The Great Geek Manual

From Around the Web

241543903 – If you do a Google image search on the number “241543903″ you will see a collection of photos in which people have their heads in a freezer. You will also see instructions for doing so. This meme appears to have begun with David Horvitz.

25 awesome Yahoo! UI Prototype JavaScript Components – Prototype JavaScript Framework is a JavaScript framework created by Sam Stephenson which provides an Ajax framework and other utilities to create dynamic web applications.

64 Things Every Geek Should Know – A techie geek is usually one who knows a little about everything, and is thus the person family and friends turn to whenever they have a question. If you’re that type of person and are looking for a few extra skills to pick up, or if you’re a newbie aiming to get a handhold on the honor that is geekhood, read on to find out what skills you need to know.

Artificial Intelligence Cracks 4,000-Year-Old Mystery – An ancient script that’s defied generations of archaeologists has yielded some of its secrets to artificially intelligent computers.

Build your Own High-Speed Book Scanner – Using nothing more than two old camera and a heap of junk, you can build a device capable of scanning in an entire book without so much as creasing the spin. Paired with Google’s free OCR software, you’ve got yourself a powerful e-book converter.

A Crash-Course in WordPress Plugin Development – Despite an extensive codex, many WordPress users remain unfamiliar with how to create their own custom plugins. This tutorial starts from scratch and demonstrates how to build your first usable plugin.

Reasons It’s Getting Harder to Find and Fight Them – The perpetual proliferation of botnets is hardly surprising when one considers just how easy it is for the bad guys to hijack computers without tipping off the users. Here are four reasons the botnet fight is getting harder, and what to do about it:

Similar Images – Google’s newest feature allows users to search for images using pictures rather than words.

Steven Levy on How Gadgets Lose Their Magic – When Arthur C. Clarke went to the great geosynchronous orbit in the sky last year, he left behind a huge legacy, not least of which was a quote oft cited by Silicon Valley visionaries and wannabes. “Any sufficiently advanced technology,” the sci-fi master wrote in 1962, “is indistinguishable from magic.”

The True Cost of Amazon’s New Kindle – The research firm iSuppli tears apart the Kindle 2 to determine how much its components really cost.

Miscellaneous

The 5 Things I’d Tell My 21 Year Old Entrepreneurial Self
List of all the TED talks with topics as of 4.16.09
The Technology Generation Gap at Work is Oh So Wide
Tomorrow’s Computers Might Talk In Their Sleep

Tech News

GeoCities will close later this Year
Google’s Street View ruled as not invading personal privacy
Pirate Bay Judge Accused of Bias, Calls for a Retrial
Snow Patrol: Pirate Bay Sentences “Way Over the Top”
The U.S. Is Losing Its Lead in Patents
Why Everybody Lost The Pirate Bay Trial