Dwang

An open-source software project aims to give software developers a simple way to wrap encryption into their applications to thwart online surveillance efforts.

My first love was a 1981 Toyota Corolla.  Oh, how I loved that little car. We went everywhere together: to the beach, to the mall, across the state to a water park with all our friends.  We were inseparable.  But no amount of love can save a car from a week’s worth of driving around with no coolant and a bad oil leak.  What can I say?  I was young and foolish and never learned basic auto maintenance.

In my defense, the plastic cover over the instrument panel was a cloudy mess, having been cleaned with Windex or some other alcohol-based cleaner by a previous owner.  The oil pressure and engine temperature gauges were obscured, with a small portion of the gas gauge the only readable instrument.

Had I known that olive oil would have fixed my cloudy instrument panel, my first love might not have ended in a blown engine and a broken heart.

"Give it time." It's something many mums have uttered to their frustrated youth, and it's something that's also uttered amongst the hacker crowd each time a new device emerges. In the case of Google's $35 Chromecast, it took but a couple of days for the HDMI streaming stick to be exploited. Granted, Google's never been one to keep its biggest software projects under lock and key, but for those looking to tinker a bit with their new toy, GTVHacker has the goods. The exploit package has thus far been used to confirm that the software within is not Chrome OS -- it's described by the aforesaid site as "a modified Google TV release, but with all of the Bionic / Dalvik stripped out and replaced with a single binary for Chromecast." Those interested in giving it a go themselves can test their luck here, while the timid among us can hop on past the break for a video.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Google

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Source: GTVHacker

The operating system looks to be a special blend of Google Chrome and Android; more work to be done.

If anyone had any doubts, put them to rest because the Chromecast has been rooted. We're not surprised at this -- any device that runs an OS that accepts input will get exploited eventually -- but what the GTV Hacker crew found inside is a bit more intriguing. 

Google says the Chromecast runs ChromeOS, and when you power it up it says Chrome big as life, but the folks at GTV Hacker say that's not really so. After digging into the software a little (rooting gives you access via telnet) they say what's there is closer to Android or Google TV than it is to Chrome. There are no methods to run any apps on the system, but they don't rule out the possibility of a real Android port to the $35 dongle.

If you have a powered USB OTG cable and a flash drive you can erase, you can give this a try yourself. The process seems trivial, though there's nothing you can do with it once you're finished other than look at the system files. For some of us though, that's reason enough. Let's hope content companies aren't scared off of the whole Google Cast concept now.

Source: GTV Hacker

It's not like Toyota hasn't already faced its fair share of Prius braking issues, but it appears that even more headaches are headed its way at Defcon this week. Famed white hats Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek are preparing to unleash a 100-page paper at the annual hacker conference in Las Vegas, and notably, hacks that overtake both Toyota and Ford automotive systems will be positioned front and center. The information was gathered as part of a multi-month project that was funded by the US government, so it's important to note that the specifics of the exploits will not be revealed to the masses; they'll be given to the automakers so that they can patch things up before any ill-willed individuals discover it on their own.

Using laptops patched into vehicular systems, the two were able to force a Prius to "brake suddenly at 80 miles an hour, jerk its steering wheel, and accelerate the engine," while they were also able to "disable the brakes of a Ford Escape traveling at very slow speeds." Of course, given just how computerized vehicles have become, it's hardly shocking to hear that they're now easier than ever to hack into. And look, if you're really freaked out, you could just invest in Google Glass and walk everywhere.

Filed under: Transportation, Software

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Source: Reuters

I’m not a summer person. Is it uncool to admit that you sort of hate sweating? Probably, so it’s a good thing you already knew I was a dork. New York City summers seem to be endless strings of heatwaves, and humidity so thick that even 82 degrees can feel like 105. Being pale and freckled, I seem to go through my body weight in sunscreen each summer, and still burn. Inside, the window air-conditioner units are always buzzing and always too cold; I consider summer something I must endure until my real love — crunchy fall leaves, cardigans, apple cider stands — returns in late September.

