Monday, July 28, 2014

The Big D, Dallas, Texas


Thanks to http://www.hd-wallpapersx.com/

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Do You Make Your Own Lunch During the Work Week?


Making your own lunch provides a chance to eat a bit healthier, save a bit of money, and avoid the lunch hour rush that takes up most of the time you have to actually eat. Do you do it? We've talked about whether you can actually save money by packing your own lunch and we've shown you ways to upgrade your brown bag lunch. You could even organize a workplace money lunch to encourage brown bagging among your coworkers. So, how about you?

4.6 Million Snapchat User Names and Phone Numbers Leaked (Check Yours)


Oh dear. In an inauspicious start to 2014 for both Snapchat and its users, a website appears to have published user name and phone number information for 4.6 million accounts. The leaked user info from SnapchatDB matches phone numbers to user names, and in some was in retrospect probably inevitable. Just a week ago, a group of researchers calling themselves Gibson Security not only publicized how easy it would be to acquire data like this from Snapchat, but detailed how one might go about doing it. And so someone has! Fortunately—well, relatively—the minds behind SnapchatDB have shown some restraint, blurring out the last two digits of phone numbers to "minimize abuse." They are offering, however, to show the full listings "under certain circumstances." The security hole that allowed the breach has since been patched, but it's impossible to say if Snapchat did so before the information got into more nefarious hands. Which appears to be the point of SnapchatDB in the first place. According to its authors: This information was acquired through the recently patched Snapchat exploit and is being shared with the public to raise awareness on the issue. The company was too reluctant at patching the exploit until they knew it was too late and companies that we trust with our information should be more careful when dealing with it. Hopefully SnapchatDB will hold itself to that same standard. To see if your username is part of the leak, you can use this script—found by TNW—that was handily thrown together by developers Will Smidlein and Robbie Trencheny. And even if you seem to be in the clear, maybe now's a good chance to make good on that resolution to protect your privacy that much better in the new year. [SnapchatDB]

Fix a Broken Pair of Headphones with $20 Earmuffs


If your perfect pair of headphones has finally cracked beyond repair, not all is lost: blogger Ean Golden discovered that he could make his headphones live on with a $20 pair of noise-isolating earmuffs. We've seen lots of hacks like this before, but this one's a bit more involved—and produces better sound quality. Instead of turning a crappy pair of headphones into noise-isolating ones, Ean took the drivers out of his old, broken Sony MDR-V700and built them into a pair of industrial earmuffs from the Ear Plug Superstore. The result? High quality sound with complete and utter isolation from the outside world. It'll take some tools and bravery to get it done, but overall it isn't the hardest thing in the world. Be prepared for a slightly different sound, too, since you're putting the drivers in an entirely new casing, but $20 to save an expensive pair of headphones isn't a bad gamble. Hit the link to see more.

Loopr Switches Android Apps Without You Lifting a Finger


Android: Multi-tasking is one of the things that makes Android tablets better than the iPad. There are already apps like Task Changer to switch between apps quickly, but Loopr makes it even simpler with a hotspot on your screen that activates a task switcher. You can configure the area for the hotspot on either side of the screen, along with the number of seconds your finger needs to be there for Loopr to open. It pops up as a half-circle of app icons (with their names) that you can cycle through and switch between without ever lifting your finger. It sounds like a small thing, but the more I use it, the faster I'm getting at switching between apps. People hold their phone differently, so I'd recommend you first figure out where your thumb naturally rests when you hold your phone. I've set up the hotspot just a tad lower than that to trigger Loopr, so it's easy to access all the apps in the natural arc of my thumb.