For home computer users, the end of the 1980s was the era of 16-bit computers. The challenge facing manufacturers of 8-bit machines through the middle of the decade was to transfer their range and customers to the new hardware, and the different brands each did this in their own way. Commodore and Atari had 68000-based powerhouses, and Apple had their 16-bit-upgraded IIGS for the middle ground below the Mac, but what about Acorn, makers of the BBC Micro? They had the Archimedes, and [RetroBytes] takes us through how they packaged their 32-bit ARM processor for consumers.

The A3000 was the computer you wanted if you were a geeky British kid at the end of that decade, even if an Amiga or an ST was what you got. Schools had bought a few of the desktop Archimedes’, so if you were lucky you’d got to know Arthur and then RiscOS, so you knew just how fast these things were compared to the competition. The video below the break takes a dive into the decisions behind the design of this first ARM consumer product, and along the way it explains a few things we didn’t know at the time. We all know what happened to Acorn through the 1990s and we all use ARM processors today, so it’s a fascinating watch. If only an extra two hundred quid had been in the kitty back then and we could have bought one ourselves.

If you have never used an Archimedes you can get pretty close today with another Cambridge-designed and ARM-powered computer. RiscOS never went away, and you can run it on a Raspberry Pi. As we found, it’s still pretty useful.

youtube.com/embed/wELAhgbqNzc?…

hackaday.com/2024/12/17/the-la…

When you hear the cry of “Man Overboard!” on a ship, it’s an emergency situation. The sea is unkind to those that fall from their vessel, and survival is never guaranteed—even in the most favorable conditions. Raging swell and the dark of night can only make rescue more impossible.

Over the centuries, naval tradition has included techniques to find and recover the person in the water as quickly and safely as possible. These days, though, technology is playing an ever-greater role in such circumstances. Modern man-overboard (MOB) systems are designed to give crews of modern vessels a fighting chance when rescuing those in peril.

A Hard Task

Man overboard recoveries are challenging to execute, because of the unpredictable and rapidly changing conditions at sea. Once a person enters the water, factors like strong currents, wind, waves, and darkness can make it difficult to keep them in sight and quickly maneuver the vessel to their location. Even in calm weather, a victim can be carried away faster than it appears, and thick clothing or heavy gear may limit their mobility, reducing their ability to stay afloat or attract attention. Additionally, communication can be hindered by engine noise, onboard confusion, or the sheer panic of the moment. All of these elements combine to make man overboard scenarios both time-sensitive and complex operations for the crew.

These situations can pose particular difficulties for larger ships. Where a smaller craft might be able to quickly stop to recover a fallen crew member or passenger, larger vessels are much slower to maneuver. Traditional man overboard techniques, such as having crew members point at the victim in the water, can fail to work if the vessel drifts out of visual range. Smaller vessels can have problems, too. With smaller crews, it can be difficult to bring someone back on board while also ensuring the vessel is maneuvered safely.
Simple man-overboard systems for small boats rely on fobs or wrist-straps that communicate via radio. Credit: CrewWatcher
Man-overboard systems aim to help improve the likelihood of survival for those that fall into the water. They come in a variety of forms designed to suit different types of vessel, and the different scenarios they operate in.

For small boats, the most basic systems act as simple alarms, which automatically sound when a person falls overboard. These use small wireless fobs or wrist straps, which communicate with a base station on the boat itself. If the short-range radio link between the two is severed, an alarm is sounded, notifying those on board of the man overboard situation. Many models also feature a water immersion sensor, so the alarm can be raised instantly if someone falls into the sea. For small boats operated by individuals, this can be very useful. There is great benefit in receiving an automatic notification if someone falls into the water, even if nobody on the boat notices the incident directly.

Many of these small-scale systems are also set up to work with smartphones or tablets. They instantly log the position at which the man overboard event occurred, and guide the vessel back to the victim in the water. Soem even come with a special “captain’s fob” wherein the system will cut the boat’s engines in the case the skipper falls overboard. This can be valuable for avoiding a runaway boat scenario.
The MARSS MOBtronic system uses sensor pods installed across a cruise ship to detect man overboard events. Credit: MARSS
These systems are useful for small boats. When it comes to larger vessels like cruise ships, however, the solutions are more advanced. When duly equipped with a man overboard system, these craft are dotted with sensor packages, including cameras, thermal imagers, and LIDAR scanners, all of which are trained on the perimeter of the vessel. These are set up to detect if a human falls overboard, at which point they raise the alarm. The bridge is notified as to the emergency, and the vessel receives directions to the area where the person fell from the ship.

These systems come with additional benefits, too. The sensors that detect a fall can also be used to track a person’s motion in the water. Essentially acting as a high-tech surveillance system trained on the perimeter of the vessel, they can be used to detect unwelcome boarders trying to gain access to the ship as well. They can also detect if someone might be climbing on the side of the ship—a foolish act that is perhaps likely to precede a fall into the water. Indeed, it’s pretty hard to fall off of most cruise ships—the high railings are designed specifically to prevent that. Misadventure plays a role in a significant proportion of man overboard incidents on cruises.
Thermal cameras are particularly useful for detecting man overboard events. Credit: MARSS
This technology is relatively new. It has largely been developed as a result of the The Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2010, which stated that cruise vessels “shell integrate technology that can be used for capturing images of passengers or detecting passengers who have fallen overboard, to the extent that such technology is available.” At the time, advanced man overboard systems did not exist, so the requirement was effectively optional. As covered by USA Today, workable systems have been developed, but they are not yet ubiquitous, as many cruise lines are yet to deploy them across their fleets. An increasing number of vessels are now sailing with such equipment, though MARSS notes that less than 2% of cruise ships are currently fielding effective systems.

The fact remains that falling overboard from a ship is a fraught situation. Statistics from 2018 indicate that of the 1 or 2 people that fell from cruise ships each month, just 17 to 25% were rescued. The hope is that these automated systems will speed responsiveness to man overboard events, and lead to better outcomes. Indeed, in many cases, crews only respond to man overboard incidents hours after victims fall into the water, when the alarm is raised by concerned fellow travelers. This can make even just finding the individual near-impossible. Automated systems have the potential to cut response times to minutes or better, greatly increasing the chances of spotting a person in the water and executing their rescue.

Ultimately, the advancement of automated detection and response systems offers a clear path to improved safety on vessels small and large alike. By sharply cutting the time to raise an alarm, these technologies can dramatically improve the odds of saving a life. As more vessels adopt these systems and integrate them into their safety protocols, we stand to shift the balance, turning dire emergencies into manageable situations, and ultimately, safeguarding more passengers and crew at sea.

hackaday.com/2024/12/17/man-ov…

Nell’ottobre 2024, Cisco ha subito un incidente di sicurezza significativo a causa di una configurazione errata del loro DevHub, che ha permesso di accedere e scaricare dati sensibili.

