Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Tiny phones, trippy LED masks, and more

At any given moment, there are approximately a zillion different crowdfunding campaigns happening on the web. Take a stroll through Kickstarter or Indiegogo and you’ll find no shortage of weird, useless, and downright stupid projects out there — alongside some real gems. We’ve cut through the fidget spinners and janky iPhone cases to round up the most unusual, ambitious, and exciting new crowdfunding projects out there this week. That said, keep in mind that any crowdfunding project — even the best intentioned — can fail, so do your homework before cutting a check for the gadget of your dreams.

Radius — wide field mosquito repeller

If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that mosquitos suck — in more ways than one. They spread disease, leave you with itchy bumps on your skin, and always show up uninvited to every outdoor gathering you attend. To make matters worse, there’s not much recourse.

You can light all the citronella candles and geraniol tiki torches you want, but those needle-nosed bloodsuckers will still find a way to bite you — usually in a place that’s hard to reach. The only real way to get them to buzz off is to douse yourself in DEET, and pray that you remember to wash your hands before you eat any hors d’oeuvres.

But what if there was a better way to keep mosquitos at bay? That’s exactly what Thermacell aims to do with it’s newest gizmo, Radius. It’s touted as the “world’s first rechargeable, EPA-approved, zone mosquito repellent.”

According to the creators, “Radius works differently than sticky sprays and lotions. Radius uses heat to activate a clean, scent-free repellent. Once activated, the repellent spreads out to create an invisible zone of protection. So instead of treating your skin and clothing with chemical repellents, Radius targets the mosquitoes themselves with a tiny amount of airborne repellent. You simply turn it on, and within minutes, the mosquitoes are gone.”

OneManBand — realtime digital backup band

Do you play guitar, but wish you had a backup band to accompany you? In the past, you only had two ways to solve this problem: either find other musicians to play with, or invest in a loop pedal setup and play your own backup. But now, there’s a third option: the OneManBand. It’s essentially a high-tech upgrade kit for your guitar.

Once installed, the system can read what you’re playing, adapt to it, and generate accompanying backup in real time. In other words, you just start playing, and OneManBand’s magical AI will start jamming with you.

So how does it work? According to the device’s creators: “OMB’s patented guitar uses unique hardware and software to enable guitar players of all styles and levels to skyrocket their playing experience with real-time backup music, instrument-swap mode, and a mindblowing guitar-to-MIDI mode. The unique technology utilizes capacitive and inductive tech to detect signals from the strings and convert them to digital data without any latency. By knowing what you’re playing, the app can convert that to MIDI in real-time and enrich your sound in a bunch of different ways. The guitar feels and plays just like normal; start playing and you’ll be amazed.”

Zanco Tiny T1 — world’s smallest cellphone

Remember the first Zoolander movie — aka the one that didn’t suck? In the film (which was released in 2001, a time when cell phones were shrinking rapidly), one of the running gags were the tiny cellphones that Derrick Zoolander and Hansel used to answered calls. They were outrageously small, and acted as a sort of trendy status symbol. The smaller the phone, the cooler the owner.

Anywho – if you saw those phones and thought to yourself “Damn, I really want a ridiculously tiny cell phone,” then we have good news for you. 16 years after Zoolander, somebody has finally created a phone that’s just as small as Derrick’s — and you can get it on Kickstarter.

The Zanco Tiny T1, as its called, is allegedly the world’s smallest mobile phone. According to the Kickstarter page, it’s “smaller than your thumb, lighter than a coin, and is ridiculously cute.” We can hardly argue with that last point.

As for specs, the company doesn’t list too much, but it does state that the Tiny T1 “will work with any mobile phone network. You can change the nano-SIM at any time if you want to change your network too. The tiny phone operates on the 2G network. The battery has 3 days standby and 180 minutes talk time.”

Morphcooker — electric camp stove

We covered this gizmo earlier in the week, so I’ll just let DT’s outdoor reporter Kraig Becker give you the rundown:

“Camping stoves come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, ranging from compact and lightweight, to large enough to feed an army of hungry backpackers. But few can offer the level of versatility of the Morphcooker, a new backcountry stove that recently launched on Kickstarter and promises to be a revolution in the way we prepare our meals in the outdoors.

The idea behind the Morphcooker came three years ago, when designer Lawrence Bass went in search of a safer way to cook at the campsite. His quest began after his father was injured in a fire that started when a faulty gas stove caught his tent on fire. It took 19 different prototypes for Bass to finally hit on a design that met his requirements of not only providing a safe way for backpackers to prepare their meals, but was also environmentally friendly and extremely adaptable too.

