WESPA, the World English-Language Scrabble Players Association, has released its first major overhaul of the ratings system since inception,. Several known issues faced by the old system have been remedied, with the new system available online through Aardvark. The changes mak ...more
In a previous post, I wrote about how controversy changed SCRABBLE, about how the SCRABBLE Dictionary evolved thanks to Judith Grad and her crusade to rid the world of derogatory and racist words. She won, at least in some manner, but the fact still remains, racist or not—word ...more
Good commentary can make anything interesting. Last night I was trying my best to be unproductive and I watched this short Starcraft 2 tournament match. As a below average Starcraft player, I found the commentary by the broadcasters just as interesting as the game. These are ...more
Learn how to use more English phrasal verbs with this instructional English language lesson. get...over with To do or finish an unpleasant but necessary piece of work or duty so that you do not have to worry about it in the future. I'll be glad to get these exams over with. ...more
Apple's iOS assistant has an undeniably iconic voice — you know Siri when you hear her. As memorable a voice as it may be, you don't need to stick with her default American accent. In iOS 11, you can choose from two other vocal deliveries, and in iOS 12, there are two more acc ...more
Paris, girl, you are awesome, but you did not invent the selfie. If you want to spread this #newmarketingterm to the media masses, then go right ahead. It's your brand, your career, and you got the opportunity. People will listen. No one really cares about who invented the sil ...more
Even as a writer by trade, I'm not intimately familiar with every word in the English language. When you're typing something out on your Nexus, sometimes you think to yourself, "Is that right? Am I using the correct word here?" Then, you have no choice but to bring up Google N ...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
It has been suggested that about 150 million internet users will be affected by today's blackout of Wikipedia in protest of SOPA and PIPA. If you don't know what those are, go here and read up on it, and then take action yourself! After you've contacted your Representatives ab ...more
Different genres of social media have changed the world, but they are not omnipotent. In most cases this is a good thing, but not in the case of Operation Rainfall. It has been a purely well meaning social media movement that should have led to a great boon for the North Ameri ...more
Yesterday's installment of a Gamer's Guide to Video Game Software featured Unity 3D; today we'll be covering one of the oldest consumer game making engines, RPG Maker. The series started in 1995 in Japan, and has since gone through many iterations in its home country. There a ...more
The last time the English language for Siri received new voices was in iOS 14.5, and there was one new male and one new female selection, bringing the total to four available options. In the iOS 15.4 update, there's a fifth one, and it may work better as a gender-neutral middl ...more
In this Tutorial I will show you how you can use the frequency of letters to decrypt the famous Caesar cipher. I hope it is easy to understand and helpful for getting in touch with basic cryptanalysis. If you find any mistakes or have questions feel free to ask me. Finally I a ...more
Religion is one of the most-ignored topics when it comes to Steampunk, which is surprising given how important religion was in Victorian England. Even the hot-button issues of race and gender are confronted with a greater awareness than religion. Christmas would seem to be th ...more
Revealed! The secret to learning a language quickly. It's a little known technique diplomats and royalty have used for centuries. I lucked up on it by analyzing how I could quickly boost my language and workforce marketability. You get it here by design. The secret to learnin ...more
Amazingly, a lot of people I know haven't even heard of SOPA or PIPA. Now, every English-reading person with an internet connection will finally have those two four-letter acronyms emblazoned in their minds. For the entire day today, Wikipedia's English-language site will be i ...more
Many users have reported Android's speech-to-text feature adding an 'Oh' before each comma. How annoying is that? Fortunately, Reddit user Jay-jay1 has found a solution to this pesky problem. This quick-fix should make your 'Oh' so annoying problem disappear. If every time yo ...more
Google Images, TinEye, and other reverse image search engines can help you find where images appear on the internet. You can discover what TV show or movie an image comes from, who took a photo, and if the profile picture of someone you're talking to online is really them, amo ...more
Welcome back, my greenhorn hackers! In the first part of this series, I introduced you to the basics of networking including IP addresses, ports, NAT, and DHCP. In this lesson, I want to introduce you to the basics of TCP/IP, i.e., Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Inte ...more
I've been involved in the Android scene for a very long time and have grown to develop a love/hate relationship with CyanogenMod. While I do like the stability they offer in their custom ROMs, they don't always include the flashy features on top of their vanilla Android base. ...more
