Security Tip – How to detect Juice Jacking on Android smartphones

A few years ago I wrote about the danger of “juice jacking” highlighting the security risks posed by USB charging in public places, where a bad actor could attempt to hack your phone or laptop to steal your precious data or install malware/ransomware. In most cases, there are no risks at home, but it’s when you charge your device in a public place notably an airport or train station that you could be at risk of hacking. If you’re using an Android phone, there’s an easy way to detect Juice Jacking, and whether something fishy is going on as shown in the screenshots below. On the left screenshot, I connect my phone to a USB charger, all that changed was the battery icon changed to show it’s charging. But on the right screenshot, I connected my smartphone to my laptop, and since it’s trying to access data, I’m offered three […]

Sainsmart Genmitsu 4030 review – Unboxing, mods, and first cuts

Sainsmart Genmitsu 4030 Review

Karl here. This will be a long one but I haven’t had this much fun with a product review in quite some time. I don’t consider myself a complete noob with CNC routers but I have only scratched the surface. Learning new things really drives me and being able to make more permanent things is very satisfying. I have some experience with the Sainsmart 3018 CNC router. I had a lot of fun with it but the build volume was on the smaller side so really limited on what can be done with it. I still recommend it as a starter CNC router and as a good stepping stone to get your feet wet and the Genmistu PROVerXL4030 as the next step. I was able to make some cool things with the 3018 and I hope now to take it to the next level with the Genmistu 4030. Before we […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC

STM32WB5MMG Wireless Module simplifies Bluetooth LE, Zigbee, OpenThread connectivity

STM32WB5MMG Wireless Module

The STM32WB5MMG (STM32) is a wireless microcontroller module by STMicroelectronics. It is a compact ultra-low-power module that allows customers to design 2-layer PCBs and integrates everything up to the antenna, including an IPD (integrated passive device) for reliable antenna matching in order to reduce the overall costs. The STM32 wireless module is compatible with BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) 5.0, OpenThread, Zigbee 3.0, dynamic and static concurrent modes, and 802.15.4 proprietary protocols. It also supports simultaneous dual-protocol mode that allows IEEE 802.15.4 radio-based protocols like Zigbee 3.0 and OpenThread for direct connection with any BLE device. Overview of STM32 Wireless Module The STM32 wireless module is a SiP-LGA86 package (System in Package Land Grid Array)  with various external components including:  STMicro STM32WB55 Cortex-M4/M0+ wireless MCU LSE crystal  HSE crystal Passive components for SMPS  Antenna matching and antenna  IPD for RF matching and harmonics rejection Key Features of STM32 Wireless Module Dedicated […]

Maypole MicroSD card reader comes with ESP32 for WiFi, smart storage (Crowdfunding)

Maypole ESP32 WiFi MicroSD Card Reader

Several years ago, we covered Zsun WiFi card reader a tiny USB card reader with WiFi and a battery that allowed users to access files via USB or WiFi from any device. People managed to hack the device and run OpenWrt on the little MicroSD card reader, but this required either to open the hardware and do some soldering, or use another method that could potentially brick the hardware, so not an ideal solution. But now Akshar Vastarpara has come with a similar device. Maypole is an open-source hardware MicroSD card reader powered by Espressif ESP32 processor providing both WiFi and the resources for smarter storage. It comes with an optional battery too to access files even without having to connect it to a USB port. Maypole hardware specifications: Storage – Swappable MicroSD cards up to 32GB Wireless Connectivity WiFi 2.4 GHz WiFi 4 via ESP32 WiSoC, Up to 4 […]

Industrial-grade 3D Vision Camera features Rockchip RK3399 SoC, Intel RealSense Technology

