We all know that “Can it run Doom?” is the first question of a hardware hacker. The 1993 first person shooter from id Software defined an entire genre of games, and has since being made open source, appeared on almost everything. Everything, that is, except a Captcha, those annoying “Are you a human” tests where we’re all expected to do a search giant’s image classification for them. So here’s [Guillermo Rauch] with a Doom captcha, in which you must gun down three bad guys to proceed.

As a way to prove you’re a human we can’t imagine a more fitting test than indiscriminate slaughter, and it’s interesting to read a little about what goes on behind the scenes. It’s a WebAssembly application as you might have guessed, and while it’s difficult to shake that idea from the early ’90s that you needed a powerful computer to run the game, in reality it shows just how powerful WebAssembly is, as well as how far we’ve come in three decades. We’d prefer a few different entry points instead of always playing the same level, and we were always more handy with the mouse than the keyboard back in the day, but it’s certainly a bit of fun.

More Doom? How about seeing it on hardware nobody would have believed in 1993?

hackaday.com/2025/01/01/is-the…

You know how you can fall down a rabbit hole when you start on a project? [Fabian Bräunlein] and [Luca Melette] were looking at a box on a broken streetlamp in Berlin. The box looked like a relay, and it contained a radio. It was a Funkrundsteueremfänger – a radio controlled power controller – made by a company called EFR. It turns out that these boxes are on many streetlamps in many cities, and like you do, they thought about how cool it would be to make lights blink, but on a city-wide basis. Haha, right? So they bought a bunch of these EFR devices on the used market and started hacking.

They did a lot of background digging, and found out that they could talk to the devices, both over their local built-in IR port, but also over radio. Ironically, one of the best sources of help they found in reversing the protocol was in the form of actually pressing F1 in the manufacturer’s configuration application – a program’s help page actually helped someone! They discovered that once they knew some particulars about how a node was addressed, they could turn on and off a device like a street lamp, which they demo with a toy on stage. So far, so cute.

But it turns out that these boxes are present on all sorts of power consumers and producers around central Europe, used to control and counteract regional imbalances to keep the electrical grid stable. Which is to say that with the same setup as they had, maybe multiplied to a network of a thousand transmitters, you could turn off enough power generation, and turn on enough load, to bring the entire power grid down to its knees. Needless to say, this is when they contacted both the manufacturer and the government.

The good news is that there’s a plan to transition to a better system that uses authenticated transmissions, and that plan has been underway since 2017. The bad news is that progress has been very slow, and in some cases stalled out completely. The pair view their work here as providing regulators with some extra incentive to help get this important infrastructure modernization back on the front burner. For instance, it turns out that large power plants shouldn’t be using these devices for control at all, and they estimate that fixing this oversight could take care of most of the threat with the least effort.

National power grids are complicated machines, to say the least, and the impact of a failure can be very serious. Just take a look at what happened in 2023 in the US northeast, for instance. And in the case of real grid failure, getting everything back online isn’t as simple a just turning the switches back on again. As [Fabian] and [Luca] point out here, it’s important to discover and disclose when legacy systems put the grid in potential danger.

hackaday.com/2025/01/01/38c3-t…

This week, Jonathan Bennett and Rob Campbell talk with Alistair Woodman about FRRouting, the Internet routing suite that helps make all this possible. But also business, and how an open source project turns the corner into a successful way to support programmers.

FRR github.com/FRRouting/frr
frrouting.org/
Erlang Ecosystem Foundation
erlef.org/

youtube.com/embed/x5ufOHxIwCk?…

Did you know you can watch the live recording of the show Right on our YouTube Channel? Have someone you’d like us to interview? Let us know, or contact the guest and have them contact us! Take a look at the schedule here.

play.libsyn.com/embed/episode/…

Direct Download in DRM-free MP3.

If you’d rather read along, here’s the transcript for this week’s episode.

