👖Secondhand Slacks, Phone Number Osint, and 3D Printed Plants

alien plants anyone?

Mar 07, 2022

Greeting friends! How are you doing this fine week?

This was quite an adventurous weekend for me - Our car decided to die at an intersection - and we had to push it across the street to a parking lot. Fortunately, there was a parking lot directly across from us. :)

It was the most bizarre car issue I’ve ever seen - One moment the car was running - the next it was deathly quiet.

And dead in the wate- I mean asphault.

We believe it’s the fuel pump - I’ll be getting it fixed this week. I’m very thankful the car didn’t die on the highway . . . .

That could’ve been scary.

Anyway - I hope things are well with you! Did you hear that Epic bought Bandcamp?

They’ve been on a serious acquisition grind lately, and I hope they leave Bandcamp alone. It would be awful if they mess it up.

I need to download my 800+ albums as soon as I can (yeah - the albums that in total cost me maybe $25).

I’ve been listening to a few great albums on Bandcamp recently - including Girls on Bikes and Machine City. Both fantastic and very Vibey. 🎵🎵🎵

I also picked up a NFT from the Rosko and Friends collection. Check this out. Epic Squid Game vibes.

This is one of 10 - but Rosko will be releasing a lot of 1 of 1’s through the end of year. I will probably try to pick up a 1 of 1 when I find a really dope one. You see - Rosko is releasing a different piece of art every day this year . . . .

Really cool stuff.

Let’s dive in - shall we?

👖Secondhand Slacks

The subscription box wars may be over - but I enjoy keeping an eye on the space to see what kind of cool stuff emerges.

I recently stumbled across one called Unnu - It specializes in secondhand men’s clothes.

There are several different boxes available - including the Casual and Business Casual box.

At first glance, $80 sounds absolutely insane - until you remember - you get to keep everything in the box.

That’s wayyyyy more reasonable than a lot of those other boxes that force you into a neverending credit system - and you can’t keep everything.

Heck - to completely buy some of those boxes would probably take $300 or so.

Unnu is a perfect solution for someone who wants a vintage vibe - and doesn’t want to hunt for stuff at Goodwill every week.

Especially now that Flippers are getting a lot of the good stuff.

Unnu is definitely more geared towards the hipster/vintage crowd - which makes sense. It’s a lot easier to source flannels, straight-fit pants, and vintage tees than it is to niche down into - say - Skater punk or Goth.

For instance - here’s a shot from the Lookbook.

Serious East Nashville Vibes here. (East Nashville is renowned for having a VERY hipster vibe).

Unnu is also a great way to be an environmentally-conscious consumer - You’re only buying used goods.

The more people who buy used clothes - the less demand there is for new stuff - and the less water and clothes end up wasted.

If only there was an Unnu for 2010’s skater clothes - I’d be all in.

Check it out!

Unnu

📞Phone Number Osint

You know how a lot of password recovery tools show you the last two digits of a phone number?

Well - it seems that everyone has been showing different digits - and Martin Vigo picked up on this little vulnerability.

While reviewing the option of resetting a password with either an SMS or phone call, I noticed that the UI usually shows part of the phone number. However it is masked in a way that it will reveal only a few digits, enough for the user to recognize which one in case he has multiple phones. In other words, if I know your email, I can initiate the password reset process for your accounts and obtain several digits of your phone number. (source)

The question is - how can you figure out the rest of the digits?

You would think that there would be a universal standard - OI EVERYONE ONLY DO THE LAST TWO DIGITS

NAH

Martin discovered the horrible truth.

I’ve spent a lot of time resetting passwords and I realized that not all websites reveal the same digits. Some would show the last four, some would show the first one, the last two and so on. There is no standard way to mask personal identifiable information (PII) such as phone numbers. The masking happens entirely at the developers discretion and that seemed like a problem to me. (source)

Different websites leak different digits - Lastpass leaks the last four - and Yahoo leaks the first and last two.

As long as the “target” has a bunch of services like these -you can figure out 7 digits of a phone number.

If you have an eBay and a LastPass account, an attacker can know seven out of ten digits of your phone number. Just by knowing your email address. In other words, an attacker can use your email address to reduce the possibilities of guessing your phone number from one billion possibilities to one thousand. (source)

At this point it gets pretty intense after that to try and figure out the remaining 3 - and Martin gets really deep.

It really points out just how important it is that companies should try and operate on a unified standard for security. Noone wants their phone number leaked through password reset brute force hacking! It definitely makes me want to rethink my own password security - and using more two factor authentication.

It’s a hassle - but it’s more secure.

It’s worth the read! Check it out at the link.

Phone Number OSINT

🌱3D Printed Plants

Have you ever looked at your little succulent plants and said - I want something that looks more like an alien.

Well - if that’s you - let me introduce you to Hydrophytes - a 4D printing project for realistic looking plants.

I strongly encourage you to watch at least bits and pieces of this video. It’s downright unsettling. They look so real.

Don’t they look . . . uncanny?

If you had an aquarium full of these things and told me they were real - I don’t think I could call your bluff.

Like this one! That looks like some sort of upside down jellyfish - and I’d believe you if you called it some fancy latin name.

The Hydrophytes are created from 3D printed resin materials and some clever pneumatic elements.

The designs utilise Stratasys PolyJet technology that allows blends of rigid and flexible resins known as digital materials. Sealed chambers allow the 4D prints to activate independently through pneumatic inflation. The Hydrophytes illustrate a range of multifaceted, variable movements whose life-like qualities are unique to the behaviour of digital materials. (source)

Nicole pursued the project for a thesis - seeking in part to apply “research that explores the aesthetics and application of organic movement.”

The Hydrophytes are a direct result of her 86 page thesis - a paper that I really need to make time to read.

The idea of using 3D printed materials and water to emulate life and trick the viewer is absolutely fascinating.

Go check out more of Nicole’s creations at the link!

4D Jelly Creatures

🐙The Land of Random

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Vinyl Widget

Add a little spinning record player widget to your iPhone. NGL this thing is dope - if you have Apple Music - you should get this. If I had Apple Music - I’d download this in a sec.

Vinyl Widget

Dark Lofi

You know you want those dark lofi vibes. The scenery is super creepy too.

Trippy 3D Clock

Somehow - this clock is simultaneously amazing and deeply disorienting.

🕙🕙🕙

Planet Simulator

This nifty little app lets you simulate planets and gravitational orbits. Very fun and chaotic. Not really sure what the heck is going on but it’s fun!!!

Planet Destruction?