L’incidente è stato reso pubblico da IntelBroker su BreachForums il 15 di Ottobre scorso, dove è stato annunciato che una parte del breach era disponibile per il download.

Gli attaccanti, tra cui IntelBroker, @zjj e @EnergyWeaponUser hanno pubblicato nuovi dati, grazie ad un’istanza DevHub aperta di Cisco, scaricando 4.5TB di informazioni. I file coinvolti includevano software critici come:

• Cisco C9800-SW-iosxe-wlc.16.11.01
• Cisco IOS XE & XR
• Cisco ISE
• Cisco SASE
• Cisco Umbrella
• Cisco Webex

La dimensione totale dei file disponibili per il download era di 2.9GB, utilizzata come “preview” per attirare potenziali acquirenti per l’intero databreach.

Tattiche, Tecniche e Procedure (TTPs)

Gli attaccanti hanno utilizzato le seguenti tattiche per eseguire l’attacco:

• Sfruttamento di Configurazioni Errate: L’istanza DevHub di Cisco era pubblicamente accessibile senza adeguate misure di autenticazione e controllo degli accessi.

• Esfiltrazione di Dati: Una volta ottenuto l’accesso, gli attori hanno scaricato una vasta quantità di dati, inclusi software e configurazioni critiche.

Implicazioni per la Sicurezza nel Networking

Questo incidente mette in luce diverse vulnerabilità e lezioni importanti per il settore del networking, dimostrando che anche un colosso come Cisco può commettere degli errori.

Le configurazioni errate, ad esempio, possono esporre dati sensibili e sistemi critici. È essenziale implementare rigorosi controlli di accesso e autenticazione per tutte le risorse pubblicamente accessibili.

Condurre audit di sicurezza regolari e valutazioni di vulnerabilità può aiutare a identificare e correggere tempestivamente le esposizioni potenziali.

Le aziende dovrebbero inoltre avere piani di risposta agli incidenti ben definiti per mitigare rapidamente i danni e proteggere i dati dei clienti.

Azioni Correttive di Cisco

Cisco ha risposto all’incidente disabilitando l’accesso pubblico al DevHub e correggendo l’errore di configurazione. Hanno inoltre notificato i clienti interessati e offerto assistenza per la revisione dei file coinvolti. Cisco continua a valutare i file per identificare ulteriori dati sensibili e garantire la sicurezza delle loro risorse.

L’incidente di sicurezza su Cisco DevHub evidenzia l’importanza di una gestione rigorosa delle configurazioni e della sicurezza nel settore del networking. Le aziende devono adottare misure proattive per proteggere le loro risorse e rispondere efficacemente agli incidenti di sicurezza per salvaguardare i dati sensibili e mantenere la fiducia dei clienti.

L'articolo Nuovi dati di Cisco nelle Underground. IntelBroker e Soci pubblicano 4,5 TB proviene da il blog della sicurezza informatica.

Once upon a time, a computer could tell you virtually nothing about an image beyond its file format, size, and color palette. These days, powerful image recognition systems are a part of our everyday lives. They See Your Photos is a simple website that shows you just how much these systems can interpret from a regular photo.

The website simply takes your image submission, runs it through the Google Vision API, and spits back out a description of the image. I tried it out with a photograph of myself, and was pretty impressed with what the vision model saw:

The photo is taken in a lush green forest, with tall trees dominating the background. The foreground features a person, who appears to be the subject of the photograph. The lighting suggests it might be daytime, and the overall color palette is heavily saturated with shades of green, almost artificial in appearance. There’s also some dried vegetation visible to the left, suggesting a natural setting that is possibly a park or woodland area.

The subject is a young to middle-aged Caucasian male with shoulder-length, light-colored hair. He seems serious, perhaps pensive or slightly uneasy. His clothing —a green and yellow checkered shirt over a green and black striped shirt—suggests a casual or outdoorsy lifestyle. He might be of middle to lower-middle class economic standing. It looks like he’s crouching slightly, possibly for the picture. The image lacks metadata on the camera device used or the time the photo was taken. He appears to be alone in the photo, indicating an individualistic or solitary experience.

The saturation level of the greens and yellows is unusually high, hinting at possible digital editing post-capture. There is a very slight blur, particularly noticeable in the background which could be from a smaller aperture or shallow depth of field when captured, creating a focus on the subject. The color alteration and seemingly intentional focus on the subject suggest it may not be a candid shot but rather a posed photograph, possibly with an artistic or stylistic goal.

The system doesn’t get satire or memes, though.
The model did very well—easily determining both the vague type of locale , and the fact that my shirt implies I don’t have a Ferrari at home in my garage. It also picks up on the fact that it was a posed photograph with certain artistic intent.

Back in 2014, the webcomic XKCD stated that it would be an inordinately difficult task for a computer to determine if a digital photo contained a bird. These days, a computer model can tell us what’s in a photo down to the intimate details, and even make amusing assertions as to the lives of the subjects in the image and their intentions. We’ve come a long way, to be sure.

Machine vision is still far from perfect—there are ways to fool systems and areas in which they still don’t stack up to real humans. The only thing we know for certain is that these systems will continue to improve.

hackaday.com/2024/12/17/see-wh…

Siamo in un’era in cui siamo sommersi da un’infinità di segnali e impulsi digitali che, in qualche modo, governano il nostro modo di agire e di interagire con ciò che ci circonda. Ma cosa succederebbe se potessimo hackerare questi segnali e far sì che il mondo risponda ai nostri comandi?

Prendiamo, ad esempio, un dispositivo straordinario come il Flipper Zero: con esso è possibile divertirsi eseguendo attacchi semplici ed efficaci, che nella maggior parte dei casi hanno esito positivo. Ma se ti dicessi che non è necessario possedere un Flipper preconfezionato per riuscire ad aprire la portiera di una Tesla?

Andiamo con ordine. Il Flipper Zero vanta una grande comunità di sviluppatori attivi e competenti, un motivo di orgoglio per chi lo utilizza. Tuttavia, esiste anche un mondo sommerso che si sta sviluppando a ritmi incredibilmente veloci.

In questo mondo, i dispositivi hanno costi ridotti, ma richiedono una maggiore manutenzione e supervisione. È un mondo in cui appassionati e professionisti, con grande entusiasmo, lavorano ogni giorno per sviluppare firmware personalizzati, rendendo utilizzabili anche dispositivi meno noti, ma perfettamente adatti allo scopo.

