print Extension Lets You Print Doc/PDF/Txt Files from Web Sites Hack a $10 Flashlight into an Ultra-bright Premium One

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  • Custom Silent HTPC Uses Entire Case as a Heatsink

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    This silent media center PC dissipates heat in a rather clever way; the entire back of the case is one giant heatsink. Courtesy of computer enthusiast and tinker DeFex, the build isn’t just silent but quite eye catching too. He used a combination of one massive heatsink, custom brackets, acrylic, and bicycle spokes to create a sleek case that looks as much like a computer-inspired work of art as it does a media center computer. Hit up the link below to check out the build gallery and see how he mated the CPU to the heatsink-body with a custom milled aluminum bridge. Heatsink HTPC [via Hack A Day] Secure Yourself by Using Two-Step Verification on These 16 Web Services How to Fix a Stuck Pixel on an LCD Monitor How to Factory Reset Your Android Phone or Tablet When It Won’t Boot

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  • Download the Original Fallout For Free Today [4/6]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Fallout, the first game in the popular post-apocalyptic RPG series, is available for free today. Grab the game along with a detailed manual, game bible, soundtrack, and more. Courtesty of gaming site GOG, you can score a free Fallout bundle that includes the original game from 1997, a detailed manual, a 200+ page game bible filled with the history of the Fallout games and timeline, wallpaper, artwork, and even the game soundtrack. Not a bad haul for a single free download that weighs in at 506MB. Check out the video of the in-game introduction above and then hit up the link below to grab a copy. Fallout [GOG via Boing Boing] How to Own Your Own Website (Even If You Can’t Build One) Pt 3 How to Sync Your Media Across Your Entire House with XBMC How to Own Your Own Website (Even If You Can’t Build One) Pt 2

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  • How to Banish Duplicate Photos with VisiPic

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    You meant well, you intended to be a good file custodian, but somewhere along the way things got out of hand and you’ve got duplicate photos galore. Don’t be afraid to delete them and lose important photos, read on as we show you how to clean safely. Deleting duplicate files, especially important ones like personal photos, makes a lot of people quite anxious (and rightfully so). Nobody wants to be the one to realize that they deleted all the photos of their child’s first birthday party during a hard drive purge gone wrong. In this tutorial we’re going to show you how to go beyond the limited reach of  tools which simply compare file names and file sizes. Instead we’ll be using a program that combines that kind of comparison with actual image analysis to help you weed out not just perfect 1:1 file duplicates but also those piles of resized for email images, cropped images, and other modified images that might be cluttering up your hard drive. How to Banish Duplicate Photos with VisiPic How to Make Your Laptop Choose a Wired Connection Instead of Wireless HTG Explains: What Is Two-Factor Authentication and Should I Be Using It?

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  • Star Wars: An Infographic Flowchart

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    If you can’t get enough of Star Wars lore, this minimalist set of infographics details major characters, conflicts, and alliances in the Star Wars universe. Courtesy of designer Marc Morera, the series of Star Wars infographics give a quick summary, presents all the major players in the movies, and connects all the players and events via flowchart. Hit up the link below to see all of them in their high-resolution glory. Star Wars Infographic [via Cool Infographics] How To Create a Customized Windows 7 Installation Disc With Integrated Updates How to Get Pro Features in Windows Home Versions with Third Party Tools HTG Explains: Is ReadyBoost Worth Using?

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  • What You Said: Your Must Have Presentation Tools

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Earlier this week we asked you to share your must have presentation tools and tricks; read on to see how your fellow readers jazz up their presentations and keep things flowing smoothly. Image by VectorOpenStock. Several readers favorites PowerPoint alternatives to break out of the PP doldrums. Kaitlin writes: Prezi.com An amazing tool! Enables you to create really dynamic zooming presentations, on one big canvas, with no slides! Wow-effect guaranteed. If you were reading down the comments thread and not quite sure if you wanted to check out Prezi, Dan’s passion for the presentation tool might push you over: How To Create a Customized Windows 7 Installation Disc With Integrated Updates How to Get Pro Features in Windows Home Versions with Third Party Tools HTG Explains: Is ReadyBoost Worth Using?

