Unless you’re a real die-hard fan of certain obscure technological practices, you’ve probably never heard of Bernie Spindel. He’s not exactly well-known; his only Wikipedia entry is over in the French edition, and it’s been a couple decades since anyone ever published anythin...

Science has proven that nearly every single human possesses a sadistic side. I totally agree - few things work better to brighten up your day than a prank with friends or colleagues. Today we’re focusing on two simple nerdy pranks. We’ll start by laying out two basic rules - to ensure so...

I just downloaded an iso of Knoppix 6, which is now said to also good for netbooks and low-end machines. There’s always a chance to try out other Linux distros so I’d probably be busy trying to figure it out for myself tonight, if ever I encounter problems with it. But there’s actu...

Back in the late ’80s I bought a dedicated word processor. My main criterion at the time was something that seems silly now: I wanted printed output that would be indistinguishable from a typewriter. So I got a Brother WP-500, which featured a daisywheel printer. This enabled me to produce doc...

It’s been seven years since the first, last, and only series of anthrax (or other chemical- or biological-agent) mailings through the U.S. mail; it’s been seven months since the prime suspect in those incidents committed suicide. You probably don’t think about it a whole lot anymor...

Leonardo’s helicopter Originally uploaded by betsythedevine …of Leonardo’s helicopter — John Graham-Cummings’s The Geek Atlas sounds like a fascinating travel guide. To quote its description at O’Reilly Books: With this unique traveler’s guide, you’ll ...

I’m not afraid to admit that I’ve been bitten by the Guitar Hero bug that’s caught hold of so many other people before me! While it’s mostly a party game to throw on when you have people around for beers and what not, some practice in your spare time doesn’t go astray! ...

About a week ago, I posted a kind of offhand remark about how the “hackability” of non-wireless network hardware seemed to be largely under-explored, unlike the hundreds, literally, of wireless routers that have been hacked and modded. I pointed to obsolete - or at least “unsupport...

I have been ever so slightly *MIA* here, I realize.  This is due to several reasons - - some personal - - others just involve lots of work and lots of catching up on work!  I do have lots going on, though - so let me get right to it! A few months back, I did a post here about a site that I had lau...

Hackedgadgets links to a quite clever homemade suitcase security system with, unfortunately, a pretty high potential to be mistaken for a bomb. It’s not that this - securing your bag - is necessarily a bad idea, but authorities worldwide tend to take a fairly dim view of people walking around ...