Remember when we first saw images of the Millennium Falcon in Solo: A Star Wars Story? Everyone freaked out because it looked so different from the Falcon of the past. But, of course, there was a plan in place for how that Falcon, owned by Lando Calrissian, would turn into the one we knew from when it was owned by Han…
3D printing has been used in the medical industry before, where we have seen the tech used to 3D print cartilage and skull implants. Now it seems that Russian researcher Oleg Kononenko has successfully managed to 3D print living tissue, but here’s the kicker: not only is Kononenko a researcher, but he is a cosmonaut as well, and this 3D printing was actually done in space.
Using a 3D printer created by medical company Invitro, Kononenko was successful in 3D printing human cartilage tissue and a roden thyroid gland. Like we said, 3D printing of human cartilage has been done before, but the goal of this experiment was to see how microgravity in space can affect the development of living tissues and organs, especially if there are plans for more human space travel in the future, and if we are planning to eventually one day move to Mars.
This experiment was supposed to have been started back in October, but unfortunately the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft that carried the bioprinter suffered from a booster failure, forcing the crew to abort the mission. The cosmonauts on board managed to escape without incident, but unfortunately the bioprinter was damaged.
NASA is expected to begin conducting their own bioprinting efforts in space starting in 2019, but for now it seems that Russia has managed to claim the title of “first”.
Russian Researcher Successfully Prints Living Tissue While In Space , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Trump holds a White House “briefing” but fails to persuade Democrats to spend taxpayer money on a border wall.
These days, we play a lot of retro games on modern consoles, so naturally classic controllers have become popular. You can buy these remade controllers from several third-party manufacturers to provide a more authentic retro gaming experience. But how about playing those old games by using a Game Boy as a controller? It doesn’t get more retro than that.
This homebrew cartridge turns the original Game Boy into a wireless gamepad so that you can do just that. Playing Tetris with this controller is a must. This hack from Alex Iannuzzi of insideGadgets makes it possible. You don’t even have to modify or upgrade the original Game Boy or GBA hardware at all. That’s because Alex has designed and built a game cartridge that turns these handhelds into wireless controllers that you can use with other consoles and computers.
The cartridge works with Game Boy, GBP, GBC, GBA, and GBA SP handhelds, and can work with any device that accepts a USB HID input (i.e. a PC or Raspberry Pi), using a USB receiver module. There are also modules available for the Gamecube or Super Nintendo.
Want to make one yourself? You can check out the design and engineering of this custom cartridge on his website, where you can find links to the code he developed, and the schematics of the hardware. But if you don’t have all of Alex’s skills, he also sells pre-assembled versions. Just plug the cartridge in and get playing.
Google was warned of a bug in its Chromecast media streaming stick years ago, but did not fix it. Now, hackers are exploiting the bug — and security researchers say things could get even worse.
A hacker, known as Hacker Giraffe, has become the latest person to figure out how to trick Google’s media streamer into playing any YouTube video they want — including videos that are custom-made. This time around, the hacker hijacked thousands of Chromecasts, forcing them to display a pop-up notice that’s viewable on the connected TV, warning the user that their misconfigured router is exposing their Chromecast and smart TV to hackers like himself.
Not one to waste an opportunity, the hacker also asks that you subscribe to PewDiePie, an awful internet person with a popular YouTube following. (He’s the same hacker who tricked thousands of exposed printers into printing support for PewDiePie.)
The bug, dubbed CastHack, exploits a weakness in both Chromecast and the router it connects to. Some home routers have enabled Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), a networking standard that can be exploited in many ways. UPnP forwards ports from the internal network to the internet, making Chromecasts and other devices viewable and accessible from anywhere on the internet.
As Hacker Giraffe says, disabling UPnP should fix the problem.
“We have received reports from users who have had an unauthorized video played on their TVs via a Chromecast device,” a Google spokesperson told TechCrunch. “This is not an issue with Chromecast specifically, but is rather the result of router settings that make smart devices, including Chromecast, publicly reachable,” the spokesperson said.
That’s true on one hand, but it doesn’t address the years-old bug that gives anyone with access to a Chromecast the ability to hijack the media stream and display whatever they want, because Chromecast doesn’t check to see if someone is authorized to change the video stream.
Hacker Giraffe sent this YouTube video to thousands of exposed Chromecast devices, warning that their streams could be easily hijacked. (Screenshot: TechCrunch)
Bishop Fox, a security consultancy firm, first found the bug in 2014, not long after the Chromecast debuted. The researchers found that they could conduct a “deauth” attack that disconnects the Chromecast from the Wi-Fi network it was connected to, causing it to revert back to its out-of-the-box state, waiting for a device to tell it where to connect and what to stream. That’s when it can be hijacked and forced to stream whatever the hijacker wants. All of this can be done in an instant — as they did — with a touch of a button on a custom-built handheld remote.