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  • The Art of Motion Capture [Video]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Motion capture is the process of using cameras and actors wearing special suits in order to build realistic and fluid foundations for CGI characters. Watch this informative video to see how the process works. Courtesy of the video series Good Job, a series focused on interesting jobs within the film and video game industry, we see how martial artists wearing special suits dotted with LEDs generate the basic framework for the fighters in the popular video game series Tekken. [via Neatorama] HTG Explains: Why Linux Doesn’t Need Defragmenting How to Convert News Feeds to Ebooks with Calibre How To Customize Your Wallpaper with Google Image Searches, RSS Feeds, and More

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  • The Island of Lost Apple Products

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    While Apple has has a mountain of commercial successes, every once in awhile the crew in Cupertino strikes out. Here are some of the less successful and prematurely retired Apple products from the last two decades. Courtesy of Wired, we find nine of the least favorably received products in the Apple portfolio. Pictured here, the QuickTake Camera: Life Span: 1994 – 1997 Back in 1994, Apple was actually at the forefront of digital photography. The QuickTake Camera’s photos (640 x 480 at 0.3 megapixels) were borderline unusable for anything other than your Geocities homepage. But technology has to start somewhere. Still, Apple killed the line after just three years. And while the iPhone and other smartphones have replaced most people’s digital cameras, Apple could have had a reaped the benefits of the digital point-and-shoot salad years. 6 Ways Windows 8 Is More Secure Than Windows 7 HTG Explains: Why It’s Good That Your Computer’s RAM Is Full 10 Awesome Improvements For Desktop Users in Windows 8

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  • Ask HTG: How Can I Check the Age of My Windows Installation?

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Curious about when you installed Windows and how long you’ve been chugging along without a system refresh? Read on as we show you a simple way to see how long-in-the-tooth your Windows installation is. Dear How-To Geek, It feels like it has been forever since I installed Windows 7 and I’m starting to wonder if some of the performance issues I’m experiencing have something to do with how long ago it was installed. It isn’t crashing or anything horrible, mind you, it just feels slower than it used to and I’m wondering if I should reinstall it to wipe the slate clean. Is there a simple way to determine the original installation date of Windows on its host machine? Sincerely, Worried in Windows Although you only intended to ask one question, you actually asked two. Your direct question is an easy one to answer (how to check the Windows installation date). The indirect question is, however, a little trickier (if you need to reinstall Windows to get a performance boost). Let’s start off with the easy one: how to check your installation date. Windows includes a handy little application just for the purposes of pulling up system information like the installation date, among other things. Open the Start Menu and type cmd in the run box (or, alternatively, press WinKey+R to pull up the run dialog and enter the same command). At the command prompt, type systeminfo.exe Give the application a moment to run; it takes around 15-20 seconds to gather all the data. You’ll most likely need to scroll back up in the console window to find the section at the top that lists operating system stats. What you care about is Original Install Date: We’ve been running the machine we tested the command on since August 23 2009. For the curious, that’s one month and a day after the initial public release of Windows 7 (after we were done playing with early test releases and spent a month mucking around in the guts of Windows 7 to report on features and flaws, we ran a new clean installation and kept on trucking). Now, you might be asking yourself: Why haven’t they reinstalled Windows in all that time? Haven’t things slowed down? Haven’t they upgraded hardware? The truth of the matter is, in most cases there’s no need to completely wipe your computer and start from scratch to resolve issues with Windows and, if you don’t bog your system down with unnecessary and poorly written software, things keep humming along. In fact, we even migrated this machine from a traditional mechanical hard drive to a newer solid-state drive back in 2011. Even though we’ve tested piles of software since then, the machine is still rather clean because 99% of that testing happened in a virtual machine. That’s not just a trick for technology bloggers, either, virtualizing is a handy trick for anyone who wants to run a rock solid base OS and avoid the bog-down-and-then-refresh cycle that can plague a heavily used machine. So while it might be the case that you’ve been running Windows 7 for years and heavy software installation and use has bogged your system down to the point a refresh is in order, we’d strongly suggest reading over the following How-To Geek guides to see if you can’t wrangle the machine into shape without a total wipe (and, if you can’t, at least you’ll be in a better position to keep the refreshed machine light and zippy): HTG Explains: Do You Really Need to Regularly Reinstall Windows? PC Cleaning Apps are a Scam: Here’s Why (and How to Speed Up Your PC) The Best Tips for Speeding Up Your Windows PC Beginner Geek: How to Reinstall Windows on Your Computer Everything You Need to Know About Refreshing and Resetting Your Windows 8 PC Armed with a little knowledge, you too can keep a computer humming along until the next iteration of Windows comes along (and beyond) without the hassle of reinstalling Windows and all your apps.         

