September 23rd, 2007 SkyHorse 
I’ve bough myself a Sony SRS-BTM30 (nice little speakers with built-in bluetooth stereo receiver) thinking Apple, as it boasts bluetooth on all their peripherals, would obviously support this (MS already does for a long time). I was of course very very wrong.
There are several forums and threads with half-baked solutions mostly around the a2dpcast and jackd and all require multiple geniuses to make it all work, with a high probability of frustration to find the CPU usage at 100% or, worse, long latency in sound (terrible for films), or many other problems.
I decided to just wait for the Jaguar update, which already has built-in support for a2dp, and simply use a wired connection to my speakers.
But today I found exactly what I was looking for: a very very easy to use solution that actually has almost no latency (still not perfect for films, but you can easily fix that with the audio synchronization compensation option in the VLC media player).
Credit goes to ‘asae’ who posted this originally on David Connolly’s blog:
First, 2 files needed,
a. a2dpcastAudioDevice.tgz: http://www.coolatoola.com/a2dpcastAudioDevice.tgz
b. the updated a2dpcast: http://www.coolatoola.com/a2dpcast-0.3.zip
Then run terminal from Application/Utilities/terminal and install the kernel extension for the audio device (replace DOWNLOAD_DIR with the path to where your browser downloads stuff to) – you need your admin password to do sudo:
1. cd /
2. sudo tar -zxpf DOWNLOAD_DIR/a2dpcastAudioDevice.tgz –same-owner
3. sudo kextload /System/Library/Extensions/AudioReflectorDriver.kext
Copy a2dpcast to /usr/local/bin or /usr/bin (replace A2DPEXTRACTDIR with the path to where your extracted the downloaded a2dpcast-0.3.zip) – you need your admin password to do sudo:
1. sudo cp A2DPEXTRACTDIR/a2dpcast-0.3/a2dpcast /usr/local/bin
Run a2dpcast with your Bluetooth address. To find your address go to bluetooth preferences (system preferences) and click on the speakers in question , it should have a line saying ‘address’:
1. a2dpcast aa-bb-cc-dd-ee-ff 27
Keep a2dpcast running, leave the terminal open, then run whatever program that you want, the sound will be streamed automatically to your headset. Again, do not close the terminal until you have enough enjoying your bluetooth headset ;)
If the sound breaks all of the sudden, or if you have any interference, try reducing the encoding rate from 32 to 16 by running this instead:
1. a2dpcast aa-bb-cc-dd-ee-ff 27 16
Tags:
a2dp,
bluetooth,
Hardware,
mac,
wirelessRelated posts:
Posted in Hardware | 2 Comments »
January 7th, 2007 SkyHorse 
Sooner or later if you live in a country with the visa-waiver program with the US (i.e. most EU countries and a few more) your passport will be issued with a always-on radio frequency identification chips, making it easy for officials – and hackers – to grab your personal stats. Getting paranoid about strangers slurping up your identity? Here’s what you can do about it. But be careful – tampering with a passport is punishable by 25 years in prison. Not to mention the “special†customs search, with rubber gloves. Bon voyage!
1) RFID-tagged passports have a distinctive logo on the front cover; the chip is embedded in the back.
2) Sorry, “accidentally†leaving your passport in the jeans you just put in the washer won’t work. You’re more likely to ruin the passport itself than the chip.
3) Forget about nuking it in the microwave – the chip could burst into flames, leaving telltale scorch marks. Besides, have you ever smelled burnt passport?
4) The best approach? Hammer time! Hitting the chip with a blunt, hard object should disable it. A nonworking RFID doesn’t invalidate the passport, so you can still use it.
Based on http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.01/start.html?pg=9
Tags:
hacking,
Hardware,
passport,
RFID,
TravelRelated posts:
Posted in hacking, Hardware, Travel | No Comments »
August 12th, 2006 SkyHorse 
What a great idea!
Turning a camera phone into a bluetooth mouse using a Java application!
At the moment it uses Nokia software suite to transfer data, ideally it should use the standard bluetooth HiD spec which he says he’s developing.
Brilliant!
Tags:
bluetooth,
hacking,
Hardware,
Ideas,
mobile,
mouse,
ProgrammingRelated posts:
Posted in hacking, Hardware, Ideas, Programming | No Comments »
June 5th, 2006 SkyHorse Imagine a combination of hardware and software that could receive and transmit at any frequency.
Imagine you could have an FM radio that turns into a GPS receiver that turns into a RFID reader. Or a Radar. Or a Digital TV Receiver. Or a mobile phone. Or a Wi-Fi scanner. All at the click of a button.
Imagine the political, social and economic consequences.
Welcome to GNU Radio: the last frontier where hacking can be found in its true form.
Note: not for the faint of heart.
