Marijuana.com - Technology

Need some help concerning a password

tdlex420 — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:24:58 GMT

Not all that long ago I somehow received some spam mail in my email that was from my exact email address. Thinking that someone had gotten my password I reset it and changed it to something completely different. About two weeks or so went by and I got another spam email from my address. My computer runs a spyware check once a week and never finds much so my question is how is this happening and how do I stop it? As far as I know it only sends it to me but it could possibly be sending it to people on my contacts but none of them have mentioned it.

I assumed that by me changing my password everything would be fine but obviously not. Does anyone know what this could be or how to fix it? When I scan for viruses nothing comes up usually so I'm kinda stumped. For it to happen so quickly after I changed my password I'm worried there could be something on my computer that is like a keylogger, or something along those lines.

Holy crap

Macabre — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:27:44 GMT

Okay so i'm kind of stoned right now but i was on facebook just now and i see some girl's status. on your facebook home page do this:
THE FACEBOOK TRICK: press up,up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, Enter key, then left click and magic circles will appear. the only way to get rid of them are to log off or refresh the page...IT WILL WORK! put this as your status if it works. OMGWTFHAX! It works, I swear to God!

i did it and it for real works haha, wtf...can anyone explain this.

Any EEs out there?

Buzzby — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:09:56 GMT

I just ran into a question that I think only an electrical engineer could answer.

Back at the beginning of the previous century, when electric power was just coming into use by the general public, there was a competition between two different modes. Thomas Edison championed direct current. Nikola Tesla, inventor of alternating current, wanted his system to become the standard. My understanding is that Tesla won because DC required power plants every few miles due to transmission losses, while AC could travel long distances by using step-up transformers to increase the voltage.

I just looked at a video on How Stuff Works about the US power grid. It talked about how high voltage direct current (HVDC) is used for long distance transmission. A Wikipedia article confirmed this. Now I'm confused. Would some kindly EE please please explain this seeming contradiction?

Wireless Help

RyanB — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 07:15:48 GMT

We have a laptop connected to wireless and I recently got one of those old bulky computers. The new computer can't find the internet even though my PSP can just fine in the same room. I was told it has the wireless card thing to let it find the wireless and that's all I really know. Any help is appreciated.

Guitar w/ light up fretboard

Lurkerboy (T) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:10:12 GMT

I am super baked right now and have thought of an amazing ideaaaaa....:D

What if there was a guitar that had a fretboard which lit up to show you where to place your fingers? You would use software to create a pattern of lights that would appear on the fretboard on the guitar in sequence, and then load that pattern (now referred to as 'tunes') onto the onboard processor on the guitar which allows you to:

-Choose from a variety of 'tunes' downloaded into the guitar via USB cable
-Slow down and speed up 'tunes' to break something down or test your skills
-Pause and play the software at any point to allow you to place your fingers and test a chord out or something.

The lights would either be all white, or colored based on which finger you need to place at which spot. Like a natural progression of guitar hero, if a green light appears, place your pointing finger on that spot, so on and so fourth. Are you an expert on guitar hero, but can't play a simple tune? THIS IS THE NATURAL PROGRESSION.

The heart and soul would come from the online community using the software. They would create 'tunes' that taught people how to play their own songs or faithfully recreate the classics and their favorite songs. Beyond just songs, there could be a 'tune' that would slowly take a person up and down the music scale, or introduce them to like, 5000 chords in a single 'tune'. Of course, allowing the user to pause the software gives them the name of the note they're playing.

I've talked to a couple people who have engineering and programming backgrounds, and they say the idea is plausible. I'd like to make a prototype based on the feedback left on the theoretical product (if it's pretty much 'yay' with no 'nays' making a reasonable argument against the product, I'd give 'er a shot.

The market for the product is basically expanding on the 'my first guitar' kinda idea. I wouldn't impliment this into a $1000 guitar unless many people showed interest, it's very much for that first $150-300 guitar market. Of course one can turn on the lights at any time, and then it's a regular guitar!

So, I'm throwing this out there because in all honesty, I want to see who and what factors will trash this idea. Throw anything that could stand in the way of this functioning properly, or not reaching it's market. Anything negative. If you ultimately support the concept, write it at the end of your post!

Example: "hey man the idea is cool but wouldn't quality of sound go down if you mess with a guitar and add bobbles and shit on it? but fuck if you could fix that shit it'd be fuckin bomb"

labtop problems...again

FernAC420 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:46:06 GMT

Hp dv9000
Windows vista
Having some problems with my labtop again...does anyone know why the labtop would boot up after i shut it down? The labtop is completely off and then it turns on on its own. Does anyone know what could be causing this?
BTW this started happening a couple days after i did a bios update. could this be the reason?

