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Portable SNES is one shade of yellow, 16 bits of cool
We've seen a handful of portable Super Nintendo mods, but few of them look as tough as this one. Submitted to Reddit by one robotairz, this puppy looks like it could withstand the rages of a gorilla jonesing for some Donkey Kong Country. The unit runs on internal, rechargeable batteries, and can also be powered directly by a wall outlet. You can check out some more images (and fuel your ever-growing jealousy) right here.
Use Siri and a Raspberry Pi to open your garage door with your voice
Siri can already be used to complete some pretty nifty tasks, including fetching sports scores or directions across town, but having the virtual assistant manipulate things in your physical space is something entirely different. As Hack A Day reports, by combining some special Siri software with an ultra-cheap Raspberry Pi computer, forum goer DarkTherapy has come up with something truly brilliant. Using a program called SiriProxy to allow the iPhone to speak directly to the Raspberry Pi, the tiny computer remotely controls a relay that is then hooked up to an automatic garage door system. Once all the legwork is completed, simply asking Siri to open the garage door is all it takes to set the process in motion. You can check out all of DarkTherapy's code and detailed instructions on the Raspberry Pi forums.
Wii Homebrew Channel now functions on Wii U
The Wii Homebrew Channel, which allows users to run unlicensed software on the Wii, is now available for the Wii U with some caveats. The news comes via Hackmii, which notes that the latest release of the Homebrew Channel will work within the original Wii menu that the Wii U uses for backwards compatibility. The release does not, however, work within the Wii U menu itself, something the hacking community hopes to change in the future, no doubt.Naturally, tampering with consoles is something you do at your own risk (even if you're downloading official firmware updates, apparently). That said, if anyone manages to get the Fatal Frame 4 translation up and running, let us know.
Samsung printer hack could let the wrong ones in (updated)
Typically, when we think of hacks, our minds conjure images of compromised security systems, personal computers or server farms, but printers? According to Neil Smith, a researcher from the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team, unauthorized access to those devices could be a very real threat -- if you happen to own a Samsung model. Discovered and submitted to the agency this past Monday, the exploit unearthed by Smith takes advantage of an "SNMP backdoor" : an internet protocol that allows for remote network administrative control without authentication. The vulnerability -- which would give hackers access to data sent to the printer, as well as control over it (think: ceaseless printing!) -- affects most units released before November of this year. For its part, Samsung's promised a patch will be forthcoming. But, in the meantime, if you want to avoid exposing any personal data or the possibility of a seemingly possessed printer, it's best you steer clear of rogue WiFi connections. Update: CNET has published a statement from Samsung outlining the update schedule for affected printers. Firmware that fixes the issue will be available for all "current" models by November 30th, and for "all other models" by the end of the year. The company also recommends disabling SNMPv1.2 or switching to SNMPv3 mode until the updates are released.
Barnes & Noble Nook HD+ tentatively rooted for the paper UI-phobic (video)
There's no doubt that Barnes & Noble in love with the paper-like interface of the Nook HD+. Not all of its new owners are quite so taken with the retro chic, with the proof being XDA-Developers member verygreen's early root for the Android tablet (and possibly its HD cousin). The preliminary code is enough to offer a glimpse of a more digital interface as well as teasers of a CyanogenMod port and booting from SD cards. Before racing to use the instructions at the source, be aware that the root's usefulness may vary wildly in the near future -- as of this writing, a familiar defense mechanism dating back to the Nook Color has kicked in that rejects the root and restores itself to factory stock after eight failed boot attempts. That there's a root at all will nonetheless be a comfort in the long run to those who like the idea of a budget tablet without the enforced nostalgia for dead trees.
Hammerpoint delaying The War Z clan features, focusing on hackers
The War Z is a hot topic in gaming circles these days, and Hammerpoint's zombie-centric sandbox is starting to see an increase in shady player activity as its user base grows. The dev team has acknowledged the need to devote time and resources to dealing with hackers, and as a result some of the title's feature development is temporarily going on the back burner. "As I'm sure all of you are aware, there [have] been a lot of discussion lately surrounding the hackers," Hammerpoint wrote on its forums. "Over here we've been working round the clock on a solution -- however, that's meant we've had to push back clans a bit, so it's looking more like next week. We're also investigating a number of bugs, such as the ability to glitch onto roofs, and item duplication."
