Real Life Hacker Articles

When ever I get bored I have a fun little hobby of reading the latest stories of hackers who have been caught. There are alot of sites filled of up to date stories, just search for cyber crime.

I don't understand why someone would be so smart, (literally computer geniuses), and do something so stupid? A person who is this smart on computers could make tons of money working for the government etc. Anyway, I feel like there mission is to make their victims look dumb. When they hack into a microsoft computer, they do it to point out all of microsoft's errors, or how insecure nasa's networks are etc. Why don't they get a job fixing these problems?

Today I came across a real funny guy. He was caught hacking into the pentagon and nasa. His reason for doing it? To see if UFO's exist. He says he found tons of evidence of UFO in the pentagon's computers. He claims they are hiding alot of stuff from us. As long as he isn't found guilty he won't tell what he saw, but if he is he plans to share with the world what all they are hiding.

Here is the link if you want to read about it: http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/cybercrime/story/0,10801,110937,00.html?SKC=cybercrime-110937

If you come across any other funny stories, add a comment here with a link.

AOL and the Internet

Alot of people (including myself) use America On Line as their Internet Provider. As you know AOL has their own browser included in their service that you probably use. Well, it's really user friendly and such, but it isn't "Real Internet" to an extent. Everything you see has been paid to be put in front of you. Notice if you search for an item on AOL Walmart and such are always at the top of your searches. There is a way to use AOL as your IP, and still get real internet. By using a different Web Browser!

There are many web browsers out there for free. Most computers come with Internet Explorer already on them. I personally like Mozilla Firefox. Anway, let's assume you are going to use Internet Explorer. Simply fire up AOL as usual. Then minimize the AOL browser, click start->run, type IExplore, and press enter. The browser should pop up and you'll be looking at true internet!

Enjoy the Internet!

Crazy Red Thing

From time to time I am going to post updates on my recent 3D work. So here is my most recent. Not sure what to call "it". I just finished modeling, and texturing it. Soon I'll rig it, skin it, and animate it. All the work you see here was done with anim8or. I'm going to try to find a way to import this model into Blender so I can make use of it's physics engine, and softbody features! It's hands and eyes will be operated with morph targets. I am looking forward to animating it! I will post updates!

Free Software!

Most people have no idea that just about every piece of software you could ever want can be downloaded for free! I'm going to introduce you into the world of "Open Source Sofware".

Open Source Software is 100% free, and the source code can be downloaded for you to tweak the program to your own liking. This is really appealing to computer geeks, because you can learn from the source code and actually play with the internal workings of the program. If you aren't interested in tinkering with source code, Open Source Software can still be of use to you. It is literally "beefed up" and "debugged" by computer geeks around the globe for you to download and enjoy. So the next time you search for "free" software, try to include the phrase "open source" in your search term, and you will probably pull up even more freebies for you to download. Also don't get confused about this: not all free software is open source.

When I said every piece of software you could want can be downloaded for free I mean EVERY piece of software. What would you say if I told you there were free, open source Operating Systems for you to download and use? It's true, just check into linux (there are many distros (flavors), my personal favorite is Ubuntu. Don't feel like downloading it? Just tell them your address and they'll send you 5 free discs!). Most people have no idea that there are operating systems besides Microsoft Windows, but in many people's opinions Linux OS' are much better than Microsoft!

"Orange" a team of computer animators used Blender to make an Open Source movie! You have to buy the DVD, but it includes .blend files which have all the models, scenes and animations from the movie, free for you to use how ever you want!

Enjoy the Free Software!

Welcome!

Hello! I would like to take a moment to say welcome to my blog! My name is Matthew Vaughn, I am 15 years old and an absolute computer geek. My plans are to attend Rose-Hulman Technical University, and obtain a Master degree of computer science. From there I am not sure where I want to go, (nasa or start my own company?....).

My major interest is in computer programming. I currently know VB.Net and C# fairly well. I am working on HTML, Python, ASP.net, and about every other language left.

I also have an interest for 3D graphics and animation. I use "Anim8or" and "Blender" for everything related to this because they are free, and worthy of commercial cost.