Month: October 2012

By Adam Dachis, Lifehacker – October 10, 2012 at 05:00PM

FreedomPop offers free internet access over Sprint’s WiMax network. You’re limited to 500MB per month, and you have to cough up a refundable deposite for a mobile hotspot or USB adapter, but it costs you nothing when all is said and done.

Of course, if you want more than 500MB of data per month you can pay for it. Excess data costs $0.02 per megabyte and you can purchase a 2GB or 4GB plan for $18 or $28 a month (respectively). Whether you’re using the free plan or the paid plan, it’s cheap all around. That all sounds great, but how well does it work? Developer Lee Fyock tried it out and concluded it worked well in some cases but not in others:

The FreedomPop performs as advertised. It provides a fast internet connection, in areas of coverage. Sadly, the coverage is definitely lacking, at least in my stomping grounds. Also, the amount of data I used came as a surprise. Also, I was unable to use the hotspot for the one task I was most interested in: VoIP calls. Don’t forget though, that the FreedomPop service is free. “Free” goes a long way.

For more information, read Lee’s full review. He achieved pretty good speeds despite inconsistent coverage. While FreedomPop may not be a great way to replace your existing internet access, it looks like a great supplement for emergencies and travel purposes.

FreedomPop (Free) | via Lee Fyock via MacLife

By (author unknown), MacOSXHints.com – October 10, 2012 at 10:30AM

Recently I became so sick of the slowness of my MacBook Pro (late 2011 model), which has a 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 with 16 GB RAM running Mountain Lion 10.8.2, that I decided to buy a 120 GB Kingston SVP 200 SSD drive for my boot drive and put my previous 500 GB Hitachi HD in place of the DVD drive.

I left my old system in place on the old drive and did a clean install of Mountain Lion 10.8.2 on the SSD. I then set up my main user account with the same name and password as before. In the Users & Groups preference pane, I right-clicked on my account name and selected Advanced Options, and set the location of my user account to be my old user account on the secondary drive now named Data HD. Obviously, for all permissions to work correctly you need to keep the new user names and passwords the same as the old ones. That all worked fine, and when I rebooted and logged in to my account, all my Users are on the Data HD. I then used Migration Assistant to pull over all my Apps to …

By (author unknown), ScienceDaily: Latest Science News – October 10, 2012 at 08:42AM

People with diabetes who develop foot ulcers are at more risk of dying prematurely than those without the complication, finds a new large-scale study. The researchers say the findings highlight the potential need for improved detection and management of those with diabetes and foot ulcers.

By Kyle Wagner, Gizmodo – October 09, 2012 at 11:00AM

There’s a new app out called ClassicMap that offers a half decent fix for anyone who’s looking for an alternative to Apple’s maligned Maps app, but really just wants things back the way they were. More »

By Thorin Klosowski, Lifehacker – October 09, 2012 at 08:30AM

Mac/iOS: Newstand is one of the more annoying app icons on iOS if you don’t use it because you can’t just hide it away in a folder. Initially, the only way to hide it was with some finger kung-fu, but StifleStand does it in a click.

All you have to do is run StifleStand, connect your iPhone or iPad, and click “Hide Newstand” when your device is recognized. StifleStand creates a folder for the Newstand, and you’re done. You don’t need to jailbreak, or worry about getting the timing right to hide the icon. If you are jailbroken and want a solution to completely get rid of the Newstand icon, search for NoNewsIsGoodNews in Cydia.

StifleStand | Flippo Bigarella via iDownloadBlog

By (author unknown), The Onion – October 08, 2012 at 02:10PM

Ohio figures to once again be a key battleground state. The Onion presents its profile of the swing state that sends Republicans and Democrats alike into a state of terror every four years.

By John Timmer, Ars Technica – October 08, 2012 at 12:15PM

Those of us who watched the live feed of last night’s Falcon 9 launch could be forgiven for assuming that everything went according to plan. All the reports that came through over the audio were heavy on the word “nominal,” and the craft successfully entered an orbit that has it on schedule to dock with the International Space Station on Wednesday. But over night, SpaceX released a slow-motion video of what they’re calling an “anomaly.”

Watch the video embedded below (starting at about the 27-second mark), though, and the term anomaly will look like a serious understatement. The video clearly shows a larger burst of flame within the normal plume of rocket exhaust, followed shortly by debris falling from the rocket.

The Falcon 9, as its name implies, has nine engines, and is designed to go to orbit if one of them fails. On-board computers will detect engine failure, cut the fuel supply, and then distribute the unused propellant to the remaining engines, allowing them to burn longer. This seems to be the case where that was required, and the computers came through. The engines are also built with protection to limit the damage in cases where a neighboring engine explodes, which appears to be the case here.

Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

By Leslie Horn, Gizmodo – October 08, 2012 at 01:22PM

Ladies, we need to talk. Everyone needs advice sometimes, but some of the texts you are sending into the cool/sad website HeTexted are just awful. More »

By samzenpus, Slashdot – October 08, 2012 at 01:15PM

MrSeb writes “Tighten the strap on your tinfoil hat: Recently declassified documents show that the US Air Force was working on, and perhaps had already built, a supersonic flying saucer in 1956. The aircraft, which had the code name Project 1794, was developed by the USAF and Avro Canada in the 1950s. One declassified memo, which seems to be the conclusion of initial research and prototyping, says that Project 1794 is a flying saucer capable of ‘between Mach 3 and Mach 4,’ (2,300-3,000 mph) a service ceiling of over 100,000 feet (30,500m), and a range of around 1,000 nautical miles (1,150mi, 1850km). According to declassified cutaway diagrams, the supersonic flying saucer would propel itself by rotating an outer disk at very high speed, taking advantage of the Coand effect. Maneuvering would be accomplished by using small shutters on the edge of the disc (similar to ailerons on a winged aircraft). Power would be provided by jet turbines. According to the cutaway diagrams, the entire thing would even be capable of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL). The fact that there are no disc-shaped aircraft in the skies today, though, suggests that the USAF’s flying saucer efforts probably never got past the prototype stage.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.