The GTVHacker group gave this presentation at DEFCON 22. The group is famous for Hacking the Google TV a few years back, and in this talk they add plenty of devices to their credit. “We’ve taken all of our previous experience exploiting embedded devices and used it to bring you a presentation filled with more […]
Author Archives: the machinegeek
GrrCON 2014: Home grown Linux
In this presentation from GrrCON 2014, author Dr. Phil Polstra discusses how to develop your own Linux distro. Phil has assembled his distro known as The Deck which is useful on the Beagleboard and Beaglebone Black boards.
Video: AMBE exposed
AMBE is a voice compression algorithm employed in vocoder chips used by DVSI Inc., and is commonly used in Icom’s D-Star, Yaesu’s Fusion, APCO-25, DMR, Opensky and other digital formats on the amateur, commercial and public safety frequencies. In this talk from last September’s TAPR/DCC conference in Austin, TX, Bruce Perens K6BP presented his views […]
Video: FlexRadio open API
During the TAPR/ARRL Digital Communications Conference in Austin last September, Stephen Hicks N5AC gave this presentation on interfacing with FlexRadio using their open API. Part II of this presentation was given by Graham Haddock KE9H, and discussed the FlexRadio wavefrom API. It is available from HamRadioNow. FlexRadio produces a series of high-end SDR’s, with the […]
Review: Kano DIY computer kit
Steve Schuler has posted this review of the Kano DIY computer kit on Science 2.0. I’ve lost count of how many computers I’ve built over the years, but I think it is safe to say that the Kano Computer was the easiest build ever. So simple a child could do it. Kano founders, Yonatan Raz-Fridman, […]
First impression on the ESP8266 serial-to-WiFi module
Ray Wang has been experimenting with the ESP8266 Serial-to-WiFi module, which has gained much hype recently. “The module is very compact, easy to interface with, and inexpensive. I wrote an Arduino program to show how to use the Arduino to communicate with the WiFi module and set up a very simple web server.” Check out […]
Derbycon video: Making BadUSB Work For You
Adam Caudill and Brandon Wilson gave this presentation at the recent Derbycon 2014 conference in Louisville, KY, covering their hack of the Phison 2251-03 USB controller firmware to add new “features” and functionality. They focus on the Patriot Supersonic Xpress 8GB USB drive allowing it to be repurposed for non-standard uses. Adam has posted his […]
Reverse engineering wireless pro studio lighting
Richard Webb just finished an article on reverse engineering the wireless protocol used to communicate with some pro studio lighting. His approach involves sniffing the SPI bus into the lighting controller’s RF module using the Open Bench Logic Sniffer to obtain preliminary addressing information, then used an nRF24L01+ module in receive mode to capture packets. […]
Project: extracting and geographically plotting DTRS site information
Lui Gough has been researching the Australian railroad system’s new digital radio system and has posted detailed observations: As a radio enthusiast, and highly observant public transport user, I’ve made many notes about the deployment of the new Digital Train Radio System (DTRS) sites. This new system is based upon GSM-R in the 1800Mhz band, […]
ESP8266 WiFi chip module
Richard Sloan writes in to highlight his site featuring info on the ESP8266 WiFi module. There is a new IC on the market that is creating a lot of stir, ESP8266 very low cost WIFI chip, available are boards now from China for $5 or less, we are supporting these new IC over at www.esp8266.com […]
Getting character LCDs to work at 3 volts
Peter Jakab has written a new article on how to adapt character LCD modules for 3 volt operation. Generic character LCD modules contain an industry standard HD44780 compatible controller, which can operate down at 3 volts. But the modules are usually specified to work only at 5 volts, unless you choose a specific one designed […]
SpeakerGen – parametric 3d printed speaker enclosures
Rich Olson writes, “I just put together an OpenSCAD script that can generate optimized loudspeaker enclosures based on driver’s audio parameters. Intent of course is to 3d print speaker enclosures…” For more information visit Rich’s NothingLabs blog. Via the contact form.
Realtime GPS+GPRS tracking of vehicles using Arduino
Javier from CookingHacks writes: We made a
Video: JTAGulator introduction and demonstration
Hardware hacking guru Joe Grand of GrandIdeastudio has posted this new, detailed introduction/demonstration of the JTAGulator, an open source hardware tool te hat assists in identifying on-chip debug (OCD) and/or programming connections from test points, vias, or component pads on a target device. (We note the Bus Pirate usage at 5:40.)
American pro football using RFID
With the start of the USA’s pro football season the NFL has announced the use of RFID technology to enhance reporting of player performance data. If you want to place bets on your favorite teams, you may explore $1 deposit casino platforms. The conquestador casino website also offers bonuses and big prizes to new players. […]
Native assembler programming on Arduino
Eagle over at at cypherpunk.at posted details on programming an Arduino in assembly language. This article is about programming an Arduino board natively in pure Assembler without carrying the rucksack of standard libraries and functions. Using a simple example and an Arduino Uno board, I will show how to assemble, link, and upload your code […]
Elephant and Castle Mini Maker Faire set for November 15, 2014
The Elephant & Castle Mini Maker Faire has announced plans for their upcoming event. “London’s first Maker Faire is coming back around for another go on 15th November, 2014. The Maker Faire is a day of family friendly making, learning, crafting, inventing and tinkering in the heart of London. Be inspired by arts, crafts, engineering, […]
NTSC video signal generation demystified
Sagar has posted the final installment on his blog series demystifying the NTSC video standard. NTSC progressive scanning mode and simpler sync methods are not well documented and this issue is addressed here. Producing video signals by going to lowest hardware level is fun and satisfying. With the number of very capable digital controllers available […]
Cheap entropy using RTL-SDR dongle
We’ve seen the RTL-SDR dongle used for a number of interesting projects, but here’s an unusual one not directly related to signal monitoring. Noel Bourke was considering the topic of entropy and randomness as it relates to encryption and came up with a unique use for the RTL-SDR. When RTL-SDRs came on the market back […]
Monitoring Android traffic with Wireshark
Ever wonder what data is being sent out by your Android device? Here’s a post from LinuxJournal outlining how to monitor your device’s WiFi traffic. The technique involves setting up a man-in-the-middle Wireless Access Point (WAP) on your Ubuntu Linux box, then connecting your Android device via WiFi to this point. Wireshark is then run […]