Tag: electronics

  • More hacking to secure the gadget army: The KanKun SP3

    More hacking to secure the gadget army: The KanKun SP3

    So a couple of years ago I bought some KK-SP3 (from ikonke). They are ‘wireless smart plugs’, and despite their pretty-sketch appearance, work. Its a tiny little white box that plus into your electrical outlet, and contains a relay and small linux board. The only real issue that i had initially was that it came…

  • The power of (your) invisible hands: could we create a security and efficiency incentive that works?

    The power of (your) invisible hands: could we create a security and efficiency incentive that works?

    I’m a big fan of “the invisible hand“, an economics concept coined by Adam Smith. The concept is that your individual selfish action can cause (good) social benefits elsewhere. An example would be putting a $0.05 tax on a plastic grocery bag. You being the cheapskate you are now reuse bags, and that causes a…

  • What are we buying? A wifi baby camera. Will it be secure?

    What are we buying? A wifi baby camera. Will it be secure?

    Armed with $20 and an interest in learninghacking, I visited Canada Computers today to see what ‘extended boxing week sale’ they had. And lo and behold, it was this. A Trendnet WiFi HD Baby Cam TV-IP745SIC. $19. Sweet. Since this is designed to be in your home, monitoring your baby, with bidirectional audio, and cloud…

  • The brave new world of car charger virus: my prediction for 2018

    The brave new world of car charger virus: my prediction for 2018

    The electric car charging cable standard that is going to win is called Combined Charging System. Given Tesla’ scale, they may continue for a while with their proprietary one, but eventually it will phase out somehow. Who wants an appliance that only plugs into its own manufacturer’s power system, can you imagine a GE kettle…

  • New product idea: add wire adapter

    New product idea: add wire adapter

    So the original home automation is the thermostat. And many of us will have grown up with the Honeywell T87.  This will have been mounted to that lovely faux wood panelling in your house :). It worked in a very simple model: there was 2 wires that came from your furnace. One had 24VAC, and…