Wireless Presenters Easily Cracked

July 4, 2010 by Jakob Griffith 18 Comments

While hacking a wireless presenter doesn’t sound like something worthwhile or interesting, [Niels Teusink] demonstrates that these little devices often are a lot more powerful than we give them credit.

With an Arduino, plenty of research, and some heavy sniffing of a wireless presenter’s SPI and then wireless interface [Niels] is able to emulate an entire keyboard. Sending commands as harmless as “next slide” to the devastating “[Win+R] Format C:”. Hopefully anyone planning such a project at the next Apple or Microsoft keynote just intends some gentle fun.

[Thanks Dan Ransom]

Student Soaker, Wireless Water Gun

June 17, 2010 by Jakob Griffith 25 Comments

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aaQIkLkSIo%5D

As far as pranks go, [Austin Shaf’s] wireless hidden water gun is a real treat. The video above goes over a brief explanation and shows the setup in action. The prankster holds onto a wireless AVR remote, and when the unsuspecting victim walks by, he activates a second AVR controlling a pump; spraying water everywhere.

While most of us are out of school by now, the project would still be a fun office or perhaps street prank. If you’re one for registering, schematics and source code can be found at AVRFreaks. Alternatively, check after the jump for a copy of both.

Related: Office Pranks, and Water Guns.

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Wireless Accelerometer Project

June 12, 2010 by Jakob Griffith 15 Comments

[Jerome Demers] sent us his extremely detailed semester project. The two part system consists of PICs connected to XBee modules and accelerometers. By using the device a coach can monitor an athlete and correct their minute mistakes.

Did we mention [Jerome] was very detailed? He also goes into the particulars of designing the circuit, using solder paste and baking, designing and laser cutting a case, and even some fun stories. Well worth the read if you have the time.

Lunkenheimer Steam Whistle, Doorbell

May 16, 2010 by Jakob Griffith 30 Comments

We’re going to straight out agree with [Pete] on how surprisingly quiet doorbells are now a days, and if we had it our way we would put his Lunkenheimer train whistle doorbell in every home*. The setup he uses is surprisingly simple, opting for a pre-built wireless doorbell that signals a microcontroller which in turn drives a relay and solenoid. While he does include a video, we felt it didn’t quite show the intensity of these whistles.

*HaD is not responsible for hearing loss and subsequent melted brains.

IM-ME Screen Reverse Engineered

February 1, 2010 by Mike Szczys 3 Comments

[Dave] figured out the command set for the IM-ME terminal. It took a bit of sleuthing to get this pink plastic peripheral to give up these secrets. He used an oscilloscope to sniff out the SPI connections, then used a hacked IM-ME to capture the traffic from a factory-fresh unit. He managed to extrapolate how write data was being sent but he still couldn’t figure out how commands were differentiated from that data. With the info at hand he searched around the interwebs to find that the screen uses an ST7565S controller. Now he’s got custom firmware to make the LCD display do his bidding and we’re wondering what’s next?

CES: Haier Wireless TV

January 9, 2010 by James Munns 12 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qijuE7r2CBk]

We received a couple requests via email to get a look at Haier’s wireless TV. They used both wireless power and WHDI to show off a zero wire concept. Sure, the giant 2001: A Space Odyssey looking monolith behind it is a bit imposing, but for something that could be embedded into a wall, we’re pretty impressed. Wireless power is a big thing here, and we cant wait for hackers to take up the reins and integrate this into some consumer products.

[Nick]- There are a few companies here that are pushing wireless power products, but this definitely one of the cooler implementations that we’ve seen.

Update: More Pink Wireless-terminal Hacking

January 6, 2010 by Mike Szczys 13 Comments

[Dave] poked around inside of an IM-ME wireless toy and compiled his findings. He read about the device when we covered it in November and picked up a couple to see what he could do. He patched into the debug port in the CC1110 processor and enabled it by performing a chip erase. He then began mapping out how the processor connects and communicates with the qwerty keyboard, the wireless radio, and the LCD screen. The board is full of test points which make the hardware easy to access. [Dave’s] experiments show that this hackable device is full of potential so let’s see what you can do!