The Hearing Aid Hacked to Hear Wi-Fi

Smartphone Apps – Translating Characteristic of Wireless Network

Wearable technology is very often linked with smartwatches as well as smart glasses though a person in the UK had hacked his own hearing aid in order to tune in to the sounds of close wi-fi networks. Co-founder of Phantom Terrains, Frank Swain utilises smartphone app for translating the characteristics of wireless networks like their name and speed into sound while traveling around London.

Frank Swain – 32 years, is a science writer from London and was first diagnosed with early onset of hearing loss in his 20s. He had been fitted with hearing aids in 2012 and no sooner had he received it; he began envisaging how he could hack them so that he could hear more of the world around him. He specifically wanted to be capable of hearing something which tends to fill the modern landscape though it is undetectable to the ears. Swain in simple terms wanted to be capable of hearing Wi-Fi signals.

Two years thereafter, on receiving a grant from UK innovation charity – Nesta, the UK innovation charity, Swain together with sound artist Daniel Jones jointly produced Phantom Terrain, which is a new tool that makes Wi-Fi signals distinct. Anyone would have considered this as an odd choice till they study how the electromagnetic signals tend to permeate our modern environment.

Matter of Time – Internet of Things

Users tend to use wireless signals daily for phone calls, check the emails, access navigational data, listen to the radio and surf the web. Considering its present rate of growth, it is said to be only a matter of time before all the devices, sensors, routers as well as signals accompany the `Internet of Things’, an age wherein the world seems to be bounded by digital second skin which tends to cover the physical world that is also inseparable from our lives.

However, the infrastructure for this seems vague to us and that is the reason Swain and Jones developed Phantom Terrain in order that individuals could tune into these arenas. The software can run on a hacked iPhone that utilises inbuilt Wi-Fi sensors to pick important details regarding nearby fields comprising of the router name, encryptions, signal strength and the distance.

While his phone tends to remain in his pocket, Swain can get an aural map blended in with the normal output of the hearing aids. The distant signals seems to get interrupted as background clicks which differ with proximity while the closer and more powerful signals buzz their own network ID information in a entwined melody.

Digital Hearing – Recreate Soundscape/Amplifying Sound/Supressing Noise

Jones informed that on a busy street, one may see more than a hundred independent wireless access points in a signal range and the strength of the signal, direction, name and the security level on these are converted into audio stream made of a foreground and background layer.

Narrating his experience, Swain relates that recreating hearing is an incredibly difficult task and unlike glasses, that simply brings the world into focus, digital hearing aid tend to recreate the soundscape, amplifying useful sound and suppressing noise. As this changes by the second, sorting one from the other needs a lot of programming.

As internet technology, wireless communication and connected devices tend to become more common, the capacity of sensing the strength, intensity and what these signals imply regarding our environment would become more sought after thing. One could speculate without much effort that Wi-Fi mapping tends to become a part of urban or community planning besides sociological or environmental studies.

Chinese Hackers Behind U.S. Ransomware Attacks Security Firms

A group of four security firm investigating the cyber attacks on the U.S. based companies has found that most of the hackers make use of the same tactics and tools which were once associated with the Chinese government supported cyber attacks. Ransomware has become a major tool for unleashing the cyber attacks on the unsuspecting common users. Ransomware as the name suggests simply take over the control of the system and very carefully encrypts all the data stored on the system which leaves it inaccessible to the users. In order to get back the access users are required to a ransom of few Bitcoins.

Hackers tricks users into installing Ransomware

Security firms have stated that hackers use various complex and highly intelligent ways to spread ransomware by actively exploiting the vulnerabilities found in the application servers. Once vulnerability has been compromised hackers tricks users into installing ransomware on their devices. In one of the recent attacks more than 30% of the machines at transportation and a technology firm were infected with the ransomware.

The rise of ransomware over the years

Ransomeware aren’t something new as it has been in wide usage by the cyber criminals over a decade. In the beginning unsuspecting users were lured into downloading infected programs or antivirus suits which when installed happens to overtake the device and requires a ransom of certain amount in order to get back the access.

However in the recent years cyber criminals has got hand at the better encryption techniques which ensures that users wouldn’t be able to get access to their files without paying the ransom. Formatting the devices is a great way to do away with the ransomware but it comes at the cost of losing all the data associated with device. Ransomware payments are mainly made in the virtual currency Bitcoin which offers secrecy from governmental agencies and others.

