Blot out the sun with these eclipse wallpapers

Science can be a beautiful thing.

A total solar eclipse is literally an astronomical event. It requires celestial bodies lining up perfectly over millions of miles. For us to see a total eclipse on the ground, we have to be lucky enough to be on a small strip of the U.S., and we have to hope that it doesn’t rain or cloud up, blocking our view of the heavens.

Well, rain or shine, totality or not, we can still enjoy a view of the eclipse on our home screens.

If you want to know more about the coming eclipse, check out NASA, because they have everything from the science behind such an awe-inspiring phenomenon to where the weather might not co-operate on Monday. They have a link to reputable eclipse sunglasses so you don’t damage your eyes, they tell you ways to make the most of this rare, rare event, and they, of course, have dozens of beautiful images of solar eclipses from around the world, including this beauty.

Eclipse by NASA

Now, Monday’s event is a total solar eclipse, where the moon passes between the sun and the Earth, and the eclipse we see is the moon’s shadow on the earth. The other kind of eclipse we see is a lunar eclipse, whereby the sun, the Earth, and the full moon line up perfectly to block out all direct sunlight on the moon. Whichever style of eclipse you prefer, Project Universe has you covered! This wallpaper is a two-fer, and while I may be partial to that beautiful blue eclipse (real lunar eclipses are red, but gosh it is pretty), you can set whichever one you’d like on your home screen.

Project Universe: Eclipse v2! by Archange1Michael

While tens of thousands of Americans are vying to spend eclipse day at a National Park where they can watch the magic in the majesty of nature, let’s face it, most of us are going to get lucky to take a long lunch break to watch it in the streets of whatever city we live in. That’s not to say that an eclipse is any less beautiful in a city— in fact they can be quite striking, as with this blue beauty.

Walk-Through Cityscape Eclipse by Prototype-F

Eclipses are events that happen to millions of planets surrounding thousands of sun across the universe. While the only ones we really get to see are the ones on our planet, there are artists who dare to dream of what an eclipse would look like in other solar systems. They dare to dream up fantastical views of what that could look like. The clarity of the stars, the green gleam of the ocean, it strikes at the soul.

Behold the eclipse by Swaroop

You look at this wallpaper, and you could be forgiven for thinking that it’s just a crescent moon, but that’s no moon. This is a solar eclipse from Indonesia, and while it’s not a crystal clear sky, the clouds actually add the to wallpaper and its beautiful aesthetic. Most of us in America will not get close enough to totality to see this, but bless, it is a sight, isn’t it?

Solar Eclipse by Qrezz

The $150 Rachio sprinkler controller can improve your lawn and lighten your wallet

Our friends at Thrifter are back again, this time with a deal on Rachio sprinkler controller system!

If the rest of your home is already smart, why not your lawn, too? The Rachio 2nd gen Smart sprinkler controller is on sale at Woot. You can get the eight-zone controller for $150 or the 16 zone for $180. These prices include Woot’s $5 flat-rate shipping fee.

The eight zone sells for $188 on Amazon and rarely goes below $170. The 16 zone goes for $248 and hasn’t dropped below $210 since February.

It used to be that Smart devices were doing something new. Letting you add convenience to ordinary tasks in a way you didn’t even realize you wanted. But now all the Smart devices do the same thing – change the lights, control your TV with your voice, etc. Rachio is unique because not a lot of Smart systems want to tackle your front lawn.

Rachio adds voice control, a mobile app, and customization options to your yard. It can adapt to the weather and adjust accordingly. It can save you money on your water bill by not wasting water when it isn’t needed, and because of that you might actually even be able to get a discount from your water provider just for installing it.

This system has a ton of positive reviews, including 4.5 stars and an Editor’s Choice from PC Mag. More than 1,800 users on Amazon give it 4.7 stars.

Both versions come with a two-year warranty from Rachio.

See the 8 Zone at Woot See the 16 Zone at Woot

More from Thrifter:

• How to get the most out of your Amazon Prime membership
• How to save money when driving

For more great deals be sure to check out our friends at Thrifter now!

