How many of us own and drive a vehicle with a keyless entry system? Well, it appears that many thousands of us that do have woken up this morning to a very worrying report from the General German Automobile Club (ADAC),
In order to unlock your keyless entry vehicle, you simply need to carry your key-fob. As you approach the vehicle, it recognises the encrypted signal transmitted from the fob. This, in turn, instructs the vehicles central-locking system to unlock the doors when you either touch the door handle or press the button on the door-handle. There is no requirement to insert the key into the ignition as the car is fitted with a start/stop button. If you own a car with both keyless entry and start/stop system, you aren’t alone, they are now widely used in hundreds of models or cars and in some cases motorbikes.
Now for the bad news. A recent study by the General German Automobile Club (ADAC) has discovered that the technology is far from secure in all but THREE cases and in fact the method of stealing a keyless vehicle is extremely simple.
In order to steal a keyless vehicle, a thief simply employs a rudimentary transceiver which takes the relatively weak signal transmitted and received from the fob to the car and amplifies it, it is then possible for the signal to reach from the fob to the car and hey presto, the car is unlocked and can (in most cases) be started.
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Once the car is running, the need for a key is obsoleted and the car can now be driven until it is depleted of fuel. In most cases, the cars are taken abroad and the retrofitted with standard locking and start systems. As long as the car does not stall, it will run for as long as the fuel tank will take it.
NO AMOUNT of hacking or decryption is needed, it is reliant solely on the amplification of the already transmitted signal!
Arnulf Thiemel, car-technician at the ADAC. Image Credit: ADAC
Arnulf Thiemel, car-technician at the ADAC, said “The ADAC demands that vehicles be protected against any kind of manipulation and illegal access. For the affected vehicles, there must be solutions put in place to improve the security. All new vehicles should also be equipped with a methodologically that ensures secure safety solutions which also withstands neutral side checks”
Which cars and manufacturers were affected?
Unfortunately, it would appear that EVERY manufacturer tested has at least one model which could be stolen using the method above.
The following vehicles could NOT be opened or started using this method.
Jaguar i-Pace (2018) Land Rover Discovery (2018) Land Rover Range Rover (2018)
The vehicles above are currently immune from this method of attack. This is because they employ a variation of the keyless system by broadcasting using ultra-wideband frequencies. Basically, the equipment used to amplify the signal is ‘currently’ unable transmit or receive at the radio frequencies used in these models of cars.
Jaguar-Land Rover filed the patent for this method of keyless access in 2017. We can now only hope that they freely license these patents to other car makers or a comparable technology can be developed.
What Now?
All too often our deep-rooted human needs to be ‘waited upon’ result in solutions which in the first instance appear to solve a problem that really didn’t exist, but in real-world use turn out to have a sting in the tail. In the case of the study by ADAC, it would appear that there are very urgent questions to answer and drivers should be aware of the security issues surrounding their vehicles.
Faraday Cases?
Prior to speaking to BBC Radio Suffolk, many listeners talked about using Faraday Cases or Bags to house their keys. The theory behind this was to block the signal completely whilst the car isn’t in use (ie. whilst the keys were stored in the home or place of work).
Faraday Bag for Keyless Fobs from Amazon
I personally believe that keeping the keys away from the car or placing them in a container which COMPLETELY blocks radio signals is the only way to avoid the potential theft of vehicles using this method. However, radio signals can travel through types of metal, so be ABSOLUTELY confident that anything you purchase to secure your fobs, does indeed work as described.
Immediate Steps to Take
If you are concerned about the security of your keyless car fob, contact your car’s manufacturer as soon as possible and ask them what steps they have taken to secure your car? Ask them if there are software updates to improve security? Ask them if these systems can be deactivated until such time as they can be completely secure?
Listen in!
This morning I spoke to Mark Murphy on BBC Radio Suffolk about the use of Faraday Cage technology to try and reduce the chances of Keyless entry cars being stolen. Listen in to the stream above. If you like what you hear or read, don’t forget to LIKE, SHARE and SUBSCRIBE. See you next time!
Matt
The Gadget Man
I previously spoke about this topic a while back, you can read and listen at this link Gadget Man – Episode 113
Earlier in the week, I spoke to Mark Murphy on BBC Radio Suffolk about the demise of the Yellow Pages directory.
The Yellow Pages was always sat alongside the equally large Phone Book, but had gradually declined over the years since the introduction of the Internet and increasing dominance of search engines such as Google which has made searching for and finding businesses much easier and informative.
Having rebranded as Yell.com many years back and diversifying it’s business interests as an ‘Internet’ brand, the directory has had a long and some might say “painful” death. In the way the Phone Book died in part due to privacy concerns, the Yellow Pages has died due to lack of interest. In our fast-moving world, there is no longer a place for archaic, expensive and out of touch printed directories. The internet now provides so much more. We will just need to find something else to keep the kitchen table from rocking!
You can listen to the on-air discussion we had about the Yellow Pages by clicking the link above. Don’t forget to Like, Share and Subscribe to the Podcast using your favourite Podcast service including iTunes, Google Podcasts, TuneIn and more!
See you next time!
Matt
The Gadget Man
Header Picture Credit: Comedy Nose – https://www.flickr.com/photos/comedynose/
Last week, I spoke with James Hazell on BBC Radio Suffolk about the new film classifications and how they can be applied to online video streaming sites.
I also discussed YouTube’s ban on videos that contain or encourage dangerous pranks that endanger people or could cause harm to people copying them.
BBFC has revised it’s classifications
Following a public consultancy of more than 10,000 people, the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) has now revised its classifications to make it more consistent across platforms, including online services.
David Austin, Chief Executive Officer at the BBFC, said: “Over the last five years the way we consume film and video has changed beyond all recognition. That’s why it’s so important that there is consistency between what people watch on and offline. The research shows that parents and teenagers want us to give them the information and guidance that they need to view what’s right for them.
We’re here to listen to what people want, which is why they trust our age ratings. So it’s encouraging to know that we’ve been classifying content in line with what people want and expect when it comes to difficult themes around credible real life scenarios. We also know that people are more comfortable with issues such as action violence, if it’s in a way that they are expecting – such as a Bond or Bourne film. We are updating our standards around depictions of sexual violence and very strong sex references to reflect changes in public attitudes.”
A scene from Bird Box – Image Credit: Netflix
In discussing YouTube enforcing rules banning videos which either put people in danger or promoted acts which might lead people copying those acts to either suffer harm or place others in danger, we discussed recent movies such as the Netflix production; Birdbox which led some people to challenge others to go about day-to-day activities whilst blindfolded and may have led a driver in the US to become involved in a motor vehicle accident.
Trinity and Neo from The Matrix – Image Credit: The Wachowskis / Silver Pictures / Warner Bros
On a lighter note, I owned up to buying a pair of ‘Neo from the Matrix’ inspired sunglasses and my continuing search for ‘The Dude’s Cardigan’ from The Big Lebowski.
The Big Lebowski – Image Credit: The Coen Brothers / Working Title Films
You can listen in to the stream, by clicking on the play button above, or you can subscribe to The Gadget Man podcast using the links above listen in via iTunes, Tune-in, Google Podcasts and more! Don’t forget to show your support by ‘liking’, ‘sharing’ and ‘subscribing’.
Matt
The Gadget Man
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As we enter the final year of the second decade of the 21st century, the smartphone will surely be considered the most revolutionary gadget of the last 10 years.
Our phones are now firmly ingrained in our lives, joining us at home, at work, at play, at the dinner table, in bed, they come with us everywhere! Our lives are documented in detail, where we go, what we do, what we think and what we eat. We’ve now become news gatherers, critics and voyeurs all without realising it was happening in front of us.
Too Much Smartphone III
The use of mobile phones stretches to every age group, from the elderly to the very young and with this comes concern as to the use of these devices. Should young people be allowed to use their phones at any time of the day OR night? Does it reduce conversation? Are we become LESS social?
