Two years ago, Brian Weinreich, the co-founder and head of product at Density, an Internet of Things (IoT) sensor startup, got so fed up of receiving spam emails from his business email account that he decided to teach a lesson to all future spammers who tried to contact him.
Weinreich considers spam to be as intrusive and unpleasant as people you don't know stalking you in order to sell you something, who won't stop pestering you even when you tell them you're not interested, so he decided to build a solution that would waste spammers' time in revenge.
"Back in early 2015, I decided I had enough. It became clear to me: it's my job to stop spam. That 'Spam' button on Gmail just didn't get me going anymore. There's no reward. I was seeking revenge.. and some comedic relief," Weinreich wrote in a blog post on Medium.
"I figured if I could eat up a spammers time, then they would have less time to perfect their new spamming technique."

Sp@m Looper

So he invented the Sp@m Looper, a bot whose primary function is to respond to spam emails with a series of open-ended questions that seem like they could be a real person's response to an email enquiry.
Unfortunately, the very first email you receive from any unique spammer will still go into your inbox, but once forwarded to sp@mlooper.com, the bot then takes action and continues to automatically respond to all emails from same spammer's email address until the spammer decides to stop sending you emails.
Weinreich developed the bot and put it to work on an email address he specifically created for a non-existent man named "John Turing", who is the founder and chief executive of a fictitious company called MLooper. He soon found that spammers were actually tricked into exchanging at least five emails with the bot before they realised that they weren't talking to a real person.

Bot managed to negotiate discounts

This continued even when he changed the script to insert random "hipster words" at the end of the emails, which made it even clearer that the emails weren't coming from a human being, and – at one point – the bot even managed to negotiate a good discount on some software a spammer was hawking.
"I think one of the most interesting findings I had was the fact that after the first month, I didn't have to feed the Looper anymore," wrote Weinreich. "People were just spamming it on their own. It was miraculous. It reminded me a lot of the Hydra  – the more people the Sp@m Looper responded to, the more spammers it attracted."
Weinreich has compiled some of the funny email exchanges for people to read on MLooper.com, and he has also made the code available on GitHub so that anyone can download it to run their own version or to improve on the bot to make it even more annoying, sorry, efficient.

Tech News

14:20

A video claiming that users can add a headphone socket to the iPhone 7, which only has a Lightning port, by drilling into the bottom of their phone has been watched almost 10m times.
The prank video shows a man drilling a 3.5mm hole into the bottom left edge of the iPhone 7 held in a vice. It points to the row of small holes on the left side that replaced the headphone socket present on the iPhone 6S and claims that drilling into the second hole on the left reveals a hidden socket.
Once the hole has been drilled the video shows an iPhone 7 playing music, although the sound comes out of the speakers, not the white headphones now inserted in the DIY hole.

‘This video is for those who don’t want to get $159 wireless AirPods or have to insert your headphones into an adapter every time you listen to music’ says the caption of the video.
The video was produced by Sacramento, California-based Ukrainian YouTuber Taras Maksimuk who “specialises in smashing technology for your pleasure” according to his profile. Some of Maksimuk’s other videos include “what happens if you microwave an iPhone 7” and “can the iPhone 7 survive in liquid nitrogen for five minutes”.
In total Maksimuk has seven separate videos showing him destroying iPhone 7s, but that seemingly hasn’t stopped people drilling holes into the bottom of their new iPhones and causing irreparable damage.
The YouTube video’s comment section – normally a place filled with vitriol and despair for humanity – was full of people claiming to have performed the operation and destroying their iPhone 7 in the process, the sincerity of which is questionable.
Some Dude said: “WT*??? F**k you! My screen turned black the moment I started drilling and now I can’t even open it.”
“TECHRAX YOU PIECE OF S**T I DID THIS AND THE SOUND DOESN NOT WORK AT ALL,” said Artur.
Lukelaluke123 said: “ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I WAITD TILL MY DAD WAS SLEEP THEN I WENT TO THE GARAGE AND GOT HIS DIRLL AND DID THIS ND NOW MY IPHONE WONT NOT EVEN WORK!!!!! YOU ARE SUCH ASC*M BAG WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS IM GOING TO MAEK SURE YOURE UTUBE CHANNEL IS GETS SHUT DOWN.”
Not only will drilling a hole into the bottom of the iPhone 7 not reveal a hidden headphone socket, but it will also ruin the waterproofing of the smartphone, which requires the membranes covering the holes in the bottom of the phone to be undamaged.
Maksimuk’s video is the latest in a long run of pranks targeting gullible iPhone buyers. Pranksters managed to convince some users that the iOS 7 update magically made their iPhones waterproof in 2013, while some iPhone 6 users were tricked into microwaving their smartphones while seeking longer battery life. Both pranks only led to destroyed smartphones.