Un esempio?

Dispositivi come LilyGO T-Embed CC1101, che, con firmware specifici come “Bruce“, possono facilmente eseguire attacchi RF, RFID, IR, NFC, NRF, BLE, WIFI e altri ancora
Una LilyGO T-Embed CC1101

Conclusione

Questi strumenti, con la loro accessibilità e versatilità, stanno ridefinendo il concetto di hacking moderno: non più appannaggio esclusivo degli esperti, ma un fenomeno sempre più alla portata di chiunque abbia la giusta curiosità e competenza.

Tuttavia, questa crescente potenza solleva interrogativi importanti: fino a che punto possiamo spingerci?

E soprattutto, siamo davvero pronti a confrontarci con un mondo in cui ogni segnale può essere intercettato, manipolato o sfruttato?

La tecnologia ‘punk’ è qui per restare, e sta a noi decidere come utilizzarla: come uno strumento di scoperta e innovazione o come un’arma capace di sfidare ogni sistema.

Nascondere queste tecnologie non porta a nulla di buono, ma occorre conoscerle creando consapevolezza. Infatti rimane sempre il concetto “etico” dietro ad ogni device. Ovvero comprendere le minacce per apportare i miglioramenti per rendere il nostro mondo sempre più sicuro

L'articolo Flipper e Lily per l’hacking di auto e dispositivi smart! La tecnologia Punk che spaventa il mondo proviene da il blog della sicurezza informatica.

The ease of integrating bendy parts into designs is one of 3D printing’s strengths. A great example of this is [uhltimate]’s six-shot blaster which integrates several compliant mechanisms. The main blaster even prints in one piece, so there’s not even any assembly required.
The ergonomics are unconventional, but the design is pretty clever.
The blaster itself has three main parts: the trigger, the sear, and the striker. Each of them rely on compliant mechanisms in order to function. The user pulls back the trigger, which hooks into and pulls back the striker. When the trigger is pulled back far enough, the sear releases the striker. This zips forward and slams into a waiting projectile, sending it flying.

The other interesting part is the projectiles and magazine in which they sit. The magazine fits onto the front of the blaster and pulling the trigger allows the magazine to drop down, putting the next projectile into firing position. After the final round is fired, the empty magazine falls away. It’s a pretty clever design, even if the ergonomics are a little unusual and it relies on gravity in order to feed. Tilt it too far sideways or upside down, and it won’t load properly.

We’ve seen compliant mechanisms used for projectile firing before, but this design really raises the bar in the way it does more than just firing the striker.

3D printing allows rapid iteration of designs, which makes devices that rely on compliant mechanisms much easier to develop and fine-tune.

youtube.com/embed/7Y1OKlcw78g?…

hackaday.com/2024/12/17/3d-pri…

Recentemente, questa espressione è diventata la parola dell’anno secondo la Oxford University Press. Questo termine si riferisce a “un sospetto deterioramento della condizione mentale o intellettuale associato al consumo eccessivo di materiali considerati minori o non stimolanti il ​​pensiero”.

Se la frase “decadimento mentale” veniva originariamente utilizzata per criticare il disinteresse verso idee complesse, oggi viene rievocata per esprimere un fenomeno che si manifesta quotidianamente nel consumo di contenuti digitali.

Ma di cosa si tratta?

L’uso del termine “decadimento mentale” è aumentato del 230% dal 2023 al 2024. Il primo uso documentato della frase risale al 1854, quando Henry David Thoreau, nel suo libro Walden, criticò la tendenza della società a svalutare idee complesse.

Benvenuti nell’era del Decadimento mentale

Nell’era dell’Intelligenza Artificiale generativa, dei social media e delle piattaforme di streaming, siamo circondati da contenuti facili e veloci. Questo ambiente favorisce la velocità e la semplicità, a discapito della riflessione profonda. Ciò che un tempo era visto come un rischio, oggi è diventato un problema concreto. Il dibattito sulla qualità del pensiero umano e sulla salute mentale è più vivo che mai.

Il termine “decadimento mentale” non si limita a descrivere la qualità del contenuto che consumiamo, ma allude anche alla nostra capacità di impegnarci con esso. La psicologia suggerisce che il nostro cervello è naturalmente incline a cercare gratificazione immediata, una tendenza che trova terreno fertile nelle forme brevi di contenuti digitali, come i video di TikTok o i post di Instagram. Questo tipo di stimolazione immediata può ridurre la nostra capacità di concentrarci per periodi prolungati, contribuendo a una “decadimento” della nostra attenzione e della nostra capacità di analizzare in profondità le informazioni.

Inoltre, il consumo di contenuti facilmente fruibili può ridurre l’inclinazione a sviluppare competenze cognitive complesse, come il pensiero critico e la riflessione profonda. In una società sempre più connessa, dominata dall’Intelligenza Artificiale, dove le informazioni si accumulano a ritmi vertiginosi, l’abilità di selezionare, filtrare e riflettere sulle informazioni diventa sempre più rara.

L’impatto della cultura digitale sulle generazioni Z e Alpha

Le generazioni più giovani sono particolarmente vulnerabili agli effetti del “decadimento mentale”. Essendo cresciute in un ambiente dove la tecnologia permea ogni aspetto della vita quotidiana, i ragazzi della Generazione Z e Alpha hanno un rapporto ambivalente con i media digitali. Da un lato, sono consapevoli dei pericoli legati al consumo passivo di contenuti, ma dall’altro, sono anche i maggiori consumatori di questi contenuti. Questo paradosso crea una frattura tra il desiderio di esplorare idee complesse e l’influenza delle piattaforme digitali che spesso promuovono una cultura del “clic veloce” e del “divertimento immediato”.

Le discussioni sul “decadimento mentale” potrebbero rappresentare un campanello d’allarme per queste generazioni, portandole a riflettere sulle loro abitudini digitali e sull’impatto che queste hanno sul loro sviluppo cognitivo e sociale.

Ritorno alla qualità: Come contrastare il “decadimento mentale”

Per contrastare gli effetti negativi del “decadimento mentale”, è fondamentale riscoprire l’importanza di contenuti che stimolino un pensiero più profondo e complesso. La promozione di letture più lunghe, la valorizzazione di contenuti educativi e la creazione di esperienze digitali che incoraggino l’interazione autentica, piuttosto che il consumo passivo, sono passi cruciali per invertire questa tendenza.

