If you’re into electronics you can never have too many digital multimeters (DMMs). They all have different features, and if you want to make multiple measurements simultaneously, it can pay to have a few. Over on his video blog [joe smith] reviews the new Brymen BM788BT, which is a new entry into the Bluetooth logging meter category.

This is a two-part series: in the first he runs the meter through its measurement paces, and in the second he looks at the Bluetooth software interface. And when we say “new” meter, we mean brand new, this is a review unit that you can’t yet get in stores.

According to a post on the EEVblog, this Bluetooth variant was promised five years ago, and back then Brymen even had the Bluetooth module pin header on the PCB, but it has taken a long time to get the feature right. If you scroll through the thread you will find that Brymen has made its protocol specification available for the BM780 series meters.

It looks like some Bluetooth hacking might be required to get the best out of this meter. Of course we’re no strangers to hacking DMMs around here. We’ve taken on the Fluke 77 for example, and these DMM tweezers.

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A partire da poco dopo la mezzanotte del 15 aprile 2025, BreachForums – uno dei principali forum underground – risulta offline sia nella sua versione clearnet che nella controparte su rete TOR. Nessun avviso ufficiale, nessuna comunicazione dagli amministratori. Solo silenzio ed il laconico “No such device or address” sul sito checkhost.

Le prime ipotesi circolano da qualche ora su X (ex Twitter) da alcuni noti profili del settore OSINT e threat intelligence. Il post più interessante arriva da LEAKD, che suggerisce l’esistenza di un documento classificato dell’FBI che menzionerebbe un’operazione sotto copertura denominata Operation Spectral Tango. Secondo la ricostruzione, si tratterebbe di una manovra coordinata per prendere il controllo del forum e monitorare dall’interno le attività criminali in corso, trasformando de facto BreachForums in un honeypot federale.

Nel documento – che non è stato confermato ufficialmente ma che circola da ore nelle board russe – si accenna a un coinvolgimento diretto del Federal Bureau of Investigation in collaborazione con partner internazionali, con lo scopo di profilare, tracciare e identificare i key players nel mercato nero digitale.

Approfondiamo la questione con un’ipotesi che circola: IntelBroker arrestato?

Abbiamo provato ad approfondire ed in particolare su “Cracked” – un forum recentemente tornato attivo – emergono dettagli ancora più pesanti. Nella chat board, decine di utenti confermano (meglio dire ipotizzano) l’arresto di IntelBroker, uno degli amministratori di BreachForums.

IntelBroker era noto per aver pubblicato leak clamorosi, inclusi documenti militari e sanitari statunitensi, e negli ultimi mesi era diventato un punto di riferimento nel forum. La sua assenza improvvisa, insieme al down completo del sito, rende plausibile lo scenario di un’operazione repressiva in corso.

Cosa si dice nel gruppo Jacuzzi

Il gruppo Jacuzzi, covo noto dei criminali informatici che frequentano Breach Forums, nella giornata di oggi si è ravvivato mostrando moltissimi messaggi inerenti la mancata raggiungibilità di breach Forums.

Un utente luna ha riportato “Questo è solo l’inizio, nuovi arresti pioveranno, dopo mesi scoprirete la verità. Per ora posso solo dire che il forum tornerà presto, il circo sta per riempirsi di comici.”

Nel mentre altri criminali informatici, nel covo dei criminali pubblicizzano ulteriori forum underground o canali telegram per migrare gli utenti di breach forums. Ma di questo modo di agire ne abbiamo parlato molto tempo fa quando alcuni forum underground vollero prendere il posto di Raidforums e poi Breachforums, senza riuscire nell’intento.

Altre evidenze: la nascita del canale telegram BreachForumsV4

Approfondendo le nostre ricerche ci imbattiamo in un canale telegram che sembra essere creato ad-hoc per dare aggiornamenti sulla vicenda ma contemporaneamente per “pubblicizzare” la nascita di un nuovo dominio breachforums.cc battezzato “BreachForums V4”. Sul canale un unico messaggio pubblicato alle 12:39 del 15 aprile:

“IntelBroker arrested. No other infos yet. Stay tuned, I’ll share some good infos. – new domain o breachforums.cc”

Il dominio breachforums.cc è effettivamente online. Si presenta come un’istanza “V4” del forum, ma con registrazioni chiuse e accesso solo tramite pagamento. Per unirsi, si viene invitati a contattare un utente identificato come BAPCOMET.

Al momento non è possibile verificare con certezza se si tratti di una vera migrazione, di un tentativo di truffa o – ipotesi più inquietante – di un progetto controllato da forze dell’ordine.

Questo è uno scenario in evoluzione, e come tale va trattato. Se confermato, sarebbe il secondo grande smantellamento del forum dopo la chiusura del predecessore RaidForums e l’arresto di Pompompurin. Ma la domanda resta sempre la stessa: quando un forum underground muore, è davvero morto… o sta solo cambiando pelle?

