Dan Escobar is a versatile photographer who is inspired by the execution of strong concepts. Whether it’s the pure interaction of composition and light, the staging of stylized portraits, or the creation of complex environments or effects, Dan has been responsible for some of the most celebrated, image-driven ads of the last 20 years. Dan spends his spare time in San Francisco trying to figure out his kids and waiting for the Giants to win a World Series.

See more in Dan Escobar website: http://danescobar.com/

I use the term “hack” rather lightly here. It’s such a well known and simple hack that it really shouldn’t go under the radar for such a large tech-based company such as Sony. While I won’t delve into the details of the financial side of the story (which more can be read about in the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13636704), I will show you how to achieve such a simple hack.

The main feature of the hack is the SQL Injection. What’s this, you ask. SQL is the main language used for accessing the database. As an analogy, imagine the database is the bank, the website is the account holder and SQL is English. SQL is what’s used by the website to access the correct data in the database. Now, if were to be able to alter what the account holder says to the bank, then you can ask the bank to give you anything that the account holder can normally (ie. all his money and info, etc.)

This hack can mainly be done by the typing extra bits into the address bar of a normal browser. You can even purposely send incorrect data to the database so that it can tell you more about the database structure and voila. You have access to everything in the database.

The funny thing is, all this could be avoided by simply doing escapes whenever they get data from the website, something which could be done using a fraction of a line of code.

Pick-up-sticks is not easy and sad to say it gets more difficult with age!

Who says tech people don’t have fun?

Flexbook -  a flexible notebook concept by a Taiwan-based designer – Hao-chun Huang. It offers portable, multi-use computing within a single device.  It comes with a waterproof keypad and 21:9 180-degree swivel touch screen that makes it a tablet and notebook in one go!

concept illustration of the range of possible configurations of the device

Flexbook can be folded for easy portability, or used as a gaming device, e-reader, tablet, or laptop

rendering of some of the possible uses of Flexbook

More details:‘flexbook’ by hao-chun huang at Designbloom

This crazy alarm clock is going to cost you if you don’t spring out of bed immediately after it goes off. This just might be the solution for my “wake up 1 hour after alarm rings” habit.

Original article: http://mashable.com/2011/05/29/money-shredding-alarm

“Our obsession with our smartphones has grown into a full-blown addiction, according to a new survey in the iPass Global Mobile Workforce Report. According to iPass, one of every three mobile workers get up regularly throughout the night to check email on their phone, and nearly half of those surveyed admitted that they couldn’t sleep without a smartphone within reach.

And loss of sleep isn’t the only obstacle our phone addiction brings with it, as a little under one third of respondents said that their domestic partners were upset by their incessant use of technology. And that’s most likely a low-ball figure, as a good chunk of those surveyed were probably either single, or somewhat oblivious to the fact that their partners were upset.

The report claims that our mobile obsession, at least within the workforce, started when people began to value speed over quality. In many executive circles, the employee with the first response was considered to be a better worker than his more thoughtful colleagues. According to the survey, 40 percent of respondents admitted to interrupting a meeting to take a call.

Even those of us who don’t partake in the corporate America lifestyle know how annoying it can be to try having a conversation with someone whose main priority is their current SMS exchanges. What’s funny is that, along with the 40 percent who admit to interrupting meetings for phone calls, an additional 40 percent agree that doing so is unacceptable behavior. ”

Original article: http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2011/05/27/study-shows-13-of-mobile-workers-prefer-smartphones-over-sleep

With the way apps are rolling out in speed and abundance, of course people would addicted to their smartphones. People are no longer interested in “Snake” or fascinated by typing “0.7734″ on their calculators…

It seems like the world is all about blue and red! I think this is good reference for your company logo.

Find the icon: http://nmap.org/favicon/

There are a million brand icons in the website. Zoom into the picture and see what you can find!!!

More Information:http://www.colourlovers.com/business/blog/2010/09/15/the-most-powerful-colors-in-the-world

Just for fun, not really useful…

Congratulations to the CIS Phoenix dragon boat team, who went home with some  silverware last weekend at the Stanley Dragon Boat warm up races! You may also notice some awesome Go Public t-shirts worn by the team as well! Good luck on the 6th of June!

The largest model airport in the world is located at the Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg, Germany.

Spread over an area of 150 square meters, Knuffingen Airport features 40 different airplanes that take off and land up to 360 times each day.

More than 150,000 working hours and 3.5 million Euro have been invested in this amazing project. The airport is now open to the public.

Original article: http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2011/05/09/miniature-airport

Super cool… the airplanes can even take off and land! I especially like the night time effect, with the lights and everything.