Just a quick note: I received my FON router today. It’s a brand new Linksys WRT54GL with DD-WRT installed. With shipping it only cost $33. If you want a WRT that is guaranteed to run Linux, this price can’t be beat (if you’re in the first 3000).
P.S. I also received a big order from Jameco. Their “100 asst. sockets” doesn’t seem to have a single straight pin in it.
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.
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.
[Everett] got such a great response to yesterday’s nightvision hack he decided to write up this underwater CVS mod. The outside is a Pelican #1010 case. The camera fits almost perfectly inside. A small foam shim is used to position the camera lens between the two thick plastic ridges. Everett relocated the power button to the front of the camera and placed a guard around the shutter button on the back. The shutter is now wired to a reed switch at the back of the case. To start the camera recording he’s attached a magnet to a spring on the outside of the case that you slide over the reed switch to trigger it. If you missed it yesterday, he added an example shot from the nightvision cam. It isn’t swimming season so the only underwater pics he has are from the bathtub, which he luckily hasn’t posted. If you want to start hacking on a CVS cam, [morcheeba] warns that they still haven’t completely broken firmware 3.62 and above. Here is the FAQ.
Our loyal reader [Everett] has hacked up a CVS single-use camcorder to use as a nightvision scope. This is his second prototype. The first one only had 4 cruddy IR LEDs from Radiohut and a front mounted battery pack. For the second one, he separated the batteries from the camera. He removed the IR filter from the CCD and added 8 higher quality IR LEDs. On the backside of the camera is the eyepiece from a Handycam. It keeps the the LCD screen from leaking light and has a lense to help the eye to focus on the screen. The LCD is to bright to use without adding a dimmer pot. The camera is mounted to a headlamp rig with the batteries on the backside of the head. It may not have the best image quality, but at $35 you can’t go wrong when it comes to nightvision fun.
Reader [alberto ricci bitti]’s DVD thermometer is a temperature sensing infrared remote that controls a DVD showing the temperature. Since the box doesn’t get any feedback from the DVD player, it stops and starts the disc to make sure it is at a known state. The brain of the device is a Motorola MC68HC908QT4, an 8-pin microcontroller. Communication with the Maxim DS1621 temperature sensor I2C bus is done in software. Even if you don’t want to build a gaudy thermometer the article features a lot of interesting information. It covers reverse engineering the remote, emulating an I2C bus, and creating a programmable pulse generator instead of bitbanging.
Do you want to listen to four and a half hours of security podcasts? Well, you don’t have to because I did. Here are the highlights from podcasts released this last week:
Security Now! #27 How Local Area Networks Work, Part 1 37:09 If you don’t know the difference between DHCP and static IP, then this is the podcast for you! Next week promises to be a little more interesting when they get into the problems with ARP.
CyberSpeak Feb 18 76:36 has some pretty good news coverage, but the real highlight is the interview with Bruce Potter from The Shmoo Group that starts after 20:00. If you don’t know about the group and the work they’ve done, this is a good intro.
LiveAmmo: Digital Forensics and Hacking Investigations, Part 2 46:54 Woof. If you are persuing digital forensics as a career then this would be a great start. Otherwise, avoid, unless you want to know what particular subsection of a law you are violating.
SploitCast #006 36:26 probably has the best atmosphere of these podcasts (and it’s the shortest). The team covers the recent news of a phishing site using a valid SSL cert. You could probably wait till next week when they talk to Lance James to get all of the details. I will say that the Web 2.0 discussion is about as inane as arguing which year the millennium starts. They do earn some extra points since my mom doesn’t read Schneier.
Blue Box #16 69:00 is all about VoIP and naturally the best produced. I don’t follow VoIP very closely, so the news roundup for the first 20 minutes was really interesting. If you aren’t doing enterprise VoIP then this podcast isn’t for you.
Each of these had some high points (even LiveAmmo). They could all do better if they were shorter. I would say that CyberSpeak was my favorite this week, but I don’t want to encourage another 76 minute podcast. What podcasts do you recommend?
