This custom 7″ action figure of the Crimson Typhoon wasn’t made by triplets. It was modded by toymaker/jaeger meister/apocalypse canceller John Mallamas aka Jin Saotome.
Jin modified NECA’s official action figure of Pacific Rim‘s Chinese mecha to make it more poseable and attractive. He replaced its arm hinges and added ball joints on its ankles. He also replaced the hands using parts from Transformers action figures and made a plasma blast prop for its left hand. He also installed an LED on its eye and added a ton of sculpting detail. Finally, he repainted the entire toy, adding details like wear and tear.
Jin put the action figure up for auction on eBay, but it’ll most likely be gone by the time you read this. But he’s also going to sell custom action figures of Pacific Rim‘s main mech Gipsy Danger as well as of the Knifehead Kaiju, so watch out for those on his deviantART page. He should make his own take on a mecha-Kaiju.
There are a lot of reasons to be paranoid about our devices being perennially connected to the Internet. If you want to enhance your security with style, check out MAKE’s guide for creating an Internet kill switch for wired connections.
As we store and transport more and more information online, we’ve gradually come to realize how easy it is for others to access that information without our permission. From Facebook’s privacy policies to the ongoing NSA leaks, it seems like the ordinary online user has enough reason to log out. Well, I’ve got more bad news for you: anyone can build a powerful spying tool using off the shelf parts, and for under $60 (USD).
Brendan O’Connor is the founder of security and software consultancy company Malice Afterthought. Last week he made headlines when he shared how he built F-BOMB, a small device that runs a software that he calls CreepyDOL . The DOL stands for Distributed Object Locator and “Creepy” with a capital ‘C’ is the perfect word to describe it. O’Connor built the F-BOMB using the popular Raspberry Pi microcomputer and added a Wi-Fi sensor to the device. The cost? $57 (USD). He built 10 F-BOMBs and hooked them up to Reticle, a “command & control system” that he made. Finally he hooked it up to a “data visualization system,” which you can see in the image above and in O’Connor’s video below:
In case the video wasn’t clear enough, the F-BOMB can gather a disturbing amount of wireless data. As New York Times reported – and as the video above proves – with the F-BOMB you can find out not only information on a wireless device but what the user is currently using or accessing through the device: geolocation, websites, email addresses, programs and more.
In my brief chat with O’Connor, he revealed that the device can snoop on wireless devices within about 160ft. He can add other sensors to the F-BOMB as well as adapt it to snoop on wired connections. Further, O’Connor said the F-BOMB is a passive device, so you have no way of knowing if it’s snooping on you. Finally, I asked O’Connor if the situation really is as hopeless for consumers as the New York Times article seemed to indicate. Here’s what he said:
Yes, it really is that hopeless. There are vulnerabilities in all the relevant layers of the stack. The application developers need to stop leaking so much data outside encryption envelopes (e.g., why does iMessage send hardware make and model, and iOS version, unencrypted?). iOS (I’m picking on it here because I use it, but the same problem is larger) should have OS-level support for blocking all non-VPN traffic until a VPN connection is established (once it’s up, the connection is opaque, but while it’s going up, I’ve usually got all the data I need). And the low-level protocol needs to stop encouraging devices to *beacon out all their known networks constantly*. So since there needs to be culture-level shifts at all the layers of the stack, yes, for end-users, the situation is hopeless at the moment.”
In other words, not only is it possible to make a surveillance tool that is small and cheap, the devices that we use are practically inviting prying eyes to take a look at our data. It falls upon us as end users to nag Apple, Microsoft, Google and other companies who create the hardware and software that we use to step their security game up. It would be foolish to believe that they know nothing about the disaster that they’re courting (with our privacy and security at stake). But for some reason they’re not doing anything about it, nor are they telling us how much danger we’re in.
O’Connor intends to sell F-BOMBs soon. Fellow black hats and tinkerers can sign up at Malice Afterthought’s website to find out more about the F-BOMB and when it will go on sale. Ars Technica also has a thorough technical report on the F-BOMB. As for the rest of us? I guess we’d better start learning how to communicate telepathically.
This is a far cry from the original Cadillac version of the ECTO-1, but this modern reinterpretation of the famous Ghostbusters car is not half bad. Though I think you could do better in an actual new Ghostbusters movie. This modern version was built by the president of Colorado Movie Cars, Kevin Henry. It is a modern Dodge Magnum Wagon with all the rooftop gadgets that the original car had. Surprisingly, some of the parts are original since Henry was able to scavenge a few pieces from an original filmed version of the car.
As an added bonus, he even got Dan Aykroyd’s signature on the visor. This car ain’t ‘fraid of no ghosts!
Gamers and game developers alike are excited about the potential of the Oculus Rift headset and the Virtuix Omni walking surface. But these virtual reality devices have applications beyond gaming. The Human Interfaces Group of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory used both devices to make simulations of space environments.
In an interview with Engadget, Human Interfaces Engineer Victor Luo said that they used a stereoscopic 360º panorama of Mars taken by Curiosity, satellite imagery of the red planet and development kits of the Rift and Omni to create an immersive virtual tour of Mars (or at least part of it). They also made a similar experiment for the interior of the International Space Station, but they used the Rift by itself to emphasize the feeling of floating in zero gravity.