Places to follow the FLOSS Weekly Podcast:

• Spotify
• RSS

Theme music: “Newer Wave” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

hackaday.com/2025/01/01/floss-…

If you have access to a laser cutter, we sincerely hope you’re aware of boxes.py. As the name implies, it started life as a Python tool for generating parametric boxes that could be assembled from laser-cut material, but has since become an invaluable online resource for all sorts of laser projects. Plus, you can still use it for making boxes.

But even if you’ve been using boxes.py for awhile, you might not know it was actually an entry in the Hackaday Prize back in 2017. Creator [Florian Festi] has kept up with the project’s Hackaday.io page all this time, using it as a sort of development blog, and his recent retrospective on 2024 is a fascinating read for anyone with an eye towards hot photonic action.

In it, he describes a bevy of new designs that have come to the site, many of which have been developed either by or in conjunction with the community. For example, a new tool for generating IKEA-like pegboard is sure to be useful for the better organized among us. The last twelve months also saw the addition of a parametric air filter box, LEGO sorters, storage bins, book holders, bird feeders, and plenty more.

At the end, [Florian] has some interesting thoughts on how the community as a whole has developed over the years. He notes that in the early days, any code or designs proposed by users for inclusion in the project usually needed work before they were ready for prime time. But now that everything is more established, the pull requests he’s getting are so well done that they rival any of the original work he put in.

We’re glad to hear that the community is coming together to make this already fantastic project even better. It sounds like [Florian] is even getting some help to track down and eliminate the remaining Python 2.x code that’s still lingering around.

Here’s to many more excellent years for Boxes.py!

hackaday.com/2025/01/01/2024-b…

When [Rodrigo Feliciano] realized that the reason his seven-segment LED wall clock wasn’t working was because the original TG1508D5V5 controller was fried, he had a decision to make. He could either chuck the whole thing, or put in the effort to reverse engineer how the displays were driven and replace the dead controller with something a bit more modern. Since you’re reading this post on Hackaday, we bet you can guess which route he decided to take.

If you happen to own the same model of clock as [Rodrigo], then you really lucked out. He’s done a fantastic job documenting how he swapped the original controller out for a Raspberry Pi Pico W, which not only let him bring the clock back to life, but let him add new capabilities such as automatic time setting via Network Time Protocol (NTP).

But even if you don’t have this particular clock there’s probably something you can learn from this project, as it’s a great example of practical reverse engineering. By loading a high-resolution image of the back of the PCB into KiCad, [Rodrigo] was able to place all the components into their correct positions and following traces to see what’s connected to what.

Pretty soon he not only had a 3D model of the clock’s PCB, but a schematic he could use to help wire in the Pi Pico. Admittedly this is a pretty straightforward PCB to try and reverse engineer, but hey, you have to start somewhere.

We had high hopes for KiCad’s image import feature when it was introduced, and it’s great to see real-world examples like this trickle in as more folks learn about it.

youtube.com/embed/z3l11CKApYk?…

hackaday.com/2025/01/01/led-wa…

A questa pagina della Oxford University Press trovata una breve storia della loro "parola dell'anno" 2024 "Brain Rot", di cui avrete sicuramente letto nelle scorse settimane, e traducibile come "marciume cerebrale".
La parola è stata votata dopo una consultazione con circa 37.000 persone, e viene descritta come il deterioramento delle capacità mentali o intellettuali di una persona a causa del consumo eccessivo di materiale online di scarsa qualità o incapace di stimolare il pensiero critico (o qualsiasi tipo di pensiero).
Si lega, quindi, al fenomeno dell'eccessivo consumo di contenuti online di infima qualità.
Il primo uso "annotato" di "Brain Rot" viene individuato in un'opera del 1854 di Henry David Thoreau (nel libro "Walden") ed è riferito a uno stile di vita semplice, senza pensieri, nella natura e nei boschi.
Thoreau critica la tendenza della società di allora a dare poco valore alle idee complesse, o a idee che possono essere interpretate in tanti modi diversi, a favore di quelle semplici. E vede questo comportamento come un indice generale di declino mentale e intellettuale.
Nella nota, la OUP cita, ad esempio, i contenuti su TikTok e le Gen Z e Gen Alpha, ma anche parte del giornalismo mainstream.
Dopo che è stata annunciata la parola dell'anno, sono fioccate interviste e commenti (trovate tutto online) sugli aspetti patologici (e medici) di tale "abitudine".
Nel comunicato trovate anche un link a una clinica per la salute mentale in Nordamerica che ha pubblicato consigli online su come riconoscere e evitare il "Brain Rot".
Qui il link per un vostro approfondimento, nel caso il tema vi interessi!