Sony Xperia XZ1 leaks, looks remarkably like the current XZ

Sony’s next flagship looks very similar to the Xperia XZ.

Sony has a tendency to stick with one design for its flagships as long as it can. 2015’s Xperia Z4 had imperceptible differences compared to 2013’s Xperia Z. Sony tweaked its design language with the newer XZ series, and it looks like that design will carry forward.

@OnLeaks and Comapreaja have shared images of the alleged Sony Xperia XZ1, the sequel to the Xperia XZ. The device is said to have a 5.2-inch display, though there is no mention of the resolution. The device will feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, Android 8.0 with Sony’s minimal customizations, a 19-megapixel rear camera able to record at 4K, and a 12-megapixel front-facing camera. The Xperia XZ debuted with flagship-level specs at the end of 2016, so this will make for a nice sequel. Here is a gallery of the leaked images:

Are you interested in the Sony Xperia XZ1? Let us know down below!

New G Suite features let you work together and apart more efficiently

Google has announced new features for G Suite users to make collaborating in documents even easier.

Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides are well-known for letting multiple users work on the same document at the same time. Google has announced new features to improve version control, more preview options, and manage changes.

From Google:

Name versions of a Doc, Sheet or Slide. Being able to assign custom names to versions of your document is a great way to keep a historical record of your team’s progress. It’s also helpful for communicating when a document is actually final. You can organize and track your team’s changes in one place under “Version history” (formerly known as “Revision history”) on the web. Select File > Version history > Name current version. For even quicker recall, there’s an option to select “Only show named versions” in Docs, Sheets or Slides.

Preview “clean versions” of Docs to see what your Doc looks like without comments or suggested edits. Select Tools > Review suggested edits > Preview accept all OR Preview reject all.

Accept or reject all edit suggestions at once in your Doc so your team doesn’t have to review every single punctuation mark or formatting update. Select Tools > Review suggested edits > Accept all OR Reject all.

Suggest changes in a Doc from an Android, iPhone or iPad device. Click the three dots menu in the bottom right of your Doc screen to suggest edits on-the-go. Turn on the “Suggest changes” toggle and start typing in “suggestion mode.”
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Google also announced new templates with add ons such as DocuSign already built in. Finally, Google is bringing an enhanced Cloud Search experience to G Suite to let users find the exact document they are looking for across Gmail, Drive, Calendar, and other G Suite applications.

Are you looking forward to these new G Suite features? Let us know down below!

Your timely reminder: Not all hacking requires a computer

The public perception of hacking involves a shadowy figure in a hoodie hunched over a laptop, tapping furiously while a waterfall of glowing green text fills the screen. Also they’re probably listening to industrial music. First off, that’s a ridiculous caricature and more importantly, not all intrusions are the result of someone banging away on a keyboard, “hacking the network.” Exploiting the vulnerabilities of a company can simply involve picking up a phone, chatting with a few people or memorizing a few tones.

At this year’s Def Con the Telephreak team organized a hacking challenge that played out like an alternate reality game (ARG). It was the brainchild of Telephreak members, TProphet and Lion Templin. After a few weeks of plotting and scheming, the two brought it to life and unleashed it on the unsuspecting attendees of Def Con.

The main thrust of the event? Why spend days or weeks trying to bust into a network when you could pick up a phone? You could pretend you’re a helpless coworker and talk someone into giving you access to the company network, or figure out a person’s login credentials based on their personal information.

While crypto-puzzles and capture the flag events are standard at Def Con, this year the Telephreak team went with a game that involved breaking into the fictitious organization Ellingson Mineral Company (from the movie Hackers) by pretending to be a wayward employee.

This type of approach is far more prevalent that many are aware. In fact “social engineering” is how journalist Mat Honan’s digital life was compromised. It’s also why losing an employee badge with details like your name, ID and various company phone numbers can be a huge security problem. Logging into a remote computer is hard, talking an operator into sharing confidential information is often just a matter of how charming the caller is.

The deep study and, sometimes, exploitation of telephone systems for fun and profit (known as phreaking) started in the 1950s — decades before the average person got their hands on a computer. In addition to figuring out how to get free long-distance phone calls and routing calls through multiple switching stations around the globe, phone phreakers also figured out how to exploit vulnerabilities in PBX systems.