Hexxeh ports Chromium OS to the Nexus 7 simply because he can (video)
Coder extraordinaire Hexxeh earned much of his reputation from porting Chromium OS to just about everything, some of his targets more audacious than others. It's about time he come full circle and port a Google platform to another Google platform, and he just recently did that with a very early Chromium OS conversion for the normally Android-based Nexus 7. Details are scarce other than that WiFi and touch input are working, although that's really all that's needed for something so web-centric, isn't it? We'll cut Hexxeh some slack when he says he's in no rush to produce a more easily installed build for Jane and Joe Modder -- when he mentions spending hours hacking the OS into the tablet just for fun, he probably deserves some leeway. [Thanks, yo2boy]
Holy Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! Tetris ported to a jack-o'-lantern (video)
What happens when you gut a pumpkin and replace its insides with heat-shrink tubing, solder, 128 LEDs, eight AA batteries, an Arduino board and clever programming? You get what self-proclaimed tinkerer Nathan Pryor calls "Pumpktris." Over the years we've seen the classic puzzle game Tetris ported to some amazing things, but a piece of fruit? Just in time for Halloween, this high-tech spin on the jack-o'-lantern features a fully playable Tetris game controlled from the pumpkin's joystick stem. Whether you're a hardcore do-it-yourselfer, or a diehard Tetris fan hoping to top the system's high score (9,800 points), you can build your very own Pumpktris. Of course, its creator estimates it'll take around 12 hours or longer to build the custom LED matrix and joystem and carve up the gourd of your choice. If you're up to the challenge, you can find a complete walkthrough of the project at the source link below. However, if you'd just like to see this quasi-organic gaming rig in action, check out the groovy video after the break.
Invisible's 'The New Obsolete' showcases self-constructed instruments, touts a typewriter-driven piano (video)
If you're hip to repurposing old tech for new inventions, Invisible is right up your alley. The Greensboro-based unit calls themselves a "mechanical music museum" and "a reverse engineered folk science daydream" when describing their elaborate set of sound-making contraptions and recycled video equipment. The outfit's effort The New Obsolete was part of the Moogfest happenings this weekend, and our curiosity was immediately piqued. This particular performance is labeled as "an exploded view of the strange romance between humans and technology." Among all of the self-constructed instruments is the Selectric Piano: a typewriter that uses both computer and piano parts to control a keyboard. Each keystroke by the typist corresponds to a note added to collective soundscape and a mounted video camera allows the audience to keep tabs on the textual component. The project also showcases an object known as Elsewhere's Roof. The device controls a set of drum and percussion tools with water dropping into a few rather hi-tech Mason jars. In addition to arsenal of noise makers, multi-channel video and library of collected audio (via tape decks and turntables, of course) rounds out the lot. We were able to catch one of the stellar showings, so hit the gallery below for a look at the wares while a snippet of the action awaits beyond the break.
Rumor: PS3 hacked yet again, this time it might be for keeps
Yesterday a new, PSN-enabled custom firmware for hacked PlayStation 3 consoles launched, compatible with the official firmware 4.25 release. This type of hack isn't new, and previously Sony has been able to update its firmware to sufficiently quell the hackers' reach. Following the custom firmware launch yesterday, however, was the release of the PlayStation 3's LV0 keys.In theory, the LV0 decryption keys make is easy to decode any system update to the PlayStation 3, Eurogamer writes. The LV0 keys allow PS3 firmware to be decrypted on PC, and then re-encrypted with firmware 3.55 keys to run on hacked consoles.A group called "The Three Muskateers" takes responsibility for the LV0 keys, but not the leak itself. That's all thanks to a new Chinese hacking group, "BlueDiskCFW," who planned to release and charge for custom firmware updates using The Three Muskateers' LV0 keys. To stop BlueDiskCFW from profiting off the keys, the Muskateers released them."You can be sure that if it wouldn't have been for this leak, this key would never have seen the light of day," The Three Muskateers write in a statement. "Only the fear of our work being used by others to make money out of it has forced us to release this now."Read the complete statement from The Three Muskateers, with the keys edited out, below.
