Cuba achieved food security with out destroying its environment, and the remainder of the world has finally noticed.
Cuba is presenting a number of of its unique bio-technologies at a global business fair this week, drawing further attention to a sector of the Cuban economy that’s been producing substantial interest overseas.
The Cuban Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology presented numerous biotechnological improvements at the fair: all eco-friendly and biodegrable alternatives to traditional technologies, which may assist the transition towards a more sustainable model of agriculture.
Amongst them was an immunogen called “Gavac,” that provides for better control over ticks and tick-related infections in cattle, according to Dr. Hector Machado of Cuba’s Heber Biotec firm.
Gavac’s formulation reduces the usage of chemical pesticides, stated Machado, while diminishing the danger of diseases being transmitted by ticks, enhancing an animal’s natural capacity to respond to an infection with out increasing their resistance to treatment.
Gavac has already been commercialized in Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia and Brazil. Its awaiting approval to be used in Nicaragua, Panama and Costa Rica.
Other biotechnological merchandise included Acuabio’s range of nutritional complements used in aquaculture in order to boost the growth of larva and enhance their immune systems till they develop into adults, providing them better defences against infections.
The HeberNem eco-friendly pesticide against roundworms, or nematodes, is also increasingly well-liked inside Cuba, and shall be introduced in the fair this year.
The fair – one of the largest business events within the Caribbean – aims to draw investment in Cuba. This year, a number of U.S. corporations are attending the fair, the first time U.S. firms will be attending since the fair was launched 33 years ago.
Cuba has been attracting attention in recent years for its model of agriculture, because it has been able to develop low cost and eco-friendly technologies which have helped the nation to achieve a certain degree of food security with out damaging the environment. With the environmental and financial challenges the world is now facing, the Cuban model – built in a time of crisis, after the United States sanctions – is seen as offering potential solutions to many countries in the world.
If you are using an Android device, then sometimes, you might want to copy files from your Android device into your computer. Or you might want to do a full backup to keep your data safe. There are so many ways with appropriate apps that will help you do partial or full backup of your Android device. But which are the best?
In this article, I will tell you a list of top 5 best free backup apps for Android. These apps will help you backup all your data like contacts, messages, photos, videos, apps, personal files and other files. So if you want to backup your Android device, take a look at the list below:
#1. GO Backup & Restore Pro
This app will help you backup and restore user data, apps & its data, system settings and many more. Comes with a friendly user interface, easy to use, and protect your Android device from any dangers.
The GO Backup & Restore Pro app also support to backup and upload the backup files into cloud services like Dropbox or Google Drive. And from these backup files, you can also restore the Android device.
If you want to use Titanium Backup, your Android device must be rooted. It is one of the most powerful backup and restore apps on Android. With the Titanium Backup app, you can backup, restore, freeze your Android apps and its data. It can also help you to protect apps, system apps or external apps and data on your MicroSD card. You can backup and sync it into Dropbox or Google Drive, manually or scheduled. In case you don’t want to store backup files on cloud services, you can use Android File Transfer to copy files from your Android to computer. It’s a fastest feature that supported on both Windows and Mac OS X platforms.
The Helium app does not require you to root the device to use. Along with backup and restore features, it allows you to sync data between Android devices, even both devices are not on the same network.
The app also lets you schedule automatic backups, supports cloud backup and restore (Dropbox, Box.net, Google Drive), and backup to your desktop.
It’s a free backup and restore app for Android. It’s not only helping you backup and restore the backup, but also help you uninstall & freeze the apps, sync to cloud services like Dropbox or Google Drive as well as many other features.
Backup and restore calls, messages, Wi-Fi SSID & password, bookmarks, etc.
This is a fastest data backup and restore app for Android users. With this app, you can backup anything you want from your Android device to SD card, cloud services or a computer.
A few features of this app are required to root device before use like backup & restore data app, backup & restore apps from MicroSD card. If you don’t have time to backup your Android device, just enter your Google Drive, or Gmail account, and then the app will automatically backup and upload the file.
