Robots are always really cool, if you ask me. Sometimes they're made out of Legos, and that's even cooler. The Papercube, previously called the Legomaschine, is a fully automated Lego "factory" created by students in the Management, Information, and Technology program at Germ ...more
I often read ebooks on my iPhone while I walk, but being glued to my screen is a good way to get run over or cursed at. To save my physical and social hide, I use this trick to get my iPhone to read ebooks and articles out loud, turning my whole text library into de facto audi ...more
Hi guys, this is going to be kinda like a follow up to my previous post on hacking facebook with the remote keylogger. If you haven't seen that post I suggest you do. So like you can click here. Anyway let's move on. Even though people are the weakest form of security, some o ...more
Hello! I'm newbie at Null Byte and I want tho share some of my thoughts with you guys, hope you like it. I've been inspired by 3 facts for making this: 1- The post 'How to write better code', 2- A few illegible comments at some posts, 3- I myself have never written such a long ...more
If you need to hack an Android device, try a remote administration tool. Known more familiarly as a RAT, there are open-source RATs that are barebones and exorbitantly priced RATs that are more polished. There are also low-cost and polished RATs that aren't intended to be RATs ...more
When you drive along the deceptively sedate streets of Silicon Valley, there are few hints that all those nondescript office parks and low-rise buildings contain the very future of the planet, but they really do. On a recent trip to tech's epicenter, I found that out firsthand ...more
On Friday, audio giant Bose emerged as the latest, and perhaps the most surprising company to announce that it's planning to release augmented reality smartglasses. There's just one problem: these smartglasses don't present any visual content whatsoever. The wearable is asso ...more
As a developer, before you can make augmented-reality robots that move around in the real world, controlled by a user's finger, you first need to learn how to harness the basics of designing AR software for a touchscreen interface. In recent years, the vernacular for referrin ...more
Welcome back, rookie hackers! We recently began an exploration of ways to hack using the Bluetooth protocol. As you know, Bluetooth is a protocol that connects near field devices such as headsets, speakers, and keyboards. Its minimum range is a 10-meter radius (~33 feet) and ...more
Bad news first: It's not out yet, but it's coming really soon. The premise for the game is this: A powerful hacker configured a script that triggered if he didn't log into his computer for 14 days. If that happened, it'd send a set of instructions to someone (you!) to contin ...more
Welcome back, my tenderfoot hackers! A number of you have written me telling me how much you enjoy the Mr. Robot series on USA Network. I am also a huge fan! If you haven't seen it yet, you should. It may be the best show on TV right now. Mr. Robot is about a young man with ...more
On June 5th, robotics firm Aldebaran and SoftBank Corp., the Japanese giant that owns Sprint (and possibly T-Mobile), unveiled an emotion-sensing robot named Pepper. Video: . The robot uses an emotional-engine to allow it to "feel", making it easier for Pepper to interact with ...more
Steampunk music is an oft-debated genre, full of bands playing all sorts of different sounds. While this can make it difficult to generalize about the genre as a whole, it means that the average person is bound to like at least some Steampunk bands. That's why it's a great ide ...more
Making little robots with a LEGO Mindstorms NXT set is already cool, but putting one underwater? Now that's just crazy. That didn't stop this engineer, who built a LEGO submarine that can not only maneuver around his fish tank, but can also be remotely controlled with his Xbox ...more
Duct tape can be used for a variety of minor to major emergencies, from baby-proofing your power outlets to temporarily repairing the hole in your canoe. In a pinch, duct tape can serve as a handy band-aid, DIY clothesline and a not-too-shabby robot costume if you are in dire ...more
I love robots. They have the potential to evolve into Asimovian destroyers of the human species, but have only just mastered the art of cleaning my rug. They have an ever increasing cool factor and a growing number of cheap and simple components that let the hobby roboticist r ...more
As November was coming to an end this year, the "6th Robo-One Gate in International Robot Exhibition 2009" dance competition took place. The contenders are just a little bit creepy, to say the least. Particularly exhibit A, Britney Spears wannabe, "LOVE & JOY, Yuhi Kimura", b ...more
With Facebook and Twitter dominating the world, playing chess opposite a real, touchable person is no longer necessary. With the ChessBot, you can now play on a real chessboard remotely - the next best thing to in-person play. From Norris Labs: "Although ChessBot by itself d ...more
University of Tokyo and MIT join forces to create a high speed, three fingered, robot pitcher. From Pink Tentacle: "To demonstrate the latest advances in high-speed industrial robot technology, researchers at the University of Tokyo have pitted a baseball-pitching robotic arm ...more
Sandia National Laboratories of New Mexico has developed the Precision Urban Hopper, a robot that uses one powerful leg to propel itself over barriers up to twenty-five feet high. "The demonstrated hopping capability of the robots allows the small unmanned ground vehicles to ...more