@Informatica (Italy e non Italy 😁)

corp.oup.com/news/brain-rot-na…

https://t.me/ppInforma/10295

Non si tratta solo di un fuoco di paglia, ma dobbiamo chiarire alcune cose sull'intelligenza artificiale.

Quasi ogni anno riceviamo un rapporto che ci informa che qualcosa nel settore dei PC sta morendo o sta scomparendo, oppure che i giorni di qualche aspetto della tecnologia informatica sono contati.

@Intelligenza Artificiale

techradar.com/computing/laptop…

AI smartphone and laptop sales are said to be slowly dying – but is anyone surprised?

This isn't just a flash in the pan, but we need to get a few things straight about AI here

^{Zak Storey (TechRadar)}

Owing to the wave nature of light there are many ways that such different waves can interact with each other, but also with materials. Everyone knows about reflecting light with a mirror, which is a property of materials like metals, but specific structures can cause the light to behave in a way that creates rather amazing results.

Examples of this are cases of iridescence in nature (like butterfly wings) and eye color, where the perceived colors are the result of environmental light interacting with these structures rather than pigmentation or dyes. An even more interesting interaction has now been demonstrated by reflecting multiple microwave radiation beams off each other, creating a time reflection.

The study by [Emanuele Galiffi] et al. (shared copy) was published in Nature Physics. By creating a metamaterial that allows for temporal coherent wave control (CWC) the electromagnetic radiation was controlled to where it allowed for this kind of unusual interaction. The key here being that there is no major constructive or destructive interaction between the two waves as with spatial CWC, rather the wave reflect off each other, or more specifically the time interface.

Although the popular reporting talks about ‘turning back time’ and ‘watching the back of your own head in a mirror’, the impact is far less dramatic: in the article conclusion the researchers mention unveiling new light-matter interactions in the microwave- and other parts of the spectrum, as well as new ways to control and shape light.

Top image: Temporal coherent wave control and photonic collisions enabled by time-interfaces. (Credit: Emanuele Galiffi et al., Nature Physics, 2023)

hackaday.com/2025/01/01/creati…

Дорогие друзья, сторонники свободы знаний и равного доступа к культуре!

1 января — это не только первый день нового года, но и особенный праздник для всех, кто верит в силу общественного достояния. В этот день произведения, срок действия авторских прав на которые истёк, становятся доступными для всех без ограничений. Это огромный вклад в развитие культуры, науки и образования, возможность вдохновляться и создавать что-то новое на основе идей прошлого.

Общественное достояние — это наше общее наследие, которое не принадлежит отдельным корпорациям или лицам, а служит всему человечеству. Именно такие моменты напоминают нам, почему мы продолжаем бороться за свободный доступ к информации, равные права на творчество и справедливую систему авторских прав.

Поздравляем вас с этим днём! Пусть он вдохновит нас на создание, изучение и распространение знаний и искусства без барьеров. А пока — давайте отметим этот день, открывая для себя произведения, которые с сегодняшнего дня принадлежат всем нам.

С праздником, друзья! Свобода знаний и творчества — это основа нашего общего будущего.

С уважением,

Пиратская партия России

Сообщение С Днём общественного достояния появились сначала на Пиратская партия России | PPRU.

Lunedì un utente del social network con lo pseudonimo sospetto @NSA_Employee39 ha annunciato la presenza di una vulnerabilità 0day nel popolare archiviatore gratuito 7-Zip. Sulla sua pagina X verificata, ha promesso di pubblicare la vulnerabilità per ringraziare i suoi poco più di 1.400 follower.

Come primo “regalo”, l’utente ha pubblicato su Pastebin un codice che presumibilmente dimostra la capacità di eseguire codice arbitrario (ACE) attraverso un archivio .7z appositamente preparato con un flusso LZMA corrotto.

Questo codice, dice, provoca un overflow del buffer nella funzione RC_NORM.

Tuttavia, nessuno degli esperti di sicurezza è riuscito a confermare la funzionalità del codice. Uno degli esperti ha osservato: “Forse semplicemente non so come, ma questo non sembra un vero exploit“.

Lo sviluppatore di 7-Zip Igor Pavlov ha smentito ufficialmente sul forum del programma: “Questo rapporto su Twitter è falso. Questa vulnerabilità non esiste in 7-Zip o LZMA.”

L’account @NSA_Employee39 non ha ancora commentato l’incidente.

Il motivo per cui l’utente ha deciso di rilasciare informazioni false rimane un mistero. Tuttavia, le vacanze possono rappresentare un periodo difficile per molti ed è importante ricordare che di essere solidali è disponibili.

L'articolo Falso allarme su 7-Zip: la bufala di un exploit smentito dallo sviluppatore proviene da il blog della sicurezza informatica.

[Garage 54] is no stranger to vehicle-related projects of the “because why not?” variety, and their latest is using 50 cordless drills combined into a monstrous mega-motor to turn a gutted (and extended) Lada into an electric vehicle (EV).

Doing this leans on some of [Garage 54]’s earlier projects, such as replacing the aforementioned Lada’s engine block with a frame containing sixteen chainsaws. That means they don’t need to start completely from scratch, and have a frame design that can drop into the vehicle once the “engine” is constructed.
Fifty cordless drills won’t set any efficiency records for EV engines, but it’s got a certain style.
Here’s what’s in the new engine: each of the drills has its chuck replaced with an aluminum pulley, and belts connect each group of drills to an output shaft. Ideally, every drill motor would run at the same time and at exactly the same speed, but one works with what they have. [Garage 54] originally worked to synchronize the drills by interfacing to each drill’s motor control board, but eventually opted to simply bypass all controls and power each drill’s motor directly from the batteries. Initial tests are done by touching bare cable ends with a turned-away face and squinted eyes, but we expect “Just A Big Switch” to end up in the final assembly.

It looks wild and we can think of more than a few inefficiencies present in a system like this, but the output shaft does turn and torque is being transferred, so the next step is interfacing to the car’s factory gearbox.

If it powers the car in any meaningful way, that Lada might very well become the world’s most gloriously hacked-together EV. And hey, if the power output of the EV motor is disappointing, you can just make your own.

youtube.com/embed/sqRfd2BSJjo?…

[via Motor1]

hackaday.com/2025/01/01/turnin…

La Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency ( CISA ) degli Stati Uniti D’America ha aggiunto una vulnerabilità ad alto rischio scoperta nel software USAHERDS di Acclaim Systems al suo catalogo di vulnerabilità sfruttabili note (KEV). Sebbene la vulnerabilità CVE-2021-44207 con un punteggio CVSS di 8,1 sia stata corretta, è stato confermato il suo utilizzo attivo in attacchi reali.

USAHERDS è un software per la gestione dei dati sulla salute degli animali per le operazioni agricole negli Stati Uniti. Il sistema aiuta le agenzie governative a monitorare i movimenti degli animali, a gestire la situazione epidemiologica e a sostenere i programmi sanitari del bestiame.

La vulnerabilità sfruttabile è dovuta all’uso delle chiavi statiche codificate ValidationKey e DecryptionKey nelle versioni USAHERDS fino alla 7.4.0.1 inclusa. Queste chiavi possono essere utilizzate dagli aggressori per eseguire codice arbitrario su server vulnerabili. Tuttavia, per sfruttare l’attacco, l’aggressore deve prima accedere alle chiavi specificate.