Collections of ants have a outstanding capability to alter shapes and duties based on the demands of their surroundings. When floodwaters hit, they self-assemble and make rafts to stay alive. They will also use their bodies to construct bridges and span gaps. What are the properties of those ant aggregations that enable for this wide selection of talents? New research from the Georgia Institute of Technology says it’s because the bugs are actually liquid-like and solid-like concurrently. The research is presently published in Nature Materials.
The Georgia Tech group probed the mechanical properties of fire ant aggregations by placing thousands of ants into a rheometer, a machine used to test the solid-like and liquid-like response of materials similar to food, hand cream or melted plastic.
The ants were sheared at constant speeds from about 0.0001 rpm up to about a hundred rpm. The researchers discovered that the conduct of live ants was much like that of dead ants: when the aggregation is pressured to stream, live ants let go and play dead. In this case, the viscosity dramatically decreased as the pace increased.
“It’s not unlike ketchup,” stated Alberto Fernandez-Nieves, an associate professor in the School of Physics. “The harder you squeeze, the easier it flows. However with ants, this occurs far more dramatically than with ketchup.”
“Ants seem to have an on/off switch in that they let go for sufficiently massive applied forces,” mentioned David Hu, an associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. “Regardless of wanting to be together, they let go and behave like a fluid to stop getting injured or killed.”
This identical conduct can be seen by dropping a penny through an ant aggregation. Ants will stream around the coin as it sinks by the aggregation. This flow takes a comparatively very long time to occur. Nevertheless, when the aggregation is poked rapidly, it responds like a spring and returns to its original form.
“That is the hallmark of viscoelastic behavior,” stated Fernandez-Nieves. “The ants exhibit a springy-response when probed at brief instances, however behave fluid-like at longer occasions.”
The group quantified this by observing the ants’ response to tiny wiggles of the rheometer. They discovered that the ants are equally liquid-like and solid-like. They did the identical experiment with dead ants and noticed that they are also solid-like. This confirmed that live ants are liquid-like and solid-like due to their activity.
“Remarkably, the observed behavior is comparable to what’s seen in materials that aren’t alive, like polymer gels right on the point after they become a gel,” stated Fernandez-Nieves. “That is quite puzzling, and we at the moment are performing many extra experiments to attempt to understand where these similarities come up from and how much they can be pushed. Doing this can hopefully extend our current mind-set about materials, that just like the ants, are active and thus out-of-equilibrium. There’s far more fascinating work we plan on doing with ants.”
Hu has studied ant habits for almost 10 years. Fernandez-Nieves is a physicist who makes use of rheology to understand the mechanics of soft materials and unravel the microscopic origin of their overall properties and behaviors.
Michael Tennenbaum, a graduate research assistant who participated in the research, also compared the conduct of the ant aggregation to jello.
“Think about when you wished to make the most jello possible out of a packet of gelatin. It will be solid, but additionally very liquidy,” he stated. “That’s because there would be just barely enough gelatin to make it solid-like however not enough to make it fully solid. The jello will be both solid-like and liquid-like.”
Hu has additionally used the liquid-like nature of the ants to study self-healing materials.
“In case you slice a dinner roll with a knife, you’re going to end up with two pieces of bread,” said Hu. “However when you slice through a pile of ants, they’ll merely let the knife go through, then reform on the opposite side. They’re like liquid metal – identical to that scene in the Terminator film.”
Hu says it’s this flexibility that permits ants to enjoy the best of both worlds. They are in a position to turn into solids to make things and liquids to avoid breaking into “smithereens.”
One would have to be quite an expert marksman to shoot a drone out of the sky with a traditional rifle. Firing a bullet with a diameter of around 7 mm and hitting an airborne drone from hundreds of meters away is obviously no simple task. However a brand new rifle unveiled earlier this week might be a game changer for people and organizations seeking to defend their privacy and security by fending off snooping drones, and it doesn’t even fire a single bullet.
