CVS Nightvision Camera

For my birthday I had some trouble thinking a something I wanted, however after a little thought I remembered about how people where able to modify and hack the CVS One Time Use Camcorders. So a trip to the local CVS store got me a model M230 camera to play with.

To take it apart, you remove the back sticker around the lcd. Then remove the four screws, the back cover pops off with a little prying, which leaves just two black screws on the board. When removed the whole circut board lifts up.

I wanted to try the nightvision camara hack, however to do so you must remove the IR filter on the lense assembly, I also wanted to keep the regular camera ability as well, so I had to find another lens that would work. The CS majors that I know will remember the old dead webcams that we could grab from the CS old stuff raffle, and guess what the lens fits! Still this lens also had an IR filter (blue tint not red) as well, so you have to cut it in half to remove it. After removing it and gluing it back together I had the first part of my nightvision camera done. The last part is to track down some IR emitters from a few dead remotes. I wired them up in series to the batteries with a small push switch (white dot right below the lense cover). LEDs require about 1.5V each so 1.5V * 2 = 3V, which is the two 1.5 batteries make by default. This is a rough estimate, normaly they would require a resister to even out the voltage, but this works for all intent and purposes. Make sure to check with a mulimeter when doing this to keep the polarity correct, as LEDs are still diodes. You can see in the second picture the IR emmiters working. Also I can easily switch back to regular camera mode by removing the IR lens and inserting the original back in. I kept the silver lens cover because it looks good, and keeps stuff from falling into the camera body

All that is left it to unlock the camera so I can download movies, to do this you need a custom USB cable that fits the connector at the top. For form information check out camerahacking :: Index for all the details on correct wiring of the usb cable as well as modifications to the camera. My cousin did not think I could do it but I made a tempary one out of tagboard from a paper plate (last picture), and it worked just fine. Sadly my camera has a newer chalenge/response then any current method can unlock, so I am stuck with just a nightvision scope. However, I do plan on waiting for the 17 type response to be broken so I can fully use this camera to its fullest, and play with the firmware.

If you have $30 laying around you might want to pick up one of these camcorders, they are very fun to play with.

Good Review Results

I love seeing my blog traval around the internet. So far in the 6 months I have been posting...
1. I have had a person use my successful findings about putting ATX power-supplies in MDD G4s.
2. Getting over 20 people viewing my blog a day from all over the world.
3. Made 5 moneys from adsense. (Click ads to give me more ^_^)

Now I have had a editor review from the blogged site, which has listed my blog as 7.7 out of 10, which is very good.

OpenWrt on Linksys WRT56GL

There was an extra wireless router hanging around not doing anything, so today I want and took the time to play with OpenWRT, and get it installed and setup. OpenWrt is linux firmware for quite a few different routers, but it s best know on the Linksys WRT54(G/GL/GS) series. My friend Matt had gotten another verson of linux firmware running at school on one of the WRT56G routers, so I knew it was posible, I had just never had time/router to play with.

WARNING, As with any firmware update, it could brick your router if something goes wrong, proceed with caution!

Setup was quite easy, go to the site download the Kamikaze firmware bin file and upload using the built in website firmware upload page. By default it is pulling DHCP from the wan side, and is already set up on the lan side. Telnet from terminal into 192.168.1.1 and do a passwd root to chang the root password, afte that you just need to setup wireless and a web interface.

Check out X-Wrt, it is a seprate web interface project working with OpenWRT. To install, SSH into the router and type...

ipkg install http://downloads.x-wrt.org/xwrt/kamikaze/7.09/brcm-2.4/packages/haserl_0.8.0-2_mipsel.ipk

then type

ipkg install http://downloads.x-wrt.org/xwrt/kamikaze/7.09/brcm-2.4/webif_latest.ipk

thsi will install it and run the setup. Afterwards just go to 192.168.1.1 in a webbrowser and finish setting up the router.

I had a wierd error happen after settng up wireless, which stopped the router from working, however I was able to fix this, by putting the router into failsafe mode (unplug, replug, hold down reset button after the DMZ light turns on, stop after it starts blinking). Then set a static address of 192.168.1.2 and set the router address to 192.168.1.1. Then went to the terminal and used telnet to access 192.168.1.1, which took a while to connect, and used vi to change /etc/config/wireless. I removed the "#Remove this comment to annable wireless". After restarting the router this fixed the problem and internet was back again. This could just have been a random error, not sure. You can use the Config Settings page as a guide if you have problems setting up the network and wireless config files.

After that little hickup the webinterface is working fine, and I am surfing on the wirless signal as I type this. Also I have a deep feeling of satisfaction from the fact that I just SSHed into a router, there have been few networking moments more awesome then that.

