May 31, 2011

Hackerspace

I finally made it to a hackerspace tonight.  An old factory, repurposed as artists spaces, it provides the perfect atmosphere for a workshop.  After meeting a few electrical and mechanical engineers and a lady building an LED guitar I thought to myself: "I only know computers :("
When I told the leader, he said he did not know about computers and boy would they love some help with all the computers!  Hooray!
  I spent my first project on a hacking out a DDWRT firmware on a WRT54GS v7. It's always a little dicey hacking someone else's gear on the first day.  It was a success though and I was able to get ht right firmware on it.  The goal was to use it as a WiFi bridge with a neighbor's wifi, to and then create a more stable signal in our workshop.

I followed all the directions to make it a WiFi bridge, but could not find success. They seemed happy enough to see different firmware on it. I'll try again next week.

I untangled a mess of wires and coiled up accessories neatly (thanks mom) while they showed me all the fancy things they toys they'd built, Van de Graaff generator, egg bot, and an LED lighted guitar using an Arduino.

It will be a good space to bring my infinity mirror.

May 25, 2011

iPhoning it in

My dad gave me his 3gs. I told him he should not ship me the SIM and he should wipe it completely for security purposes. He kept the SIM but did not wipe it.  While walking to the car after picking it up, I wiped it, wanting a clean slate to have my adventures.

Wiping it means it needs to be activated. Hoping to bypass this I jailbroke it using Greenpois0n. Easy enough to do but that didn't activate it. So I had to create an iTunes account, install iTunes and connect the device.  iTunes now wants a SIM. I ordered an AT&T from eBay for $3, then iTunes shot me this note:


It needs to be a SIM from Movistar. Thanks a lot, Apple, for imposing this restriction. Why not unlock previous generation phones?

I've tried uploading a firmware I found on the Pirate Bay using Redsn0w but with no success, I'm not even sure it took and there doesn't seem to be a way to gather any of this information while it's unactivated.

What I find most frustrating is the lack of clear information and terminology. What is a baseband and how does it relate to firmware? Cydia, Jailbreaking, unlocking, hackivating, tethered?  All of these by themselves, I understand. But combined with no centralized structure, a lack of correct spelling, a commitment to acronyms and when the names of the apps are called greenpois0n, Redsn0w, ultrasn0w and Pwnage Tool it's just difficult to tell where I stand.

May 21, 2011

Honey B

A couple of months ago he had a swollen spot on his ear. The vet said the capilaries had burst from him shaking his head and blood was pooling between the two layers of cartilege. They drained the blood and buttoned up his ear to keep pressure while it heald, so if it continued to bleed it would be forced out of the ear instead of accumulating. He looked like this for about 2 weeks. He's all better now.

I sat on the front porch with him today and read, he seemed content enough to sniff the air and regard each passerby. When I was finished he looked a little wanting, so we walked down to a field where he can run without a leash. Almost no one uses this space despite being across the street from an apartment complex.

An aside here, this space is a field according to Google's satellite imagery, but the Street View shows a complex there, which is just wild to see.

As soon as he is off leash he sprints off, smelling and dancing and running and is as happy as can be. He's an excellent sprinter and found his way to the other side of the field where I could see him snort something and then roll. I yelled for him to stop and he started runnig back to me, caught another scent and rolled in something else. I caved and stopped yelling at him and he found a third place to roll. He was as happy as a pig in poop.

When we got home I gave him a bath put his face still smells bad.
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May 16, 2011

Commercial success

A: did you see that commercial it was awesome
B:  I have a DVR, so I skipp commercials
C: I don't have a TV

A: Well it was on the radio too.
B: I have XM, I don't have any commericals
C: My radio is broken.

Every now and then I catch a spot of TV, daytime programming, commercials and all. Often 25% is commercials. If you watch commercials on a cable channel, then they get you coming and going.