I found a complete engineering diagram of the millennium falcon on the ole’ itnerwebz!  You can click that sucker and make it bigger.  You can also leave comments and tell me how much you love me for posting this.  If you have a nerdgazm, keep it to yourself.

Corellian Engineering Corporation made the craft, and customized it to Han Solo’s specifications as you can see his signature at the bottom of the spec.

Man, I feel 5 again, which is exactly how old I was when Star Wars came out.  I feel so grown up now!

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The AR.DRONE is a 4 blade helicopter with two remote cameras.  If that weren’t cool enough? it is controlled by an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, and the remote camera’s are transmitted to your device!

This is geek heaven my friends!

In fact, the only downside I’ve found is that the AR.DRONE’s batteries only last 12 minutes.  The good news is unlike your cool remote control (iPhone), the AR.DRONE will have replaceable batteries so you can keep going all day.  Recharge time is said to be 1.5 hours for the AR.DRONE battery pack.

The AR.DRONE comes in three colors: orange with either green, blur or yellow accents. Each model comes with two hulls: An indoor use hull, with protective loops around the rotors, and an outdoor hull without the loops.  The AR.DRONE creates its own Wi-Fi network, which your iPhone, iPod or iPad can connect to.  For now you need an Apple device, but Parrot has committed to allowing others to create remote controls using Android and other types of devices.

The AR.DRONE goes on sale September 9th and will cost aprox. $300 USD. Watch the video(s) below!

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The most popular selling computer in the world in 1985 was the Commodore 64.  Launched in 1982 by Commodore Business Machines (CBM), the C64 quickly become the computer to own and made computer and gaming history. The 8-bit Commodore 64 had some gems inside it.  It had a 1Mhz 6510 MOS processor (a close relative of the 6502) and the amazing for it’s time SID sound chip.  But what made the complete package was the price.  For the first time in computing history a high powered system with excellent graphics capability and amazing sound capabilities was available for less than USD $600!  It was an instant success.

Many of the games live on today through emulation, or revisions for the PC, Nintendo or other hardware.  Well it appears now that the hardware, at least in style, will live on as well.  Commodore USA has announced the Commodore PC64, a classic C64 with modern day components on the inside!

According to Commodore USA’s press release the PC64 will contain an Intel Atom 525 CPU, an NVidia Ion2 video card (with HDMI out), 4GB of DDR3 RAM and a 1TB hard drive.  If that weren’t enough, the PC64 will also contain a DVD/Blu-ray optical drive, a 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 6 USB ports and a 6-in-1 card reader.

You’ll probably think to yourself “But this is easy.  People have been doing this forever.”  That’s true, but this will be the first fully licensed and Commodore sanctioned machine.

I can’t wait to buy mine!

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(Click Image for Full-size Version)

1. GET OUT OF THE HOUSE ON TIME
Listen to the radio in the morning?  Stop! Use your iPod to play the same playlist every morning.  Go from relaxing songs to more energetic songs.  You will be able to tell how much longer you have by the song currently playing, and the more energetic songs get you moving faster!

2. REVERSE YOUR CLOTHES HANGERS
Once a year, reverse the hangers in your closet. As you pull clothes out throughout the year, turn them around.  At the end of the year, right before you reverse them again, give all the clothes you didn’t wear with the hanger still reversed away to a charity.

3. OPEN A BANANA THE RIGHT WAY
Ever watch a chimp open a banana?  If you have then you’ve also likely noticed they don’t open it they same way we do.  Flip the banana over and pinch the bottom of it.  There’s a reason monkeys do it this way.

4. USE ALUMINUM FOIL CORRECTLY
Just about every box of aluminum foil on the planet comes with a handy little feature built right in (that almost no one uses).  Push the
tabs on the end of the box in.  These tabs keep the roll of foil from popping out of the box when you pull it.  This works the same for most cling film boxes.

5. REMEMBER TO BRING THINGS TO WORK
When you need to remember to bring something important to work, place your car keys on it right before you go to bed.  If that doesn’t work, you can always place it in your shoes.

6. UNLOCK A CHAIN LOCK FROM OUTSIDE
Find  rubber band.  Attach the rubber band to the chain lock, then to the inside of the door handle. As you close the door from the outside, the rubber band will pull the chain and dislodge the lock.

