Awesome Hacking

Veritasium explains how even a moderately skilled hacker can intercept and redirect a phone call or text message. But before that, you need to understand the history of phone networks and the flaws in their call-routing systems. It turns out that many calls are still routed using an antiquated system that dates back to the 1980s.

Help improve your computer network and system security by learning to think like the hackers do. This online series features 8 courses, and more than 60 hours of lessons to help you understand some of the many ways that systems can be hacked, beefing up your tech skills and resume along the way.

Apple’s iPhone X has started to arrive, and one of the big questions is how well FaceID works, and how easy it is to fool it. The Wall Street Journal recently put the phone to the test and shared their results. TL;DW? Don’t buy one if you have an identical twin.

Professor Avi Rubin specializes in Computer Security. In this TED Talk he reminds us that if a device runs software, it can be hacked – anything from a pacemaker to a car. Terrifying stuff.

Randy Sarafan hacked his Lunchtime Clock to automatically speed up by 20% at 11 am every day, then slow down by another 20% at 11:48, extending the lunch hour by 12 delicious minutes.

Ever wanted to know how to modify a cheap Bic lighter into a laser pointer that still lights a cigarette? Thanks to kipkay, now we all do. Kids: pretend that you don’t. (Thanks Benton!)

The guys at Razorfish have ported their DaVinci touch-screen interface to the Xbox 360 Kinect, providing users with the ability to create objects in thin air, then interact with them on screen.

What would you do if you were stuck on a desert island with nothing more than your wits and an IKEA store? Helmut Smit shows us how to assemble an IKEA fire without matches or a lighter.

Since this particular electronic voting machine is easily hackable, security researchers from the University of Michigan decided to turn this one into something more productive – a Pac-Man machine.