An Ohio-based nonprofit research and development corporation Battelle last week unveiled a 4.5kg gadget it calls the DroneDefender, which it says is “the first portable, accurate, rapid-to-use counter-weapon to stop suspicious or hostile drones in flight, offering critical security protection at home and abroad.” Whereas it’s not a weapon within the conventional sense, it represents an enormous step in the battle against undesirable drone activity.
The DroneDefender is a shoulder-mounted, rechargeable rifle-like weapon that takes drones, or UAVs, offline with a blast of radio waves. The rifle fires waves of electromagnetic energy tuned to common GPS and ISM frequencies, disabling the UAV by blocking it from receiving commands.
Radio waves from a DroneDefender should activate the disabled drone’s safety protocol, making it hover, land or return to its point of origin.
Battelle says the defender could be used to protect prisons, schools or historical sites and of course has military and law enforcement applications as well. No information on the price of the DroneDefender has yet been released, but the device is expected to go on sale in 2016.
There’s a battle against undesirable drone activity?
While the term “drone” has lately had its scope extended to incorporate a variety of simple radio controlled quadcopters aimed at recreational use, not all drones are fun and enjoyable little devices. Drones are used frequently as invasive tools meant to spy on people, or top-secret business operations or even smuggle contraband in the prison. Beyond that, the military, governments and law enforcement are also sometimes targeted by spy drones on reconnaissance missions.
The DroneDefender may be our first look at the right anti-drone technology. The gadget, which appears like a contemporary rifle with an antenna mechanism hooked up to the front — because that’s basically what it is — makes use of targeted radio waves to force the drones out of the sky. This non-destructive technology “utilizes a non-kinetic solution to defend airspace up to 400 meters against UAVs, such as quadcopters and hexacopters, without compromising safety or risking collateral.”
Regulations in many areas obviously prohibit individuals from firing conventional weapons at drones as a method of protection, so the DroneDefender rifle could possibly be a perfect workaround. The device’s current range of about 400 meters will probably be enhanced in future variations.
Source: Battelle
“This is just the kind of tool we need to safely counter a drone threat,” stated Battelle’s lead researcher Dan Stamm. “The DroneDefender can help protect us from those that may want to do us harm.”
“It can help us in numerous settings, from the White House lawn to bases and embassies abroad; from prisons and colleges to historic sites,” Alex Morrow, the technical director, added. “It easily and reliably neutralizes the threat.”
The video embedded below is a demo of the DroneDefender in action. While the demo is simulated because of federal laws in the U.S., Battelle notes that it has been successfully tested within the field many times. The video has been set to private and information regarding this topic no longer seems to be available on Battelle’s website and the URL https://www.battelle.org/media/press-releases/rogue-drones-have-met-their-match has now been deleted and is given a 404 error. Hmm, that is curious We’ll update you after we get a word from them 🙂
Electronic waste or ‘e-waste’ consists of electrical devices or appliances that may be considered non-functional, not needed, outdated, obsolete or electrical products that may have reached the end of their lifespan. With better technology products being introduced, some devices may become ‘trash’ after several years of use.
E-waste is a general term, but it also involves items such as TVs, computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and other white goods like refrigerators, washing machines, dryers, home entertainment packages, electronic toys, toasters and electric kettles.
Surprisingly, not all e-waste or discarded devices are not functioning. Some may still be reused, recycled, resold and salvaged, however due to incorrect recycling many of these items are missed and end up in landfill. Any electronic device or appliance used in our homes, offices or what we carry on a day to day basis like cellphones, USBs or laptops can be called e-waste once it loses its value to our daily lives.
Global Issue
We produce a lot of e-waste and the amount created is very alarming. As this trash is sent to landfills, harmful amounts of toxic substances such as lead, mercury and cadmium are expelled into the environment, particularly into the soil and bodies of water located nearby.
Recent studies have shown that electronic waste has become an environmental challenge worldwide. In the U.S. alone, Americans produce 3.4 million tons of e-waste annually. It’s estimated that over 20 million tons of e-waste are being produced globally. Too much e-waste is being produced each year, but we still fail to confront the problem.