His final design comes in two different versions — the Morphcooker Solo and Morphcooker Family. At the heart of both models is an 8-inch silicone plate that serves as the hot plate, frying pan, and heating element for the pot and stove. The silicone is riding and firm, contains the heating element, and is powered by a rechargeable lithium battery. It also comes with a magnetic handle that can be swapped out with any of the various components.”

Sound Reactive LED Mask — light-up face mask

This one is pretty straightforward. It’s just a thin, flexible LED mask that has a number of nifty features, the most significant of which is its ability to “hear” incoming noises (presumably, loud electronic music) and automatically adjust the color, brightness, and strobe pattern of the LEDs to match.

Better yet, these masks are available in a variety of different styles, including a human face, a big cat (like a panther), a fox, and an ape. There’s really not much else to say, so we’ll let the creators from Outline Montreal tell you more.

“9000 years ago, the first mask was created,” the creators proclaim on Kickstarter. “Used to either disguise or reveal a personality trait, masks are present in every culture throughout History. The Sound Reactive LED Mask takes a step forward. It integrates art and technology into a very versatile device that mesmerizes anyone who sees it. The LED Mask transcribes any sort of music and any type of rhythm into amazing Illuminations. Our masks are easily wearable, foldable and adjustable. As a costume or music accessory for any occasion, they are the perfect companion.”

Editors’ Recommendations

• Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Folding helmets and emojis for your car
• Radius is a smart device that acts like a force field for mosquitoes
• Getting the ghouls together? Checkout our epic Halloween Spotify playlist
• The 50 best albums of 2017
• Best new songs to stream: Porches, Alvvays, Feist, Grizzly Bear, and Goon

Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Tiny phones, trippy LED masks, and more

At any given moment, there are approximately a zillion different crowdfunding campaigns happening on the web. Take a stroll through Kickstarter or Indiegogo and you’ll find no shortage of weird, useless, and downright stupid projects out there — alongside some real gems. We’ve cut through the fidget spinners and janky iPhone cases to round up the most unusual, ambitious, and exciting new crowdfunding projects out there this week. That said, keep in mind that any crowdfunding project — even the best intentioned — can fail, so do your homework before cutting a check for the gadget of your dreams.

Radius — wide field mosquito repeller

If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that mosquitos suck — in more ways than one. They spread disease, leave you with itchy bumps on your skin, and always show up uninvited to every outdoor gathering you attend. To make matters worse, there’s not much recourse.

You can light all the citronella candles and geraniol tiki torches you want, but those needle-nosed bloodsuckers will still find a way to bite you — usually in a place that’s hard to reach. The only real way to get them to buzz off is to douse yourself in DEET, and pray that you remember to wash your hands before you eat any hors d’oeuvres.

But what if there was a better way to keep mosquitos at bay? That’s exactly what Thermacell aims to do with it’s newest gizmo, Radius. It’s touted as the “world’s first rechargeable, EPA-approved, zone mosquito repellent.”

According to the creators, “Radius works differently than sticky sprays and lotions. Radius uses heat to activate a clean, scent-free repellent. Once activated, the repellent spreads out to create an invisible zone of protection. So instead of treating your skin and clothing with chemical repellents, Radius targets the mosquitoes themselves with a tiny amount of airborne repellent. You simply turn it on, and within minutes, the mosquitoes are gone.”

OneManBand — realtime digital backup band

Do you play guitar, but wish you had a backup band to accompany you? In the past, you only had two ways to solve this problem: either find other musicians to play with, or invest in a loop pedal setup and play your own backup. But now, there’s a third option: the OneManBand. It’s essentially a high-tech upgrade kit for your guitar.

Once installed, the system can read what you’re playing, adapt to it, and generate accompanying backup in real time. In other words, you just start playing, and OneManBand’s magical AI will start jamming with you.

So how does it work? According to the device’s creators: “OMB’s patented guitar uses unique hardware and software to enable guitar players of all styles and levels to skyrocket their playing experience with real-time backup music, instrument-swap mode, and a mindblowing guitar-to-MIDI mode. The unique technology utilizes capacitive and inductive tech to detect signals from the strings and convert them to digital data without any latency. By knowing what you’re playing, the app can convert that to MIDI in real-time and enrich your sound in a bunch of different ways. The guitar feels and plays just like normal; start playing and you’ll be amazed.”

