Five disturbing things about the Interpol filter

This month, Australia gets its first mandatory Internet filtering scheme, courtesy of a project which is seeing the nation’s largest ISPs Telstra and Optus block their users from visiting a ‘worst of the worst’ list of child pornography sites defined by international agency Interpol. But the project hasn’t exactly come up smelling like roses. Here’s five things we find disturbing about the whole thing.
Five disturbing things about the Interpol filter

How To Securely Tie Anything To Your Car

Last time you moved something in your car that was too large to fit in your trunk, you probably lamely cobbled together a few insecure knots. (Oh wait, that wasn’t you – that was me.) The Trucker’s hitch is a relatively simple knot you can tie with one rope that secures anything with the power of pulleys.
How To Securely Tie Anything To Your Car

How A Parisian Artist Created This Stunning Optical Illusion

An eye-popping optical illusion created by Parisian artist François Abelanet is on display outside Paris City Hall. This work of art looks like a giant grass ball, but it’s actually flat.
How A Parisian Artist Created This Stunning Optical Illusion

Family Friendly sites listed on Blackstump Australia Issue 13/2011

The latest issue of new Family Friendly sites listed on The Black Stump.
Family Friendly sites listed on Blackstump Australia Issue 13/2011

10 Fascinating Facts About Phone Numbers

You probably dial a few of them every day, but do you ever stop and think about the history behind a phone number? When were the first numbers introduced? How did you end up with a particular area code?
10 Fascinating Facts About Phone Numbers

Following the money: how spammers do their banking

Brian Krebs is continuing to report on the latest research on spammers and scammers, today naming and shaming the banks that process payments for fake anti-virus and rogue pharmacy affiliate networks, and on the system used by scammers to prevent being cut off by Visa and Mastercard.
Following the money: how spammers do their banking

8 secrets about Disneyland

From how to score a cocktail to where to scatter grandma's ashes, this is your ticket to the real Magic Kingdom.
8 secrets about Disneyland

Don’t pay for software you don’t need

Woody Leonhard steps you through a boatload of software that you don’t need if you have Windows 7.
Don’t pay for software you don’t need

BatteryInfoView, Detailed Battery Information, History

One of the things that mobile users constantly need to have an eye on is the battery status of their device. It does not really matter if it is a smartphone, netbook, laptop or tablet PC. All have in common that they run on battery, and will stop working if battery drops below the minimum required level.
BatteryInfoView, Detailed Battery Information, History

[How to] Transfer Your Facebook Photos & Albums to Picasa / Google+

Google+. The service is currently invite only, but is getting a lot of traction from early users. In case you are already on Google Plus and wishing to move all (or selected) Photo albums from Facebook to Google+, you would first need to transfer the photos to your Picasa account and then link them up on your Google+. But wait, you can do the same thing easily in just a couple of clicks using Move2Picasa!
[How to] Transfer Your Facebook Photos & Albums to Picasa / Google+

How to Add a Second Router to an Existing Wireless (Wi-Fi) Network

The wireless range offered by your router will vary depending on which Wi-Fi standard it supports - is it 802.11g or 802.11n compatible? - and whether there are any walls around as that will obstruct the Wi-Fi signal. The 802.11n routers, also known as Wireless N routers, typically have a higher Wi-Fi range but even if you get one of these, the wireless signals may still not reach certain areas of your home - like the corner study or the bedroom on the first floor – as there are just too many obstructions in the form of walls between your laptop and the router.
How to Add a Second Router to an Existing Wireless (Wi-Fi) Network

2010 - 2011: Earth's most extreme weather since 1816?

2010 - 2011: Earth's most extreme weather since 1816?
Wunder Blog : Weather Underground

How Can I Breath New Life Into My Old iPhone?

You’ve got several options for speeding up that old iPhone.
How Can I Breath New Life Into My Old iPhone?

What New Rules Do You Need To Know For Your 2011 Tax Return?

Each year, there are new Australian taxation rules that can decrease (or occasionally increase) how much you owe the taxman when the financial year ends. Here are the big changes that may affect you in 2011 (and beyond).
What New Rules Do You Need To Know For Your 2011 Tax Return?

How to Test your Eyes at Home using the Computer

They say that you should get your eyes checked every two years but if haven’t had the chance to see a doctor all this time, you can test your vision on your computer as well.
How to Test your Eyes at Home using the Computer

How To Plan, Organize, and Map Out Your Home Network

Whether you’re setting up a new home network or overhauling the one you’ve got, planning and mapping out your devices and intended uses can save you a lot of headaches.
How To Plan, Organize, and Map Out Your Home Network

Automatically Restart Firefox When Memory Usage Exceeds A Limit

Firefox eats RAM, we all know it and accept it as one of those things we can overlook because the browser and its library of extensions is incredible enough in itself. RAM poaching tolerance is one thing but when it gets to a point where it starts to effect your browsing you have to do something about it. Memory Restart is a Firefox extension that monitors the memory usage by the browser, it lets you set a limit to the memory usage and tells you when the limit has been exceeded. You can restart the browser using the extension to bring memory usage back to normal.
Automatically Restart Firefox When Memory Usage Exceeds A Limit

Australian Government Asked Google For User Data 345 Times In Six Months

Google has been issuing transparency reports detailing government requests to have content removed for a while now. The latest instalment promises more detail, including when governments have asked for individual user data. For Australia, the number of removal requests has dropped, but there were 345 requests for individual user information between July and December 2010, and Google coughed up in around 280 cases.
Australian Government Asked Google For User Data 345 Times In Six Months

Make a Hidden Windows Dropbox Folder

Ever since the days of DOS, every directory has a special folder in it named “nul”. You can use this to create a folder that will sync in Linux but not in Windows. This is because the folder can exist on Linux but not on Windows.
Make a Hidden Windows Dropbox Folder

This Light Switch Texts You Pics Of The Guys Robbing Your House

You’ve just arrived home from the worst business trip ever (to Cleveland, no less) only to find your back door jimmied and your valuables gone. Had you installed this spy light switch, you could have… watched it all happen, live.
This Light Switch Texts You Pics Of The Guys Robbing Your House