On the surface, hacking a broken calculator to serve as a Bluetooth ‘keyboard’ for a calculator app on a smartphone seems like hacking for hacking’s sake. But we all know how frustrating a touchscreen keyboard can be for anything but short messages, so for engineers or mathematicians crunching numbers all day, this hack might actually be genius? Read More >>

It’s taken a little over 12 years, but one of the amazing technologies featured in the game Portal has finally been recreated in real life. No, sadly not the actual portal-making gun, but the autonomous robotic turret sentries that can identify and dispose of targets. Instead of live ammo, however, this 3D-printed replica blasts Nerf darts at unsuspecting lab intruders or escapees. Read More >>

There are lots of free apps and widgets for Windows and MacOS that can quickly hide a work distraction (like YouTube or Facebook) from your boss or co-workers, but they assume you’re always paying close attention to who’s walking by your desk. The Daytripper does that all for you, using a laser tripwire that automatically hides contraband apps or websites whenever it’s triggered. Read More >>

The modding and jailbreaking community is not as vibrant as it once was, as the tech giants lock down their code with increasing efficiency, and amateur tinkerers are left wondering if the benefits outweigh the time and effort when it comes to unlocking a device’s default operating system. Is it still worth it in 2019? Read More >>

Aside from maybe Apple’s MacBooks, there isn’t a line of laptops with as much brand recognition as IBM’s ThinkPads—now manufactured by Lenovo. They’ve been around for almost 30 years now and were responsible for some real innovations in laptop design, including the TrackPoint nub in the middle of the keyboard that Paul Klinger has lovingly recreated as part of this custom miniaturised ThinkPad he created. Read More >>

Following the reveal of an unpatchable exploit in the Nintendo Switch back in January of 2018, diligent hackers have finally gotten the portable console to boot and run Android. It opens up a long list of potentially excellent alternate uses for the tablet, but thanks to Nintendo’s hardline stance on hacking its hardware, I’m too nervous to try it out. Read More >>

Someone stole the personal and financial information of millions of Bulgarian taxpayers—likely the majority of the adult population. Read More >>

You might have noticed the brouhaha over the since-deleted Samsung tweet advising users to run antivirus scans on their smart TVs—but is such a malware attack possible? Just how many of your smart home gadgets are vulnerable to viruses in the same way that your laptop might be? We called in the experts to find out. Read More >>

Nintendo didn’t give us any new hardware during its E3 2019 presentation, so you’ll instead have to lust and drool over Bill Paxton’s latest creation. He reinvented the clamshell Game Boy Advance, but with the guts of a fully-functional Wii packed inside, allowing the portable to run a huge list of games, including those played with the motion-sensing Wiimotes. Read More >>

It doesn’t matter how easy they are to pair with your phone, paying £160 for a pair of wireless earbuds whose tiny battery dies after a year and a half just doesn’t feel worth it. Redditor Sam Cashook agrees, so instead of spending a small fortune on Apple’s most loseable gadgets, he hacked together his own AirPods using just a few pounds' worth of electronic parts. Read More >>

Symantec and Trend Micro are among the list of leading antivirus companies that a group of Russian-speaking hackers allege to have compromised, Gizmodo has learned. It remains unclear to what degree the claim is true, if any. Read More >>

Imagine yourself playing Tetris, and you’ll undoubtedly have the Game Boy version’s memorable theme song (called Korobeiniki) stuck in your head for hours. But playing the game on an old school analog display manages to produce an even more satisfying sound as 210 small plastic discs quickly flip back and forth to recreate the falling tetrominos. Read More >>

Cryptocurrency trading hub Binance, one of the world’s largest, has confirmed it lost about 7,000 Bitcoins (around $40 million/£31 million) to hackers after its so-called “hot wallet,” i.e. one connected to the internet and used to process transactions, was breached, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. Read More >>

The challenge of trying to draw anything even partially recognisable using just two spinning knobs has somehow made the Etch A Sketch a popular toy for almost 60 years now. Some artists have managed to master the unique medium with endless hours of practice, but Martin Fitzpatrick opted to hack together a shortcut instead, resulting in one of the most unusual digital cameras we’ve ever seen. Read More >>

When his son asked for a Harry Potter themed birthday, Adam Thole decided to borrow an idea from Universal Studios’ The Wizarding World of Harry Potter which lets visitors cast spells using interactive wands. The results are quite possibly the most magical smart home upgrade you’ve ever seen, and one that’s not terribly difficult to build. Read More >>