When 8 Bits is Overkill: Making Blinkenlights with a 1-bit CPU (39c3)

Over the last half year I have explored the Motorola mc14500 - a CPU with a true one-bit architecture - and made it simulate Conway's Game of Life. This talk gives a look into how implementing a design for such a simplistic CPU can work, and how it's possible to address 256 LEDs and half a kiloword of memory with just four bits of address space. In the late seventies, Motorola created a very cheap CPU, intended to replace logic circuits made from electromechanical relays. The resulting IC is so minimalistic that it can hardly...

Hegemony Eroding: Excavating Diversity in Latent Space (39c3)

Hegemony Eroding is an ongoing art project exploring how generative AI reflects and distorts cultural representation. Its name speaks to its core ambition: to bear witness to the slow erosion of Western cultural hegemony by exposing the cracks in which other cultures shine through. This talk will discuss the blurry boundary between legitimate cultural representation and prejudice in AI-generated media and how generative AI can be used as a tool to explore humanity's digital foot print. It is permeated by a critique of purely profit-driven AI development and it's tendency to blunt artistic exploration and expression. Generative...

Teckids – eine verstehbare (digitale) Welt (39c3)

Die Teckids-Gemeinschaft bringt Kinder, Jugendliche und Erwachsene zusammen, um gemeinsam aktiv für eine verstehbare (digitale) Welt zu sein. Bei Teckids geht es nicht "nur" um Technikbasteln und Programmieren mit Kindern, sondern darum, mit anderen, für andere, bei Events und gesellschaftlich aktiv zu werden. In letzter Zeit haben wir viele Projekte dafür unternommen. Unter anderem haben wir den neuen Themen-Slot "Jung und überwacht" bei den BigBrotherAwards 2025 gestaltet und bereiten Jugendthemen für das nächste Jahr vor. Zum zweiten Mal laden wir beim 39c3 Kinder beim Fairydust-Türöffner-Tag "hinter die Kulissen" der Chaos-Teams ein. Unser Slogan mit dem etwas merkwürdigen...

The Last of Us - Fighting the EU Surveillance Law Apocalypse (39c3)

The virus of surveillance is spreading across the European Union. In the form of its "ProtectEU" Internal Security Strategy, the European Commission is planning to attack encryption, re-introduce mandatory data retention and strengthen Europol and Frontex, the main agents of its oppressive law enforcement infrastructure. In this talk, we will journey the wastelands of the EU surveillance apocalypse together: We will take a close look at what politicians are planning to undermine our fundamental rights, the technology involved, and the real harms we must fight. From there, we will chart pathways to resistance and...

Watch Your Kids: Inside a Children's Smartwatch (39c3)

Join us as we hack at a popular children's smartwatch and expose the secrets of every fifth child in Norway, their parents, and millions more. Smartwatches for children have entered the mainstream: Advertised on the subway and sold by your cell provider, manufacturers are charging premium prices comparable to an entry-level Apple watch. In exchange, parents are promised peace of mind: A safe, gentle introduction into the world of technology — and a way to call, text, and locate their child at any time. But how much are the vendor's promises of safety, privacy, GDPR compliance, apps...

Von wegen Eisblumen! Wie man mit Code, Satelliten und Schiffsexpeditionen die bunte Welt des arktischen Phytoplanktons sichtbar macht (39c3)

Die Arktis ist eine Region, in der die Sonne monatelang weg ist, dickes Meereis den Weg versperrt und deshalb Forschungsdaten ziemlich rar sind. Kompliziert also, herauszufinden was im Wasser blüht! Mit einer Kombination aus Satellitenbildern, Expeditionen und Modellsimulationen auf Hochleistungsrechnern versuche ich, das Verborgene sichtbar zu machen: die faszinierende, farbenfrohe Welt des arktischen Phytoplanktons. Im Arktischen Ozean wird immer deutlicher, wie stark die globale Erwärmung den Rückgang des Meereises und das marine Ökosystem beeinflussen. Winzige Organismen, das Phytoplankton, bilden die Grundlage des Nahrungsnetzes durch den Aufbau von Biomasse und spielen so eine zentrale Rolle im...

APT Down and the mystery of the burning data centers (39c3)

In August 2025 Phrack published the dump of an APT member's workstation. It was full of exploits and loot from government networks, cell carriers and telcos. The dump sparked a government investigation, and corpos like LG and Korea Telecom were asked to explain themselves. Hours before an onsite audit, the data center mysteriously caught fire, destroying almost a hundred servers. Then another data center burned - and unfortunately, there was even one death. The talk aims to revisit this mysterious sequence of tragic incidents. [TW: Suicide, self-harm] In August 2025 Phrack published the dump of an APT...

Shit for Future: turning human shit into a climate solution (39c3)

Humanity has already crossed the point where simply reducing emissions will no longer be enough to keep global warming below 2°C. According to the IPCC (AR6, WGIII), it is now essential to actively remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere in order to meet global climate targets, maintain net-zero (or even net-negative emissions), and address the burden of historical emissions. At the same time, degraded soils and the climate crisis are a threat to global food security. Two years ago, I presented an overview of different methods available for carbon dioxide removal. Today, I want to...

Supplements und Social Media – wenn der Online-Hype zur realen Gesundheitsgefahr wird (39c3)

Nicht zuletzt durch die Werbung in den sozialen Medien werden in Deutschland immer mehr Nahrungsergänzungsmittel verkauft. Einige Influencer bringen sogar ihre eigenen Präparate auf den Markt. Gleichzeitig häufen sich Fälle, in denen die Einnahme von vermeintlich harmlosen „Supplements“ zu Gesundheitsschäden geführt hat. Der Vortrag will daher die Mechanismen hinter dem Supplement-Hype aufzeigen, zudem erklären, warum aktuell ein ausreichender Verbraucherschutz insbesondere im Internet nicht gewährleistet werden kann, wo Handlungsbedarf für die Politik besteht und wie man sich selbst vor fragwürdigen Produkten schützen kann. Der Markt für Nahrungsergänzungsmittel boomt seit Jahren. Dafür sorgen unter anderem verschiedenste Influencer,...

Block Domains and Advertisements in a ZTE DSL Router

In one of my previous blog posts I showed how to install and run PiHole DNS server locally as a Docker container in your Synology NAS server. This worked great as the PiHole dashboard shows the list of identified annoying advert requests that were blocked shows.

So far I did configure my PiHole DNS server within my Chrome browser so that the browser cant load those annoying domains anymore. This worked like a charm, until quite recently Google updated Chrome browser to only allow a ‘secured DNS connection’ which actually seems a bit of a trojan horse for their own ads...