This is Edward Snowden’s Advice to You for an Unhackable Password

Edward Snowden has bad news for you: Your computer password is probably terrible.

In a web extension of his Sunday interview with John Oliver on Last Week Tonight, Snowden laid out the bad news: “For somebody who has a very common 8-character password, it can literally take less than a second for a computer to go through possibilities and pull that password out.”

Less than one second.

“My password is five characters,” Oliver said. “That’s not a joke. That’s bad, right?”

Snowden agreed it is really bad.

So what should people do for their passwords? While Oliver’s suggestion of “limpbiscuit4eva” was a flop, Snowden had some helpful advice: Forget about passwords and go with “passphrases,” or phrases that are long, unique, and thus easy to remember. Like “margaretthatcheris110%SEXY”.

A computer would never get it, and you’d never forget it.

Here Comes The Future: The Incredible Flying Car You Can Buy in 2017[Photos/Video]

Potentially coming to "wealthy supercar buyers" in 2017

This high-tech car could be flying off the showroom floor by 2017.

At SXSW on Sunday, AeroMobil CEO Juraj Vaculik unveiled plans for a flying car for the “wealthy supercar buyer” that will likely cost a couple of hundred thousand euros, The Verge reports.

“We need another revolution, we need a revolution in personal transportation,” Vaculik said.

According to AeroMobil’s YouTube page, the above video shows a prototype that is “very close to the final product,” which will come equipped with autopilot and parachute deployment systems.

Vaculik says he anticipates the car will be available by 2017.

Uber partnership TBD. 

Think Guys With Beards Are Hot? You Don’t Want To Read This

Would you think Leonardo DiCaprio’s new beard is hot if instead of a beard it was referred to as a “bacterial sponge?” Probably not, right? Well a handful of scientists posit that beards are just glorified germ hangouts.

British hair and scalp specialist Carol Walker told the Daily Mail that facial hair can lead to more frequent skin infections and to germs being passed on to others. Another factor? People with beards tend to touch them a lot, and this transfers germs from the hands to the face. (As an infrequent shaver, I can attest that I am compelled to touch my beard at least as often as I touch my phone.)

Two university scientists told the site that scientific evidence supports Walker’s theory about beards spreading bacteria and infections between people. “Men with beards do harbor a significant number of bacteria, more than non-bearded men and women,” Dr. Anthony Hilton said, adding that on average, a person’s face has some 20,000 types of bacteria on it.

But another professor disputes the above conclusions on face blankets, telling the Daily Mail, “It’s the same bacteria that’s on your skin. It’s not problematic and it’s not a health risk.”

Even if beards are a free-for-all for germs, they’re highly sought after for evolutionary reasons. A 2013 study found that women rated bearded men higher in the “parenting skills” category, and a more recent study found that beards are subject to “negative frequency-dependent sexual selection.” In other words, the relative scarcity and uniqueness of facial hair makes it attractive. Girls are straight-up attracted to beards.

Credit: Dailymail

First Successful Penis Transplant ‘Operation Took 9 hours To Perform’, Doctors Say

The operation took 9 hours to perform

A 21-year-old man has received the world’s first successful penile transplant, surgeons say.

The man, whose name was not revealed for privacy reasons, had his organ amputated three years ago after a circumcision went wrong. Doctors at Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital in South Africa operated for nine hours in December, and just a few months later they say he’s already regained full function in the transplanted organ —a much faster recovery than they had hoped for.

“It’s a massive breakthrough. We’ve proved that it can be done – we can give someone an organ that is just as good as the one that he had,” Prof Frank Graewe, head of the Division of Plastic Reconstructive Surgery at Stellenbosch University, said. “It was a privilege to be part of this first successful penis transplant in the world.”

“There is a greater need in South Africa for this type of procedure than elsewhere in the world, as many young men lose their penises every year due to complications from traditional circumcision,”

9 Cheating Techniques That'll Never Work During Your Exams

It's exam time again, and as usual, the vicious thought of cheating must have crossed your mind. But here's what you should definitely steer clear of, to avoid getting caught.