Logictech Quickcam on Vista

I have never been a fan of the software team from logitech, which is too bad, because their hardware is generaly pretty good. One problem I reciently ran into was that the Quick Cam Zoom that my grandparents have does not work on vister <(not a mistake). Luckly some resourceful people have found out how to get it runnin on vista.

1 Download the latest quickcam drivers from any of the new quick cams, it was ver 11.5 at the time.

2 Install, but skip the set up camera part at the end.

3 Download the old 32 bit window xp drivers for the quick cam, ver 8.3.8 or something like that.

4 Install, but at the end it will say it can not update, this is fine.

5 Go to device manager and manualy chose the driver, it is in C:/Program Files/Logitech/Logitec WebCam Drivers/WinNew/PRO

6 Install and enjoy.

Apparently SP1 breaks the audio driver, but when I update I will post that fix too.

Somnium Nexus Site Up

Now that University Physics is over I have to start working again on my SN Project. However, I wanted to make a decient site for it first, other then the one that I had made at school. Googlepages is not perfect, but it will do the job. Probally the cleanest CSS that I have writen yet. Check it out here SN Project. There is a link for the latest build, though that was about a year ago, however it still works. Just remember it is a Mac only pre alpha, so no guarantee on stability and safety. ^_^

Expect more updates on the SN Project in the future, as it is going to be my Senior Project this year.

UPDATE: Brian gave me some constructive critisim on the art, so I added a more worn feel. Also played with the styling a bit, works in FF3 now, see previous post for the fix.

100% Height Divs

It is rare that I need to have a div fill the whole height of the window, but in my SN Project Website I thought that this would look rather nice, the problem is that if you just put "height: 100%; " in the css it does not work. This is because all parent divs must also have 100% height set, which makes sense after you finally are told this fact. So in order for you to have a 100% height div, you must first set the html and body to 100% then all other parent divs as well. See example below...

html, body
{
   height: 100%;
}

div.content...
{
   height: 100%;
   min-height: 600px; /* I like 600 you can use any number */

}

UPDATE: You should also set a min height for your content divs, this will allow the page to stop only being 100% height and get smaller and scroll when the page size is reduced below that number.

Also, it makes the process a lot simpler to only use cascading inclosing divs, avoid any buggy fancy positioning, because this may break things. I am happy with the results, and to my supprise it worked with no issues in Saffari, Camino/FFox and IE 7.

Happy SysAdmin Day

It's the 9th annual Sysadmin day today!

To quote gizmodo... "You know... sysadmins? The people without whom your entire computing network would come crashing down in flaming ruins? According to the System Administrator Appreciation Day website, "on this special international day" you should "give your System Administrator something that shows that you truly appreciate their hard work and dedication."

So go find your system administrator and give them a big thanks and a pile of cash, or a high five and some Mountain Dew if you are too cheap.

Check out the official site here.

iPod Touch 2.0 & Jailbreak

Well the 2.0 firmware has been out for a while now, however I was holding off getting it till the iPhone Dev Team finished their new Jail break tool. As of last night that is finaly available, and I quickly grabed it after seeing comments of not too many people with trouble. Sadly this was not the case for me, I finaly got it working, but it took a bit (aka 3hours) of poking.

UPDATE* There is a newer version out, that hopefully has fixed the problems I had.

NOTE: As with all hack, you assume responsibly if something goes wrong and bricks your touch!

First off grab the 2.0 firmware from apple, yes there are other less costly ways, but I can't help you with that. Then grab the pwnage tool (link above). The firmware will take a while to download, so go get a snack... Ok when that is finished run the tool, it will ask you to click the device, then it will find the firmware you downloaded from apple, other wise it will complain and require you to find it. Then it will build a custom firmware for you to install, yes you will need to restore it again later when it is finished. This also take a few minutes, but has a cool pagkaging animation. Please note that you can stop it from putting the pineapple logo through the expert options, which I did because I like the apple logo better.

Here is where i started to have problems, had my touch pluged in, and the next screen finaly shows up with a failed DFU restore, I go back to the site and low and behold...
"Update 3: If you get Error 1600 from iTunes (or if you see in your log a failure to prepare x12220000_4_Recovery.ipsw), try: mkdir ~/Library/iTunes/”Device Support” ; if that directory already exists, remove any files in it. Then re-run PwnageTool. "
So I add that directory, but still no luck, finaly I figured out that I was in restore mode, not DFU mode, the diffrence being that you hold down the home button on restart to go into restore, but for DFU you hold both power and home till it shut off, then keep holding home till the screen goes black, but iTunes will still pop up a message saying you have done restore, that is the key piece of infommation that was missing. Finaly I ran the tool again and this time instead of saying failed it led me through the DFU steps, though I was already in that mode, then told me to used the custom firmware, that was placed on the desktop, to restore the iPod through itunes. You [option] click restore and locate the custom firmware on the desktop, and let it take its time restoring the jailbroken firmware.