Tech News

14:08

 20: Bringing up the rear for the best-selling mobile phone of all time is the Samsung Galaxy S III. Released in 2012, it shipped with Android 4.04 Ice Cream Sandwich, and is widely hailed as being the first smartphone to kick off Samsung's domination of the market. It has sold more than 60 million units.

 19: The Motorola StarTAC is the oldest phone on the list, released in 1996, and is regarded as one of the first mobiles to truly enter the mainstream conscience, selling more than 60 million.

18: Apple's iPhone 4s, released in 2011, was the first iPhone to feature digital assistant Siri, and has sold more than 60 million units.

 17: In 17th place is the Nokia 5130. Way back in 2007, this music-playing phone sported a 2MP camera and shifted more than 65 million handsets.

 16: The iPhone 5 was Apple's first foray into creating larger handsets, boasting a 4-inch display up from predecessor the 4s' 3.5-inch screen. It was launched in 2012 with a production run of only 12 months. More than 70 million were sold.

15: The solid Nokia 6010 is the 16th entry in the list, clocking up sales of more than 75 million since its introduction in 2004.

 14: Samsung's wildly popular Galaxy S4 went on sale in 2013, and quickly became the company's fastest-selling smartphone. It sold a total of 80 million units before it was replaced by the Galaxy S5 the next year.

 13: Apple's best-selling iPhones to date, the 6 and 6 Plus models were released in 2014, and have sold more than 100 million handsets.

 12: The Nokia 1208 first went on sale in 2007, and featured an inbuilt torch and colour screen with a resolution of 96 x 98 pixels. More than 100 million were sold worldwide.

 11: The legendary and practically indestructable Nokia 3310 came into being back in 2000, and is noted for its great games, including Snake and Space Impact. It sold more than 126 million units.

 10: Motorola's highest entry in the top 20 was for the RAZR V3, which after selling more than 130 million handsets, is also the world's best-selling clamshell phone. It went on sale in 2004.

9: The basic but hardy Nokia 1600 was released in 2006, and has shifted 130 million + units. It was developed specifically for users in emerging markets including India and China.

 8: Another very basic Nokia, the 2600 did not have a camera or Bluetooth connectivity. It was released in 2004 and has sold more than 135 million units.

 7: The tough Samsung E1100 boasted a battery life of around 13 days on standby when it went on sale in 2009, and is 8th in the list, selling more than 150 million units in that time.

 6: The egg-shaped Nokia 6600 was incredibly popular despite its hefty £400 price tag back in 2003, and has clocked up sales of more than 150 million.

5: The Symbian-running Nokia 5230 has sold more than 150 million units despite its lack on Wi-Fi support. It went on sale in 2009.

 4: The Nokia 1200 was praised for its long battery life - more than 390 hours - and featured a fetching green backlight. It has sold more than 150 million units since its introduction in 2007.

 3: The classic Nokia 3210 is the third best-selling phone after generating sales of more than 150 million. It went on sale in 1999, and is fondly remembered as many people's first ever mobile phone.

 2: The low-end Nokia 1110 was released in 2005, and has narrowly been pipped to the post as the world's most popular show. Its inverted screen, featuring white text on a black background, boosted it to sales of more than 250 million.

