Keyless entry hack makes millions of modern cars vulnerable to theft

Credit: Pic Click CA

As computerised facilities are added to motor vehicles, they create new avenues for the security of those vehicles to be breached. Keyless entry is one such avenue.

Recently hacks have been uncovered which allow entry to vehicles & even the capability drive them away. Vulnerable vehicles include the 2017 Toyota Camry, 2016 Chevrolet Impala, 2015 Ford Edge, & 2013 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid.

Wired
https://www.wired.com/2016/08/oh-good-new-hack-can-unlock-100-million-volkswagens/

Slash Gear
https://www.slashgear.com/keyless-entry-cars-can-be-stolen-with-this-new-mystery-hack-11467097/

PDF of the Garcia & Oswald paper is available at:
https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/usenixsecurity16/sec16_paper_garcia.pdf / cars more reliant computers operating systems engines ways drivers interact with them susceptible to hacks software-based attacks USA National Insurance Crime Bureau NICB identified new tool allow thieves unlock cars equipped with keyless-entry keyless entry keylessentry start engine drive off drive away mystery device NICB non-profit non profit nonprofit organization insurance industry third-party security expert overseas Europe rare reports official police reports identifying the device source car theft Los Angeles Times reports device two components driver parks locks their vehicle thief standing nearby amplify the signal sent from the key fob locked signal tricks vehicle into thinking it’s the key fob cars outfitted keyless ignition unlocked started and driven informal testing NICB cars vulnerable to the hack 2017 Toyota Camry 2016 Chevrolet Impala 2015 Ford Edge 2013 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid NICB Relay Attack unit tool car manufacturers test network security vehicles no way to combat such a device not easy to come by plenty of other methods hacking keyless-entry systems Hack unlock steal University of Birmingham computer scientist Flavio Garcia and a team of researchers were preparing to reveal a vulnerability that allowed them to start the ignition of millions of Volkswagen cars and drive them off without a key Flavio Garcia Senior Lecturer in Computer Security Senior Birmingham Fellow School of Computer Science University of Birmingham /

Pebble scooped up by Fitbit

Original Pebble smart-watch
Credit: Pebble/Amazon

Pebble's original smartwatch took the Kickstarter crowd funding site by storm with over $10 million pledged.¹

Over $20 million was pledged for Pebble Time, the second generation Pebble smartwatch.²


Pebble 2 – third generation update of the original Pebble
Credit: Pebble/Kickstarter


Pebble Time 2 – third generation update of the Pebble Time
Credit: Pebble/Kickstarter

Perhaps a sign of things to come – only $12 million was pledged for the third generation of Pebble watches³ – & it appears that delivery of those devices will not be completed. Pebble has been sold to Fitbit, allegedly for $40 million. Apparently, Fitbit was interested in the technology, but not the Pebble name, which will be retired.

Slash Gear
https://www.slashgear.com/the-pebble-post-mortem-the-wisdom-of-the-crowd-08466845/

Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-07/pebble-said-to-discuss-selling-software-assets-to-fitbit

The Verge
http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/7/13867158/fitbit-buys-pebble-smartwatch-acquisition-deal
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¹ Hitchhiker’s Guide 2 Tech: “Hands-on with the Pebble smartwatch – first round production units to ship January 23” – the original Pebble smartwatch, http://hhg2tech.blogspot.com/2013/01/hands-on-with-pebble-smartwatch-first.html

² Hitchhiker’s Guide 2 Tech: “Pebble Time — video” – second generation Pebble smartwatch, http://hhg2tech.blogspot.com/2015/02/pebble-time.html

