IR Audio Bridge

March 1, 2006 by 11 Comments

ir bridge

Reader [Chris Rybitski] had a pair of RCA IR headphones laying around from the Radiohut. He’d never really used them and decided they would be much better suited as a wireless audio bridge between his computer and stereo. Since it was going to be a permanent installation his first task was to find a wall wart to power the receiving end. He then reboxed the receiver in an old laptop battery case with the IR LEDs from each ear and an output jack for his stereo. Not to complex, but I’m sure the system works a lot better now that it is in a fixed position instead of strapped to someone’s head.

Continue reading “IR Audio Bridge” →

Hack Media: Security Podcasts

March 1, 2006 by 3 Comments

Here are some security podcasts from the last week. Feel free to suggest additional ones. There is never a shortage of podcasts on the internet, about the internet.

Security Catalyst 19 The Secrets of Risk Management (With Ron Woerner) 25:33 SC was suggested last week by sometimes co-host [matt yoder]. It’s a nice interview with Woerner about his experience implementing a risk management program at a large company. I was happy to hear about several upcoming security conventions in Omaha (i.e. ones I don’t have to fly to). Michael Santarcangelo does a great job hosting too.

Security Now! #28 Listener Feedback Q&A #4 40:24 [sentinel] corrected me last week; the ARP spoofing show is next week. This episode does maintain some interest because it is structured by listener questions. Leo mentions that he might make his OPML file public since he tracks about 50 sites. I was thinking about doing this. I’ve currently got about 160 sites in Bloglines (I trim the fat from time to time). It’s certainly no comparison to the 500+ monster that the Engadget writers maintain.

PaulDotCom Security Weekly – Episode 16 51:18 was suggested by co-host [Larry Pesce]. This is a pretty fun group podcast. They mentioned a favorite quote by Geer at ShmooCon, “We need security because at any moment the bad guys are only 150ms away; just ping China”. They also pointed out that there is a GPL version of the Spinning Cube of Potential Doom.

CyberSpeak Feb 25 72:08 Lots of interesting stuff coming from the feds. It starts with Mike Younger discussing some of the problems in validating email since Outlook and Lotus Notes both let you edit messages you’ve already received and ones you’ve already sent. They point out a nice deny hosts script to prevent brute force dictionary attacks. Check the entry’s comments for other solutions. They also mentioned that you should check for firmware updates for your firewire write-blocking devices if you want to read the HPA of a drive. The LiveAmmo podcast from last week specifically stated that you should avoid USB and Firewire write-block devices because they might not be able to access HPA.

LiveAmmo: Digital Forensics and Hacking Investigations, Part 3 46:12 is not nearly as dry as it was the previous weeks. It covers the data collection process and what sort of slip-ups might happen. They suggest reading NIST Special Publication 800-61: Computer Security Incident Handling Guide.

SploitCast #007 44:01 As promised last week, this is an interview with Lance James. This is my favorite podcast of the bunch this week. Lance covers many of the techniques that phishers are using. They’ve been going so far as do distributed hosting of their phishing websites on 0wned computers. Lance also talks about the server-side tools he has been developing to fight malware. The burden is being placed on the server since you can’t expect the users to keep themselves safe.

Blue Box #17 41:00 Another week, another excellent VoIP security podcast.

I promised my friends Cara and Brigitte that I would promote their podcast “Catty Girls Discuss” hosted by the local paper. I hadn’t heard it at that point, but the title kinda gives it away. Here are the highlights from the first show: 10:00 they realize they’ve run out of topics, 15:00 they realize they’ve run out of topics, 20:00 they realize they’ve run out of topics. No, it’s not really that bad and can be pretty funny. Direct links to episode one and two.

Continue reading “Hack Media: Security Podcasts” →

Tick Destroying Rover

February 28, 2006 by 17 Comments

tick rover

[William] from GoRobotics.net sent along this tip about a tick destroying rover built by students at VMI. The truck uses inductive sensors to follow a wire laid around the perimeter of the lawn. By releasing CO2 along this strip of grass they can attract ticks into the area (animals expel CO2). The ticks collected are treated with Permethrin. Since the application is targeted, it is far safer and cheaper than spraying the entire lawn. The students also suggest that repeating the run over the course of three months would break the tick’s life cycle, making the area tick free for several years. Here’s Wolfgang’s write-up, test runs with video one and two, the associated paper, and the Wired article.

Continue reading “Tick Destroying Rover” →

PC-to-R/C Interface

February 27, 2006 by 18 Comments

futaba

Risto K?’s PC to R/C interface let’s you connect to your Futaba radio transmitter. You can use this device to do direct control of your R/C project: prewritten trajectories, user called macros, or direct PC joystick control. He’s built two versions. The original one used multiple D-latches. The second version was an attempt to reduce the number of components. It uses interrupts in the microcontroller software instead of the latches. This would normally cause a lot of jitter, but Risto implemented the interrupts in assembly. The controller can handle up to 16 channels. The LCD displays the last pulse-width and channel.

[thanks Will]

Continue reading “PC-to-R/C Interface” →

Rundfunker – WiFi, MP3 Streaming Radio

February 26, 2006 by 28 Comments

Rundfunker

I think the first time I saw the “Rundfunker” I had ignored it because I though it was a commercial product. In reality, it’s a scratch built WiFi streaming radio that has the finish quality of a commercial product. The radio connects to your wireless network and scans for available MP3s. You can select the MP3s using the front mounted rotary encoder and LCD. The main board is a VIA EPIA MS10000E LVDS. It was chosen because most of the features are pin headers instead of ports. It’s also passively cooled and boots a custom Knoppix build from the compact flash. The controls are connected using an ATMega 168. The software is written in Java and features a web interface and remote control identical to the front panel. There’s a great write-up about the project on mini-itx.com, full source on the project wiki, and extensive photo gallery.

Continue reading “Rundfunker – WiFi, MP3 Streaming Radio” →

Palm Zire 71 Resurrection

February 25, 2006 by 14 Comments

zire 71

Reader [steve diraddo]’s Zire 71 had given up the ghost long ago, but with a strong desire to annoy his friend, he decided to resurrect it. Unfortunately, like most things that rise from the earth to feast on the brains of the living, Steve’s Zire has limited capacities. When he had originally disassembled the device it was because the camera had stopped functioning, it couldn’t sync, and failed to charge. If he was going to do anything with the device, he would need to get it charging again. The dock connector no longer worked, so he grabbed the pinout for the internal connector from pinouts.ru. By following the traces, he was able to solder a USB cable directly to the board and start the device charging. There are also narrow USB data lines on the board, but Stave didn’t trust his hands to solder them. Programs can still be loaded via IrDA or the SD card. Plugging the screen back in and loading up NoviiRemote he had an ugly, but still very functional toy-to-annoy.

On a related note, [Radu Privantu] sent along his write up: How to use a Pocket PC with a broken screen. Even though it doesn’t have a screen you could still use it as a thin client for streaming music, as a skype phone, a WiFi camera, or a dedicated development platform.

Continue reading “Palm Zire 71 Resurrection” →