Also as a hint, if you are getting a 1600 error with the custom firmware, try redoing the pwnage tool, but this time use expert mode and actualy click the firmware located in ~/Library/iTunes/iPod Software Updates.

Finaly I had it all up and running however there are still a few things I am missing from the pre 2.0 days.
Update... Everything I wanted is now back and available in 2.0!


Things Fixed or Updated...

• Winterboard gives you themes again... Avoid Customize 2.0 it has too many issues right now


• BossPrefs has fixed the Mobile Safari download plugin.


• More apps are avalable between the App Store and Cydia now.


• I have grown to like Cydia now that it has had some tme to grow, will not be switching to installer 4


• The 5 icon dock is back, and works with icon dragging!

The root password is still alpine, so it is a good idea to change it. Terminal or ssh...

login root
password: alpine
passwd root
new password: *****
confirm new password: *****

So my oppinion, the app store is worth updating for, especially as more and more is added. I was happy that I no longer need to install email, maps...etc seprate, which saves me time and iTunes now syncs email and bookmarks, (Is this new? It is to me! Maybe I missed it in the last itunes update). Terminal, makeitmine and OpenSSH are already ported and ready to go, and AIM and VNC now are in the app store so I am all set with that. The remote app is also very cool! Even Cydia has grown on me as they have updated it, I don't think I can live without the changes list now, so I do not plan on updating to Installer 4, unless there is something I can only get on it. Also WInterboard is final out, and blows away Customize 2.0 in simpliciy and ease of use when applying themes on the 2.0 fw. I have my theme back now so I am very happy. If you have not updated yor iPod Touch or iPhone yet, now is the perfect time to do so.

Dad's Flash Series

I love finding awesome things online just by random coincidence. Today I stumbled upon Dad's Home and Dad's at work, both featuring a grinning guy in business casual attire that goes on a "friendly" rampage at home and then at work. The home one was goofy, especial the bizarre end, however the at work one had me laughing so hard that tears where coming out! I still crack up when he leaps and spins in the air then lands in a rolling chair that speeds away after exploding. This has to be the funniest animation I have seen is a great while. I have added the youtube versions below, however the original flash version are better in quality.

Map of visiting IPs

Ever interested in new cool webbased tools, I stumbled across Webmaps from ipligence. It is a free service that maps visitor's country/region based on IP. So you can get a view of where people are from that are looking at your site. I added it just below my ads on the left, so you can see what it does. The setup was painless, you enter a website and email address and it spits out the code to use. I will be interested in seeing roughly where people are from who read my blog, I am getting over 100 hits per week, so I know it is not just my friends.

ASP Email

I have never had such a hard time finding the correct way to create an online form that email the contents. Apparently there are several way to do email, but at least on the server that I have access to non of them work. Apparently there was/is a old way of doing email objects with CDONTS, however Microsoft has replaced that with CDOSYS, sadly most of the guides online to doing email forms with asp use the older CDONTS way, which on the server I have access to does absolutely nothing...

SO after looking through many guides I finally found a correct (in the fact that it works) way of doing ASP based email.

     Set oCdoMail = Server.CreateObject("CDO.Message")
     Set oCdoConf = Server.CreateObject("CDO.Configuration")
   
     sConfURL = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/"
   
     with oCdoConf
      .Fields.Item(sConfURL & "sendusing") = 2
      .Fields.Item(sConfURL & "smtpserver") = "localhost"
      .Fields.Item(sConfURL & "smtpserverport") = 25
      .Fields.Update
     end with
   
     with oCdoMail
      .From = "your server"
      .To = "email to send to"
      .Subject = "Subject line"
      .HTMLBody = "Body of email"
      .Configuration = oCdoConf
      .Send
     end with
   
     Set oCdoConf = Nothing
     Set oCdoMail = Nothing

I do warn you that this works for me, and should... (and I take should lightly) work for you, however I feel that it is worth warning on that fact that depending on how your server is set up, who knows how ASP will function.

Multi Line ASP

I had been searching for a way to use multi line strings in ASP, because having it run for two pages across is just bad programing style, and so it string = string & new content over and over. Of course I finally found the solution, and once again ASP is like Fortran 95 in the fact that you can use &_ to continue onto another line, as reference you just use & in fortran. It still confuses me why Microsoft thought it would be a wonderful idea to ignore almost every other major programing language and not end lines in semicolons. But then again they always tend to create their own eccentric standards as they go, a luxury of having such a huge control of the market I assume.