"Hacking into the light bulb was certainly not trivial but would be within the capabilities of experienced cyber criminals,” said Michael Jordon. The product has since been patched.Columbia University researchers Yossef Oren and Angelos Keromytis revealed a vulnerability in the main spec for the Digital Video Broadcasting consortium, Hybrid Broadcast-Broadband Television (HbbTV), which is used by the vast majority of smart TV makers.Dubbed the "red-button attack”, this man-in-the-middle hack could be used to intercept data – including sound and pictures – and use the stream to takeover apps being shown on the TV, letting hackers post to your Facebook, for example. To run the attack, the hacker needs to be local – although the researchers say this could be achieved via driving an antenna-fitted van into the target area, or flying drones over it.Is it serious? The standards body doesn't think so, and isn't bothering to patch it. The researchers disagree, saying a hacker with the right off-the-shelf equipment could easily cover a square-kilometre of homes.Imagine you're driving along in your shiny Tesla Model S electric car, and suddenly the doors fly open, the wipers start going, and the horn honks.

That's what students from Zhejiang University in China managed, picking up a $10,000 bounty from a local security firm. Details of the hack weren't revealed, but reports suggest the students took over the car by cracking the password to the mobile app.It's not the first smart car hack: Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek took over a Prius last year, stopping the brakes from working, fiddling with the gas gauge, turning the steering wheel, honking the horn and tightening the seatbelts - all from a laptop in the backseat while a journalist drives.Security firm Trustwave hacked a Satis toilet, which is controlled via an Android app, showing that the smart toilet can be easily taken over. The app's Bluetooth PIN has been hard-coded to the not-very-secure "0000"."An attacker could simply download the 'My Satis' application and use it to cause the toilet to repeatedly flush, raising the water usage and therefore utility cost to its owner,” Trustwave’s researchers said."Attackers could cause the unit to unexpectedly open/close the lid, activate bidet or air-dry functions, causing discomfort or distress to user,” researchers warned.From toilets to genuinely terrifying: in the US, there’s been a string of incidents where an exceptionally creepy man hacks into internet connected baby monitors and screams at the child to wake up.

The most recent case was in April in Ohio, targeting a Foscam IP camera, which is used to keep an eye on children when parents are out of the room, connecting over your own Wi-Fi. A previous attack in 2013 targeted the same brand of camera.At the beginning of the year, security firm Proofpoint had quite the press release: a botnet made up of 100,000 smart devices – from PCs to routers, and TVs and even one fridge – was sending out malware.While the claims grabbed headlines around the world – a spam-sending refrigerator does capture the imagination – the report’s since been questioned. Fellow security firm Symantec said the spam was not being sent by IoT devices, but by boring old Windows PCs on the same network and sharing the same IP address as the smart appliances.While the first-ever IoT botnet has been debunked, Symantec still thinks it’s a security issue worth worrying about.

"While malware for IoT devices is still in its infancy, IoT devices are susceptible to a wide range of security concerns,” the company said in a blog post. "So don’t be surprised if, in the near future, your refrigerator actually does start sending spam. As with any computer system, keep the software on IoT devices up-to-date, place them securely behind a router, and change all default passwords to something more secure.”When it comes to larger low-cost laptops, you usually have to put up with a slab of cheap glossy plastic. Not so with the Dell Inspiron 15R, which lays a strong claim to being one of the most handsome going. From its gunmetal-grey lid to its silver-trimmed base, the 15R is as attractive as workhorse laptops get.It’s a level of sophistication you might not expect from a budget laptop. What you wouldn’t have anticipated is that, for £549, you also get a touchscreen, and a good one at that. Unlike some of the other touchscreens we've encountered at this price, the Dell’s adds no irritating layer of glare or grain. In fact, we didn’t notice it had a touchscreen at all until it was pointed out to us.

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The touchscreen works well, too. The silky-feeling surface is sensitive to swipes and taps, and with its 1,366 x 768 resolution spread across a 15.6in panel, even Windows 8’s desktop menus and toolbars aren’t too fiddly. This good work continues with the keyboard, which is superb. The keys are well spaced, with a light yet positive action, and we had no problems with the layout. The cursor keys are large enough to be usable without danger of striking neighbouring keys, and since this is a large laptop, there’s also room for a number pad to the right. A wide, sensitive, multitouch touchpad tops things off nicely.The Dell’s practicality continues as you peer around the edges. The Inspiron 15R has a generous four USB ports, two of which are USB 3. There’s also a full-sized HDMI output, a 3.5mm stereo headset jack, Gigabit Ethernet and a DVD writer. You also get a modest 5,400rpm 500GB hard disk, and wireless networking includes single-band 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.Under the hood is an ultra-low-voltage Ivy Bridge 1.9GHz Core i3-3227U processor, which, in concert with 6GB of RAM, drives Windows 8 at an adequate pace. There’s certainly no problem with responsiveness, and the 15R boots from its mechanical hard disk in a matter of seconds.