1. None of this can happen in Africa!

2. By the time you figure out the tiny writing, exam time will be up.

3. This little hot spot won't let the ink stay.

4. Too much effort. You might as well utilise the time to memorise your notes instead.

5. Oh the examiner won't catch this! NOT.

6. Since you're such a genius, why don't you put it to some good and try studying?

7. Very smart, much amaze.

8. The 'washroom' trick has been done to death. Moreover, your examiner will pay extra attention to you once you're back.

9. This is way too old school to not get caught.

Deaf man is moved to tears after discovering his entire neighbourhood has learned sign language so they can talk to him

A deaf man was moved to tears after learning that his neighbourhood had learned sign language just for him to promote the heartwarming message: 'A world without barriers is our dream'.

Muharrem was unwittingly placed at the centre of an elaborate stunt in which he was secretly filmed encountering a host of strangers in a series of staged meetings through Istanbul. 

The footage begins with him setting out for the day with his sister Ozlem, who is in on the set-up.

Before long, Muharrem is taken aback when he encounters a stranger who signs 'good morning' to him. 

His surprise only intensifies when, on a visit to his local food store, the shopkeeper offers him 'hot bagels' through hand signals.

Another encounter involves a stranger dropping a bag of fruit. 

When Muharrem helps pick them up, the man uses sign language to offer him an apple as a thank you.

He barely has time to take it in when a woman bumps into him accidentally on purpose before signing: 'Sorry, my mistake.'

Later, the shock is clear on Muharrem's face when a taxi driver welcomes him into the car with sign language. 

In a final flourish, an electronic advertising board is set up to communicate with him, offering him heartwarming message: 'Because a world without barriers is our dream as well.'

A friend finally points out one of the dozens of cameras set up around the area to reveal the stunt, moving Muharrem to tears.

The stunt, which took a month to prepare, was organised by mobile phone company Samsung to promote its call centre for the hearing impaired.

The video has been viewed more than three million times over just the last few days since being posted on YouTube.

-Credit: Dailymail

Behold! World Most Expensive iPhone 6; Goes For N790Million (£2.3Million)

The case is plated in 24-carat gold and it is encrusted with more than 700 diamonds, which makes it unique and special.  Usain Bolt, David Beckham and music producer P Diddy already have one.

The iPhone, called the Diamond Ecstasy iPhone can be customised further, according to the buyer’s wishes. There is a choice of gold, platinum or rose-gold finishes, as well as using individually sourced gemstones.

Check it out below.

Scientist Today: The cooling cloud that follows you as you walk In Dubai

We may all feel like we're under a cloud from time to time, but in hot and dry climates having your own personal misting cloud is as uplifting as it can get.

In Dubai, the Gulf State mega-city situated in one of the hottest parts of the world, the benefits of evaporative cooling have long been known.

Neighboring Saudi Arabia is already one of the world's largest dairy producers and its massive indoor herds are kept at an even 21 and 23 degrees Celsius with gigantic misters.

Now one group of designers is reinventing the technology for human beings, devising a system that uses motion tracking and ceiling-mounted misters to provide each pedestrian with their own cooling spray.

Ultrasonic sensors embedded in the canopy structure recognize visitors and send data to a control system that activates hydro-pumps and LED lights in their proximity.

"If you use a system like this it allows people to use more outdoor spaces. This is very important in a city like Dubai which is so hot that people really can't spend much time outdoors."

Cloud Cast works by creating mobile responsive clouds that follow people as they move under a canopy. An array of responsive nebulizers is guided by sophisticated motion sensing, creating a personal climate for each person that walks under it. 

Here’s What Happens When You Pour Molten Aluminum Over an iPhone 6

Don't watch if you've been pining for one

In this video, Ukrainian YouTube celebrity TechRax pours molten aluminum over an iPhone 6 — what he says are a few drops of hot liquid made from melting soda cans. Not surprisingly, dark circles form around the blobs, and the screen quickly changes colors before going blank. In fact, it kind of looks like they form a creepy face on the phone, like something out of a horror film.

The Internet star’s previous stunts include boiling one of the devices in Coca-Cola and baking it inside a turkey.

SnapChat Users Angry With New Update

Yesterday (January 27th) Snapchat introduced an innovative new feature called Discover in the latest version of their app — and quietly made everyone’s Best Friends list private, causing teens everywhere to flip their sh-t.