Or so I thought. This summer, something has shifted and it’s like I finally paid attention, and when I did, I realized I’ve had it all wrong. Summer is awesomely, fantastically busy, and with only the good stuff, long days and social butterfly weekends. We haven’t even put the kid to bed on Sunday night before we start discussing how many friends-with-pools/barbecues/ferry excursions/beach towns/playground sprinklers/grilled anything we might be able to stuff into the next weekend. When the heat starts melting your brain, and with it, any ridiculous attempts at dissecting something you read in The New Yorker that week, you get to instead have intense discussions about the ideal popsicle format, how to best fill water balloons, which beaches have the silkiest sand and who makes the best Aperol Spritz. (Buvette, you’re winning.) I realized that there’s barely a month left to summer yesterday, and felt sad, because we need more time. The whole time I’ve been kvetching, summer waged a quiet war on my view of the seasons (“Does fall have watermelon this good? I didn’t think so!” “When was the last time you saw a rainbow through a sprinkler in January?!”) and it won.

... Read the rest of mama canales-garcia’s avocado-shrimp salsa on smittenkitchen.com

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I own a clothes iron.  It’s a pretty fancy one, too, a gift from a relative when my wife and I were married a few years ago.  We have never used it.  It sits in its box, on a shelf in the closet, taking up just enough space to annoy me, but not so much space that I toss it or give it away.

I never use it, because I learned, years ago, to remove my clothes from the dryer the instant the buzzer sounds.  Left in the dryer for more than a few minutes, the clothes start to cool and wrinkles form.  But quick removal from the dryer isn’t the only trick on the block when it comes to keeping your shirts and pants looking their best.

Apartment Therapy has a few suggestions, the most interesting being to add a cup of dry white vinegar to the washer’s rinse water.  “Don’t worry, it won’t leave a smell,” they promise.  They also repeat an interesting tip I have seen around the Internet but not tried: “Tennis balls or dryer balls help your stuff dry faster and avoid getting wrinkled by moving the air around.”

A few more tips can be found at Lifehacker, where post author, Eric Ravenscraft, says, “Ironing is barbaric.”  I could not agree more, Eric.  This is the Space Age!  Where is my wrinkle-free jumpsuit?

Finally, Tipnut.com offers this formula: 1 teaspoon of liquid fabric softener mixed with 1 cup of water, mixed in a fine mist spray bottle.  “Use as you would with a commercial product, spray generously on clothing then tug and pull item to smooth. Hang or lay flat to dry (overnight).”

Still, even with these great tips, that fancy iron will be stuck in that closet for years to come.

Linux users now have a simple option for controlling the Modlet smart outlet. Hacklet is a Ruby script that can switch and read status information from Modlet.

This is the first we remember hearing about Modlet. It’s another take on controlling your appliances remotely. Unlike WeMo, which puts control of one outlet on WiFi, the Modlet uses a USB dongle to control two outlets wirelessly. It has the additional benefit of reading how much current is being used by each plug. This does mean that you need a running computer with the USB dongle to control it. But cheap embedded systems like the Raspberry Pi make this less of an issue both in up-front cost, and the price to keep it running all the time.

[Matt Colyer's] demo video includes an unboxing of the $60 starter kit. The screen seen above shows his script pairing with the outlet. It goes on to demonstrate commands to switch it, and to pull the data from the device. He even provides an example of how to use IFTTT with the script.

Filed under: home hacks, linux hacks

These shoes are heavier than normal, they don’t grip as well as store-bought, and it’s a heck of a lot of work to make a pair for yourself. But if you do pull this one off you’ll have a great time showing everyone your custom tire tread shoe hack.

Two things motivated [Martin Melchior] to give this a try. The first is that tire tread is virtually indestructible when only supporting the weight of a person. Secondly, this reuses otherwise worn-out tires, making it a recycling project.

