Flexible Mobile Devices Get a Flexible Battery Made From Nanotubes

After years of promises that mobile phones were going to become flexible, Samsung announced plans last month to release its flexible phone.

While the Samsung Galaxy Round is not flexible to the extent you can bend it to your heart’s content, it does offer a display that is flexible enough for the manufacturer to curve it. The move has also spurred other mobile device manufacturers to announce their intentions to market similar devices.

With the age of flexible devices seemingly upon us, one of the primary challenges for their development has been the power source. Samsung’s new phone is more or less powered by a standard rigid battery. But both LG and Samsung acknowledged that they are on a quest to develop a flexible battery that will enable a truly flexible phone.

Researchers, who anticipated that the launch of flexible mobile devices would require a flexible power source, have steadily pursued the flexible battery. There have been a few commercial efforts using printed electronics, and some thin-film technologies that have made a splash.

Now researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) have developed a flexible battery made from carbon nanotubes that is aimed at powering flexible devices. 

Over four years ago, researchers at Stanford University and the University of California, Los Angeles reported details of their efforts to use carbon nanotubes to produce flexible batteries through printed electronic techniques. The NJIT researchers avoided printed electronics and simply created a flexible material through standard electrochemical architectures, consisting of an electrode and an electrolyte. The carbon nanotubes and other microparticles used in the flexible material serve as active components of the battery such as the positive and negative material as well as the electrolyte.

“This battery can be made as small as a pinhead or as large as a carpet in your living room,” says Somenath Mitra, a professor of chemistry and environmental science at NJIT whose research group invented the battery. “So its applications are endless. You can place a rolled-up battery in the trunk of your electric car and have it power the vehicle.”

One of the distinguishing features of this technology, according to Mitra, is that consumers can fabricate it at home. Presumably one would buy a kit consisting of electrode paste and a laminating machine. To make the battery, you would coat two pieces of plastic with the electrode paste and then place a third plastic sheet between the two coated sheets. Then the assembly would be laminated together.

That feature is not likely to win the favor of companies like LG and Samsung as they seek out their solutions to the flexible battery issue. But it could make DIYers pretty pleased.

Simplest construction of DC motor

How is it ?   :)

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Android 4.4 KitKat Features Detailed by Google

With Android 4.4 KitKat officially unveiled, fans of Google's mobile platform and developers are now waiting for the operating system to actually make its debut on the market. Although LG Nexus 5, the first handset to ship with Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box has been recently put on sale on Google Play Store, it will take a couple of days before the device reaches customers. Until then, Google published some of the most important features of the Android 4.4 KitKat operating system. Keep in mind that some of these features will only be available on Nexus 5, while others will be included on other devices powered by Android 4.4 KitKat as well. The first thing worth mentioning is the fact that Android 4.4 has been especially optimized to work smoothly on entry-level smartphones that come with only 512MB of RAM.

Another interesting new feature has already been successfully implemented in Motorola Moto X and allows users to control the smartphone only by voice. Simply say “Okay Google” to start a voice search, get directions, or play a song. Other apps, such as the Caller ID app, have been improved to search for local business that match a number that you call, which is not included in Contacts. As expected, the Hangouts application has been enhanced and now allows users to send and receive SMS and MMS, but for the time being it is not integrated within the Google Voice text and voice messages. There's also faster multitasking: “Android 4.4 takes system performance to an all-time high by optimizing memory and improving your touchscreen so that it responds faster and more accurately than ever before. This means that you can listen to music while browsing the web, or race down the highway with the latest hit game, all without a hitch.” With Android 4.4 KitKat users will be able to print photos, documents, and web pages from their phone or tablet while on the go. According to Google, you will be able to print to any printer connected to Google Cloud Print, to HP ePrint printers, and to other printers that have apps in the Google Play Store. Other new features added in Android 4.4 KitKat include: Bluetooth MAP and Chromecast support, Chrome web view, Device management built-in, Infrared blasting, Low-power audio playback, and touchscreen improvements.

Hacking Facebook Passwords like changing your own Password

Hacker found a way to hack and change your password like, just he used to change his own password. Confused ? Recently Facebook fix a very critical vulnerability on the tip of 'Sow Ching Shiong', an independent vulnerability researcher. Flaw allows anyone to reset the password of any Facebook user without knowing his last password.

At Facebook, there is an option for compromised accounts at "https://www.facebook.com/hacked" , where Facebook ask one to change his password for further protection. This compromised account recovery page, will redirect you to another page at "https://www.facebook.com/checkpoint/checkpointme?f=[userid]&r=web_hacked" .

Researcher notice that the URL of the page having a parameter called "f" which represents your user ID and replacing the user ID with victim's user ID allow him to get into next page where attacker can reset the password of victim without knowing his last password.

Hacking Facebook Account with just a text message

Can you ever imagine that a single text message is enough to hack any Facebook account without user interaction or without using any other malicious stuff like Trojans, phishing, keylogger etc. ?