The issue on e-waste is a global concern as each country contributes to the waste level being produced worldwide while the problem is not properly addressed.
Quantifying global e-waste in general is difficult. But we are all aware that large volumes are being thrown in landfills daily where processing of this trash is conducted in a very unsophisticated manner. As a result, this brings potential impact on resource efficiency and the possible dangers to many people around the globe. By engaging different stakeholders and applying scientific systems on the e-waste chain of events, we can start addressing the problem. Involving everyone to take responsibility is a must to fight back the setbacks of e-waste.
E-Waste Benefits
Despite these drawbacks, there may be some benefits from dealing with e-waste. Developing countries are provided access to affordable or low-cost repaired electronics. People are given the opportunity to experience the benefits of technology. Repairing used electronics creates jobs where few opportunities for skilled labor are available.
Many more people will have access to technology through the recycling of dated technology, but even so, the problem still lies in the production of too much e-waste and too little recycling of electronic gadgets.
Responding to the Challenge
Considering e-waste is global concern, everyone can contribute to solve the problem. Initially, we need the experts to teach us how carry out e-waste repair and refurbishment processes. We need to be informed about the different ways to repair our old gadgets or appliances so we can reduce the number of computers or laptops being replaced or thrown away. Repair manuals should also be easier to understand for the user. Having complex instructions adds burden to the gadget owner and pushes him to easily replace his machine.
Teaching the Next Generation
Solving the e-waste problem should start from the grassroots level. Every household has a significant role in combating the issue. Kids, in particular, should be taught the value of reduce, reuse and recycle for their future. Think about the electronic gadgets that may be available at home such as iPads, video games, televisions, cellphones, laptops and other old, operating appliances. When all these gadgets suddenly become ineffective or another appliance with better functions has been bought, these products are being kept and may already be considered e-waste as these devices are no longer needed or may be ready to be disposed.
One way to recycle old smart phones as well as putting some cash in your pocket is through a cellphone buyback company like Sold My Device. They will buyback iPhone, Samsung, LG, and HTC phones from consumers who have upgraded to a newer model and no longer use the older model phones. This is a great way to put these devices into the hands of more people and to keep them out of landfill.
Be Creative with Old Electronics
Don’t throw away old phones and gadgets in the trash. These products usually contain hazardous substances that may be harmful to our environment.
You may have a gadget that you no longer use. Instead of getting rid of it, pass it on to others for reuse. Somebody may find it useful. Give your old, favorite device to a friend who may keep it for daily use. If you can’t find any, donate it for charity in your community. Recycling is another option. Think of innovative ways to use your old gadget!
Revivn is a fantastic initiative that helps enterprises with their old technology by clearing their data and re-purposing the hardware that still has remaining life, providing it to people who lack computer access. These type of recycling start-ups are gaining traction, so keep an eye out for electronic re-purposing companies popping up in your community.
A recycling program set up at a school
Setting up a cellphone recycling drive as a community fundraising activity could be an interesting activity. Many people have old cellphones that they no longer need and just kept them anywhere around the house. The fund drive is an excellent community project as it helps on a grassroots level. Some of these cell phones may be donated to poor communities or traded to a smartphone recycler where the proceeds will go the community fund.
For some tech-savvy kids, learning to repair broken electronic gadgets can be fun. It only takes some effort and patience to learn how to fix the gadgets. This may also be a part-time venture to let old gadgets function again. Xboxes and iPods can be good starting points. A gadget repair project could also be an exciting school activity.
Next time you’re thinking about buying a new gadget, ask yourself “Do I really need it?” If the answer is “Not really”, and your old Galaxy S5 or modem is still working perfectly, maybe it is worth holding off on that purchase and doing your part to reduce e-waste.
These fabulous little divas look alien AF, however they’re truly native to none other than—drumroll—yes, you guessed it (or you didn’t? It’s not Africa :p) North America. They’re notably plentiful in New Jersey and Florida. “They’re fairly spectacular in the daylight, and so brightly metallic your preliminary thoughts are, ‘This can’t be real’,” entomologist Sean McCann says.
