Mobile
Friday, August 30, 2013
Tech Paintstravaganza: Paint Louis 2013
Posted By Desiree Kane on Fri, Aug 30, 2013 at 11:13 AM
June 2013 was a great month for the city of St. Louis, Mo., as street artists from a dozen states, even attracting graf writers from as far as Puerto Rico, revived an event that had died in 2001 called Paint Louis.
As I drove through the city simply sight-seeing, I decided to go to the St. Louis Gateway Arch. Since I have a nose for the awesome and remote, I continued driving right on past the arch, not knowing why. Suddenly, I stumbled upon what must be close to a mile of truly excellent street art.
When you first approach and go past the 1920s pumping station, there's this, which happens to be, in my opinion, one of the best crew pieces, from ATT:
Here are some more photos to look at. (To see more detail, click the image and it'll take you to the full size photo):
As I drove through the city simply sight-seeing, I decided to go to the St. Louis Gateway Arch. Since I have a nose for the awesome and remote, I continued driving right on past the arch, not knowing why. Suddenly, I stumbled upon what must be close to a mile of truly excellent street art.
When you first approach and go past the 1920s pumping station, there's this, which happens to be, in my opinion, one of the best crew pieces, from ATT:
Here are some more photos to look at. (To see more detail, click the image and it'll take you to the full size photo):
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Hack Attack Nightmare: oclHashcat-plus
Posted By Desiree Kane on Wed, Aug 28, 2013 at 12:24 PM
oclHashcat-plus, the password-cracking software, released v.0.15 recently. If nothing else, this serves to remind us that even the most diligent net citizens need to not only regularly change passwords but also make the super sensitive ones more random and impossible to remember. Even fictional phrases aren't safe. Here's a very, very basic tutorial on how hashcat works to get you started, then we can get into why oclHashcat-plus' new version matters:
From ArsTechnica:
At any rate, here's an excellent random password generator. Learn it, love it, oh, and make sure your password is over 55 characters long and basically nonsensical in nature if you want half a chance at having a truly secure one. Good luck!
From ArsTechnica:
Yiannis Chrysanthou, a security researcher who recently completed his MSc thesis on modern password cracking, was able to crack the password "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn1." That's the fictional occult phrase from the H.P. Lovecraft short story The Call of Cthulhu. It would have been impossible to use a brute-force attack or even a combined dictionary to crack a phrase of that length. But because the phrase was contained in this Wikipedia article, it wound up in a word list that allowed Chrysannthou to crack the phrase in a matter of minutes.However, PC World's report should quell some fears:
Until now, hackers and security consultants who cracked such words had to use software controlling the central processing unit of their computer or that used one or more graphics cards to crack a single hash. This weekend's update means that for the first time, Hashcat users can achieve speeds as high as eight billion guesses per second on a virtually unlimited number of compromised hashes. Breaking the 15-character limit is just one of several improvements designed to bring increased speed and precision to the password cracking program.
The tool shatters encryption with (relative) ease, but your hashed passwords need to be leaked from a compromised website before would-be hackers can get to crackin'.So, here's to hoping that there are some diligent website operators who keep their host servers secure. To be fair and clear, this does not mean that a would-be password cracker can point the tool at a website and have it just sit there until it ultimately guesses login credentials. The website itself would have to be compromised first.
At any rate, here's an excellent random password generator. Learn it, love it, oh, and make sure your password is over 55 characters long and basically nonsensical in nature if you want half a chance at having a truly secure one. Good luck!
For more commentary, follow me on Twitter @dbirdy, for more photos peep my Flickr and to see all videos, subscribe to my YouTube channel here!
Friday, August 23, 2013
Tech Q&A with CLT Tech Power Couples: The Van Fleet Edition
Posted By Desiree Kane on Fri, Aug 23, 2013 at 4:00 PM
Charlotte is host to a number of annual and semi-annual tech conferences, and organizing them is a difficult, often thankless job. It's this kind of selfless behavior that makes our tech community powerful and inclusive.
As the community grows - positively - it's turning local organizers of said conferences into power-houses in the tech community. Many of those organizers are couples that band together to entice startup folks and angel investors to Charlotte. Enter Megan and Jim Van Fleet.
Megan is a stay-at-home mom. Jim is a startup founder and, I might add, has the best startup newsletter in town.Despite her pint-sizeynessMegan's upbeat attitude and tireless work toward making the Charlotte tech scene stronger is what makes her half of one gnarly power couple. So, without further adieu, I present to you this Q&A with Megan Van Fleet:
CL: What events have you organized in the last 18 months?