1: The Nokia 1100 may not be as famous as the 3310, but it's the best-selling mobile phone the world has ever known, shifting more than 250 million. It went on sale in 2003, and has since been sadly discontinued. Nokia's one billionth phone sold was an 1100 in Nigeria in 2005. 

Tech News

03:38

It’s an open secret that the Internet of Things (if we must call it so) is pretty terrible, whether in standards, ineroperability, or security. Good security, though, you don’t really expect in a smart light bulb or coffee maker. A smart front door lock, however, really shouldn’t be quite this easy to hack.

Two different presentations at DEF CON this year made it clear that there’s a long way to go before we should start trusting the average smart lock — or even the nice ones. This may surprise you, or you might have been saying it for years. At all events, these guys proved it with gusto.

Anthony Rose and Ben Ramsey, from Merculite Security, showed off a bit of lock hackingdone with less than $200 worth of off-the-shelf hardware. Some opened easier than others, but in the end 12 out of 16 yielded.

Locks from Quicklock, iBluLock, and Plantraco transmitted their passwords in plaintext, making them vulnerable to anyone with a Bluetooth sniffer. Others were tricked by the attacker simply replaying the same data they snatched out the air when a legit user unlocked the door. Another entered a failstate and opened by default when it received an encrypted string that was off by one byte.

Worth noting as well: doing a bit of wardriving, the two found plenty of locks identifying themselves as such, making it easy for an attacker to find devices to listen in on.

Pretty poor showing altogether, although a few resisted Rose and Ramsey’s attempts: the Noke and Masterlock smart padlocks survived, and a Kwikset Kevo did as well — until they opened it with a screwdriver. Okay, that’s cheating, but the point stands.

Perhaps most worryingly, only one of the 12 vendors the two contacted to inform them of these flaws responded — and even then, there was no plan to fix anything.

One that Merculite failed to crack was the August door lock, a rather more well known brand than the others (MasterLock notwithstanding). Fortunately, someone else had already made it their mission to break the thing wide open.

Jmaxxz’s entertaining, meme-filled presentation puts the lie to many of the claims set forth by August, and although it’s unlikely your average B&E artist is going to bother to circumvent certificate pinning and pawing through your logs, the security holes are real.

Many items that were too hard to get by ordinary hacking means like sniffers… could be found in plaintext in logs and the like. Jmaxxz is one of those hackers that doesn’t like to work any harder than he has to — and why should he?

Inside the August there were good practices and bad — and to the company’s credit, the hacker noted, they have been responsive and many of these holes are likely fixed. Still, it’s hard to believe that guests could ever award themselves extra lock permissions just by changing a string in the API calls from “user” to “superuser”!

For now, it seems, these locks are long on convenience and short on security. If you don’t mind having less-than-stellar security on your pool house or mother-in-law, this could be a nice way to keep your keychain light — but for the front door, you can do better.

Tech News

03:16

Apple is preparing to unveil successors to the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus as early as next month with more advanced photography capabilities and upgraded hardware in a design similar to that of last year’s models, according to people familiar with the matter.

The standout features will be a dual-camera system on the larger iPhone, a re-engineered home button that responds to pressure with haptic feedback and the removal of the devices’ headphone jack, said the people, who didn’t want to be identified discussing unannounced features. Apple declined to comment.

While iPhone demand has waned in recent quarters, partly due to the lull between product launches, the device continues to be the major source of Apple’s revenue. The new models will be critical to the holiday quarter, and Apple is counting on the phones to prop up sales ahead of an expected iPhone overhaul in 2017, the device’s 10th anniversary.

Moving away from the typical two-year iPhone redesign cycle, this year’s models will look similar to the 6 and 6S, the people said, who added that there will still be noticeable tweaks. The new iPhones will retain the same 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screen sizes as their predecessors, introduced in September 2014. Apple will remove the two innermost antenna lines that run across the back of the current iPhones, the people added.

Sharper Photos

The dual cameras on the larger new iPhone will produce brighter photos with more detail, according to a person who has used a prototype version of the upcoming device. Both sensors, which each capture color differently, simultaneously take a picture, and the device produces a single, merged photograph, said the person.

