2017
Companies buying bitcoin to prepare for cyber extortion
In an uncertain world where kidnapping for ransom is an all too common occurrence, many hostage negotiators use the no-concession policy. They justify this position by explaining that paying a ransom makes it more likely that the perpetrators will try it again and often times the ransom is used to fund illegal or terrorist organizations. Although I have seen very little empirical evidence to prove that this no-concesion approach is more desirable than paying the ransom, this mentality was brought into the digital age when cyber-ransoms, cyber-extortions and crypto-malware became prevalent.
7 airport lounge access secret you need to know
1 - Buy day-passes online Most airlines will allow passengers to buy a lounge access day-pass online. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1800"]<img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/123c0c408f.jpg" alt=" Toronto Air Canada Airport Lounge "> Toronto Air Canada Airport Lounge [/caption] As an example, you can buy a day-pass from Air Canada for access to their own lounge for $25 if you are travelling on a Latitude fare. United Airlines offers airport lounge access day-pass for $50 here. 2 - Buy day-passes at the airport Check directly with your airline.
Microsoft Outlook Premium Super Deal (Promo)
UPDATED: Microsoft has extended the promo until June 30 2017. Outlook.com Premium is now out of beta and is being offered at the super affordable price of $US19.95 until March 2017. If you need a custom domain, you can buy one directly from Microsoft for $US10 per year. After the promo, the price will rise to $US49.99 So what do you get? Custom domain for five users - You can create personalized email addresses (Outlook premium) for up to 5 people.
Secret to a 3 minute better you
Why continuous improvement is important Companies have competitors, but so do employees. There are others that can do your job, the questions is who can do it better. Continuous development through education (formal and informal) is the only way to keep and and hopefully move ahead. Moving ahead means you gain unique differentiating qualities that hopefully will lead to promotions, better compensation and maybe lead to the job you've been dreaming of. By improving who you are, you gain the ability to deliver better services to clients, your company, colleagues and friends.
Most relaxing song in the world (science)
Everyone knows that music has a magical ability to enhance your emotions. It can push you to your exercise faster, smile more or fall into deep meditative contemplation. A British band called Marconi Union has used scientific research to produce what it calls "the most relaxing song" ever created. The bank worked with professionals (like sound therapists) during the process. The song was specifically engineered to lower blood pressure, reduce stress levels, and even lower your heart rate. The combination of sounds and music creates such a state of relaxation that users have been warned not to listen to it while driving.
The best lightning cable for your IOS products
Like it or hate it, one thing we can all agree on is that Apple's in-package lightning cables are horrible. They are weak and usually become frayed and unusable within months. <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/b85719288a.jpg" alt=""> First stay away from the cheap Chinese knockoff cables. Every MFI (Made For Iphone) certified cable comes with a special (in cable) authentication chip. Chipworks has a good write up about this secret chip. This is why many of the cheaper lightning accessories and cables you buy on Amazon, eBay and AliExpress, turn out to be useless junk.
Hackers that hacked Cellebrite released a data dump
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“1686”]Image from the Cellebrite website [/caption] Cellebrite is an Israeli company that specializes in tools (hardware and software) to break cell phone security. The Universal Forensic Extraction Device (UFED) is their most popular product and it can extract info from a wide variety of cell phones in minutes. Needless to say, law enforcement loves Cellebrite and has made them a very wealthy company. Cellebrite confirmed being breached and 900 GB of data was taken (which we believed contained end user licensing information).
Most Snapchat users are on IOS and other cool information
Tech companies are notoriously secretive about their user makeup and their internal operations. Snap filled its paperwork for its IPO (Initial Public Offering) and it makes for a fantastic read. You too can read the S1 here. As much as Android fans want to pretend they are as vibrant as the IOS community, the Snap S1 begs to differ. They clearly highlight that most users of Snapchat are on IOS thus making it the priority development platform for the service.
Google Home Superbowl ad
Google has started taking hardware seriously in recent years with its Chromecast and Pixels. Then Google launched the Google Home a voice controlled speaker system that competes directly against the Amazon Echo. In addition to basic voice control, it brought the Google Assistant (until then reserved for the Pixel line of smartphones) to the masses. You can ask Google Home any question and watch it miraculously respond leveraging the massive Google knowledge graph. It can play music from Google Play or Spotify, It an give you weather, news and sport scores.
Tool to check if your favorite username is free on dozens of sites automatically
Whether you are a burgeoning social media star, a marketer or just a lover of everything social, you probably want to use the name username on all the major social media sites. Using the same name makes it easy for your adoring fans to find you. This is when an online service called NameCheckr comes into play. You enter the desired username and it check the sites for availability. The sites included in its search (as I write this are):
Bypass that machine and speak to a human
Regardless of the sales pitch companies make, most self-service initiatives are to save the company money and not necessarily to improve the customer experience. Automated interactive voice support systems are no exception. Everyone dreads entering the maze of never-ending menus filled with frustration and annoyance. There is a better way. What if you could bypass the machine and go straight to a living breathing human? Welcome to the salvation that is GetHuman.com. Let's say I want to call Bell Canada:
Make sure that cyber-criminal doesn't rip you off
Everyone hates being ripped off and consumers are always looking for ways to protect themselves. We use credit cards for online purchases to protect against fraud. We use Amazon ratings to judge the worthiness of a seller. But what is a cyber-criminal to do? A criminal can't reverse a charge because they don't use credit cards. So anywhere there is a void, an entrepreneur will fill the void and the dark underbelly of the cyber-criminal world is no exception. A site called Ripper.
You should download the latest IOS upgrade now
There is no such thing as bulletproof security. If a well funded, technically competent and determined adversary is targeting you, they will get in. Your job is to make their life as difficult as possible by using passwords that are complex (difficult to guess) and by keeping your software up to date. Apple has been a good steward of IOS security and regularly releases patches to protect its user base. Today we were gifted IOS 10.2.1 which is an out of plan upgrade I recommend you download asap.
9 most important questions to determine if a project is worthwhile
George H Heilmeier was a DARPA director and developed 9 questions to help the agency determine the worthiness of project being submitted to it for funding. These 9 powerful questions as referred to as the "Heilmeier Catechism" and have become a core operating paradigm for DARPA [Defense Advance Research Projects Activity] And IARPA [Intelligence Advance Research Project Activity]. These questions are so powerful, they are used in the business world day in and day out. I first learned about these questions while having lunch with a VC in San Francisco.
Plazmatic USB Rechargeable ARC lighter without butane
SEE UPDATE BELOW ABOUT WARRANTY CLAIM As a frequent traveler, I had always been looking for a lighter alternative that is safe to fly (as long is it is in your carry-on) so I decided to test the Plazmatic X lighter. This is also convenient to users wanted alternatives to disposable lighters or ones that require constant refueling. The Plazmatic X is a well built product made from metal.It is light to carry every day (as part of your EDC) but feels solid and reliable in the hand.
A free anonymous (TOR) Web browser for IOS
I have written plenty of articles about TOR over the years: What is Tor and should I use it Why use Facebook over the TOR secure network What is the dark web Is TOR really anonymous We know that large scale government actors that control many of the TOR exit nodes have techniques to deanonymize TOR traffic, but this is still difficult to do and TOR is still the most reliable web anonymization technique available.