Gli esperti di Mandiant avevano precedentemente riferito che la vulnerabilità consente a un utente malintenzionato in possesso di queste chiavi di creare dati ViewState dannosi che il server può deserializzare, con conseguente esecuzione di codice.

Questa tecnica è stata osservata nel 2021 in attacchi associati al gruppo APT41, presumibilmente agendo nell’interesse della Cina.

CISA raccomanda alle agenzie federali statunitensi di applicare le patch dei fornitori entro il 13 gennaio 2025 per ridurre al minimo il rischio di sfruttamento di questa vulnerabilità.

L'articolo Il CISA Segnala Una Nuova Minaccia: Il Bug su USAHERDS è stato aggiunto al KEV proviene da il blog della sicurezza informatica.

Il 2024 è stato un anno critico per la sicurezza delle criptovalute. Con perdite che hanno superato i 2,3 miliardi di dollari, il settore ha affrontato minacce senza precedenti, principalmente attribuite agli attacchi sponsorizzati da stati come la Corea del Nord. Questo articolo analizza i casi principali, le tecniche utilizzate e le implicazioni a lungo termine per la sicurezza globale.

Un Furto da Record: DMM Bitcoin

Il furto di 4.500 Bitcoin dalla piattaforma giapponese DMM Bitcoin è stato uno degli incidenti più gravi dell’anno, con un valore totale di 305 milioni di dollari. Questo attacco, attribuito al gruppo nordcoreano Lazarus, evidenzia la sofisticazione delle loro operazioni. Il caso non è isolato: Chainalysis ha stimato che la Corea del Nord abbia rubato $1,34 miliardi nel 2024, rappresentando oltre il 50% del totale globale dei furti di criptovalute.

Hyperliquid e i Test dei Lazarus

Un altro caso emblematico riguarda Hyperliquid (HYPE), una piattaforma decentralizzata Layer 1, presa di mira da indirizzi legati ai Lazarus. Secondo il ricercatore di sicurezza @tayvano_, queste transazioni rappresentano test preliminari per sondare le difese della piattaforma. Fino ad ora, sono stati registrati oltre 700.000 dollari di perdite. La situazione evidenzia i rischi operativi e regolatori associati alla concentrazione di validatori (solo quattro) e alla centralizzazione delle attività di market-making.

Prithvir Jhaveri, CEO di Loch, ha avvertito che Hyperliquid potrebbe violare le normative dell’OFAC e della SEC, aggravando ulteriormente la sua posizione. “Un aumento dei validatori e un miglioramento dei protocolli di sicurezza sono essenziali per mitigare questi rischi,” ha dichiarato.

Tecniche Avanzate di Infiltrazione

La Corea del Nord utilizza una vasta gamma di tecniche per finanziare i suoi programmi missilistici e nucleari, inclusi attacchi informatici sofisticati e infiltrazioni aziendali. Secondo Chainalysis, alcuni hacker si fingono lavoratori remoti per ottenere accesso a risorse sensibili. Questa strategia rappresenta una combinazione di tecniche tradizionali di spionaggio e cyber-crimine.

Il Ruolo del Gruppo Lazarus

Il gruppo Lazarus, sponsorizzato dal governo nordcoreano, si è affermato come uno degli attori principali nel panorama del cyber-crimine globale. Con 47 attacchi confermati nel 2024, i Lazarus hanno dimostrato una capacità senza precedenti di adattarsi e sfruttare nuove vulnerabilità. I fondi rubati sono stati tracciati fino a intermediari in Cambogia, evidenziando una rete globale complessa.

Implicazioni Geopolitiche

I fondi rubati dalla Corea del Nord finanziano circa un terzo del suo programma missilistico, secondo stime degli Stati Uniti. Questo collegamento tra cyber-crimine e sicurezza internazionale solleva preoccupazioni globali. Tuttavia, dopo un accordo strategico con la Russia a metà del 2024, l’attività di hacking nordcoreana ha subito un rallentamento, suggerendo un possibile supporto economico alternativo da Mosca.