³ Hitchhiker’s Guide 2 Tech: “What Pebble had up its sleeve – two new smart watches & a new type of connected device” – third generation Pebble smartwatch, http://hhg2tech.blogspot.com/2016/05/what-pebble-had-up-its-sleeve.html / Pebble post-mortem post mortem wisdom crowd tech industry company bright and shiny startup bankruptcy Pebble lasted longer than many wearables firm was always being predicted for imminent death raising millions of dollars in crowdfunding cash original Pebble 2012 Apple Watch will crush Pebble Apple’s wearable two years later store shelves Apple Watch finally sealed Pebble’s death warrant analysts Google momentum Android Wear wearable technology segment Pebble fitness trackers usurped by smartwatches continued to dominate sales price cheap broadly-functional exercise tracking band well under $100 value proposition fitness wearable more readily understood traditional timepieces simply bare-wristed design battery life value basics of messaging and email your wrist modicum proactive uses without needing to reach for your phone Fitbit best of Pebble dumping the company’s watches color smartwatch monochrome smartwatch affordable fitness trackers fitness-first cementing their primary value smart features value-adds easier to explain Fitbit Pebble’s more vociferous fans useful company went for its second round of Kickstarter funding third drum-beating enthusiasts unofficial marketing fans Pebble positive retweets frustration and disappointment Pebble backers latest campaign will get refunds crowdfunding wasn’t Pebble’s first ambition strategy associated with founder and CEO Eric Migicovsky Kickstarter struggling to raise funding in more traditional ways company making headlines product raising money from customers your backers motivated vocal feedback cheerleaders bank venture capitalists customers backers interviewed Eric Migicovsky Pebble employees explanations rumors attempted buy-out by Citizen last year in excess of $700m sub-$40m price paid by Fitbit not even covering Pebble’s debts /

Wearable device allows graphic designer with Parkinson's disease to write her name again

Emma Lawton was a graphic designer. At age 29, she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Three years later, hand tremors had progressed to the stage where she could no longer write her name, or draw a straight line. Now, a BBC project & Haiyan Zhang, Microsoft Research Cambridge’s innovation director, have produced a wearable device which allows her to do those things again.



Emma Lawton speaking at Being the Story. (The blue line across the screen which you may notice early in the video is not a fault in your equipment, or anywhere else – you’ll see the cause later in the video.)

/ graphic designer Emma Lawton diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease three years ago age of 29 BBC project Haiyan Zhang Microsoft Research Cambridge’s Microsoft Research Cambridge innovation director wearable device reclaim her lifelong passion for drawing and sketching The Big Life Fix BBC series got underway Emma Lawton featured first episode of the series focuses people United Kingdom’s top inventors solutions problems affect day-to-day life Parkinson’s disease cause sufferer’s hands shake uncontrollably making simple actions almost impossible Emma Lawton’s tremor becoming so severe career graphic designer serious jeopardy report from MS Power User Haiyan Zhang previously created cutlery disabled people reacts to their movements avoid spilling food building upon that foundation create wrist-worn device wearable dubbed the Emma facilitate facilitates drawing sketching counteracting impulses sent to the wearer’s arm The Emma intentionally shakes user’s arm interrupting feedback loop impedes normal movement while wearing the device Emma Lawton able to draw straight lines write legibly BBC program was filmed wearing the Emma on a daily basis Haiyan Zhang no plans to develop the Emma no commercial release commercial release designed the device to fit Lawton’s particular needs others will take the technology continue to develop it further /

Feathered dinosaur tail encased in amber

99 Million year old amber with the feathered tail of a dinosaur trapped inside – amber appears to have been shaped by a jeweller
Credit: Ryan McKellar/Royal Saskatchewan Museum/The Age

Fossilisation typically preserves the shape of the hard parts of an organism. Bones are not preserved as such. The process of fossilisation replaces the bones with minerals, atom-by-atom, so that the structure of the bones is preserved in stone. This is what we see in the image below – the fossilised skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex.


Fossilised skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex
Credit: bnps.co.uk/Daily Mail

Rarely, a softer structure, such as this sample of Triceratops skin, is fossilised – but because, once again, the original is replaced atom-by-atom, no colour information is retained.


Fossilised Triceratops skin
Credit: Fossils ourprehistoricworld/Pinterest

Shown in the image at the top of this post, & below, is the tail of a dinosaur which was engulfed by tree sap 99 million years ago. Subsequently, the tree sap hardened into amber, preserving bones, skin & feathers, almost wholly intact, without mineralisation. As a result, colour information has been preserved. It appears that the dinosaur was brown above & white below.


