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Back to the 80′s with Snoop, bitches.

written by tom

Here’s a great hack of the Nintendo Wiimote that enables you to use your projected computer screen a whiteboard.

written by tom

Online DVD rental company Netflix may suffer a cut into its profits if the USPS imposes extra postage for those cute, red envelops. 

The US Postal Service’s Inspector General has prepared an audit that recommends charing a company an extra 17 cents per envelop to cover labor costs.  If this “unidentifed” company is Netflix analysts project that their profits would drop from $1.05 per subscriber to 35 cents.

Could that company be Blockbuster?  The short answer is no.  Netflix’s competitor handles their online rentals a different way in the mail.

The IG said that a majority of the “unidentified company’s” envelopes have a floppy edge which means that the mailers must be handled manually, increasing the cost to ship.  Over the next two years the estimated cost of the manual handling will rise about $20 million.

Can this cause a big spike for Blockbuster’s stock?  Let’s look at some numbers.Netflix sends out about 1.6 million DVDs a day.  They save about $100 million a year by using first class postage even as they pick up the cost of the return postage. A spokesman for the company doubts that Netflix will add a surcharge to the price of shipping the DVDs.

As news of this hit the markets Netflix’s shares rose 18 cents.

written by tom

written by tom

A flawed security setup could make access to the personal data of Canadians easily attained. 

Last week a man from Ontario, Canada, stumbled upon a way to find data of other users applying for passports.  While filling out his information online he discovered that by altering one number in the URL of his web browser he could view other people’s data.

The data that could be obatianed in the flaw includes social insurance numbers, birth dates, driver’s license numbers and other personal data of people applying for Canadian passports online.

Last Friday the website was taken down for repair.  Earlier this week it was back up, but on Tuesday it went down again.  The second suspension was “of a different nature” said a spokesperson for the agency.  Indeed it was, as of Tuesday afternoon the site was back up, with the security flaw still accessible.

You can view a screen shot of the flaw here.

written by tom