Vecow DVC-1000 industrial 3D vision camera

Vecow has just launched DVC-1000 industrial-grade 3D vision camera running Ubuntu on Rockchip RK3399 processor and based on Intel RealSense technology. The camera is rated IP67 for protection from water and dust, supports PoE, and the company says it’s “ideal for Robot Vision, Autonomous Mobile Robot, Object Dimensioning, and Intelligent Surveillance”. Vecow DVC-1000 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3399 hexa-core Cortex-A72/A53 processor @ up to 1.8 GHz with Mali 860MP4 GPU, 4K encode/decode System Memory / Storage – TBD Camera Depth Module Depth Sensor – OmniVision OV9282 Active Stereoscopic technology Operating Range – From 0.105  to 10 meters (depends on calibration, scene, and lighting conditions). Resolution – 1280 x 720, 640 x 480, 480 x 270, or 424 x 240 Frame Rate – Up to 60 fps Shutter Type – Global Shutter FoV (H x V x D) – 87°±3° × 58°±1° × 95°±3° @ HD Resolution Z Accuracy – ≤ […]

Raspberry Pi 4 Mini-ITX carrier board. Meet Over:Board (Crowdfunding)

Over-board Raspberry Pi Compute Mobule 4 mini-ITX carrier board

While the Raspberry Pi 4 SBC is popular for its small form factor, affordable hardware, and good software support, the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 offers more flexibility and allows makers and companies to design their own hardware matching their requirements, while still leveraging the existing software support. We’ve already seen a mini-ITX carrier board for the Raspberry Pi 4, namely the upcoming Turing Pi 2. However, the board has very specific use cases in mind since it’s a cluster board designed for four Raspberry Pi Compute Modules 4. But British engineer Ross Nicholls has designed Over:Board carrier board for Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 for most traditional use cases, in essence, designing what amounts to a Raspberry Pi 4 mini-ITX motherboard with SATA, PCIe, etc. Over:Board specifications: Compatible SoM’s –  Raspberry Pi CM4 or CM4Lite with Broadcom BCM2711 quad-core Cortex-A72 processor, up to 8GB RAM, up to 32GB storage. […]

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Sipeed MAIX-II Dock is an Allwinner V831 powered AIoT vision devkit

MAIX-II Dock

Sipeed introduced MAIX development boards powered by Kendryte K210 dual-core RISCV processor with AI accelerators in 2018, and we tested the Maixduino and Grove AI HAT based on the solution using Arduino and Micropython the following year. It works fine for audio and video project requiring AI acceleration at low power, but performance (resolution/fps) is limited. So if you’d like a bit more oomph for your audio & vision AI projects, as well as proper Linux support, Sipeed has just launched MAIX-II Dock powered by Allwinner V831 Cortex-A7 AI camera SoC clocked at up to 800-1000 MHz and 64MB on-chip DDR2 RAM, as well as a Full HD camera and a small display.MAIX-II Dock specifications: MAIX-II core module SoC – Allwinner V831 single-core Cortex-A7 processor clocked at 800-1000 MHz with 0.2TOPS AI accelerator, H.264/H.265/JPEG video encoder up to 1080p30 System Memory – 64MB DDR2 in package (SiP) Storage – Optional […]

Open-source VSCP IoT/M2M automation framework supports Arduino, Raspberry Pi

VSCP (Very Simple Control Protocol) is an open-source IoT framework that works on development boards like Arduino or Raspberry Pi, and lets you control IoT home automation tasks. The framework is highly scalable, has a very low footprint, and as such is specially designed for resource-limited devices. VSCP is an open-source standard protocol for m2m, IoT and other remote control and measurement applications. It enables simple, low-cost devices to be networked together with high-end computers and/or to work as an autonomous system, whatever the communication media is. The VSCP Protocol has two levels: Level 1 and Level 2. The protocol was primarily used in CAN networks (that is Level 1 for tiny microcontrollers) because CAN is cheap and reliable with high efficiency. However, VSCP can be used for faster transport layers such as TCP/IP, so here comes Level 2 which achieves better performance. We have already seen Souliss, an open-source […]

Khadas VIM4 SBC