Gearfuse

Google. Oprah. The two should really sit down for a cup of coffee sometime and talk billions. They actually have a lot in common, believe it or not. Oprah is more accustomed to giving out things like books and cars, but today, Google one upped the queen of daytime TV and gave out free Android-based G2 phones (aka HTC Magic). The recipients? Attendees of Google’s I/O developer conference. Rumor has it that the phone even comes with a SIM card with 30 days of talk and 3G access. Hey, it pays to be a fan of Google sometimes.

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I just listened to an older episode of Off The Hook and host Emmanuel Goldstein just explained that The Last HOPE conference is not literally the last HOPE conference ever to occur. It’s more for in conversation. Example: “Did you attend the Last HOPE conference?” “Yup!”

With that cleared up, the next HOPE will be called, oddly enough, the Next HOPE and will be arriving in NYC in 2010.

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We’re not actively covering the Black Hat 2008 security conference currently going on in Las Vegas but there is some crazy stuff happening. Similar to when I attended Defcon years ago with Hack a Day, there was a Wall of Sheep. The WoS displays people who got hacked and insecure connections to prove a point and expose weaknesses in wireless security.

During the conference, three journalists from a French publication hacked the press room Internet connection and stole a ton of login credentials from other people. They then tried to have the team running the Wall of Sheep display the stolen information, which included login info for eweek.com, cnet.com and many other sites. Security found out and banned the three jerks from attending Black Hat and Defcon.

Remember: hacking has a time and a place. The press room at a big event is not it.

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It’s been a few weeks since we attended the Last HOPE Conference but it’s still fresh in our minds. For those of you who didn’t get a chance to attend or missed some of the great talks, there is good news to be had. 2600 has kindly put up all of the talks on their website, including both streaming and downloadable versions. You can also grab HOPE-related DVDs and a brand spankin’ new t-shirt. Check it out by hitting the link below.

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Well, it’s Sunday night and the Last HOPE Conference has concluded. It’s hard for me to reflect back, seeing as I never attended HOPE before. I noticed the place was dead today as vendors packed up and groups gathered to finish activities and chat. It really makes me think that the hacking of yesteryear is dead and that a new era of DIY, eco-hacking and software are going to change the game. It sounds a bit cliche but the Internet has evolved, security has changed and kids are finding new ways to spend their time instead of learning old techniques.

No matter. This year’s conference was a lot of fun. We got to dive into things we’re normally fooling around with and take a different approach to covering the conference. With that said, if you search around or click this particular link right here, you’ll be able to check out all of our coverage. From robot builds to t-shirts to speakers to lockpicking, we saw it all. It’s been real. Keep on hacking and make sure you leave your thoughts on this event in the comments.

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The Netherlands-based locksporting group Toool held a panel at HOPE discussing new and advanced opening techniques for high security locks. We sat in on this two hour discussion with Barry Wels and Han Fey commenting on some unorthodox approaches to key copying.

The speakers mentioned how easy it is to copy even the most exclusive of key profiles, which in actuality, only block hardware store copying methods. Noting the classic clay mold approaches to key copying, the speakers quickly alluded to the simplicity of imprinting the key’s marks on your own arm as a form of copying. Go ahead and press your house key into your forearm, the imprint stays there longer than you’d think.

They even challenged attendees to bring their own locks or “impossible to copy” keys, so they can take a crack at it. What daring hackers.

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Get real: this is a hacker conference. There’s no coat room, silly! But check out this server coat room! That’s right, a “coat check” for live servers. Bring your own, get set up and don’t forget to check out the Telehacking across the way. We wrote one of our friend’s cell number on the table near the payphones. We hope people will call it. +1 516-521-5020 Thanks!

What was I doing during the conference? Drinking Club-Mate and playing a Galaga rip-off. Hit the jump to see my look of disappointment:
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PacketWars had its own project going on the expo floor. Complete with a referee who was ready to smack any hacker who steps out of the line with any shenanigans that violate the terms of service. It’s competitive network combat, no holds barred. Bring your own laptop, plug in and defend your territory.

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A sign for screen printing was posted in the “Hackerspace Village” when we arrived Saturday. As we stood there watching them make imprints in shirts, they asked us for help (hackers are so friendly!) and well, this helped us get a closer look into how they were making these sweet Darth Vader designs on t-shirts.

The Hacktory was showing off its way of promoting the use of technology in arts. The team there was using discharge glue, which acts like a bleach towards color pigments, forming some cool designs in their name after it’s set to dry. Two of which included Star Wars inspired designs: Darth Vader and a Storm Trooper. $5 t-shirts, free if you brought your own blank one means it was the best t-shirt offer at the Last HOPE Conference. More pictures and the link to their site after the jump:
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