Comcast Lays Down The Law

Filed under: Internet

If you’re one of the few that hasn’t already switched to Verizon because Comcast kept throttling your Internet connection while you were trying to torrent, get this: Come October 1st, Comcast will be implementing a 250GB monthly cap as part of their shift toward “protocol agnostic” network management.

Comcast is still making plans on how they want to screw their customers over, like having the notion to consider charging $15 per 10GB over the monthly cap or banning your internet access entirely for emailing too frequently. Yet, who knows what they’ll do?

Comcast defends their monthly cap:

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Rat Brain Robot Is As Evasive As The Real Thing

Filed under: Design, Robots, Science

In The Matrix, robots are self-aware of their existence. This is a bad thing as it eventually leads to the enslavement of mankind. The idea of a human brain inside a robot is intriguing for anyone whose ever wanted to put their brain in a robot body to become an Adrian Barbobot. Scientists are getting closer to that vision, having equipped a small robot with rat neurons to control itself.

An interesting trait of the artificial brain is that it can get bored. If it doesn’t receive any information from the electrodes it’s connected to, the neurons will break the connections, likewise, when the neurons are stimulated, more connections are formed. The robot that was built runs on wheels with an ultrasound sensor enabling it to spot when it is approaching a wall and redirect itself accordingly. That’s great and all but could’t you just do that with an Arduino?

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Freedom Stick Could Cause The Opposite

Going to Beijing for the upcoming Olympic games? Well, if you weren’t aware, China is not a democracy. Their nation-wide firewall leaves access to certain websites blocked, dulling your internet experience. No worries, thanks to Germany’s Chaos Computer Club’s USB dongle dubbed The Freedom Stick. For just $30, this device is preloaded with software which will secure your connection, routing traffic around the world through anonymous computers. The commies will never know what hit ‘em.

The stick will only be available during the games, which hopefully won’t piss the Chinese government off too much.  It’s not made of LEGOs and it’s not a Bluetooth adapter, but it’ll be more productive at a fraction of the price.  Be warned: if you find yourself in a Chinese prison for messing with their networks, the Chaos Computer Club will not bail you out and neither will your own government.

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WiFi Predator Noses Out Free Signals From Afar

Filed under: DIYs, Hacks, Internet, Wireless

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Unsecured networks, get ready for your worst nightmare (if you imagine this said in the voice of the movie trailer voice-over guy it’s much more funny.) No signal is safe from… The WiFi Predator.

The Predator is basically a modified wireless router connected to a high powered antennae, which runs off of a custom honed firmware, scoping out Wifi signals from a distance, and tapping into any unsecured wireless connections. If more than one signal is found, the Predator automatically chooses the one with the highest signal. This summer… no Starbucks is safe. (more…)

Tip: tackling worn-out Fast Port connectors on SonyEricsson phones

Filed under: Cellphones

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The SonyEricsson K750 and W800 are one of the most readily seen phones on streets nowadays, they’re pretty good phones really, the Walkman and camera both work reasonably well. The biggest problem with SonyEricsson phones is that the “Fast Port” (for charger/data/headset connection) is not the most well-designed, since you’re attaching everything to same port, it tends to wear out so much faster than other brands that have separate plugs for headset and power for example. There has been immense discussion over user forums concerning this issue, different people tried different things: alcohol to swab the dust and rust off, or simply buying a new cable; fortunately the Fast Port is improved on newer phones. Earlier today we spotted a pretty smart tip on one of the Chinese forums, and it worked really well with our super worn-out w800i. The trick is to give the 2 delicate spring-metallic flaps (circled above) on the connector some push, once they’re warmed up and bounced back to their original positions, you’re good to go. Try that out and let us know if it works for you too. –Sam Chan

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