URL Scanning For Safety

A few months ago, we looked at how you can check a site for safety and malware history with the Google Safe Browsing Diagnostic Tool. To do that, you needed to manually tweak a URL. The tool also only checked Google’s database. For an easier method that not only checks with Google, but two other sources, check out ScanURL.net.

 

Enter a URL into its search box, and ScanURL pulls data from Google’s API, as well as PhishTank and Web of Trust. It also includes direct links to the Google Safe Browsing Diagnostic Tool for any domain/website, and provides links to other online reporting and scanning services. ScanURL really does a nice job of being a one-stop destination.

 

 

If you know of any other site scanning tools, let us know in the comments.

ScanURL.net

National Day of Unplugging

Is your life ruled by your tech? Do you have a Pavlovian reaction to the notification tones of other people’s smartphones? If so… it might be time to unplug. I know — it’ll be hard. Your cell phone calls, text messages, television shows, email, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, and multitude of apps, web sites, and other technological wonders have become embedded in your daily routine. They’re a constant part of your life, now, right? Unplugging would just be… I don’t know… weird, or something.

Don’t worry, though, you won’t be alone. At the time of this writing there are already 1,382 people and climbing who have pledged to stand with you as you boldly step forward, out of the teeming masses, and turn your shit off.

Ok, so I admit that I’m not really taking “National Day of Unplugging” seriously. I like the idea — I even practice it on my own from time to time — but I’m not much of a joiner. What I find interesting is that there has become a need for something like this, at all. We’ve become so overwhelmed by the constant deluge of information that’s hammering into us on a daily basis that people actually feel the need to band together and say “no more!”

Well, no more until tomorrow, anyway.

This brings me to questions: Will turning off your gadgets from sunset on Friday March 23rd, 2012, until sunset on Saturday, the 24th, actually accomplish anything? Also… will the people who made the pledge actually be able to follow through? On the National Day of Unplugging page of Causes.com, they say that you can use the time to (among other things) “connect with loved ones” and “eat together.” But what if your loved ones and/or potential eating partners are best reached and coordinated with via social media, email, or cell phone? What if you have a flat tire on your way to meet them? What if, the universe help you, you are waiting for the bus and you are soooooooo Freaking Bored without your favourite iPhone or Android game that you feel compelled to throw yourself repeatedly into the flimsy plastic wall of the bus shelter? Huh? What then?

Still… if you are getting up close an personal with bus shelters because you can’t be alone with your thoughts for a few moments instead of playing Angry Birds, then I’m thinking that unplugging for a day probably isn’t going to do too much for you, anyway. You may be better off unplugging forever and hiding yourself away in a remote mountaintop monastery that can’t get cell phone service. Or, maybe… now I know this is a bit radical, and all, but hear me out! Maybe you could consider practising a bit of moderation in your life. A bit of balance, or something. I don’t want to come off sounding like some “dirty hippy” or something — but I think it’s worth a shot!

National Day of Unplugging is a fun idea, and I agree wholeheartedly with its message and the principles behind it. I think there are a lot of people who could benefit from a day off from the socio-tech-connected world and get back to a bit of tangible Zen. I think people should take it beyond just one day, though, and adopt aspects of it into their day to day lives. Without that… I’m not sure I see the point.

Facebook employees take over Menlo Park campus with rooftop QR code

Reblogged from VentureBeat:

• 

A few dozen Facebook employees have put their own massive mark, literally, on the social network’s expansive new Menlo Park campus.

The mark in question is a gargantuan, scannable QR code taking up 42 feet of rooftop space atop one of Facebook’s new buildings.

The code was painted by crafty Facebookers during a company hackathon in February. The story goes that chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced a “Space Hackathon,” via Facebook of course, to encourage team members to make the new office space their own.

Read more… 228 more words

Crowdtilt Lets You Pool Money Among Friends

An article from Venture Beat.

Crowdtilt wants you to take the pool of money your friends gather for a vacation and put it online. The company does crowdfunding for small groups of people who already know each other; friends and family looking to pool their money for a common cause.

Since the company’s launch in February 2012, it boasts 21 percent transaction growth each week and 34 percent repeat use from people looking to collect money from friends for concert tickets, vacations, and gift buying.

The process is what you’d expect if you’ve ever used Kickstarter, a popular crowdfunding site. The person who creates the campaign sets a “tilt” point at which the campaign will hit its funding goal and an expiration date after which no new funding can be pledged. People can contribute to complete stranger’s campaigns, but most stick those created by their friends.

Crowdtilt launched in February with backing from Y Combinator. The company presented onstage at the incubator’s demo day, trying to drum up more funding for the service.

