Category Archives: Science/Tech

fi8918w.white.foscam.us

A hacker was able to shout abuse at a two-year-old child by exploiting a vulnerability in a camera advertised as an ideal “baby monitor”. A couple in Houston, Texas, heard a voice saying lewd comments coming from the camera, made by manufacturer Foscam. Vulnerabilities in Foscam products were exposed in April, and the company issued an emergency fix. Foscam said it was unable to provide a statement at this time.

ABC News reported that Marc Gilbert and wife Lauren were left shaken when they heard a “British or European accent” coming from the camera. Mr Gilbert said the voice directed offensive, sexualised words at their daughter Allyson, who was asleep in bed. The family believed the hacker was able to call the child by her name because it was spelt out on the bedroom’s wall…

 

Hacker ‘shouts abuse’ via Foscam baby monitoring camera (Dave Lee, BBC News)

Previously: Everyone Remain Cam

robot

Of this ultra fast robot he spotted at a 2010 competitive robotics event in Osaka, Japan, robotics dude Drew Noakes sez:

This machine was mind-blowingly fast and precise. Unforutunately for me, the guys demoing it barely spoke English, so I didn’t get much info on it other than it’s intended for use in positioning surface mount devices on printed circuit boards (SMD on PCB) during manufacture.

awesomer

wikipearlwiki2pearl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4IkVFwZIA8

WikiPearls are balls of Ice cream encased in an edible protective membrane, which prevents them melting in your hand.

‘Inspired’ by the design of the human cell and invented – in collaboration with French designer Francois Azambourg – by Harvard professor David Edwards, the frosty treats are currently available in three flavours at the Wikibar in Paris – mango ice cream with a coconut skin, chocolate ice cream with a hazelnut skin, and vanilla ice cream with a peanut skin – the concept may soon be extended to yoghurt, cheese and coffee.

laughingsquid/wireddesign

cassini messengerTwo just-released pictures of the Earth and the Moon. The first taken by NASA’s Cassini-Huygens spacecraft as it orbited Saturn – 900 million miles away – last Friday.

The second, taken last Saturday by the MESSENGER spacecraft orbiting Mercury – a mere 61 million miles away – shows us from the opposite direction.

Which is so not our good side.

NASA Has Released The First Images From Cassini And Messenger’s Glimpse Of Earth Last Week (Business Insider)

dailywhat/mashable

(Hat tip: Mauriac)

strike
https://vimeo.com/67189599

easy

Are you partial to the moodily-lit robots at all?

If so, you may like one or both of these robo-related sci-fi shorts currently on the Vimeo staff picks list:

Tonight I Strike by Dan Gaud in which a big brother desperately tries to find his abducted little sister.

And Dr Easy by Shynola (the prologue of a planned feature film based on the novel ‘The Red Men’ by Matthew De Abaitua) in which a holed-up man with a gun is approached by a medical robot sent in to negotiate with him.

laughingsquid/gear100

moores-law-for-apple-1 Chip-Speeds
From the first of a series of articles by Memeburn’s Graeme Lipschitz explaining why Moore’s Law (which states that the performance of semiconductor chips doubles every two years) – tied in with Kryder’s Law (which states that storage space doubles and its cost halves every 14 months) – no longer applies.

The improvement in chip speed, storage space and even pixel size in digital cameras has left an indelible effect on the global economy. Well, apparently, that’s all going to end: we’re hitting the limit of the number of electrons that can fit in a certain area.

It’s all down to May’s Law, apparently.

But you knew that.

The End Of Moore’s Law: A Brief History (Graeme Lipschitz, Memeburn)

Theoretical physicist and Jedi master Michio Kaku explains it all rather well.

(Hat tip: John Gallen)

2011-11-08 11-06-31 ATLAS modelthumb640x3602011-11-08 11-17-31 ATLAS model 2011-11-10 10-47-32 ATLAS modelActually, it’s a 9,500 brick model of the ATLAS particle physics experiment at the LHC in CERN built by scientist Sascha Mehlhase. We’ve mentioned it before.

But you knew that.

If the 10,000+ upvoters at the LEGO beta-bulding site cuusoo have their way, it may yet make it into the official LEGO range.

More details and pix here.

dailywhat

kronos

A faux documentary written by London-based VFX supremo Hasraf ‘HaZ’ Dulull (The Dark Knight, Prince Of Persia) detailing mankind’s first interstellar travel in the not-to-distant future.

As the mission unfolds with extraordinary results, the scientists find themselves dealing with a much bigger agenda.

Since the film was released last week, Dulull has been signed by Hollywood to develop and direct a feature-film version.

laughingsquid/io9