Ok. Friday disclaimer. This one is fluff. Instructional fluff. Grown-men-behaving-like-children-fluff. That said, Photoshop is less expensive and safer than elective surgery. May I point your attention to the demented robot/automated voice. Somehow it just all makes sense. ...more
It's odd to see grown humans attempting to bounce off walls doing parkour. It's another thing altogether to see a robot doing it. University of California Berkeley's Biomimetic Millisystems Lab has created the world's most vertically agile robot—capable of jumping to unimagin ...more
In recent years, the tech innovation space has been dominated by the US and Asia, with Europe weighing in, but still being mostly lauded for its art history and architecture. Now, Europhiles with a tech bent can enjoy a unique touch of the future while delving into Europe's p ...more
On Monday, Apple unveiled its Apple Card, the company's boldest move yet toward becoming a truly mainstream mobile payments company. And the product has vast implications for our augmented reality future, some of which may not be immediately obvious to many. Let's start with ...more
User interfaces for computers have evolved over the years, from the introduction of the keyboard and mouse on the personal computer, to touchscreens on mobile devices, to natural voice recognition. However, the same cannot be said for robots or drones—until now. There are two ...more
Welcome back, my nascent hackers! In the conclusion of the Mr. Robot television series, Elliot and fsociety successfully completed their mission of encrypting all of Evil Corp's data with AES-128 encryption and destroying the key. Now that all of the data on Evil Corp's serv ...more
Welcome back, my hacker apprentices! A you know, Mr. Robot is my favorite TV show this year, and not just for the realistic hacking. Rami Malek, the actor who plays Elliot, is incomparable in his depiction of a young man with social anxiety who is alienated from a superficial ...more
Smartphone gaming continues to improve with ever sharper displays and raw processing power to deliver console-quality graphics right in the palm of your hands. Nonetheless, you still stand to improve the gaming experience on any phone by adding the right accessories to the mix ...more
Gone are the days of needing a specialized app or program to unzip files. In fact, you don't even need a computer. It's 2019 — cars drive themselves, robots take fast food orders, and you can unzip compressed files right on your iPhone. So, what hidden, complicated series of ...more
Metadata contained in images and other files can give away a lot more information than the average user might think. By tricking a target into sending a photo containing GPS coordinates and additional information, a hacker can learn where a mark lives or works simply by extrac ...more
If you have a modern iPhone, you have an excellent video recorder at your disposal. Every iPhone since the 6S has the ability to shoot in 4K resolution, and each new iteration has brought new capabilities to the table. But even the best mobile shooter can use a little extra he ...more
Last month, Leap Motion's vice president of design and global creative director, Keiichi Matsuda (a member of the NR30), suddenly left the company. Just days later, a story leaked that revealed that Leap Motion had twice failed to lock in a potential deal with Apple. Now, as ...more
HBO is only a couple of episodes into the second season of Westworld, the television version of the classic science fiction movie about a robot resort gone awry, and the fan theories about the show are already reaching Season 1 levels of weirdness. But while you were obsessed ...more
Space might be the final frontier, but NASA is making a detour into augmented reality first. The Spacecraft AR app, developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in collaboration with Google, debuted exclusively for Android this week (an iOS version is also in the works ...more
If you or someone you know has younger kids and you're looking for an augmented reality toy, Pai Technology has just the educational option for you. For $199, the toy maker offers Augie, a spherical robot that uses augmented reality to teach children the basics of programming ...more
It's safe to say that mobile developers are excited about the prospects of Apple's ARKit, with demos popping up seemingly on the hour on YouTube, Twitter, etc. Now, developers are starting to preview actual products. One of them, Directive Games based in Shanghai, China, has ...more
What a week for iPhone rumors. Monday saw an intriguing photo leak on Reddit of what could be the final designs for the iPhone 8, 7S, and 7S Plus (highly suspect, of course). Today continues the intrigue — iPhone assembler Wistron told reporters in Taipei that Apple's newest ...more
There may be worse feelings than sitting around waiting for food delivery, but I don't want to know what those are. Especially when your local delivery guy misses your address for the eighth time. But soon, Domino's Pizza will take that stupid human error right out of the equa ...more
People have asked: "Here is an IP address. Can you hack this? Can you hack me right now?" Hacking takes time and skill. You can't just get an IP or an email and hack it in ten minutes unless the password is 1234. I say, "No. I can't really do what you want me to do like this ...more
"Dead or alive, you're coming with me!" That iconic quote from the 1987 movie RoboCop was repeated by kids like me for years. The 2014 reboot introduced the baddest robot-cop on the planet to new audiences worldwide. While it didn't live up to the amazingly high expectations s ...more
