Students Break Electric Car Land Speed Record in a Salty Blur [Video]

And they say electric cars don't go fast. A group of BYU engineering students have built an electric streamliner that peaked at speeds of 175 mph. With that quiet electric motor I'll bet the "whoosh" it makes is gorgeous.

It took seven years and the work of more than 130 students to make it happen. The car, called Electric Blue, barreled down the Bonneville Salt Flats for two runs, averaging 155.8 mph and peaking at 175 (they got it up to 180 last year but rolled the car in the process, so it didn't count). Students custom built the body out of carbon fiber after intensive modeling in a virtual wind tunnel. Fueled by a trunk full of lithium iron phosphate batteries, this sucker officially broke the world land speed record for electric cars under 1,100 pounds.

Batteries that are powerful enough to accomplish such a feat are extremely heavy, and before this no one had been able to get enough juice in while keeping it under weight. While, obviously, this type of car is in no way street-legal, it's another important step in showing what battery-powered cars are capable of.

Big congrats to everyone involved in the project, now can you please make something I can take down the Pacific Coast Highway? Preferably with a sunroof? Thanks. [PhysOrg]

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Here's A Way To Break Google's Search Page [Google]

There's an interesting glitch on Google's search page that'll misalign the page content when you search for the string "${". It doesn't appear to be serious; just surprising to see Google's mighty coders make a mistake like this.

There are lively discussions on Hacker News and StackOverflow as people try to figure out why this is happening. Google has not responded and it will likely be fixed quickly, so check it out while you can. You can test it using this link. Enjoy! [Google via Bryan English]

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This Cheap Air Drone Can Break Into Your Computer and Own It [Hacking]

This must be the holy grail of hacking: a cheap, do-it-yourself flying drone that can break into Wi-Fi networks and turn computers into zombies that can be controlled remotely. The coolest part for evildoers: it makes the hacking untraceable.

The SkyNET drone is a modified $300 Parrot quadcopter with a Linux computer, 3G card, a GPS unit and two Wi-Fi cards. This is how it works:

Controlled by a botmaster using 3G, the drone or group of drones fly over any urban area looking for Wi-FI networks. As they find them, they automatically try to break in. Once they get inside the network, it searches for personal computers that can be compromised. Any computer that falls to the attack gets turned into a zombie without the user ever knowing it.

After the infection process, the hackers can easily control the zombies remotely through the Wi-Fi drone-to-host connection. The zombies can be used to perform any attack through their internet connections, receiving commands from SkyNET but with no traceable internet ties to the hacker botmaster:

Subsequent drone ?ights are used to issue command and control without ever linking the botmaster to the botnet via the Internet. Reverse engineering the botnet, or enumerating the bots, does not reveal the identity of the botmaster.

It's a perfect idea. Total cost: a mere $600. Anyone can easily build a complete fleet of these.

Also, words words words Sarah Connor words words Terminators hah hah words. [SkyNET Paper (PDF) via Cnet]

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A Bike That'll Break When Stolen [Bicycles]

Andrew Leinonen created the ultimate deterrent to bicycle theft - a lock that's integrated into the bicycle's frame. He calls his invention the StayLocked Bike.

The concept is simple, but brilliant. Instead of external lock that can be cut without damaging the bike, Leinonen's lock is integrated into the seat stays, an integral portion of the frame that connects the rear forks to the main tube that holds up the seat.

To steal the StayLocked bike, a thief would have to cut these seat stays. It wouldn't take too him long to figure out he went after the wrong bike. As soon as he hopped on the bike, it would buckle under his weight and he would go crashing to the ground. [Andrew Leinonen via Wired]

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