Paranoiacs rejoice! Last week, Heather Murphy of the New York Times explained that Edward Snowden had lawyers place their cell phones in a refrigerator to block the signals, using the fridge as a makeshift Faraday cage. Murphy quoted Adam Harvey, a countersurveillance products designer, who said that a martini shaker is a foolproof Faraday cage that can […]
Archive | Odds And Ends
Google Celebrates LGBT Pride Month With Search Engine Easter Egg
In a post earlier this month on the Google+ home for Life at Google, the company spoke up about its involvement in LGBT Pride Month. From Silicon Valley LGBTQ mixers to Hangouts with Google Executives, planning a successful Google Pride is about more than coordinating the colors of the rainbow. Gayglers from all departments of […]
Senator Wendy Davis Versus Texas Republicans; Internet Versus 24-Hour News Networks
Moments ago, a riot and a revolution almost happened in Texas over women’s reproduction rights. According to TV news, there was nothing worth reporting. Thousands of people viewing the live feed of the proceedings, the people reporting on social media like Twitter and Facebook, and throngs of people numbering in the high hundreds to lower […]
Social Media Takedown On Juneteenth When Paula Deen Found Being Racist
We here at Techcitement aren’t usually judgmental folk. We leave that for BuzzFeed, Reddit, or Gawker. However, it’s not a far reach to say that the butter-pushing star of Food Network, Paula Deen is a truly awful person. If you’re unfamiliar with Paula Deen, she’s spent a lifetime promoting high-fat, high-calorie diets that usually involve […]
Just Because You’re Paranoid… Part 1: Securing Your Email
The news has been awash with stories lately of how the National Security Agency has the ability to access the telephone records and internet usage patterns of Americans and possibly others around the globe. Our own website featured an article on this subject when the story first broke over a week ago. While bringing down a […]
NSA Demands Verizon Turn Over Caller Database
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. Do […]
Pepsi Leaves Bad Taste In A Whole New Way
In what may be an identity thief’s wet dream, an ad agency has created a Pepsi machine that dispenses cans in exchange for Facebook likes. Did you catch the sinister, Orwellian note to the end of that video? And thanks to this new way of sampling we know exactly who liked, tried, and enjoyed an ice […]
The Chicago Sun-Times Says It Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Photographers
The Chicago Tribune reported on Thursday that its local competition, the Chicago Sun-Times, laid off its entire photography staff and plans to use a combination of reporters and freelance photographers to capture photos of the news instead. In a memo to staffers, managing editor Craig Newman informed Sun-Times reporters that they will receive “iPhone photography […]
Bra Pockets Removes Need For Boyfriends
Sometimes women’s pants have fake pockets. Is that a mean joke, or are we simply slaves to the sleek and stylish lines of women’s fashion? Is having pockets somehow considered to be too manly? Or are people afraid of what we would put in our pockets were they to be real? I believe the answer […]
Unimpressive 3D Printed Zip Gun Drives Internet Insane
I’ve got to admit that I’m not nearly as impressed with crypto-anarchist Cody Wilson, his Defense Distributed organization, or its 3D printable handgun, the Liberator, as the rest of the internet seems to be. Most everywhere I’ve looked for the last several days I’ve seen headline after overwrought headline claiming that this new handgun design is a radical game changer […]