In 1984, the Stasi — East Germany's notorious secret police — searched the flat of an auditor to determine if he'd leaked files that put the country in a bad light to Stern, a West German magazine, published in Hamburg. They recorded the clandestine search for posterity, and used it as the basis for a training video explaining to other secret police operatives how to search a dissident's home without alerting them that they were under suspicion. (via Grugq)
How to covertly toss an apartment, Stasi style
This YouTube video just hit one billion views
Yesterday, a video on YouTube hit one billion views twelve years after it was posted. Watch the rather shocking news report above. And here's a link to the official upload of the video that hit one billion. To understand the clip's unique history, start with this oral history published last year in MEL Magazine. It… READ THE REST
Please enjoy "Goodnight Moon," the vintage filmstrip
From the 1940s until the low-cost videocassette boom of the 1980s, audio filmstrips were commonly used in classrooms as an alternative to 16mm film projectors that were more expensive and fiddly to keep working. Uncommon Ephemera does the yeoman's work of saving these vintage filmstrips from the dustbin of dead media history and digitally archiving… READ THE REST
What are these strange videos of quick-cut random images accompanied by chaotic beeping noises?
About 6 years ago, someone, or some thing, posted a slew of videos to YouTube of strange images quick-cut together with a backing track of chaotic electronic beeps. There are hundreds of them and each is 11 seconds long. The channel is called dailybleep. While there are other projects online with that name, I'm not… READ THE REST
Get a complete picture of your cat's oral health with a $68 Basepaws test
Cats…well, they just don't care what you think. Sure, they love you in their own way. But they've got their own agenda. And what you want … is usually pretty far down their priority list, even if it's in their own best interests. That often includes items related to their own health, including dental care.… READ THE REST
Extend your vision for dark movie nights with this $8.50 LED backlight for smart TVs
You've got a big ole TV. It's 55"…or 65"…or 75". It's glorious. Absolutely glorious. But while its brilliance is obviously sublime, that could blind you to a couple of other facts to consider. Like how staring at a bright TV against an otherwise dark wall at night actually disrupts how our eyes measure light. Rather than… READ THE REST
From CSS to JavaScript, here are 10 coding bundles that can make you a master programmer
The web development world is more than a world. It's a whole universe. That's because, for every project you see on the web, there were likely 10 different ways to reach that final product. But which way is the best way? Well, that's the question only a fully trained and knowledgeable web creator can answer… READ THE REST