GNU Radio
Tags:
GNU/Linux,
GPS,
hacking,
HardwareRelated posts:
Posted in GNU/Linux, GPS, hacking, Hardware | No Comments »
September 16th, 2003 SkyHorse Recent discoveries and techonogies are pointing in the direction of mass use of micro ID tags.The RFID tags (Radion Frequency ID) could be as small as a grain of rice and placed just about anywhere.
The prediction:
I forsee a future where all our consumables (cd’s, books, computers, magazines, tabacco, deodorants, toothpaste, etc…) will have a inexpensive micro ID tag embedded.
Information included in these tags could range from ‘type’ (book, cd, etc), ‘author’, ‘designer’, ‘manufactor’, ‘date of purchase’, ‘owner’, ‘expiry date’, ‘ingredients’, ‘etc..
I also see a machine to read these ID tags. These could be used to make quick inventories of your home, know where things are, find objects, etc… well basicly have a database of all your belongings.
Now, this will probably start with big commercial surfaces, because they would be the first to take advantage and have the money to invest into.
Instead of days of incorrect stock takings, one simple ‘scan’ will tell you all your stock in one go.
More uses could range from insurance companies having a fantastic tool to insure a home,
for the police to track down stolen items,
used also as a security tag in shops.
I can easily see also these tags beeing embedded under everyones skin as a form of ID.
No more pins, codes, etc… just place your hand on the scanner and it will ID you.
This could also include clinical information, marketing information (your likes, dislikes, etc…) enabling amasing personalised ADs to show when you walk into a store for example. Or even to recognise you whem you walk into your bank and have your personal banker call you by your name (and see you account balance eheheh).
Telephones would no need to have SIM’s, they would include a micro scanner to know whos using the phone and personalize it accordingly (remote phone books, schedules, etc…) and maybe even charge you accordingly.
Micro payments would also be available this way. Just pass your hand on the scanner and your bank/credit card would be charged automaticly.
Well, if all these were used, I can see you walking into a store, taking whatever you want and walk out. Nothing else.
Walking into the store a scanner would welcome you and advise you. Maybe even make personalized promotions.
Taking whatever items you wanted and by walking out of the store, the scanner would ID the products and ID you again. The system would charge you for your products and take it out of its stock database immediatly.
Talk about compulsive shopping!
All this does have one big downside: personal freedom and privacy.
And I believe that only when these two issues are solved we will have this technology available for everyone. Maybe we will never have it because of privacy advocated.
But remember, it will still be used undercover either by espionage agencies or unscruplous people.
I predict in one years time for countries like Japan to start adopting personal ID tags.
ID tags in products could go at the same time, starting with expensive and bulky cargos.
In about 5 years time, this would start becoming inexpensive and small so it would start to deploy in commercial applications such has supermarkets.
In 15/20 years time I believe the medical field would catch up with everyone having one ID tag in them.
The rest, maybe in 30 years from now.
Enjoy ;)
paulo cunha
Interesting media references:
Three R’s: Reading, Writing, RFID
Oct. 24, 2003
Undeterred by fretful privacy advocates, a charter school in Buffalo has adopted RFID technology to track student attendance. The school’s chief says it’s all in the name of safety and efficiency. By Julia Scheeres.
Tracking Junior With a Microchip
Oct. 10, 2003 PT
A Mexican company has launched a service to implant microchips in children as an anti-kidnapping device.
Solusat, the Mexican distributor of the VeriChip — a rice-size microchip that is injected beneath the skin and transmits a 125-kilohertz radio frequency signal — is marketing the device as an emergency ID under its new VeriKid program.
RFID Gussied Up With Biosensors
Aug. 26, 2003 PT
Still stinging from failed attempts to introduce radio tags to consumers, retailers and their suppliers are now adding features to the technology to make it appear essential to the safety of the nation’s food supply.
Claim: RFID Will Stop Terrorists
Aug. 08, 2003 PT
Facing increasing resistance and concerns about privacy, the United States’ largest food companies and retailers will try to win consumer approval for radio identification devices by portraying the technology as an essential tool for keeping the nation’s food supply safe from terrorists.
Radio ID Tags: Beyond Bar Codes
May. 20, 2002 PT
An emerging technology could usurp the ubiquitous bar code’s quarter-century of quiet domination.
Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, which consist of silicon chips and an antenna that can transmit data to a wireless receiver, could one day be used to track everything from soda cans to cereal boxes.
Tagging Books to Prevent Theft
May. 20, 2002 PT
For reference librarians, scanning endless bar codes is as tedious a daily task as dealing with stolen, lost or overdue library books.
Now, a wafer-thin, microchip-based tag the size of a postage stamp could ease their workloads.
Tags:
Hardware,
Personal,
VisionarismRelated posts:
Posted in Hardware, Personal, Visionarism | No Comments »
