Page 17 - Technology Facts

Hackers worked out how to open BMW car doors via SMS by reverse engineering their assist technology!

Two hackers have found a way to unlock cars that use remote control and telemetry systems like BMW Assist, GM OnStar, Ford Sync, and Hyundai Blue Link. These systems communicate with the automaker’s remote servers via standard mobile networks like GSM and CDMA. With a clever bit of reverse engineering, the hackers were able to pose as these servers and communicate directly with a car’s on-board computer via “war texting” — a riff on “war driving,” the act of finding open wireless networks. The hackers were both employees of iSEC Partners and revealed their findings in a conference in Las Vegas.

However, they won’t reveal the details of how they succeeded until after the affected companies are given time to change and fix their systems. The problem is that even if they do, the hackers were able to break into the systems in a matter of hours and it’s likely that others can still succeed even with a changed or more sophisticated system.

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The newest addition to the Museum of Modern Art? Pac-Man!

There's been a long-standing argument over whether Videogames should be considered an artform or not. It looks like the Museum of Modern Art is advancing the argument in favor of considering them art. The museum has acquired 14 games spanning the history of the artform.

The curator says that they're approaching video games as design objects. They're looking for a combination of historical and cultural relevance and aesthetic expression. In other words, they're being picky.

In addition to Pac-Man, they're adding Tetris, Myst, SimCity 2000, The Sims, EVE Online, Katamari Damacy, Portal, and flOw among others. Surprisingly absent? Any Nintendo games.

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A family was such a fan of Twitter, they named their daughter Hashtag!

If you wanted to give your daughter a very different name, what would it be? Well, if you're like the Jameson family in Miami, and you're a big fan of Twitter, you name her Hashtag.

Twitter immediately lit up with hashtags of their own, like #Foolishparents, #YourParentsHateYou and #StupidestNameEver. It's not clear whether the name will be the legal name of the kid. It's not the first time a social network gives a baby its namesake either. Someone named Facebook was born in Egypt last year, and someone else named their baby Like in May of 2011.

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There’s a printer that prints glass from sand!

There’s not much in the desert except extreme heat, sand, and more sand. So when thinking of ways to utilize the potential energy of the area, Markus Kaiser decided to create a machine that incorporates both. He developed a solar-powered, 3-D printer that prints glass from sand!

Sound crazy? The machine works by taking the natural resource of sunlight, which is used as raw energy, and then superheating the sand, which is the material, to morph it into a three dimensional object that is programed! Kaiser hoped to continue to create machines such as this to be able to better utilize the desert, which is mostly just an empty wasteland today.

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Are you an Internet Addict? Check the symptoms here

Internet Addiction Disorder is excessive computer use that interferes with daily life. It was first posed as a satirical hoax in 1995, and it is still not recognized in the current 2009 DSM, but it might be classified soon.

The existence of IAD is still debated because some psychologists think it might be overuse more than addiction or that it can be broken down into different sub-disorders. The debate on whether or not to recognize it might be settled in 2013.

In their research towards defining what the symptoms actually are, the research found some stuff in common. People who were addicts used the Internet on average for 38 hours per week for nonacademic and non-employment purposes. The result was poor grades, financial debt and job loss. The effects are seen in less than 6 months.

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