Cracks

Now-or-Never Movies of the Month — On three successive Tuesdays beginning today, the French Institute Alliance Française spotlights the well-nigh unknown Quinto and Jean-Gabriel Albicocco. The L’s Cullen Gallagher thinks you should see their movies, and says as much, below. Looking for some great movies that you’ve never heard of? Something off the Criterion-beaten path that is just waiting to be rediscovered? Throughout December, the French Institute will be highlighting the work of two filmmakers who have unfortunately fallen through history’s cracks. Refracted Light: The Films of Quinto and Jean-Gabriel Albicocco examines the unjustly neglected careers of this father-and-son team. And since none of their movies... [Tags: alliance française, beaten path, cracks, criterion, father and son]

A Partial Wireless Security Glossary — Users have every right to be perplexed by wireless security standards. Now that they may have to make changes, it's time to examine what all the terms mean. - Just about a month ago the news came out that the first cracks were appearing in WPA, a very popular wireless security standard. The compromise that was accomplished by some researchers was not a real killer, but the affected version of WPA (and the associated encryption process TKIP, or Temporal Ke...... [Tags: compromise, cracks, encryption, real killer, security glossary]

Rental Watch: Lofty Edition — What: One-bedroom loft Where: South Beach How much: $2500 The Hard Sell: This single-level loft touts its "enclosed bedroom" (with carpet!), private patio and "stunning window architecture." You do get 850 square feet, plus those trademark high ceilings, but that doesn't appear to help so much with the natural lighting situation. Be prepared for some daytime fluorescents. What: One-bedroom loft Where: Outer Mission/Media Gulch/No-Man's Land How much: $3500 The Hard Sell: A lot of space (1,577 square feet) and a lot of luxury (maple cabinets, jacuzzi tub, custom built-ins) but this is still "real loft living": concrete floors, "industrial" windows... [Tags: artsy types, balcony, baths, bedroom loft, ceilings]

YouTube Cracks Down On Sexy, Spammy Videos — YouTube is trying to clean up its act by cracking down on sexually explicit videos that are just short of porn and spam videos with misleading titles and descriptions. (Porn has always been grounds for removal). On its most visited pages, YouTube will now apply a “stricter standard for mature content” and demote sexually explicit or graphic videos from its “most viewed,” “top favorited,” and other popular pages. Also, thumbnails will now be algorithmically selected. These new standards are not just about YouTube trying to class itself up. The more it polices itself, the less likely that Congress or... [Tags: cellular networks, congress, cracks, crunch, drool]

Don’t Accept Used Corporate PCs — In larger corporations, PCs (otherwise known as "end user desktops") all have this stickers and/or metal badges with an numerical or alphanumerical sequence on it. This is called the asset tag. When a corporation decides to get rid of computers as per the end-of-life cycle (anywhere between 3 to 5 years usually when the warranties finally run out), what’s supposed to happen to those tagged computers boxes is one of the following: They are either sent "whole" or with wiped drives or gutted/stripped to… The computer recycling center. Destruction (literally). But even in the largest companies this doesn’t always happen.... [Tags: asset tag, chopping block, computer box, computer recycling center, corporate pcs]

Yay: Grand Theft Auto IV uses SecuROM DRM (but gently) — You know how in trailers of terrible “family” movies there’s always a part where the announcers says, “Here we go again!” in that dumb “enthusiastic announcer guy voice”? Think of that right now, only juxtaposed with the sights and sounds of Liberty City, for it has been revealed that Grand Theft Auto IV uses SecurROM DRM. That’s the same DRM that upset so many would-be Spore players (but didn’t bother Fallout 3 players). Straight from a Rockstar rep: GTA IV PC uses SecuROM for protecting our EXE… Product Activation is a one time only online authentication when installing the... [Tags: announcer guy, authentication, cd key, cracks, disc version]

Wal-Mart employee trampled to death on Black Friday — This next article is not about a gadget per se, but more about people’s greedy tendency to rush for cheap gadgets. I’m sure all of you are aware of the unofficial holiday of Black Friday. This is the day after Thanksgiving, where Americans discover that they are not as thankful as the previous day and must crowd retail outlets in order to get “doorbuster” items at rock-bottom prices. This is so they can give them away as gifts, of course. Unfortunately, this tradition has gone too far. I have recently learned that a Wal-Mart worker was trampled to death as... [Tags: black friday, cracks, day after thanksgiving, digital picture frames, gadget]

Brazil's housing boom shows cracks — Effects of the credit crisis and a drop in consumer spending are felt in several sectors. Just weeks ago, Brazil's housing market was one of the world's most dynamic. But now, the global credit crisis has set up housekeeping, and government efforts to stimulate buying are being trumped by consumers' fears for the future.... [Tags: brazil, consumer spending, consumers, cracks, credit crisis]

You Can’t Always Get What You Want: The Dark Side of Personal Finance — I drove down to clean the moss of the roof of my mother’s house last week. I spent several hours on top of the house with my cousin Nick, scraping and hosing and blowing away years of green growth. We chatted as we worked. I told him that I was going to speak with a literary agent on the following day, and that I hoped I might soon have a book deal. “How does that work?” he asked me. “How do you make money on that?” I did my best to explain, but it was difficult. I’m not sure I... [Tags: accountant, book deal, cousin, cracks, debris]