Pretty much all of the work has to do with getting the tread ready for use. Cutting off the sidewalls and sawing the ring of tread in half is rather easy. But then you have to split the tread off of the steel belts, which is not. [Martin] recommends using vice-grip pliers to grab the outer lay and pull it away from the tread, slicing along the belts with a utility knife as you go. Once you do have a flat strip just glue it to your shoes and cut away the excess.

We’re more into a different type of retread that actually takes you places.

Filed under: green hacks

We already know the camera app for the Moto X (and Droid Ultra, MAXX and Mini) will feature a minimalistic, gesture-based UI, but the clever souls over at Android Police went one step further and recently leaked an APK of the app. The file (later pulled and cached here) installs just fine on many devices but lacks some functionality. We tested it on a Nexus 4 running Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean) and it worked okay, mostly. HDR and slow-motion video recording are disabled, panorama mode crashes and Quick Capture (double-twist your wrist to launch the camera) is not operational.

Still, the camera UI is ultra simple -- swipe right for the settings, left for the gallery, up /down to zoom; tap to capture, and hold to take multiple shots. The resulting pictures (16:9 aspect ratio) look pretty much like those snapped with the stock Android camera, and suffer from the same composition issues since the viewfinder crops the right edge of every image. It'll be interesting to see if any of this changes when we finally get our hands on the Moto X next week. Until then, check out the gallery of screenshots below and sound off about the APK in the comments.

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Mobile, Google

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Source: Android Police

Preview editions of Hyper-V 2012 R2 and System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 R2 pick up where the strong initial releases left off

I’ve written before about various kitchen hacks that I picked up working in restaurants over the years.  One of the best tips I ever learned was for avoiding the tears that come from cutting onions: simply pop them into the freezer for half an hour before cutting them.  I don’t understand how it works, but I have used that method many times and it has always worked well for me.

It turns out, however, that more than a few other people have found equally effective ways to cut onions while remaining tear-free.  WikiHow offers some tips, including my own chilled onion technique, that range from practical and easy (chew gum while cutting; splash some vinegar on the cutting board) to impractical and a little silly (wear air tight goggles).

TheKitchn.com suggests using a sharp knife as their number one tip: “A sharp knife will cause less damage to [the onion's] cell walls, and fewer irritants will be released.”

Or, you can try the method in the video above: cut the onion while positioned next to the open flame of a gas burner.  Please note: if you try this tip, be sure to turn off the flame when you’re done with the onions… otherwise you might be crying for an altogether more tragic reason.

I saw this ingenious solution on Reddit’s r/lifehacks, a couple days ago, and have been thinking about it ever since.  It’s simple and brilliant: take two cups, one nested inside the other, and twist the bottom cup to the time the coffee was made.  For just the cost of the cups, you’ll never drink burnt old coffee again!

Of course, not everybody is going to grasp the simplicity of the hack.  Instead of mocking, let’s just assume they were still on their first cup of the day…

(Thanks to Reddit users kardioversion and Jackytar, for the top and bottom pictures, respectively.)

Here’s a fun video from Kipkay that outlines some easy hacks for your cell phone.  First up, give your cell phone camera a macro lens- with a magnifying contacts case.  The cases are easy to find (check your local pharmacy) and will cost you less than $5.  Hold the magnifier against the cell’s camera and the very small appears much larger and clearer.

After Kipkay reminds us that a cup or glass will amplify the cell phone’s speakers, he suggests using clear packing tape as a screen protector.  This is probably not a great idea, but, in a pinch, will do the trick.

And, finally, if your phone supports custom ringtones and you have access to audio editing software, you can easily screen unwanted calls by recording a track of silence and setting it as the ringtone for unwelcome callers.

When my wife shouted to me from across our apartment that I had to “come see this!”, I thought, at first, that our son must be doing something adorable.  Then she yelled “Hurry!” and I figured there was some kind of insect that needed stomping.  When I ran into the room, however, she was pointing at her laptop screen and shouting, “I need this!”