I have now covered this subject twice in the past, you can read a listen in here and here, however now reports are informing us that phones DON’T cause our children harm, listen in to the podcast, where I talk to Mark Murphy on BBC Radio Suffolk about this latest contentious report.
As ever, if you enjoy listening in, Like, Share, Subscribe and Comment, I will see you soon!
As the new year dawns, we again look back, but this time it’s more than 30 years to yet another audio format resurgence. Now that Vinyl has once again become freely available to the masses after being all but condemned by CD’s, MP3’s and then streaming music, another format becomes the trend of choice. Yes, we are now being encouraged to revisit the Cassette Tape! Another Hipster trend or is there more to it?
HEAD’S UP!! You can listen in to me talking on BBC Radio Suffolk with Mark Murphy about my memories of cassette tapes, don’t forget to Like, Share, Subscribe or Listen directly.
For me, it’s difficult to understand how revisiting this format has any real appeal. The audio quality was mediocre, to say the least. Unless of course, you could afford $2,500 ($5000 in today’s money) for a Nakamichi Dragon Cassette Deck which in 1991 was widely considered to provide the best audio reproduction available.
Nakamichi Dragon Cassette Deck
For those of us unfortunate enough to be devoid of 5000 bucks, we instead looked at more portable alternatives, either in the shape of your unfriendly neighbourhood ‘Ghetto Blaster’ or the even smaller ‘Sony Walkman’. Whilst our aspirations for these two devices may have been the popular ‘break dancing’ movies of the era, we would have to face up to lesser versions of both.
Ghetto-Blaster or Boom-Box
The giant Ghetto-Blasters we dreamed of with 20 D-Size batteries, would, in fact, end up with less bulky and much less ‘blasting’ boom-boxes.
Sony Walkman Professional
The incredibly sleek Sony Walkman’s would also be too expensive and thus instead we ‘made-do’ with cheaper and much poorer alternatives featuring tinny headphones and literally all DSP (digital signal processing) technology removed to either keep down costs or avoid licensing fees being paid by the manufacturers.
Tape Cassettes did launch the car and personal stereo experiences, which went on to launch the digital experience that we all enjoy today. So just for this alone, we should be thankful. It does not, however, mean that cassette tapes sound any better than anything else that is currently available. We now don’t need to arduously fast-forward or rewind to our favourite tracks and we most certainly do not have to spend hours fiddling around with pencils to re-tension cassettes, it’s now so much easier. So maybe they should stay consigned to charity shops and eBay.
Another year passes and as we move into 2019 we can look forward to another year of unstoppable advances in technology.
If I was able to predict upcoming tech, I’m happy to suggest that my number one for 2019 will be the folding mobile phone with potential devices from LG and Samsung already breaking cover in various forms.
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Both companies have already demonstrated their flexible display technologies and with the Mobile World Congress in February coming up soon, we should expect demonstrations of foldable, rollable or bendable screen tech from these companies.
Artificial intelligence is sure to continue its unstoppable march towards self-awareness (I jest!!), but all the same, we should be seeing multi AI ‘bots’ training directly with each other very soon! Who could forget the Facebook AI bots which invented their own communication language shortly after being switched on! More of this in inevitable, hopefully with the necessary safeguards in place.
The big 3 tech companies continue to advance home-based smart technology with integration into every part of our lives, add to this more AI and who knows what we should expect from the likes of Amazon, Google and Apple.
Holograms are a little way off, but augmented reality is making leaps and bounds with more advanced filters on spectacles providing with illusionary-holographic images a reality soon.
Phone batteries continue to provide us with more and more screen time and further advances in battery and charge technology will give us even more excuse to distract ourselves on a daily basis.
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This year we look forward to the beginnings of the 5G roll-outs, giving us impossibly fast download speeds, but also extending decent internet speeds to rural areas of the UK.
Ultimately, we are not about to be overrun by killer robots and 2019 will be bringing some pretty astounding new technology, strap yourselves in and enjoy the ride.
