🤖 Let AI make your logo, Hack your charging cable, and Create a Temporary Site!

Because Privacy is Paramount!

Hey everyone! Hope your first week of December is off to a good start. I know you’re probably looking at Cyber Monday deals (or trying to avoid them) so I won’t post any links TO ANYTHING having to do with Cyber Monday.

Fear not - I’m here to save your wallet from the joyous horrors of cheap Apple, Google, and Amazon Echo products.

Of course, if there’s interest in this sort of thing, let me know. I do have a horrible habit of reading dozens of articles about the best tech deals available.

How did Thanksgiving go? I hope everything was delicious, and your family time memorable! :)

So - start eating your pumpkin pie, sit back, and enjoy this week’s batch of the Random.

Let AI Make a Logo for You

Logos are very important to any business - and there are plenty of great graphic designers out there. However, on a bootstrap budget, it can be difficult to afford one - and not everyone has good Adobe Illustrator skills (or the 20 hours to agonize over creating one).

Well, I found a pretty neat AI Project by Google that will automatically generate images for you to add to your Business name. It’s called AutoDraw, and it’s learning how to guess what you are drawing. It’s a fun little project and I enjoy playing around with it to find ideas.

All you have to do is try to draw something (a car, wrench, fish, etc.) and AutoDraw will try to guess what your image is. You just pick one of the available designs - change the size, add some text, and Boom! You’re good to go.

Auto Draw has a few editing capabilities, but it’s pretty basic. I recommend checking it out! It’s great for getting some inspiration, and useful for basic logo creation (dropshipping company, that sort of thing).

Click on the link to play around with it!

Hack Your Phone With A Charging Cable

Have you ever been desperate for battery power? So desperate you’d use a random charging cable you found lying at a table - or one of those cables at the mall?

Well, believe it or not, there are ways to install viruses (or do other things) in a charging cable. You plug your phone into the charging cable, and the program (or hacker) is off to the races with your personal phone!

Don’t use random charging cables “you don’t know” - ever.

Hak5 is currently selling a kit so you can learn how to build your own malicious charging cables - for educational purposes. It’s always fun to learn new skills - and the study of ethical hacking is fascinating!

You could also use it as a business opportunity. Learn a few skills like this, create an educational ebook about cybersecurity, and sell it on Amazon.

Check it out in the video!

Here’s a link if you want to buy your own How-To kit.

Your Temporary Website

Sometimes you need to share files, documents, images, and more with people that you don’t know, and don’t want to give your email address.

There’s a pretty cool “temporary website” solution that I’ve found and it’s called “We Spam.” There’s no login, no forms, and you can share files, text, and more with whoever you want. You can even create a Reddit style conversation.

All you do is create a mini-site in one click - literally - and you’re good to go!

It’s really neat - and a quick anonymous solution for sharing files. Posts will delete themselves after a certain amount of time.

You could also use it as a place to host ebooks and other presentations for clients without having to create zip files, send them a Google Drive Link, or other file sharing solutions. Of course, anyone with access to the link could see what’s on the site, so don’t use it for anything confidential!

Check it out at the link.

The Land of Random

Snowplow Vs. Mailbox

This man was angry that snowplows were running over his mailbox, so he took epic revenge. Mailbox - 1, Snowplow - 0. Read about it at the link!

Be The Spider

Miss the good old days of Left 4 Dead? I do too. There honestly aren’t enough good cooperative games these days. Well, there’s a brand new one coming out where you play as a giant spider on the hunt, and your friends play as the poor humans. It’s called Last Year: Afterdark. Watch the trailer! It looks creepy - and amazing.

Spotify - The King Innovation of 2010-2019?

As we consider the last decade of innovations and move into 2020, what has stood out to you? This Lifehacker article by Joel Kahn makes a strong case for Spotify, and I’m inclined to agree with him. Spotify changed the way I consume music - forever. I’ve been paying for three years, and likely will for many more to come. Check out the article at the link!

Pixar Storytelling Course

Ever wanted to learn how Pixar does Storytelling? Khan Academy has a FREE course that you can take. Heck, you don’t even have to log in to take it. I haven’t taken it yet, but it looks awesome! It’s all about the art of storytelling, characters, the structure of a story, and more!