In July 2012 at a Black Hat conference, Cody Brocious demonstrated how he could hack the keycard system used in hotels by spoofing the “portable programmer” device meant to be used for designating master keys and opening Onity brand locks whose batteries had died. With his $50 homemade device, he could insert the plug of…
Month: November 2012
Can you crack the secret encrypted WWII message found attached to the leg of carrier pigeon skeleton
Top British codebreakers are admitting that the recently found World War II message, found attached to the skeleton of a carrier pigeon, may never be cracked. Historians believe the bird was dispatched from Nazi-occupied France on June 6 1944, during the D-Day invasions. It is possible that its destination was the top secret Bletchley Park…
SpaceX founder solidifying plans to start civilian colony of 80,000 people on Mars
Not content with simply blasting civilians into the stratosphere, Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of the private spaceflight company SpaceX, is now aiming his sights towards starting a Mars colony of up to 80,000 people. Once the infrastructure is in place, Musk intends to ferry people to Mars at a cost of $500,000 per…
For the third straight year, Feds swarm counterfeit websites taking 132 sites offline on Cyber Monday
For the third straight year, Feds have swarmed and seized websites selling counterfeit merchandise on Cyber Monday. The bust involved a coordinated and concerted effort between the United States, Belgium, Denmark, France, Romania, the United Kingdom. Federal law enforcement officials made undercover purchases on the suspected websites, purchasing items such as sports jerseys, DVD players,…
Chinese home owner refuses to move so China builds 4-lane highway “around” their home
This house, located in Xiazhangyang, a village in the Zhejiang province in China, is real. It is located in the middle of a newly constructed Chinese highway. Structures such as these, where the tenant refuses to move to make way for a public land project, are known as “nail houses”. This situation is possible because…
Ready to rumble! Eight-foot tall humanoid robots set to cage fight to death on SyFy’s new Robot Combat League
Get ready to rumble! According to Entertainment Weekly, the Syfy channel has greenlit and shot the first season of a new show where eight-foot tall, 1,000 pound state-of-the-art humanoid robots will battle each other in a boxing cage until one of the robots is defeated. The new series, called Robot Combat League will feature huge…
Quiet Revolution – China to become world’s large nuclear energy producer by 2020
Chinese officials have publicly stated that they intend to become the world’s largest producer of nuclear generated electricity by 2020. Within 8 years, they intend to produce 100 gigawatts of power putting them ahead of the United States as the world’s largest producer of nuclear power. By 2050, they intend to move even further ahead…
Creepy but beautiful insect works of art made from old watch parts
Justin Gershenson-Gates, typically sells steampunk-like jewelry made from old watch parts on his A Mechanical Mind website but occasionally he reveals odd, but beautiful, machine-like insect thingies made from tiny light bulbs, electronic circuitry and yes, old watch parts – and people can’t get enough of them. Gates has created mechanical mantises, scorpions, butterflies, and…
Nifty personal TARDIS Smart Safe is controlled by smartphone
Check out this nifty personal TARDIS Smart Safe from Firebox in the UK (on sale for $49.99 at Amazon). The safe is a replica of the TARDIS as seen on the mega-popular Dr. Who British television show. The safe is remotely operated via cellphone using a custom designed application for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and…
Stores using hidden cameras behind mannequin eyes to spy on customers
Mannequins are creepy enough anyway. Now we find out from Bloomberg that a number of high-profile chains are reportedly utilizing a new kind of high-tech mannequin fitted with a tiny camera to spy on shoppers. The EyeSee, created by Italian mannequin manufacturer Almax, uses a camera embedded in one of the mannequin’s eyes and facial…