It seems like custom Google Now commands are a dime a dozen these days. With Commandr for Google Now giving non-rooted users their first taste of custom voice commands just a couple weeks ago, you may wonder why we're covering this subject again. Unlike Commandr, the app Auto ...more
So, you scratched up your $500 Adobe CD and now it's unreadable. You could go buy a new one, but you already purchased it! Searching The Pirate Bay and downloading some Adobe software can usually be easy enough, but what should you watch out for? And what about your movies? W ...more
Hello readers, and welcome to Null Byte. Before we start, for those of you who may not know me, my name is ghost_; I'm a relatively active member of our community and have been around for a while. During my time here, I've seen our community cultivate into the brilliant one ...more
With tools such as Reaver becoming less viable options for pen-testers as ISPs replace vulnerable routers, there become fewer certainties about which tools will work against a particular target. If you don't have time to crack the WPA password or it's unusually strong, it can ...more
Out amongst the ether of the internet lies a completely different version of the Netflix library you've come to know and love. Because of licensing and rights fees, the streaming media giant maintains separate libraries for each country it services. Ultimately, this means that ...more
Since iOS 8, it's been possible to use third-party tools such as Bing Translator and Microsoft Translator to translate foreign language webpages in Safari into your primary language. Now, in iOS 14, there's a better way to do it. Before, third-party translation services would ...more
Millions of people use YouTube every day, whether it's for trailers, new music, or gameplay walkthroughs. But according to Pew Research Center, over half of U.S. adults use YouTube to figure out how to do things. If you fall into that crowd, adult or not, sometimes it's good t ...more
The wait wasn't so long this time. Apple released public beta 3 for iOS 13 on Thursday, July 18, just one day after the release of developer beta 4. For context, Apple took five days to seed public beta 2 after releasing dev beta 3, so it's a pleasant surprise that the latest ...more
We're pumped for iOS 13 and all of the fresh features and changes that come with it. Developer beta 3 came with new features in the double digits, including AR eye contact in FaceTime and mouse cursor size customization. Developer beta 4, released today, has a few more additio ...more
The third developer beta for iOS 13 has been out since July 3, and while devs have had fun exploring all the new features, those of us on the public beta have sat on the sidelines running the public version of dev beta 2. But we don't need to wait any longer, as Apple just rel ...more
On July 3, Apple pushed out iOS 13 developer beta 3 for iPhone, and there's a lot found hidden within. A new FaceTime setting, more Arcade details, full-page scrolling screenshots everywhere, a noise cancellation option in the Control Center, and a new markup tool — and that's ...more
There's no doubt iOS 13 has dominated the talk around the Apple community this month. Since the announcement and release of the first developer beta, we iPhone users have had a treasure trove of new features and changes to explore and discuss. Now the fun continues with iOS 13 ...more
The first developer beta for iOS 13 is available to install on iPhone models, but the process for doing so may be a bumpy ride. Apple has not included configuration profiles for the developer beta yet, and many developers are having issues installing iOS 13 even with macOS 10. ...more
No more carrying around heavy laptops and thousands of Linux Live CDs and USBs to always be ready for pentesting on the fly! I hope you had a good Christmas and happy new year! Update1: Added the section "weaponizing your Android" where I talk about apps and fundamental Kali ...more
First off, don't be frustrated. YOU CAN DO IT! Contrary to the message in the image above, it's NOT over. It's just beginning. And when it comes to solving the New York Times crossword puzzle, the old cliche does apply: practice makes perfect. I've read quite a few books and ...more
According to Apple, Siri serves 25 billion requests per month — an enormous number for a feature that was only released nine years ago. But when you think about how much work Apple has put into Siri over the years, it makes sense that the virtual assistant is being used more a ...more
Apple's latest big update to iOS 14 has a lot to be excited about. While iOS 14.2 had some fun new features, such as new emoji and wallpapers, People Detection in Magnifier, and a Shazam control, iOS 14.3 brings on the heat. There are new Apple services and products that are s ...more
Let's face it— most people don't understand Shakespeare's language. If they say they do, they're probably lying. The poetic words of the world's most famous playwright continue to plague school children and college lit. majors alike, but not anymore. SparkNotes, one of the on ...more
The last few months of WikiLeaks controversy has surely peaked your interest, but when viewing the WikiLeaks site, finding what you want is quite a hard task. Despite rumors of easy access via the Kindle and iTunes App Store, there currently is no way to view the leaked docum ...more
SCRABBLE. To some it's just a game, but to me it's life or death. Well, not really, but it feels that way anyway. On a normal weekend, a game becomes much like Jon Thomas' "friendly game of death Scrabble." Video: . When I'm playing a game of SCRABBLE, my friends are not frien ...more
