Author Archives: the machinegeek

Analysing 433 Mhz transmitters with RTL-SDR

Yashin has posted this tutorial at ArcanumX demonstrating how to read and decode 433 MHz digital data transmissions. “I intend to demonstrate how the RTL-SDR can be used to sniff 433 Mhz transmitters. These are pretty cheap and can be found in a lot of appliances including alarm sensors. This post is also intended to […]

Hack adds Bluetooth control to old iPod using Android and Arduino

The crew at Erroneous Data presents this tutorial detailing how to wirelessly control an old iPod music player with you Android device. Using only an Arduino, an HC-05 Bluetooth module and a few resistors they show how to build your very own MuseHack. The project includes the Arduino code as well as the Android app […]

ZaCon badge development log

ZaCon is a community driven infosec conference held at the Kingsway Campus of the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Andrew Nohawk developed the ZaCon V badge using an Arduino and RF components. He provides a detailed chronicle of his design and development process in this post. He explains, “For ZaCon V I built some electronic […]

OHM2013: Hacking the radio spectrum with GNURadio

At the OHM2013 conference held last summer outside Amsterdam, J. M. Friedt discussed his use of GNURadio as a signal processing prototyping tool. He writes, “We demonstrate the use of this software environment for implementing new digial communication mode decoding algorithms, qualifying low frequency circuits by using the audio card as a network analyzer, all […]

Hacking the Java Debug Wire Protocol (JDWP)

Christophe Alladoum has posted a tutorial on the IO Active Labs Research blog on the Java debug wire protocol and its insecurities. He explains, “In this post, I will explain the Java Debug Wire Protocol (JDWP) and why it is interesting from a pentester’s point of view. I will cover some JDWP internals and how […]

Build an Arduino based sonic pest repeller

Just in time for Summer, here’s a design for a sonic pest repeller. Carla Schroder developed this project which uses an Arduino Uno along with the WAVE shield and a Maxbotix ultrasonic rangefinder. This simple yet reportedly effective design senses critters nearing your garden plot and plays sound files (stored on an SD card) intended […]

DEFCON 21 video: Decapping Chips the Easy Hard Way

In this presentation from DEFCON 21, Adam “Major Malfunction” Laurie and Zac Franken of Aperture Labs go hardcore with chip analysis. For some time it has been possible to discover the inner workings of microprocessors with the help of a microscope and some nasty chemicals such as fuming nitric acid. However, unless you have access […]

Poor maker’s IR receiver #2

As promised, the AnalysIR crew has released their design for a simple IR receiver, this time using the Arduino. Our recent post about the silver bullet IR receiver proved very popular and we promised that we would follow-up with another variant of the poor maker’s Infrared receiver. This time we are using an IR LED […]

Hacking the Patent System: alternative patent licensing

The EFF has announced their participation in the launch of a new guide to alternative patent licensing. Continue reading to learn How to Get Started with Your Invention Idea with InventHelp. The guide was prepared by the Juelsgaard Intellectual Property & Innovation Clinic at Stanford Law School in partnership with EFF, Engine, and the Open […]

DARPA looks to Oculus as a cyberwar weapon

The Oculus Rift is a high end virtual reality headset being developed for gamers. A team from DARPA has announced that they are working toward integrating the Oculus’s virtual cybervision capabilities into the cyberwar arena. The US armed forces’ far-out research branch known as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) showed off its latest […]

NandLand – FPGA info and tutorial site

Russell is interested in working with FPGAs. He’s developed an educational website: www.nandland.com. “It’s an educational website for people interested in learning about FPGAs and ASICs, mostly by focusing on VHDL and Verilog tutorials and examples. I have written all of the content on it myself and I’m adding new content constantly.” Check it out! […]

BlueMatrix – Bluetooth controlled LED matrix

Luca Dentella has published his latest project: BlueMatrix. It’s a portable LED matrix display based on Arduino Uno, powered by a Lipo battery and connected via Bluetooth to a personal computer or an Android smartphone. I’ve also developed the controlling app for Android, available on Google’s PlayStore. All the schematics, source files, inkscape files for […]

Execute Arduino code in a PIC MCU using MPLAB IDE

Want to run Arduino code in a PIC MCU? “Here’s an approach that enables Arduino code to be configured for execution with the Microchip Technology PIC32MX250F128B small-outline 32-bit microcontroller. It uses the Microchip Technology MPLAB X IDE and MPLAB XC32 C Compiler and the Microchip Technology Microstick II programmer/debugger.” Via Circuit Cellar.

Modularized homebrew spectrum analyzer

Mathias Weyland writes, I’m building a homebrew spectrum analyzer (based on an existing project) and while doing so, I used the Open Bench Logic Sniffer to test my logic board. I have documented my attempts here; the Logic Analyzer part starts around minute 21. The video makes most sense in conjunction with the second video, […]

Silver bullet oscilloscope IR receiver

The crew from AnalysIR have shared a simple technique for viewing the mark and space data from IR transmission on an oscilloscope. They call it the “silver bullet” method. The idea is to use a standard IR Led mounted into a BNC/RCA plug using a spare channel making an Oscilloscope infrared receiver. So we set […]

Tutorial: Android and Bluetooth

Luca Dentella has published the last part of his tutorial explaining how to develop Android applications that “talk” with embedded devices using Bluetooth. The tutorial covers basic tasks like enabling/disabling the phone’s Bluetooth adapter to advanced ones like using separate threads for blocking I/O operations. Further information and earlier tutorial segements can be found on […]

BLDC motor control using Atmega328

Nich Fugal from Makeatronics is working on a BLDC motor controller. I call it a smart BLDC commutator. In a nutshell it’s a dedicated atmega328 that monitors the hall effect sensors on a brushless DC motor and takes care of the commutating and driver circuitry. It’s smart because it has the ability to extract and […]

Defcon 21: secret life of SIM cards

PHd student Karl Koscher and software engineer Eric Butler have teamed up to research phone SIM cards and how they are used to run small apps. At the DEFCON 21 conference they presented their methodology and results. “This talk, based on our experience building SIM apps for the Toorcamp GSM network, explains what (U)SIM Toolkit […]