Cody Taylor

If you consider yourself a geek, or aspire to the honor of geekhood, here’s an essential checklist of must-have geek skills.

1. The Meaning of Technical Acronyms
2. How to Reset RAM
3. Identify Keyloggers
4. Surf the Web Anonymously
5. Bypass a Computer Password on All Major Operating Systems
6. Find a Users IP Address on AIM
7. Hide a File Behind a JPEG
8. Crack a Wifi Password
9. Monitor Network Traffic
10. Recover Master Boot Record
11. Retrieve Data off Hard Drive
12. Load Rockbox onto an MP3 Player
13. Unbrick a Smartphone
14. Replace a Laptop Keyboard
15. Rip Streaming Videos
16. Strip Windows DRM
17. Homebrew Hack Game Systems
18. Find a Website IP Address Without Web/Command Prompt Access
19. Bypass School or Work Website Blocks
20. Screw with Wifi Leeches
21. Hexadecimal and Binary Number Systems
22. How to Hot Wire a Car
23. Increase Wifi Range
24. Carrying a Computer Cleaning Arsenal on Your USB Drive
25. Running an Operating System from a USB Thumb Drive
26. Understand What “There’s no Place Like 127.0.0.1” Means
27. Read 1337 At Normal Speed
28. At Least One Fictional Language
29. How to Survive in a Linux Argument
30. Identify Major Constellations
31. Use a Camera in Manual Mode
32. Who Mulder and Scully Are
33. Javascript
34. How to Unlock an iPhone
35. How to Install Mac OS X on a PC
36. Build a PC
37. Tethering a Smartphone
38. Wiring a Home Theater System
39. Replacing a Laptop LCD
40. Make a Laptop Cooling Pad
41. Unleash a Laser Pointer’s full potential
42. Keyboard Shortcuts
43. Soldering Glasses Together
44. How to Execute a Shell Script
45. How to Hack a Pop Machine
46. Turn a Laptop into a Digital Picture Frame
47. How to Mod a Flash Drive Case
48. Do Cool Things to Altoids Tins
49. Convert Cassette Tapes to Digital Audio Files
50. Lock Your Computer with a USB Drive
51. Run Your Own Ethernet Line
52. Set Up a Streaming Media Server
53. Setting up a VPN
54. Turn Webcams into Security Cameras
55. Control Your House Lights with a Computer
56. Play Retro Games without Retro Consoles
57. Put LEDs Inside a Lightbulb
58. Create Music with Keyboard
59. Make Your Office Ergonomic
60. Adding a Third Monitor
61. How to Convert a DVD to x264 (or XviD or DivX)
62. Flash System BIOS
63. How to Irrecoverably Protect Data
64. The Fastest way to Kill a Computer

AT&T is testing increased download speeds on its 3G network. The company is also increasing network capacity by adding new cell sites and nearly doubling the total network capacity in most markets via an additional spectrum at 850 MHz.

Microsoft’s supposed open-source guru Sam Ramji has asked open-source vendors to focus on “value” instead of “cost” with respect to competition with Microsoft products. This is especially funny given the Redmond giant’s recent “Apple Tax” message. “While I’m sure Ramji meant well, I’m equally certain that Microsoft would like nothing more than to not be reminded of how expensive its products can be compared with open-source solutions. After all, Microsoft was the company that turned the software industry on its head by introducing lower-cost solutions years ago to undermine the Unix businesses of IBM and Hewlett-Packard, and the database businesses of Oracle and IBM.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

ballooner writes “A group of Cornell University graduate students are attempting to break the Amateur Radio Ballooning duration record this weekend. The project is a continuation from last year when some other Cornell grad students broke the altitude record. The progress of the team can be tracked via their Twitter feed or by monitoring their APRS beacons. For all the HAMs out there, downlinks are available on a 30m wavelength, too.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.