Tag: VLC

Future wearable devices could draw power through your body using background 6G cellphone signals | Live Science

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Your body could become a battery for wearable devices, thanks to a breakthrough in harvesting waste energy from 6G wireless communication.

Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that waste radio frequency (RF) energy given off by visible light communication (VLC), if used to deliver 6G, can be harvested with small, inexpensive copper coils and transmitted to power other devices via the human body. 6G is a future wireless communication technology that is currently in development and is set to be deployed before the end of the decade.

As outlined in a 2022 research paper, the crux of this mechanism lies with VLC — which transmits data through extremely fast flashes of visible light from sources such as LEDs. VLC is one method through which 6G signals might hypothetically be transmitted in the future. But LEDs also emit side-channel RF signals, as a form of leaked energy. The researchers found that this could be harvested by a coiled copper wire, whose energy recycling efficiency is boosted when touching human skin.

Read More

Hackers are hiding malware in subtitle files | TechCrunch

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

An impressive new exploit gives hackers the ability to control your desktop through malware spread by fake movie subtitles. The exploit, which essentially dumps the malware onto your desktop and then notifies the attacker, affects users of video players like Popcorn Time and VLC.

Checkpoint found that malformed subtitle files can give hackers the ability to embed code into subtitle files popular with pirated movies and TV. Because these subtitles are usually trusted by video players and users alike they were an oft-overlooked vector for hack attacks.

Read More