Noooo wtf, I don't like the new snapchat update. Not even gonna lie, I actually liked being nosey and looking at people's best friends😭
— ❁ ❁ ❁ ❁ (@mxzzx_) January 27, 2015

If you aren’t much of a Snapchatter, the Best Friends feature is simply a list of people who a user interacts with most frequently on the app. It’s similar to Myspace’s Top 8 friends, except users can’t control who shows up on their list. Best Friends lists were previously public, so that anyone in a user’s Snapchat contacts could see who they were sending snaps to. With this new upgrade, the list became private. Users can view their own Best Friends but not anyone else’s.

pic.twitter.com/aZuFkgNOuC
— tina woods (@tinawoodsss) January 27, 2015

When Best Friends were public, nosy girlfriends and boyfriends could casually check up on who their bae is snapping. As you can imagine, this led to some tricky situations. People sometimes got jealous over who was (and wasn’t) on their significant other’s list. One guy even took his concern to the next level by Facebook messaging a dude who was Best Friends with his ex-girlfriend:

What's the point of Snapchat if you can't see their best friends anymore..
— meg (@meggotmoneyy) January 28, 2015

The snapchat update with no best friends is v distressing
— Erin Willerton (@erinwillerton) January 27, 2015

so now snapchat doesn't show your best friends... aka theres no point in snapping hot boys anymore bc if people don't know what's the point
— karli (@EheartKC) January 27, 2015

I need snapchat best friends back bc I have gone through all of my other social media and I still have 18 minutes left in this class
— MK Green (@marykristinn) January 28, 2015

Looking For Job? Facebook Is Hiring

Facebook has 1,159 job openings listed on its corporate site, as the social network company continues its aggressive growth plans.

Many of the job openings on the company's site are for advertising sales. There are 126 ad sales job postings listed.

According to CNNmoney, Its Oculus virtual reality unit has 52 job openings listed, and its effort to have drones provide Internet access to different parts of the globe has the company looking to hire aerospace mechanical technicians, avionics engineers and a flight test

The company is also looking for 43 recruiters and 28 human resources job openings to help it handle the flood of hiring it expects to do.

MacBook fans, rejoice! The new MacBook Air Is Getting Even thinner: Super-Thin

The new MacBook Air might be getting its biggest makeover yet.

To get a laptop that thin,Apple (AAPL, Tech30) swapped out all of the MacBook's ports for a single all-in-one miracle port.

Today, MacBook Airs come with a USB port and a MagSafe charging port (and a headphone port -- that's staying). The ports are only a few millimeters thick, basically taking up the entire width of the laptop.

If Apple does make the decision to switch to so-calledUSB Type C technology, it will be adopting a new, much thinner kind of USB plug that basically does everything.

Type-C USB is capable of powering a computer, so users won't need a separate MagSafe charger. It can power a display, and it's significantly faster than "old school" USB technology -- fast enough to replace Apple's Thunderbolt ports.

Best of all, Type-C USB plugs are reversible. That means no more struggling to figure out which way the plug is supposed to go.

The unconfirmed report states that Apple plans to redesign the MacBook Air into a 12-inch device that will be narrower than the current 11-inch MacBook Air but taller to accommodate a larger screen.

 

It adds that the new MacBook Air would have a slimmer bezel surrounding the screen and keyboard, and would also be thinner and lighter. The report, from 9to5Mac's Mark Gurman, a journalist with a healthy track record in Apple-related leaks and scoops, cites "sources within Apple" who have used internal prototypes of the computer.

To account for a thinner and more narrow design, Apple could be making some changes to the keyboard to make keys slightly closer together and to remove some of the top function keys.

Watch Bill Gates Drink Water Produced From Human Waste (Faeces)

In a new video on Bill Gates’s blog, the Gates Foundation co-founder sips water made from human waste using a machine called OmniProcessor, manufactured by Janicki Bioenergy in Sedro-Woolley, Washington, north of Seattle.

