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"In the space of one hour, my entire digital life was destroyed. First my Google account was taken over, then deleted. Next my Twitter account was compromised, and used as a platform to broadcast racist and homophobic messages. And worst of all, my AppleID account was broken into, and my hackers used it to remotely erase all of the data on my iPhone, iPad, and MacBook."

Why it's a good idea to own a USB-to-SATA adapter The USB-to-IDE/SATA adapter the most indispensable tool in my PC repair kit. Just this weekend, it once again proved itself worthy of that title. In a nutshell, the adapter allows you to connect an internal hard drive to your PC-externally. What would an internal drive be doing outside your desktop or laptop? Funny you should ask. About a week ago, my media-center PC starting displaying this message during boot-up: "Hard drive failure imminent." And you know what? It was. In short order, the machine wouldn't boot at all. Long story short, I had to replace the drive, reinstall Windows, etc. But I wondered if I could salvage any/all of my recorded TV shows. To find out, I connected the old, non-booting drive (now "naked" outside the system) to a USB port via my adapter. Huzzah! The machine was able to read the drive and copy over the recordings. Except for the hassles (and expense) of actually replacing the drive, no harm done. There's another reason to keep one of these adapters on hand, and that's if you're planning to upgrade to a solid-state drive (SSD). Unless you buy a kit that comes with an adapter, you'll need one so you can image (i.e. clone) your existing drive to the new SSD. Then you'll remove the old drive, install the new one, and presto, you're back in business. (Much faster business: SSDs rock.) Unless you have a pretty old desktop or laptop, you can skip buying a USB-to-IDE/SATA adapter and just go for USB-to-SATA. At the same time, I recommend one that supports USB 3.0. You may not need it now, but it's a good bet your next PC will have USB 3.0 ports -- and that'll make for much faster copying between drives. Trust me: When the time comes that you need to upgrade or replace a hard drive, you'll be glad to have a USB-to-SATA adapter on hand. By-The Xpert Crew @ http://techvedic.com

"Late Friday, Wired writer Mat Honan ran into a digital buzzsaw as his iCloud, Gmail and Twitter accounts were compromised in rapid succession. The hackers did a tremendous amount of collateral damage along the way, spewing racist and homophobic tweets on Honan's account plus the Gizmodo Twitter account (linked to his). Worse, they proceeded to wipe all the data from his iPhone, iPad and his Mac laptop via Find My iPhone and Find My Mac."

"That's a screen shot of my first App. A little thing I'm calling KidsGiggle. Pushing the picture plays a short recording of them laughing.  What's cool is that it took me - a noob with zero programming experience - about fifteen minutes to make."

The open source hardware platform Arduino has been the central platform of my electronics class since the beginning of 2008 and I've learned a lot in that time. I use the Arduino to teach some basic programming and introductory electronics concepts. This course led me to create a website (http://electronics.flosscience.com/) to help support my students as well as others who might want to use this platform in education. Now I'm ready for the next step.

I have spent a lot of time throughout the years researching and collecting facts and stimulus materials on the topic of Computer Viruses. Recently when I was watching my regular TED talk on my phone I watched this talk by Mikko Hypponen. I found it fascinating for the way in which he not only explores and shows some of the history of viruses but also talks of the social and ethical implications of the contemporary viruses being releases. He explores the use of viruses from a cyber-crime and organised-crime perspective.

Last week Doug Peterson pointed me to an article called "Let's not call it computer science if we really mean computer programming." My initial reaction was "Let's not call it computer programming if we really mean software engineering."  Really the author was talking more about the difference between CS and SE than much else.The ACM has a great Computing Careers web site which lists a number of computing fields and degrees. I recommend this series to teachers and guidance councilors all the time. They list five different degree paths:

Last week Doug Peterson pointed me to an article called "Let's not call it computer science if we really mean computer programming." My initial reaction was "Let's not call it computer programming if we really mean software engineering."  Really the author was talking more about the difference between CS and SE than much else.The ACM has a great Computing Careers web site which lists a number of computing fields and degrees. I recommend this series to teachers and guidance councilors all the time. They list five different degree paths:

A bitly bundle of, in my opinion, key articles to use with students in ICS on the issue of privacy - via issue of cell phones tracking your movements!

It's interesting you bookmarked this today. I was just looking at an assignment page from my old website that I'm going to transfer to my new site, and that ethics page is one of the references! http://www.beens.org/misc_assign/computerEthics.htm

"The full-sized image is approximately 48 by 36 inches @ 150dpi, but the form factor will scale down to fit on US letter-sized paper. I hope you enjoy it. I, for one, will be plastering it all over my place of employment."

Want to get rid of unwanted calls? Don't know how to manage your blocking options?? Then we are here with this tutorial to help you further.

That got me pondering: Which versions of Windows have been great, and which have been dogs? Here's my list of the 5 best and 5 worst.

Recently I had someone ask me a question I wanted to share with you. They asked me why in the heck their IP address appeared to be coming from the other side of the country? Honestly, I can understand why this would freak someone out! Imagine not understanding what is going on as you do an IPChicken.com check only to see the IP looking odd. Then you run a speed test and learn you're suddenly based in another region of the country. I mean come on, that is just going to feel weird to the uninformed.

In this post I will offer some guidance based on my own readings. The papers chosen herein are not intended to act as a C.S. hall of fame, but instead hope to accomplish the following: All papers are freely available online (i.e. not pay-walled) They are technical (at times highly so) They cover a wide-range of topics The form the basis of knowledge that every great programmer should know, and may already

This would be a great story to use in any course on computer/internet ethics to spark discussion and do some research on keeping your resources secure.

Are you facing problems related to Office 2013 applications? Remember, it may happen with all bundled software including Excel, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, or Visio, especially at the startup.

Cleanliness is required for everything. Whether it is your computer or mobile, you need to clean it properly. Otherwise, gadgets may become dirty with full of crumbs or contaminants.

Malware, as you know is a class of malicious software such as spyware, adware, or viruses that compromise with the system's performance and security. And in majority of cases they infiltrate through general Internet activities --- browsing, surfing, and downloading, or executing programs or files. Hence, most of the virus or malware defense methods are based on encouraging secure Internet access. Though, virus or malware authors are using astute development techniques, keeping a keen eye on the behavior of your machine, can be helpful in winning the battle of computer security. Following are a few notable symptoms, which can be perceived as an indication of virus or malware attack: