Foldable Display Tracking - more Wiimote magic from Johnny Lee Chung [previously].
posted by mhjb on Jun 25, 2009 - 27 comments

The Happy Hacker offers you the secrets and tools to become an Überhacker and Cyberwarrior, and even how to build a railgun. But who is this Happy Hacker? Though other folks are now involved with the website, Carolyn P. Meinel is the primary face of The Happy Hacker. She is a long-time computer hacker, going back to getting unapproved access to the PLATO system (previously). She started Happy Hacker because "all sorts of guys were begging me, 'teach me how to hack'." Her webpage gained attention, getting mentioned in The Happy Mutant Handbook, and being invited to speak at Defcon. But there are people who doubt her credentials, and others who are a lot more harsh. Regardless of the backlash, and the appearance that the peak of The Happy Hacker has passed, her articles are still being published.
posted by filthy light thief on Apr 29, 2009 - 23 comments

Watch anonymous Wikipedia edits as they happen, where they happen.
posted by Pope Guilty on Mar 24, 2009 - 43 comments

Scott Summit, a self-anointed solution engineer and life hacker, shows you how to beat the traffic system at its own game.
posted by rageagainsttherobots on Mar 2, 2009 - 42 comments

CAUTION! ZOMBIES! AHEAD!!! [more inside]
posted by butterstick on Jan 29, 2009 - 50 comments

"There is no saving the internet. There is only postponing the inevitable." Wired Magazine looks at the history of DNS and the Kaminsky attack. [more inside]
posted by Glibpaxman on Dec 1, 2008 - 79 comments

Hacking Al-Qaeda's websites: Hacker wars are the latest front in the fight against Al Qaeda. CNN says here that AQ may be unable to post propaganda videos as a result. But who is attacking? As far back as 2002, people speculated that Western intelligence agencies had compromised them, and a pornographer claimed he did. More recently, there are Shiite vs. Sunni battles, as when Ayatollah Sistani's website was cracked. In 2004, Zarqawi's site was breached.
posted by msalt on Oct 23, 2008 - 11 comments

Sometimes with Youtube, there's a specific part of a video you want people to see. Splicd generates a url to send people that clip. For instance: cooking a rat or an interesting part of a lecture. (On load, a small amount of each clip's beginning is played.) [more inside]
posted by Korou on Sep 30, 2008 - 21 comments

Sarah Palin's email gets hacked by Anonymous (right, that Anonymous). And given the legal controversy surrounding her email, one wonders if the fact that her yahoo email accounts are now deleted constitutes destruction of evidence or violations of public-records laws. Its hit Wikileaks too, but, I'm not sure they have more then what's already released (rapidshare).
posted by yeoz on Sep 17, 2008 - 416 comments

Hackers attack Large Hadron Collider Hackers have mounted an attack on the Large Hadron Collider, raising concerns about the security of the biggest experiment in the world as it passes an important new milestone.
posted by fixedgear on Sep 13, 2008 - 41 comments

What happens when we leave behind cosmetics and societal norms to modify our bodies and minds to enhance who we are and what we can do? In this talk, journalist Quinn Norton explores how technology and flesh are coming together.
posted by Hypocrites on Aug 23, 2008 - 10 comments

Serious as a heart attack: A collaboration of various medical researchers in the academic field has led to proof that pacemakers can be remotely hacked with simple and accessible equipment. This is a proof of concept, but the real question is: How many other pacemakers and medical devices are similarly vulnerable? (Writers may note a new twist available for the assassination of characters in their novels and screenplays.)
posted by spock on Aug 13, 2008 - 41 comments

A major flaw in the DNS system is promised to be revealed at the next Black Hat conference. Convinced it was too important to wait, security researcher Dan Kaminsky (video, autoplays) convinced several software vendors to issue emergency patches today, before publicizing details of the attack. It can't be that serious though, can it? Oh yes it can.
posted by Skorgu on Jul 9, 2008 - 59 comments

