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Sony

Anonymous Launches Attack On Sony 347

Posted by samzenpus from the attack-of-the-month-club dept.
RedEaredSlider writes "The hacker collective Anonymous has made good on its threat to attack Sony, having launched a distributed denial-of-service attack on Wednesday afternoon. The attack is revenge for the legal action taken against another hacker who modified a PlayStation 3. Sony Computer Entertainment America filed suit against George Hotz, also known as Geohot. Hotz had released a firmware modification that allowed a Sony PlayStation 3 to run other operating systems. Sony had removed that functionality some months before. The suit is still pending."
Power

Ask Slashdot: Advice On a DIY Neutron Beam? 117

Posted by Soulskill from the preferably-something-tsunami-proof dept.
Max Littlemore writes "I have been breeding at home using lots of old smoke detectors with a view toward generating my own and getting off the grid. The only thing stopping me is a reliable neutron beam. Given that all the equipment I'm using is re-purposed kitchen equipment, concerns about safety mean I'm to build a uranium reactor to supply neutrons to the thorium one. So I'm putting the question out there: do any Slashdotters know of a way to make a powerful neutron beam out of things I might find around the house?" It would be helpful to include images and diagrams of your own personal neutron beam .
The Military

Former Truck Driver Reconstructs A-bomb 332

Posted by samzenpus from the we-got-a-great-big-nuclear-convoy dept.
mdsolar writes "Coster-Mullen taught himself how to build an A-bomb. 'The secret of the atomic bomb,' he says, 'is how easy they are to make.' His findings are available in a book he continuously updates and publishes himself called Atom Bombs: The Top Secret Inside Story of Little Boy and Fat Man, which has received rave reviews from the National Resource Defense Council: 'Nothing else in the Manhattan Project literature comes close to his exacting breakdown of the bomb's parts.'"
Hardware Hacking

Turning Your E-Reader Into a Cheap Tablet 193

Posted by samzenpus from the generic-computing dept.
grahamsaa writes "NPR's Weekend Edition aired a story today on how rooting the Nook Color can turn it into a full fledged and relatively inexpensive Android tablet. The story claims that the process takes about half an hour, and only requires the purchase of a Nook and a microSD card, and points listeners to a YouTube tutorial on how to root the device. Could this signal a change in how mainstream users see devices like this? Could rooting Android devices like the Nook ever become mainstream?" We ran a story about this in December, and I haven't seen a flood of hacked readers anywhere so I doubt that tablet makers have anything to worry about.
Hardware Hacking

Kinect Used To Help the Visually Impaired 29

Posted by Soulskill from the kitchen-sink-peripherals dept.
Zothecula writes "The decidedly low tech white cane is still one of the most commonly used tools to help the visually impaired get around without bumping into things. Now, through their project called NAVI (Navigation Aids for the Visually Impaired), students at Germany's Universität Konstanz have leveraged the 3D imaging capabilities of Microsoft's Kinect camera to detect objects that lie outside a cane's small radius and alert the wearer to the location of obstacles through audio and vibro-tactile feedback." In addition, Kinect is being used to "manipulate medical images during surgery without having to leave the operating room and scrub back in," and in more artistic ways as well.
Input Devices

Using Kinect With Your PS3 79

Posted by timothy from the y'-kin-kinnect-t'-dat dept.
baxpace writes "A tutorial posted on Shantanugoel tech blog indicates how you can use your Microsoft Kinect sensor with a PS3. As the posts suggest, the software is at a pre-alpha quality state, meaning that some libraries need to be improved in order to boost performance and features, but it's a start nonetheless."
Networking

Getting Past Censorship With Unorthodox Links To the Internet 82

Posted by timothy from the sneakier-net dept.
An anonymous reader points out a short article at The Economist, which says "Savvy techies are finding ways to circumvent politically motivated shutdowns of the internet. Various groups around the world are using creative means like multi-directional mobile phone antennae and even microwave ovens to transmit internet traffic accross international borders."
Education