Inoltre, è essenziale educare le nuove generazioni alla consapevolezza digitale, insegnando loro a riconoscere e a districarsi tra contenuti di qualità e materiale superficiale. Solo così potremo mantenere un equilibrio tra il mondo virtuale e quello reale, favorendo la crescita intellettuale e il benessere mentale.

Conclusione

In definitiva, il “decadimento mentale” non è solo una riflessione sulla superficialità dei contenuti che consumiamo, ma una sfida culturale che invita ciascuno di noi a riflettere su come la tecnologia influisce sulla nostra vita quotidiana.

Se da un lato la tecnologia offre innumerevoli opportunità di apprendimento e connessione e facilità il lavoro quotidiano (vediamo ad esempio le AI Generative), dall’altro, richiede anche una maggiore consapevolezza e responsabilità nel suo utilizzo.

Le nuove generazioni, in particolare, devono trovare il giusto equilibrio che consenta loro di utilizzare il digitale in modo sano, con una mente attenta e critica, pronta ad affrontare le sfide del futuro, perché nel bene o nel male, ce ne saranno tante da affrontare.

L'articolo Decadimento Mentale: La Tecnologia Sta Rovinando le Nostre Menti? proviene da il blog della sicurezza informatica.

In late October 2024, a new scheme for distributing a certain Android banking Trojan called “Mamont” was uncovered. The victim would receive an instant message from an unknown sender asking to identify a person in a photo. The attackers would then send what appeared to be the photo itself but was actually a malware installer. Shortly after, reports surfaced of Mamont being disseminated through neighborhood chat groups. Cybercriminals were touting an app to track a parcel containing household appliances they said they were offering for free. In reality, this was malware with no parcel-tracking functionality whatsoever. Both scams targeted individual users only. Recently, however, we noticed a number of websites promoting a variety of bulk-priced goods that could attract both individual bargain hunters and businesses. A closer look revealed a previously unknown Mamont dissemination pattern.

How we tried to save some cash on a purchase

As we began our investigation, our attention was drawn to websites that offered various products at wholesale prices. We decided to place an order to see if there was a catch. The contact details for one of the stores contained a link to a dedicated private Telegram chat that instructed users to DM their manager to place an order.

Reach out to the agent to place an order

We did just that, checked the details, and made an order. They told us we could pay on delivery with no advance payment whatsoever. This was likely a way for the criminals to avoid arousing suspicions.

The agent requests shipping details

We were notified the following day that our order had shipped and could be tracked with a special mobile app linked in a message from the manager. The link directed users to a phishing site offering to download Mamont for Android (12936056e8895e6a662731c798b27333). The link came with a tracking number that had to be entered in the app. We reported the scam accounts and channels to Telegram, but the messaging service had done nothing to block them at the time of writing this.

The phishing link sent by the manager

We have to give it to the operators: the scam was quite convincing. The private channel was full of users asking questions, no prepayment was necessary, and the “shipping” took a credible length of time. We can’t rule out, however, that some of the group members were, in fact, bots keeping potential victims distracted. Our security products detect the malware spreading via this scam as Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Mamont.

The inner workings of the “tracker app”

When launched, the Trojan requests permission to run in the background, and access to push notifications, text messaging, and calls. It then asks the victim to enter the tracking number previously received from the scammers, and sends a POST request containing device information along with the number to the C2 server. We believe the scam operators use that number for victim identification. If the POST request returns a 200 code, the Trojan opens a window that supposedly downloads order details.

Sending data to the C2

The app also starts two malicious services. The first one hijacks all push notifications and forwards them to the attackers’ server. The other one sets up a connection with the attackers’ WebSocket server. The server responds with JSON-formatted commands. The “type” field in the object contains the command name. The object may also contain other fields with command arguments. The full list of commands with their descriptions is given in the table below.

The “custom” and “photo” commands, designed to trick the user into giving away data, call for special attention. The “custom” command can be used to manipulate the victim into giving up various login details. When the app receives that command, the user sees a window with a text box for entering data, which is then sent to the command-and-control server. The “photo” command is similar to “custom”, but instead of a text box, it displays an image upload window. It appears that the attackers do this to harvest data for further social engineering scams like posing as law enforcement or a regulatory agency to trick users into sending money. Additionally, cybercriminals can leverage the banker’s capabilities to directly extract data from victims during this manipulation for added credibility.

Victims

The Mamont campaign exclusively targets Android phone users in Russia as highlighted by the operators themselves.

According to Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) anonymized telemetry data consensually provided by users, our security products blocked more than 31,000 Mamont attacks under the guise of a parcel-tracking app in October and November 2024.

Conclusion

What makes the scam detailed above notable is that both individual users and businesses may take the bait. The attackers lure victims with bulk-priced offers, spreading malware disguised as parcel-tracking apps. Admittedly, the scam is highly convincing and may well look like a bona fide offer to the victim. Besides, the scammers get the victim to contact them first, which boosts the level of trust.

Simple as it may be, the Trojan possesses the essential feature set for stealing login credentials through windows with customizable text elements and controlling SMS banking. We recommend following a few simple rules to avoid getting infected with this and other malware.

• Don’t click links in messages you get from strangers.
• Be wary of overly generous offers you come across online.
• Avoid downloading apps from anywhere but official sources.
• Use a reliable security solution to keep malware away from your device.

Indicators of compromise

C2 server
apisys003[.]com

MD5
12936056e8895e6a662731c798b27333

securelist.com/mamont-banker-d…

Un post allarmante è stato recentemente individuato nel Dark Web, dove un Threat Actor sta promuovendo una presunta vulnerabilità 0-day Remote Code Execution (RCE), in grado di compromettere i due browser più diffusi al mondo: Google Chrome e Microsoft Edge.

Questa segnalazione solleva serie preoccupazioni all’interno della comunità della sicurezza informatica, evidenziando il potenziale rischio di sfruttamento di una falla non ancora divulgata, con implicazioni che potrebbero mettere in pericolo la sicurezza di milioni di utenti a livello globale.

L’offerta dell’hacker: bug bounty o vendita diretta

Secondo quanto dichiarato nel post, il Threat Actor afferma di aver scoperto la vulnerabilità, ma di non averla ancora resa pubblica. Il Cybercriminale ha avanzato due opzioni:

• Trovare un programma di bug bounty che accetti pagamenti in criptovaluta e non richieda procedure di identificazione personale.

• Vendere direttamente la vulnerabilità, limitando la transazione a compratori in grado di fornire prove di fondi o che possiedano uno status di “acquirente fidato”.

Il prezzo di partenza richiesto è di 100.000 dollari, con transazioni esclusivamente in criptovaluta, un dettaglio che sottolinea la volontà di mantenere l’anonimato e rende difficile rintracciare le operazioni.

