In this article, I'll show you how to send SMS messages with Python. You'll need Python 2.7 or later, urllib and urllib2. The code basically uses an online text messaging service to "POST" html data, as if a person was entering the data themselves. The uses for something like ...more
This article is going to cover the basics of link building. Why do we want to build links? First of all, what is a link? A link is a hyperlink, actually. You click on it and it brings you to another webpage. I'm sure you've all clicked on links before. Well, what we want to do ...more
If you would like to restrict what appears on your Facebook page, here's a novel way to retain ultimate control, coined the "super-logoff" method: "Mikalah uses Facebook but when she goes to log out, she deactivates her Facebook account. She knows that this doesn’t delete the ...more
There's a handy new feature in Windows 7 called the Ease of Access Center, which brings together settings and programs that can make your PC easier to use. This is where you get quick access to programs like Magnifier, Narrator, On-Screen Keyboard and more. Learn about the acc ...more
Our first Community Byte went well! We had around 8 people in the room coding collaboratively and watching to learn. LukeStav did the kind task of hosting it on Gobby for all of us, so big thanks to him! At minimum, our task was to create an IRC bot for #nullbytez that could ...more
Starting up a website can be daunting if you know nothing about web design or setup, but there are some tips to get the right people finding, looking, and returning to your site. A good landing page gives visitors exactly what they are looking for, and converts them from brows ...more
Have an opinion and want the whole world to know it? You're not alone! There are many online outlets for you to type up your review, whether it be for a restaurant, play, movie, book or anything else you have recently experienced. Check out this video for tips on how and where ...more
Learn how to practice proper etiquette on a BlackBerry, smartphone or PDA. Make sure your love for your BlackBerry or other PDA device isn't making you obnoxious. You Will Need * Consideration * Common sense * Consideration * Common sense Step 1. Don’t walk and text Don’t ...more
Advances in technology continue to make our lives easier and more convenient. If you want to send fax, for instance, you no longer need to own a fax machine. You can easily and quickly send fax directly from your computer in one of several methods, including via an Internet fa ...more
Cryptography is a quintessential part of computer security in the modern world. Whenever you buy something on eBay or log into Facebook, that data is encrypted before it's sent to the server in order to prevent third parties from eavesdropping and stealing your sensitive infor ...more
Hard drive space is one of the cheapest things you can add to your computer. But people take it for granted, thus game developers have given up any efforts in keeping games compact. With all of its expansion packs, World of Warcraft takes up more than 60 GB of hard drive space ...more
A devastating tragedy occurred in Japan on Friday when a monstrous 8.9-magnitude quake hit, causing a 10 meter (33 foot) tsunami to engulf the northeastern coast of the country. There are reports of over 1,000 people who have lost their lives, tens of thousands evacuated, and ...more
Carol Baldwin-Moody of Wilmington Trust describes the challenges that are present in her line of work as senior vice president and chief risk officer. There is a strong legal backing to every major issue in today’s society. Baldwin-Moody has come across several scenarios that ...more
It's really a shame that it is so hard for people to make money on the internet these days. The dot com bubble has receded and scams are plentiful on the web. There are, however, a couple of legitimate ways to make a few extra bucks online, Amazon Mechanical Turk, or MTurk for ...more
Always falling asleep behind the wheel? The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that there are over 56,000 sleep-related accidents each year, resulting in 40,000 injuries and 1,550 deaths annually in the United States. Don't want to be a statistic? ...more
The community here on Null Byte has always been great and helpful in sharing their know-how, even before I took up admin duties in this World. I jumped at the chance of leading Null Byte because I enjoy teaching and informing people on all of the important need-to-know things ...more
A press release should be about news. It should have a sense of urgency about it and grab the reader’s attention from the outset. A good press release must quickly answer the journalist’s immediate questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? The release should ideally conta ...more
Industrial espionage, social engineering and no-tech hacking are all very real and there are simple precautions that you can take to protect yourself, which this article will discuss. Whether you are a high-profile businessman or a housewife (or husband), keeping information y ...more
If you’ve never heard of the term search engine optimization or SEO, then your website probably isn’t optimized for search engines and it’s hindering your site’s ability to get all of the traffic that it should. Read on for an explanation of what this entails and how it can he ...more
When your computer first connects to a nework, it sends out a request on the network to lease an IP from the router. The router then leases your computer an unused IP address, which is used as a unique routing address for sending traffic that is meant for you, to you. As every ...more