MVF: Charlotte StartUp Weekend, currently working on BarCampCLT
CL: The name of Jim's startup:
MVF: LaunchPad Code Academy
CL: How many events have you organized, and how long have you been at it?
MVF: Charlotte StartUp Weekend for three events; I've volunteered with Ignite Charlotte for three events and BarcampCLT for two events
CL: What is the No. 1 thing that makes you so awesome?
MVF: It's hard to narrow it down. Probably the company I keep.
CL: Where did you get the idea to begin organizing?
MVF: When I decided to leave my job to stay home with my son JJ, I didn't feel like I would be fulfilled doing baby stuff all day. So I looked around for volunteer opportunities in Charlotte with organizations and events that interested me. My husband had been a co-organizer of CSW before that, and I loved the energy surrounding the event. I also knew that they needed help with the little details, which is one of my strengths, so I saw it as a natural fit. My role has grown each year.
CL: What's the biggest lesson you've learned through organizing?
MVF: It's important not to force a fit between you and an event/organization. Consider what you're passionate about, and look for organizations involved in those areas. You're likely to be more motivated to help out and follow through.
CL: What is the one piece of tech you couldn't live without?
MVF: My iPhone. I use it for everything. Every crack in the glass has a story (the story usually ends with, "...and then JJ threw my phone.") Also, power strips.
Next up in this series: The Bjers family!
For more commentary, follow me on Twitter @dbirdy, for more photos peep my Flickr and to see all videos, subscribe to my YouTube channel here!
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Tech Soylent: For people, not of people
Posted By Desiree Kane on Wed, Aug 21, 2013 at 10:00 AM
With flying cars and Soylent both in the news recently, we're well on our way to a very Jetsonian existence.
Here's the skinny from Vice:
Image: Vice
The prospects for ending global hunger are huge with this project, but would you put it in your mouth or replace your entire food intake with it like the inventors hope?
Image: ViceSoylent is a liquid food replacement that aims to deliver a full allotment of a human being's daily nutritional needs. It's cobbled together from basic ingredients like maltodextrin, rice protein, and potassium gluconate. Its founder Rob Rhinehart subsisted on the drink alone for 30 days as a proof of concept. Rhinehart, an alum of the influential tech startup bootcamp Y-combinator, meticulously blogged the experience, warts and all - at one point he experienced joint aches as a result of a sulfur deficiency - and won a devoted following. He's now soliciting data from some 50 beta testers to refine the product, which is currently at version 0.8.
The company, which is based in Oakland, has already surpassed $1 million in pre-orders, and is about to begin mass-producing Soylent and shipping to consumers by the end of September. He's also fielding meetings with VCs, who've no doubt seen the explosive and he's getting ready to mass produce the finalized Soylent formula. His project has also engendered a grassroots effort amongst DIY food drink hackers - people across the nation are sharing their own Soylent recipes.
The end goal is to make a cheap, nutritious alternative for people who don't have the time or the means to eat well. Rhinehart is aiming for nothing less than to change the way we eat; he imagines a future where meals of solid food are largely recreational, and only eaten a few times a day. He also hopes his product will be a boon to the hungry - when production scales up, he hopes to sell a day's worth of Soylent for just $5.
The prospects for ending global hunger are huge with this project, but would you put it in your mouth or replace your entire food intake with it like the inventors hope?
For more commentary, follow me on Twitter @dbirdy, for more photos peep my Flickr and to see all videos, subscribe to my YouTube channel here!
Teaser image credit: The Warehouse WebcomicFriday, August 16, 2013
Tech America the Weirdiful: Dinosaurs
Posted By Desiree Kane on Fri, Aug 16, 2013 at 3:09 PM
Ah, dinosaurs; the quintessential childhood fascination. Apparently, America had a national fascination with them back in the 1960s, and sculptures from this long gone dinosaur renaissance are curiously sprinkled all over the country.
In Williams, Ariz., parking lots:
Not dinosaurs, but close, can be found at Porter Sculpture Park:
They're everywhere! In California:
In Williams, Ariz., parking lots:
Not dinosaurs, but close, can be found at Porter Sculpture Park:
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Tech Top 10 North Carolina memes
Posted By Desiree Kane on Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 1:10 PM
Memes are like cultural germs that spread around the Internet like a bad case of Guilford County Syphilis. If the ones I've seen about North Carolina are all derogatory, what does that say about us as a state? Should we be worried? Does the Internet think we're a bunch of bass-ackwards bumpkins? Maybe, especially since we keep making the news in all the wrong ways.