Zanco Tiny T1 — world’s smallest cellphone

Remember the first Zoolander movie — aka the one that didn’t suck? In the film (which was released in 2001, a time when cell phones were shrinking rapidly), one of the running gags were the tiny cellphones that Derrick Zoolander and Hansel used to answered calls. They were outrageously small, and acted as a sort of trendy status symbol. The smaller the phone, the cooler the owner.

Anywho – if you saw those phones and thought to yourself “Damn, I really want a ridiculously tiny cell phone,” then we have good news for you. 16 years after Zoolander, somebody has finally created a phone that’s just as small as Derrick’s — and you can get it on Kickstarter.

The Zanco Tiny T1, as its called, is allegedly the world’s smallest mobile phone. According to the Kickstarter page, it’s “smaller than your thumb, lighter than a coin, and is ridiculously cute.” We can hardly argue with that last point.

As for specs, the company doesn’t list too much, but it does state that the Tiny T1 “will work with any mobile phone network. You can change the nano-SIM at any time if you want to change your network too. The tiny phone operates on the 2G network. The battery has 3 days standby and 180 minutes talk time.”

Morphcooker — electric camp stove

We covered this gizmo earlier in the week, so I’ll just let DT’s outdoor reporter Kraig Becker give you the rundown:

“Camping stoves come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, ranging from compact and lightweight, to large enough to feed an army of hungry backpackers. But few can offer the level of versatility of the Morphcooker, a new backcountry stove that recently launched on Kickstarter and promises to be a revolution in the way we prepare our meals in the outdoors.

The idea behind the Morphcooker came three years ago, when designer Lawrence Bass went in search of a safer way to cook at the campsite. His quest began after his father was injured in a fire that started when a faulty gas stove caught his tent on fire. It took 19 different prototypes for Bass to finally hit on a design that met his requirements of not only providing a safe way for backpackers to prepare their meals, but was also environmentally friendly and extremely adaptable too.

His final design comes in two different versions — the Morphcooker Solo and Morphcooker Family. At the heart of both models is an 8-inch silicone plate that serves as the hot plate, frying pan, and heating element for the pot and stove. The silicone is riding and firm, contains the heating element, and is powered by a rechargeable lithium battery. It also comes with a magnetic handle that can be swapped out with any of the various components.”

Sound Reactive LED Mask — light-up face mask

This one is pretty straightforward. It’s just a thin, flexible LED mask that has a number of nifty features, the most significant of which is its ability to “hear” incoming noises (presumably, loud electronic music) and automatically adjust the color, brightness, and strobe pattern of the LEDs to match.

Better yet, these masks are available in a variety of different styles, including a human face, a big cat (like a panther), a fox, and an ape. There’s really not much else to say, so we’ll let the creators from Outline Montreal tell you more.

“9000 years ago, the first mask was created,” the creators proclaim on Kickstarter. “Used to either disguise or reveal a personality trait, masks are present in every culture throughout History. The Sound Reactive LED Mask takes a step forward. It integrates art and technology into a very versatile device that mesmerizes anyone who sees it. The LED Mask transcribes any sort of music and any type of rhythm into amazing Illuminations. Our masks are easily wearable, foldable and adjustable. As a costume or music accessory for any occasion, they are the perfect companion.”

Editors’ Recommendations

• Awesome tech you can’t buy yet: Folding helmets and emojis for your car
• Radius is a smart device that acts like a force field for mosquitoes
• Getting the ghouls together? Checkout our epic Halloween Spotify playlist
• The 50 best albums of 2017
• Best new songs to stream: Porches, Alvvays, Feist, Grizzly Bear, and Goon

Smart display button puts GIFs on your shirt

The odds are that you’ve shown your support for a cause with a button on your shirt or backpack at some point in your life. But there’s only so much button real estate you can offer, isn’t there? That’s where BEAM Authentic thinks it can save the day. Its BEAM button pairs to your phone through an app and lets you display virtually any image you want on its circular AMOLED screen, including slideshows and GIFs. You could promote an environmental cause one hour and a dank meme the next.

Also, you’re not just limited to your own creations. You can find buttons art from others’ collections, follow creators you like, receive streams and send conversations. And yes, there are paid buttons — you can donate to a cause at the same time as you endorse it. The button might even get you out of trouble, as you there’s a panic mode that will send an emergency message and your location to as many as four other people.

The BEAM button is available now, but there’s a catch: it’s $99. That can buy a lot of conventional buttons, and those won’t run out of energy. You’ll contribute $3 to a charity when you buy, though, and this is certainly a viable option if you’d rather draw your own artwork than track down an elusive button that expresses your exact thoughts.