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  • Build a LEGO Creation without Leaving Your Cube

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Just because you’re stuck at your desk doesn’t mean you can’t sneak in a little fun. At BuildWithChrome you can slap together virtual LEGO bricks with ease. The site, a collaboration between Google and LEGO, shows you a massive map of Australia and New Zealand covered in thousands of LEGO base plates. Zoom in, select a base plate, and get building. The block selection is fairly limited (you can work with the kind of blocks you’d find in a generic LEGO brick pack) but it’s still quite a bit of fun. When I took it for a test drive, I started simple by building a house-like structure: With the addition of a few more pieces it would be possible to pull off the wizard shop my wife and daughter just built: How to Banish Duplicate Photos with VisiPic How to Make Your Laptop Choose a Wired Connection Instead of Wireless HTG Explains: What Is Two-Factor Authentication and Should I Be Using It?

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  • Should I Leave My Laptop Plugged In All The Time?

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Should you leave your laptop plugged in and charging when you’re not on-the-go? What’s best for the battery? What’s best for your user experience? Read on as we investigate. Image available as wallpaper-size download here. Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-drive grouping of Q&A web sites. 8 Deadly Commands You Should Never Run on Linux 14 Special Google Searches That Show Instant Answers How To Create a Customized Windows 7 Installation Disc With Integrated Updates

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  • Hundred Zeros Catalogs Current Free Best-Sellers on Amazon

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    If you’re looking for some free entertainment (and who isn’t?), Hundred Zeros catalogs the current free best selling ebooks on Amazon. Visit, search, and enjoy some new books without spending a dime. Courtesy of Amit Agarwal from Digital Inspiration, Hundred Zeros catalogs piles of free Kindle books. You can browse the front page for the current top books, browse by category, or search by topic in the sidebar. When you find a book you like just click through to Amazon and send to your Kindle or Cloud Reader. Hit up the link below to start searching. Hundred Zeros HTG Explains: What Is Two-Factor Authentication and Should I Be Using It? HTG Explains: What Is Windows RT and What Does It Mean To Me? HTG Explains: How Windows 8′s Secure Boot Feature Works & What It Means for Linux

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  • Netflix Rolls Out Polished New iPhone and Android Apps [Video]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    If you’re a Netflix subscriber, you’ve got a brand spanking new mobile interface to take for a spin. Last week Netflix released a brand new iOS interface, this week it’s a brand new Android interface. The above video showcases the new iOS interface for mobile playback on devices like the iPhone and iPad. The slick new layout makes it even easier to browser new content and resume watching content you’ve paused at home or on the go. For a peek at the new (and similar) Android interface, check out the video below: For more information about the respective apps, visit their download pages to read up and grab a copy. Netflix for Android / iOS How To Create a Customized Windows 7 Installation Disc With Integrated Updates How to Get Pro Features in Windows Home Versions with Third Party Tools HTG Explains: Is ReadyBoost Worth Using?