The dual system sharpens photos taken in low-light environments, the person said. The combination of the merged photos from the two camera sensors also allows users to zoom while retaining more clarity, the person added. The smaller version of the new phones will not include dual lenses, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said earlier this year.

Home Button

Apple is planning an updated home button for the new models. Current home buttons are switches that physically press into the phone, but the new models will have a pressure-sensitive button that provides feedback to the user via a vibrating haptic sensation rather than a true physical click, according to the people. This mechanism is similar to that of the trackpads on the latest MacBook line. 9to5Mac reported on the home button design earlier.

No Headphone Jack

The new iPhones will remove the headphone jack in favor of connectivity via Bluetooth and the charging port. That will make room for a second speaker, said the people. Apple started allowing headphone makers to build headphones that can connect via the iPhone’s charger connector in 2014, the same year the company acquired headphone maker Beats Electronics. Macotakara earlier reported the headphone jack’s demise.

The new models will run iOS 10, the new version of Apple’s mobile operating system coming this fall. The updated software offers interactive widgets to quickly glance at calendar appointments and favorite contacts, new messaging features, a new application for controlling smart home appliances, and a redesigned Apple Music. The new software will also run on current and some past iPhone models.

Tech News

02:53

Apple is preparing to unveil successors to the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus as early as next month with more advanced photography capabilities and upgraded hardware in a design similar to that of last year’s models, according to people familiar with the matter.

The standout features will be a dual-camera system on the larger iPhone, a re-engineered home button that responds to pressure with haptic feedback and the removal of the devices’ headphone jack, said the people, who didn’t want to be identified discussing unannounced features. Apple declined to comment.

While iPhone demand has waned in recent quarters, partly due to the lull between product launches, the device continues to be the major source of Apple’s revenue. The new models will be critical to the holiday quarter, and Apple is counting on the phones to prop up sales ahead of an expected iPhone overhaul in 2017, the device’s 10th anniversary.

Moving away from the typical two-year iPhone redesign cycle, this year’s models will look similar to the 6 and 6S, the people said, who added that there will still be noticeable tweaks. The new iPhones will retain the same 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screen sizes as their predecessors, introduced in September 2014. Apple will remove the two innermost antenna lines that run across the back of the current iPhones, the people added.

Sharper Photos

The dual cameras on the larger new iPhone will produce brighter photos with more detail, according to a person who has used a prototype version of the upcoming device. Both sensors, which each capture color differently, simultaneously take a picture, and the device produces a single, merged photograph, said the person.

The dual system sharpens photos taken in low-light environments, the person said. The combination of the merged photos from the two camera sensors also allows users to zoom while retaining more clarity, the person added. The smaller version of the new phones will not include dual lenses, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said earlier this year.

Home Button

Apple is planning an updated home button for the new models. Current home buttons are switches that physically press into the phone, but the new models will have a pressure-sensitive button that provides feedback to the user via a vibrating haptic sensation rather than a true physical click, according to the people. This mechanism is similar to that of the trackpads on the latest MacBook line. 9to5Mac reported on the home button design earlier.

No Headphone Jack

The new iPhones will remove the headphone jack in favor of connectivity via Bluetooth and the charging port. That will make room for a second speaker, said the people. Apple started allowing headphone makers to build headphones that can connect via the iPhone’s charger connector in 2014, the same year the company acquired headphone maker Beats Electronics. Macotakara earlier reported the headphone jack’s demise.

The new models will run iOS 10, the new version of Apple’s mobile operating system coming this fall. The updated software offers interactive widgets to quickly glance at calendar appointments and favorite contacts, new messaging features, a new application for controlling smart home appliances, and a redesigned Apple Music. The new software will also run on current and some past iPhone models.

Tech News

02:49

Donald Trump, candidat républicain à la Maison Blanche, a présenté lundi à Detroit, la ville de l'automobile, son programme économique en vue de l'élection présidentielle de novembre.