Via: Android Police

Source: Beam

Pentagon funded UFO identification program for 5 years

Recent UFO research isn’t just the work of the X-Files or former pop punk stars. The New York Times has learned that the US Department of Defense quietly funded a program (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification) designed to explain UFO reports. The program was initially funded in 2007 at the behest of Senator Harry Reid, and sent most of its money ($22 million per year) went to an aerospace firm run by his friend Robert Bigelow, who’s “absolutely convinced” UFOs have visited Earth and has been making inflatable habitats for NASA. The money stopped flowing in 2012, but the program is technically active to this day.

Many details of the program remain under wraps. However, it frequently included videos of encounters between American military aircraft and mysterious objects that defied explanation, such as ‘aircraft’ that flew at high speed or hovered with no apparent source of propulsion. Also, it wasn’t a source of shame for the politicians that supported it. Reid said it’s “one of the good things” he did before he retired, while the late senators Daniel Inouye and Ted Stevens also backed the program.

It’s not known what conclusions the program has reached. With that said, this doesn’t mean that officials were expecting to find aliens. Reid said in 2009 that there had been “highly sensitive, unconventional” discoveries, and one briefing the same year claimed the US couldn’t defend itself against what it had seen. However, that may have just meant that what was found couldn’t be readily explained by natural phenomena or other known aircraft, and was curious enough to warrant a deeper look. Former program lead Luis Elizondo would only say that the sightings didn’t clearly originate from specific countries.

The program probably isn’t going to see a renaissance. UFO research understandably has plenty of skeptics who see it as misguided and a waste of money. However, that it has been happening in a significant capacity this century is still notable in itself.

Source: New York Times

Is the Pentagon’s shadowy secret UFO research program still going on?

If the truth is out there, the Department of Defense may still be determined to find it.

Stories published in the New York Times and Politico almost at the same time both detail a secret Pentagon program that went on for years, spending tens of millions of dollars to investigate “unidentified aerial phenomena,” also known as UFOs. Called the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, it spent five years investigating reports from pilots and other military personnel about unexplained objects in the sky — and it may still be going on.

The program apparently began in 2007, and many parts of it are still classified. Most of the research was undertaken by an aerospace company run by billionaire Robert Bigelow, who’s expressed his belief in extraterrestrial life many times.

“I’m absolutely convinced. That’s all there is to it,” he said in an interview with CBS News. “There has been and is an existing presence, an ET presence [on Earth]. And I spent millions and millions and millions — I probably spent more as an individual than anybody else in the United States has ever spent on this subject.”

The program has described objects that move at high speeds or hover in place without any visible propulsion. One 2004 DoD video obtained by the Times shows cockpit footage from a Navy F-18 Hornet chasing an object the size of a commercial airliner. “Look at that thing!” one pilot exclaimed to the other during the incident.

According to the Times, the program was run by a military official named Luis Elizondo deep in the bowels of the Pentagon. Although defense officials claim the program was ended in 2012, it has recently received scrutiny due to Elizondo’s recent resignation. He maintained that, despite the lack of official government funding, the program has continued with officials from the CIA and the Navy. Elizondo also claimed that he quit in protest because the program had not been taken seriously.

“We tried to work within the system,” Elizondo said to Politico. “We were trying to take the voodoo out of voodoo science.”

From 1947 to 1969, the Air Force operated Project Blue Book, a program designed to investigate sightings of unexplained aerial phenomena. The conclusion was that there had been no evidence that any of the sightings were extraterrestrial vehicles.

After departing the Pentagon, Elizondo has joined up with Tom DeLonge (formerly of Blink-182) and his To the Stars venture, which posted the video obtained by the Times on YouTube. Speaking to the Times, he said his research over the years had proven that the mysterious objects had not come from Earth. “That fact is not something any government or institution should classify in order to keep secret from the people,” he said.

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Windows 10 included password manager with huge security hole

There’s a good reason why security analysts get nervous about bundled third-party software: it can introduce vulnerabilities that the companies can’t control. And Microsoft, unfortunately, has learned that the hard way. Google researcher Tavis Ormandy discovered that a Windows 10 image came bundled with a third-party password manager, Keeper, which came with a glaring browser plugin flaw — a malicious website could steal passwords. Ormandy’s copy was an MSDN image meant for developers, but Reddit users noted that they received the vulnerable copy of Keeper after clean reinstalls of regular copies and even a brand new laptop.

