By simply sending an email to 1112223333@txt.att.net for example, you can send text messages to cell phones via email. This simple technology can also be applied to your DIY projects. For example, if you were creating a DIY security system, you could use your computer’s parallel port to automatically text you if your alarm goes off.

AT&T – cellnumber@txt.att.net
Verizon – cellnumber@vtext.com
T-Mobile – cellnumber@tmomail.net
Sprint PCS - cellnumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com
Virgin Mobile – cellnumber@vmobl.com

You can remotely shut down your computer from anywhere in the world using any cell phone with texting capabilities and Mozilla Thunderbird, a Mac, or Microsoft Outlook. It’s pretty simple to accomplish and the video above guides you through the step by step setup process.

Skype Version 5.0

With version 5.0, Skype has added a new switch for supporting multiple users on a single PC. The following steps would show how to create a new shortcut for starting a new Skype instance with a different Skype user account.

Facebook, Google, Yahoo and other sites involved in trial amid fears some web users will not be able to access new addresses

There are concerns that some web users' routers may not work with IPv6 addresses and they will have to buy new devices such as this one from AVM. Photograph: AVM/EPA

Facebook, Google, Yahoo and hundreds of the world's largest websites are now testing the enormously expanded internet address system, known as IPv6, in preparation for the time – expected within the next year – when it becomes impossible to add new sites to the web using the existing system, called IPv4.

The biggest problem though in implementing the new system lies inside people's homes – where barely any of the broadband routers now in use can handle the new system.

In the UK, the communications minister Ed Vaizey is marking World IPv6 Day with an industry summit to discuss progress on switching to the new protocol. Vaizey said: "We must ensure we create the conditions that allow the internet to continue to grow and for companies to produce fresh innovations. IPv6 is key to the continued growth of the internet. It is essential industry deals with the switchover before there is an impact on the internet."

Skype has patched and released the fix for the Skype bug we found so we can discuss the details of the bug.

Several other people have reported the same bug. Basically it is a persistant XSS attack that allows an attacker to redirect a victim to any website hosting malware. It is caused by Skype failing to sanitize a message before the client renders the message. It is persistant because it is stored in the users chat history and the payload is re-executed everytime the contact is clicked.

When Josh Kaufman's MacBook was stolen from his apartment in Oakland, California, it would have been the end of the story - if Josh hadn't had the foresight and curiosity to install Hidden, a Mac app that locates your laptop and sends you surreptitious pictures of the thief.

Kaufman said the laptop was stolen on 21 March and though he'd told police the location of his laptop, they said a lack of resources meant they couldn't help. After successfully attracting attention by publishing pictures of a man in possession of the laptop and posting them on Tumblr for nearly two months, Kaufman was told that police had tracked down and arrested the man.

The smartphones in our pockets are far more powerful than the desktop computers we dreamed of in the 1980s. This year they are outselling PCs – and soon they could replace our wallets as well

Smartphones allow you to do almost everything a PC can do – and make calls as well. Photograph: Genius


When he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes last summer, Tim Smith was given a blood sugar monitor, and a notebook with a pencil. The monitor, obviously, to test his sugar levels; the notebook to note them down so he could tell his doctor.

Beware of the phishing net ... don't click on any suspicious links in your email Photograph: Genius

What is phishing, and how to defend against it

Phishing is "the act of defrauding an online account holder of information by posing as a legitimate company", according to the dictionary. Most people will already be familiar with it through the stream of spam emails arriving in their inboxes pretending that there has been a "security update" to their bank, credit card, online shop or similar system.