I talked on air with James Hazell from BBC Radio Suffolk about my predictions for the coming year. Have a listen and don’t forget to Like, Subscribe, Share and Comment and I will see you very soon.
When you run a small business, chances are that you thought up an innovative product idea and were certain that it would sell to the consumer market. You’ll have invested a whole lot of hard work, time, effort, and money into developing these products, conducting market research to determine price points and potential improvements, curating advertising and marketing campaigns, and either setting up a brick and mortar store or creating an online Ecommerce store. This is a whole lot to do! But once it’s all complete, your professional journey isn’t over. You don’t just get to sit back and relax while you see the profits roll in. Believe it or not, you’re going to end up spending a whole lot of time familiarising you with things that you would never have initially connected with your business. Things that you wouldn’t have had a clue you’d eventually need to learn about. Software is one of these things. Without software, chances are that your business would never have made it off the ground. So, it’s importance that you understand different types of software that could prove beneficial to your business’ success and progression! Here are a few software related pieces of information that could really benefit you and your business in the long run!
Standard Software
There’s plenty of generalised software out there that you can use. It will help you to complete a whole host of day to day professional tasks. Some will automatically be installed on your devices when you have them. Some will need to be purchased. Sometimes you will receive a disk, but more often than not nowadays, you will have some sort of product key like a windows 10 product key or you will have to log in to some sort of subscription service. Make sure to check whether there is a free trial available before purchasing any particular software. There often is and it’s worth checking that the software meets your needs before investing any money in it.
Custom Software
Now, standard, widely available software can be extremely useful. But as your business grows and expands, chances are that you’re going to need something a little more specialist. This will help to iron out complications in your current process and can help you and any employees that you may have to complete work faster, more accurately, and more efficiently. Now, custom software can be whatever you want it to be. It can be a programme that can be incorporated into your manufacturing process to mass produce particular items. It can be software that helps you to manage and maintain your mailing lists, sending out regular correspondence. It can be software that monitors your employees checking in and out to determine whether people are on time or not. Whatever it may be that you want, you should get in touch with custom software developers. They will be able to bring your dreams to reality! Sure, this may come at a higher cost that standardised software, but it’s generally more than worth it!
Software Updates
Whatever software you do decide to use, make sure that you run regular software updates. Sure, it can be tempted to click “ignore” or “remind me in an hour” when you are prompted to update your software. But make time for it. Software updates have various benefits. They generally offer you better software that has been improved, is easier to use, is more aesthetically pleasing, or is more functional. Next, software updates make you less prone to being hacked by cyber criminals. The longer a particular piece of software has been running, the longer people have had to figure it out and try to break into it. If you have the latest version, fewer people are going to be able to tap into it.
Hopefully, the above information has helped to familiarise you with some of the different types of software available to you and how to best maintain it once you have invested in it! Sure, this may seem like a relatively new area, or an area that you don’t need to fuss about, but it does play a massive role in your business’ ability to function. So don’t underestimate its importance!
Those of us who love new tech gadgets will, undoubtedly, feel a bit gutted when we see the price of the latest releases. Sure, someone will always be able to afford it and can flaunt their newest gadgets around while the rest of us watch in envy – but is it really any point in always buying the latest?
Image by: Pexels
Here is a quick guide to those who would love to pre-order every new smartphone each year but who, sadly, will need to wait for the price to drop a bit. It just makes it a bit easier to stay on top of the latest tech even if you can’t afford it – and it may even take those expensive gadgets off your mind for a bit.
It won’t make you rich overnight, that’s for sure, but at least you’ll be able to enjoy the tech you already have and perhaps even afford the newest ones if you know where to look.
First: You’ll often get what you pay for
When it comes to technology, the newest does tend to be better than the gadgets we were playing with a year or two ago. The world is constantly evolving, after all, and we will be able to enjoy more powerful software and slicker-looking hardware; the difference may not always be that huge but it should be an improvement with each passing year unless we’ve started to go backwards again.