As he writes in a blog post:

“I watched the piles of feces go up the conveyer belt and drop into a large bin. They made their way through the machine, getting boiled and treated. A few minutes later I took a long taste of the end result: a glass of delicious drinking water…

Through the ingenious use of a steam engine, it produces more than enough energy to burn the next batch of waste. In other words, it powers itself, with electricity to spare. The next-generation processor, more advanced than the one I saw, will handle waste from 100,000 people, producing up to 86,000 liters of potable water a day and a net 250 kw of electricity…

The processor wouldn’t just keep human waste out of the drinking water; it would turn waste into a commodity with real value in the marketplace.

The video is meantto raise awareness about ways to improve sanitation and access to clean drinking water worldwide. Some 2.5 billion people lack access to proper sanitation, and more than 1 billion people have to defecate outside or in public, contaminating drinking water supplies—a problem that can cause disease and death.

Facebook’s ‘Year in Review’ Posts Brings Bad Memories For Some As Facebook Apologises

So far, Facebook has directly apologized to at least one person for whom the Year-in-Review post brought back painful memories from 2014.

Years can be full of ups and downs, but the algorithm Facebook used to highlight accounts’ most-liked photos didn’t allow users to choose which photos they want to highlight–eliminating the chance to leave out pictures people may not have wanted to be reminded were there.

Writer and web design consultant Eric Meyer wrote in a blog post that because he lost his six-year-old daughter to brain cancer in 2014, his year hadn’t been “great,” as the uniform Facebook post declared.

“For those of us who lived through the death of loved ones, or spent extended time in the hospital, or were hit by divorce or losing a job or any one of a hundred crises, we might not want another look at this past year,” Meyer wrote. “To show me Rebecca’s face and say “Here’s what your year looked like!” is jarring. It feels wrong, and coming from an actual person, it would be wrong. Coming from code, it’s just unfortunate.”

In a statement to the Washington Post, Facebook’s Jonathan Gheller said he had reached out to Meyer and apologized for any pain the post has caused.

“[The app] was awesome for a lot of people, but clearly in this case we brought him grief rather than joy, “It’s valuable feedback,” Gheller said. “We can do better — I’m very grateful he took the time in his grief to write the blog post.”

This Man Boils an iPhone 6 in Coca-Cola[Watch Video]

You just can't stop watching it

In a video that will make everyone coveting an iPhone 6 cry a little bit, Ukrainian YouTube celebrity TechRax drops a supposedly “brand new” one into a pan of boiling Coca-Cola.

While you will not hear the voice of Siri crying out for help in this clip, you will see a fair amount of the phone’s material slowly melt away.

“The results made my house smell like smoke for 2 hours,” the tech blogger writes in the stunt’s description on YouTube. “I would NOT recommend trying this at home.”

The footage has racked up more than 1.8. million YouTube views so far since it was uploaded a couple of weeks ago. Turns out this mad scientist-type blogger has also baked an iPhone 6 inside a turkey for four hours and drilled a hole into one with a power tool.

Popular Singer ‘Usher’ Charges iPhone Inside Woman's Vagina[Photo]

While visiting the exhibits at Miami's Art Basel, "Good Kisser" crooner Usher charged his iPhone...inside a woman's vagina.

Yep. Totally normal.

According to TMZ, Ursher Baby paid $20 for 10 minute charge. The woman--who had a battery pack tightly tucked away in her lady parts-- wanted to show how dependent we've all become upon technology and felt the best way to do so was charging phones with her vajayjay.

Ursher--who might we remind you is in a committed relationship with his manager and girlfriend Grace Miguel--looks to be quite intrigued.

Microsoft Is Shutting Down One of Its Most Iconic Products

Going the way of chalkboards and VHS players, Microsoft's Clip Art library is now a thing of the past. As of yesterday, the image gallery was shut down permanently in response to dwindling usage.

Heartbreakingly, future generations will never sift through countless pages of '90s style illustrations to find the perfect picture for their book reports. Today's internet-savvy children are turning to search engines to find a plethora of images, making clip art obsolete.

"The Office.com Clip Art and image library has closed shop," Microsoft announced on its blog. "Usage of Office’s image library has been declining year-to-year as customers rely more on search engines."

As an alternative to Clip Art, Microsoft recommends using Bing, which "has higher quality images that are more up-to-date. For example, searching for 'cellphone' gives more variety and modern looking phones instead of the old-school bricks from Clip Art."