While the experiment showed the potential of VR, Luo also said that they needed devices that had more sensors built-in before they can consider actually using them as tools. At the very least, I think their experiments can inspire a couple of VR games. Watch out for Curiosity Simulator and Dead Space: ISS. Oh wait, we already have the first one.
The guys at Fast Furious and Funny have created something awesome. It’s a Nissan Micra that’s been converted into a Batmobile. Sure, we’ve seen other cars turned into Batman’s ride in the past, but normally you would want to use a more substantial vehicle as your base. As it turns out, this sub-compact was an amazing car to use – assuming Batman wants a slightly comical but still badass car.
Sure, it’s black and has tailfins, but it wouldn’t be a Batmobile without plenty of gadgets and weapons. An RPG comes out of the unfolding roof, machine guns that pop out in front to deal with bad guys ahead of you, and there’s a flamethrower in back.
Check out the complete build in the video below:
It is deadly, but cute. They even put a furry material over the extra bodywork, which is appropriate for a bat. Awesome. Great work guys. We can’t wait to see it in action.
Keep an eye out on FFF’s YouTube channel on August 7th to see the Micra Batmobile take to the roads.
Technabob contributing author Conner Flynn has a hidden talent – and I’m not talking about walking and chewing gum at the same time. The man knows his way around an Atari 2600 like it’s nobody’s business. Now it’s been a while since he built his epic Atari 2600 guitar, but his latest mod looks like it was worth the wait… I give you Atar-E…
Conner found this Wall-E Learning Laptop at a thrift shop, but he didn’t see a laptop at all (neither do I). Instead, he saw the home for his next portable Atari 2600 mod. Inspired by the modding prowess of Ben Heck and Bacteria, he tore apart the Wall-E toy and gutted it.
His design incorporates an actual Atari 2600 circuit board, along with authentic Atari woodgrain pieces. He went off the board with the controller and used an NES D-Pad instead of a traditional Atari joystick. Isn’t that sacrilege? Dogs and Cats sleeping together!
The controller replaced the original keyboard found on the toy, and he even rigged it so the controller section can still fold shut when there’s no cartridge in place. One thing Conner struggled with was where to put a battery pack for the system, so he gave Wall-E a little backpack. Isn’t that cute?
Games are displayed on a tiny color LCD screen, mounted where the monochrome display on the original toy was located. On the one hand, you’ll have to squint a bit to play on this thing, on the other hand, the pixelated 8-bit graphics look so much better when they’re shrunk down like this.
While it would probably take you a ton of work to try and build one of these for yourself, Conner says he may soon list it for sale over on his online toy store over at Botropolis, so keep your eyes peeled. On second thought, peeled eyes sound like a really bad idea.
Instructables member Patrick aka Mizchief100 made what he calls the Visual Impairment Aid or VIA, a wrist-mounted device that alerts the wearer of nearby objects by vibrating and emitting a beeping noise. It’s like the Spider Sense toy but in a more practical form, not to mention one that you can build yourself.
Like the Spider Sense toy, the VIA uses an ultrasonic distance sensor. Patrick added a buzzer and two vibrating motors to provide feedback. He also made a 3D-printed case for the device, adding Braille labels to its power switch and two buttons. One of the buttons lets the wearer select whether to use haptic, audio or both types of feedback. The other button switches between long and short distance modes: “…in short distance mode the beeping/vibrating is scaled so it’s easier to tell differences between things close up (<3 feet) and long distance mode makes it easier to tell things far away (~10 feet max).”
Head to Instructables to find out how you can make your own VIA. If you’re looking for a more practical version of Patrick’s device, check out the UltraCane.
Julian Oliver’s toy tank is a destructive weapon. You can’t even see its ammo, and it hits everything around it. That’s because it has a signal jammer that can block mobile phone signals within a 20 to 50 ft. radius. No wonder Julian calls it No Network.
No Network blocks signals sent via widely used standards, including CDMA, GSM and 3G. Based on the images on Julian’s website, I think No Network is based on Tamiya’s 1:35 scale model of the Mk 5 Chieftain. He didn’t say where he got the signal jammer, but it’s easy to find gadgets like that these days.
The tank is the second in Julian’s series of functional art that represent cyber warfare and cyber weapons. The first piece he made is the Transparency Grenade, which snoops around and sends the data it gathers to a remote server. Julian said he’ll make two more tanks: one that blocks GPS signals and another that blocks Wi-Fi signals. He should make a drone that shoots EMPs. Or sprays water. No Network? How about No Electronics?
Wheelbarrows are a great invention. They have helped laborers haul all manner of things easily and without breaking their backs. But in today’s world they could use some extra power.
The internal combustion engine-powered wheelbarrow is the wheelbarrow we need. If nothing else, it gives bored farm kids a bit of a cheap thrill. It was created by a teenager in Poland. We don’t have many details, but it’s a wheelbarrow with an engine! Enough said. Check out the video to see it in action:
Now there is a wheelbarrow that will make your job go super quick as you haul items. Remember, always wear your helmet when wheelbarrowing.
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