Not too long ago OpenDNS was very upset with Google when they offered their Public DNS service. OpenDNS, a service I recommended previously, can be used instead of the DNS servers your ISP uses to give you a faster resolution of domain names to IP addresses. These days I will use either OpenDNS or Google Public DNS when troubleshooting issues or trying to optimize performance. … [Read more...]
Archives for August 2011
Cleverbot Talks With Cleverbot – Confirms Artificial Intelligence Artificially Intelligent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnzlbyTZsQY I feel dirty after watching that, like I was eavesdropping on a private conversation. Cleverbot might be more clever when half of the conversation comes from a human but when both sides come from Cleverbot things just get weird. (Via IEEE Spectrum) … [Read more...]
Dwolla’s Proxi Enables Payments Between People Without The Latest Hardware
Dwolla, a PayPal competitor that boasts itself as being built for consumers, developers, and merchants, has been making some strides to innovate the online payment industry. Their latest innovation is called Proxi and allows you to pay people or places near you, pay vendors on the go, and accept payments wherever you are without credit card fees. Announced on the Dwolla blog … [Read more...]
Costly Computer Bugs: Ariane 5 Flight 501
Flight 501, which took place on Tuesday, June 4, 1996, was the first, and unsuccessful, test flight of the European Space Agency's Ariane 5 expendable launch system. Due to an error in the software design (inadequate protection from integer overflow), the rocket veered off its flight path 37 seconds after launch and was destroyed by its automated self-destruct system when high … [Read more...]
Know Your 4th Amendment Rights When It Comes To Police Searching Your Phone or Computer
The Fourth Amendment, the one that protects you from unreasonable government searches and seizures, how well do you know it? What about how it applies to police want to search your password-protected laptop or smartphone? The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a great write-up to help you know your rights. The EFF provides this helpful information on their website, as a 1-page … [Read more...]