Lock Bumping Revisited

bumping

I haven’t really been into lock picking, but after seeing the “bumping” demo from What the Hack I was shocked. The technique is really quick and will work on 90% of locks you’ll come across. You need to create a bump key, also know as a 999 key. This is made by cutting down a key (that fits the lock) to the deepest setting (pictured). Then a little bit of metal is removed from the tip of the key and the shoulder. You insert the key into the lock and because of the removed metal you can give the key a little whack and the key will travel slightly farther into the key way driving the pins vertically. That’s it! Here is a white paper on the subject that will clear it up a little more. Here is the full video from WTH. If you want to skip ahead to 51 minutes you’ll see Barry demo cutting down a key and bumping a lock in about 3 minutes. At 1:02 Han presents bump proof locks TOOOL has tested. Fabienne will be covering some more interesting stuff from WTH on Friday.

UPDATE: Check the comments for Azureus magnet links.

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Synth Link Roundup

On Monday I asked for synthesizer link submissions in honor of Robert Moog.

I was listening to Fresh Air on NPR last night and they replayed an interview with Moog from 2000. He plays a couple samples on the Minimoog [synthmuseum]. Switched-On Bach was also mentioned. I’ll have to look around the house for that; it was the first 8-track my dad bought.

In highschool Moog was building Theremins. Plans can be found in English, in Engrish, in German, and in legaleese. [Tim Lu]

Now for some synth links:
Sound Lab Mini-Synth [macaba]
1 Bit Groove Box [humpback whale]
Principles of synthesis [stuart]
Lots of DIY synth links [joelanders]

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HOW-TO: Greyhat WiFi Repeater

greyhat

This how-to gives the steps needed to put together a simple man-in-the-middle wireless repeater. You can use this to hang your wired network off of someone else’s wireless router and serve their wireless connection back to them. Do not do this. It here as a silly geek trick and will probably just annoy you every time your connection goes down because you’re too cheap to pay for a good wired connection.

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How-To Control Csound With A Custom Midi Controller: Introduction (1 Of 2)

Csound is a free language for sound synthesis and processing.  It has a rich history and is still used today by musicians, composers and sound designers including Brian Eno, Richard James (aka Aphex Twin), NIN, DJ Spooky, and many more.  Why is Csound still in existence today?  It is a simple language which veers quickly to complex auditory experiences.  This coupled with a quick learning curve has kept Csound a popular audio synthesis language since its creation in 1985 by Barry Vercoe.

This How-To is one of a two part installment.  Part One is an introductory leap into Csound.  Part Two next week will have you building a physical interface to control a Csound environment via Midi.  Please note that this intro is a small daub of paint in the universe that is Csound creation.  Many books, entire webpages, and courses have been taught on Csound.  This introduction is meant to offer a glimpse into the rich world of audio creation and to hopefully inspire the reader to invest more time in Csound.

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Hackaday Links

Not to start on a downer, but Robert Moog died Sunday. We’d like to do a roundup of good homemade synthesizer projects so send them into the tip line.

Jet powered beer cooler, this is an old favorite of mine that got sent in by two separate people. Please give your sources. I like this project because it is so unnecessary. He cools the beer by venting propane as fast as possible, but that isn’t safe so he builds a jet engine out of a turbo to burn the propane off.

Our friends at Divester have a nice ROV project link, lots of pictures.

Jacob’s ladder, is simple enough effect for a lazy afternoon. [Kennnn]

Treehugger is holding a DIY contest.  The prize is a very appropriate solar powered backpack. So, head over and represent for Hack-A-Day.

Dry ice based air conditioner, inspired by the previous homebrew air conditioner. [hyperblue]

Another tattoo gun, this time without the ads [bo0ndocksaint]

Shorten your Zippo, sure, why not [sybaek]

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