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  • Game of Thrones Style Sigils for Video Games

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    What would the video game families of the Mushroom Kingdom, Hyrule, and more look like if they were represented by Game of Thrones style sigils? Dorkly shows us the House of Mario, Link, and more. Hit up the link below to check out the imagined sigils for a variety of video games families–if you’re in the mood for wallpapers based on the actual Game of Thrones families, makes sure to check out the Extras section for the show on HBO.com. Game of Thrones House Sigils for Video Game Families [via Neatorama] 8 Deadly Commands You Should Never Run on Linux 14 Special Google Searches That Show Instant Answers How To Create a Customized Windows 7 Installation Disc With Integrated Updates

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  • WouldISurviveANuke Assesses Your Distance From Nuclear War Strike Sites

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    WouldISurviveANuke is a morbid Google Maps mashup that plots out the effective radius of nuclear weapons on major metropolitan areas, your distance from them, and your chances of survival. Visit the site, plug in your zipcode, and set the parameters (how big of a nuclear weapon and how large the nearest target city needs to be) to find out if you’re in the blast radius. We plugged in a downtown address in Detroit, MI. The verdict? Neither we nor the cockroaches will be coming out alive. If you plug in a location far enough away from the direct blast radius you’ll also get a quality of life report that spells out the effects of a local nuclear strike. As far as startling anti-nuclear proliferation arguments go, WouldISurviveANuke is an effective and interactive demonstration. Hit up the link below to try it out. WouldISurviveANuke [via Y! Tech] How to Run Android Apps on Your Desktop the Easy Way HTG Explains: Do You Really Need to Defrag Your PC? Use Amazon’s Barcode Scanner to Easily Buy Anything from Your Phone

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  • June 23, 1983: First Successful Test of the Domain Name System [Geek History]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Nearly 30 years ago the first Domain Name System (DNS) was tested and it changed the way we interacted with the internet. Nearly impossible to remember number addresses became easy to remember names. Without DNS you’d be browsing a web where numbered addresses pointed to numbered addresses. Google, for example, would look like http://209.85.148.105/ in your browser window. That’s assuming, of course, that a numbers-based web every gained enough traction to be popular enough to spawn a search giant like Google. How did this shift occur and what did we have before DNS? From Wikipedia: The practice of using a name as a simpler, more memorable abstraction of a host’s numerical address on a network dates back to the ARPANET era. Before the DNS was invented in 1983, each computer on the network retrieved a file called HOSTS.TXT from a computer at SRI. The HOSTS.TXT file mapped names to numerical addresses. A hosts file still exists on most modern operating systems by default and generally contains a mapping of the IP address 127.0.0.1 to “localhost”. Many operating systems use name resolution logic that allows the administrator to configure selection priorities for available name resolution methods. The rapid growth of the network made a centrally maintained, hand-crafted HOSTS.TXT file unsustainable; it became necessary to implement a more scalable system capable of automatically disseminating the requisite information. At the request of Jon Postel, Paul Mockapetris invented the Domain Name System in 1983 and wrote the first implementation. The original specifications were published by the Internet Engineering Task Force in RFC 882 and RFC 883, which were superseded in November 1987 by RFC 1034 and RFC 1035.Several additional Request for Comments have proposed various extensions to the core DNS protocols. Over the years it has been refined but the core of the system is essentially the same. When you type “google.com” into your web browser a DNS server is used to resolve that host name to the IP address of 209.85.148.105–making the web human-friendly in the process. Domain Name System History [Wikipedia via Wired] What is a Histogram, and How Can I Use it to Improve My Photos?How To Easily Access Your Home Network From Anywhere With DDNSHow To Recover After Your Email Password Is Compromised