Potenziali rischi della vulnerabilità

Se autentica, questa vulnerabilità rappresenta una minaccia significativa sia per gli utenti individuali che per le aziende. Una falla RCE consente agli attaccanti di eseguire codice arbitrario da remoto, aprendo la strada a diverse tipologie di attacco:

• Compromissione dei dispositivi, utilizzando exploit specifici.
• Furto di dati sensibili, incluse credenziali e informazioni personali.
• Distribuzione di malware, come ransomware o spyware, con impatti potenzialmente estesi e dannosi.

La gravità di una vulnerabilità 0-day risiede nella sua natura: essendo sconosciuta al pubblico e ai fornitori, non esistono patch o misure di difesa immediate, lasciando gli utenti esposti a possibili attacchi.

Conclusione

L’episodio sottolinea ancora una volta il ruolo cruciale della cybersecurity in un panorama digitale sempre più complesso e minaccioso. Il Dark Web continua a essere un punto di scambio per falle di alto profilo, mettendo in evidenza la necessità di un monitoraggio costante e di una risposta rapida alle minacce emergenti. La prevenzione e l’adozione di misure proattive restano le armi più efficaci per contrastare un ambiente in cui ogni vulnerabilità rappresenta un’opportunità per i Cybercriminali e un potenziale disastro per utenti e organizzazioni.

L'articolo Minaccia Dal Dark Web: Un Bug RCE 0-Day per Chrome ed Edge in Vendita nelle Underground proviene da il blog della sicurezza informatica.

L’Ufficio federale per la sicurezza dell’informazione (BSI) della Germania ha interrotto la botnet Badbox. Il malware con lo stesso nome è preinstallato sui dispositivi Android e sono stati scoperti più di 30.000 dispositivi infetti. Tra questi cornici per foto digitali, lettori multimediali, set-top box TV e probabilmente smartphone e tablet nel paese.

Ricordiamo che l’anno scorso gli specialisti di Human Security e il ricercatore indipendente sulla sicurezza informatica Daniel Milisic hanno avvertito che migliaia di dispositivi IoT sono infettati da Badbox e tale botnet viene venduta con il malware pre-installato. È stato poi riferito che le backdoor contenevano almeno sette set-top box e un tablet e che anche più di 200 modelli di altri dispositivi Android mostravano segni di infezione.

Tuttavia, i ricercatori non sono riusciti a scoprire in quale fase della catena di approvvigionamento si verifica la compromissione. Il fatto è che i dispositivi sono prodotti in Cina e, prima che cadano nelle mani dei rivenditori, al loro firmware viene aggiunta una backdoor. Ad esempio, i set-top box Android economici per lo streaming video (di solito costano meno di 50 dollari) sono risultati infetti. Spesso venduti con marchi diversi o senza alcun marchio, quindi è difficile tracciarne l’origine e la catena di fornitura;

Badbox è un malware Android che viene utilizzato per rubare dati. Inoltre installa malware aggiuntivo e consentire agli aggressori di ottenere l’accesso remoto alla rete su cui si trova il gadget infetto.

Quando un dispositivo infetto si connette per la prima volta a Internet, il malware contatta il suo server di comando e controllo. Comunica quindi a Badbox quali servizi dannosi eseguire e riceve anche tutti i dati rubati dalla rete della vittima.

Secondo gli esperti, il malware è in grado di rubare codici di autenticazione a due fattori, installare altri programmi dannosi e creare nuovi account di posta elettronica e di messaggistica per diffondere notizie false. Inoltre, come notato nel 2023, gli operatori Badbox possono essere associati a frodi pubblicitarie e i gadget infetti che vengono talvolta utilizzati come proxy residenziali.

BSI ha ora riferito di essere riuscito a bloccare le comunicazioni tra i dispositivi infetti da Badbox e la loro infrastruttura di gestione tramite il sinkhole delle query DNS. Tutti i fornitori Internet del Paese che servono più di 100.000 abbonati hanno ricevuto istruzioni adeguate.

Di conseguenza, il malware comunica invece che con i server di controllo degli aggressori, con server controllati dalla polizia. Ciò impedisce al malware di trasmettere dati rubati agli hacker e di ricevere nuovi comandi da eseguire sui dispositivi infetti.

Ora tutti i possessori di dispositivi infetti riceveranno notifiche dai propri provider Internet (a seconda dell’indirizzo IP). Le forze dell’ordine sottolineano che chiunque riceva tali notifiche dovrebbe immediatamente disconnettere i dispositivi infetti da Badbox dalla propria rete. Oppure, meglio ancora, smettere del tutto di utilizzarli.

L'articolo Badbox Malware: Più di 30.000 dispositivi Android compromessi in Supply-Chain proviene da il blog della sicurezza informatica.

Air hockey is a fun game, but it’s one you can’t play by yourself. That is, unless you have a smart robot hockey player to act as your rival. [Zeroshot] built exactly that.

The build is based around a small 27-inch air hockey table—not exactly arcade-spec, but big enough to demonstrate the concepts at play. The robot player moves its mallet in the X and Y axes using a pair of NEMA17 stepper motors and an H-belt configuration. To analyze the game state, there’s a Raspberry Pi 3B fitted with a camera, and it has a top-down view of the board. The Pi gives the stepper motors commands on how to move the mallet via an Arduino that communicates with the stepper drivers. The Pi doesn’t just aim for the puck itself, either. With Python and OpenCV, it tries to predict your own moves by tracking your mallet, and the puck, too. It predicts the very-predictable path of the puck, and moves itself to the right position for effective defence.

Believe it or not, we’ve featured quite a few projects in this vein before. They’ve all got their similarities, and their own unique quirks. Video after the break.

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[Thanks to hari wiguna for the tip!]

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When it comes to aviation curiosities, few machines captivate the imagination like the Fairey Rotodyne. This British hybrid aircraft was a daring attempt to combine helicopter and fixed-wing efficiency into a single vehicle. A bold experiment in aeronautical design, the Rotodyne promised vertical takeoffs and landings in cramped urban spaces while offering the speed and range of a regional airliner. First flown in 1957, it captured the world’s attention but ultimately failed to realize its potential. Despite featured before, new footage keeps fascinating us. If you have never heard about this jet, keep reading.

The Rotodyne’s innovative design centered around a massive, powered rotor that utilized a unique tip-jet system. Compressed air, mixed with fuel and ignited at the rotor tips, created lift without the need for a tail rotor. The result: a smoother transition between vertical and forward flight modes. Inside, it offered spacious seating for 50 passengers and even had clamshell doors for cargo. Yet its futuristic approach wasn’t without drawbacks—most notably, the thunderous noise produced by its rotor jets, earning complaints from both city planners and residents.

