Traveling isn’t only for the rich these days, you know, what with more and more budget airlines and services like Airbnb and Couchsurfing popping up. But if you’d rather do some armchair exploration at this point in time, and you’ve already seen most…
If you’re the sort that likes to type in the dark, then having a keyboard with backlit keys is a great way to help you find your way around it. However what if you paired an ARM Cortex CPU with a mechanical keyboard with backlights? What kind of crazy shenanigans could one get up to? Well one user found out when he hacked his Coolermaster QuickFire Rapid-I mechanical keyboard.
In the video above, it shows how the keyboard has been hacked so that whenever you type on a key, the backlight behind it lights up. So if you were to typing out a long document then your whole keyboard would be dancing with lights, versus regular backlights which tend to stay put, or at most allows you to customize which areas you want turned on or off.
In fact the hack goes to show how one could even play a pseudo game of Snake on the keyboard itself, with the lights acting as the moving snack and how individuals keys act as the item that the snake eats to grow longer. It’s a bit messy and hard to tell that it is a game of snake, but it’s definitely there and we guess the point is to show off what one can do with such a keyboard.
That being said the instructions that you would need to customize such a keyboard can be found on the SpriteMods’ website, so if you wouldn’t mind checking it out, head on over for the details. In the meantime you can check out the demonstration in the video above.
Mechanical Keyboard With Backlighting Hacked To Play Snake , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
There is a lot of debate regarding e-cigarettes and whether or not it is actually good for your health. Naturally advocates of the e-cigarette claim that it isn’t harmful and helps people quit smoking, while some health experts beg to differ, but that is just a debate for another time. Today we are talking about the dangers of e-cigarettes…and how malware can actually get inside of them.
Now for the most part, e-cigarettes can be charged via USB (some use rechargeable AA batteries) either plugged into a wall socket or to a computer, like you would a phone or tablet. However it is precisely because of this USB connectivity which has allowed some very creative hackers to embed malware inside of them.
According to a recent post on Reddit, one user claims that there was a security breach at the company they are working at. The executive was found to have malware installed on his PC and while they could not initially determine where the malware had come from, it was later revealed that his recent switch to e-cigarettes was where the malware had originated from.
It seems that the malware had been hard coded into the charger and when plugged into a computer’s USB, that’s when it installed itself and infected the system. Of course we can’t be 100% sure that this is a true event, but given that there are malware out there like BadUSB that can do something similar, it doesn’t seem so far-fetched.
E-Cigarette Found To Have Malware Hard Coded Into Its USB Charger , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
There’s a joke about how when someone dies, the first thing that they want done after their death is to have their browser history cleared. After all sometimes we do perform searches and visit websites that could be potentially embarrassing, like trying to Google up an infection you have, or a weird question, and so on.
However browser history is also useful as it lets you keep track of the websites you’ve visited in the event you want to revisit them again, but most browsers don’t let you keep browser histories for too long, and even if they do, it tends to be very messy as it’s basically the websites you’ve visited in chronological order. Well if you would love to organize your browser history and turn it into a treasure trove of past information, Fetching could be a service worth checking out.
Developed by Peter Brown, Fetching is a plug-in for your browser. It basically saves your browsing history onto your hard drive if you’re a Mac user, and for Windows users it will store the data in the cloud. As you can see in the screenshot above, Fetching lets you organize your browsing history by adding notes to them and by adding tags, which in turn lets you search your history faster.
It’s an interesting concept and if you’re the sort that loves to keep things organized, perhaps this is a plug-in that you will want to download for yourself. It should be noted that Fetching does not store anything opened in incognito or private mode, so if you absolutely don’t want a particular browsing session to be saved, then you should switch modes for that.
Browser Plug-In Lets You Organize Your History Into A Searchable Database , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
While there are some smartwatches that look a bit too tech-y, there are some like the Moto 360 and the Kairos smartwatch that have tried to make it look a bit more classic as opposed to a futuristic looking device. This is great, but what if you already have a perfectly fine and expensive watch that you love?