Detail from the piece of amber. Notice that the four tips in the top left & middle left all branch from the same shaft
Credit: Ryan McKellar/Royal Saskatchewan Museum/New York Times

Australian Broadcasting Corporation – Feathered dinosaur tail discovered in lump of amber from a market in Myanmar
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-09/99-million-year-old-amber-fossil-holds-dinosaur-bones-feathers/8092526

Sydney Morning Herald – Dinosaur tail feathers encased in amber found at a market in Myanmar
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/dinosaur-tail-found-encased-in-amber-found-at-a-market-in-myanmar-20161208-gt7bia.html / feathered dinosaur tail discovered lump of amber from market Myanmar amber piece chestnut brown feathers sprout fossilised tail dinosaur Royal Saskatchewan Museum RSM/R.C. McKellar preserved bones feathers tip dinosaur tail amber piece chestnut brown feathers sprout fossilised tail dinosaur Royal Saskatchewan Museum R.C. McKellar exquisitely preserved bones feathers tip dinosaur tail discovered piece 99-million-year-old amber found palaeontologist hunting fossils Myanmar market piece dinosaur tail preserved 99-million-year-old amber 99 million year old amber first time dinosaur skeleton material found in amber help scientists understand development feathers dinosaurs birds astonishing fossil contains first skeletal remains dinosaur ever found preserved amber international team scientists journal Current Biology spotted amber market last year palaeontologist Dr Lida Xing tail fragment young dinosaur about size sparrow lived mid-Cretaceous period amber was originally assumed contain some sort plant material destined to become jewellery Dr Xing China University of Beijing scientific significance colleague Dr Ryan McKellar co-author research paper private collection gone entirely unnoticed Dr McKellar Royal Saskatchewan Museum Canada close inspection fossil microscope CT scanning revealed stunning 3D detail feathers sprouting from either side central rod preserved traces pigmentation reveal top feathers light chestnut brown underside pale white colour feathers tail 3.5 centimetres long eight to nine tiny vertebrae fossil contains remnants soft tissue muscles analysis tissue revealed molecules iron may indicate traces haemoglobin protein trapped fossil once-in-a-lifetime project dinosaur visually stunning level of detail specimen amber dinosaur bone digs Alberta Saskatchewan fragment of a feather part of the animal skeletal remains too fossil dinosaur not bird wispy-tailed juvenile dinosaur theropod group of largely carnivorous animals included creatures Tyrannosaurus rex ancestors modern birds dinosaur bird bones within tail aren't fused together into rod modern birds shows more similarity dinosaurs velociraptor tyrannosaurus modern birds specimen help scientists better understand how feathers developed dinosaurs evolved into birds feather and amber feathers intermediate form modern bird feathers have barbs central shaft well developed central shaft particular pathway development of feathers dinosaurs leading to birds feathers developed barbules and barbs before developing entral shaft /

John Glenn 1921-2016

Credit: NASA/Michael Lawrence Films
God speed John Glenn

Scott Carpenter, backup pilot &
capsule communicator
1962 orbital flight

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NASA movie of John Glen’s orbital flight, 20 February 1962

/ John Glenn John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016 American aviator engineer astronaut United States Senator Ohio 1962 first American to orbit the earth circling three times NASA distinguished fighter pilot World War II Korea five Distinguished Flying Crosses and eighteen clusters Mercury Seven group military test pilots selected 1959 NASA America's first astronauts February 20 1962 flew Friendship 7 mission first American to orbit the Earth fifth person in space Congressional Space Medal of Honor Honour in 1978 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame last surviving member of the Mercury Seven /

X-rays show how gas “pillows” make lithium-ion batteries explode

Credit: Journal of the Electrochemical Society

Abuse or manufacturing errors can cause a lithium ion cell to evolve gas, causing it to expand, or “pillow”. Abuse can take the form of overheating, overcharging, overdischarging, electrical short or physical abuse such as a forceful blow or bending. This process may continue with some combination of heat, smoke, flames & explosion. Perhaps most famously, in the recent events which lead to cessation of production & recall of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phones.^1,2,3,4

This much has been known for some time. Recently, a team at Canadian Light Source Inc., has used computed tomography (CT) scan technology to investigate what actually happens inside a cell failing in this way.⁵


Cross sections through a lithium ion cell produced by CT scans:   (a) as manufactured   (b) after overdischarge
(c) image difference map of the two scans with areas of expansion (gas formation) in red
Credit: Journal of the Electrochemical Society

Notice that areas of gas formation are frequently concentrated in irregularities in the manufactured cell. This suggests that improvements in manufacturing techniques can make cells less susceptible to this failure mode.