Don’t fear: They are harmless to people despite their “exotic” and colorful looks. You’ll find them munching on sweet potatoes, bindweed, and leaves from different crops, McCann says.
The golden tortoise beetle—generally known as goldenbugs—are somewhat of a mystery. In comparison with different bugs, we don’t actually know a lot about this species, according to the University of Florida.
What we do know, nevertheless, will fascinate and disgust you and make you feel all kinds of unusual things. Read on at your personal risk.
Golden shimmery colour – Source: Wikimedia
Let’s ease you in with a enjoyable fact: One thing that sets these little guys apart from other insects is their capability to change colours (like some octopuses and chameleons)
According to a Georgetown University study, their signature shimmery bodies can flip into an uninteresting brown, purple, shiny orange, or even green colour. This isn’t significantly unusual, apart from the fact that they can control their colour change.
Golden tortoise beetle changing colours. Source: Chuck/CCBY
This colour change often occurs after they feel threatened (like when you decide to poke them) or during copulation.
Talking of copulation, one fortunate Georgetown University researcher in 1979 witnessed a bunch of goldenbugs have intercourse in petri dishes. For science.
A few of them would mate for around 15 minutes, which is a long time for a bug (and humans?). However some other bugs would mate for around 9 hours. NINE HOURS.
But here’s where things actually get bizarre: The larvae of goldenbugs are blessed with spines that develop on their, um, “posteriors.” These spines are eloquently referred to as “anal forks.” And anal forks are an exquisite, wonderful thing.
The larvae attaches their fecal matter and different sorts of nasty bits to the spines, which creates a type of poop shield that protects them from predators.
In case you’re curious to see this live (like we were), here’s a gif for all you sick minds (made from the youtube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BDxjUfyVEA )
To see the full video (much better quality), see below
As technology freaks and audiophiles, we have gone through probably a hundred different headphones. Many people use earphones every day. Yet if you were to ask them, or at least us, what is the one thing you just cannot stand about them, you are going to get an answer such similar to– ‘I hate the fact that they fall off easily’ or that ‘they do not fit in my ears quite securely’ or the worst ‘one side just stopped working!’ and most probably you have experienced that too.
Update: Acoustic Sheep is now launching an even better version of SleepPhones, with wireless charging and mic built in! For details, check out their Kick Starter Page!
Now, what if we were to tell you that there are earphones that fit securely, no matter how fast you are running, or even hanging upside down from a bar? And no, they aren’t bulky like those firearm noise protectors! This is what the RunPhones are all about. We tried them out and must say we were impressed with how well they fit. We ran, and jogged, hit the gym (which we should be doing more often) and engaged in various exercises, yet they did not fall off. The reason is that the headphones are hidden in a nice,comfy, moisture-wicking and washable headband. There are several different colours you can choose from too, like black, blue, lavender, orange and many more.
Win a Free SleepPhone or a RunPhone! For details, keep reading till the end of this article!
Another reason why we love the RunPhones is because they have been designed in a way that enables us to keep them clean easily too. They have a soft, washable mesh or fleece, and the speakers are removable. They are lightweight, yet durable, and their design is truly innovative. The wire is very long (4 feet) and sturdy, braided cord. Moreover they are eco-friendly. The company that manufactures these is called Acoustic Sheep, and they are RoHS compliant.
RunPhones are very safe too. Even though you will be hearing your favourite music, you will still be aware of the traffic around you while you are jogging or running.
RunPhones are not our most favourite headphones. They are our second most favourite ones. The top spot in our list goes to another product that the same company is producing, called the SleepPhones. Basically they are RunPhones without the cord. Yes, wireless, work via bluetooth. The speakers are embedded in a headband that is soft and comfortable to wear even while you are sleeping. (Duh, didn’t the name gave that away already?) They work well with most music players or smart phones and we must say we were impressed with their long battery life. We listened to an audiobook non-stop for 10 hours, and the headphones lasted around 13 hours on 1 single charge. It took us slightly less than 3 hours to fully charge them back again. Its a miracle how such a small device could last that long. The company states that they can work from a distance of up to 30 feet, but we weren’t that lucky. They worked great from 15 feet, but after that, the audio started getting jittery.
