secrets
Software
All Of Snow Leopard’s Hidden, Secret Settings Laid Bare
4:25AM John Herrman | Screencap formats, secret dock animations, previously unseen menu shortcuts, login screen backgrounds: These are the hidden settings that Apple doesn’t want you to see (or just forgot about) and that Secrets — a free, super-simple app — helpfully wrangles into one place. More »
Gadgets
DIY Secret Passage Adds Mystery To Your Home
1:00AM Adam Frucci | There’s really no doubt about it: secret passages are totally awesome. Which is why I can’t help but be smitten by this homemade hidden door that exposes a messy, messy office. More »
Random Stuff
Mystery Huge Box Hint #3: Uhura’s Bra
7:51PM Jesus Diaz | Here’s another clue to uncover the huge box mystery: The new Star Trek TV spot. In it, Kirk is kicking arse and Uhura’s bra—unlike bra-less Betty—is armour plated. (I’m partial to yellow lace.) More »
Hardware
Google Finally Declassifies Some Key Server Design Secrets
5:57AM Sean Fallon | Given that Google’s proprietary server designs are key element to their business, its not all that surprising that the details would be a secret. What is surprising, is that they finally spilled the beans. More »
Music
New Zealand Man Buys Thrift-Shop MP3 Player Full of US Army Classified Information
3:30AM John Mahoney | An MP3 player purchased for $US14.50 (brown Zune?) at an Oklahoma second-hand store had an extra surprise inside–60 files containing Iraq- and Afghanistan-deployed soldiers’ personal info, a mission briefing and base equipment manifests. Score! More »
Weapons
US Air Force Abandoned Nuclear Bomb in Greenland
10:00PM Jesus Diaz | The US government plotted to hide the fact that they were constantly flying nuclear-armed B-52 bombers over Greenland during the 1960s, the BBC has discovered in a recent investigation. The operation, called Chrome Dome, was designed to instantly respond to the Soviet Union if the latter launched a nuclear missile attack against Thule, a US Air Force base strategically placed near the North Pole. The Pentagon believed that this could potentially start a full-scale thermonuclear war, so they kept the birds in the sky at all times as a deterrent against Moscow. It was a “good” plan, until one of them crashed on January 21 1968. More »
Vehicles
Declassified UFO Files Reveal Military Engagement, Near-Collision
3:43PM Jesus Diaz | The UK Ministry of Defence has just declassified nineteen secret files detailing UFO encounters over the past decades, one of them involving a USAF Sabre fighter pilot who was ordered to fire at will against an unidentified flying object in British airspace. Unfortunately–or fortunately–lieutenant Milton Torres lost the contact after the UFO left the scene at a whooping 16,000 kilometres per hour. According to him, it had the proportions of an aircraft carrier: More »
Vehicles
New Secret X-Bomber Is Not So Secret Anymore
9:40PM Gizmodo US Edition | Northrop Grumman is working on a new classified bomber prototype for the Air Force, at an estimated cost—according to their financial statements—of US$2 billion. Apparently, the first version will require human/clone/Cylon pilots, with a high-endurance unmanned model possibly following after that. According to military industry magazine DTI, there is a high probability that the New Generation Bomber—concept above—will be following the success of the X-47B unmanned bomber aircraft. More »
Home
Ultimate Hidden Staircase Ideal for Wannabe Bond Villains
9:40PM Addy Dugdale | Giz is a big fan of the secret passageway, but this sub-staircase version really is the mutt’s nuts. A cross between a drawbridge, a private jet and something that, to kids, is straight out of Indiana Jones and the Duplex of Suburbia, the concealed hidey-hole is just one of a series of designs from Creative Home Engineering, a firm that puts hidden doors just about everywhere you wouldn’t think of looking. Prices range from US$5,000 to a cool quarter of a million. [Creative Home Engineering via BallerHouse] More »
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9:06AM Seamus Byrne | Seems Apple’s doing its best to remind us that it can act like a dick toward Australian websites too. APC yesterday received a takedown over a story discussing new features in Leopard – regardless of the fact it was pro-Apple, and generally pointing out stuff that you can find out from Apple’s own site.
APC tried to tow the line firstly by dropping the images (which were said to be in breach of copyright of Apple’s software), but Apple came again with the news that even discussing Leopard constituted a misuse of trade secrets.
[Image Courtesy of Apple Inc.] :-) More »
Apple screws APC on public ‘trade secrets’
9:06AM Seamus Byrne | Seems Apple’s doing its best to remind us that it can act like a dick toward Australian websites too. APC yesterday received a takedown over a story discussing new features in Leopard – regardless of the fact it was pro-Apple, and generally pointing out stuff that you can find out from Apple’s own site.
APC tried to tow the line firstly by dropping the images (which were said to be in breach of copyright of Apple’s software), but Apple came again with the news that even discussing Leopard constituted a misuse of trade secrets.
[Image Courtesy of Apple Inc.] :-) More » 