Would it make sense for you to abandon it just so you can wear a watch that displays notifications from your phone? Well Kairos doesn’t seem to think so which is why they have come up with an alternative solution – the Kairos Tband. This is basically a smartwatch, except that the smart part of the watch has been shifted to the band of the watch.
What this means is that not only will you get to keep your current watch, you will get a smartwatch as well and all you’d have to do is swap out your current band for the Kairos Tband. As it stands, Kairos is currently seeking funding via Indiegogo for the Tband which comes in three different models.
The first is the Tband ND which is a sleek and nondescript offering and offers basic features and a small multi-color LED indicator that informs of you notifications. Next is the Tband HD which offers up slightly more information with a LED panel that is hidden when not in use. The third is the Tband OD which features a full-color curved OLED display and will come with an ARM Cortex-M4 processor and an onboard microphone.
Now this might not be as classy or as suited for formal events where a simple black/brown leather strap would be more appropriate, but for other occasions, the Kairos Tband seems like a great middle ground between owning a classic watch and keeping it high-tech at the same time. So, any takers?
Kairos Tband Turns Your Existing Watch Into A Smart One , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Amazon sells a ton of products ranging from books, clothing, home electronics, and even groceries. Now say you were to buy a TV from Amazon but you don’t know how to go about getting it wall mounted. This means you’ll need to wait for the TV to arrive and then call your local handyman to get it mounted for you.
Well Amazon is hoping to make the experience seamless as the company has recently started to promote service provider listings. Basically these service providers are names of companies in your area that are recommended by Amazon to help you with your installations. Amazon will be conducting background checks on these businesses as well as personal background checks.
The businesses are also expected to hold licenses and insurance as well, so you can rest assured that they have been thoroughly vetted by Amazon. Of course it’s not exactly a 100% guarantee that you’ll get great customer service, but at least you know Amazon does not simply allow anyone to be listed.
Amazon will also be taking a 20% cut from services that cost $1,000 or less, and 15% from jobs that cost $1,000 or more. As it stands these services are currently supported by Amazon in nine states and we expect that eventually the program will roll out to the rest of the US. In the meantime what do you guys make of this? Good idea?
Amazon Starts Promoting Installation Services Alongside Its Products , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Installing a security camera in your home is a great idea if you want to ensure that you know what exactly goes on in your house at all times. However we can understand that while sometimes the added security is welcome, the idea of being watched in your own home can be a little disconcerting.
Well that’s where Point comes in. Point is an alarm system that works not by watching, but by listening and sensing the air. For example if a window was broken in your home, a security camera would probably just catch the video and not the audio, and unless you are watching the feed all the time, you probably wouldn’t know until it’s too late.
Point on the other hand will be able to tell when a window is broken and alert you to it. It will also be able sense the air and temperature, so if the temperature in your home suddenly drops, it will alert you to it. One example is how Point can be installed in the homes of Airbnb hosts where it will feel less intrusive for guests, but yet keeping the hosts up to date.
If guests get too loud, Point can inform the host who can then send a friendly reminder to their guests to keep it down. It’s a nifty idea and right now Point has managed to surpass its Kickstarter goal of $50,000 more than 3 times over. If you’d like to pledge your support, head on over to its Kickstarter page to do so, or check out the video above to learn more about it.
Point Is An Alarm System That Doesn’t Feel As Invasive , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Used to be identity theft only revolved around cards and social security numbers, but these days our virtual identities are just as important and even more vulnerable. With the enermous power that it wields over our Internet lives, Google is in the prime position to help mitigate the effects or sometimes even prevent incidents from happening in the first place. … Continue reading
Over the weekend, Syamantec published a report which described a sophisticated piece of spyware called Regin that had been snooping on servers for years. Now, new reports suggest that it’s linked to U.S. and U.K intelligence services.
Samsung has just unveiled the EyeCan+, a next-gen version of its eye-tracking mouse. Positioned below a monitor, it helps people with disabilities write and edit documents or surf the web using eye movement and blinking. Created as a a labor of love…
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