Month: October 2012

Print Your Own Gun

2 Replies Jonny Hankins

Last week I went to a street fair in Boston. It was an interesting event to say the least, it was a celebration of local inventors and craftspeople. We made trans-music with a home built computerized digital orchestra, rode on electric motorbikes, played with robots and a large wooden catapult. Have a look at some of the photos here.

The robot collection was extraordinary, but one object really made me think. Someone had built there own 3D printer and was making objects as we watched.

3D printing has come up on this site before, but the fact that somebody could build one themselves at home had escaped me. And these types of printers have recently been in the news here in the USA for a very serious reason, somebody has claimed that they could produce a gun using only 3d printing.

Cody Wilson, 3D weapon advocate

Cody Wilson, 3D weapon advocate

Defense Distributed, a group of gun advocates, recently posted a YouTube video trying to raise money to make a printable gun.  The concept is to use fast-improving 3D printer technology to create gun parts that could be assembled into a fully-workable firearm.

“As the printing press revolutionized literacy, 3D printing is in its moment,” Cody Wilson, 24, founder of Defense Distributed, said in the video clip.

Three-dimensional printers have been used industrially for years to produce plastic or metal objects, but as the prices for entry level machines have fallen as low as $500, the printers have become more prevalent among hobbyists and educational institutions.

Users can create or download a data file, then simply click “Print” and the machines will create the three-dimensional prototype.

Now this organization would like to distribute a data file for a workable gun, something that may well not even be illegal over here, the law remains fuzzy in the face of such technology.

Fortunately the printer company have taken their machine back from Mr. Wilson as it is illegal to manufacture guns without a license, but he has raised over $20 000 for his project so far so may well soon be able to buy another.

Another hobbyist has actually produced some parts for a gun, assembled it and fired it more than 200 times so this is certainly not science fiction. Have a look at this article in Gizmag.

Is this just a crazy idea? Or could it undermine any gun controls put in place and put weapons into everybody’s hands? The second is Mr. Wilson’s goal unfortunately.

This kind of unforeseen use for an otherwise interesting new technology reminds me of why I keep on battling for ethics and responsibility in innovation through my work.

Sponsored: The rise of the Ultrabook

1 Reply Christopher Roberts

This is a sponsored post on behalf of Acer. To find out more about sponsored content on Technology Bloggers, please visit our Privacy Policy.

Before you read any further you should know that as a writer I have been offered a small fee to produce this article, and will receive a (very small) fee for every person in the UK who watches the video – for a limited time. That said, this in no way affects my objectivity or impartiality, and I endeavour to make this article as interesting as any other on the blog. Our policy as a blog is to only accept paid editorials which are of interest to the writer, and which we believe will be of interest to our readers. Funds raised help us to maintain and improve the blog.

The word Ultrabook has become somewhat of a buzzword in the computing industry in recent times, but many people don’t really know what it means or refers to. What is an Ultrabook?

It really is amazing how fast paced the technology industry it. Go back 3 years and tablets didn’t exist and just 6 years ago smartphones didn’t either.

Netbooks

The first variation on a laptop was the Netbook, which went on sale in 2007. A Netbook a term used to describe laptops which are lightweight, portable, lacking in external ports and cheap. Most Netbooks don’t have CD drives and as far as I am aware none have floppy drives as standard.

Netbooks were deigned as a cheaper alternative to a laptop which is ideal for using on the go. The rise of Netbooks was deigned to improve the portability of a laptop, as despite laptops being more portable than desktops, they often weren’t practical for using on the go.

Ultrabooks

Last year laptop makers went a step further in the long-term development of the device and created the Ultrabook. Ultrabooks were designed to be as portable as a Netbook, but the next level up in terms of speed, practicality and storage.

Ultrabooks are very well designed laptops with powerful processors, designed to use less power and therefore have a better battery life. Ultrabooks are like Netbooks in that they are very portable, but they are also powerful.

Most of the big technology firms are now making Ultrabooks. Acer, Dell, HP and Samsung all have their own brands.

The majority of Ultrabooks are powered by Intel’s powerful ‘i‘ processors. Intel Core i3 processors are what you find in most Ultrabooks, these are very powerful and cope well with multiple operations. Some Ultrabooks have Intel Core i5 processors which, are another step up from the i3 – more power leading to better handling and greater possibilities. There are now a few Ultrabooks which run Intel Core i7 processors, which are lightning fast! i7 is rare though, as most people would never need to a processor which that fast.

One recent addition to the Ultrabook market is Acer’s Aspire S5. It is currently the worlds thinnest Ultrabook, measuring a tiny 15mm closed and a staggering 11mm when open – it beets the competition by some considerable margin! Dell XPS 14 for example is nearly 2.1cm when shut (almost an inch) whereas the Aspire S5 is less than 1.5cm.