From top left, clock wise: (i) Black SleepPhones with instruction booklet (ii) Blue RunPhones (iii) The think BT device inside SleepPhone turned on and (iv) BT device in hand
If your spouse or partner snores loudly and you have been having trouble falling asleep, then you should definitely try out SleepPhones. They block out all the snoring, and any other noise that might have otherwise disturbed your sleep. We Simply love their innovative design and there is no denying that this is a practical and effective idea for so many people who are deprived of a good night’s sleep because of snoring or other disturbances or noises. Thankfully, we didn’t have the snoring problem, but we do love listening to audiobooks while we sleep, so this is perfect. You can also listen to some soothing sleeping music, but that’s your choice. With traditional headphones, our ears used to get sore.
Source: SleepPhones.com
Designed by a doctor, both of these headphones are definitely the most innovative product in this line of business, as they solved so many problems in their own simple way. If you are looking for a cheaper option. the RunPhones are a must have. They retail for around $39. But since we hate wires (even if its a long & braided one), we definitely recommend the SleepPhones. A bit expensive, but well worth it. They can be bought for a little under $100. Multipurpose, excellent while exercising, great for listening to books or music if lying down. 5/5 stars without any hesitation.
Ok, time now for the good news. We got the headphones by the company to test for a review, and with their permission, we want to give away both ours to you! Yes, dear readers, you can now win (slightly used, like 20 hours or so, but professionally cleaned and repacked) either the RunPhones (in blue) or SleepPhones (in black). See below to enter the raffle. We’ll chose 2 winners, the lucky one will get the RunPhones and the luckier one would be getting SleepPhones for free! You can share the article and follow us on our social media using the widget below to increase your chances of winning. The contest is open worldwide to readers above the age of 13. (except Israel 🙁 Sorry, our country’s law don’t permit us to send or receive anything from there). We’ll be notifying the winners via email. We will NEVER use your email to send SPAM. In fact, we don’t even send ANY newsletters or subscription emails yet, and don’t plan to in the near future.
THANKS YOU for participating in the giveaway competition. We received 3300 entries from all over the world. We wish we could have given each one of you something!
Anyways, the winner (selected randomly using the Gleam.io app) are:
Joshua Craig (j*******@****.com) from Argentina (Winner of RunPhones)
Ali Raheemi (a*******@*******.fr) from France (Winner of SleepPhones)
Congratulations! The winners have been notified by email. In case we don’t get a reply within a week, we’ll select someone else. 🙂
Farts are an fascinating quirk of nature when you consider it. (Admit it: You’ve thought deeply about farts in your life, at some point in life). After all, we are basically speaking about a putrid gas that escapes out of your butthole on command. It sounds so sci-fi!
Farts. The butt of many immature jokes.
Flatulence is flammable—as everyone knows due to those YouTube videos stupid of people lighting their farts on fire. That’s because farts are made-up of methane (along with nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide gases).
Considering farts are actually explosive: Is it possible to propel your self in space via some (or lots of) flatulence?
While this question could appear ridiculous to some, it is really something that scientists have considered. Seriously! In a Reddit AMA (ask me anything),gastronautastronaut Chris Hadfield admitted to experimenting with astronaut fart propulsion. (I’m certain the Canadian Space Agency could not be more pleased with his extremely vital research).
Okay, so we all know that flatulence can’t exactly accelerate a human at great speeds, however that does not mean that we can’t theoretically harness the power of farts for propulsion.
“Flatulence would propel an astronaut ahead very slowly, however should you used the gas as fuel for a combustion reaction the astronaut may get going a lot faster,” says physics doctoral student Matt (Reddit user VeryLittle) in a post in Reddit’s science subreddit (group).
Farts are basically rocket fuel, however you would need tons and tons of it (much more than probably the most ravenous Taco Bell eater is able to produce in a lifetime) to propel your self via space by farting.