Vulnerabilità delle Chiavi Private

Secondo Cyvers, l’81% delle perdite totali nel 2024 è stato causato dalla compromissione delle chiavi private. La gestione inadeguata di queste chiavi, spesso custodite su piattaforme di terze parti non sicure, continua a essere uno dei punti deboli principali per il settore blockchain.

Un Ecosistema a Rischio

Altri attacchi rilevanti del 2024 includono:

• PlayDapp: $290 milioni di danni mitigati grazie alla migrazione a un nuovo contratto di token.
• WazirX: $235 milioni persi a causa di un attacco ai portafogli multisig.
• Radiant Capital e Munchables: Entrambe le piattaforme hanno subito attacchi sofisticati, evidenziando le lacune nella sicurezza.

Implicazioni e Risposte

Le crescenti minacce richiedono una risposta globale coordinata. Le aziende devono adottare misure come:

• Migliorare la sicurezza dei validatori aumentando il loro numero e diversificando il codice.
• Implementare strumenti avanzati di monitoraggio per rilevare attività sospette in tempo reale.
• Collaborare con esperti di sicurezza e regolatori per mitigare i rischi e garantire la conformità.

Conclusione e Raccomandazioni

Il 2024 ha evidenziato l’importanza cruciale della sicurezza nel settore delle criptovalute. Gli attacchi sponsorizzati da stati come la Corea del Nord non sono solo crimini economici, ma rappresentano una minaccia alla sicurezza globale. Per affrontare queste sfide, è necessaria una combinazione di tecnologia avanzata, collaborazione internazionale e regolamentazione rigorosa.

Fonti:

• DL News
• Cyvers
• Bitcoinist
• Silicon

L'articolo Crypto 2024: Record di Furti, Minacce Globali e Implicazioni Geopolitiche proviene da il blog della sicurezza informatica.

Enrico De Nicola

Entra in vigore la Costituzione italiana, ove sono definiti i principi e la struttura della forma di governo repubblicana che gli italiani hanno preferito alla monarchia.
La carta costituzionale era stata firmata dal capo provvisorio dello Stato, Enrico De Nicola, primo presidente della Repubblica Italiana.
Fu eletto capo provvisorio dello Stato dall'Assemblea Costituente il 28 giugno 1946 e ricoprì tale carica dal 1 luglio dello stesso anno al 31 dicembre 1947. Il 1 gennaio 1948, a norma della prima disposizione transitoria e finale della Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana, esercitò le attribuzioni e assunse il titolo di Presidente della Repubblica Italiana, mantenendoli fino al successivo 12 maggio.

@Storia
@Storiaweb

When [Tahmid Mahbub] recently reached for his ‘Lavolta’ BPS-305 bench supply, he was dismayed to find that despite it being a 30V, 5A-rated unit, the supply refused to output more than 15V. To be fair, he wasn’t sure that he had ever tried to push it beyond 15V in the years that he had owned it, but it had better live up to its specs. Ergo out came the screwdriver to open the power supply to see what had broken, and hopefully to fix it.

After some more probing around, he discovered that the unit had many more issues, including a highly unstable output voltage and output current measurement was completely wrong. Fortunately this bench power supply turns out to be very much like any number of similar 30V, 5A units, with repair videos and schematics available.

While [Tahmid] doesn’t detail his troubleshooting process, he does mention the culprits: two broken potentiometers (VR104 and VR102). VR104 is a 5 kOhm pot in the output voltage feedback circuit and VR102 (500 Ohm) sets the maximum output current. With no 500 Ohm pot at hand, a 5 kOhm one was combined with a 470 Ohm resistor to still allow for trimming. Also adjusted were the voltage and current trimpots for the front display as they were quite a bit off. Following some testing on the reassembled unit, this power supply is now back in service, for the cost of two potentiometers and a bit of time.

hackaday.com/2024/12/31/repair…

Within our comfortable world of causality we expect that reactions always follow an action and not vice versa. This why the recent chatter in the media about researchers having discovered ‘negative time’ with photons being emitted before the sample being hit by source photons created such a stir. Did these researchers truly just crack our fundamental concepts of (quantum) physics wide open? As it turns out, not really.