Une bonne dose de reduction d'impôts pour satisfaire l'électorat, des renégociations commerciales dans le Pacifique et sur le climat pour trancher avec le mandat Obama, voici en résumé la potion magique de Donald Trump pour briguer la Maison Blanche en 2016.

Lundi, à Detroit, "Motor City", il a présenté les grandes lignes de son programme économique sur lequel les Américains sont toujours très attentifs. Et sans surprise, il contient des propositions conformes à l'orthodoxie républicaine. Mais plus surprenant, des mesures en rupture, notamment contre le libre-échange.

Baisses d'impôts

Pour les particuliers: Donald Trump a légèrement modifié sa proposition initiale de réforme de l'impôt fédéral sur le revenu, qu'il souhaite rendre moins progressif afin de s'aligner sur ce que la majorité républicaine du Congrès souhaite mettre en place: trois tranches au lieu de sept actuellement, avec réduction du taux maximal de 39,6 à 33%. "Le taux d'imposition de la plupart des travailleurs américains sera de zéro", a-t-il dit.

Pour les parents: le candidat propose de permettre la déduction fiscale "complète du coût moyen de la garde d'enfants", sans plus de précisions.

Sur les successions: répondant à une grande revendication des conservateurs, Donald Trump souhaite supprimer l'impôt sur les successions, qui ne frappe plus aujourd'hui que celles supérieures à cinq millions de dollars pour un particulier.

Pour les entreprises: baisse de l'impôt sur les sociétés de 35 à 15%. Taxe de 10% sur le rapatriement des bénéfices réalisés à l'étranger. Moratoire sur toute nouvelle réglementation économique et élimination de celles "qui ne sont pas nécessaires, n'améliorent pas la sécurité et détruisent inutilement des emplois".Le candidat n'a pas décrit la façon dont il financerait son important plan de baisses d'impôts, autrement que par une hausse supposée de la croissance, ce que contestent plusieurs économistes.

Renégociations commerciales

Partenariat transpacifique: Donald Trump se retirerait du "TPP" conclu en 2015 par Barack Obama avec 11 pays du pourtour pacifique, et dont la ratification est actuellement bloquée au Congrès américain.

Amérique du Nord: Donald Trump souhaite renégocier l'Accord de libre-échange nord-américain (Aléna), négocié avec le Mexique et le Canada par les présidents George H. W. Bush puis Bill Clinton, entré en vigueur en 1994. C'est principalement le Mexique, où de nombreuses usines américaines ont été délocalisées, qui est visé par le républicain. Le candidat souhaite inclure de nouvelles protections contre la manipulation monétaire et la possibilité de sanctions douanières contre "les pays qui trichent en subventionnant leurs produits".

Chine: "La Chine est responsable de près de la moitié de notre déficit commercial", a martelé Donald Trump. Il souhaite poursuivre les Chinois pour le vol de propriété intellectuelle, lutter contre le dumping commercial chinois et la manipulation de la monnaie chinoise.

Energie

Climat: annulation du plan climat de Barack Obama. Annulation de l'accord de Paris sur le climat.

Charbon: relance de l'extraction de charbon en supprimant des réglementations environnementales qui rendaient les anciennes centrales thermiques au charbon obsolètes.

Pétrole et gaz: relance de l'extraction offshore. Demander à la société TransCanada de renouveler la demande de permis pour son projet d'oléoduc Keystone XL entre le Canada et les Etats-Unis, rejeté par l'administration Obama en 2015.

Tech News

02:45

After months of rumors and speculations suggesting that an upgraded version of the PS4 with 4K support is in development, Sony has finally gone on record to confirm its existence.

Andrew House, president of SIE (Sony Interactive Entertainment) confirmed this news during an interview with Financial Times. He termed the new PS4 device as being a ‘high-end PS4″, and informed that it will be more expensive than the current $350 PS4 model.

Image: Sony Playstation

House revealed that there won’t be any showing of the new device during its upcoming E3 press conference, and no announcement will be made during the event. This is to ensure there’s no negative impact on the sales of the current version of the PS4.