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Man 1: So you’re saying people will “tweet” what they’re eating for breakfast?

Man 2: and “upload” pictures of their breakfasts to a “facebook”?

Man 3: No offense Future Man, but is everyone in your time retarded?

Man 4: and other people will look at the breakfasts and make comments?

Future Dude: Sorry to burst your bubble dudes, but you asked.  Yes.  That’s the future.

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Why you ask?  Well it depends on whether or not you classify the iPad as a PC or something entirely different.  “But it’s not a PC!” you say.  Does it cause a decrease in Netbook sales?  “Why yes it does.”  Does it compete with the same dollars people are spending on a netbook? “Why yes it does…”  Then by all means, we should at least consider that the iPad is related to Apple’s market share of desktop and notebook computers!

In July, Apple reported that it has sold 3.47 million Macintosh Computers in its second quarter.  Comparatively HP, the number one PC maker worldwide shipped 4.6 million computers.  However, Apple also shipped 3.27 million iPads.  If you combine those numbers together, Apple is the number one by volume at 6.75 million units shipped.

While many will continue to deny that Apple s likely the number one computer manufacturer in the United States, the numbers don’t lie.  Apple is moving up in a big way, regardless of what Acer’s CEO thinks.

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A twelve year old girl, Freddie Anne Hodges lives in Plano, and she created the iPhone application Measure Me.

“I’ve always wanted to know how tall I was because I was growing and I was getting taller than my grandma,” said Freddie Anne Hodges.

“She was kind of standing up from the table and she says dad this thing should measure me,” said Freddie Anne’s father Clark Hodges. “She went over and stood against the wall. It was almost like a light bulb moment. I was like that’s a good idea.”

via DFWReporting.

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So what gives?  Why would a software developer be OK with users stealing his software?  It turns our Jeff has discovered there are some benefits to people pirating his software.  In fact many software companies know that piracy is key to why they are #1, even though they would never admit it (right Bill?).

I admit to being a little bit nervous about writing this. The sad truth is that, these days, it is so easy to pirate single-player PC games that most gamers only have to pay for them if they want to pay for them.

You see, when people pirate a game, more people get to play it.  And when more people get to play it, that would never have purchased it (or played it) if they had to buy it, you sell more copies.

Now interestingly enough, that’s not why Jeff Vogul thinks its sometimes OK to pirate his games, even though I assure you he knows this is true.  Jeff talks a while in his blog about children in third world countries who can not afford to pay him the $25 US Dollars that his game costs.  He even get’s emails from these children begging for a free key.

When I get one of these message, what I want to respond is, “PIRATE MY STUPID GAME!!!” I mean, seriously, the time used drafting that e-mail would have been much more profitably spent figuring out how BitTorrent works.

But Jeff says the piracy by these children in these foreign countries helps him by helping to give his life meaning.  He wants to bring joy to the people who experience and play his games and feel like ultimately he made a difference in people’s lives.  Even if they stole from him.  Head over and check out Jeff’s blog for the rest of the story.

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Creativity is awesome. Creativity is what makes people unique and different. But creativity isn’t always a good thing. Social engineering is the use of a little bad creativity to get people to divulge information, such as usernames and passwords.

The most common methods of social engineering involve the telephone and email. This helps protect the hacker’s true identity and makes it easier to trust them because you can’t see them in face to face. However, in some circumstances, hackers will social engineer situations by dressing as a uniformed employee (security guard, repairman, etc). This uniform generates a subconscious trust between you and the hacker.

It is very important to weed out these hacker’s and their social engineering in order to protect your data. These artists are counting on your natural human nature of trusting and willingness to help others. They often appear to be in a hurry in order to keep you focused on helping rather than asking questions.

Using these simple tips can be the difference between losing your valuable data to theft or protecting it:

• Seek assistance if in doubt
• Ask for and verify contact information
• Ask who authorized the request
• Verify the authorization
• Be very concerned about unescorted persons
• Ask simply why the information is needed
• Report any suspicious activity immediately

FREE Security Awareness Poster

This article is available as a security awareness poster! PCI, MasterCard, Visa and American Express require a security awareness program at most companies who take or process credit cards. Use this free poster in your company to spread the word!

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Also check out the EFF’s press release which gives a little more insight.

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