Nicolás Guagnini has produced an art book entitled 77 Testicular Imprints. You can see an example here. Not everyone is impressed (scroll to #4). [more inside]
posted by rooftop secrets on Jun 18, 2008 - 49 comments

YouTube on YouTube . . .
posted by huckhound on May 20, 2008 - 11 comments

If you thought phone phreaking was a dying art, you may be surprised to read the story of "Li'l Hacker", as told by old-school hack/phreaker Kevin Poulsen.
posted by Roach on Feb 29, 2008 - 11 comments

Hide an image in html ... a neat CSS trick. Highlight the block of text at the bottom of the page as if you were going to cut & paste it. [more inside]
posted by Dave Faris on Feb 7, 2008 - 35 comments

What's better than a wifi-equipped Asus Eee sub-notebook PC with touchscreen? Simple. An Asus Eee sub-notebook PC with touchscreen and 3G HSDPA modem. Still want more? How about an upgrade of on-board storage — from 4 gigabytes to 20gb? And if you're planning on overwriting the Eee's Xandros/pre-installed Linux distribution in the first place (in order to install a non open-source platform) you may want to consider making a complete switch-over and being the first on your block with a (legally iffy) sub-notebook running Macintosh. Previously: 1, 2, 3.
posted by humannaire on Jan 5, 2008 - 74 comments

A presentation at the 24th Annual Chaos Communication Congress convention for hackers in Germany [previously mentioned in MeFi] revealed a proof of concept: the Nintendo Wii's Power PC "Broadway" chip has been completely hacked. (via OMGNintendo)
posted by ShawnStruck on Dec 30, 2007 - 22 comments

Ever admired those hard-working hackers, toiling away to get you the programs you've always loathed to have? Have you ever dreamt of exploring the innards of someone else's computer but have held back due to those pesky legalities? If you said yes to either of the above questions or just want to play an online hacking simulation, then SlaveHack is the website for you. [more inside]
posted by flatluigi on Dec 23, 2007 - 9 comments

During the 70s and 80s a new phenomenon appeared. Television Hijacking. It started in 1977 when a man in England hijacked the sound broadcast of a newscast. In 1986, a hijacker known as Captain Midnight hijacked HBO in response to their scrambling of television signals. The year after (20 years ago as of today), a character disguised as Max Headroom (a television character) infiltrated two Chicago television studios in one night. First the man infiltrated Channel 9 (WGN) for a few seconds with no sound, and then moved on to attack another Chicago station, this time with sound. After the Max Headroom incident, television hacking incidents were rare in the United States except for this one in Wyoming.
posted by ooklala on Nov 22, 2007 - 38 comments

These Come From Trees "Testing shows a 'These Come From Trees' sticker on a paper towel dispenser reduces paper towel consumption by ~15%"
posted by nthdegx on Nov 7, 2007 - 44 comments

CatCam is exactly what it sounds like. A crappy digital camera, Atmel Attiny13 and a little electronics skill are all it takes to get your cat photoblogging. The results are pretty great. via Hackaday and possibly also Baby_Balrog
posted by tracert on Jun 3, 2007 - 90 comments

Jason Eppink has taken Light Criticism a step further with his Pixelator.
posted by fandango_matt on Apr 15, 2007 - 20 comments

McPwnd. Person in charge of John McCain's MySpace presence decides to use Mike Davidson's MySpace/CSS hack, but fails to credit Mike, and directly hotlinks his images. Result: "Today I announce that I have reversed my position and come out in full support of gay marriage ... particularly between passionate females." Oops. Remember, folks: hotlinks are bad.
posted by brownpau on Mar 27, 2007 - 58 comments

Antique Keyboard is the newest work from SteamPunk Labs.
posted by fandango_matt on Feb 22, 2007 - 36 comments

This simple hack actually only crashes the in-flight entertainment system (perhaps this one?), but that's already enough to cause concern with the kind of people who comment anonymously on a blog for "security executives."