Much of the confusion stems from the fact that photons aren’t little marbles that bounce around the place, but are an expression of (electromagnetic) energy. This means that their resulting interaction with matter (i.e. groupings of atoms) is significantly more complicated, often resulting in the photonic energy getting absorbed by an atom, boosting the energy state of its electron(s) before possibly being re-emitted as the excited electrons decay into a lower orbit.

This dwell time before re-emission is what is confusing to many, as in our classical understanding we’d expect this to be a very deterministic process, while in a quantum world it most decidedly is not.

This is highlighted in the Scientific American article on the subject as well, specifically quantum probability. Within this system, it’s possible that there can be re-emissions before the atomic excitation has fully ceased. It was this original 2022 finding that was recently retested, with the findings confirmed.

As confusing as this all may sound, the authors of the recent paper stress that the core of the issue here is the so-called ‘group delay’ of the original pulse as it excites the cloud of rubidium atoms. If one were to think of this pulse as discrete quanta of photon particles, it’d seem to break causality, but as a wave function within quantum physics this is perfectly acceptable. Observations such as the rubidium atoms becoming excited despite photons passing through the cloud, and emitting a photon before the electrons returned to their ground state do not seem to make sense, but here we also have to consider how and what we are measuring.

The short version is that causality remains unbroken, and the world of quantum physics is intuitive in its own, strange ways. Research like this also gives us a much better fundamental understanding of photonics and related fields, none of which involve time travel.

Experimental setup and measured optical depth. (Credit: Josiah Sinclair et al., PRX Quantum, 2022)

hackaday.com/2024/12/31/quantu…

Steve, Joe and James discussed a massive VW data leak, the passing of President Carter and the US Justice Department’s report on the Worcester Police Department. Join us for our Winter 2025 conference on Sunday, January 19th! It will be at the ROOTED Armory Café, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. The conference starts by 10am and ends around 4pm.

• Conference;
• Registration;
• Speaker Registration.

youtube.com/embed/RX2yk6fI_mg?…

Sign up to our newsletter to get notified of new events or volunteer. Join us on:

• Mastodon;
• Facebook;
• Blue Sky;
• Twitter.

Some links we mentioned:

• Massive VW Data Leak Exposed 800,000 EV Owners’ Movements, From Homes To Private Spaces;
• It’s Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy;
• DOJ investigation finds ‘outrageous government conduct’ within Worcester Police Department;
• Pastor shares experience amid Worcester police’s Department of Justice civil rights report;
• Federal investigation faults Worcester police on use of force, sexual contact with women;
• Investigation of the Worcester Police Department and the City of Worcester, Massachusetts;
• Jimmy Carter Wikipedia page.

Image Credit: Pedro Ribeiro Simões, Fireworks 4, CC BY 2.0.

masspirates.org/blog/2024/12/3…

The world of audio has produced a variety of different loudspeaker designs over the last century, though it’s fair to say that the trusty moving coil reigns supreme. That hasn’t stopped plenty of engineers from trying new ways to make sound though, and [R.U.H] is here with a home-made version of one of them. It’s a foil tweeter, a design in which a corrugated strip of foil is held in a magnetic field, and vibrates when an audio frequency current is passed through it.

He shows a couple of takes on the design, both with neodymium magnets but with different foils and 3D printed or wooden surrounds. They both make a noise when plugged into an amplifier, and unsurprisingly the thicker foil has less of the high notes.

We can see that in there is the possibility for a high quality tweeter, but we can’t help having one concern. This device has an extremely low impedance compared to the amplifier, and thus would probably be drawing far too much current. We’d expect it to be driven through a transformer instead, if he had any care for not killing the amplifier.

Happily there are other uses for a ribbon, they are far better known as microphones.

youtube.com/embed/Oa6pvTUlFYY?…

hackaday.com/2024/12/31/a-foil…