Googler loads Ubuntu on an ARM-based Samsung Chromebook, gives solace to the offline among us
Samsung's ARM-running Chromebook is barely out of the starting gate, and it's already being tweaked to run without as much of an online dependency. By a Google employee, no less. Not content to rely solely on Chrome OS, Olof Johansson has loaded Ubuntu on the Chromebook by partitioning an SD card, mixing OS components and booting from USB. The technique unsurprisingly requires being more than a little comfortable with a Linux command line as well as playing fast and loose with the warranty. It also won't be cheap or quick -- commenters note that you'll ideally have a partitioning-friendly SD card, and running a desktop OS from a slower kind of flash storage creates an inherent bottleneck. Anyone who likes the Chromebook's $249 price, but isn't as enraptured with the cloud as most of the team in Mountain View, might still want to try Johansson's step-by-step process for themselves.
Google patches SVG and IPC exploits in Chrome, discoverer banks $60,000 in the process
Google revels in hacking contests as ways of testing Chrome's worth. Even if the browser is compromised, the failure provides a shot at fixing an exploit under much safer circumstances than an in-the-wild attack. No better example exists than the results of Google's Pwnium 2 challenge in Malaysia: the company has already patched vulnerabilities found in the contest that surround SVG images and IPC (inter-process communication) before they become real problems. Staying one step ahead of truly malicious hackers carries a price, however. Pwnium 2 winner Pinkie Pie -- yes, Pinkie Pie -- is being paid $60,000 in prize money for catching the exploits. That may be a small price to pay if it reassures a few more Internet Explorer users looking to hop the fence.
Adafruit releases WebIDE alpha for Raspberry Pi, eases beginners into coding
If you've been intrigued by the Raspberry Pi but were hesitant to get one because you're new to Linux, Adafruit has a solution for you. The team that brought us the Raspberry Pi Education Linux Distro has come up with a special WebIDE (Web Integrated Development Environment) designed to run on the affordable barebones computer. It's entirely web-based so there's no need to install any software -- just launch a browser, hook up your Pi, and you're ready to go. To make life easier for coders, the platform has a terminal built in, plus there's an automatic updater included to keep folks running only the freshest version of WebIDE. It's currently at the alpha stage, so only experienced users should install it for now, but Adafruit's hoping to roll out a stable release suitable for programmers of all levels sometime soon.
Kindle Paperwhite gets its own jailbreak, E Ink spews everywhere
If you're an avid tinkerer who managed to secure a Kindle Paperwhite before they sold out, then we have some news that may well brighten up your day. A jailbreak based off of the hack for the Kindle Touch has been developed for Amazon's new e-reader and is now available for fearless Paperwhite owners. If you're up to the task, your bravery will award you some elite features which include: using your device as a weather station display and serial terminal access with Raspberry Pi systems. If all of this sounds like a fun weekend project waiting to happen, head on over to source link for step by step instructions.
My cheap, simple livestreaming rig: iPhone, Ustream, Zagg and Clingo
The challenge: On short notice, I was asked to stream holiday services from my wife's synagogue so that homebound congregants and college students could attend at a distance. "Sure," I said, before I really thought it through. My preferred setup for a reliable video stream would include a MacBook Pro running Adobe's free Flash Media Encoder or Livestream's Procaster, quality FireWire-compatible DV/HDV camera and an Ethernet connection for predictable connectivity -- although I wouldn't dismiss Livestream's adorable and compact $495 Broadcaster hardware streaming kit (to say nothing of the company's $8,500 Studio all-in-one switcher). All of this gear would need room and power to operate, which is rarely a problem at concerts or other events I've streamed from the temple. In this case, however, the pews would be full and there'd be no room to run power cables and networking across the floor. Instead, I threw together the above configuration, which is admittedly low-fi and low-rent but worked surprisingly well. It starts with a Zagg Sparq 2.0 portable battery pack (model discontinued, but there are subsequent units). The Sparq's onboard battery will easily charge an iPhone 4S several times over; plenty of juice for hours of streaming without having to string an extension cord. Next up, a Clingo universal car mount. This articulated arm has a suction cup mount on one end and a sticky, figure-eight pad on the other end. The adhesion pad is strong and reusable but easy to detach from the phone without leaving marks or residue. The advantage over a full-back or bracket mount is easy to deduce: the smaller contact area meant that I could securely mount the phone without covering the back camera. The smooth plastic shell of the Sparq, in turn, made an ideal suction cup mounting surface. Finally, the iPhone 4S, plugged into the Sparq and running Ustream's free broadcasting app. I started with the older broadcast-only app; I could (and should) have been using the new version that supports viewing as well. Some users have reported instability in the combo app, and I wanted to be able to leave this running unattended in a corner, but the difference in quality between the year-old Broadcaster app and the new app is pretty substantial. At that point, all that's left to do is plug it in, check for WiFi coverage, aim it to the front and hit the button. As you can see, there's some modeling clay weighting the Zagg in the picture; although it's pretty substantial, depending on the arm angle the iPhone had a tendency to tip. I used a beanbag on site to keep it stable. Later on, I dug out my Glif and a standard tripod to give me some flexibility with the camera placement, but if I faced a situation that called for this combo I'd definitely use it again. Yes, the sound quality's not great, you've got no zoom, and there are plenty of other issues. But in a pinch, this is the sort of setup that lets you stream an event with only wireless bandwidth and your iPhone -- and if that's not living in the future, I don't know what is.