Should Public Libraries Become Hacker Spaces? 164

Posted by timothy from the kevin-kelly-might-like-that-idea dept.
ptorrone writes "Public libraries — the availability of free education for all — represent the collective commitment of a community to their future. They symbolize what is most important, a commitment to educating the next generation. The role of a public library should also adapt over time, and that time is finally here. It's time to plan how we're going to build the future and what place public libraries have, should have, or won't have. MAKE's latest article encourages everyone to start talking about one of our great resources, the public library, and its future."
Hardware Hacking

DIY Laser Pistol Shoot 1MW Blasts 284

Posted by Soulskill from the i'll-order-a-dozen dept.
An anonymous reader writes "It doesn't get cooler than this — a German hacker put together a 1MW laser pistol capable of shooting straight through a razor blade with a single pulse. Quoting: 'Fitted with a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser, it fires off a 1 MW blast of infrared light once the capacitors have fully charged. The duration of the laser pulse is somewhere near 100ns, so he was unable to catch it on camera, but its effects are easily visible in whatever medium he has fired upon.'" Update: 03/17 18:22 GMT by T : Too bad; turns out it's "only" 1KW, rather than 1MW. I still want one.
Open Source

Gameduino Project Aims To Game-ify the Arduino 83

Posted by Soulskill from the pocket-sized-arcade dept.
beckman101 writes "Gameduino is a DIY game platform built on a shield for the Arduino. It's open source hardware (BSD and, for the code, GPL). Okay, that's fairly cool. But what makes this project special is that this inexpensive board has hardware that's capable enough to be interesting. The result is a lo-fi game console built on an FPGA that gives you retro graphics without being, you know, too retro. Games actually look good."
DRM

Sony's War On Makers, Hackers, and Innovators 317

Posted by timothy from the can-we-play-it-in-the-form-of-a-video-game? dept.
ptorrone writes "MAKE Magazine takes a look at Sony's history of suing makers, hackers and innovators. Over the last decade Sony has been targeting legitimate innovation, hobbyists, and competition. From picking on people who want to program their robot dogs to dance to suing people who want to run their own software on something they bought. Sony has made so many mistakes with technology choices (Memory Stick, Magic Gate, UMD!), perhaps they'll end themselves soon enough, but until then MAKE is keeping score for Sony's all-out war on tinkerers."
The Internet

Online Multiplayer Games On TI Calculators? 75

Posted by Soulskill from the where-were-you-when-i-was-in-sixth-grade dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A calculator enthusiast has managed to allow TI-83 Plus and TI-84 Plus graphing calculators to connect to the Internet with the help of an Arduino board. It is called Global CALCnet 2.2 and there is already a chat program demonstrating it. Multi-player games for gCn such as a Scorched-Earth clone are currently in the works. Maybe in the near future we will be playing some variant of Ztetris against our friends on the other side of the world?" Somebody also took the time to port Doom to a TI-Nspire calculator. A YouTube video demonstration is available.
DRM

Geohot To Turn Over Computers To Neutral Third Party 117

Posted by timothy from the small-victories-are-still-good dept.
intellitech writes "This will make a lot of you feel better. Groklaw is reporting that both parties have come up with a stipulation in Sony Computer Entertainment American v. Hotz regarding what Hotz must do about handing over his computers. The new Preliminary Injunction (PDF) now says that he is to turn his materials over to a 'neutral' third party, not to SCEA's lawyers, and after the neutral party combs through them, it all is returned to Hotz. All but whatever they 'segregate' out of them. He won't get that back until the end of the litigation, should he prevail, which this court at least currently thinks is less likely than that Sony will. There will be a hearing on Hotz's motion to dismiss on April 8, 2011."
Hardware Hacking

Kinect Tangible Table Prototype 47

Posted by timothy from the tangible-tables-are-the-best-kind dept.
baxpace writes "The first open source prototype of a tangible table using the Microsoft Kinect sensor. The hack is essentially a proof of concept that can serve a multitude of purposes including a real-time analysis on urban models. The program uses the Kinect point cloud which is mapped onto a flat surface. The upper layer of the point cloud will apply a colour to anything that is placed on the table and is recognized by the Kinect depth sensor. Every object that is placed on the table is detected automatically and in turn becomes trackable."
NES (Games)