Acer Aspire S5

The Acer Aspire S5 – a powerful Ultrabook.

Acer’s Aspire S5 is not only ultra thin, but also ultra light (starting to see why it’s called an Ultrabook?) weighing in at 1.2kg. The screen is an impressive 13.3 inches making it pretty much the same size as a 13-inch MacBook Pro. That said the equivalent MacBook weighs 2.06kg, 0.86kg heavier than the Aspire S5 – that’s like carrying the best part of an extra bag of sugar around with you!

Ultrabooks really do showcase the amazing technological advancements that have been made in the last few years. Devices are getting smaller, thinner, less power hungry and more powerful, and the Aspire S5 is no exception.

Technology firms seem intent on advertising their new devices in the most innovative way possible at the moment, and Acer have produced an advert in-line with this trend for their new Ultrabook. If you are interested, take a look at the ad below to see the Aspire S5 in action – quite literally in action!

%CODEUMACERC1%

So what are your thoughts on the Ultrabook trend? Do you think that portable is the future, and desktops are destined for the scrapheap, or is there a future where they co-exist?

Which is your preferred option, the usually slightly cheaper, but less capable Netbook, or would you rather spend a little more to have a much more powerful, performance built Ultrabook? Personally I would have an Ultrabook any day of the week!

Thoughts and comments welcome below 🙂

Different ways of surfing anonymously

8 Replies Ranveer Singh

This is a sponsored post. To find out more about sponsored content on Technology Bloggers, please visit our Privacy Policy.

Many of the file sharing websites like Mediafire, Megaupload, Rapidhshare and torrent websites like torrentz.eu, monova.org, fenopy.eu etc. are blocked now in India in order to stop piracy of software and movies. But music and video lovers are looking for alternate ways to access these blocked websites. There are many alternative and secure ways to access these blocked websites without using proxy.

Using VPN Client

One of the easiest options is to use free VPN (Virtual Private Networks) services which can connect your network to remote servers in other countries and you can access these blocked sites easily. VPN uses a secure VPN tunnel to connect to remote sites through private channel. There are many free VPN services like proxpn, UltraVPN, OpenVPN etc. which can be downloaded free of cost. You can download the VPN client and install it on your desktop or laptop. Once you install and connect to the internet through VPN whatever data traffic and requests come from your machine will be sent in encrypted format through a secure VPN tunnel. Also the request will be anonymous and it won’t be possible to track your source IP address as NAT (Network Address Translation) happens which converts your private IP to public IP address.

Once you have installed the VPN you can automatically access any of the blocked sites as you will be accessing through a VPN server located remotely in some other country. Hence you can enjoy downloading your favorite movies and videos from websites like MegaUpload, Rapidshare, Mediarefire and other popular torrent websites even if you use HTTPS for secure connection. VPN is secure and safe way to access blocked sites and prevents your computer from getting attacked by spyware or malware. Many of modern browsers use VPN for connecting securely over internet.

Another option is use to free DNS services like Open DNS. You can use settings as 4.4.4.4 for preferred DNS and 8.8.8.8 for alternate DNS server. Once you download the VPN client install in your machine and restart it. Then start the VPN client by providing the username and password which is registered while downloading the VPN software. After that select any free server in USA, UK or any other foreign country and click Connect. You will notice the message that data transfer is SSL secure and now you are connected to internet through the VPN client. Now you can access any of blocked torrent websites and file sharing sites like Rapidshare or Megaupload easily.

Using Tor Browser for Anonymous Surfing

Another easy way for accessing blocked websites is by using proxy server. There are internet filters and firewalls which monitor user traffic and block access to such illegitimate sites. But using certain advanced tools you can bypass this filter and enjoy access to such blocked websites. One such tool is the Tor browser which was designed by U.S. Naval Research Laboratory for the purpose of anonymous and secure browsing.

In order to anonymously browse through internet without relying on external proxy server, you can use the Tor browser which can be downloaded freely from Tor website https://www.torproject.org/.

Tor ProjectOnce you download and install the Tor browser, start the application and open Vidalia control panel which automatically opens the Mozilla Firefox browser. Whatever requests come from your machine will get routed through anonymous servers maintained by Tor and will bypass internet filter which block access to specific websites. Hence, you can browse through your favorite file sharing and video sites without using an external proxy server. All, the user data will be erased from cache once you close the browser and is very secure.

EDITOR NOTE: There are many different ways you can access the internet, of which most are safe and legal. That said some methods could damage your computer and may not be legal in the country you are in, so always check beforehand – note by Christopher