iPhone 5 jailbroken, but not yet ready for public consumption
You knew that the hackers of the world would be anxious to jailbreak their fresh new iPhone 5's, and the feat's been accomplished just a day after older hardware running iOS 6 was similarly set free. Grant Paul posted the picture you see above on Twitter, confirming his new, elongated iPhone is, indeed, running Cydia. Unfortunately, the jailbreak isn't available to the rest of us just yet, but it shouldn't be long before the masses gain access, too. Viva la liberté!
Kindle Fire HD 7-inch rooted in spite of Amazon, unstoppable force meets the unhackable object (video)
We were worried there, for a minute. After code explorers found that Amazon's Kindle Fire HD 7-inch had both a locked bootloader and extra security measures, there was a brief concern that the pseudo-Android tablet might be very tough to hack. As it turns out, there was no reason to lose faith. Hashcode, Justin Case, Reverend Kyle and Sparklym3 from the XDA and RootzWiki forums have successfully rooted the smaller Kindle Fire HD in a repeatable form, giving anyone courageous enough to load ADB the control they want over the tablet they bought. Just remember the usual caveats if you choose to dive in: while the root isn't a lengthy process, as you'll see in the video after the break, there's still the ever-present risk of bricking the device should something go wrong. Having seen what can be done with the original Kindle Fire after a little tinkering, we're intrigued as to what happens with its more capable sequel.
Apple denies giving FBI any iOS device UDIDs, raises questions over AntiSec claims
Hacking group AntiSec (connected to Anonymous and LulzSec) made some bold claims Tuesday that it had obtained the unique device identifiers (UDIDs) of 12 million iOS devices from an FBI laptop, setting more than a few people on edge. The FBI has already denied that anything was stolen, but Apple has gone one step further to argue that it had no involvement. Spokeswoman Natalie Kerris tells AllThingsD that Apple hasn't given UDIDs to the FBI "or any organization" -- suggesting that either AntiSec or the FBI isn't telling the whole story of what data emerged and where. Even if there are real UDIDs floating around, Kerris adds that they don't necessarily pose much danger. She notes that programming hooks in iOS 6 will provide an alternative to UDID for device-specific data, and that apps will eventually be forbidden from using the older identifiers altogether. While the truth in the situation is hard to pin down, the technical reality doesn't leave much risk that our iPads and iPhones will be compromised. At least, not after this month.
Modder builds $150 open-source thermal imaging camera to help insulate his house (video)
Modder Andy Rawson thinks he's found the secret to turning smartphones into super-cheap thermal imaging hardware. Inspired by his quest to find leaks in his old home and the high cost of professional gear, he set about building his own. A 64-zone temperature sensor connects to his iPhone via the dock, overlaying the data onto his camera display. He's planning to open-source the $150 hardware, and an Android variant of the hardware is currently in the works -- although details for both are currently thin on the ground, you can see his announcement video after the break.
Video out enabled on Windows Phone 7, just not for you
The video out feature in Windows Phone 7 is reserved for select Microsoft employees, and now one enterprising member of the XDA Developers forum. With certain files ripped from an LG Panther 7003 ROM, the help of someone on the inside and many months of work, forum member marsrogers succeeded in pushing video from his Samsung Focus to a companion PC app. Don't get too excited though -- this particular trick will not be released to the masses so the MS confidant involved is not exposed. However, it's not all bad news, as marsrogers' source reports that Windows Phone 8 will have remote desktop capability straight out of the box. Sadly, for those of you carrying around current-gen WP devices, there's still no hope.