New Scientist
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2115413-x-rays-show-how-gas-pillows-make-lithium-ion-batteries-explode/?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Twitter&utm_term=Autofeed&cmpid=SOC%7cNSNS%7c2016-Echobox#link_time=1481109691
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¹ Hitchhiker’s Guide 2 Tech: “Samsung Galaxy Note 7 fires – cause – simple solution”, http://hhg2tech.blogspot.com/2016/09/samsung-galaxy-note-7-fires-cause-what.html

² Hitchhiker’s Guide 2 Tech: “Samsung Galaxy Note 7 – fires continue – simple solution”, http://hhg2tech.blogspot.com/2016/09/samsung-galaxy-note-7-fires-continue.html

³ Hitchhiker’s Guide 2 Tech: “iPhone has fire too”, http://hhg2tech.blogspot.com/2016/09/iphone-has-fire-too.html

⁴ Hitchhiker’s Guide 2 Tech: “More lithium ion battery fires – not just phones”, http://hhg2tech.blogspot.com/2016/11/more-lithium-ion-battery-fires.html

⁵ Toby Bond et. al.: “Electrode Stack Geometry Changes during Gas Evolution in Pouch-Cell-Type Lithium Ion Batteries”, http://jes.ecsdl.org/content/164/1/A6158.full / Recipe for Swiss roll flambé Toby Bond Canadian Light Source battery has swollen up like an inflatable pillow LiIon lithium-ion lithium ion batteries battery cell cells ubiquitous phones laptops device devices tablets pad iPad hoverboards lightweight hold a lot of charge high charge density recent spate of explosions safety concerns batteries damage-prone damage prone structure Toby Bond Canadian Light Source synchrotron facility Saskatoon Canada Canadian Light Source Inc. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 2V3 Canada contain electrode sheets wrapped in a spiralling Swiss roll jelly roll configuration energy-producing layers causes problems gas forms inside gas build up battery becomes overheated overcharged left drained of charge for too long liquid components battery vaporise and produce gas causes external casing swell up resulting in the characteristic pillow appearance battery can either pillow small amount keep operating pillow a lot cease operation keep generating gas rupture cell explosion fire pillowing battery’s outer appearance looking inside high-powered X-ray technique called computed tomography CT scan process as gas built up electrode layers appeared buckle push apart subtle defects already present battery found to be points of weakness defects probably introduced assembly process suggesting improvements manufacturing make lithium batteries more resistant unclear whether pillowing involved recent battery failures Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phones reduce risk develop lithium-ion batteries no liquid components Neeraj Sharma University of New South Wales Sydney Australia working on solid-state batteries can be very safe scientific technical challenges need to be overcome compete with conventional lithium-ion batteries protect your lithium battery from pillowing stop it from overheating Avoid many uninterrupted hours playing 3D games your phone binge-watching movies nine-hour flight /

Nike’s self-lacing shoes too expensive? – try the Xpand Lacing System

Credit: Xpand

With Nike HyperAdapt retailing at $720 (if you can get your hands on a pair),¹ plus their complexity, & the need to keep the batteries charged, you may have decided that self lacing shoes are not for you.

Good news is that the Xpand Lacing System adds most of the same functionality to your own shoes, without any of the disadvantages – for as little as $5 per pair.



New Atlas
http://newatlas.com/xpand-lacing-system/40295/

Gear Junkie
https://gearjunkie.com/xpand-lacing-system

Indiegogo project
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/xpand-lacing-system-shoes/x/9010251#/

Kickstarter project
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/914635363/xpand-lacing-system/
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¹ Sneaker News: “How To Buy The Nike HyperAdapt 1.0”, http://sneakernews.com/2016/11/14/how-to-buy-the-nike-hyperadapt/ / Xpand traditional shoelaces shoelace tied in a bow hide the lace-ends inside your shoes new Xpand lacing system uses elastic laces slim anchors keep your shoes comfortable looking slick elastic laces bulky toggles hang outside the shoe Xpand system providing a means keeping your shoes laced tightly discreet and unintrusive manner designed by Charles Harris partnership with Seattle-based Pillar Product Design Xpand system lace shoes normal laces Lace Anchor lace-end and adjust desired tightness lace-ends trimmed off excess optional additional clip provides a tidy finished look Lace Anchors worn either inside or outside shoe worn inside they rest flat against the inside of the shoe comfort ensure wearer's laces look no different to conventional laces worn outside the shoe look more understated and streamlined than other solutions anchors and clips made of made of fiber-reinforced resin laces elastic rubber available in a variety of colors allows users to put on their shoes in three seconds flat system is easy enough for five-year-olds to use strong enough for triathletes Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign Xpand system production and roll-out /