A Microsoft spokesperson told Ars Technica that the Keeper team had patched the exploit (in response to Ormandy’s private disclosure), so it shouldn’t be an issue if your software is up to date. Also, you were only exposed if you enabled the plugin.

However, the very existence of the hole has still raised a concern: are Microsoft’s security tests as thorough for third-party apps as its own software? The company has declined to comment, but that kind of screening may prove crucial if Microsoft is going to maintain the trust of Windows users. It doesn’t matter how secure Microsoft’s code is if a bundled app undermines everything.

Source: Monorail, Tavis Ormandy (Twitter)

YouTube took down FCC’s ‘Harlem Shake’ video for 7 hours

Remember when “Harlem Shake” musician Baauer said he’d take down FCC chairman Ajit Pai’s video marking (and really, trivializing) the death of net neutrality? He meant it… although his effort didn’t last long. The Verge notes that Baauer’s label Mad Decent successfully removed the video from Daily Caller’s YouTube channel with a copyright notice for a whopping 7 hours — not much more than a momentary blip. The brief success is highlighting the concerns about the “shoot first, ask questions later” approach to copyright takedowns at sites like YouTube.

Daily Caller cried conspiracy and claimed that Google was abusing its power to “censor the internet.” Well, no, it’s not — Google isn’t obligated to host anything and everything. However, as we discussed in a previous story, the use of “Harlem Shake” was likely protected under fair use both due to its 20-second longevity and nature as a parody. And that makes Mad Decent’s takedown request problematic.

As YouTube takes down videos virtually the moment it receives a Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notice, Baauer could effectively misuse the law to inflict damage (however temporary) on DC with few consequences. The burden was on DC to fight the notice after the video went down. Yes, Pai’s clip is one of the most loathed videos on the internet (over 169,000 dislikes and counting), but that just underscores the point — the DMCA isn’t supposed to be used to enable personal vendettas, no matter how many people support a given cause.

Source: The Verge

Firefox users cry foul after stealth ‘Mr. Robot’ promo app secretly installs

If you opened up your browser and noticed a strange new extension this week, you’re not alone. Firefox users who are enrolled in Mozilla’s Shield Studies unexpectedly encountered a developer add-on called “Looking Glass.” The description read “MY REALITY IS JUST DIFFERENT FROM YOURS” — which understandably freaked a few people out.

It turns out it’s not ransomware or Bitcoin miners invading your system — it’s a promotional campaign for the Mr. Robot television series. The show features a super-hacker and often addresses cybersecurity issues, so “hacking” into a user’s browser with an enigmatic message may have seemed like a clever idea at the time. But, as Mozilla often stresses its commitment to privacy, many users have voiced their concerns about the creepy and intrusive nature of the promotion.

“Folks this is really unacceptable. Reddit is losing their mind about it. It’s fine if this is associated with Shields studies — but you need use a meaningful description — not some random quote that you think might be cute,” wrote one user on the Mozilla support forum

As TechCrunch noted, the show may be quite popular with developers, but it’s hardly mainstream enough to assume that more than a small percentage of Firefox users even know what it is. Mozilla responded to clarify that it was an alternate reality game timed to coincide with the season finale of the show.

“Firefox worked with the Mr. Robot team to create a custom experience that would surprise and delight fans of the show and our users,” Mozilla told TechCrunch. The company went on to add that the app does not collect or share any data. “We gave Mr. Robot fans a unique mystery to solve to deepen their connection and engagement with the show and is only available in Firefox.”

According to Engadget, the extension doesn’t do anything unless you opt into the game itself. If you don’t want anything to do with it, type about:addons into the address bar and remove “Looking Glass.”

The Shield Studies program is a way for users to test programs before they’re released. Most ask for permission before installing, but some are installed automatically and require you to actively remove it. As some people weren’t even aware they were part of the Shield program to begin with, this particular stunt seems to have backfired.