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  • How Fiber Optic Cables Are Made and Laid Across the Sea [Science]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    We don’t know about you but yesterday’s video about how fiber optic cables work just made us more curious. Check out how the cables are made and laid across the sea. In the above video we see how fiber optic strands are manufactured, including how the draw tower mentioned in yesterday’s video works. Once the strands are manufactured, where do they go and how are they used? In the video below we see Alcatel-Lucent’s Ile de Sein, one of the largest and most powerful cable laying ships in the world. Check out the video to see cable storage wells that look like small stadiums. Finding out how the cables are made and what kind of planning and machinery it takes to lay them across the ocean is just as interesting as how they work. How It’s Made: Fiber Optics [YouTube] Undersea Cable [YouTube] What is a Histogram, and How Can I Use it to Improve My Photos?How To Easily Access Your Home Network From Anywhere With DDNSHow To Recover After Your Email Password Is Compromised

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  • Connectify Dispatch Links Multiple Network Nodes Into a Mega Connection

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Connectify Dispatch wants to change the way you interact with the networks around you by making it dead simple to mesh all available Wi-Fi, Cellular, and Ethernet connections into a massive and stable pipeline. Dispatch makes it open-and-click easy to hook up multiple Wi-Fi nodes, your cellphone, and even Ethernet connections into a single blended connection. While the video above gives a great overview of the process, check out the video below to see it in real world action: The project is currently in the last phase of KickStarter funding, so now is a great time to score Connectify Dispatch at a steep discount–pledging as little as $10 to fund the project, for example, scores you 50% of a 6-month Pro license. Hit up the link below to read more about the project, check the KickStarter status, and see all the neat features in the development pipeline. Dispatch: The Internet, Faster. [KickStarter] HTG Explains: What The Windows Event Viewer Is and How You Can Use It HTG Explains: How Windows Uses The Task Scheduler for System Tasks HTG Explains: Why Do Hard Drives Show the Wrong Capacity in Windows?

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  • Ask the Readers: How Do You Keep Your Email SPAM Free and Tidy?

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Email can be a fantastically efficient way to deal with communication, but not if it’s bogged down with SPAM messages and poorly organized. This week we want to hear all about the tips, tricks, and ninja-filters you use to keep your inbox tidy. Whether it’s special filters for your Bacon (spam-like marketing that you actually want to receive and occasional review), services you use to block spammers, or organization tips you use to keep your email inbox streamlined with no message unreplied to, we want to hear all about it. Sound off in the comments with your proclamations of your inbox-fu and how you maintain zen-like mastery over your email workflow. Be sure to check in on Friday for the What You Said roundup. How to Banish Duplicate Photos with VisiPic How to Make Your Laptop Choose a Wired Connection Instead of Wireless HTG Explains: What Is Two-Factor Authentication and Should I Be Using It?

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  • What You Said: Cutting the Cable Cord

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Earlier this week we asked you if you’d cut the cable and switched to alternate media sources to get your movie and TV fix. You responded and we’re back with a What You Said roundup. One of the recurrent themes in reader comments and one, we must admit, we didn’t expect to see with such prevalence, was the number of people who had ditched cable for over-the-air HD broadcasts. Fantasm writes: I have a triple HD antenna array, mounted on an old tv tower, each antenna facing out from a different side of the triangular tower. On tope of the tower are two 20+ year old antennas… I’m 60 miles from toronto and get 35 channels, most in brilliant HD… Anything else, comes from the Internet… Never want cable or sat again… Grant uses a combination of streaming services and, like Fantasm, manages to pull in HD content with a nice antenna setup: We use Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, Crackle, and others on a Roku as well as OTA on a Tivo Premier. The Tivo is simply the best DVR interface I have ever used. The Tivo Netflix application, though, is terrible, and it does not support Amazon Prime. Having both boxes makes it easy to use all of the services. 6 Ways Windows 8 Is More Secure Than Windows 7 HTG Explains: Why It’s Good That Your Computer’s RAM Is Full 10 Awesome Improvements For Desktop Users in Windows 8

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