This Biofuel Cell Harvests Energy From Your Sweat

October 4, 2019 by Sharon Lin 14 Comments

Researchers from l’Université Grenoble Alpes and the University of San Diego recently developed and patented a flexible device that’s able to produce electrical energy from human sweat. The lactate/O2 biofuel cell has been demonstrated to light an LED, leading to further development in the area of harvesting energy through wearables.

The research was published in Advanced Functional Materials on September 25, 2019. The potential use cases for this type of biofuel cell within the wearables space include medical and athletic monitoring. By using biofuels present in human fluids, the devices can rely on an efficient energy source that easily integrated with the human body.

Scientists have developed a flexible conductive material made up of carbon nanotubes, cross-linked polymers, and enzymes connected to each and printed through screen-printing. This type of composite is known as a buckypaper, and uses the carbon nanotubes as the electrode material.

The lactate oxidase works as the anode and the bilirubin oxidase (from the yellowish compound found in blood) as the cathode. Given the theoretical high power density of lactate, this technology has the potential to produce even more power than its current power generation of 450 µW.

The cell follows deformations in the skin and produces electrical energy through oxygen reduction and oxidation of the lactate in perspiration. A boost converter is used to increase the voltage to continuously power an LED. The biofuel cells currently delivered 0.74V of open circuit voltage. As measurements for power generation had to be taken with the biofuel cell against human skin, the device has shown to be productive even when stretched and compressed.

At the moment, the biggest cost for production is the price of the enzymes that transform the compounds in sweat. Beyond cost considerations, the researchers also need to look at ways to increase the voltage in order to power larger portable devices.

With all the exciting research surrounding wearable technology right now, hopefully we’ll be hearing about further developments and applications from this research group soon!

[Thanks to Qes for the tip!]

This Week In Security: Is RSA Finally Broken? The Push For Cloud Accounts, Encrypted DNS, And More Mobile Mayhem

October 4, 2019 by Jonathan Bennett 24 Comments

Ever wondered what “cyberwar” looks like? Apparently it’s a lot of guessing security questions and changing passwords. It’s an interesting read on its own, but there are some interesting clues if you read between the lines. A General in the know mentioned that Isis:

clicked on something or they did something that then allowed us to gain control and then start to move.

This sounds very similar to stories we’ve covered in the past, where 0-days are used to compromise groups or individuals. Perhaps the NSA supplied such an exploit, and it was sent in a phishing attack. Through various means, the U.S. team quietly compromised systems and collected credentials.

The article mentions something else interesting. Apparently the targets of this digital sting had also been compromising machines around the world, and using those machines to manage their efforts. The decision was made by the U.S. team to also compromise those machines, in order to lock out the Isis team. This might be the most controversial element of the story. Security researchers have wanted permission to do this for years. How should the third parties view these incursions?

The third element that I found particularly interesting was the phase 2 attack. Rather than outright delete, ban, and break Isis devices and accounts, the U.S. team installed persistent malware that emulated innocuous glitches. The internet connection is extremely laggy on certain days, certain websites simply don’t connect, and other problems. These are the sort of gremlins that networking pros spend all day trying to troubleshoot. The idea that it’s intentional gives me one more thing to worry about. Continue reading “This Week In Security: Is RSA Finally Broken? The Push For Cloud Accounts, Encrypted DNS, And More Mobile Mayhem” →

Navigate Around Garmin’s Custom Map Limits

October 4, 2019 by Kristina Panos 23 Comments

If your only experience with Garmins is from that one rental car a few years back, it may surprise you that some of them, mostly the handheld outdoor units, allow custom maps. This sounds cool until you find out the limitations. Unless you upgrade to premium, it doesn’t allow map files larger than 3MB. What’s worse, it will choke the resolution of maps larger than one megapixel. Well, bust out your virtual hiking boots, because [facklere]’s gonna take you down the trail of DIY digital cartography.

You can use any map you want as long as its not completely fictional (although wandering the maps of middle-earth would be a fun hack on top of this one). Your map can be paper, PDF, or parchment; it just has to be converted to JPEG. The map [facklere] wanted to use was a huge PDF, so as a bonus, he shows how to get from PDF to JPEG in GIMP. Then comes the fiddly part — rooting the map in reality by overlaying it on real roads using Google Earth.

You’ve still got a huge map. Now what? The secret sauce is tiling. [facklere] used KMZfactory, a free map editor for Garmin maps that goes the extra mile to split the tiles for you, keeping them under the 1MP limit. Once that’s done, just upload it to your unit and hit the road.

Got an old Garmin that won’t do custom maps? See if you can get DOOM up and running on it.

Indonesian Jungle Vespas

October 4, 2019 by Sharon Lin 10 Comments

Typically, we associate Vespas with Italians, riding their posh scooters midday under the heat of the Mediterranean sun. In one community, however, the riders and vehicles are pretty different – and by that we mean a whole lot different. Think Mad Max: Fury Road meets The Jungle Book.

The first Vespa arrived in Indonesia in the 1960s when the vehicles were rewarded to Indonesian peacekeepers returning from a mission in Africa. While many of the Vespas on the archipelago maintain the same classic style, some riders have modified theirs into entirely new conceptions.

Indonesian photographer [Muhammad Fadli] captures these riders on their Vespa sampah (“garbage Vespa”) and Vespa gembel (“Vespa drifter”), as they are known by locals. The unique design of the riders is partially attributed to their emergence in the early 2000s coinciding with the fall of the Soeharto authoritarian regime. The newfound freedom and self expression, as well as the relaxed law enforcement, contributed to the development of new types of modified vehicles on the road.

While the scooters are widespread, there isn’t any known count of extreme Vespas in the country. Most of the Vespas are not meant for riding, but rather to show off their physical form. While some are made from cheap steel frames and tires, others are adorned with road scraps and symbols. Anything from buffalo skeletons to machine gun rounds are used to accentuate the design of the scooters, many of which have a punk or metal vibe.

Within the community, there are annual extreme Vespa gatherings, which can draw thousands of riders from all over Indonesia. From frames made of bamboo to frames made of garbage, stalls that collect recyclables to add to their vehicles, and riders from all walks of life, there’s no apparent limit to the builders’ creativity.