We want to ensure we have a full range of the best experiences on the new system that we can showcase in their entirety,

House also stated that the new PS4 device isn’t meant as a replacement for the existing PS4 consoles and would only compliment the standard PS4.

It is intended to sit alongside and complement the standard PS4,” he continued. We will be selling both [versions] through the life cycle. All games will support the standard PS4 and we anticipate all or a very large majority of games will also support the high-end PS4.

Image: Sony PlayStation

He also informed that the new console would feature better visuals than the current PS4 models and will come with 4K support for games. He said that developers will need to do a little bit of extra work to enable support for their games on the console.

The console won’t be sold at a loss and will be profitable right from its launch. It’s slated to release before Autumn this year, and we can expect a proper reveal soon, but it won’t be happening during the upcoming E3 event.

Tech News

09:16

While everyone knows they shouldn’t use a smartphone behind the wheel, one in every four crashes still involves someone texting, snapping, sharing, or chatting on a mobile device. So how do we save ourselves … from ourselves? I’ve tested more than a dozen apps and gadgets that promise a fix.

DriveMode Wins Top Spot

Every major cellular provider offers something to help with distracted driving. I found AT&T’s free DriveMode app for Android and iPhone works the best, and after nearly six months of testing, is the only one that I still use every single day.

It turns on automatically when your car starts moving more than 15 miles per hour and silences text alerts. It doesn't totally lock your phone down, though: anyone who texts will get a pre-configured response (like “I’m driving, will call you back in a minute”) and you can still access music, navigation, and select contacts on your phone with a single click. Parents can also set up the app notify them when a teen driver disables it.

The reason this app blew past the competition for me is because it’s super simple to use and eliminates the most common sources of distraction: phone calls, text messages, games and social media. You just set it and forget it. At the same time, it allows some interaction with the things I rely on, such as the Waze navigation app and streaming music via Spotify. Many safety experts argue that the only safe place for a smartphone in a car is in the trunk—but human behavior has already shown us that doesn’t work. (I’m not sure I could get anywhere anymore without Waze.)

AT&T DriveMode app works with other carriers, but the other providers have their own solutions too. Sprint's Drive First app is great, but only available for Android phones. Same with T-Mobile’s DriveSmart app and you’ll have to pay $4.99 to get it to do what AT&T’s DriveMode does automatically. Verizon’s Driving Mode controls come straight from its Android Verizon Messages app, so it doesn’t work on iPhones either. It also disables texts and sends an auto-reply whenever you get a message, but it doesn’t turn off any other distractions. It also needs to be turned on manually every time you get in the car, unless you’ve paired it with Bluetooth.

Other Apps Worth Taking For A Spin

SafeDrive (free for Android and iPhone) makes a game out of staying off of your phone and I really like it. Instead of preventing you from looking at your phone, it awards you when you don't. Whenever you're in a car, a screen pops up on your phone that shows how many points you've earned. Leave your phone alone, and you earn points as you drive—but if you touch your phone, all of those points vanish. You can cash in your at your local gas station, and the list of other retailers is growing. Other SafeDrive users can even challenge you to see who racks up the most miles without using their phones. Winners get glory, and more points.

Focus — Screen Free Driving (iPhone) is another fun take on staying off your phone—kind of like smartphone shaming—but in an effective way. It launches when you start driving, and if you touch your phone, a voice sternly says, “hang up and drive.” If you don’t, the app gets downright angry, yelling phrases like, “lock your phone NOW,” “eyes on the road, Chief,” and even, “would your parents be happy with you if they knew you were doing this?”

It’s funny, impossible to ignore, and helps you realize how much time you really do spend sucked in by your smartphone. At the end of every drive, it gives you a road report showing how many minutes you've been distracted with your devices. That’s pretty eye-opening too. It's free to download, but you can unlock extra features for $4.99, including how speeding reports for teen drivers.

If you absolutely need to stay plugged-in while on the road, try Android app MessageLOUD ($15.99/year). It’s a new service that automatically reads your texts and emails out loud as you drive. It works with Gmail, MS Exchange, Yahoo, Outlook,Office365 and Hotmail. It lets you delete, dismiss, auto-reply, or call back with a single tap or swipe—a lot like controlling your radio—without taking your eyes off the road. It’s still a fairly new app and more distracting than DriveMode, but a step up from having your phone in your hand and your eyes on the screen. The app makers are working on an iOS version now.

