train

Test your math skills with RekenTest

Let's be clear and up-front about RekenTest: It's a math test. Not only that, it's a math test you take deliberately, without anyone making you. That adds up to two important facts: 1) Your ability to think up excuses to get out of the test will be strained like never before; and 2) You'll learn math. This simple but effective freeware will see to that.

RekenTest's ultrasimple interface opens in full-screen mode with an optional wizard. Unfortunately, the program only offers full-screen or fully minimized modes. The true full-screen, fully maximized mode showed our toolbar … Read more

NOD 32 returns, but to tough turf

The bottom line: Back from the nearly dead, or at least the un-updated, ESET returns with high-level security that's light on your system. For a basic antivirus suite that's light on your system and tough on malware, NOD32 gets a yes from us.

Review:

The last time ESET updated its two security suites--the antivirus and anti-malware-only NOD32 and the more feature-heavy alternative Smart Security--it was a different computer security world. It was March 2009: Anonymous barely existed, Stuxnet hadn't gone public, and ransomware was the stuff of science fiction.

Version 5 of ESET NOD32 is a solid, … Read more

Windows that close automatically when trains go by

Sometimes you have to live with discomforts.

These can be human--lovers who snore, lovers who wear far too many clothes in bed, or merely lovers who turn over and go to sleep without remembering your name. They can also be uncontrollable annoyances, like foghorns, barking dogs, or trains.

Ed Rogers happens to endure the latter. He doesn't want to have to endure it, though.

So he decided to rig his windows with a remote control, an Arduino linear actuator, a Webcam, and some other fine pieces of electronica in order to get his windows to close automatically whenever a … Read more

The 404 883: Where the PATH to success is paved with delays (podcast)

Why are schools no longer teaching typing? Typing class used to be a sanctuary for nerds, but now that everyone has a smartphone and a Facebook profile, some school districts are making a case against teaching standardized touch-typing lessons.

But before we dive into the technology lessons we think should be taught in all grade schools, we start today's episode of The 404 Podcast with a recap of the past week's metaprotesting in San Francisco and the flames that ignited Anonymous to shut down public transit.

The 404 Digest for Episode 883

SF subway closes stations during Anonymous protest. Why are schools no longer teaching typing? A video voice mail from Andrew in Ontario!

Episode 883 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Eurostar is the best way to get from London to Paris

PARIS--There's something amazing about taking the train from London to Paris in just two-and-a-half hours.

To be sure, it's been possible to make that trip since 1994, but if you've never done it before, stepping onto a train in the middle of the British capital and stepping off in the center of the French capital is totally cool.

I've been traveling to Europe since 1979, and I'd crossed the English Channel by boat back in the mid-1980s, and by plane in the 1990s. Going by fast train was always one of those abstract things that … Read more

High-speed rail to get $336 million more from feds

Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Wednesday announced his office is dispersing an additional $336.2 million in funds toward the massive U.S. high-speed rail public works project underway.

This time, the money is going for the trains themselves.

Including this latest release, $782 million has been dispersed for purchasing 33 locomotives and 120 bi-level train cars for California, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, and Washington.

The federal government has now allocated a total of $10.1 billion, set aside via the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009, for the introduction of high-speed rail as well as updates … Read more

Whip your brain into shape with Memory Trainer

Memory Trainer stimulates your brain with a targeted program of scientifically developed exercises. According to the app's developers (who reference several studies in their descriptions), consistent training is proven to improve your memory over time and even help lower your risk of Alzheimer's disease.

Now, we can't say for sure that Memory Trainer did all that, but we can say that the app is fun, it gets progressively more challenging, and it's strangely addictive. You can engage with Memory Trainer either through a mapped-out 20 session program or through individual targeted exercises including TileFlip, Numberz, Sequencer, … Read more

Luxury aboard the Orient Express' British Pullman

LONDON--It's not often you take a train, look out the window all during the journey, and see people standing alongside the tracks with cameras at the ready so they can take pictures of the carriages going by.

Not often, that is, unless you're prone to taking Venice-Simplon Orient Express trains. If you are, be prepared for an almost uncountable number of train spotters looking for a rare glimpse of one of the most luxurious and storied conveyances in modern history.

I got a chance to take one of the Venice-Simplon Orient Express journeys recently as part of Road Trip 2011, … Read more

Europe by Eurail is the best way to travel

PARADISO, Italy--I'm sitting in a comfortable seat, looking out at the foothills of the Italian Alps. High on the hilltops the houses are grand, and below them, small terraced vineyards offer the promise of a leisurely glass of wine and some terrific linguine al vongole.

Not long before, Lake Como had sparkled out the window, and though George Clooney is said to have sold his villa there, it's hard not to go by and imagine him and his Hollywood friends getting the best out of life amid one waterside mansion after another and more glamor than most people … Read more