‘Mind’ game behind ransom

Ransomware happens to be one of the most successful tools of the cyber criminals as a greater percentage of infected users end up in paying the modest ransom amount for their inaccessible data. Cyber criminals usually set a modest price as a ransom in order to give back the access to the users. Most of the victims are willing to pay this amount in order to get back their data and it also results in getting positive response in the online sphere. Assume a victim pays about 1 or 2 Bitcoin which amounts to $600 and he gets back the access to its data and he give a feedback on the online forums that he was relieved to get access to data finally after paying then ransom operators. In short all the other victims searching for this malady online will be more willing to pay on basis of this feedback.

On other hand security firms have warned victims that paying ransom will only end up in making cyber criminals much more ambitious. Very soon they will shift from asking ransoms of few Bitcoins to performing some complicated scams and credit card theft as well.

The Wearable Device Which Turns Gestures Into Music

Remidi T8 – Wearable Glove – Compose Music with Gestures

A glove has been created by a start-up based in Austin, Texas, which enable one to compose music with gestures. The wearable device tends to operate on any firm surface as well as in the air, turning whatever is touched into an instrument. If one tends to find themselves tapping their hand to a beat at the desk, in a car or on a park bench, a high tech glove could be just the gadget to aid in turning the tunes in your mind into music which one could record. Remidi T8 the so called wearable glove is equipped with pressure-sensitive sensors alongside the fingertips and palm.

According to a post on Kickstarter which announced a project to produce the glove, which is still not available, its wristband tends to control the combination of sounds from each sensor which is translated as the user tends to moves their hand. According to the company, the glove objective is to be a natural device for music artist, enthusiast as well as disc jockeys to use. The one using the glove would be capable of composing music, play as well as perform on the go, as per co-founder and chief technology officer at Remidi, Mark DeMay.

Fun Way of Expressing Themselves

Mark DeMay stated that it could be considered as a wearable MIDI controller, referring to the music synthesizers that are found in recording studios which enable producers to combine tracks, adjust tempos and tweak vocals. However the glove is more than compliant than the large synthesizer machine and can be modified in creating latest, custom sounds or remix the current ones, based on how the user intends programming it. DeMay informed the sources that they wanted to provide people with a fun way of expressing themselves and begin pushing the boundaries of what can be done with the musical instruments.

The purpose of the wearable music instrument came up when Remidi founder and CEO, Andrea Baldereschi and DeMay met while they worked with Livid Instruments, an Austin, Texas based company, which designed MIDI controllers and mixers for DJs. DeMay mentioned that Baldereschi was a DJ for several number of years and always seemed to tap out new beats whenever they would be working together.

T8 – Creates Various Sound Intensities/Rhythms

However, he would frequently forget the new melodies before even getting around to recording the music. Hence Baldereschi decided to invent a technique of recording riffs on the go without being limited to working in rooms with burdensome and bulky digital music systems. DeMay informed that the digital world had got a little bit motionless with regards to the MIDI controllers and all tend to do the same type of stuff in the same manner. There are all buttons, knobs, LEDs and faders just in different arrangement.

 The T8 glove is actually something different. Using the T8, the user can start jamming on any surface like a desk, wall park bench, car window, subway seat, or even their own body. DeMay had informed that the data from the glove could then be sent to the Remidi app or to another recording software.

The T8 is said to create various sound intensities as well as rhythms depending on which of its eight sensors it is pressed, what combination is pressed and how long or how hard it is pressed down on single point. Besides this, a small spinning gyroscope and accelerometer in the wristband of the glove tends to measure the speed your hands moves up and down or left and right, adjusting the tone and tempo of the music created in real-time.

Nasa Starts Work on Super Quiet Supersonic Jet

American space agency Nasa has finally given nod to development of new age breed of supersonic jets inquest to win over the sky. NASA has started development for so called low boom supersonic jets which will be much better on every scale against the traditional supersonic jets. These jets are aimed to be quieter, safer as well as greener than the current form of air transportations.

NASA supersonic jet plane is currently under development through the X Plane programme. It should be noted that Nasa’s X Plane programme was established way back in 1940’s with the goal of creating new age jets for the future. However over the years this program was left to eat dust due to the shortage of funds. Nasa has finally found a partner in name of Aviation Horizons which will be funding the development of supersonic jets till 2017.

