Expand the description and view the text of the steps for this how-to video. Check out Howcast for other do-it-yourself videos from carlo_scialla and more videos in the Hardware Security category. You can contribute too! Create your own DIY guide at www.howcast.com or produce your own Howcast spots with the Howcast Filmmakers Program at www.howcast.com At least with a stomach virus you may drop a few pounds; a virtual virus just screws up your computer. Take these precautions to avoid problems. To complete this How-To you will need: Anti-virus software Spyware A firewall A healthy dose of skepticism Step 1: Install anti-virus software Install anti-virus software that regularly updates itself. Viruses are constantly mutating into new forms. Step 2: Keep spies out Use a spyware scanner. This protects you from inadvertently installing a system that will help advertisers spam you by monitoring your internet use. Spyware is usually unleashed when you download a peer-to-peer file-swapping product. Step 3: Put up a wall Install a firewall. This software guards against online attacks from other computers. Tip: You can find free safety software on the internet. Step 4: Be leery of attachments Don’t open attachments unless you’re absolutely sure you know who sent them. Don’t even open e-mails from unknown senders. Step 5: Check your files Before you shut down for the day, go to “find” and check the files that were created that day. Delete any that you don’t recognize. Step 6: Don’t …

Directed by Rob Shaw, Bent Image Lab. From TMBGs new DVD/CD set Here Comes Science. Available at iTunes and Amazon now! bit.ly

The film Man & Computer, made in 1965 by IBM’s UK branch, provides a basic understanding of computer operations. A large portion of the film shows the ways in which a computer can be simulated by five people using the standard office equipment of the day. The film employs a number of different techniques, including animations, and features a few brief scenes of an IBM System/360 in use—just months after the first machines were delivered. Starting in the 1940s, IBM became a major producer of films used for sales, training, documenting business processes, entertaining at company functions, and educating the public. Several IBM films were made by respected filmmakers and sometimes featured well-known actors.

A British film about computers from 1969. It is presented here as a historical look at how computers used to be in the 1960’s when PC’s and Macs were over 10 years away. Shown in three parts. Sorry, but the 16mm print is rather battered! To my surprise this clip was featured in ‘The Guardian’ newspaper’s Technology supplement on Thursday December 6th 2007.

Mouseless is an invisible computer mouse. It provides the familiarity of interaction of a physical mouse without actually needing a real hardware mouse. As the computer mouse has remained largely unchanged over the last decades, we have become increasingly proficient at operating the two-button mouse. Recently, various multitouch and gestural interaction technologies have been explored as means to implement alternative methods to interact with a computer. Despite these advances in computing hardware technologies, the two-button computer mouse has remained the predominant means to interact with a computer. The Mouseless invention removes the requirement of having a physical mouse altogether but still provides the intuitive interaction of a physical mouse that we are familiar with. Mouseless consists of an Infrared (IR) laser beam and an Infrared camera. Both IR laser and IR camera are embedded in the computer. The laser beam module is modified with a line cap and placed such that it creates a plane of IR laser just above the surface the computer sits on. The user cups their hand, as if a physical mouse was present underneath, and the laser beam lights up the hand which is in contact with the surface. The IR camera detects those bright IR blobs using computer vision. The change in the position and arrangements of these blobs are interpreted as mouse cursor movement and mouse clicks. As the user moves their hand the cursor on screen moves accordingly. When the user taps …