The 15R’s Real World Benchmark score of 0.54 places it firmly in the middle of the budget pack, but the low-voltage processor does help a little when it comes to battery life. In our light-use battery test the Dell achieved 6hrs 5mins – not far behind the best 15.6in laptops you’ll find at this price. The display is something of a low point, however. Although initial impressions are favourable, closer inspection reveals that maximum brightness tops out at a dim 181cd/m2, contrast is a mediocre 205:1 and colours are nowhere near accurate enough for photo-editing duties.There’s no doubt the Dell Inspiron 15R is a classy-looking machine, and there’s much to like about it, not least the responsive touchscreen, superb keyboard and slick design. However, there’s plenty of competition at this price point, not least Sony’s VAIO Fit 15E, and with that poor display blotting its copybook, it isn't the budget all-rounder we might have hoped for.Sony is no stranger to creating svelte Ultrabooks and flashy hybrid devices, but the VAIO Fit 15E sees it work its design magic on something altogether more ordinary: the budget laptop.

The Fit 15E is as flexible as they come. Hop onto Sony’s website and you can tweak the specification as you wish. The price above includes a touchscreen (an optional £80 extra); adding a backlit keyboard costs £10; a Full HD display adds £80; and there’s a variety of hard disk, CPU and graphics options, too.Our review model was equipped with one of Intel’s ultra-low-voltage processors, accompanied by 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard disk. We weren’t expecting blazing performance, but the 1.8GHz Core i3-3217U helped the Sony achieve a perfectly respectable 0.56 in our Real World Benchmarks. The tiny 2,670mAh battery exceeded our expectations, too: the Sony lasted 5hrs 25mins in the light-use battery test. In terms of features, the Sony is fit to burst. Two USB 2 ports on the left flank are accompanied by a DVD writer, and the right-hand edge adds two USB 3 ports, HDMI, 3.5mm audio inputs and outputs and a Gigabit Ethernet socket. Sony has also included single-band 802.11n, Bluetooth 4, and NFC, and there’s a startlingly loud and listenable pair of speakers in the base.

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Build quality is squarely in budget territory. There’s a little flex in the base, but our main problem is with the Sony’s lid. Flex it from side to side and there’s a tendency for the plastic panel to click slightly out of place around the right-hand edge. Harder prods on its rear touch the LCD panel and cause ripples on the display.Still, it has it where it counts. There’s a huge wristrest that partners wonderfully with the Scrabble-tile keyboard above. The keys give way with a cushioned break at the end of every stroke, and are spaced widely enough to minimise mispresses. Initially, we found the buttonless touchpad too twitchy, but knocking the sensitivity down rectified the problem. The 15.5in touchscreen means you don’t need to rely solely on the touchpad. Flicking, pinching and swiping through Windows 8 works brilliantly, and the sheer ease of navigation meant we often forgot the touchpad was even there. And, while the wide bezel might not look pretty, it ensures edge-swipes are easy to activate with the flick of a finger.Image quality is average, though. The 1,366 x 768 panel isn’t particularly bright, reaching a maximum of only 186cd/m2. Colour accuracy isn’t stunning either, but this manages to reproduce a wider range of colours than many budget laptops we've seen, and our test photos weren’t as washed out and pale as a result.

Sony has delivered a solid all-round budget laptop, and the ability to tailor the specification of the VAIO Fit 15E to any budget is welcome. The build quality could be improved, but with good performance, plenty of features and a usable touchscreen for only £549, this laptop is worth considering.The aim is to tie the Chrome OS and Android better together, said Android head Sundar Pichai - similar to how Apple is integrating aspects of iOS into OS X with Yosemite.Chromebooks already show Google Now notifications, but future versions will also show phone calls, text messages, and even low battery warnings, Pichai said.Chromebooks will be able to be unlocked with your smartphone. The laptop will recognise who you are by the phone in your pocket, automatically unlocking the device and logging you in, similar to how Android "L" smartphones can be unlocked with a smartwatch.Google has also figured out how to run Android apps directly in Chrome OS, which Pichai said was a "difficult challenge technically".That system remains in an "early preview", but Pichai showed off Vine running on a Chromebook, as well as Evernote and photo apps.

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