This doesn’t mean that an upgrade to the absolute latest is always worth the money, though. If you have been using an iPhone X, for example, and can’t stop thinking about the iPhone XS, you might want to hold on for a while before buying it as the difference isn’t really that big – going from an iPhone 7 to an iPhone XS, on the other hand, will definitely be noticeable.
Consider the technology you already have and whether or not it’s actually as outdated as you think it is before you head out to buy something that’s still slightly overpriced.
Next: Look for better deals
Those who enjoy saving money and would like to have a bit more of it to spend on other tech gadgets know that good deals can be hard to come by. Some of them may even just be incorporated in your phone deal and you can’t really take advantage of it unless you already have it – while others are hidden around the web instead.
Start by having a look at this, to begin with, and consider if a later version of a refurbished phone is right for you rather than paying half a paycheck on a brand new smartphone. This might not be for everyone but it can definitely help you to get the latest tech if you really want it.
Finally, it’s also a good idea to keep in mind that some technology can be bought a bit cheaper without compromising its quality. While smartphones are not one of them, you may be able to get a high-quality Bluetooth speaker without pawning your most valuable belongings first.
When it comes to excellent tech gadgets, waiting for the price to drop is definitely the best way to go if you’d like to save money. Prioritise what you need to have right away and what you can wait for, in other words, and you might be able to avoid the temptation of every new deal out there.
If you consider yourself something of a gamer, chances are you are always on the lookout for new ways to improve your gaming experience. As it happens, there are always going to be such methods available, and that is something that is worth bearing in mind if you hope to ensure that you are going to enjoy it as much as possible. Obviously having the latest games and consoles is hugely important here, but so too are many myriad and peripheral things which you might want to look into as well. As long as you are taking care of some of the following, you should find that you can dramatically improve your gaming experience in no time, and that could mean that you are able to enjoy it a whole lot more too. Let’s take a look and see what you can do to massively improve your gaming experience today.
Get A Better Chair
If you find that you are not quite as comfortable as you could be, then you might want to think about getting a new chair. The truth is that you need to be a little careful with your choice of chair when you are gaming. You don’t want to go for something that is too solid or hard, as you want it to be as comfortable as possible. But at the same time, it should be something which is actually going to support your back properly, so that you are not going to cause yourself any damage. Believe it or not, having a proper chair can make a huge difference to whether or not you are likely to be taking proper care of your body, and it is both a comfort and a health concern. The best way to solve this is to get a proper gaming chair, which are designed to help you with these issues specifically. Or if you prefer, you could simply go for a computer chair at the very least. However you do it, just make sure that you are going to be able to be as comfortable as possible while you game.
Improve The Sound
The sound is a hugely important part of the gaming experience, and the better it is the more likely it is that you will feel truly involved and part of the game. If you have ever had to play on mute, you will know how much it can take away from the experience of any game. Fortunately, there are many things you can do to improve the sound of your games, and probably the best is to make sure that you are using the best speakers you can buy. If you are at a loss as to what kind of speakers you should go for, in general it’s a good idea to look into some powered PA speakers, as these are much more likely than generic speakers to play the sound well. You will be able to hear the whole range of frequencies this way, rather than just the base few, and that will make to feel a lot more realistic. Also consider surround sound if you are keen on obtaining that realistic feeling too.
Upgrade Your Screen
Clearly, the screen is always going to be a hugely vital part of the gaming experience, and you need to make sure that you are happy with your choice of screen if you want to make your gaming as enjoyable as possible. By upgrading your screen, you can hope to feel much more involved in the game, and to feel more drawn in, and you will be able to sit further away from it with a bigger screen too, which is only going to help your eyes in general. By ensuring that you upgrade your screen as and when you see fit, you can make sure that your gaming experience is truly astounding, so this is definitely something to think about.
Play With Others
Finally, it’s worth remembering too that games tend to be much more enjoyable if you are playing them with others, and that the more of a social thing you make of gaming, the more likely it is that you will be able to enjoy it all the more. You can do this online, of course, or preferably you can do it in person, and either way you are going to find that you have a lot more fun than if you are simply playing alone. This is worth bearing in mind, as it is a simple but effective means of making gaming more fun.