[h/t TechCrunch.com]

4 Reasons Why You Should Reduce Your Facebook Addiction

With over 750 million active accounts, an astounding one in nine people in the world log on to Facebook, arguably the most addictive social media site. Studies reveal that Facebook makes us spend more, work less and generally, discourages us. In this, has Facebook become a liability for budding entrepreneurs?

Here are four reasons detailing how Facebook works against the determined entrepreneur.

1. Facebook is the ultimate time waster.

I joined Facebook in 2009, roughly eight years ago. On average I’d spend one hour on Facebook every weekday and an additional two on Saturday and Sunday, totalling 10 hours a week, or one of my average work days. That’s 4,160 hours over my Facebook life, equating to 173 days continuously, or 24 weeks, or six whole months of my life spent on Facebook.

Entrepreneurs are constantly time poor -- can you really afford six months of your life trawling through strangers' holiday snaps?

2. Facebook is a money pit.

In 2012 Facebook appealed to the government to sell shares of stock to the public. In the vicinity of $75 billion, Facebook’s “stocks” are the data that we input into our profiles. Facebook mines our information to sell companies who orchestrate invasive advertising campaigns.

What was once a fun fuss-free platform, Facebook is now littered with ads -- a virtual gold mine for the $200 billion company. In December 2013, Facebook launched video advertisements, making it an increasingly unsafe environment for the cash-strapped entrepreneur. Facebook makes far more money from us then we make from it, statistics show.

3. You won’t miss it.

Last month, the Huffington Post published "How to Quit Facebook Without Experiencing Withdrawal"suggesting that to elevate the anxiety of quitting Facebook, a person should seek solace on another channel.

Invest in a social-media platform that supports, not hinders, your entrepreneurial pursuits (my preference is Twitter). Entrepreneurs should spend their time on a platform that generates revenue, unearths contacts and cements their brand. The "garbage bag" mix found on a Facebook feed is not the forum to do this.

Facebook insists upon a 14-day cooling off period when a person deletes their account, perhaps relying on a moment of weakness for the user to withdraw their request by simply logging back in.

 

4. Personal profiles are no longer private.

In a controversial move last year, Facebook retired the option to suppress your name from being visible in searches. Facebook is increasingly removing users' rights to keep their information private, primarily through adding to the exhausting number of options available on the Privacy panel. The only way to keep your profile suppressed from a person is to block them.

In short, Facebook profits from you being an open book, and they don’t want you to close it. This system makes entrepreneurs vulnerable to scrutiny from potential employers, investors and colleagues who can easily access their personal Facebook profiles.

 

Remember, the moment we enter information into Facebook, it is no longer our own. Facebook is constantly updating its terms of service making entrepreneurs safe today, but not tomorrow.

Forget Tim Cook Here Are A few Other High-Ranking Openly Gay Business CEO

It's a landmark moment for both the gay community and the business world. Tim Cook is now the first and only openly gay chief executive in the Fortune 500.

 

Of course, many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered employees still struggle withdiscrimination at work. The executive suite also remains extremely closeted, but there are a few high-ranking openly gay businesspeople.
1. Christopher Bailey, CEO at Burberry: The British luxury brand installed Bailey as CEO late last year after former chief executive Angela Ahrendts left the company for a job at Apple (AAPL,Tech30).
Bailey has been working at Burberry (BURBY) since 2001, leading the fashion house's product design, creative marketing and digital innovation. In that time, Burberry has transformed into a fashion powerhouse with a strong social media presence.


2. Nick Denton, founder and publisher of Gawker Media Group: Denton founded the Gawker media empire in 2002.
Over the past 12 years he's built it into an influential outlet that boasts tens of million of readers who clamor for the latest gossip and news.
When Denton married Derrence Washington this summer, his wedding was covered in a big feature in the New York Times.

When CNNMoney asked Gawker to confirm that Denton was gay, Gawker editor-in-chief Max Read replied, "If Nick's not gay, his husband will be very surprised to find out."

