Ben's Blogroll

Lots of people these days avoid dairy and instead reach for alternatives to milk. We've covered making your own soy milk and almond milk in the past; if you prefer rice milk you can make your own by blending rice, water, and a sweetener. More »

Windows: If you're colorblind or just need to constantly know what colors are on your screen the free program Colorblind Assistant might be for you. The program tells you whatever color is displayed at the current location of your mouse/trackpad pointer. More »

It's an Apple patent application: please be aware this is unlikely to wind up in your next device, please fasten seat belts and fix your tray table in the fixed and upright position. Inside the bezel of your iDevice or Mac is a magnet that operates a switch -- that will only be activated when a "correlated" magnet inside a key-fob makes contact. That's the thinking behind Cupertino's newest patent application, attempting to turn magnets into a way of keeping your stuff secure. An example listed in the patent is using a stylus with specially encoded magnets to securely unlock an iPad, which we attribute to a zealous patent attorney and not a reversal of the "they blew it" rule. It may sound ridiculous when you first consider it, but given the magnetic-activation of the iPad 2's smart cover, it's not as outlandish as you believe. Still, we'll believe it if we see it in a couple of years.

Apple patent looks to create 'secure magnets' to unlock your device originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While last week's shutdown of MegaUpload is of huge interest in itself, but a wave of aftershocks and side-effects are proving equally fascinating to watch. In addition to causing all sorts of problems for legitimate users of file-sharing services, there is no avoiding the fact that certain elements of the piracy scene are in a mess. But amazingly, still the beat goes on.

You can make a simple detergent that works well in dishwashers by mixing a cup of borax and a cup of baking soda or washing soda and storing it in a tub. Use a tablespoon or two of this mixture (depending on the size of your dishwasher) along with a bit of Oxiclean or a commercial detergent to run a load of dishes. More »

A harsh new ad from former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney uses news footage from 1997 to remind voters of then-House speaker Newt Gingrich’s ethics violations.

“History Lesson” is unusual in that neither Romney nor Gingrich appears. The entire 30-second spot consists of an NBC News report from Jan. 21, 1997, the day Gingrich was reprimanded by Congress for using tax-exempt money for political purposes and giving the House Ethics Committee false information.

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Android: Getting one step closer to turning your phone into a tricorder, Android app Radioactivity Counter uses the CMOS camera sensor on your phone to record radiation levels. More »

In a world where word of mouth and the judgment of the hive mind is worth more than any ad or the ruminations of many professional reviewers, companies will do just about anything to ensure a strong rating on outlets like Amazon. It's clear that dummy accounts simply aren't the way to go, but what about bribing your existing customers? Apparently VIP Deals thought that route was perfectly acceptable and offered rebates to people who rated their products on Amazon. Now, the offer letter (which you can see at the more coverage link) doesn't explicitly ask for a five star review, but it is strongly suggested that the company expects one in exchange for receiving the product for free -- in this case, a leather Kindle Fire case. VIP's reviews and its products have all since been booted from Amazon, but it certainly raises plenty of questions about the ease with which some companies are able to game the system and how a reputable outlet can protect its customers from ratings scams. Hit up the source for the full story.

Company turns to bribery for 5 star Amazon reviews originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 14:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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China's near-exclusive access to terbium and yttrium sent prices soaring in 2011, potentially hobbling clean energy industry Shortages of a handful of rare minerals could slow the future growth of the burgeoning renewable energy industries, and affect countries' chances of limiting greenhouse gas emissions, business leaders were told at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week..

Continue reading MOTU sneaks in MicroBook II post-NAMM, ships this Spring for $269

MOTU sneaks in MicroBook II post-NAMM, ships this Spring for $269 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 12:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PENSACOLA, Fla. — Before Mitt Romney uttered a word at his campaign rally here Saturday morning, his surrogate sidekicks seemed to have stolen the headlines.

Actor Jon Voight declared that President Obama had decided to “take us to socialism.” Then Sen. John McCain turned to Voight, who played a villain on the TV counterterrorism series “24,” and said: “I was frightened the whole time. … Wasn’t [Voight] a threat to America and the world? … Jack Bauer killed him three or four times, thank God.”

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STUART, Fla.— Newt Gingrich thinks today’s kids have it way too easy. Then again, there was a day when some people thought that about young Newt himself.