Crowdtilt is one of 39 companies presenting at Y Combinator’s Demo Day Spring 2012 event.

Harry Potter Series Now Available As E-Books

An article from CNN.

Finally, fans of the world’s most famous boy wizard can follow his fight against the evil Lord Voldemort on their e-readers.

The entire “Harry Potter” series is now available in digital form atPottermore, author J.K. Rowling’s website for all things Potter, ending what was easily the biggest e-book holdout in the literary world.

The books come in a downloadable format that is compatible with all leading e-readers, tablets, personal computers and smartphones — including Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook. Readers seeking the e-books on Amazon or Barnes & Noble’s site will be directed to Pottermore to buy them.

“For years our customers have loved reading Harry Potter books in print, and have made them the best-selling print book series on Amazon.com,” said Russ Grandinetti, Amazon’s vice president of Kindle content. “We’re excited that Harry Potter fans worldwide are now able to read J.K. Rowling’s fantastic books on their Kindles and free Kindle reading apps.”

“By offering the NOOK editions of this popular series, long-time fans and first-time readers can experience the magic of Harry Potter in a new, exciting way and read what they love, anywhere they like,” offered Jim Hilt, Vice President of e-books for Barnes & Noble.

All seven books in the series will be available in English, at prices ranging from $7.99 to $9.99, through an agreement with Pottermore.

Rowling didn’t agree to make the books available digitally at all until last year, a full 14 years after the first, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” was published. (It was published in the United States as “Sorcerer’s Stone” the following year).

“I wanted to give something back to the fans that have followed Harry so devotedly over the years, and to bring the stories to a new digital generation,” the British author said last year in an announcement on YouTube. “I hope fans and those new to Harry will have as much fun helping to shape Pottermore as I have.”

The content side of the Pottermore site, which promises users an interactive journey through the Harry Potter universe, is still in beta testing. It’s scheduled to go live in April.

Not always a fan of the latest technology, Rowling famously wrote the Potter series by hand. Through the years, Rowling and her representatives expressed two reasons for being slow to the e-book world: a fear of online piracy and the desire for readers to experience her books the old-fashioned way.

The Harry Potter books have sold more than 400 million copies and been translated into more than 60 languages.

Tuesday’s e-book launch is the second time Rowling has made news in recent weeks.

Page-turning Rube Goldberg Machine

Reblogged from MAKE:

Check out this elaborate page-turning Rube Goldberg machine from Brooklyn area maker Joseph Herscher. The inclusion of fire and trained guinea pig really makes this one stand out.

Read more… 2 more words

Sony Files New Fingerprint Scanning Patent

An article from BBC.

Technology to allow smartphones to scan their users’ fingerprints through their screens as an identity check has been patented by Sony.

It describes a range of ways to build “light-transmissive displays” to allow sensors to look out of the screens.

It says an unidentified material would obscure the sensors so users would only see graphics telling them where to place their fingers.

Sony has not given any indication of when it might introduce the feature.

The innovation has been submitted to the US Patent and Trademark Office and was flagged up by the websiteUnwired View.

It would not be the first time a smartphone has offered a fingerprint lock – Motorola Mobility launched the Atrix last year – a handset with a biometric scanner fitted to its back.

However, Sony’s application suggests that allowing the scan to be carried out via the front of the phone would simplify the process.

“[It would] allow even a user who is not familiar with the fingerprint authentication to readily execute an input manipulation for the fingerprint authentication,” the patent document says.

Many technology analysts predict that mobile phones fitted with near field communication (NFC) technology will be used in place of credit cards to buy goods in the near future.

To feel safe with the idea consumers may demand that their phone’s security checks are more robust than a four-digit pin code.

‘Better video calls’

“Making transactions easy for consumers is something that is a goal for retailers and technology providers,” Brian Blau, research director at Gartner told the BBC.

“Having something like this that securely guarantees the users’ identity can only be a good step forward.”

The patent document illustrates the advantage of the user being able to look directly into the front camera

Sony’s patent document suggests handsets with a camera sensor behind the screen would also be better for video conferencing,

It says the handsets could have bigger displays without increasing their overall size since they would not have to leave space for a camera at the top of the phone.

It adds that the move would also help to prevent the “uneasy feeling” created at present when users do not maintain “eye contact” because they are looking at each other images on their screens rather than directly into the phones’ cameras.

Sony is not alone in seeking a way to solve this problem.

Apple filed for a patent four years ago to place a camera sensor in the centre of a computer screen so that users could naturally video conference with each other and take self-portrait pictures of themselves while looking at own their faces. It has yet to put the innovation to use.