Scientists Study Cracks In Brittle Materials — The Naval Research Laboratory is part of an international team of scientists that is learning more about how cracks form in brittle materials. The team used both computer modeling and experimentation to investigate how cracks grow at low speeds in silicon. This information has potential applications in the development of a variety of materials ranging from armor to machine parts.... [Tags: armor, brittle materials, computer modeling, cracks, naval research laboratory]

Sprint’s head of CDMA hits the road — Will Dan Hesse’s woes never cease? In a sudden move this past week, yet another member of Sprint’s top management decided he had enough and went running for the hills. John Garcia, the now-former head of Sprint’s CDMA business, abruptly parted ways with the carrier and left Keith Cowan, president of strategy and corporate development, to pick up the pieces in his place. Sprint has made no official statement on the matter, which leaves the press to fill in the cracks with speculation - never a good thing. Garcia’s departure is the latest in a continuing trend of turnover, both... [Tags: 5 million, cracks, dan hesse, flight risk, keith cowan]

Top 10 Things You Can Do with a DVD [Lifehacker Top 10] — The proliferation of thumb drives and external hard drives has made optical media like DVDs seem a little less handy—but there are still plenty of ways to put DVDs to good use. These shiny, multi-gigabyte discs can run entire operating systems, put movies on your computer and vice-versa, host a robust copy of Wikipedia, and do so much more, if you know how to work them. Check out some of our favorite hacks and tips for getting the most out of DVDs, whether released by Hollywood or purchased at OfficeMax. Photo by MiNe (sfmine79). 10. Boot a custom operating system... [Tags: apps, bathroom cabinet, cracks, crevices, cross country trip]

Hey, it's time for The Office webisodes! Wait -- It is? - VIDEO — Filed under: Video, The Office, Reality-FreeJust because I write about TV doesn't mean I keep up with every single thing about it. Sometimes, things fall through the cracks--which is why I was pleasantly surprised when I checked my mail the other day and found a DVD with brand new Office webisodes. I'm used to these appearing during the summer, as a way to tide the fans over until the new season starts. However, we're smack dab in the middle of season 5 right now, and we still get four new Oscar-centric webisodes. It's a Thanksgiving miracle!In this series, called "The... [Tags: coworkers, cracks, mail, miracle, obsessing]

Debenhams website cracks under the strain — It seems that Debenhams's website has been unable to cope with the extra demand placed upon it by its pre-Xmas sale, and it has been down since yesterday afternoon.  I looked at the site yesterday morning and noted that it was becoming pretty slow to load, and it seems that the site finally buckled under the extra traffic around 3pm.... [Tags: cracks, debenhams, traffic, yesterday afternoon, yesterday morning]

eMusic cracks 250m song mark — Veteran online music store eMusic today said it has registered its 250 millionth download since its subscription service began in 2003. The company is one of the few outside of Apple to reach the milestone and is owed partly to eMusic's business model, which offers unprotected MP3s compatible with Apple and Microsoft players but uses a subscription model which guarantees a certain number of songs...... [Tags: apple, business model, cracks, emusic, microsoft]

Now That He Owns The Souls Of Our Tweens, Pattinson Wants To Be The Doctor [Twilight] — The wailing and gnashing of teeth are about to reach a climax: the Twilight opening night approaches. But once Robert Pattinson is done driving tweens crazy, what will he do next? In a recent interview Pattinson admitted his real aim: to take over as the star of Doctor Who. When asked by the Chicago Tribune if he would be up for the part of the infamous time traveling quick-witted Doctor, Pattinson replied: That would be quite cool. I didn’t know he was leaving. The Doctor is great…yeah, maybe. I did grow up watching it. I loved it when I... [Tags: autograph, chicago tribune, chick, climax, cracks]

DIY: Pallet coffee table — This is a great way to recycle a discarded wooden pallet. I just might grab the next one I find on the street and make a coffee table out of it. This modern, ethnic-looking coffee table, with its ochre stripes that conjures up visions of Marrakech, was made from a wooden pallet discarded in a shopping area. The painstaking task of removing nails and sawing wood was avoided by fitting the pallet with a hardboard bottom and filling the cracks with mortar. And presto, we have a table top. More about DIY: Pallet coffee table [TipNut] Read more |... [Tags: coffee table, cracks, furniture, hardboard, mortar]

Proxim's 802.11n Hits 320 Mbps — Wireless LAN provider Proxim cracks new speed records with new 802.11n deployment featuring a distributed wireless architecture that Proxim claims will cost half the price of competitors' wireless local area networks. By eliminating the centralized controller found in most Wi-Fi networks, Proxim hopes to overcome enterprise objections of costly controller upgrades, deployment challenges and additional network planning that have deterred companies from upgrading to 802.11n. - Proxim Wireless rolled out its 802.11n dual-radio solution Nov. 17, promising 320 Mbps (megabits per second) of throughput. Proxim said its single radio version could hit maximum speeds of 170 Mbps. The speeds are... [Tags: centralized controller, challenges, cracks, deployment, local area networks]

Lawsuit adds cracks to complaint list for iPhone 3G — A new lawsuit filed over problems with the iPhone 3G has brought forward the question of casing, documents show. The suit was filed by Avi Koschitzki in a New York district court, and mainly focuses on the common complaint of misrepresenting performance, charging Apple and AT&T with deceiving people about the speed of iPhones on the latter's 3G network. Koschitzki's case is based on "information...... [Tags: 3g network, amp, apple, cracks, iphone]