Tech Olive

Epic Vid of the Week is a weekly series that showcases an awesome video that we or our readers discover. Some you may have seen before and others you may have not. If you’ve discovered any videos that might be worthy of an Epic Vid of the Week title, let us know!

In this short segment of The Today Show back in 1994, Bryant Gumbel and Katie Couric try to figure what exactly the internet is, as well as explain their confusion about the “@” symbol. Must watch!

This won’t solve any of the privacy issues that Facebook’s been accused of by any means, but by enabling HTTPS (S = Secure) in your Facebook settings, you can prevent hackers from logging into your account if you happen to be in a public place with an open connection.

From the Facebook homepage after logging in, click on Account in the upper right-hand corner of the page. Then click Account Settings. Click the change button to right of Account Security and check the box that says Browse Facebook on a secure connection (https) whenever possible. Hit Save and you’re good to go. Now, whenever you log in and surf Facebook, it will be over an encrypted connection.

The fear of running out of IP addresses has stalked us for years, but in a few days, the internet will completely run out of IPv4 addresses. However, IPv6 addresses will be the new thing sooner or later. Basically, IPv4 addresses range between 4 to 12 digits and have a size of 32 bits. IPv6 addresses will have a size of 128 bits and can be 32 digits long. This allows for 340 undecillion unique addresses (that’s 36 zeroes), compared to 4.3 billion possible combinations with IPv4.

IPv6 is still young and we probably won’t see it widely implemented for a couple more years. Until then, the recycling and reusing of IPv4 addresses will occur.

via [WSJ and CNET]

Epic Vid of the Week is a weekly series that showcases an awesome video that we or our readers discover. Some you may have seen before and others you may have not. If you’ve discovered any videos that might be worthy of an Epic Vid of the Week title, let us know!

This little stunt really isn’t for the faint of heart. One ballsy dude decided to film himself while he laid down on train tracks and had a speeding train go right on through. The guy got up unscathed, but one dangling piece of metal would have been all it took for him to lose his virginity. Frankly, this would be much more impressive if he was face up, head first.

For those that don’t normally watch the tube, you may or may not have watched the annual State of the Union presidential address (although it was live streamed too). Aside from all of the “economy this, economy that” chit-chat, President Obama pledged a five-year plan to deliver high-speed wireless internet connections to 98% of Americans. Here’s the excerpt from his speech:

“Within the next five years, we will make it possible for business to deploy the next generation of high-speed wireless coverage to 98% of all Americans. This isn’t just about a faster internet and fewer dropped calls. It’s about connecting every part of America to the digital age. It’s about a rural community in Iowa or Alabama where farmers and small business owners will be able to sell their products all over the world. It’s about a firefighter who can download the design of a burning building onto a handheld device; a student who can take classes with a digital textbook; or a patient who can have face-to-face video chats with her doctor.”

So, do you think it will happen?

via [Gizmodo]

Anyone else notice that Google made a minor (yet major) change to the Gmail homepage? They replaced the Reader link at the top with Photos. If you’re a frequent user of Google Reader, this most likely pissed you off in some way. However, if you’re using Google Chrome, there’s a quick fix in the form of an extension. It’s called Put Reader Back and it does just what it says. Install it and then after a quick refresh, the Reader link should be back to normal.

via [Download Squad]

This is sort of one for the ages. One of the largest companies in the world will be going through a CEO change as of April 4th, which was mentioned in their Q4 earnings report. Co-founder Larry Page will replace Eric Schmidt as head hancho. Schmidt, who was Google’s CEO since 2001, will stick around as Executive Chairman and will be an advisor to Page and other co-founder Sergey Brin. In a blog post by Schmidt, he detailed that Page is now “ready to lead,” and “will merge Google’s technology and business vision brilliantly.” There wasn’t a particular reason why the CEO swap was made, but we all have our guesses that it might not have been as smooth and friendly as anyone hoped.

[Google Investor Relations]

Epic Vid of the Week is a weekly series that showcases an awesome video that we or our readers discover. Some you may have seen before and others you may have not. If you’ve discovered any videos that might be worthy of an Epic Vid of the Week title, let us know!

It seems difficult to think about having fun with boiling hot water since it’s…well…dangerous, but if you happen to be in a location that’s freezing cold (say, 22 degrees below zero) then it’s quite possible. Exhibit A:

We can’t say it’s the most creative or sweetest-looking logo, but we suppose it does the trick. Apparently, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) seems to really think it’s a solid logo:

“It stands strong and true, resilient and universal as the markup you write. It shines as bright and as bold as the forward-thinking, dedicated web developers you are. It’s the standard’s standard, a pennant for progress. And it certainly doesn’t use tables for layout.”

What do you think?

[W3C via CNET]

Epic Vid of the Week is a weekly series that showcases an awesome video that we or our readers discover. Some you may have seen before and others you may have not. If you’ve discovered any videos that are worthy of an Epic Vid of the Week title, let us know!

In Australia, there’s been a massive flood that has sadly already claimed a handful of lives, but has also claimed quite a few cars. This amazing video captures a rising flood on the move and ends up clearing an entire parking lot.