Category: Story

As reported on Wired. BY KEVIN POULSEN We often say, upon the passing of a friend or loved one, that the world is a poorer place for the loss. But with the untimely death of programmer and activist Aaron Swartz, this isn’t just a sentiment; it’s literally true. Worthy, important causes will surface without a champion equal to their measure. Technological problems will go unsolved, or be solved a little less brilliantly than they might have been.…

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As reported on LifeHacker. by Whitson Gordon Signing up for daily deal services can net you a lot of junk you’d never want, and signing up for every ding-dong newsletter for your favorite stores creates a lot of spam. Bync scans your credit card for your most visited stores, then sends you a daily email with coupons for only those stores. Some of Bync’s deals are exclusive to the service, but most of them are deals…

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As reported on LifeHacker. by Alan Henry If you want to get your downloaded movies or music from one computer to a screen or another computer somewhere else, you’ll need a great media server application to manage your library and make your media available to other your other computers, mobile devices, or smart TVs and set-top boxes you might want to watch it all on. This week, we want to know which one you think is…

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As reported on LifeHacker. by Melanie Pinola Your desktop wallpaper can inspire ormotivate you, help organize your icons and folders (or even serve as your to-do list), or simply serve as amazing eye candy. Here are several fantastic tools for keeping your wallpaper from getting stale. Automatically Download and Update Your Desktop Wallpaper The easiest way to keep your desktop looking good with a fresh crop of wallpapers is by having them automatically come to you.   Full size For Windows:  John’s…

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As  reported on Wired. BY RYAN TATE Photo: Kurtis Garbutt/Flickr More than six months later, during a wonky online discussion about the debt ceiling, Beowulf thought of the article and, egged on by fellow monetary-system obsessives, came up with his own clever plan to exploit the powers of the U.S. Mint. His idea to issue a single trillion-dollar coin to the U.S. Treasury, thus letting it avoid borrowing and bypass the debt ceiling, is now much discussed…

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As reported on Wired. BY TIM MALY The tallest buildings built in 2012 can tell us a lot about the state of the world.Architecture is crystallized power. A constructed building, especially a spectacular one, is a record of the wealth and influence needed to complete such a project. Indeed, the link between a booming economy and tall buildings is so strong that economists have proposed (somewhat jokingly) a Skyscraper Index. The idea is that when you start…

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