Chad’s News

Here at the Chad’s News network command center, we plan to continue using Windows XP for a long, long time. But we recognize that some people have purchased new equipment and are pretty much forced to use Windows Vista. The linked article has some nice tips for making Vista less annoying.

Link: http://lifehacker.com/…

In an update to this Chad’s News article, the researchers at LS9 have made some significant advances with their genetically-engineered bacteria that create gasoline, especially in terms of what can be used as raw materials. From the article: “The company is not interested in using corn as feedstock … instead, different types of agricultural waste will be used according to whatever makes sense for the local climate and economy: wheat straw in California, for example, or woodchips in the South.”

Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/…
(via Engadget)

The linked site has a huge library of user’s manuals that you can download and print. For those so inclined, you can also upload documents.

Link: http://safemanuals.com/
(via Kim Komando)

The title of this post isn’t really accurate, but friends make hills appear to be easier to climb. Researchers asked test subjects to assess the steepness of a hill. Those who were with friends believed the hill was 10-15 percent less steep, compared to subjects who were alone. And those who were told to just think about a friend assessed the hill 20% less steep, compared to others. What I’m wondering, though, is how did they think up this study in the first place?

Link: http://www.newscientist.com/…

In response to last week’s theatrical release of The Incredible Hulk, the linked article lists 10 movie characters that could take on the Hulk and possibly win. Personally, I think Dr. Manhattan and Jean Gray should be tied for first place. (And if you’re wondering who the heck is Dr. Manhattan, don’t fret—the Watchmen movie hasn’t been released yet.)

Link: http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/…
(via digg)

With the release of Firefox 3 yesterday, the linked article has some tips for the power user.

Link: http://lifehacker.com/…

The linked article performs various speed tests on four different browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, and Safari. There wasn’t really a clear winner, but Internet Explorer was definitely the loser.

Link: http://lifehacker.com/…

Ransomware is malicious software that encrypts your computer files, say via a virus, and then demands you pay money to get them unencrypted. There’s a new strain of a virus that’s doing this, and it’s in the wild. Fortunately the encryption key is only 1024 bits, which means it’s susceptible to a brute-force algorithm (see a related Chad’s News article).

Link: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/…
(via digg)

The things you can do with a floppy drive stepper motor and mad programming skills.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/…
(via Neatorama)

Mozilla has announced that Firefox 3 will be released on Tuesday, June 17th, 2008. They’re attempting to set the world record for most software downloads in a 24-hour period. Personally I like to wait a bit so that most of my extensions get ported.

Link: http://developer.mozilla.org/…
(via Lifehacker)

This weapon is capable of identifying and destroying multiple ground targets. The first link is a video explaining how the weapon works, including real film footage. The second link has an embedded video showing a reconstruction of an Iraq war event where the BLU-108 played a major part. It’s just amazing how far weapons technology has come.

Link #1: http://www.youtube.com/…
(via digg)

Link #2: http://blog.wired.com/…

Here are some nice posters for the geek in your life. My favorite is the world map with each country’s top-level domains.

Link: http://royal.pingdom.com/…
(via The Presurfer)