There are far more gadgets now than there was at the beginning of the year, much to many gamers delight. It can be hard to keep track of all this new technology. PC gamers are generally keeping their software and hardware up to date with the latest versions, but what other gadgets have been introduced in 2018 to make their gaming experience even better? AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950x This high-end processor will be on the wish list of most gamers. It is known to be the most powerful processor ever made for gamers. It has 16 cores with 32 threads, 40 MB of cache memory with a 4.2GHz superfast clock speed. It also has quad-channel DDR4, which gamers will love. This is likely to replace Intel processors over the next few years, although great progress is also being made with those as well. NVIDIA GeForce RTX Graphics Card This product is about to change gaming. Boosted by the latest NVIDIA Turing GPU and the new and more powerful RTX platform, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics card delivers a performance that is amazing. It combines artificial intelligence with real-time ray tracing and programmable shading. It has been called the king of all graphics cards and is proving to be a gamers dream. Gunner Sheadog Computer And Gaming Glasses Playing games for several hours at a time puts a strain on a gamer’s eyes. If the eyes start to become tired and sore, the quality of the gaming experience will diminish. These gaming glasses are specially designed to reduce the strain and to block out the blue light. As gamers often play for 6 or 7 hours at a time, protection for their eyes is very important. Razer Mamba Rechargeable Wireless PC Gaming Mouse A good mouse if vital for gamers, particularly if they are playing action games. This mouse is known to be ones of the best gaming ones available, and gamers can choose to use it wirelessly or wired in. It does support both options. It has mouse sensors of 16000 DPI and also comes with RGB lighting. It is a very attractive and desirable gadget for most gamers. Corsair Gaming K95 RGB PLATINUM Mechanical Keyboard When gamers have tried a mechanical keyboard they do not generally switch back to membrane ones. The keys are more precise, and the Corsair K95 is one of the best on the market. It has Cheery6 MX speed RGB mechanical switches and 6 programmable G keys that will alter the gaming experience. It comes with a brushed aluminium frame, which enhances the better experience it provides for gamers. More And More New Gadgets There are many other gadgets available for all types of gaming, whether it is a PC, console or on digital devices. The choice is enormous, and new ones are being unveiled all the time. These are some of the best gadgets for PC gamers from 2018. There is no doubt that development in technology will continue, and it remains to be seen what new innovations appear in 2019.
Artificial Intelligence, Technology, News and Gadget Reviews on air, online, in print and in person
Our phones are now firmly ingrained in our lives, joining us at home, at work, at play, at the dinner table, in bed, they come with us everywhere! Our lives are documented in detail, where we go, what we do, what we think and what we eat. We’ve now become news gatherers, critics and voyeurs all without realising it was happening in front of us.
I have now covered this subject twice in the past, you can read a listen in 
Tape Cassettes did launch the car and personal stereo experiences, which went on to launch the digital experience that we all enjoy today. So just for this alone, we should be thankful. It does not, however, mean that cassette tapes sound any better than anything else that is currently available. We now don’t need to arduously fast-forward or rewind to our favourite tracks and we most certainly do not have to spend hours fiddling around with pencils to re-tension cassettes, it’s now so much easier. So maybe they should stay consigned to charity shops and eBay.
Artificial intelligence is sure to continue its unstoppable march towards self-awareness (I jest!!), but all the same, we should be seeing multi AI ‘bots’ training directly with each other very soon! Who could forget the Facebook AI bots which invented their own communication language shortly after being switched on! More of this in inevitable, hopefully with the necessary safeguards in place.
The big 3 tech companies continue to advance home-based smart technology with integration into every part of our lives, add to this more AI and who knows what we should expect from the likes of Amazon, Google and Apple.
When you run a small business, chances are that you thought up an innovative product idea and were certain that it would sell to the consumer market. You’ll have invested a whole lot of hard work, time, effort, and money into developing these products, conducting market research to determine price points and potential improvements, curating advertising and marketing campaigns, and either setting up a 
