Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Seeing as our high school network hijinks pretty much led to semi-permanent suspension, our barren hearts were actually warmed by the story of 11-year-old Jon Penn, who has been in charge of his elementary school’s 60-machine network since last year. The previous network administrator at the Arkansas school simply up and left, leaving the IT systems in shambles — and in the hands of Jon’s mom, the school librarian. Jon’s since scrubbed the aging Windows 98 machines of their accumulated viruses and spyware, and he’s installed a firewall and virus / spam filter to keep things clean while he works out a plan to move to Windows 2000 and centralized system management. Right now though, Jon’s got his hands busy doing everything from fixing everything from paper jams to revising server configurations, and it sounds like he’s having a ball — he says he’s been testing out virtualization products lately, and he’s studying up for A+ technician certification this summer. Looks like school’s a lot more fun when you’re running the show, no?

[Via Switched]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Bug Labs announced in January that it’d be busting out a BUG+EDU program for getting units into the hands of impressionable youngsters, and now that they’ve sold out of the first crop of units they’re getting those educational discounts off the ground. Students (with relevant ID) can now purchase modules at a 10% discount, while K-12 schools and secondary education institutions can buy Bug for 25% off. K-12 schools can also participate in Bug giveaways, while undergrad and postgrad programs can develop coursework in conjunction with Bug — long story short, some kids out there are going to get themselves some fun edumicatin’.

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

It looks like soldiers could one day have their own tab key of sorts to call up detailed, 3D maps at will, at least if the folks at General Dynamics UK have their way. As Physorg reports, they’ve developed a “near real-time” 3D map system that makes use of an array of different technologies including LIDAR, thermal imaging and x-ray backscatter techniques to not only display buildings and streets, but objects and people inside buildings as well. The use of LIDAR also promises to provide measurements of doors, windows, and alleys with “millimeter accuracy.” All that obviously makes the system, dubbed Masthead, slightly less than portable, however, although General Dynamics says it’d be able to be carried in the back of a military vehicle or civilian 4×4, or in a plane for that matter. Of course, like most such projects, General Dynamics isn’t just setting its sights to military applications, with it also touting Masthead’s potential benefits for police forces in planning security measures for large events, to name one example.

[Via Physorg]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

We’ll be honest — there are quite a few things about the Cyber MC brainwave management solution that remain unclear to us, but it’s probably for the best. Korean startup Orange Dreams has apparently concocted some sort of eyewear / software combo that can control your brainwaves and calm your nerves, convince you that you really aren’t craving nicotine or make you believe that fruits and vegetables really are more delicious than a Cadbury Cream Egg. We’re not about to delve into how this thing actually intends to work, but those unafraid can give it a go next month.

[Via Hallyu Tech]

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Filed under: iPod Family, Cool tools, Hacks, iPhone

I’ve been looking forward to the iPhone pwnage tool for some time now. When released, pwnage will allow you to load pre-customized iPhone firmware bundles via iTunes. This means that instead of jailbreaking your phone after updates, you can install already-jailbroken systems.

Yesterday, the iPhone dev team announced that the pwnage release has been delayed for at least a week. The team is responding to possible legal issues about the “validity and legality of the contents of the tools”. The team promises they will not release third-party copyright materials.

When released, pwnage should work with 10.4, 10.5 and Windows.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

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Filed under: iPod Family, Deals

Remember the Mini? If you’re in a retro mood today, you can pick a 4GB iPod up at sellout.woot for just $79 + $5 S/H. It’s not a bad deal on an outdated iPod. In contrast, new 2GB shuffles are selling at Apple for $69 and refurbs 4GB nanos for $129 (including $15 gift cards). TUAW reader Greg writes that it’s the perfect iPod for leaving in the car.

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Filed under: iPod Family, Hacks, iPhone

ZiPhone, the free jailbreaking and unlocking tool for iPhone, has hit version 3.0. According to the ZiPhone blog, new features include:

• NVRAM fix is no longer needed
• Greyed WiFi solution
• YouTube fix is no longer needed
• Apps installer is included
• Customized plug-ins

You can download the updated installer from the ZiPhone blog.

[via iPhone Hacks]

Thanks Leif!

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Filed under: iPod Family, iPhone

According to our sister blog, Engadget, the iPhone 2.0 firmware has been seeded to developers. Before this update, the firmware was listed as version 1.2, but now shows up as version 2.0. Engadget says that the update didn’t provide many changes: Cisco VPN tweaked, root-level mail / ActiveSync settings were changed around, but not much else.

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

We’ll go ahead and warn you: if you’re hoping to purge your mind of all things science this weekend, this post isn’t the one to be reading. For the rest of you knowledge seekers, Arizona State University researcher Wayne Frasch has developed a biosensing nanodevice that could possibly revolutionize health screenings and speed up that grueling airport security process. Put simply (well, as simply as possible), he discovered that the enzyme F1- ATPase can be equipped with an optical probe and “manipulated to emit a signal when it detects a single molecule of target DNA.” Currently, a prototype of the DNA detector is already being worked up, but there’s no word on when (or if) the device will escape the lab and hit the commercial realm. Still not geeked out? Hit the read link and hold on for dear life.

[Via Physorg]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Shortly after hearing a sad tale of a 7-year old cancer patient having his medication and PSP stolen whilst en route to treatment comes yet another story of the world’s meanest preying on the helpless. This go ’round, a group of griefers (assuming to be members of Anonymous) managed to invade a support forum established by the nonprofit Epilepsy Foundation and use JavaScript code and messages littered with flashing animations to effectively assault dozens of visitors who suffer from the disorder. The Foundation managed to catch wind of the problem within 12 hours of the attack, and while the boards were closed down temporarily to purge it of offending messages, many readers (such as RyAnne Fultz, pictured) experienced headaches and seizures before rescue arrived. Let’s just say we sincerely hope the culprits get what’s comin’ to ‘em.

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