Internet Security

jasonsmith — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:12:42 GMT

You know I am new to posting (not reading) the boards. I am wondering what you guys think is the best internet security software/website. Secure, encrypted, and hopefully subpoena/warrant proof. And email? I use a mac ;)

JS

cross posted

Gotta Love Google!

SmokeyMcPott — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:25:56 GMT

Google releases Dashboard privacy tool - CNN.com

I remember a thread here a while ago advocating the use of search engines that don't log your data. Google apparently now lets you be in control of that data. I think this is a great step in keeping the internet anonymous, and reduces the amount of information people can gather on you that you don't want to. Makes me feel a bit better about using Google, which is good because I use Google to search nearly everything, and I have an android phone lol.

Mac won't type 2 capital letters in a row

Bodhi1976 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:48:18 GMT

The weirdest thing started happening today with my Mac (Intel MacBook, Mac OS X 10.5.8). If I try to type two capital letters in a row, the second one comes out lower-case, even though I'm holding the shift key down. If I want 2 caps in a row, I have to backspace over the lower-case character and type it again with the shift key down.

Has anyone got an idea what could be doing this? It's system-wide, not just in one app, and is the same for all accounts on the machine.

How do you use wi-fi on a daily/weekly basis without getting KILLED by snoopers?

Createrson — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:44:03 GMT

At home I use my desktop computer for work and school. But now I want to start using my laptop at a public hot spot or two: coffee shops, the library, the airport, McDonald's, etc. That means I'll be going on the Internet via wi-fi on a regular basis...and exposing myself to hackers. You know that wi-fi is super unsecure, very unsecure. Figuratively speaking, a round of Russian Roulette is a safer sport than surfing wirelessly. I understand that when it comes to safe surfing a VPN (virtual private network) is the first thing a security minded person should have on their laptop.
a) Is that true?
b) If so, can you recommend the name of a good VPN?
c) will the VPN slow down my surf sessions compared to the hard wired connection I use at home?
d) one person said that a VPN is NOT the way to go. Check this out: he said that all I need is a good firewall and a good anti-virus protection program when I go wireless in public. That sounds a little nuts. Does that sound crazy? That sounds like a prescription for a virtual suicide. Of course I have both already in place, but is that to say that that's all you need to guard against packet sniffers when you're wireless - a firewall and an anti-virus progam? Sounds kinda incomplete to me. Do you agree or disagree with his statement?

Project Natel: The Future of Gaming & Home Entertainment!

Payless — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:34:12 GMT

YouTube - Xbox 360 project natel at E3

Amperage question

ground_sniper — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:19:04 GMT

Hey, I'm trying to rig a CPU fan to run off of a power adapter for a charger. So far it's working, but I was wondering if it would eventually overload.

The Fan itself requires 12V DC 150mA and the adapter I'm using is outputting 12V DC 300mA. Would the fan be able to continuously handle the extra 150mA? If not, is there anyway I could modify the output of the adapter?

Definitely not an electrical engineer. :(

So, anyone else have a love of strange mechanical things being built in thier garage?

Bowies_Wanger — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 13:03:50 GMT

So, you know what I like to do? I like to bolt engines onto things that shouldn't have engine son them, anyone else like to do this? It's so much fun.

I've been hoping one day to build a hovercraft/jetbike. It will be badass. I have the plans in my head. They will work. THEY WILL!

This and if I ever get my own house and loads of money and shit: bong jacuzzi. It would be like a giant bong, and you sit in the water and fishbowl inside the bong. It would be AMAZING. a projector would project episodes of the mighty boosh on the smoke.

labtop issue need some advice.

FernAC420 — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:20:03 GMT

Hey I own a pavilion dv9000 specs are
AMD Turion 64x2
NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 discrete graphics with 256MB dedicated DDR2 VRAM
1GB of RAM
Windows Vista

My issue is that before i reinstalled Vista Home premium My Physical Memory was running less than 20%. After I reinstalled Vista Home Premium and installed the updates I now run at 55% Physical Memory. Everything before I reinstalled vista was put in a file called Windows.Old. I don't run anything at all so my questions are how do I decrease my physical memory? Is Vista a memory whore? Do I need to buy more RAM? or should I just get windows 7? or switch back to XP?