Interestingly, astronauts do fart more in space, however it’s not sufficient to generate any significant thrust.
According to a flatulence study (yes, scientists study that in detail too), a typical individual releases around 1 liter of gas per day. That’s roughly the same size as the water bottle below and Matt estimates that the fart would weigh around half a gram:
And he estimates that the velocity at which a fart leaves your butthole is around 1 meter per second.
To determine how far you would travel—assuming an average day’s farts—Matt put those numbers in this equation:
(1 m/s)(0.5 grams) = 0.0005 kg m/s
Basically, he concludes that you would barely move at all.
“The astronaut will now be traveling 7.7×10-6 m/s forward, which is only about a thousand times quicker than hair grows. If an astronaut in space farted each day, it will take ten thousand years for him to get up to a normal highway velocity.”
But if there was someway to harness the fart’s power, by exploding it backwards like a rocket to push you ahead, then the astronaut may theoretically reach much higher speeds:
Methane from Cows’ is collected in pink bags, to be used elsewhere later
“If we had one of those fancy gas backpacks that they put on cows to harvest the methane from their farts and a jetpack to burn it, then this gasoline could be sufficient to get a very flatulent astronaut up to highway velocity in a day.”
Google Now may be your personal assistant. However your voice isn’t the only one it listens to. As a group of researchers from France have found, Siri & Google Now also helpfully obeys the orders of any hacker who talks to them—even, in some instances, one who’s silently transmitting instructions through radio from so far as sixteen feet away.
A couple of researchers at ANSSI, a French government agency dedicated to information security, have proven that they can use radio waves to silently set off voice instructions on any Android cellphone or iPhone that has Google Now or Siri enabled, if it additionally has a pair of headphones with a microphone plugged into its jack. This intelligent hack makes use of these headphones’ wire as an antenna, exploiting its wire to transform surreptitious electromagnetic waves into electrical signals that seem to the smartphone’s operating system to be audio coming from the user’s mic. With out speaking a word, a hacker may use that radio attack to ask Siri or Google Now to make calls and send messages, dial the hacker’s number to turn the cellphone into an eavesdropping gadget, send the smartphone’s browser to a malware website, or ship spam and phishing messages through e-mail, Facebook, G+ or Twitter etc.
The possibility of inducing parasitic signals on the audio front-end of voice-command-capable units might raise crucial security impacts,” the 2 French researchers, José Lopes Esteves and Chaouki Kasmi, write in a paper published by the IEEE. Or as Vincent Strubel, the director of their research group at ANSSI puts it more simply, “The sky is the limit here. Every thing you can do via the voice interface you can do remotely and discreetly via electromagnetic waves.”
The researchers’ work, which was first presented at the ‘Hack in Paris’ convention over the summer but received little notice outside of some French web sites, makes use of a relatively easy collection of equipment: It generates its electromagnetic waves with a laptop operating the open-source software GNU Radio, a USRP software-defined radio, an antenna, and an amplifier. In its smallest form, which the researchers say may fit inside a backpack, their setup has a range of around 6.5ft. In a more powerful form that requires bigger batteries and could only practically fit inside a car or a van, the researchers say they may extend the attack’s range to more than 16ft.
Here’s a video exhibiting the attack in action: In the demo, the researchers commandeer Google Now through radio on an Android smartphone and force the smartphone’s browser to visit the ANSSI site. (That experiment was carried out inside a radio-wave-blocking Faraday cage, the researchers say, to abide by French laws that forbid broadcasting certain electromagnetic frequencies. However Kasmi and Esteves say that the Faraday cage wasn’t essential for the hack to work.)
The researchers’ silent voice command hack has some critical limitations: It only works on smartphones which have microphone-enabled headphones or handsfree plugged into them. Many Android phones don’t have Google Now enabled from their lockscreen, or have it set to only respond to instructions when it recognizes the user’s voice. (On iPhones, nevertheless, Siri is enabled from the lockscreen by default, with no such voice identity feature.) Another limitation is that attentive victims would likely be able to see that the cellphone was receiving mysterious voice commands and cancel them before their attack was complete.