When you first become interested in learning how to program, it can be difficult to find a place to start. A lot of questions come up, especially if you're new to the idea of programming entirely. After you pick which language you want to learn, you have to worry about how you ...more
At GDC 2011 this past March, three of the world's best game designers participated in a contest called Game Design Challenge. Each presented their vision for a game that fit the prompt "Bigger than Jesus: games as religion" before an audience, with applause to determine the wi ...more
Giveaway Tuesdays has officially ended! But don't sweat it, WonderHowTo has another World that's taken its place. Every Tuesday, Phone Snap! invites you to show off your cell phone photography skills. Submit your best shot to our weekly competition for a chance to win an awes ...more
Spam is everywhere and Facebook is no exception. In fact, spammers are constantly stepping up their game by tricking unsuspecting Facebook users to participate in quizzes, games, apps, or "new features" that are actually dangerous computer viruses, spyware, or other trojan hor ...more
Having trouble with your iPhone 4 voice reception? You're not alone. Thankfully Apple has made it clear with press release after press release that it's not their fault, it's ours. And they're right! Apple can only do so much; if people keep messing up so badly they're going t ...more
I want to write this article because in my childhood, I had experienced internet stalking which ultimately ended in physical stalking which then lead to several attempted abductions. I have now learned how to use the internet safely, who to communicate with and I've learned ho ...more
Time to confess a personal bias: I love Gmail. I think it's the best thing since sliced bread. I try to be impartial when I write about software and online services, but seriously -- of all the free email services out there, why would you use anything else? A quick point of o ...more
Do you need to email your wife your Social Security number? Send confidential business plans to your partner in Thailand? Send your hacker buddies the recovered hashes from last night's breach? Try using GPG, a valuable and easy to use open-source encryption program. In my fi ...more
You've finally got an invite into Google+. Now what? At first glance, things can be a bit overwhelming. We've got some great tips to help you get started. 1. Fill your Circles The circles feature is the core of how Google+ lets you manage your online relationships with your ...more
QI and ZA. QI n pl. -S the vital force that in Chinese thought is inherent in all things ZA n pl. -S a pizza For over a decade, these words have been used in SCRABBLE play, but not in the US or Canada. It wasn't until their addition in the Official SCRABBLE Players Dictionar ...more
Last month, Alexander Heit drifted into oncoming traffic after being distracted from the road. His sudden correction forced his vehicle to roll and flip over. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital shortly thereafter. All because of a freaking text message. He was only 22 ...more
Apple's iOS 13 has been available for beta testing since June, and the stable release pushed out to everyone on Thursday, Sept. 19. To help you make the most out of iOS 13 for iPhone, we've rounded up everything you'll want to know, whether a colossal feature, small settings c ...more
A new dating advice site, WittyThumbs, launched today that lets users offer advice to others as well as seek it; the site combines that collaboration with advice from designated dating experts. WittyThumbs lets you upload screenshots of messages to their site and crowdsource ...more
April Fool's Day, aka National Screw with Your Friends Day, is finally here. You can always pull a conventional prank, like strategically placing a whoopee cushion on your mom's chair, but that joke has been exhausted generations before smartphones were around. We live in a d ...more
After receiving many requests for the feature, Signal introduced read receipts last year to its mobile apps. However, some users don't like the idea other people knowing when they've read messages. Luckily, Signal lets you disable this feature and reclaim a little privacy. Re ...more
While iOS 11 is ready to take over your iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, let's take a step back and check out all of the new features that iOS 10 brought to the public when it was released to everyone in Sept. 2016. Some of the updates from iOS 9 to iOS 10 were huge, as you'll s ...more
As fun as Twitter is, it can also quickly turn scary. Anonymous, aggressive, and troll accounts can attack you for your tweets and stalk your every move. While you could make your profile private and block users, there are lesser-known privacy and security features that you ca ...more
When researching a person using open source intelligence, the goal is to find clues that tie information about a target into a bigger picture. Screen names are perfect for this because they are unique and link data together, as people often reuse them in accounts across the in ...more
It's finally out. After months of testing, iOS 13 is available to install on your iPhone, which means over 200+ new features you can use right now. The update, released on Sept. 19, can be installed over the air or from a restore image using iTunes in macOS Mojave and older or ...more
For most people, the font that Apple uses in iOS is just perfect, but some of you may think it's too big while others with poor vision may have a hard time reading it. Whether you're having a hard time seeing text on your iPhone or just want something different, there are actu ...more