I'm certain that this vulnerability (like this vulnerability) will be taken seriously.
posted by jdfalk on Feb 11, 2007 - 44 comments

Two industrial robots spin records.
posted by phrontist on Feb 6, 2007 - 21 comments

Speak n Spell your way into remote control of a Vista box.
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Feb 1, 2007 - 24 comments

Light Criticism is the newest project by Graffiti Research Lab and the Anti-Advertising Agency.
posted by fandango_matt on Jan 25, 2007 - 23 comments

On November 22nd 1987, sports anchor Dan Roan of Chicago's WGN-TV News Network was narrating the video of the day's football highlights when something highly unusual happened. The pictures on the station monitors in the studio suddenly began to jitter and twitch. And that was just the beginning. Two hour later, it happened a second time (View clip here) [via KUR]
posted by KevinSkomsvold on Jan 24, 2007 - 46 comments

Idiot Tries to Hire Hacker to Change his GPA
Why study when you can just hire a hacker to adjust your GPA to something more to your liking? Or not.
And now an amazing (and scary) amount of his personal information is pwned!
posted by fenriq on Dec 21, 2006 - 70 comments

How to log in from an internet café without worrying about keyloggers. (.pdf)
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium on Nov 23, 2006 - 34 comments

They'll never piggyback on your wireless again Your router makes the computer look funny. (via MeTa)
posted by klangklangston on Aug 10, 2006 - 62 comments

Afrigadget Life hacks from the Dark Continent. Similar idea to better-known hacks here and here.
posted by klangklangston on Jul 20, 2006 - 13 comments

Howe & Ser Moving Company has completed its latest job: moving a Spanish-American War cannon from the pits of Pasadena, CA to sunny Cambridge, MA. The cannon arrived with one addition: a giant Brass Rat, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology class ring. In the past, the cannon graced the front yard of Caltech and took a brief vacation to Harvey Mudd College.
Last year, students from Caltech attempted to start a hacking war with MIT, with little response. This small delivery has drastically changed the score. More pictures.
posted by breath on Apr 6, 2006 - 37 comments

"It was another slow shift tonight. And though there weren't many people taking cabs, there were more than enough asshole drivers on the streets." New York Hack, the blog of a NYC female cabbie. "Another girl I drove tonight had an emergency of her own, though of a different caliber. I overheard her on the phone explaining to a friend how she was rushing over to her boyfriend's house to have "make-up sex." It sounded urgent enough to me, so I got her there as quickly as I could." Pictures included.
posted by OmieWise on Jan 24, 2006 - 27 comments

Laser-etched PowerBooks.
posted by nthdegx on Dec 7, 2005 - 25 comments

Petrol prices hurting your wallet? Try stealing it instead! A Sydney man has been accused of siphoning 1,000 litres (265 gallons) of fuel from a service station into a large home-made tank in his van. Police allege the 36-year-old man used a Toyota Town Ace van to take petrol from a service station's underground tanks. Another 44,000 litres of fuel (or there about) is yet to be accounted for though.

Police allegedly found fittings and equipment inside the van that could be used to steal petrol from service stations, including a home made tank.

Hard times huh? Sorry there's no photo to go with this. The guy's van is an awesome sight though. Best I've got is streaming video via ABC News (Windows HQ or LQ).
posted by sjvilla79 on Sep 19, 2005 - 25 comments

hack your brain An insightful post on "ourselves". A interesting metaphor: your brain as an OS.
posted by omega on Sep 10, 2005 - 66 comments

Google Earth: Zero Hour +1 If Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith was responsible for a productivity loss of $600 million (for people playing hooky), then the release of Google Earth has to be responsible for at least $100m. So the next question is...what's next? When you think about all the Google Maps hacks, from craigslist, to GasBuddy (offline), Chicago Crimestats and Transit Maps, London Traffic Cams, various sight seeing sites, NYC Subway Stops, plus integration with BlogWise, Terraserver, Host-IP (broken?), Yahoo Traffic, and the US Census, you might wonder what else could be integrated into gEarth?

