Hasta La Gadget!

Facebook and Carnegie Mellon University have built another artificial intelligence bot that beat some top poker pros. While AI bots have been to best professional players in one-on-one competition, Facebook claims it’s the first time a bot has been a…

Here’s a thing that should have never been a thing: Bluetooth-connected hair straighteners.

Glamoriser, a U.K. firm that bills itself as the maker of the “world’s first Bluetooth hair straighteners,” allows users to link the device to an app, which lets the owner set certain heat and style settings. The app can also be used to remotely switch off the straighteners within Bluetooth range.

Big problem, though. These straighteners can be hacked.

Security researchers at Pen Test Partners bought a pair and tested them out. They found that it was easy to send malicious Bluetooth commands within range to remotely control an owner’s straighteners.

The researchers demonstrated that they could send one of several commands over Bluetooth, such as the upper and lower temperature limit of the device — 122°F and 455°F respectively — as well as the shut-down time. Because the straighteners have no authentication, an attacker can remotely alter and override the temperature of the straighteners and how long they stay on — up to a limit of 20 minutes.

“As there is no pairing or bonding established over [Bluetooth] when connecting a phone, anyone in range with the app can take control of the straighteners,” said Stuart Kennedy in his blog post, shared first with TechCrunch.

There is a caveat, said Kennedy. The straighteners only allow one concurrent connection. If the owner hasn’t connected their phone or they go out of range, only then can an attacker target the device.

Here at TechCrunch we’re all for setting things on fire “for journalism,” but in this case the numbers speak for themselves. If, per the researchers’ findings, the straighteners could be overridden to the maximum temperature of 455°F at the timeout of 20 minutes, that’s setting up a prime condition for a fire — or at very least burn damage.

It’s estimated that as many as 650,000 house fires in the U.K. are caused by hair straighteners and curling irons left on. In some cases it can take more than a half-hour for these heated devices to cool down to safe levels. U.K. fire and rescue services have called on owners to physically pull the plug on their devices to prevent fires and damage.

Glamoriser did not respond to a request for comment prior to publication. The app hasn’t been updated since June 2018, suggesting a fix has yet to be put in place.

Japan has claimed a world first with its Hayabusa 2 probe which made a “perfect” touchdown today on a distant asteroid. Not only that, but the Hayabusa2 probe also collected samples from beneath the surface of the asteroid. This unprecedented mission may help provide more insight about the origins of the solar system.

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency project manager Yuichi Tsuda said at a news conference that “We’ve collected a part of the solar system’s history,” as subsurface material has never been gathered before from a celestial body that was further away from the moon. Japan has been able to do it successfully in a world first.

The Hayabusa2 probe is the size of a fridge and it made its second landing on the asteroid earlier today. The confirmation that it had landed actually came when the probe lifted back up from the asteroid and was able to resume communications with the control room in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture.

The probe’s mission is now complete as it has collected the samples. Hayabusa2 did that by extending a tube to the surface and then firing a small metallic projectile to capture the subsurface debris as it floated up. This was the second time that the Hayabusa2 touched down on the asteroid which is some 300 million kilometers from Earth. It will begin its journey back to Earth by the end of this year.

Japan’s Hayabusa2 Successful In Collecting Samples From Asteroid , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

Both Strava and Relive have made statements on their recent breakup, suggesting that the other was the one that was at fault. According to Relive, they worked with Strava and followed Strava’s recent takedown request – but were blocked from the API nonetheless. Strava said Relive was simply abusing its API. Bicycle rides recorded in Strava will not, from this … Continue reading

It’s been said before, but it bears repeating: The first round of Democratic presidential debates failed the planet. In a combined 240 minutes of discussion—at an event held in city poised to sink into the ocean—the moderators devoted a combined 15 minutes of airtime to the biggest existential threat humanity faces.

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