Then again, the researchers contend that a hacker could disguise the radio gadget inside a backpack in a crowded area and use it to transmit voice instructions to all the surrounding smartphones, many of which might be vulnerable and hidden in victims’ pockets or purses. “You can imagine a bar or an airport where there are many people,” says Strubel. “Sending out some electromagnetic waves might trigger a lot of phones to call a paid number and generate money.”
Although the latest version of iOS now has a hands-free feature that permits iPhone owners to send voice commands merely by saying “Hey Siri,” Kasmi and Esteves say that their attack works on older versions of the operating system as well. iPhone headphones have long had a button on their wire that enables the person to enable Siri with a long press. By reverse engineering and spoofing the electrical signal of that button press, their radio attack can set off Siri from the lockscreen with no interaction from the user. “It is not necessary to have an always-on voice interface,” says Kasmi. “It does not make the smartphone more vulnerable, it simply makes the attack less complex.”
Of course, security conscious phone users probably already know that leaving Siri or Google Now enabled on their smartphone’s login screen represents a security risk. At least in Apple’s case, anybody who gets hands-on access to the device has long been able to use these voice command features to squeeze sensitive info out of the smartphone—from contacts to recent calls—and even hijack social media accounts. However the radio attack extends the range and stealth of that intrusion, making it all the more important for customers to disable voice command functions from their lock screen.
The ANSSI researchers say they’ve contacted Apple and Google about their work and recommended different fixes, too: They advise that better shielding on headphone cords would force attackers to use a better-power radio signal, for example, or an electromagnetic sensor within the smartphone might block the attack. However they note that their attack may be prevented in software, too, by letting customers create their very own custom “wake” phrases that launch Siri or Google Now, or by utilizing voice recognition to block out strangers’ commands.
With out the security measures Esteves and Kasmi suggest, any phone’s voice features may represent a security liability—whether from an attacker with the smartphone in hand or one that’s hidden in the next room. “To use a smartphone’s keyboard you have to enter a PIN code. But the voice interface is listening all the time with no authentication required,” says Strubel. “That’s the primary issue here and the goal of this paper: to point out these failings within the security model.”
USB sticks have long been a mechanism for delivering malware to unsuspecting computer users. A booby-trapped flash drive, for example, was the means by which the US and Israel reportedly contaminated Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment facility with the Stuxnet worm. And, in case anybody thought USB stick attacks had lost their novelty, last year’s Bad USB proof-of-concept exploit delivered a highly programmable attack platform that can’t be detected by today’s defenses.
Now, a researcher who goes by the identify Dark Purple has created a USB stick that completely destroys a lot of the computer’s actual hardware circuits, rendering the machine little more than an expensive doorstop. Within a couple of seconds after being plugged in, the USB stick delivers a negative 220-volt electrical surge into the USB port. 😯 Negative because usually most chips inside a computer have over-voltage or surge protection for positive voltages. As the video below demonstrates, that is sufficient to permanently damage the IBM’s Thinkpad Laptop receiving the shock.
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As you can see, the USB stick seems like a regular thumb drive, and there aren’t any outward indicators it is malicious. However the USB Killer 2.0, as its creator calls it, takes computer attacks on a much less-traveled highway that results in physical destruction. Based on this post from The Daily Mail, an earlier and less powerful model of the USB device drew power from USB ports utilizing a DC-to-DC converter until it reached negative one hundred volts. At that point, the power was directed into the pc. The process ran on a loop till the circuitry failed. It is very likely that Version 2.0 works in a similar fashion.
It isn’t clear from Dark Purple’s blog post exactly how far the damage from the updated gadget extends. Using Google Translation (since the original blog is in Russian), we can infer that the USB port is fried, and it isn’t shocking that circuits on the motherboard had been burnt, as well. The I/O controller hub has also passed away. The hard drive and CPU, however, have a greater probability of surviving, though that is not clear from the demo, either. In any event, the video is another reason to be cautious of USB devices, especially those that come from unknown or shady sources.