Today we are going to explain you that how a UK based Security Researcher, "fin1te" is able to hack any Facebook account within a minute by doing one SMS.

Because 90% of us are Facebook user too, so we know that there is an option of linking your mobile number with your account, which allows you to receive Facebook account updates via SMS directly to your mobile and also you can login into your account using that linked number rather than your email address or username

According to hacker, the loophole was in phone number linking process, or in technical terms, at file /ajax/settings/mobile/confirm_phone.php

This particular webpage works in background when user submit his phone number and verification code, sent by Facebook to mobile. That submission form having two main parameters, one for verification code, and second isprofile_id, which is the account to link the number to.

As attacker, follow these steps to execute hack:

 

1. Change value of profile_id to the Victim's profile_id value by tampering the parameters.
2. Send the letter F to 32665, which is Facebook’s SMS shortcode in the UK. You will receive an 8 character verification code back.

3. Enter that code in the box or as confirmation_code parameter value and Submit the form.

Facebook will accept that confirmation code and attacker's mobile number will be linked to victim's Facebook profile.

In next step hacker just need to go to Forgot password option and initiate the password reset request against of victim's account.

Attacker now can get password recovery code to his own mobile number which is linked to victim's account using above steps. Enter the code and Reset the password!

Facebook no longer accepting the profile_id parameter from the user end after receiving the bug report from the hacker.

Unauthorized Access Backdoor found in D-Link router Firmware Code

A number of D-Link routers reportedly have an issue that makes them susceptible to unauthorized backdoor access.

The researcher Craig, specialized on the embedded device hacking - demonstrated the presence of a backdoor within some DLink routers that allows an attacker to access the administration web interface of network devices without any authentication and view/change its settings.

He found the backdoor inside the firmware v1.13 for the DIR-100 revA. Craig found and extracted the SquashFS file system loading firmware’s web server file system (/bin/webs) into IDA.

Giving a look at the string listing, the Craig's attention was captured by a modified version of thttpd, the thttpd-alphanetworks/2.23, implemented to provide the rights to the administrative interface for the router. 

The library is written by Alphanetworks, a spin-off company of D-Link, analyzing it Craig found many custom functions characterized by a name starting with suffix “alpha” including the alpha_auth_check. 

The function is invoked to parse http request in the phase of authentication.

"We can see that alpha_auth_check is passed one argument (whatever is stored in register $s2); if alpha_auth_check returns -1 (0xFFFFFFFF), the code jumps to the end of alpha_httpd_parse_request, otherwise it continues processing the request." 

Analyzing the parameters passed to the function the researcher was able to reconstruct the authentication flow, the function parses the requested URL and check if it contains the strings “graphic/” or “public/”. “graphic/” or “public/” are sub-directories under the device’s web directory, if the requested URL contains one of them the request is passed without authentication.

Another intriguing detail has been found by Craig that by changing the user-agent in a web browser to “xmlset_roodkcableoj28840ybtide,” a user could bypass the security on the device and get online or control the higher functions of the router.

Craig decided to search the code “xmlset_roodkcableoj28840ybtide” on Google and discovered traces of it only in one Russian forum post from a few years ago. Going deep in its analysis Craig was able to piece together the body of the alpha_auth_check:

int alpha_auth_check(struct http_request_t *request)

{

if(strstr(request->url, "graphic/") ||

strstr(request->url, "public/") ||

strcmp(request->user_agent, "xmlset_roodkcableoj28840ybtide") == 0)

{

return AUTH_OK;

}

else

{

// These arguments are probably user/pass or session info

if(check_login(request->0xC, request->0xE0) != 0)

{

return AUTH_OK;

}

}

return AUTH_FAIL;

}

Try to read the string xmlset_roodkcableoj28840ybtide backwards .... It appears as "Edit by 04882 Joel backdoor", very cool.

The worrying part about this vulnerability is how it can be exploited. Anyone connected to the router, whether it's through Ethernet or Wi-Fi, can simply set their browser's user agent string to a specific codeword and then attempt to access the web configuration panel.

Craig extended the results of its discovery to many other D-Link devices affected by the same backdoor, the author searched for the code present in the HTML pages on the entire Internet with the Shodan. He searched for the word "thttpd-alphanetworks/2.23", the modified version of thttpd, retrieving following search results:

After a series of test Craig concluded that the following D-Link devices are likely affected:

• DIR-100

• DI-524

• DI-524UP

• DI-604S

• DI-604UP

• DI-604+

• TM-G5240

The researcher discovered also that Planex routers, based on the same firmware, are affected by the flaw.

• BRL-04UR

• BRL-04CW

D-Link has confirmed that the flaw exists, but has refused to provide comment on how it was inserted into its products. 'D-Link will be releasing firmware updates to address the security vulnerabilities in affected D-Link routers by the end of October,' a company spokesperson explained.