Total Pageviews

DIY Conductive Paint For All Your Wearable Needs

DIY Conductive Paint

Conductive ink or paint is lots of fun. It opens up tons of possibilities for flexible and unique circuits — unfortunately, it’s pretty expensive. [Brian McEvoy] shows us how to make your own for cheap, and it works great!

He started trying to formulate his own recipe after playing with other Instructable guides and commercially available paint, and what he found is it’s really not that complex! Graphite powder, acrylic paint, and a jar with an airtight seal — seriously, it’s that simple! But, like any engineer worth their salt (he calls himself the 24 Hour Engineer), he had to do some tests to compare his formula.

In a detailed experiment he compares his formula to the commercially available Wire Glue, and two other recipes using Elmer’s Glue-All and graphite, and Titebond III with graphite. The results? Acrylic paint and graphite produce the most conductive material — and the cheapest!

Now that you can make conductive ink, why not 3D print a circuit stamp to make your very own SMD circuit board!


Filed under: how-to

HOPE X: Wireless Tor Proxies And Sharing TrueCrypt Volumes

When you’re at HOPE, of course you’re going to see a few Tor proxies, but [Jose]‘s is top-notch. It’s a completely portable Tor proxy (.br, Google translation), battery-powered, with a connection for 4G networks.

[Jose]‘s OnionPi setup is based on the Adafruit version, but adds a few interesting features that make it even more useful. It’s battery-powered with about a day of charge time, has a built-in battery charger, Ethernet pass through, external 4G and WiFi antennas, all in a sealed case that makes the entire build impervious to the elements.

While this isn’t much of a hack per se, the amount of integration is impressive. There are switches to turn off each individual networking port, and all the relevant plugs are broken out to the front panel, with the AC input and USB serial connection using screw connectors that are supposedly very popular in Brazil.

[Jose] also brought along a new device that isn’t documented anywhere else on the web. It’s called NNCFA, or Nothing New Crypto For All. Using a Cubieboard, an interesting ARM single board computer with a SATA connector, [Jose] created a device that will mount TrueCrypt volumes on a hard drive and share them via Samba.


Filed under: Network Hacks, security hacks

Foursquare gets a makeover, zooms in on personalization

Foursquare gets a makeover, zooms in on personalization
Image Credit: Foursquare

Foursquare, the location-based service that’s been having an identity crisis, has treated itself to a makeover, which any girl will tell you is the cure to feeling awful after a breakup.

And Foursquare’s makeover is head-to-toe: A new logo, a redesign, a move of all checkins to its sister app, Swarm, and a new focus on personalization.

This last piece, personalized local search, is really what this new overhaul is about, according to the company’s blog.

Why should two very different people get the same recommendations when they visit Paris? Or the same list of places when they're looking for a bar?

New Foursquare 2

Foursquare says that once users “add tastes, follow experts, or even just walk around for a few days,” the app will start really tailoring recommendations to them.

Moreover, while it’s moving all checkins to Swarm, the two apps will now look the same and work together in sync, letting users chose if they want just one or both apps without worrying about different and disjointed experiences.

Since announcing the Foursquare-Swarm split back in May, Foursquare has been making a lot of changes, including beginning to charge some businesses to access checkin data, a sign it might have finally figured out a business plan.

Last week, Yelp announced a revamped API and 25,000 calls-per-day limit to developers in an attempt to compete with Foursquare, though it might be quite behind as Foursquare has already been offering a 5,000 call limit prior to approval of third-party apps.

In its blog post, the company also revealed that it now has 50 million users, and that more than three quarters of them have downloaded Swarm.

new Foursquare

Screen Shot 2014-07-15 at 10.53.56 AMOur upcoming GrowthBeat event — August 5-6 in San Francisco — is exploring the data, apps, and science of successful marketing. Get the scoop here, and grab your tickets before they're gone!  