The “this” she was so excited about was a magnetic makeup organizer: a relatively simple project brought to us by the blog, Laura Thoughts.  (Neat?  Yes.  Worth dragging me away from my video game?  Well… actually, yeah, it’s a pretty cool idea.)

The basic project is simple: glue magnets to the back or bottom of various cosmetics containers and store them on a pre-made magnet board.  If you want to make it more stylish, add a frame and follow the same route as Laura, who says, “I went to the hardware store and picked up some metal and had them cut it to fit inside my frame.  Then I used spray adhesive to stick some fabric to the metal.”

Once the board is ready, grab your hot glue gun and attach the magnets to the cosmetics.  (You may need several magnets for heavier items.)

Once the glue dries, you’re ready to clean up that messy basket of make-up.  The best part of this hack is that it can be easily adapted to organize anything small enough to fit on the board and light enough to stick with magnets.

Check out this post from Complex Rides for a set of car hacks that contains a few gems.  My favorite is the pool noodle door protector for those of us parking in narrow garages.  It’s especially useful when you have a kid that opens the car door like he’s a young Arthur removing a sword from the stone.

If you have an extra pair of boots laying around, collecting dust between hiking trips, toss them in the car and you’ll always have a place to put your 64 ounce Big Mama-jama.

Finally, even though we’re a little out of season for it, it’s worth remembering that hand sanitizer will de-ice your car lock.  Just squirt a little on the lock, then maybe a little more and a little more, until the ice is melted by the alcohol in the sanitizer.

Next time you’re cooking out and need some extra grill space, don’t waste money on an extra charcoal grill that will be used once then shoved into a corner of the garage to collect dust.  Instead, drop a few bucks at the dollar store and save the rest of your cash for some extra steaks.

Just grab a deep-dish lasagna pan and a wire cooling tray.  Dump the briquettes in the pan, light it up, and you’re ready to stand guard, waiting for the charcoal to reach the right temperature while you chase away BBQ dilettantes who want to start cooking on the too-hot coals.

Visit the Instructable by sk8er6 here.  Important safety note: the bottom of this makeshift grill will be very, very hot, so be mindful of where you place it.  A pair of cinder blocks, as in the above pic, will do nicely.

Oh, man, do I love bacon and eggs for breakfast: a few drops of Tabasco on the eggs and the bacon crispy, but not so crispy that it disintegrates on the fork.  The mouth waters at the thought!  I have a pretty good handle on the eggs, but, for all the time I have spent in the kitchen over the years, I have yet to master the art of perfect bacon: it always comes out too crispy and burnt or dangerously undercooked and limp.

So, with some friends driving into town, soon, for an overnight visit, I have decided to ratchet up my game a couple notches and treat them to a great breakfast before they get back on the road.  Before I fill up the refrigerator with a huge pile of bacon, let’s see what my options are.

The first method comes from America’s Test Kitchen.  They suggest a pan full of water to start off the cooking process.  As the meat cooks, the water evaporates, leaving the finished bacon moist and crispy.  Sounds promising!

Next we have oven baked bacon.  I’ve tried this cooking method before, but have been disappointed with the results.  After watching the video below, I think my error lay in using a flat sheet of wax paper, rather than crinkled aluminum foil.

Finally, we have a couple tips from The Art of Manliness, who tell us the “number one fatal error that many people make when cooking bacon is throwing cold bacon onto a hot pan over high heat.”  Instead of taking the bacon directly from fridge to pan, leave it out for a few minutes to allow “the fat to loosen up a bit and return to a more natural state. When you are ready to cook, place the bacon in a room temperature pan and then place it over medium heat.”  Further, they suggest makin’ your bacon Vermont Style:

…place several slices of bacon into a bowl and douse with maple syrup… Be certain that the syrup is coating all the bacon slices, then stash it in the fridge for a half hour or so to soak. Once you are ready to cook, simply fry the bacon up using the classic pan fry method, keeping in mind that the caramelizing sugar in the syrup will make the endeavor a little messier.

