Tag: SAFETY

Without the power strip, where would we be? We'd be too busy rewiring our houses to run this blog, that's for sure. Despite our indebtedness to this marvel of modern convenience, though, we still find plenty of fault with the power-consolidation gizmos. For one, there's the problem posed by that oddly shaped charger that takes up the space of two outlets, though it needs only one. Fortunately, ...

While most of us were relaxing and getting our BBQ on this weekend, a story was breaking that saw rogue developers hacking iTunes accounts and buying their own apps to both steal your cash and improve their own App Store rankings. In particular, Asian developer Thuat Nguyen has hijacked accounts across the globe and pushed 40 apps into the top 50 of the books category and racked up over $1,000 in ...

If you're bored and looking for a semi-productive way to kill time, head over to the site 'How Secure is my Password?,' where you can spend a few quality minutes test-driving new, ultra-impermeable passwords. We have no idea how accurate or scientific this is, but it looks as if it's been created by a repentant ex-hacker. After typing in any random word or combination of characters, the tool will ...

Texting while driving is one of the undeniable scourges of the road, and some studies have even suggested it's more dangerous than driving while intoxicated. We've seen various attempts to thwart or discourage drivers from firing off SMS missives or placing calls -- ranging from high-tech, GPS-equipped systems that intercept calls based on your movement, to silly thumb socks that make typing on a ...

Share In its heyday, 'Baywatch' not only provided endless hours of shoreline safety education, but also fostered an entire generation of males who fantasized about being rescued by a panting, red-one-piece clad Yasmine Bleeth. Sadly, though, future generations of hormone-charged beachgoers in distress might one day fantasize about being saved not by Yasmine, Pamela, or the Hoff, but by someone ...

Considering the way it comprehensively screwed the pooch during Hurricane Katrina, FEMA probably isn't the first authority most of us would consult about competent disaster response tactics. But the federal agency, determined to make sure that its future iterations don't repeat the blunders of the last one, has decided to reach out to today's youth by funding a disaster-themed, educational video ...

Users of an ATM outside a cigarette shop in Beijing were surprised to find that, shortly after dipping their bank cards into the kiosk, their accounts were emptied out. The ATM wasn't hacked, but rather completely fake. The full-sized device bore all the familiar trappings of an ATM, such as credit card logos and a cash slot, and was set up in an otherwise empty glass room in the corner of the ...

Dell has long made the vast majority of its money selling Windows-based PCs. In mid 2007, the company did start selling some computers pre-loaded with Ubuntu, but they were not heavily promoted, and the selection left something to be desired. It appears, though, that the company is prepared to push a little harder on behalf of the open-source OS. A new post on the Dell Ubuntu page extols the ...

Previously, spammers have tried to spread malware by enticing Twitter users with promises of beautiful women and breaking news. Now, according to a report from Trend Micro, they're taking a different approach: using vague, random "@" replies to flood users with malware. Blogger Rik Ferguson was tagged Tuesday morning in a tweet embedded with a shortened URL. After some research, Ferguson ...

A new set of requirements handed down by the Federal Aviation Administration will overhaul the nation's air traffic control system within the next decade. According to an Associated Press report on CBS News, the FAA mandated that all aircraft and ground control must install and use GPS-tracking systems by 2020. It will cost $4 billion for the estimated 7,000 airliners and cargo planes plus more ...

Even though many of us are still baffled as to why teens feel the need to text while driving, and even though innumerable news stories warn of the potentially fatal consequences, the younguns just keep on doing it. Old-school, gory, scared-straight films like 'Red Asphalt' and the like -- screened in darkened drivers-ed classrooms across the U.S. -- may not be addressing the problem. So what's ...

Share As cars are increasingly equipped to wirelessly access the Internet, the potential for security breaches grows. According to The New York Times, computer security researchers from the University of Washington and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) have proven in a study that it's possible to remotely control many of a car's functions by hacking its computer. The researchers ...

To make the roads safer for all, electric cars might soon be equipped with unique sounds that would warn pedestrians of their presence. According to the Daily Mail, automotive regulators in Europe, the U.S. and Japan might require manufacturers to incorporate sounds -- from the roar of a muscle car engine to the buzz of a 'Star Wars' spacecraft -- into electric cars. This news comes on the heels ...

It might sound counter-intuitive, but the answer to battling distracted driving could be smartphone apps. Earlier this week, David Pogue wrote about some of the different applications that lock your cell phone while you're driving. The apps he reviewed -- iZup, tXtBlocker, CellSafety and ZoomSafer -- range in price from $0 to $25, and they all require a monthly subscription fee. To determine when ...

digg_url ='http://www.switched.com/2010/04/29/new-security-concerns-floating-around-in-cloud-computing/'; While cloud computing might be one of the hottest trends in tech these days, it's not without risks. Both consumers and businesses face hazards that most proponents have been reluctant to discuss. Think of the cloud as a central supercomputer that stores both data and applications. ...