Foursquare is a location-based mobile platform that makes cities easier to use and more interesting to explore. By "checking in" via a smartphone app or SMS, users share their location with friends while collecting points and virtu... read more »








FTC commissioner speaks out against apps collecting health data

FTC commissioner speaks out against apps collecting health data
Image Credit: The Hill
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) commissioner Julie Brill has some serious reservations about the collection of health data by consumer apps.
She said as much at the The Hill’s Tech in Policy event in Washington DC Wednesday morning. In a nutshell, the Commissioner made clear that she considers collection and use of data to be one and the same — and she thinks there should be heavy restrictions, which would have a major impact on the future of mobile health.

FTC commissioner Julie Brill

She cited the famous case in which Target was able to predict the pregnancies of its female customers using big data techniques then market applicable products to them. One woman’s family found she was pregnant only after seeing the Target marketing materials being sent her way.

Brill said she fears that the vastness of big data (in health) might pose a serious compliance challenge for twentieth century laws.
If Brill’s fellow commissioners agree with her, an FTC clampdown on data collection could put a serious crimp in the plans in a legion of digital health startups that are already collecting data.
Commissioner Brill is leading the FTC's efforts to review consumer privacy and security in healthcare and technology. The FTC typically is not involved with the enforcement of healthcare data privacy as expressed in the HIPAA law. But the FTC could get involved if health app developers are not being clear with consumers about what kinds of data they’re collecting and how it’s being used.

Brill made her comments during a round-table discussion led by the Association for Competitive Technology (ACT) executive director Morgan Reed.

"There have been incredible developments in mobile technology that help students learn and improve health outcomes," Reed said in a statement.  "We need a regulatory environment that encourages innovation while protecting consumers in areas that make a real difference in our lives."

Reed serves as the legal and policy chair for the mobile arm of the largest Health IT organization, HIMSS.

HealthBeat — VentureBeat's breakthrough health tech event — is returning on Oct 27-28 in San Francisco. This year's theme is "The connected age: Integrating data, big & small." We're putting long-established giants of the health care world on stage with CEOs of the nation's most disruptive health tech companies to share insights, analyze trends, and showcase breakthrough products. Purchase one of the first 50 tickets and save $400!







Quandoo gets $25M to extend restaurant reservation platform to new markets

Quandoo gets $25M to extend restaurant reservation platform to new markets
Image Credit: Shutterstock

If you want to select a restaurant, make a reservation, and pay your bill all within the same service, Quandoo offers a solution. And the company just closed a round of growth financing amounting to $25 million that will allow it to expand across Europe and establish a presence in the Asia-Pacific and additional Latin markets.

The Series C financing round was led by Piton Capital. Previous investors also participated: The Sixt family (which led the seed round) Holtzbrinck Ventures and DN Capital (which led the A and B rounds), and Texas Atlantic Capital, all contributed to this growth round.

“We have long looked at the restaurant space as a very large opportunity,” said Andrin Bachmann of Piton Capital in a statement. “Quandoo has an excellent product and a proven blueprint to rapidly roll out the model internationally.” Bachmann will also join the board at Quandoo.

Quandoo currently partners with over 3,000 restaurants in eight different countries in Europe and 10,000 restaurants worldwide. It has helped 1.5 million people make reservations so far. The service is accessible via the company’s website or through its iOS app. It’s designed to seamlessly integrate technology into the dining experience. From picking a place to eat based on suggestions that keep your preferences in mind to making a reservation to paying for the meal, Quandoo acts as a complete dining tool.

The company was founded in 2012 in Berlin by Philipp Magin, Ronny Lange, Tim-Hendrik Meyer, Sebastian Moser, and Daniel P. Glasner. It has about 180 employees.

Quandoo does not have a U.S. presence at this time, though its service idea isn’t foreign on our soil, where OpenTable currently dominates.



