How to access the new YouTube homepage now

YouTube is currently testing a new layout for their landing page that is rolling out in stages. If you are impatient and want to try it for yourself now, you are in luck as there is a way to force the new homepage should you happen to use Firefox or Chrome.

To access the new layout, first navigate to YouTube.com using either Firefox or Chrome. Once there, you need to open your browser’s web console. Here’s how:

In Firefox: press Ctrl + Shift + K

In Chrome: press Ctrl + Shift + J

Once you have opened the console, copy and paste the following code into the command line and press enter:

document.cookie="VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=ST1Ti53r4fU";

Finally, refresh YouTube.com and you should see the new homepage.

YouTube’s new beta homepage is more organized than the current offering and should make it easier to keep up with subscriptions and recent activity from those you follow.

You will be prompted with a series of tips on how to navigate the new homepage. The new layout consists of three separate sections or panes. The left pane shows your channels and subscriptions that you have signed up to follow. Users can click Add Channels to select from multiple different categories including news, music and gaming. The center window shows recent activity from users you are following such as videos they have posted on YouTube or shared on Google+. The right column displays recommended videos based on previous clips you have viewed.

How Osama bin Laden sent emails without the US finding him

Osama bin Laden sent thousands of emails to his various operatives around the world without Internet or a phone line at home, as he feared he would be discovered by the US government. The terrorist created a very painstaking system to pull of the feat, according to a counterterrorism official and a second person briefed on the US investigation cited by the Associated Press.

In his hideout, Osama bin Laden would type out his emails on his computer and save them to a thumb-sized flash drive. He then passed the flash drive to a trusted courier, who would proceed to a distant Internet café, presumably a different one every time. Once there, the courier would plug the memory drive into a computer, copy bin Laden's messages into emails, and send them to whoever his boss had specified. Reversing the process, the courier would copy any incoming emails to the flash drive and return to the compound, where bin Laden would read his messages offline.

For years, the system, which was built on discipline and trust, helped bin Laden stay in touch with his various contacts around the world. His enemies were unable to trace him because he did not leave any digital fingerprints behind.

The US always suspected bin Laden was communicating through couriers, but did not anticipate the breadth of his communications: Navy SEALs hauled away roughly 100 flash memory drives after they killed bin Laden earlier this month. Officials say they appear to still contain bin Laden's back-and-forth communications, including email addresses, phone numbers, and thousands of messages.