Hacking

T'was a dark few days for automotive software systems last week, as the third annual Pwn2Own Automotive competition uncovered 76 unique zero-day vulnerabilities in targets ranging from Tesla infotainment to EV chargers.

A record 73 entries were included in this year's competition at Automotive World in Tokyo, and, while not all were successful, Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative still ended up paying out more than $1 million to successful competitors.

For those unfamiliar with the structure of a Pwn2Own competition, ethical hackers and security experts enter with plans to perform a certain exploit, which they must do in a limited time. Cash prizes are awarded for successful attempts, as are points, with both increasing based on uniqueness, impact, and complexity.

I love these cheap ubiquitous Sharp 13" color TVs. They look nice and work decently well but they are super basic when it comes to their inputs. Usually just RF and maybe composite video, if you're lucky. Wouldn't it be nice if I could improve it by sharpening the resolution and adding S-Video? Let's figure out if this is possible with this cheap Sharp 13" TV!

It may not occupy much space in the minds of most people, but as an electronics hobbyist or professional engineer, you never know when you’re going to need to do a little hacking. Whether that involves checking out the security of a computer network or trying to fix a broken gadget, you’ll need the right tools to help you get the job done. Fortunately, there are better tools available today than ever before, like the Flipper Zero, for instance.

But if you truly want to have a multi-tool available at all times, even a little handheld like the Flipper Zero might not cut it. To that end, you might prefer something like HackKey, which was just launched on Kickstarter. It is not as powerful or capable as a Flipper Zero, but it is very, very small. In its USB dongle form, it is small enough to disappear in your pocket and be forgotten about until it is needed.

Push-button telephone. Analog drum machine. Arduino Nano. DIY amplifier. Shashwath Sundar, aka simple_but_nerdy, makes the telephone-drum machine fusion seem like it was meant to be.

At first glance I expected this would be mainly an enclosure hack, but it’s way more than that. There’s a full-blown analog drum machine design in here, and it’s surprisingly feature-packed. The telephone interface is integral to the design, not just a gimmicky afterthought.

Unlike Texas Instruments, whose graphing calculators have famously not made technological improvements in decades despite keeping the same price tag, HP has made a few more modern graphing calculators in the last few years. One of which is the HP Prime which boasts hardware from the mid-2010s including an ARM processor, a color screen, and rechargeable lithium battery. But despite this updated hardware it’s still using micro-USB for data and charging. [David] wanted to fix that by giving this calculator a USB-C port.

The first steps were disassembling the calculator case and removing the micro-USB port. The PCB is glued to the LCD screen which isn’t ideal, but he was able to work on it with everything attached. The parts are small enough to need a microscope, and with a hot air station he was quickly able to remove the USB port. His replacements from a generic online retailer were able to be soldered without much effort, but there was one major complication. The new USB-C ports didn’t account for the “On The Go” mode supported by micro-USB and were shorting a pin to ground which put the calculator into “host” mode instead of acting as a device. But using the microscope and cutting a trace on the PCB disabled this mode permanently and got the calculator working properly.

In the closing hours of JawnCon 0x2, I was making a final pass of the “Free Stuff for Nerds” table when I noticed a forlorn Kindle that had a piece of paper taped to it. The hand-written note explained that the device was in shambles — not only was its e-ink display visibly broken, but the reader was stuck in some kind of endless boot loop. I might have left it there if it wasn’t for the closing remark: “Have Fun!”

Truth is, the last thing I needed was another Kindle. My family has already managed to build up a collection of the things. But taking a broken one apart and attempting to figure out what was wrong with it did seem like it would be kind of fun, as I’d never really had the opportunity to dig into one before. So I brought it home and promptly forgot about it as Supercon was only a few weeks away and there was plenty to keep me occupied.

The following isn’t really a story about fixing a Kindle, although it might seem like it on the surface. It’s more about the experience of working on the device, and the incredible hacking potential of these unassuming gadgets. Whether you’ve got a clear goal in mind, or just want to get your hands dirty in the world of hardware hacking, you could do far worse than picking a couple of busted Kindles up for cheap on eBay.

A small Brazilian startup is looking to offer some competition to the popular Flipper Zero electronics multitool with the High Boy, a gadget that looks like a knockoff Apple iPod but offers a wealth of capabilities — and which, High Code says, will be released under an open source license.

"High Boy isn't just another gadget; it's a complete platform for creativity, electronics, and security," claims co-creator Vinícius Pinheiro of High Code's inaugural device. Developed in Brazil, it combines the power of multiple technologies in a compact, expandable, and educational device. What started as a personal garage project evolved into a mission. It's a pro-level, 100% open-source tool, created for anyone who believes knowledge should be accessible."