Misc Hacks

4136 Articles

XBox 360 Hacking 101 Extra

July 24, 2007 by 4 Comments


[BlueMoon] let me know about a translation of an interview posted over at xbox-scene. The original dutch version is here. It’s a very good overview of XBox 360 security and the exploits needed to take advantage of the hardware.

If you dig EVs, you might want to check out my latest experiment. I’ll be building a EV, but each step of the process will be defined by reader votes. It’s $1/vote, with the idea that the votes will pay for the project.
[Jay] sent in a little info on streaming audio and sometimes video to your Wii.

[Robert] sent in his research on building and testing diy GSM antennas for extending rage range.

GardenMon(itoring Project)

July 23, 2007 by 16 Comments


[Ken_S] sent in his GardenMon (coral cache) project. It’s a set of light, humidity, moisture and temperature probes that monitor the surface and below ground conditions in his garden. He’s using several picaxe micro controllers to take readings with a variety of off the shelf and commercial sensors. Once he started collecting the data, he added a programmable servo controlled watering valve with a configuration that he tweaks accordingly.
The site is on geocities, so use the cache.

I had a few requests, and this fits, so I added a home hacks category.

ToorCon 8 Videos

July 21, 2007 by 6 Comments


We’ve been waiting with bated breath for our favorite hacker con, ToorCon, to post this year’s site. In the mean time, they’ve posted all of last years videos to Google Video. We had published a few of our own, but now you get to see the whole conference. After the break I’ve embedded one of my favorite talks from last year: Matt Fisher’s Everything About SQL Injection. It covers everything from the basics to some very clever attacks.

Continue reading “ToorCon 8 Videos” →

Automatic French Press Coffee Brewer

July 18, 2007 by 15 Comments

[Christoph] sent in [fingers] rather interesting coffee hacking project. (Use the fish to translate it to English.) Using various scrounged parts, he’s constructed his own automated french press brewer. A good french press is a bit of an art, so I can understand the desire to automate one. The grind itself isn’t too critical, but brewing time can vary with the roast and grind of the bean. Personally, I’ve found that decent brew temperature is the real key to a good press. [Fingers] machine provides a way to do everything consistently, but the custom aluminum brew chamber might be effecting the brew temperature.

Hack Some Bling Extra

July 16, 2007 by 8 Comments


I’ve been getting some good looking mods on the tips line, so I thought it was time for a bit of bling on Hack-A-Day.

[f00-F00] sent in his ever so lightly modded iPod. It’s a bit similar to his force feedback PSP mod, but in this case, the leds lighting up the clear case are music sensitive.

The not too shabby looking [flooky] sent in her latest use for the SEGA Dreamcast, a guitar. (Hopefully soon to have three more strings.)

[crait] decided to steal 5v to power a Dreamcast VMU from his PS/2 port.

Oh, and if you dig our logo, you might be amused by skulladay.

I’ve got my travel plans for Defcon 15 set up. [Eliot] will certainly be skulking around vegas, so we’ll see you there.