Stay tuned – aggiorneremo questo articolo con ulteriori sviluppi.

L'articolo Breach Forums che fine hai fatto? Sequestro in corso, Honeypot federale o Disservizio? proviene da il blog della sicurezza informatica.

Image by [akavel] via GitHubReader [akavel] was kind enough to notify me about Clawtype, which is a custom wearable chorded keyboard/mouse combo based on the Chordite by [John W. McKown].

First of all, I love the brass rails — they give it that lovely circuit sculpture vibe. This bad boy was written in Rust and currently runs on a SparkFun ProMicro RP2040 board. For the mouse portion of the program, there’s an MPU6050 gyro/accelerometer.

[akavel]’s intent was to pair it with XR glasses, which sounds like a great combination to me. While typing is still a bit slow, [akavel] is improving at a noticeable pace and does some vim coding during hobby time.

In the future, [akavel] plans to try a BLE version, maybe even running off a single AA Ni-MH cell, and probably using an nRF52840. As for the 3D-printed shape, that was designed and printed by [akavel]’s dear friend [Cunfusu], who has made the files available over at Printables. Be sure to check it out in the brief demo video after the break.

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Wooden You Like To Use the Typewriter?

Image by [bilbonbigos] via redditI feel a bit late to the party on this one, but that’s okay, I made an nice entrance. The Typewriter is [bilbonbigos]’ lovely distraction-free writing instrument that happens to be primarily constructed of wood. In fact, [bilbonbigos] didn’t use any screws or nails — the whole thing is glued together.

The Typewriter uses a Raspberry Pi 3B+, and [bilbonbigos] is FocusWriter to get real work done on it. it runs off of a 10,000 mAh power bank and uses a 7.9″ Waveshare display.

The 60% mechanical keyboard was supposed to be Bluetooth but turned out not to be when it arrived, so that’s why you might notice a cable sticking out.

The whole thing all closed up is about the size of a ream of A4, and [bilbonbigos] intends to add a shoulder strap in order to make it more portable.

That cool notebook shelf doubles as a mousing surface, which is pretty swell and rounds out the build nicely. Still, there are some things [bilbonbigos] would change — a new Raspi, or a lighter different physical support for the screen, and a cooling system.

The Centerfold: A Keyboard For Your House In Palm Springs

Image by [the_real_jamied] via redditCan’t you feel the space age Palm Springs breezes just looking at this thing? No? Well, at least admit that it looks quite atomic-age with that font and those life-preserver modifier keycaps. This baby would look great on one of those giant Steelcase office desks. Just don’t spill your La Croix on it, or whatever they drink in Palm Springs.

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: the Odell Typewriter

First of all, the machine pictured here is not the true Odell number 1 model, which has a pair of seals’ feet at each end of the base and is referred to as the “Seal-Foot Odell“. Ye olde Seal-Foot was only produced briefly in 1889.
Image via The Antikey Chop
But then inventor Levi Judson Odell completely redesigned the thing into what you see here — model 1b, for which he was awarded a patent in 1890. I particularly like the markings on the base. The nickel-plated, rimless model you see here was not typical; most had gold bases.

These babies cost 1/5th of a standard typewriter, and were quite easy to use to boot. With everything laid out in a line, it was far easier to use a slide mechanism than your ten fingers to select each character. On top of everything else, these machines were small enough to take with you.

No matter their appearance, or whether they typed upper case only or both, Odells were all linear index typewriters. The print element is called a type-rail. There is a fabric roller under the type-rail that applies ink to the characters as they pass. Pinch levers on the sides of the carriage did double duty as the carriage advance mechanism and the escapement.

Round-based Odells went by the wayside in 1906 and were replaced by square-based New American No. 5 models. They functioned the same, but looked quite different.

Finally, John Lennon’s Typewriter Is For Sale

Image via Just Collecting
Got an extra ten grand lying around? You could own an interesting piece of history.

This image comes courtesy of Paul Fraser Collectibles, who are selling this typewriter once owned and used by the legendary Beatle himself. While Lennon composed poems and songs on the machine, it’s unclear whether he secretly wanted to be a paperback writer.

This machine, an SCM (Smith-Corona Marchant) Electra 120, is an interesting one; it’s electric, but the carriage return is still manual. I myself have an SCM Secretarial 300, which looks very much the same, but has a frightening ‘Power Return’ that sends the carriage back toward the right with enough power to shake the floor, depending upon the fortitude of your table.

Apparently Lennon would use the machine when traveling, but gave it to a close friend in the music industry when he upgraded or otherwise no longer needed it. A booking agent named Irwin Pate worked with this friend and obtained the typewriter from him, and Irwin and his wife Clarine held on to it until they sold it to Paul Fraser Collectibles. I find it interesting that this didn’t go to auction at Christie’s — I think it would ultimately go for more, but I’m a writer, not an auction-ologist.

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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