Despite these hurdles, the helicopter plane crossover demonstrated its versatility, setting a world speed record and performing groundbreaking intercity flights. Airlines and militaries expressed interest, but escalating development costs and noise concerns grounded this ambitious project.

To this day, the Rotodyne remains a symbol of what could have been—a marvel of engineering ahead of its time. Interested in more retro-futuristic aircraft tales? Read our previous story on it, or watch the original footage below and share your thoughts.

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[Mark B] had a problem. He’d come into possession of an Acer N30 PDA, sans batteries. He couldn’t just throw any old cells in, since the unit expected to communicate with an onboard controller chip in the original pack. What ensued was his effort to emulate the original battery controller hardware. This is classic Hackaday right here, folks.

Just wiring in typical Li-Ion voltages to the PDAs battery pins wasn’t enough to make this Windows CE device happy. The device kept fleeing to sleep mode, thinking the battery was faulty or very low. Eventually, inspecting the motherboard revealed the PDA hosted a BQ24025 charger IC from Texas Instruments. [Mark] surmised it was trying to communciate with a BQ26500 “gas gauge” IC from the original battery pack. Armed with that knowledge, he then set about programming an STM32 chip to emulate its behavior. He then successfully ported the functionality over to a CH32V003 microcontroller as well. Paired with a Nokia BL-5CT battery, he had a working portable power solution for his PDA.

It’s great to see ancient hardware brought back to functionality with some good old fashioned hacking. I’d hoped to do the same with my Apple Newton before someone nicked it from my lounge room, more’s the pity. If you’re rescuing your own beleaguered battery-powered portables, don’t hesitate to let us know!

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In most natural environments, fish are able to feed themselves. However, if you wanted to help them out with some extra food, you could always build a 3D-printed boat to do the job for you, as [gokux] did.

The concept is simple enough—it’s a small radio-controlled boat that gets around the water with the aid of two paddle wheels. Driven together, the paddle wheels provide thrust, and driven in opposite directions, they provide steering. A SeeedStudio XIAO ESP32 is the brains of the operation. It listens into commands from the controller and runs the paddle drive motors with the aid of a DRV8833 motor driver module. The custom radio controller is it itself running on another ESP32, and [gokux] built it with a nice industrial style joystick which looks very satisfying to use. The two ESP32s use their onboard wireless hardware to communicate, which keeps things nicely integrated. The boat is able to potter around on the water’s surface, while using a servo-driven to deliver small doses of food when desired.

It’s a neat build, and shows just what you can whip up when you put your 3D printer to good use. If you’d like to build a bigger plastic watercraft, though, you can do that too. Video after the break.

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A long-term project of mine is the the Sony Vaio new mainboard project. A year ago, I used it as an example to show you the cool new feature in KiCad 8, known as “background bitmaps”.

There are a heap of cool aspects to this specific Sony Vaio. It’s outrageously cute and purse-sized, the keyboard is nice enough for typing, motherboard schematics are available (very important!), and it’s not too terribly expensive. Of course, the most motivating aspect is that I happen to own one, its mainboard is not in the best state, and I’ve been itching to make it work.

It turned out to be a pretty complicated project, and, there was plenty to learn – way more than I expected in the beginning, too. I’m happy to announce that my v1 PCB design has been working wonders so far, and there are only a few small parts of it left untested.

I know that some of you might be looking to rebuild a lovely little computer of your choice. Hell, this particular laptop has had someone else rebuild it into a Pi-powered handheld years ago, as evidenced by this majestic “mess of wires” imgur build log! In honor of every hacker who has gotten their own almost-finished piece of hardware waiting for them half-assembled on the shelf, inside a KiCad file, or just inside your mind for now, let’s go through the tricks and decisions that helped made my board real.

Barely Any Space? Plan It Out Well

I recently finished and tested the first revision of this motherboard. It’s a tightly packed four-layer board, populated from both sides, and I want to show it off – describe how I designed it, the various low-level and high-level decisions that went into it, and strategies that I used to make sure this board became real and workable despite the odds.

First of all, the original article has helped in more than one way. Most importantly, I was lucky be contacted by [Exentio], a hacker who was also looking at remaking this particular Vaio with a Compute Module. He had designed two crucial blocks: a display parallel RGB to LVDS converter and a keyboard controller board. From my side, I could help and design review these boards, and design the backlight circuit, uhhh, eventually. Having these blocks was instrumental in me feeling comfortable enough to start the Vaio board design!

At some point in May, I realized I had the board outline and two of the crucial building blocks tested and ready to go, thanks to [Exentio]’s effort – there was barely anything else left that could hold me back. I started playing with the design by throwing these blocks into the schematic and copy-pasting some of my own general building blocks in, for instance, a PAM2306 dual-channel buck regulator, a USB hub, and two simple powerpaths for initial power management.

One trick that’s definitely helped from the start, is planning out locations for the building blocks using empty squares on the silkscreen, ensuring I’d keep space for everything. It didn’t have to be the perfect kind of planning, and I still had to move things here and there during layout, but it’s definitely helped in that I didn’t end up requiring any giant moves and rearrangements.
The silkscreen separations turned out to be super helpful for starting the board. Half of them ended up moving, but they did serve as a helpful “what to expect and where” TODO list
If you want to make your estimates more precise or make more educated layout guesses, don’t limit yourself to squares – just throw footprints (“Add Footprint”) onto the board before you even get to their schematic – any little bit of pre-planning that helps you avoid moving large chunks of your layout later. This applies doubly to connectors – you might not have the symbols for them wired up or even ready yet, but if you make sure the required external connectors are present on the board from the start, it will help you avoid some nasty moves.

Another crucial trick was spending about an hour-two on this board every day, for a week or two. A large project like this will take a fair bit of time, so you’ll want to make sure you can put tons of effort into it, and be emotionally prepared that it won’t happen in an evening’s time – this one took about two weeks. I also kept a TODO list in the schematic – you really want a place to note even the smallest things, from features, to potentially problematic spots that you’ll want to pay extra attention.

Space Constraints

When planning out a board with a large amount of passives, you want to make sure they’re as uniform as possible, so you have less to worry when ordering. In particular – what’s the size of passives you can afford in terms of board space? If you pick too large ones, you might run out of board space way way too quickly, becoming unable to route tracks

I standardized on 0402 components, which also meant I’d certainly be stenciling this board. It gets tiring to hand-solder parts given that this board has a thousand or two solder pads to touch. I opted to use 0805 for larger-value bulk capacitors for switching regulators and power rail purposes because 0402 10uF and 22uF capacitors get expensive if you want to get reliable ones, as we’ve discussed previously. In a few spots, though, I had to switch some 0805 capacitors to 0603, purely due to space constraints.