Social engineering though (often the key ingredient in successful phreaking); that’s been around as long as humans have communicated. Phishing is the most common use of the method, but sometimes it simply involves talking to people. Often the person trying to get information from an operator is working from a script that’s undergone hours and hours of trial and error. Other times it’s just a matter of sounding like you know what you’re doing. Or, better yet, pretending you don’t know what you’re doing and you need help. It’s tough to turn down a coworker in distress.

The Def Con game started with TProphet dropping 50 Ellingson Mineral “employee badges” around the conference. On the back of each badge was a series of phone numbers that contestants would call and try to swindle the operators to share information about the company and, eventually, to take down the company’s power distribution unit.

The Telephreak team went as far as setting up a call-center in Minnesota with people that would adjust their replies to the callers, based on the amount of Twitter chatter around the company. the more people tweeted about the contest, the tougher it would be to get info from the “employees.”

The contest was scheduled to run until Sunday evening at 6pm PT, but the company was successfully hacked by a team called Psychoholics late Saturday night. In addition to getting kudos from the Telephreak organizers, the winning team got an “Uber” badge from Def Con — which means it’ll have free access to the conference for life. That part wasn’t expected by TProphet. “It was a total surprise to us when Def Con named it a black badge competition. We weren’t even an official Def Con contest,” he said.

De facto Psychoholics team-leader Jason Thor Hall said that he handled most of the social engineering work, but by the end of the challenge even some of the shy team members were getting into it and picking up on social cues. “Being able to read other people is huge in any walk of life, so I am glad they got to experience it and see how social engineering works in practice,” he said.

But his team’s involvement wasn’t planned. In fact they didn’t even know a challenge was happening. “We had actually never interacted with the Telephreaks before this and didn’t even know the challenge existed. Someone walked by and threw a badge in my lap when I was sitting down in a hallway and said ‘You dropped your badge’ and ran away,” Hall said.

During the challenge the would-be phreakers had to do more than just make phone calls and remember dial tones, they also had to figure out voicemail passwords. One was an employee’s birthdate. Another was the last four digits of their employee ID. Sadly, these are typical mistakes made by actual people in the real world. That alone should frighten the security team of any company.

While the Telephreaks challenge was great piece of nostalgia (who doesn’t love Hackers) wrapped in an immersive game, it pulls directly from how things are done in the real world today. An IT department might bolster its software security, yet practically ignore the colleagues that have access to it — a company is only as secure as its chattiest employee. Phishing tests are all the rage, but maybe it’s time to speak to employees about what they should and shouldn’t talk about over the phone and encourage good password practices.

Hall loves puzzles and was impressed by the level of detail of the challenge. “They kept it very realistic throughout the experience. This story can be and has been played out all over the world many times. Employees losing their badges/accounts and getting owned through social engineering.” Remember, like the challenges at Def Con, to the person on the other end of the phone trying to access your company, you’re just another riddle to be solved.

Images: United Artists (Hackers GIF); Jason Thor Hall (Ellingson Mineral)

Tribeca’s new TV festival highlights streaming and VR shows

The Tribeca Film Festival is no stranger to embracing technology as a creative tool, and that’s true now that it’s branching out into episodic video. Tribeca is hosting its first TV Festival in (where else?) New York City from September 22nd through the 24th, and it’s clear that tech will play an important role. You’ll see previews from conventional broadcasters like ABC, Fox and NBC, but you’ll also see the premiere of the third season of Amazon’s Red Oaks comedy, a panel for YouTube’s Creators for Change and the debut of Look But With Love, a Within VR documentary about Pakistan’s social challenges.

The organization isn’t new to episodic content, including online material — it already had an April TV program, and it has showcased internet-only productions like Grace and Frankie and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. However, a dedicated TV festival puts more of a spotlight on these productions and gives them higher critical regard than they’ve sometimes had in the past. Internet and VR video aren’t outliers in the TV world — they’re as much a part of the discussion as what you’d find on cable or satellite.

Source: Tribeca