Regardless of if that's true or not, here are the top 10 best memes about North Carolina available on the Internets today. Some are funny, some are insulting, and some are commentary on our ridiculously bipolar weather patterns. At any rate, enjoy!
#1:
#2:
#3:
Regardless of if that's true or not, here are the top 10 best memes about North Carolina available on the Internets today. Some are funny, some are insulting, and some are commentary on our ridiculously bipolar weather patterns. At any rate, enjoy!
#1:
#2:
#3:
Friday, August 9, 2013
NeverWet
Posted By Desiree Kane on Fri, Aug 9, 2013 at 12:00 PM
There's no worse feeling than the moment you watch your phone drop (accidentally, of course) into a glass of water or to feel it flip its way out of your back pocket and into somewhere worse: the toilet. Enter NeverWet:
So many questions come to mind! Junkee.com has the best commentary on the whole thing:
I'm immediately compelled to coat everything I own in NeverWet. While I won't do that (today), if anyone actually does this to their phone or other tech (which I do not recommend doing) please shoot me an email and tell me your experience!
So many questions come to mind! Junkee.com has the best commentary on the whole thing:
Couple questions left unanswered:It's $20 and available to the public.
A) What does it taste like?
B) What does it feel like?
C) How much cancer will it give me, and how quickly?
D) What happens if you get it on your hands and then you want to wash it off your hands? Will you be NeverWet forever?
5) If you spray the inside walls of a glass tumbler with NeverWet but not the inside base of that tumbler, and then you fill up the tumbler with water or with another liquid of your choice, like mustard, will it form a mustard tower inside the tumbler? Can you take a photo of the mustard tower and send it to us very soon?
I'm immediately compelled to coat everything I own in NeverWet. While I won't do that (today), if anyone actually does this to their phone or other tech (which I do not recommend doing) please shoot me an email and tell me your experience!
For more commentary, follow me on Twitter @dbirdy, for more photos peep my Flickr and to see all videos, subscribe to my YouTube channel here!
Teaser image is a screenshot by Desiree Kane.Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Tech Do Before You Die: Sturgis Rally
Posted By Desiree Kane on Wed, Aug 7, 2013 at 3:56 PM
Upon entering the city, some of the most epic beards this side of the Mississippi start showing up alongside middle-aged women dressed in pasties and chaps, the uniform.
Image: Corby Bodenburg
There are no shits given at Sturgis. In fact, you might get your ass kicked if you do give any. Or, at least, that's how it appears on the surface.
Friday, August 2, 2013
Tech Las Vegas: 6 things to do besides party until you puke, from a native
Posted By Desiree Kane on Fri, Aug 2, 2013 at 10:11 AM
We all know what all goes on in Las Vegas: the parties, the bad decisions, the drinking until you puke in the club, the gambling, and just all around being generally scandalous because it's Vegas, baby! But, if you're like me, that was fun many years ago and now you'd rather go adventuring than be caught dead in a nightclub.
I grew up in Las Vegas. It's my hometown. So, here are some adventures I'd recommend that do not involve the fist-pumping meat markets, sausage fests filled with rhinestoned Ed Hard-on shirts, or puke-shitting your way through a hangover that the city of sin is often associated with:
#1: Go to the dance and redefine the square
Hipsters are often accused of liking really obscure stuff but honestly, there are possibly few things less obscure than the randomly lively square dancing community in the Las Vegas Valley. Four times a year the local square dance groups put on a fancy dance and bring in a big-deal professional caller from out of town like this guy, Mike Sikorsky:
This is one of the best, most "honest fun" things out there to do, frankly.
I grew up in Las Vegas. It's my hometown. So, here are some adventures I'd recommend that do not involve the fist-pumping meat markets, sausage fests filled with rhinestoned Ed Hard-on shirts, or puke-shitting your way through a hangover that the city of sin is often associated with:
#1: Go to the dance and redefine the square
Hipsters are often accused of liking really obscure stuff but honestly, there are possibly few things less obscure than the randomly lively square dancing community in the Las Vegas Valley. Four times a year the local square dance groups put on a fancy dance and bring in a big-deal professional caller from out of town like this guy, Mike Sikorsky:
This is one of the best, most "honest fun" things out there to do, frankly.