There are about a hundred resistors and a hundred capacitors on this board – remember, at some point, you can get a PCB fab to assemble just the passives for you, purely to spare yourself all the resistor and capacitor placement. You won’t get to stencil the ICs together with the passives, though, which is why I didn’t bother, because the RP2040 QFNs alone are annoying to handle without solder paste. Have you heard of Interactive HTML BOM for KiCAD? Make sure to use that, it’s simply wonderful and will prevent assembly errors of the kind that burn your board up before it’s even placed into the case.
This was one of the high-power inductors for which I didn’t estimate physical size early enough, and as a result, I had to somewhat bend reality around it
Inductors in the switching regulator can be an unexpected contribution to board space – if you need a 4.7 uH inductor and you need it to pass 5 A or more, take a look at online marketplaces before you even start designing the circuit, and see what the average size is for an inductor that fits your parameters. In my case, I got lucky, but only barely – some inductors definitely didn’t fit as well as I would’ve had hoped.

For this specific board, expected to fit inside the thin Sony Vaio’s shell, I had one more different thing to consider – component height. The original Vaio board was definitely designed in a way where all switching regulator components were placed on only one side, with plenty of height room for inductors and capacitors specifically. I placed all the switching regulators on one side, except one – the PAM2306 for the display 2.5 V and mod board extra 3.3 V rail.

In the end, I mis-estimated the inductor height, and had to shop for lower-profile inductors for that regulator. Thankfully, I found some decent lower-height inductors – they work wonders for powering the screen, and the only problem is that the inductor heats up more than I’d expect, but not too badly.

Source Considerations

Ordering the components for your board? Missing a position or two will really suck, and could delay your project by a week or two easily. My advice is to make sure that all component values are assigned and correct, and to pay the most attention to configuration and feedback resistors! Then, optimize the BOM, export the BOM out of the board into a .csv, and go through it line by line as you’re ordering. Alternatively, you can use the checkboxes in the InteractiveHTLMBoM – just that you’ll have to keep it open all throughout.

When it comes to resistors, remember that you might have to improvise them on the spot – again, you don’t want to wait on them, so get a collection of resistor values. I bought a $15 book of 0402 resistors from Aliexpress, and it proved instrumental – especially given it lets you adjust values during bringup, and, it let me basically not worry at all about missing resistor values at all during sourcing. The earlier you order, the more likely will it be that one IC won’t go out – which has very much prevented me from testing out the display properly.

Apart from that, the book let me be a little more lazy and figure out switching regulator feedback circuits during assembly – and there’s nothing like being able to adjust your USB boost regulator to 5.25 V post-factum, or increasing backlight current in case you figure out the calculated resistors result in a dim screen.

Hacks For Routability, Bootstrap, Motivation

This board’s switching regulators are probably worth their ownr article. There were two power hacks I ended up doing. The first one was having a separate always-on linear regulator for the EC, avoiding chicken-and-egg power problems. This one was certainly a success, and if you’re planning a motherboard that will also have to go low-power at times, you might really want a separate regulator for your EC.

The second one was making use of the Pi Zero’s 3.3 V regulator for powering a ton of stuff, like the keyboard controller chip, the LVDS transmitter, the USB hub, and – basically, everything that would only need to run once the Pi would be powered. This constrains the Zero’s onboard 3.3 V regulator, sure, but it’s not too much of a problem – I’ve powered tons of stuff from the Pi Zero’s 3.3 V rail in the past. It also has helped quite a bit, because the less switching regulators I have to design and keep track of, the better.

A big problem was making use of board layers correctly. I went for four layers on this board, with one 3.3 V layer which carries the output 3.3V rail from the Pi Zero, and one GND layer: SIG-GND-PWR-SIG. Later on, I took a look at the 3.3 V polygon, and realized that nothing used 3.3 V on a big chunk of the board. I deliberated some, and added an extra GND polygon covering a good third of the 3.3 V layer on the path where all the switching regulators were concentrated, and specifically, the path where the DC input jack current would flow into the switching regulator providing 5 V. It’s a plane split, sure, which is not great as far as signal return currents go, but there was one continuous GND layer right next to it already. Fingers crossed it works out for me long-term!

I kept inner layers as clean as possible generally – however, some tracks still had to go on inner layers. My compromise for having good inner polygons was keeping the inner layer traces as close as possible to the edge of the board, ensuring that there’s the least amount of plane splitting possible.

The cherry on top of the cake? I used KiCad board image generation hook for GitHub that I covered this year, and, it’s added a surprising source of motivation to the project. Each time I’d push changes to the repository after a day of board design work, the board image would regenerate, showing off my changes – a lovely conclusion to my work and a reminder that I’ve done well with it. Also, I could demonstrate the board additions to my friends, including [Exentio] – can’t deny, having a social element to this design has really helped in getting this board completed!

There are a few fundamental aspects left – like power management, making plans for board assembly and bringup before you send off the board to manufacturing, and giving yourself the best chances for success when assembly and bringup time comes. That’s within a week – together with a report on how the board is working out so far!

hackaday.com/2024/12/16/sony-v…

The Red Ring of Death (RROD) was the bane of many an Xbox 360 owner. The problem was eventually solved, mostly, but memories of that hellish era lurk in the back of many a gamer’s mind. For a more cheery use of those same status lights, you might appreciate “Lightshow” from [Derf].

The concept is simple enough. It’s a small application that runs on an Xbox 360, and allows you to test the individual LEDs that make up the Ring of Light indicator, along with the main power LED. If you want to test the lights and see each segment correctly lights up as green, yellow and red, you can.

Alternatively, you can have some fun with it. [Derf] also programmed it to flash along to simple four-channel MIDI songs. Naturally, Sandstorm was the perfect song to test it with. It may have been the result of a simple throwaway joke, but [Derf] delivered in amusing fashion nonetheless.

Lightshow is an entry for Xbox Scene Modfest 2024; it’s nice to see the community is still popping off even in this era of heavily-locked-down consoles. We’ve featured some other useful 360 hacks in recent months, too. Video after the break.

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CYFIRMA ha analizzato un’applicazione Android dannosa progettata per attaccare risorse nell’Asia meridionale. L’esempio è stato creato utilizzando lo strumento di amministrazione remota SpyNote. Si presume che l’obiettivo possa essere oggetto di interesse per un gruppo APT. I dettagli sulle vittime e sulle regioni specifiche non sono stati divulgati.