Things I'm hoping for? How about integrating historical markers, daytrip resources, factory tours, social demographics (like Nationmaster), politics (fundraising, election results, registration, polling place location, election irregularities), mapped to do lists, real-time weather and traffic, things that aren't there anymore, custom atlas creation, IMDB movie location shoots, tighter integration with topographical maps, WiFi access Points, a News Attention Index, shipwrecks, Job Searches, and tighter integration with the USGS. As shown in the gEarth interface (left hand side, first one in "Layers"), their online community is already working on using, improving, and customizing gEarth's new features, including some updates (Caution, requires the integration of *.kml file, *.eta, or *.kmz files.)
posted by rzklkng on Jun 29, 2005 - 21 comments

Gas Pump Hacker. "CHICAGO -- In a bold and outrageous theft staged in broad daylight, a driver pumped about $900 worth of gasoline at a suburban gas station. The man removed the panel of a pump in Country Club Hills and manipulated the mechanics of the pump so that it would continue to pump gas without registering inside the station... Other cars then pulled up to the pump and, apparently, cut deals with the thief, who then filled up their tanks and took off..."
posted by azul on Apr 16, 2005 - 31 comments

"Hacker" discovers backdoor to Harvard Business School admissions decisions.
Harvard rejects all applicants who used the "hack."
posted by trharlan on Mar 8, 2005 - 68 comments

Think your Prox Card system is secure? Guess again. Some Sophomores at Olin College reverse-engineered the prox card system on campus and built their own reader. Rumor has it they have a spoofer (self-contained copier/transmitter) too, but nothing on the site about it.
posted by Brockstar on Mar 5, 2005 - 10 comments

Look at all the .gov sites infected by the "0wn3d by NoPh0BiA" hack. Sad.
posted by basilwhite on Feb 8, 2005 - 22 comments

Hack a fibre optic display. Blow up smarties. Make a lava lamp (that actually works). Things to make and do from Big Clive.
posted by nthdegx on Dec 21, 2004 - 12 comments

HBO's Deadwood is quite possibly the best television show ever produced. Not only is it amazingly gripping stuff, it's also meticulously researched. (Pretty easy to do when the entire city is a registered historic landmark.)
Sure, we all know that Wild Bill and Calamity Jane were real people. As it turns out, though, almost every main character in the show (and many minor ones) had a real life counterpart, as did many of the events.
Deadwood notables EB Farnum, Reverend H W Smith, Seth Bullock and his partner Sol Star, Colorado Charlie Utter, Al Swerengen with his Gem Saloon, and the crosseyed gambler Jack McCall all lived and breathed in one of America's most storied cities.
posted by absalom on Dec 10, 2004 - 82 comments

In-your-face shoot-em-up action by bedroom-coders/games designers. From Japan: Warning Forever; Perfect Cherry Blossom; Cho Ren Sha 68K; Bullet Philharmonic Orchestra; Score Soldier; rRootage; Every Extend; TKKN / Crazy Game; and Galshell: Blood Red Skies [NSFW]. Be attitude for gains! From the West: Deadeye; Strayfire; Warblade; Mutant Storm; Bugatron; Space Birdz; Spheres of Chaos; Battle of Yavin; Demonstar; 'Troid; Platypus; Gridrunner; Intensity XS; and Tsunami 2010. From the pages of Edge magazine.
posted by nthdegx on Oct 1, 2004 - 9 comments

Music & photography. How to soup up that digital camera.(via coolios)
posted by johnny7 on Sep 16, 2004 - 13 comments

Do your windows overlook scenes of inspiration? Do you even have windows? Why not choose your view?
posted by sharpener on Sep 14, 2004 - 23 comments