Let’s start off this weekend’s links post with some advertising. We like targeted ads (mostly because we don’t have pooping problems and are tired of hearing about Activia). So we applaud IBM for finding our number with this commercial which produces a stop-motion animation using single atoms as pixels. Wow! [via Reddit and Internet Evolution]
Speaking of commercials, here’s some snake-oil which lets you touch a boob without being in the same room with the person [Thanks Michael].
Moving right along we’ve got a trio of trackpad hacks. There’s one that lets you use the keyboard and trackpad of a MacBook as a standalone USB input device [via Reddit]. Or you could take a Toshiba laptop to the tablesaw to turn it into a USB trackpad. But maybe your Acer C7 Trackpad doesn’t work very well and you just need better grounding.
[Nick McGill] is a member of the team developing an upper body exoskeleton as an assistive technology. This made the rounds on tech websites but the lack of in-depth build info on the project site kept it from getting its own feature here.
If you have a router capable of running DD-WRT here’s a method of setting up a PPTP VPN for free.
And finally, you may remember hearing about the original Prince of Persia source code being discovered and released about a year ago. Well [Adam Green] figured out how to compile it into the original Apple II floppy disks. [Thanks Arthur]
how well does the vpn protect your privacy?
can you be able to download from torrent without getting a c&d notice or even lose your internet connection?
Really?
This merely permits you to browse the Internet from your home Internet and access machines on your home LAN from anywhere in the world. It looks like you are behind your firewall, not outside of it.
Commercial VPNs do protect your privacy because they let you use their Internet connection for the illegal business. They have a variation of that software running on their site.
Also, PPTP is incredibly insecure. You might as well post all your personal information and passwords in plain text on a google-crawled website (other than facebook, that is).
PPTP isn’t insecure per se, it just does not add any. Your traffic is still the same. Whether that traffic is encrypted or not is up to other protocols and your decision to use them.
As far as browsing with a VPN is concerned, it is little more than another proxy. They are useful for accessing remote LAN resources as if you were co-lo, as is their purpose.
A virtual private network, correct me if I’m wrong guys, will encrypt your traffic send it to the VPN server deeley and then out into the internet at large.
It’s used mainly to hide your activities from your local network. This lets you do what you want over the web if you are say behind a coporate firewall, the great firewall of china or using an insecure public wifi.
In short no.
Screw everything else, an article needs to be devoted to the IBM links, especially the making of video.
Moving individual atoms using a magnet which consists of only 12 atoms is simply amazing.
but but…. I have pooping problems..
Anybody got a clue where can i buy those actuators shown in the Durex video?
Never mind. I found it.
https://catalog.precisionmicrodrives.com/order-parts/product/c10-100-10mm-linear-resonant-actuator-3-6mm-type
Get ’em for 1/6th the price from eBay! Super resonant linear actuator? The internet kicks out more for vibration motor..
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Replacement-Vibrate-Vibrator-Vibration-Motor-Flex-Cable-for-iPhone-4S-4GS-UK-/170899207953?pt=UK_Mobiles_Accessories_RL&hash=item27ca62f711
Ok, I actually see now that the linear vibration models have slightly different properies to the normal rotating mass versions. This may or may not be a criteria for your application, but if not, save yourself a few quid!
Is there a name for the type of cable and pulley actuator used on the elbow of that TitanArm?
Don’t know, but I think they missed a trick by not having some wrist support; even a solid brace to rest the back of the hand against would offload the weight when lifting heavy objects. I can’t tell if there’s any back-bracing either.
“…pooping…”
Seriously? Have we degenerated so much we have to use childish language to express ideas related to biology now?
Sir, I believe you may have a rod lodged deeply in your colon.
I feel dumb about this, but the lack of pictures on this posts distracts me.