Two years later, U.K. cybersecurity firm Pen Test Partners discovered that the Chromecast was still vulnerable to “deauth” attacks, making it easy to play content on a neighbor’s Chromecasts in just a few minutes.
Ken Munro, who founded Pen Test Partners, says there’s “no surprise that somebody else stumbled on to it,” given both Bishop Fix found it in 2014 and his company tested it in 2016.
“In fairness, we never thought that the service would be exposed on the public internet, so that is a very valid finding of his, full credit to him for that,” Munro told TechCrunch. (Google said in a follow-up email that it’s working to fix the deauth bug.)
He said the way the attack is conducted is different, but the method of exploitation is the same. CastHack can be exploited over the internet, while Bishop Fox and his “deauth” attacks can be carried out within range of the Wi-Fi network — yet, both attacks let the hacker control what’s displayed on the TV from the Chromecast, he said.
Munro said Google should have fixed its bug in 2014 when it first had the chance.
“Allowing control over a local network without authentication is a really silly idea on [Google’s] part,” he said. “Because users do silly things, like expose their TVs on the internet, and hackers find bugs in services that can be exploited.”
Hacker Giraffe is the latest to resort to “Good Samaritan security,” by warning users of the issues and providing advice on how to fix them before malicious hackers take over, where tech companies and device makers have largely failed.
But Munro said that these kinds of attacks — although obnoxious and intrusive on the face of it — could be exploited to have far more malicious consequences.
In a blog post Wednesday, Munro said it was easy to exploit other smart home devices — like an Amazon Echo — by hijacking a Chromecast and forcing it to play commands that are loud enough to be picked up by its microphone. That’s happened before, when smart assistants get confused when they overhear words on the television or radio, and suddenly and without warning purchase items from Amazon. (You can and should turn on a PIN for ordering through Amazon.)
To name a few, Munro said it’s possible to force a Chromecast into loading a YouTube video created by an attacker to trick an Echo to: “Alexa, order an iPad,” or, “Alexa, turn off the house alarm,” or, “Alexa, set an alarm every day at 3am.”
Amazon Echos and other smart devices are widely considered to be secure, even if they’re prone to overhearing things they shouldn’t. Often, the weakest link are humans. Second to that, it’s the other devices around smart home assistants that pose the biggest risk, said Munro in his blog post. That was demonstrated recently when Canadian security researcher Render Man showed how using a sound transducer against a window can trick a nearby Amazon Echo into unlocking a network-connected smart lock on the front door of a house.
“Google needs to properly fix the Chromecast deauth bug that allows casting of YouTube traffic,” said Munro.
Mozilla has a big update for Thunderbird, its email client, in the pipeline. The company hired more staff dedicated solely to full-time Thunderbird development last year, and the company plans to build upon what it got right with Thunderbird 60, adding better Gmail support and a prettier interface on top of it. The company reassures users that it has listened … Continue reading
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Getting around from point A to point B across short distances will normally require you to walk some bit. However, there has been developments in recent years that have allowed one to go down the road of a personal mobility device. Here is an idea from Walnut Technology: the e-skateboard that is all set to debut at CES 2019 later this month. A skateboard is an icon of America, having served young people for decades in moving about, so why not throw in an electric twist?
The Spectra X is touted to be a truly shareable electric skateboard, where it will provide users with the opportunity to experience new products before purchasing. This makes life far more easy and convenient than ever before, and the presence of a sharing feature through the eBoard Go app adds on a new dimension. Courtesy of P2P sharing, the Spectra X will connect people who share the same interests, which in turn allows more people to enjoy the fun of e-skateboarding as it builds up an e-skater ecosystem. There is just something about the Internet that helps build bridges and bring people together.
Apart from the sharing feature, the Spectra X also comes with a slew of upgraded functionality. We are looking at what could be the first 3D posture control in the world, where new sensors integrated in the Spectra X are lighter and more sensitive than before, with a trio of control modes to choose from: body posture, remote control, and the eBoard Go app.
To increase its durability, the Spectra X also boasts of an IP66 water-proofed body, in addition to replaceable rechargeable batteries, and replaceable wheels. The exterior has been designed after classic sports cars, where a combination of the maple board and FRP (fiber reinforced plastic) will further enhance the toughness and the intensity of the waterproof exterior body. Perhaps pricing details will be revealed at CES as it is unveiled then.
Press Release
[ Spectra X electric skateboard brings you places copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
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