NESBot: Tool Assisted Speedrun On Real Hardware 101

Posted by Soulskill from the take-that-game-genie dept.
Xistic writes "For many years tool assisted speedruns were purely theoretical and the domain of emulators. No longer! Using an Arduino Duemilanove microcontroller to drive an actual Nintendo console, pjgat09 plays back prerecorded input to beat Super Mario Bros. in record time. The selection of possible games is limited: 'If the game relies on any uninitialized memory for randomness, or if it is heavily based on console timing, it may not work. In the case of Super Mario Bros however, as long as the button presses start play back at the right time, the movie will play back correctly.' The author includes complete instructions on how to setup the device."
Hardware Hacking

Send Kinect Gesture Recognition Data Over Infrared 49

Posted by timothy from the but-that's-barely-a-kinection-at-all dept.
An anonymous reader writes with this snippet from Kinect Hacks: "Being able to send gestural data captured from your Kinect to another device via your computer of IR is incredible. You can send gesture recognition data to any piece of hardware that uses IR signals, such as your television, receiver, cable box or X10 extenders. Anything that reads IR signals can now be controlled by simply using gestures to control the devices. Absolutely amazing. The developer wrote custom code that works with his Kinect sensor plugged into his Mac Mini. The code is integrated with OpenNI which detects the user's skeleton and has specific gestures pre-programmed to control his TV in order to turn it off and on along with changing the volume on his digital receiver. Other gestures include the ability to change to the next and previous channel."
Hardware Hacking

Why the Arduino Won and Why It's Here To Stay 224

Posted by Soulskill from the gotta-be-the-shoes dept.
ptorrone writes "For years, students, journalists, makers and old-school engineers have asked why the Arduino open source microcontroller platform has taken off, with over 100k units 'in the wild' — it's the platform of choice for many. MAKE's new column discusses why the Arduino has become so popular and why it's here to stay. And for anyone wanting to build an 'Arduino killer' (there are many) — MAKE outlines what they'll need to do."
Crime

Insider-Trading Suspects Smash Hard Drive Evidence 364

Posted by samzenpus from the you-forgot-to-melt-it-down dept.
An anonymous reader writes "We all know Slashdotters love debating the best way to wipe a hard drive clean. Looks like tech-savvy Wall Street Hedge Fund managers also know the best way to do it. From the WSJ article: 'Mr. Longueuil's version of that night's events was recorded later, during a December meeting with former colleague Mr. Freeman, who by then was cooperating with the government and recording conversations, according to the U.S. complaint. "F—in' pulled the external drives apart," Mr. Longueuil told Mr. Freeman during their meeting, according to the criminal complaint. "Put 'em into four separate little baggies, and then at 2 a.m. 2 a.m. on a Friday night, I put this stuff inside my black North Face jacket, and leave the apartment and I go on like a twenty block walk around the city and try to find a, a garbage truck and threw the s—t in the back of like random garbage trucks, different garbage trucks four different garbage trucks."'"
Hardware Hacking

New PS3 Firmware Contains Backdoor 491

Posted by CmdrTaco from the i'm-your-backdoor-ram dept.
Vectormatic noted the rumor floating around that the most recent PS3 patch has a backdoor, and "Sony can now remotely execute code on the PS3 as soon as you connect. This can do whatever Sony wants it to do, such as verifying system files or searching for homebrew. Sony can change the code and add new detection methods without any firmware updates."
Sony

Sony Sends DMCA Takedown Notice To GitHub 266

Posted by timothy from the oh-you-own-what-we-say-you-own dept.
Plombo writes "Sony's war against PS3 hacking continues. On January 27, Sony Computer Entertainment America sent a DMCA takedown notice to GitHub demanding the removal of 6 repositories under the 'circumvention device' clause of the DMCA. All of the repositories in question were related to jailbreaking or homebrew development for the PS3."

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