Nasa aims to bring greener jets

Aviation Horizons has made it clear to the Nasa that they are looking forward to development of greener supersonic jets which doesn’t cause too much strain on the fossil fuels for power. These jets will feature reduced fuel usage, emissions along with revolutionary innovation basically in the aircraft design which can also reduce the noise emission to a great extent.

Nasa is working towards bringing a new age in supersonic jets

The current form of air travesl are not only a huge guzzler of natural resources in order to derive power but also happens to great noise emitter. Nasa’s X Plane programme is almost seventy years old and during this Nasa has performed huge number of test which has push forwarded its understanding and technological expertise in the arena of supersonic jets development. It all started seventy ago when Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier and opened a new world of opportunities to the super-aircraft development.

Charles Bolden one of the Nasa administrator has stated that they are looking forward to continue the legacy of the X Plane by carefully working towards the development of first of its kind quieter supersonic jets. Hopefully these will find their way into the aviation industry and one day it will cater the needs of millions of people flying worldwide.

The biggest problem faced by the engineers is to reduce the sound emission along with the fuel emission is a challenging task for the Nasa. New age supersonic jets will likely to have a ‘sonic heatbeat’ rather than the booming sounds.

Nasa pioneering commercial space flights with experimentation

The development of new supersonic jets is among the some of the great experiments undertaken by Nasa to improve the aviation industry. Nasa has even unveiled an unique one of kind ten engine drone which has the design ala helicopter. Nasa is also experimenting with various kind of wing shapes in order to improve the fuel usage ratio along with coming with an option of removing wide wings on the aircrafts. In order to open the space for commercial flights it is necessary to decrease the weight which will ensure faster flight with reduced use of fuel.

Sky Launches Sky VR Studio

Dedicated Virtual Reality Production Unit – Sky VR Studio

It has been reported by Sky that they have begun making some of the programming in VR stating playfully that we would be seeing this year around 20 pieces of VR content. The first bits of virtual reality filming would be released on Friday by Sky, featuring a pits-eye view of Formula 1 testing just in time for the start of the season in Barcelona. Sky had been in virtual reality for some time now.

It had invested in Jaunt VR in September of last year and since then had been filming some VR footage. A very popular behind the scene footage of The Hobbit had been shown at the premiere of the film, last year. Presently, Sky is making attempts in taking its VR commitment further with dedicated virtual reality production unit known as Sky VR Studio which is led by executive produce Neil Graham.

A website was permitted early access to Sky’s first batch of VR footage on a Samsung Gear VR and it’s impressive. Sky will not go in for static VR shots though would actually offer movement. Few of the footage had been taken by a journalist moving around the pit area, coming close to the car action and other shots were on the car itself.

Sky – A Reason for Investing

Other footage was more grounded and portrayed how virtual reality could bring one closer to places one may not actually want to be though should experience them. Neil Graham, while speaking at the launch of Sky VR had explained that due to Sky’s investment in Jaunt, he had early access to VR cameras, leading to the first VR piece that had been filmed in New Zealand.

Graham stated that when they got the prototype camera, he quickly spoke to Warners and all involved and managed to quickly experiment with filming a documentary on The Hobbit.He further informed that they had the opportunity where they could show the film a week thereafter at the premiere of the final Hobbit movie. With the creation of the camera technology together with the headsets made available, it would mean that Sky has a reason for investing in a proper production unit with internal as well as external folks

Need to Populate VR with Mind Blowing Content

Director Richard Nockles, is one of those who have been brought inwho seems to be too dedicated to VR wherein he has also shot the birth of his second child in VR. Graham goes on to explain that Richard would be joining a VR creative director meaning that they can create a new content for VR.

He added further that Sky is uniquely place and that they have always been looking at new ways to get content, there is access to movies, TV and sport and there is a need to populate VR with mind blowing content. Regarding what footage will we see, Sky is dedicated in creating 20 pieces this year with the F1 footage which is the first part of the batch and the footage would be made available from Friday on YouTube 360, the Oculus Rift Store and Facebook’s 360 Video platforms.

Though Sky would ultimately look into developing its own app for this footage and is anticipating in offering additional footage than assured, Graham seems to be realistic on how much they could do.