Two doctoral students, Martin Vuagnoux and Sylvain Pasini from the Security and Cryptography Laboratory at the Swiss Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, have discovered a potential threat to security that declares keyboards “unsafe to transmit sensitive information”.

By monitoring signals produced by keystrokes, the researchers were able to reproduce what had been typed on 11 different keyboards using a variety of different attacks. One specific attack worked as far away as 20 meters from the keyboard. The next time you find yourself exchanging top secret information with someone on the Internet, you best watch what you type; the KGB could be monitoring your keystrokes.

Link [via]

Ever have a cathode ray tube blow up in your face? You poor soul. With your disfigured mug, there’s little that could possibly cheer you up. After all, if I looked like the Two-Face I’d probably throw myself from a pier. This clock is sure to remind you of that terrible day your face became disfigured. That or your days as a Captain in the Navy.

A cathode ray tube sits inside a transparent acrylic tube. It might look like the guts of your old monitor but in actuality it is a clock that displays various formats of time thanks to a SC200 clock board. Nixie enthusiast David Forbes is eager to sell these works of art for an eye-gouging $999.  The intricate design shows an astounding amount of commitment thrown in that’ll complement any mantle.

Link (via)

OK, so they aren’t X-mas lights, but they certainly are fixing to be. Simpson fanatics who already have every Simpsons paraphernalia from wall clocks to pinball machines and even an eye-popping limited edition iPod design, will be happy to know that they can now decorate their computer monitor with Homer. This mini-bulb strand consists of nine little Homers, all powered by USB that’s sure to have Smithers go gay for you. It’s available at Drinkstuff.com for $32, a price that even Mr. Burns wouldn’t bitch about.

Link (via)

You can never have enough desktop companions cluttering your desk and cramping your monitor. This reptilian USB friend is indigenous to cum-ridden desks everywhere and comes in three extreme colors: green, orange and yellow. Just plug it into your computer and it’ll rotate its eyes and randomly flick its tongue. It’s almost like a real chameleon; a real chameleon made of plastic.

For $25.33, you’re going to feel ripped off at the fact that this reptile doesn’t change colors like every other chameleon on the planet. On the other hand, it’s a great accessory to have resting on top of your monitor so it can stare at you yearningly while you masturbate in front of it.

Link (via)

Israeli company Linceus is introducing a monorail robot designed to patrol large areas such as airport perimeters/Gaza Strip without the need to hire rent-a-cops for security. The bot is capable of reaching speeds up to 50 MPH.  It’s equipped with an array of sensors such as thermal cameras, laser designators and a rangefinder.

It’s a damn shame it doesn’t have an arsenal of killer weapons but it does feature some nonlethal alternatives: a high powered spotlight, loud sirens and other gadgets to spook would-be vandals.  If only Disneyworld had one of these when I took a shit on the Epcot Monorail.

Link (via)

Too negligent to monitor a server system? Well, if you’re a huge Star Wars geek like these Japanese fellows, then you can build your own R2-D2 server monitor out of a $3,000 dollar R2-D2 projector.  The R2-D2 alerts workers whenever a server goes offline and can even project server status on a wall or ceiling.

Sooner or later, someone will build the C-3PO server monitor assistant to make smart-ass remarks on work etiquette and tasks. Though R2-D2 would be more useful in a work environment, you can’t have one Star Wars bot without it’s counter-part.
Link (via)

If you’re one of the many who suffer from diabetes and your glucose levels are so sporadic that driving any distance could lead to unpredictable results, then this device is for you. Medtronic Diabetes unveiled its new car, a Lincoln equipped with a system that wirelessly associates your glucose monitor with a screen on the dashboard to make driving safer for those suffering from diabetes.

Receiving readings of your sugar ridden blood through both audio and visual cues from the vehicle’s dashboard is just what your doctor ordered. At the moment, the car is merely a concept and there is no word on any commercial release information. Guess you’ll have to keep that insulin pump handy in the mean time.

Link

I don’t know what Turkish designer Erdem Selek was thinking when creating this, but Big Brother must have been floating around in someone’s mind. What seems like an ordinary pillow is really a space-alien with a digital eye. It’s designed to let newborn mothers watch their children through a webcam when they’re sleeping.

Some would argue it’s lovely, others would claim invasion of privacy. I suppose it depends if your baby is a supporter of the Patriot Act. Either way, it’s just a prototype, so you’ll have to stick to the walkie talkies for now.

Link (via)

Out to save the world, are ya? No, no, don’t start shoveling your propaganda down our throats. We get it. You have your hybrids and we have our Hummers. But here’s a product we both can agree on: Fujitsu’s “Zero-Watt” Monitor. It claims to use absolutely no power when the display is in stand-by mode, which means two things: lower power usage and lower utility bills.

A nifty little switch automatically turns off the power of the monitor when your computer goes idle. When the PC becomes active again, so does the monitor, which is then powered back on once the computer emits a signal. You’ll be able to get your own personal “Zero-Watt” sometime in the summer months of this year for around the same price as a conventional monitor.

Link

For all of you who haven’t had the chance to upgrade to a flat-screen LCD display yet (heaven forbid), you might want to wait a little bit longer. At least if anything like this product has a future. This conceptual LCD can divide into two back-to-back monitors if your family doesn’t want to watch the same picture you want to watch.

Though, if you and your peeps can compromise on one program, the display can be folded out for one magnificently large wide-screened image. There’s no real information or specs yet for this bad boy, and frankly, I don’t even know if it’s possible to produce such a screen, but I know this would solve some otherwise violent disputes between my lady friend and I. — Andrew Dobrow

Link [via]