Back in the late 90’s, IKEA made waves with collapsible furnitures geared for tiny homes (particularly in Japan). It seems the concept has hit appliances- starting with refrigerators.

Electrolux pioneered the technology using an accordion type system to vertically increase and decrease the height of the unit while implementing some space age heat insulation membranes to keep heat out and cold in. The construction is sturdy and should allow for years of expanding and contracting. For folks who like opening fridge doors just to check how much pizza and turkey remains, its now easy to tell the amount of grub left: just inspect how high your ref is. One level high? You better run to the grocery before that next football game!

Hmm… I think that if they made one unit that also expands horizontally they’d have a killer app.  What do you think?

Would you have faith in a software firms that promises to safeguard the integrity of your data if its own

wga

antipiracy security systems get hacked?

Oh the woes of Microsoft.  Just freshly after the release of a new version of Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool (1.8.32.0 and product version number of 1.8.0032.0) for the updated LegitCheckControl.dll, WgaLogon.dll, and WgaTray.exe, a crack flooded the market. That means that you can once again access Windows Update 100%!

I don’t endorse cracks… but here are the links for proof of concept .

Download:
Windows Genuine Advantage Validation v1.8.32.0 CRACKED (link 1)
Windows Genuine Advantage Validation v1.8.32.0 CRACKED (link 2)

I’m a hunter. No I don’t shoot deer- I shoot guys with my high velocity airsoft rifle modified to 700fps. While the bullets really sting under heavy armor, it provides a great deal of fun because you know your prey will survive. (unless you shoot a guy’s unarmored head).

When I go on these airsoft sorties, the enemy really hates me because of my seeming sixth sense. I know where most guys are hiding. That, despite the dense foliage and underbrush. My secret?

I carry a Heatseeker.

Here’s what the baby looks like.

This toy provides a definite advantage. Remember the gadgets used in Aliens?

Continue Reading »
Unfair Advantage: Aimshot Heatseeker

Be wary of  an e-mail that’s circulating that claims to be a security e-mail from Microsoft.

The danger  comes from an attached executable,  claiming to offer security patches and urging the recepient to install the software immediately to raise defenses. It’s not exactly a new social engineering scheme, but boy does this look authentic! complete with what appears to be a PGP signature block attached to it.  But wait. Don’t click just yet. Run your antivirus on the damn thing and you’ll discover that the software is a piece of malicious spam and the attachment is killware. Specifically, it contains Backdoor:Win32/Haxdoor. Continue Reading »
Watch Out: Phony MS Patch Lurking!

Im a fitness freak and I love running on the treadmill. The problem is, jogging on a machine can get pretty tiresome staring at a wall or watching endless reruns of Friends on Fitness First’s cinema.  I raised the issue with a friend. He suggested that I watch select movies on my Ipod or my aging PSP. Hmm… I never even thought of that! That was a truly marvy idea considering that I already have over a thousand DVDs in my personal library. I may as well use them for gym motivation. Continue Reading »
Watching Videos with Roxio Easy Media 10

It’s quite puzzling and occasionaly vexing that that Microsoft does not bundle a software into the OS that  monitor specific folders for file changes and iterate the changes in an east table to provide the user with means to scrutinize those modifications

Useful software like this can be helpfully insightful- popping up during occasional changes to critical files like documents or the addition of new files to a monitored directory. Of course, like the much maligned UAC, it comes with a gag switch that turns off notifications when updates become hectic. Continue Reading »
Spy the Spy: Who Goes There??

Do you really need Microsoft’s latest Office 14, the successor of the Office 2007 System? If you have a fast processor and a hardrive that doesn’t mind bloatware… then go ahead. But for me, I’m gunning for the latest version of OpenOffice.org. It’s now available for grabs.

OpenOffice.org 3.0.0 is a 100% free  open source alternative to the Bill Gate’s costly office suite, which has lost the advantage of the ISO standard Open Document Format it had over Microsoft Office since the ISO standardization of Open XML. Now at version 3.0, OpenOffice.org has integrated Microsoft Office System for Windows platforms and Office 2008 for Mac in terms of standard support.  Bottomline: zero compatibility issues when shuffling documents between computers! Continue Reading »
Download Now: OpenOffice.org 3.0.0 Final

Got Google Chrome yet? I do… but Firefox ain’t done fighting yet!

With the latest and greatest release of Firefox 3.1 Alpha 2 delivered in the first half of September 2008 and the feedback incorporated in the development process, Mozilla is gearing up for the next stage of Shiretoko.

The delightful new Firefox 3.1 is now available for download. Mozilla is offering the nightly trunk of Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 Pre signaling that the release of the first Beta development milestone of codename Shiretoko is just around the corner. In this regard, September 30 was synonymous with the code freeze of Firefox 3.1, but although Mozilla indicated that the Beta 1 build would be delivered in October, it failed to pin point a specific deadline. Continue Reading »
Firefox 3.1. New Features. Solid Security