DN Capital is a growth capital and early stage investor focused on software and digital media markets with offices in London and Palo Alto. DN Capital's objective is to identify, invest in and actively support companies with the pot... read more »

HV Holtzbrinck Ventures was founded as a corporate vc in 2000 and became a fully independent vc investor in 2010 by setting up its fourth fund. HV Holtzbrinck Ventures has invested in more than 90 companies and focuses on early stage i... read more »








Study shows many Brits opting out of ISP filters

Study shows many Brits opting out of ISP filters
Image Credit: Paul Mayne

Only a small percentage of ISP customers in the U.K. choose to opt into family friendly content filtering with their subscription, according to a study the U.K.’s Office of Communications published yesterday.

This research comes less than a month after the Open Rights Group revealed that ISP filters block one-fifth of websites in the U.K. Although the goal of these filters is to keep pornography away from the eyes of children, many unintended sites have also been caught in the filters.

BT, Sky, TalkTalk, and Virgin Media were the four ISPs examined for this study.

The government had requested that U.K. ISPs roll out filters by December 2013. BT did so in December, while Sky incorporated filters in November. TalkTalk had already been offering filters to subscribers since May 2011. Virgin Media was the last to roll them out, in February 2014.

Only 5 percent of new customers accepted the filter at BT, while 8 percent did so at Sky. About 36 percent of customers signed up for the TalkTalk filter, and 4 percent bought into Virgin Media’s offer.

The filters that the four ISPs offer block out content pertaining to drugs, hacking, file sharing, and pornography. Some ISPs also offer filtering for content that others do not. For example, Virgin Media doesn’t filter out media that addresses dating, while the other three ISPs do.

The ISPs have been working to ensure that all new customers are informed of their filter offerings. The Office of Communications determined that 100 percent of BT, Sky, and TalkTalk customers were immediately prompted by the ISP to choose whether or not to turn on filters. Approximately 35 percent of Virgin Media customers received the same prompt.

The Office of Communications study shows that the filters, with their tendency to weed out good sites along with the bad, are not proving popular.

Screen Shot 2014-07-15 at 10.53.56 AMOur upcoming GrowthBeat event — August 5-6 in San Francisco — is exploring the data, apps, and science of successful marketing. Get the scoop here, and grab your tickets before they're gone!  







Daily Show ‘launches’ fake $10B Kickstarter campaign to buy CNN (video)

Daily Show 'launches' fake $10B Kickstarter campaign to buy CNN (video)
Image Credit: The Daily Show

If the world can raise over $61,000 for potato salad via crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, then why can’t a satirical news program on Comedy Central launch a campaign to buy CNN for a cool $10 billion?

Well that, at least, was the punchline for a segment on The Daily Show last night, which saw host Jon Stewart launch a parody campaign to buy the cable news channel that’s routinely the subject of ridicule on the program. The show’s producers even went to the trouble of creating a standalone website, LetsBuyCNN.com, to help sell the joke — although, the site itself is just a photoshopped version of a Kickstarter campaign page.

"CNN, America's first 24-hour cable news network, has been terrible for many, many years," the site reads. "Does it have to be that way? Who knows, maybe it does. So let's find out for ourselves!"

One of the prizes for The Daily Show's fake Kickstarter campaign to buy CNN.

Above: One of the prizes for The Daily Show’s fake Kickstarter campaign to buy CNN.

Image Credit: The Daily Show

Rewards for donations for the fake campaign include getting your face in a CNN “talking head” box shared with 21 other faces ($10), your face in a CNN box shared with just six people ($10,000), a 24-hour two-week news circus event to find your lost keys ($5 million), and my personal favorite, a “Host a CNN anchor Hunger Games fight to the death” event ($1 billion).

[Side note: There's no way Wolf Blitzer would get to that bow and quiver when his competition is Anderson Cooper, Erin Burnett, and Chris Cuomo.]

The segment was prompted by News Corp. billionaire Rupert Murdoch’s massive $80 billion offer to buy out rival media company Time Warner last week, which was quickly rejected by Time Warner’s current management.

Check out the the segment below; it’s pretty funny and worth your valuable time.








Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)