3. Robert Greenblatt, chairman at NBC Entertainment: Greenblatt joined NBCUniversal in January 2011 and now oversees primetime and late night programming for the network
In his previous roles at other networks, he's been credited for the success of major hit TV series including "Weeds," "Dexter" and "Six Feet Under."
Greenblatt has also won many awards for his work, including recognition from GLAAD, an industry group that supports the LGBT community.

4. John Browne, former CEO of BP: Browne led oil giant BP (BP) from 1995 until 2007. He resigned after a British newspaper group outed him as a gay man.

"I wish I had been braver to come out earlier during my tenure as CEO of BP. I regret it to this day," he said.

He has since written a book called The Glass Closet to encourage other closeted, gay individuals to come forward and "bring their whole selves to work."
But he warns that this will only happen when corporate leaders create an environment where people feel comfortable about coming out.

Former BP CEO on being out of the closet
5. Robert Hanson, CEO at John Hardy: Hanson has been very upfront about being gay.
This summer he wrote an opinion piece for Time Magazine entitled, "Yep, I'm Gay, and I'm a CEO—It Doesn't Stop Me From Running a Great Business".
Before starting his role at the jewelry company John Hardy, Hanson was CEO atAmerican Eagle Outfitters (AEO). Prior to that, he served as global brand president at Levi's.

"For as long as I have been in business and running companies, I've been an out gay man," he wrote in his Time article.

6. Anthony Watson, chief information officer at Nike: Watson has spent most of his career working in the technology and banking industry, but he recently hopped over to join sportwear company Nike (NKE).
He makes it clear on his LinkedIn profile that he supports LGBT initiatives, and his new employer Nike has also been vocal about supporting gay marriage.
Last year, Nike launched a campaign to promote gay marriage in Oregon, where its headquarters are based.

"We believe that diversity drives innovation and allows us to attract and retain world class talent," said Nike in a statement last year. "For Oregon businesses to attract and retain the best talent, we need fair and equitable laws that treat all Oregonians equally and prevent discrimination."

Credit: CNNMoney

Why Chrome and Firefox flag Bit.ly links as malware / Virus On My Site

I know most of my readers who are using firefox or chrome to access my website must have thought I have virus here on the site. Well I noticed same thing too. I felt bad seeing the message that my site is listed as suspicious, First thing that came to my mind or that will come to any blogger’s mind is ‘Hack’- a victim of someone who is not happy with what I posted or reported me to google ( Remember The Linda ikeji Saga LOL!) It got to an extent that Google plus had to send me a message/email which reads:

Dear adetona abraham,
You've recently been violating the Google+ User Content and Conduct policies.
Content that transmits viruses or contains malware or other malicious code is not allowed on Google+.
Please review our policies to avoid violating them in the future.
If you continue to violate our policies, you may lose the ability to use some or all features of Google+ and other Google services. Learn more
We're all in this together. Let's make Google+ a place where we all want to hang out.
Sincerely,
The Google+ team.

but after a little research I discovered it wasn’t me, The problem was actually from Bit.ly links, the URL Shortening service I am using. Still wondering what bitly means?

bitly is a URL shortening service. The company Bitly, Inc. was established in 2008. It is privately held and based in New York City. Bitly shortens more than one billion links per month, for use in social networking, SMS, and email.

It seems many internet users are being greeted with this following message when accessing links that emanate from the popular link-shortening service.
While Bit.ly links are working fine on Safari and Internet Explorer, the problem was initially limited to Mozilla’s Firefox and Google Chrome, though Firefox now seems to be working fine for me.
Google itself states:

“Site [Bit.ly] is listed as suspicious – visiting this web site may harm your computer. Part of this site was listed for suspicious activity 31 time(s) over the past 90 days.”

Google adds that from the 91,854 pages it tested on the site in the past three months, “669 pages resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent.” This included 200 trojans, 185 exploits and 152 scripting exploits.
There’s no word yet on what’s causing all Bit.ly links to be blocked, however. If it had just been Chrome blocking the Bit.ly links, then one could perhaps assume that there was an over-zealous Google at play. But given that it affected Firefox too for quite a while, this suggests that there could be something a little more malicious going on from Bitly’s side, with a higher-than-usual number of miscreant sites using Bit.ly links to trick internet users.
We’ll update here with more details as and when we receive them.

UPDATE: Bit links Seem to be working fine with chrome