Whichever way works out, I’m sure I’ll perfect my craft in time for my friends’ visit and send them back out onto the road stuffed with crispy and delicious bacon.

[Dzl] and his rather serious looking son are metal detector enthusiasts. But when they couldn’t find their store-bought metal detector earlier this summer they just went ahead and built their own. [Dzl] starts his write up with an explanation of how most oscillator based metal detectors work. This one differs by using an Arduino to read from the metal detecting coil.

The circuit starts with an oscillator that produces a signal of about 160 kHz which is constantly measured by the Arduino. When metal enters the coil it alters the frequency, which is immediately picked up the Arduino. Instead of that characteristic rising tone this rig uses a Piezo buzzer, issuing the type of clicks you’d normally associate with a Geiger counter.

The last part of the build was to find the best coil orientation. They settled on thirty turns around a metal bucket. An old Ikea lamp is the perfect form factor to host their hardware which seems to work like a charm.

Filed under: Arduino Hacks

[MacGyver] [Lou Wozniak] is on a mission to build an internal combustion engine using only hardware store parts. What you see above is his third attempt at it. Depending on your hardware store this may have ventured outside of what they sell because [Lou] switched over to using gasoline. But the first two attempts were powered by a propane torch fuel canister.

Unfortunately it still isn’t running. But the demo below makes us think that he’s really close. Timing is always touchy and that seems to be what is causing the problems. He makes use of a lot of plumbing fixtures. At the right you can see the parts (including a peanut butter jar) which make his carburetor with a valve pointing straight up as the choke. The fuel and air mixture moves down through the pipe to the cylinder and valve assembly where it is ignited by the black grill igniter module. His custom cut plywood gear moves with the fly-wheel. It triggers his improvised spark plug by using a bit of wire to pull on the leaf switch.

We feel like he’s so close to getting this up and running. If you have any advice on where he might be going wrong [Lou] welcomes your input.

Filed under: Engine Hacks

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Android software meets game console hardware in a quest to revolutionize gaming

Last year, a project for the Android-powered video game console "OUYA" (pronounced OOO-yah) was founded, using Kickstarter to raise funds for development costs. Originally asking for $950,000 from Kickstarter backers, the project raised over $8.5 million -- making it one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns in history. The people had spoken: this was a niche in the gaming market that needed to be filled.

After getting initial units into the hands of developers, the library of OUYA games began to grow. User feedback was taken from those with pre-release units, and hardware changes were made based on that feedback, showing thoughtfulness and desire by the OUYA team to do everything possible to make their console succeed.

Last month, OUYA launched at retail locations -- becoming available to the general public. With a price tag of only $99 and a library of downloadable games that are free or at least free to try, the self-proclaimed "OUYA Revolution" has begun. Does OUYA make good on its promises of revolution? Can it -- and should it -- be compared to consoles from Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo? How well does it function as an actual Android device? We have the full review.

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Panorama, PicSphere, filters and more make up a promising project 

The hype is over. Thirty-one seconds of slick video and a million guesses later, and we now know what CyanogenMod's "Nemesis" project was all about. Meet "Focal," the open-source CyanogenMod project's own camera app.

This actually is kind of a big deal given that camera apps are traditionally closed-source due to licensing reasons. And, in fact, it was only in March 2013 when DxO Labs filed DMCA violations with GitHub against a number of custom ROMs — including CyanogenMod — for allegedly using its code unlicensed.

And now there's CyanogenMod Focal.

