Archive for: safety
It’s a legitimate answer that companies fall back on all too often to cover their tracks. In the case of Android and AT&T’s reluctance to offering non-market Android apps, it is again “consumer safety and data protection” that takes cake. It’s noble that AT&T wants to keep our digital bits safe. But at what expense? I’m fully capable of making an informed decision as to whether an app is legit or not. Though I’m sure plenty of Android newbs, use to Apple’s squeaky clean ecosystem, may fair differently.
In the end, it’s a rather no-nonsense approach by AT&T that unfortunately still leaves myself and many AT&T Android hopefuls frustrated. One could argue however that in the end, those with know-how and willingness to install non-market apps will root their AT&T Android devices and conduct business as usual anyway. What do you guys think? Is AT&T’s response too much of a cop out, allowing them to hide their control freak ways. Or is it really for the safety of mankind overall?
A couple days ago, the LEGO Printer was all the rage. It’s still a crafty, head nod of an idea, but a newcomer has stolen my attention. The LEGO Circular Saw.
With safety in mind however, the creator removed “the sharpest parts of the blade” and even rigged up an auto-shutoff function if the protective flap exposes too much of the saw. Nifty. Just don’t go giving this to little Johnny. Things would go south pretty quick. Video of the blade spinning action just inside…
Safety first as they always say…
If you’re a biker (with pedals now) who is familiar with the perils and dangers that night riding bring on, you’ve no doubt become accustomed to your trusty LED or army of LED’s keeping you somewhat visible and alive. A mini-strobe here or there does aid greatly in the night’s overpowering darkness. But there’s something better and geekier waiting for you…
- December 22, 2009 7:56 am
“Transparent Truck”? At first it sounds like some weird Sci-fi contraption or lead in to the often talked about invisibility cloak. But in reality it isn’t anything high tech or that complicated. The picture above shows this transparent truck concept for what it really is — a simple yet ingenious implementation of technology on the roadways. The only problem in the near-term is cost. As with most forward thinking and leading edge tech, it will cost a pretty hefty sum of money to make anything resembling the transparent truck an actual reality.
Obvious things to consider when developing such a device/service is the cost of the camera needed up front as well as the type of display to use ’round back. I can’t imaging massive 100″ flat screens would be very cost effective or resilient to the rough and tough nature of the world’s trucking environment. A projection type of system would be exponentially cheaper. But then there’s the whole thing with the transparency of the back door and door strength being an entirely different issue. A concept it will remain for now…
It’s a shame really — this technology has the ability to save countless lives, especially those living in mountainous regions. Any interested investors out there want to take the plunge?
Gizmodo > Engadget > Art Lebedev Studio (Translated)
Over the last week, I’ve seen quite a few posts centered around lighting. Whether they deal with home lighting, car lighting, or countless other forms, choosing a new light fixture or device this holiday season shouldn’t be too hard. One device that struck my fancy in particular is the Pedal powered pedal lights. The concept is ingenious and simple. Lights attached to pedals keep you from dirt nappin’ via an unfortunate decimation by a mechanical machine. To reduce the dependence on batteries and the extra replacement costs associated with said items, a sort of recharging system is needed. That just so happens to be what the pedals pictured above excel at. The Dosun J-1 Safety Pedal features LED mounted inside the pedal which pull their power from the spinning motion that pedals normally follow. Max runtime via onboard capacitors is 90 seconds. It may not seem like much, but, what the hell do you think a bike is for? Certainly not standing around and admiring.
Still, for those who have lost some faith, recharging said batteries is accomplished after a relatively short 30 second jaunt. Looking at the discharge/charge times, it’s easy to come to the conclusion that you will rarely, if ever run out of light on a normal bike ride. Even then, life saving light is only thirty seconds away. Unfortunately, fixed gear riders won’t find much love here as these are for those who ride untethered. You dare devil you. $40 sound reasonable?
Wired > Urban Velo
At first, the title may start your heart into a flurry of disassociated beats leaving you lost, scared, and hopeless. While a team of researches in Japan did in fact crack WPA encryption, the world is far from over. First, how did they do it? Simple. By exploiting a flaw in the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) they managed to blow a WPA TKIP protected network wide open. Now again, this is easily fixed — simply switch to WPA AES or move on to greener, more heavily fortified WPA2 pastures. WPA TKIP is sort of like the “new WEP” in that it is becoming pretty much useless as a security method for protecting a wireless network.
Of course, as CrunchGear highlights, you could be ultra secure and forget this stupid password nonsense all together by using SSL or TLS to keep snoops off of your network. Whataya’ say?
Source: CrunchGear, Yahoo News, Image Source
