Is Hacking Really a Bad Thing?

I recently watched this TED talk about hacking. For those of you who don't know, TED talks are recorded presentations in front of live audiences where a person talks about some topic of their choice, and hacking is the act of breaking into a computer or system. The talk in particular was about the moral compass of hacking and how something considered "evil" could be used in a constructive way. The speaker of this talk was justifying the idea of teaching people how to break into a computer or security system, and use the information gained for good.

I want you to imagine you've somehow gained access to the inner workings of some website that deals with personal information. Information that would be harmful if it got into the wrong hands (say, your credit card number). Let's say you stumble across a password database and the company has failed to encrypt the passwords with some algorithm to prevent you from stealing them. What do you do?

This is where your morals come into play, do you steal the passwords and people's money, or do you report it? Would you be able to admit that you broke the law so that the company can fix their mistakes? Some system admins may have different feelings towards you breaking into their system, regardless if you stole any info or not. I would say the majority of the people you run into would forgive your slightly illegal actions, and may even offer you a job.

People with a hacker's mindset are in short supply because hacking has a bad name. This ironically makes people who think like a hacker really popular for jobs in online security. Security systems can be better developed by those who question how to break the system. The speaker in the TED talk put it well, ask yourself how you would break into your own house, then fix the breach.

Reading for the Visually Impaired

A new gadget is on the way for people who are visually impaired. It's called the FingerReader and it's being developed by scientists at MIT. The device is a sensor that attaches to the pointer finger and scans text any that you're pointing at. The text scanned by the machine is spoken audibly in any language you want making the device double as a language translator. FingerReader is currently still a prototype and still needs to be engineered into a more suitable product before it hits store shelves. 

The FingerReader is a continuation of the same groups previous project on a device called EyeRing which functioned similarly for the visually impaired, but not as advanced. Like I said before, MIT is taking their device into a new direction with a point-to-translate style language translator that will help tourists and second language learners. 

Currently the device must be attached to a computer, but they plan to switch to a more mobile platform later once the device has been refined. MIT doesn't have a product timeline yet, but they suspect it will take 1 to 2 years to turn the project into a product after it has been fully completed. MIT believes in the future of wearable tech such as smart glasses, watches, bracelets, etc. So they've designed this device to be seamless and less disruptive than a tablet or cell phone. It will make it easier to use and get information without "running into a telephone pole or getting into an accident" they say.