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The Internet of (Shitty, Useless) Things


Aceade

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L'Oreal have announced a "smart" hairbrush - i.e. a hairbrush that connects to the Internet. :blink:

http://arstechnica.co.uk/gadgets/2017/01/withings-kerastase-loreal-smart-hairbrush/

 

I've been cynical about the "Internet of Things" for a while now - a lot of those huge Denial-of-Service attacks in the latter part of 2016 were down to IoT devices being hijacked due to awful security - but this left me speechless. Who thought that a hairbrush needed to access the Internet?

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Yeah, the security of IoT is awful.  I think the logic is:  "There is a thing.  Do you think we should put a webserver on the thing?  Totes McGoats!"

 

I saw a defcon presentation on 100+ crazy things on the internet, holy shit, someone get me a drink."  Things ranging from a chicken farm, to a giant pitcher of molten steel, to a French hydro-electric dam.  All accessable from the internet with NO authentication or security of any form.  If you wanted to you could go into that steel foundry and tip over that pitcher of steel at a push of a button.

 

So yeah.  Lesson:  Do not put a webserver on things that do not need webservers...

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4 minutes ago, Zash said:

Yeah, the security of IoT is awful.  I think the logic is:  "There is a thing.  Do you think we should put a webserver on the thing?  Totes McGoats!"

 

I saw a defcon presentation on 100+ crazy things on the internet, holy shit, someone get me a drink."  Things ranging from a chicken farm, to a giant pitcher of molten steel, to a French hydro-electric dam.  All accessable from the internet with NO authentication or security of any form.  If you wanted to you could go into that steel foundry and tip over that pitcher of steel at a push of a button.

 

So yeah.  Lesson:  Do not put a webserver on things that do not need webservers...

There is bluetooth technology, and in some cases, I can see that it helps factories be more efficient as you can access something at a distance without having it connected to the outside world. But nonetheless, those things do need security and distance threshold. I use something to connect to my hearing aid myself, but I can see it someone utilizing the bluetooth technology to track me.

 

I see no benefit of hairbrushes of having fancy shit. It is a waste of money.

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some highlights:

A guy got locked out of his house because his "smart" lock was down for a software update.

A gal's fridge shut down and everything inside basically spoiled overnight because Updating Windows....

A family's TV got bricked by a malware and the manufacturer utterly refused to fix it and they had to send it back to the factory to fix it, because andriod

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3 hours ago, Joe Parrish said:

Yeah, I saw I an ad while in GameStop for a water bottle with Blue Tooth.

 

What the fuck?

Oh, I legitimately laughed. Real serious.

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SorryNotSorry

Not sure what's meant by "internet of shit", but there are videos anyone can watch online of people who wear diapers and shit in them while you watch. Only on planet Earth... ^_^

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^^¡¡¿¿

Mindbleach time 

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40 minutes ago, Woodworker1968 said:

Not sure what's meant by "internet of shit", but there are videos anyone can watch online of people who wear diapers and shit in them while you watch. Only on planet Earth... ^_^

Two girls one cup

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1 hour ago, Skycaptain said:

^^¡¡¿¿

Mindbleach time 

Spoiler

 

 

*waiting for smart bread rolls*

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18 hours ago, sculapius said:

just gonna leave this here https://twitter.com/internetofshit

If I had a Twitter account, that would probably be the only account I'd follow.

 

18 hours ago, Joe Parrish said:

Yeah, I saw I an ad while in GameStop for a water bottle with Blue Tooth.

 

What the fuck?

 

Stop this planet...I want to get off.

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Speaking of the internet of things, I found something even more unbelievable.

 

---

Allow me to present the Turing Phone Cadenza!

 

The-Turing-Phone-Cadenza-specs-are-too-r

 

It is a phone from the future! Yes, the future of things! It's powered by two graphic cards! It's going to be shipped with 12 GB of RAM! 6K Video Support! 3 Power supply sources! 2400mAh graphene superconductor battery! 1600mAh lithium ion battery! Hydrogen fuel cell! 1 TB of storage! And, that's not all, there'll be 4 nano-sim slots! If all of those are not enough, the phone will be supplied with artificial intelligence operating system! Buy now for the price of $100,000! Don't wait or it'll be sold out!

 

Source :

http://www.phonearena.com/news/The-Turing-Phone-Cadenza-specs-are-too-ridiculous-to-believe_id84865

 

---

 

That's what I found randomly. Literally.