Cases and stickers are always great, but they aren't the only way to customize an iPhone. The software on your device is full of customization options, from a better-looking home screen and cooler lock screen wallpapers to app icon changes and a system-wide dark mode. There's ...more
If you haven't noticed yet, there are a lot of new features hiding in your iPhone's Messages app, and some of them are things users have been requesting for a long time. While iMessage is getting a lot of attention by letting us edit and unsend messages, it's only just the sta ...more
Apple's iOS 11 is finally here, and while they showed off several of the new features it brings to your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch back at WWDC 2017, they've only just touched the surface of what iOS 11 has to offer. There are a lot of cool new (and sometimes secret) feature ...more
Facebook Messenger is getting ready to roll out a Snapchat-esque feature that will let users send messages that self-destruct after a certain amount of time, so you'll have an extra level of security when you need to send sensitive financial information or, more likely, risqué ...more
Newsletters, subscriptions, and receipts are all necessary evils that come along with online services and shopping, and they take up a significant amount of space in a lot of people's inboxes. If you've ever signed up for an account on a website, chances are you've gotten an e ...more
Developers creating login systems know better than to store passwords in plain text, usually storing hashes of a password to prevent storing the credentials in a way a hacker could steal. Due to the way hashes work, not all are created equal. Some are more vulnerable than othe ...more
It's easy to have your password stolen. Important people like executives, government workers, journalists, and activists face sophisticated phishing attacks to compromise their online accounts, often targeting Google account credentials. To reduce this risk, Google created the ...more
Millions of travelers pass through airports each day without understanding how powerful and insecure a boarding pass can be. Anyone can scan the boarding pass barcode with a mobile app, allowing access to frequent-flyer accounts and even a passenger's temporary airline account ...more
Every time you make a call or send a text, you're giving the recipient your phone number. This can be quite the security vulnerability, opening yourself up to scammers, spammers, and the feds. In this how-to, we'll look at what a burner phone is, why you might want one, and ho ...more
A lot of people text nonstop, but there are situations where it's either not allowed or considered rude to use your phone. Let's say you're in class or in a meeting at work, band you're expecting an important message or phone call. Rather than trying to check your phone discre ...more
Apple unveiled huge improvements for Messages in iOS 10 at WWDC '16, and my favorite new feature is that searching for emojis will be much, much easier. But there's a lot more to this update besides emojis. Tap to Replace In iOS 10, you'll be able to swap in emojis for alrea ...more
In the case of Apple Watch v. Fitbit, the winner comes down to the judge at hand. Apple currently offers two smartwatches — the Series 5 and the Series 3 — while Fitbit offers three models — the Fitbit Versa 2, Fitbit Ionic, and Fitbit Versa Lite. Whatever your assumptions abo ...more
Message effects in iMessage lets you add a touch of flair to otherwise bland communications. With the feature, you can complement a birthday wish with a stream of balloons, send a congratulatory text along with a shower of confetti, or make the chat bubble slam itself in the t ...more
Signal is one of the best end-to-end encrypted messengers on the market. It offers robust security, keeps minimal information about its users, and is free to use. Switching to it as your main messenger can be a bit daunting, so to help, we created a guide to walk you through t ...more
The next big iOS version for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch was revealed by Apple at WWDC 2018 and dropped for everyone on Sept. 17, 2018, less than a week after Apple revealed the new iPhone lineup. We've rounded up all the big picture items and secret features and changes we c ...more
There's a fine line between order and chaos in group chats. With all the cross-talk, threads can easily devolve into a random mess that has nothing to do with the original discussion topic. WhatsApp group chats certainly aren't immune to this problem, but they've recently take ...more
For all of its advantages, Facebook Messenger isn't the best for people who like their privacy. The popular app lets all your Facebook friends know when you're online by default, as well as how long you've been idle, making it impossible to check up with one person without lea ...more
Due to the overnight success of smartphones, millions of people are connecting with others. Currently, over 15 million text messages are sent every minute worldwide. Most of this communication is happening in the open where any hacker can intercept and share in the discussion ...more
Let's say you want to send out a message to all of your friends. Normally, you'd have to put all of the recipients into one giant group thread to do this. But when people started responding to your message, everyone in the group would get a notification, so your friends would ...more
With significant advancements in the treatment and prevention of HIV, you'd think the stigma surrounding the deadly virus and AIDS, the syndrome the infection causes in the body, would have lessened. Unfortunately, a new project looking at conversations on Grindr — a social ne ...more