It’s a common misconception among the general public that software engineers sit at their desks all day, pounding out code while drinking coffee. For quite a while, this is what I thought as well. When I took my first introduction to programming class at the University of Washington however, my professor asked the class this question, on the first day: How …
If you’ve been on the Internet long enough, you’ve probably heard buzz about how hackers can spy on you using your webcam. This is not just some scare story. The truth is that hacking into webcams has been demonstrated over and over. Even so, I’ve always thought that such webcams were accessible only by elite government-employed computer geeks. It turns out that …
A couple of years ago, I wrote about a very cool citizen science project called Old Weather. This project was a massively crowdsourced effort to analyze historical weather patterns, based on observations recorded in ships’ logs. At any given time, hundreds of volunteers were logged on to the website, transcribing scans of these logs and noting data such as date, location, …
flWhen buying a laptop, you don’t just buy the laptop. There are hundreds of accessories available for any given laptop brand, from a 4G wireless dongle to a replacement keyboard. Some accessories are just there to serve as conversation pieces, while others you cannot live without. Let’s look at some essential companions that you’ll need along with your new, or …
I hate fingerprints on glass. So when it comes to fingerprint-free screens, I am an absolute stickler to what kind to purchase. When I got my new touchscreen laptop, I immediately bought a screen protector for it. No disgusting fingerprints this time! When it comes to screen protectors, most fall into two categories. The first and most common are plastic film …