Ubuntu Tips n Tricks

Monday, August 2, 2010

Weekly Ten (8-02-2010)

Posted: 02 Aug 2010 01:39 AM PDT

10 Latest News, Blogs, Tips, and Reviews that I find Interesting and Useful:

1. Hacker Spoofs Cell Phone Tower to Intercept Calls
A security researcher created a cell phone base station that tricks cell phones into routing their outbound calls through his device, allowing someone to intercept even encrypted calls in the clear.
More @ Wired

2. Why the Desktop Gets No Respect, and Should
I've always been the biggest proponent of powerful desktop computing and always felt like I was paddling against the tide. For the last decade I kept hearing about how the computer is becoming an appliance, and that mobile devices will rule the tech world.
More @ PCMag

3. Ubuntu, the Bad Selfish Linux
You know it's a weird news week when I defend Canonical. Once again they are under attack for not contributing enough, and for ascending to peaks of glory on the backs of Real Linux Contributors. Um, yeah. I'm not much of an Ubuntu fan, but this latest barrage seems based more on peeve than substance.
More @ LinuxToday

4. Elegant wearable computer

More @ HackaDay

5. The robot that visits your cubicle
This isn't your standard "Office Space" conversation. Blackwell boots up a "telepresence robot" -- which looks like a combination between a Segway and Johnny 5 from those "Short Circuit" movies -- to talk to his employees from his home, 10 miles from Anybots' office in Mountain Home, California.
More @ CNN

6. Facebook and Twitter's New Rival
By now, plenty of traditional media companies have hopped on the social media bandwagon, pumping out news updates on Facebook and Twitter.
More @ NYTimes

7. That Cute Android Wallpaper May Be Sending Your Data to China

What's a nice app like "My Little Pony" doing in Shenzhen? Delivering the personal information of millions of Android users to a mysterious website, that's what. The App Genome Project has found that a large proportion of mobile apps -- not just this one -- contain third-party code with the ability to interact with sensitive data in a way that may not be apparent to users or developers, but their intentions may not be malicious.
More @ LinuxInsider

8. WowWee's Roboscooper picks up the stuff too big for your Roomba

More @ Engadget

9. How New Technology Is Rewiring Our Brains
You think your car radio is broken because it doesn't display the name of the song and the artist. You tap a word on a paperback and wonder why the definition doesn't automatically pop up.
More @ PCWorld

10. The Best Goal is No Goal
The idea of having concrete, achievable goals seem to be deeply ingrained in our culture. I know I lived with goals for many years, and in fact a big part of my writings here on Zen Habits are about how to set and achieve goals.
More @ Zenhabits