Imagine this: You're driving on the freeway in Canada, enjoying the view and sipping Tim Horton's, when all of the sudden you see something out of the corner of your eye. You expect it to be a moose, obviously, but instead you see a robot with his thumb hitched up. So, after i ...more
Erasing everything off of your phone and starting anew is a pretty drastic step to take for a little glitch. For most people, system restoring is a last resort option, but there are a few reasons to want or need to restore your device to factory settings. Many people have tri ...more
Unlike your more artistically-minded friends who've been working on their homemade, hand-stitched, conceptually-brilliant Halloween costumes since May, you need to put together a last-minute costume in a matter of hours. What can you possibly do if you're cheap, kind of lazy, ...more
There are plenty of tank robots out there, but how many of them can recognize 3D objects and map their environment? Tanky, the tracked mobile robot, can do all that and more while rolling around on his bicycle chain treads. Created as a Master's thesis project, Tanky is made a ...more
How do you make a 1950 Studebaker even cooler? By installing an iPod Nano in the dashboard, of course! The folks over at MAYA Design hacked their way to a touch-controlled sound system with this project they've dubbed the "Nano-Baker" (or "Stude-iPod") using a pair of Apple ea ...more
The surging activity in augmented reality in both the business and consumer sectors is being matched with a wealth of updates and partnerships from Snap Inc. On Thursday, during the company's Snap Partner Summit 2021, a wide range of tie-ups and new features were unveiled, wi ...more
How much screen time is too much for a child? Should you let your children have a smartphone or tablet? What age is appropriate to introduce them to technology? These are just a few tough questions parents face. Research has shown that kids age 8-12 spend up to six hours a da ...more
The entire wireless industry is working overtime to convince the world that 5G, and the higher prices associated with the faster speeds it affords, will not only be worth it but will deliver never-before-seen wonders. But few companies have produced such a stunningly well-done ...more
As we predicted this time last year, Magic Leap is finally moving from consumer entertainment hype to making a firm commitment to enterprise customers. On Tuesday, the company announced a new name for its device -- the Magic Leap 1, instead of the Magic Leap One Creator Editi ...more
Already a dominant force at the box office, Marvel Studios appears intent on establishing itself as the ruler of augmented reality media as well. After licensing Iron Man to Hasbro for the Hero Vision Iron Man AR Helmet as a tie-in to Avengers: Infinity War, Marvel has return ...more
It's no secret that more and more talented computer science gurus and programmers are turning toward high-paying careers in engineering. Today's engineers stand at the forefront of some of the world's most important and exciting technological innovations — ranging from self-dr ...more
The mainstreaming of augmented reality won't happen overnight, but it's becoming increasingly clear that traditional media is leading the charge in the effort to introduce the public to immersive computing. A recent example came from none other than USA Today via its 321 Launc ...more
Volvo Cars' "all-electric" announcement last week was seen as a direct threat to Tesla's electric vehicle (EV) and driverless lead, but German auto giant Volkswagen (VW) says it is in a better position to challenge Tesla. Speaking to Bloomberg News, Herbert Diess, VW's chairm ...more
Look no further than Flint, Michigan, to discover the serious consequences of contaminated drinking water. Around the world, water polluted by pathogens and toxins sickens people or cuts them off from safe drinking water. Looking for a solution, researchers created tiny, swimm ...more
The driverless competition is heating up as Detroit automakers attempt to woo tech talent away from some of Silicon Valley's biggest players. Bloomberg reports that there here are currently 5,000 job openings in software and electronics product development in the Motor City a ...more
If you find this update from Pinterest more than a little creepy, I agree. If you don't, then keep reading about how Pinterest's updated "Lens" feature is your next must-have tool! The worldwide catalog of ideas — shared by over 175 million users every month — just updated it ...more
LG got in on the action at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona by unveiling its new G5 handset on Sunday, February 21st. It will be the first publicly available modular smartphone by a top tech giant. Video: . The Magic Slot The highlight of the G5 is undoubtedly the "Magic Sl ...more
I'm back. School's an ass. On my quest for knowledge, which started approximately 3 years ago, I can upon an interesting little artifact. It is called the Arduino. What Is the Arduino? The Arduino is an open-sourced prototype board. You use it to make projects, and is great ...more
With just a Phillips head screwdriver and this walk-through, you can open and close any bObi robot vacuum. So long as you have a replacement wheel, follow these steps to install it yourself. Video: . Step 1: Unscrew the Appropriate Wheel The left and right wheels are held on ...more
I rarely receive spam mail, but every now and then I’ll get an email from Cat Fancy Magazine. I’ve never read an issue of Cat Fancy Magazine or been to their website. Actually, I’m allergic to cats. So how did they manage to get my information? Well, anytime you register for ...more