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Hisense, a company best known for its home theater equipment, isn't exactly a name synonymous with mobile devices. But with its new, Walmart-exclusive line of Android tablets -- the Sero 7 LT and Sero 7 Pro -- the Chinese manufacturer is dipping its toe into an increasingly crowded pool. Both tablets occupy the budget end of the spectrum, with the higher-end of the two, the Sero 7 Pro, going for a reasonable $150. For the price, the specs are decent: the Sero comes with a 1,280 x 800 display, a quad-core Tegra 3 processor and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. We dove headfirst into this bargain buy to see how it fares against similarly priced 7-inch tablets. Want to find out if Hisense has the chops to compete? Read on, friends.

Filed under: Tablets

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Amazon won't be winning any awards for its clumsily-named Cloud Drive Photos app, but with this latest update, it could win over the affection of its user base. Whereas last time we left Cloud Drive Photos, Amazon's focus was, well, all about photos, this time the app spotlight falls on video for the first time. Now, users will be able to auto-save, secure, manually upload or download and stream any video from Amazon's cloud that falls within the service's 2GB or 20 minute-clip limit. Photos aren't entirely left out of this version 1.7 bump, though, as images viewed while in landscape will now scroll by as larger previews. Thrilling stuff, non? Here's to hoping the next inevitable update obliterates the company's silly naming scheme for something more succinct -- perhaps, just Cloud Drive? Nah, that'd make too much sense.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile, Google, Amazon

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Via: TechCrunch

Source: Google Play

As if the Google TV and Chromecast platforms (which are coexisting, if you hadn't heard) weren't enough, the Wall Street Journal reports there may be more living room focused projects brewing in Mountain View. According to sources, former Android head Andy Rubin demonstrated a Roku-style set-top box for partners at CES that had Hangouts as its main feature, with a video camera and motion sensor built-in for videoconferencing -- something Logitech tried once with its ill-fated Revue TV Cam, shown above. The report claims the box, capable of running Android apps, games and services like Netflix or Pandora, was scheduled to launch at I/O, but it's unknown whether or not it's still in development. Recent WSJ rumors have suggested Google is looking into IPTV and its own Android game system, so even as one mystery is revealed others pop up to take its place.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Google

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Source: Wall Street Journal

It's no secret that Samsung's working on a next-gen Galaxy Note, but little did we know that it might come in three screen sizes. We've previously seen the model number SM-N900 pop up in a number of places, and this time, our friend @techkiddy spotted the screen sizes alongside some new names on Zauba, a database that somehow tracks India's import and export shipments.

Unlike the rumors out there that only mention a single screen size, Zauba lists all 5.5-, 5.7- and 6-inch versions of this supposed Note III, and that these are all shipped to India "for R&D purpose." If true, this would match the multi-size strategy of the Galaxy Mega. Additionally, there are a handful of variant names here: SM-N900A, SM-N900AI, SM-N900P, SM-N900R4, SM-N900S, SM-N900T and SM-N900V. We're not quite sure what the differences are, but some of these are tagged with multiple screen sizes, so they're probably just packaged with different radios. Regardless, we have a feeling that JK Shin will tell us everything at IFA in September.

Update: Adam from Samsung Updates has explained what these model numbers mean. Go take a look.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung

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Via: Technology Blogs Simplified

Source: Zauba

Zero dollars down, Simple Choice and Jump? T-Mobile must be downright crazy! Either that, or it's a carrier struggling to make a serious impact on a market dominated by two juggernauts -- juggernauts who also came out with early upgrade plans of their own within a week of Jump's debut. T-Mobile's "back at it," according to its press material, dropping the entry price on a slew of devices down to zero, effectively spreading out the payments over 24 months. All told, the promotion includes smartphones, tablets and hotspots, and is open to folks who are "well-qualified" (check your credit statements if you have any questions on that front). The deal starts tomorrow and runs for a "limited time." Unsurprisingly, there's also some fine print attached (e.g., the 32GB and 64GB iPhone 5 isn't covered). The carrier's site can break down all of that for you, and there's also more info to be had in a press release after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, T-Mobile

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