This is a wonderful video which teaches you the alphabet of British sign language. BSL, British sign language is totally different than English sign language. Learn the British sign language alphabet. Click through to watch this video on signpostbsl.com
If you're going to know how any phrase in a foreign language, "Do you know English?" is a useful one. In this free video language lesson, you'll learn how to ask someone if they speak English in Spanish: "¿Habla inglés?" For more information, including an example of the proper ...more
In this free video language lesson, you'll learn how to ask someone if they speak english: "Parlez-vous anglais?" or "Est-ce que vous parlez anglais?" While French isn't necessarily a very difficult language for an English-speaker to learn, many stumble when it comes to pronun ...more
In this free video language lesson, you'll learn how to ask an Italian person if they speak English: "Parli inglese?" While Italian isn't necessarily a very difficult language for an English-speaker to learn, many stumble when it comes to pronunciation. Fortunately, the Intern ...more
In this free video language lesson, you'll learn how to say the French words for "I would like to buy": "Je voudrais acheter." While French isn't necessarily a very difficult language for an English-speaker to learn, many stumble when it comes to pronunciation. Fortunately, th ...more
In this free video language lesson, you'll learn how to say the French words for "I had a good time": "J'ai passé un bon moment." While French isn't necessarily a very difficult language for an English-speaker to learn, many stumble when it comes to pronunciation. Fortunately, ...more
In this free video language lesson, you'll learn how to say the French words for "I don't understand": "Je ne comprends pas." While French isn't necessarily a very difficult language for an English-speaker to learn, many stumble when it comes to pronunciation. Fortunately, the ...more
In this free video language lesson, you'll learn how to say the French words for "I don't speak French": "Je ne parle pas français." While French isn't necessarily a very difficult language for an English-speaker to learn, many stumble when it comes to pronunciation. Fortunate ...more
In this free video language lesson, you'll learn how to ask the price of something in French: "C'est combien?" While French isn't necessarily a very difficult language for an English-speaker to learn, many stumble when it comes to pronunciation. Fortunately, the Internet is aw ...more
In this free video language lesson, you'll learn how to ask how a person's feeling in French: "Comment allez-vous?" While French isn't necessarily a very difficult language for an English-speaker to learn, many stumble when it comes to pronunciation. Fortunately, the Internet ...more
In this free video language lesson, you'll learn how to say the French words for "good night": "bonne nuit." While French isn't necessarily a very difficult language for an English-speaker to learn, many stumble when it comes to pronunciation. Fortunately, the Internet is awas ...more
In this free video language lesson, you'll learn how to say the French word for "good" and "well": "bien." While French isn't necessarily a very difficult language for an English-speaker to learn, many stumble when it comes to pronunciation. Fortunately, the Internet is awash ...more
In this free video language lesson, you'll learn how to say the French words for "excuse me": "excusez-moi." While French isn't necessarily a very difficult language for an English-speaker to learn, many stumble when it comes to pronunciation. Fortunately, the Internet is awas ...more
In this free video language lesson, you'll learn how to count to one hundred in perfect French. While French isn't necessarily a very difficult language for an English-speaker to learn, many stumble when it comes to pronunciation. Fortunately, the Internet is awash in clips li ...more
In this free video language lesson, you'll learn how to ask where the bathroom is in French: "où sont les toilettes?" While French isn't necessarily a very difficult language for an English-speaker to learn, many stumble when it comes to pronunciation. Fortunately, the Interne ...more
In this free video language lesson, you'll learn how to say the French words for "to your health": "à votre santé." While French isn't necessarily a very difficult language for an English-speaker to learn, many stumble when it comes to pronunciation. Fortunately, the Internet ...more
In this free video language lesson, you'll learn how to say the French words for "delicious": "délicieux." While French isn't necessarily a very difficult language for an English-speaker to learn, many stumble when it comes to pronunciation. Fortunately, the Internet is awash ...more
In this free video language lesson, you'll learn how to say the French word for "thank you": "merci." While French isn't necessarily a very difficult language for an English-speaker to learn, many stumble when it comes to pronunciation. Fortunately, the Internet is awash in cl ...more
In this free video language lesson, you'll learn how to say the French word for "pleased to meet you": "enchanté" or, for women, "enchantée." While French isn't necessarily a very difficult language for an English-speaker to learn, many stumble when it comes to pronunciation. ...more
Right out of the box, iPhone is incredibly easy to use. If you want to get the most out of every feature, you’ve come to the right place. This video tutorial straight from Apple will teach you how to use Voice Control on the Apple iPhone 3G. The iPhone redefines what a mobile ...more