 

Also, the picture makes me think it came from Star Trek.

 

 

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This is my favourite by a mile. Warning: Contains dog poo

 

Spoiler

Cy1ieIkWEAAcg_t.jpg

 

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Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

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Bluetooth, at least, has a modicum of security to it.  You at least need a code number to pair to a device (and only if the device is in pairing mode, which requires physical access to the device).  So, someone driving by your house (or probing your network online) can't stumble across it.  Also the wireless data being transmitted by Bluetooth is encrypted.  So, generally, not worth the time to break into a Bluetooth device.

 

IoT stuff, on the other hand is just bam, there on the internet, or broadcasting a wireless access beacon inviting all to come use it.  So, some asshat can just drive by and take over it, and sometimes use it as a launch point to attack deeper into your network.

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5 hours ago, Zash said:

Bluetooth, at least, has a modicum of security to it.  You at least need a code number to pair to a device (and only if the device is in pairing mode, which requires physical access to the device).  So, someone driving by your house (or probing your network online) can't stumble across it.  Also the wireless data being transmitted by Bluetooth is encrypted.  So, generally, not worth the time to break into a Bluetooth device.

No, but I think Bluetooth can be a godsend for those who wants to track down people using Bluetooth technology, and especially some interesting people. Something doesn't need to be hack-able directly in order to get some interesting information. Have you heard of ways to get passwords from a offline device?

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Well, without physical access to the offline device it is more or less impossible to get passwords from that.  However, that said, there are all sorts of social engineering tactics that can get you access to those devices.  There are people whose job it is to test the security of banks by walking in the front door and asking for access.  And it is scary how often the banks let them in.  It is getting to the point where the humans are the weakest link in site information security.

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Haha, some time ago there was an article that a well-known TV producer said that you better don't have sensitive discussions in front of your 'Smart TV', as it potentially can be hacked and someone else can listen in. I have the feeling that the added benefit is so marginal with many IoT devices, that I question why someone should buy them. Like the hairbrush.

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i'm going to invent a smart toilet that takes samples of your poo and tells your smart fridge what to tell your smart shopping trolley to buy to make your smart kitchen cook you the smartest meals to make your poo perfect. oh and it will have RGB lighting and gently massage you as you poo. it will run on windows XP

 

The saddest part is people would probably still buy it.

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But does it screen the stool to see whether your gut flora is optimised,  and suggest faecal implantation if not? :P

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What really bugs me about this IoT crap is that people are giving away their ability and their knowledge of to live their life. They will forget how to drive cars, how to cook, how to go shopping groceries, how to you name it. If anyone gets to shut the whole internet thing down one day, mankind is doomed. The only exceptions would be some tribes living in the woods.

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2 hours ago, Homer S. said:

What really bugs me about this IoT crap is that people are giving away their ability and their knowledge of to live their life. They will forget how to drive cars, how to cook, how to go shopping groceries, how to you name it. If anyone gets to shut the whole internet thing down one day, mankind is doomed. The only exceptions would be some tribes living in the woods.

The invention of books doesn't mean we can't memorize things, and the existence of mobile phones doesn't mean we can't have face to face conversations.

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There are internet-enabled (or at least wi-fi-enabled) Crock Pots.  The idea is that if you're hella fucking lazy, you can control your Crock Pot with your phone. But the Crock Pots allowed people to hack into your phone.

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Calligraphette_Coe

 I chalk up the IoT as being just another in a long line of 'very smart people doing really stupid things.' It should have by now earned a place of honor in the pantheon of Popular Delusions and The Extraordinary Madness of Crowds.

 

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On 01/08/2017 at 7:11 AM, Robin L said:

The invention of books doesn't mean we can't memorize things, and the existence of mobile phones doesn't mean we can't have face to face conversations.

Paper books are already getting outdated. I prefer a Nook over traditional book. Asides, I don't like it when the book flips paper by itself.

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chair jockey
10 minutes ago, Reptillian said:

Paper books are already getting outdated. I prefer a Nook over traditional book. Asides, I don't like it when the book flips paper by itself.

I have trouble with paper books because they make me cough. For people like me, electronic books are a plus.

 

But, hey, let's invent a "smart" paper book! It could do fun stuff like remind you of which page you were on when you stopped reading it. Or send out a homing signal if you accidentally leave it on the bus shelter bench.

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