Si è scoperto che l’applicazione dannosa veniva distribuita tramite WhatsApp. Alla vittima sono state inviate quattro versioni del file denominate “Best Friend”, “Best-Friend 1”, “Friend” e “best”. Tutte le applicazioni avevano un server di gestione. I programmi venivano installati segretamente e cominciavano a funzionare in background utilizzando l’offuscamento del codice.

SpyNote utilizza una serie di autorizzazioni per accedere ai dati chiave del dispositivo: geolocalizzazione, contatti, SMS, memoria del dispositivo e fotocamera. L’applicazione può anche intercettare chiamate, raccogliere dati di sistema e persino utilizzare funzionalità speciali del sistema per monitorare lo schermo e inserire testo.

Il codice dannoso mirava a raccogliere dati come numero IMEI, carta SIM, versione di Android e tipo di rete. I dati ricevuti sono stati immediatamente inviati al server di controllo. Inoltre, l’applicazione ha acquisito screenshot e copiato i dati utente come contatti, messaggi e foto.

SpyNote e le sue modifiche, tra cui SpyMax e Crax RAT, vengono utilizzate attivamente da hacker e gruppi APT come OilRig (APT34) e APT-C-37. Questi strumenti aiutano gli aggressori a spiare le comunicazioni, rubare dati e mantenere l’accesso ai sistemi delle vittime.

Gli incidenti di SpyNote hanno già colpito agenzie governative, ONG, media e istituzioni finanziarie. Il caso attuale indica il probabile coinvolgimento di un gruppo APT sconosciuto o di un altro attore criminale informatico.

SpyNote rimane una seria minaccia a causa della sua disponibilità sui forum clandestini e sui canali Telegram. Gli attacchi che utilizzano questo strumento confermano la preferenza degli aggressori per strumenti comprovati e potenti per compromettere obiettivi di alto profilo.

L'articolo SpyNote colpisce ancora: malware Android distribuito via WhatsApp nell’Asia meridionale proviene da il blog della sicurezza informatica.

What do you get when you combine a Raspberry Pi 4B, a Kaypro keyboard, and a 9″ Apple ], you get the coolest AVR development workstation I’ve seen in a while.

Image by [John Anderson] via Hackaday.IOAs you may have guessed, I really dig the looks of this thing. The paint job on the display is great, but the stripes on the keyboard and badging on are on another level. Be sure to check out the entire gallery on this one.

About that keyboard — [John] started this project with two incomplete keyboards that each had a couple of broken switches. Since the two keyboards were compliments of each other parts-wise, they made a great pair, and [John] only had to swap out three switches to get it up and clacking.

In order to make it work with the Pi, [John] wrote a user-mode serial driver that uses the uinput kernel module to inject key events to the kernel. But he didn’t stop there.

Although the Pi supports composite video out, the OS doesn’t provide any way to turn off the chroma color signal that’s modulated on top of the basic monochrome NTSC signal, which makes the picture look terrible. To fix that, he wrote a command-line app that sets up the video controller to properly display a monochrome NTSC signal. Happy AVRing on your amazing setup, [John]!

Check Out This Refreshingly Small Keyboard

Image by [AnnaRooks] via redditUsually when we see keyboards this small, they have tiny keys that are fully intended for thumb presses and thumb presses only. But what about something ultra-portable that has full-size keys?

Although it might be hard to believe, [AnnaRooks] only uses about 20 of the 24 keys that make up this mint tin keyboard. She has a keymap for typing, gaming, and Diablo II.

Personally, and my feelings about layers aside, I don’t think I could use a keyboard without thumb clusters at this point. Although you know what? It would make a great traveling macropad.

The Centerfold: A Close Look At Force Curves

Image by [ThereminGoat] via redditWell, boys and girls, we’ve got a smart beauty this time around. This here is an industrial key switch force tester. [ThereminGoat] is gonna tell you all about force curves and how to read them.

What even is a force curve, and why is it so important? It refers to the graphical representation of the force required to press a key to the actuation point (y) versus the distance traveled during the press (x). So, it’s only critical to evaluating key switch performance. Key points along the force curve include the starting force, the actuation point, the tactile bump if present, the bottom-out force, and the return curve.

So, why does it actually matter? Force curves help us understand how light or heavy a switch feels, the actuation behavior, and help with customization. I’ll let [ThereminGoat] take it from here.

Do you rock a sweet set of peripherals on a screamin’ desk pad? Send me a picture along with your handle and all the gory details, and you could be featured here!

Historical Clackers: My IBM Wheelwriter 5

You know, I kind of can’t believe that I’ve now gone 47 Keebins without spotlighting my daily driver, which takes up most of my second desk. She may not look like much, but she types like the wind, and has that legendary buckling-spring keyboard to boot.

Sure, the Selectrics get all the love, and rightfully so. But if you actually want to use a typewriter day in and day out, you really can’t beat its successor, the Wheelwriter. IBM produced these machines from 1984 to 1991, and Lexmark took over, cranking them out until 2001. Mine shows an install date of 4/22/85.

The Wheelwriter was IBM’s first daisy wheel typewriter, which replaced the golf ball type element that signified the Selectric. Arguably even easier to swap than the golf ball, these slim cartridges lay flat for easy storage.

Whereas the Selectric used a mainspring and an escapement like traditional machines, the Wheelwriter has a stepper motor that moves the print head and a solenoid that strikes the daisy wheel against the paper. It makes a delightfully frightening noise on startup as it tests the stepper and solenoid and spins the daisy wheel with alarming swiftness. I love this machine!
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ICYMI: Updated Mouse Ring Now Uses Joystick

Are you tired of traditional mouse and keyboard input, even though you’ve got a sweet ergo split and a trackball? Maybe you’re just looking to enhance your VR setup. Whatever you’re into, consider building [rafgaj78]’s Mouse Ring.

As you might be able to discern from the picture, this baby is based on the Seeed Xiao nRF52840 and uses a tiny battery pack. This is version two of the ring mouse, so if you prefer buttons to a joystick, then the first iteration may be more your style. Keep in mind that version two is easier to assemble and comes in more ring sizes.

There are two modes to this mouse ring. In the first mode, the joystick does left and right mouse click and wheel up-down, and pushing will wake it from deep sleep. In the second mode, the joystick acts as the mouse pointer, and you push down to left click.

I love the elegant design of the ring itself, and it looks great in yellow. Hmm, maybe I need one of these…

Got a hot tip that has like, anything to do with keyboards? Help me out by sending in a link or two. Don’t want all the Hackaday scribes to see it? Feel free to email me directly.

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