In theory, Siri should read my messages too, but I think I’ve dropped my iPhone too much and scrambled her brain. Everytime I ask, “read my texts,” she tries to Facetime someone named Dex.

Targeting Teens

This is an especially dangerous time for teen drivers. An annual AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety study shows the highest number of teen deaths on the road occur during the year’s “100 Deadliest Days” between Memorial Day and Labor Day. When it comes to tech support, there are lots of options here, but my favorite is tXt Blocker($7/month). It shuts down the phone completely when your teen is driving (and lets you set up "No-Cell Zones" to prevent texting from work or school) that teens can’t hack around. You can also track and find your teen through the tXtBlocker website and see reports on how safely they're driving.

What have you found works best for staying off your smartphone in the car? Be sure to let us know in the comments section.

Tech News

06:35

After storing the Batmobile in the cave and heading out for some exercise, Bruce Wayne would take this beast.  The stealth bomber is possibly the best of the best of the bike world and fit for anyone that wants to ride intense.

Sold by Stealth Electric Bikes, this thing moves up to 80 km/h while putting out 5.2 kW of power.  It's a hybrid, powered by pedal and motor and has 250mm of rear wheel travel, paired-up with a 180mm (or optional 200mm) front end.  It runs through a nine-speed sequential gearbox and stops on a dime, due to its Magura hydraulic disc brakes.

And it's bulletproof.

It also utilizes a Regen capability, charging the battery on downhill momentum and braking.  Additionally, it's configurable front suspension lets you decide if you want to ride it on the road or take it off.  You can go anywhere with this thing with confidence.

The company continues to upgrade the vessel, so expect more powerful crime-fighting material to come

http://inhabitat.com/the-stealth-bomber-an-electric-bike-fit-for-the-dark-knight/

Tech News Travel

20:26

Apple Inc is investigating how to charge electric cars, talking to charging station companies and hiring engineers with expertise in the area, according to people familiar with the matter and a review of LinkedIn profiles.

For more than a year, Silicon Valley has been buzzing about Apple's plan to build an electric car.

Now the company appears to be laying the groundwork for the infrastructure and related software crucial to powering such a product.

The moves show Apple responding to a key shortcoming of electric vehicles: "filling up" the batteries.

A shortage of public charging stations, and the hours wasted in charging a car, could be an opportunity for Apple, whose simple designs have transformed consumer electronics.

Apple, which has never publicly acknowledged a car project, declined to comment for this story.

Neither the LinkedIn profiles nor sources said specifically that Apple was building charging stations for electric cars.

But automotive sources last year told Reuters that Apple was studying a self-driving electric vehicle (EV), as the Silicon Valley icon looks for new sources of revenue amid a maturing market for its iPhone.

Apple is now asking charging station companies about their underlying technology, one person with knowledge of the matter said.

It is unclear whether Apple would want its own proprietary technology, such as Tesla Motors' Supercharger network, or design a system compatible with offerings from other market players.

Apple has also hired at least four electric vehicle charging specialists, including former BMW employee Rnn Braonin, who worked on integrating charging infrastructure into home energy systems as well as communication between EVs, BMW and utilities, according to a LinkedIn review.

As recently as January Apple hired Nan Liu, an engineer who researched a form of wireless charging for electric vehicles, for instance. Quartz earlier this month reported that Apple had hired former Google charging expert Kurt Adelberger.

The electric car industry has faced a chicken-and-egg paradox with the installation of charging stations.

Property owners have been reluctant to install them before EVs hit the road en masse, and drivers are wary of buying EVs until charging stations are widely available.

Apple's home state of California by 2020 will need about 13 to 25 times the roughly 8000 work and public chargers it currently has, to support a projected 1 million zero-emission vehicles on the road, according to an estimate by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Tech News

17:28