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Smart Home Gift Guide

Dip your toes into the smart home life with Team Thrifter’s selection of smart home gifts for beginners. Easing into a smart home is fun, especially with products like smart plugs and the Amazon Echo Dot.

iHome Wi-Fi outdoor smart plugSetting up outdoor Christmas lights or just something for your backyard deck? This outdoor plug gives you access to smart features like scheduling and even voice control.Amazon$39.61WishlistSwitchmate Motion Activated Snap-On Instant Smart Light SwitchDon’t want to go through the complicated process of setting up a full-on smart home system with hubs and connections throughout your home? The Switchmate attaches right to the switch and gives you direct voice control through the mobile app.Amazon$29.99WishlistTP-Link Smart LED Light BulbThis is the easiest way to gain voice control over your home’s lamps. All you do is screw in the bulb, connect it to your Wi-Fi, connect the free app to your hub’s app, and boom you’ve got “Alexa, dim the living room lights” right on the tip of your tongue.Amazon$19.99WishlistEtekcity Wi-Fi 2-pack smart plugsThese mini plugs add smart functionality to your favorite appliances by connecting easily to your Wi-Fi and giving you control through a device like the Echo Dot.Amazon$25.89WishlistAmazon Echo DotFor $30 you get all the features of Amazon Alexa, a built-in speaker, and a smart home hub capable of controlling hundreds of objects around the home. Honestly, if you don’t have one already I have no idea what you’re waiting for.Amazon$29.99WishlistSmartThings Home Monitoring KitThe SmartThings ecosystem is one of the most robust you can have, and this kit comes with a whole bunch of options like multipurpose sensors, a motion sensor, a smart plug, and the SmartThings Hub.Samsung$149.99WishlistPhilips Hue starter kit with 4 bulbs and a bridgeThere are plenty of smart bulb options out there if you just want to replace a singular lamp or lighting fixture, but if you want to go whole hog you want the Philips Hue so your lights can communicate with you and each other at the same time.Amazon$91.99WishlistCanary all-in-one home security deviceThe Canary is a motion-activated 1080p security camera with night vision and the ability to monitor air quality, temperature, and humidity. It’s the easiest system in the world to setup, even if it’s not the most advanced.Amazon$122.00WishlistRing Video Doorbell 2Ring has several versions of the video doorbell, each one with more features than the last. The real key here is being able to see who’s knocking without getting off the couch.Amazon$194.00WishlistNest Learning ThermostatWho knew a smart thermostat would be such a big deal? But it turns out, it is pretty convenient to change the temperature without losing the nice spot on the couch. The Nest Thermostat is one of the most widely compatible smart devices you can add to your budding smart home collection.Amazon$241.99WishlistRachio smart Wi-Fi sprinkler controller systemAfter the thermostat, the sprinkler was probably top on your list of “things that don’t need to be smart.” But you’d be wrong, my friend. The Rachio will transform how you water your lawn and it can save you money with your utility company, too.Amazon$199.48WishlistAugust Smart Lock 3rd GenerationStandard deadbolts are a thing of the past. August is already on a third generation of smart locks, and you haven’t added one to your home yet? Not only can you lock your door with your phone or your voice, the smart functions will actually keep your home more secure with real-time tracking.Amazon$149.00WishlistChamberlain MyQ Smart Garage Door hubEven if you’ve added smart home gadgets around your home, your garage is probably still living in the dark ages of the early aughts. Let Chamberlain’s MyQ change that by connecting your garage door to your smartphone.Amazon$99.00WishlistWemo dimmer light switchReplace your standard light switch with this smart dimmer switch so you can control your lights manually, with your phone, or with your voice. Wemo is smart enough that you don’t need an additional hub either, just Wi-Fi.Amazon$74.99WishlistTopgreener USB wall charger and outletTopgreener’s custom outlets let you add built-in USB ports to your boring, standard wall outlets. It’s an easy added convenience as long as you’re careful with the wires while installating.Amazon$18.95Wishlist

North Korea hackers steal bitcoin by targeting currency insiders

Bitcoin values are skyrocketing, and North Korea appears to be trying to profit from that virtual gold rush. Secureworks reports that the Lazarus Group (a team linked to the North Korean government) has been conducting a spearphishing campaign against cryptocurrency industry workers in a bid to steal bitcoin. The attacks have tried to trick workers into compromising their computers by including a seemingly innocuous Word file that claims they need to enable editing to see the document. If they fell prey, it installed a rogue macro that quietly loaded a PC-hijacking trojan while staffers were busy looking at the bogus document.

Attempts have been taking place as recently as November, but Secureworks’ analysts saw activity as early as 2016. The organization adds that the campaign is likely still going, and that this is a preliminary report. You may get a better sense of the scope in the future.

It’s easy to see why Lazarus would try a campaign like this. It has already conducted money-grabbing efforts like the 2016 bank attack that swiped $81 million, and taking even a handful of bitcoins could reap a windfall when just one is worth roughly $19,400 as of this writing. North Korea could spend relatively little effort to swipe a lot of money and circumvent the many sanctions that prevent money from flowing in.

Source: ZDNet, Reuters