Update: Sorry guys. I hadn’t seen it before, but apparently this dell keylogger junk is a rather delicious hoax. To keep from confusing the RSS readers, I’m leaving a post stub up. If I wasn’t travel-beaten I would have paid attention to the fact that the supposed keylogger wasn’t on a flexible flat cable. I pulled the image since it was originally stolen.

It’s probably totally BS, but supposedly this guy found what seems to be a keylogger inside his new dell 600m laptop. He submitted a FOIA request to the DHS, only to have his request denied. It’s a bit tin-hat, but the idea that a three letter agency might be adding extra hardware to your laptop is very disturbing indeed. I guess it’s time to start auditing any new hardware purchased for bonus parts. [via]

I received some good stuff via the tips line while I’ve been making an extra stop after Shmoocon. I spent the day helping my less project endowed family run some new wiring (and made some awesome sparks in the process.)

[Damian] sent in his customized version of the classic Atari 2600 adventure game.
[iraqiGeek] sent in his efforts to use the six-axis controller. He used lib-usb and PPJoy to create his own app.

[HP Friedrichs] sent in this interesting post on building military style power supplies. Good stuff if you’re into building your own gear and like interesting chassis designs.

[John] sent in his version of the new KITT’s light bar. (You know you watched it.)

Got something good to share? Use the tips line.

[nickjohnson] sent in what might just be the most incredibly evil alarm clock ever. It’s a fairly simple pic project with a PIC, LCD and input buttons. When the alarm goes off, you have to solve math problems before it will shut off. If you answer correctly, you make it stop. In my case, I’d probably add a mute button that can be held down while you do the math. Source, schematics and pcb layout are provided.

[Micheal] developed this board to be the heart of an even bigger sensor interface project. I think the design might come in handy for someone looking for more flexibility than even an Arduino or similar projects offer. The SAK2 uses a 40Mhz PIC 18F452, step down power regulation, RF transceiver and plenty of I/O ports. Firmware, schematics and BOM are all provided.

I’m still trying to wrap my head around this one. The idea behind scrying is to reveal hidden data – i.e. electromagnetic fields within a structure. (Like those created by a metal building/computers/etc) It does have other uses besides artistic – it can be used to analyse the 2.4ghz spectrum among other things. It looks like an interesting project, despite the odd description. (Lets just say that it’s an eccentric bit of reading)