The former House speaker has already generated some controversy — and praise — with his suggestion that poor kids have no work habits and his idea that they should be put to work in janitorial jobs.

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If there's one thing we took away from our jaunt at CES, it's this: consumers' appetites for mainstream laptops haven't waned all that much. Even in the Ultrabook category, Intel expects half of the models to go on sale this year will have 14- and 15-inch screens -- as strong an indicator as any that lots of folks aren't yet ready to give up their slightly larger screens, their discrete graphics, their (gasp!) optical drives. While HP recently announced its first Ultrabook for the consumer market, the Envy 14 Spectre, it's fully fleshed out its premium Envy series to include two additional models for people who crave more oomph.

The Envy 15 is the medium-sized member of the crew, with a 15.6-inch screen and the same overhauled design you'll find across the Envy lineup. Delightfully, too, it marks the return of HP's eye-popping Radiance display, and also comes with a generous two-year warranty and full copies of Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements. And with a starting price of $1,100, it sharply undercuts the 15-inch MacBook Pro, while taking direct aim at other high-end 15-inchers, like the Dell XPS 15z and Samsung Series 7 Chronos. So how does it stack up? Meet us after the break to find out.

Continue reading HP Envy 15 review (early 2012)

HP Envy 15 review (early 2012) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Advertisers beat the rush by posting Super Bowl XLVI commercials on the Web. Here's a sneak peek at the techiest from the bunch.

Continue reading Mozilla to overhaul Firefox's default home and tab pages

Mozilla to overhaul Firefox's default home and tab pages originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A simple mistake like overdrafting from your account can incur lots of unnecessary fees, making you lose money for, essentially, no reason. Similarly, by signing up for simple rewards programs or otherwise cleverly using your bank and credit card, you can get money from doing the things you already do. Here are our top 10 ways to increase the cash in your pocket without changing how you spend. More »

If you want to try bicycling on the cheap and support keeping waste out of landfills, consider restoring a discarded bicycle as your next project. While the time and money investment will vary depending on the condition of the bike, you still should save a decent chunk of money and will have learned essential repair skills. More »

Forrester has announced the results of its latest survey, which encompassed 10,000 enterprise computer users, across 17 countries. It looked at the degree of Apple product adoption in businesses and support for them within IT services. There's plenty to chew on, but here's the big one; over a fifth of those surveyed uses an Apple product for work. This, however, includes workers using their personal devices for work tasks, with 11 percent using their iPhone, 9 percent their iPad and 8 percent working on their Macs. Half of the enterprises included in Forrester's survey plan to increase the number of Macs used by 52 percent, while nearly half of the firms are already issuing Apple PCs to employees, gaining even more traction within IT departments in the US and Western Europe. Unsurprisingly, given its premium pricing, those using Apple gear are more likely to be higher paid, while also (paradoxically) younger and in a senior rank. More specifically, 43 percent of those making over $150,000 a year use an iPhone, iPad or Mac. No cause or effect here, ladies and gents, but we'll be putting in our expense claim for a new set of business iPads very soon.

Forrester: Apple makes strides into enterprises, users iWork hard for the money originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 09:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In the wake of the online protests against the pending PIPA and SOPA anti-piracy bills, Rasmussen asked US voters what their opinion is on the issue. Should the public worry more about piracy or Internet censorship? Through a telephone survey voters were asked the following question. “Which is a bigger problem, that some people download [...]

What happens when you take a PogoPlug, add 8GB of flash storage, some radios (WiFi, GPS) and perhaps a few sensors, then stuff everything in a 3D-printed box? You get the F-BOMB (Falling or Ballistically-launched Object that Makes Backdoors), a battery-powered surveillance computer that costs less than $50 to put together using off-the-shelf parts. The 4 x 3.5 x 1-inch device, created by security researcher Brendan O'Connor and funded by DARPA's Cyber Fast Track program, is cheap enough for single-use scenarios where costly traditional hardware is impractical. It can be dropped from an AR Drone, tossed over a fence, plugged into a wall socket or even hidden inside a CO detector. Once in place, the homebrew Linux-based system can be used to gather data and hop onto wireless networks using WiFi-cracking software. Sneaky. Paranoid yet? Click on the source link below for more info.

F-BOMB $50 surveillance computer hides in your CO detector, cracks your WiFi originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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