Sunday, August 28, 2011

Twigga



Twigga
is a python CGI hack that I threw together in a couple days. Just click to see what it does.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

D-Link DWA-110 external antenna possibility


I just received a DWA-110 today, I cracked it open to take a look at the PCB since I heard rumors from this forum post here that there may be the possibility of adding a pigtail to this adapter and attaching an external antenna.
They say its a U.fl RF connector, if it is, then it's either A) Missing the middle pin or B) Female or it's not a U.fl connector at all.
I was hoping to get some insight on this and will tag further posts with 'dwa110' with updates on this particular investigation.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Ubuntu 11.04, Netgear WG111 weirdness

I have a weird networking problem.
WG111 USB wifi stick <--> Belkin router

I can connect to the router fine, the DHCP client gets an IP address fine:
wlan1
inet addr:192.168.2.9

...and the signal icon is visible in the gnome tray.

...The entry on the router's DHCP table

'route' shows that there is a gateway
default 192.168.2.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 wlan1


and when I open wireshark I am able to see the MDSN traffic from a printer on the network:

and when I try and connect to the router, the TCP handshake never completes:

EDIT:This packet capture shows that I am attempting to connect to 192.168.2.2 instead of 192.168.2.1, the capture looks the same for trying the correct IP address as well /oops

Also, pinging the router's IP, or any connected client's IP gives no response.

*edit*
I installed ndiswrapper and put the wg111 .ini windows driver in that, which seemed to have made it work, but when I booted up again this morning, the WG111 usb powered up, bilnked its light a last 4 times never to be recognized again :I

Wut.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Wifi Access Point Chat and other Ad-Hoc ideas

For the past several weeks I've been without a consistent internet connection. I've been picking up whatever *cough* open wifi that I can, and visiting Grinders Coffee Co. on occasion in order to exchange data with others.

Being in this state of affairs I've wondered what people will do with all these wireless transceivers (wireless cards, access points, bluetooth, etc) if the Internet takes a dump on itself, or the plug is pulled by Ma and Pa Federal.

I've been contemplating novel peace-time systems of communication using wifi transceivers, and perhaps eventually linking neighborhood/apartment mesh-nodes with each other through longer distance CB or ham radio.

Ideas:
An access point serving a socket.IO chat server for anyone who connects to the AP.
Example of nodechat: http://nodechat.no.de/ registration is simple, user/pass/email (which isn't checked I don't think).

I posted an idea on twitter:
ad-hoc chat/server with some low level wifi broadcast packet tweaking?

I want to make something extremely transparent and allow ANYONE to be able to join in on the communication, an issue I can see is malicious code being pushed by "bad nodes"...

Suggestions from @rrrrrrrix:
or just use link-local xmpp (Bonjour) :-)
that paired with BATMAN (mesh network protocol) makes for awesome infra-less lan chat


At Defcon 19 I was able to go see a presentation talking about using the built-in transceivers on android phones to create an ad-hoc network of sorts called auto-BAHN [main site]. It seems to be in a very early stage, but I like the goal of having a standardized mesh protocol running on all smart phones that can be activated in case the cellular signal is lost (or activated on volition).

However, I do not own a smart phone with wifi built in, and I figure a lot of valuable human beings are without these smart phones, but may have a wireless card installed on their computer. Integrating an auto-BAHN mesh network into router firmware would also be a great idea to make longer range nodes that aren't reliant on battery life.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

6 Month Dental Checkup

I had a 6 month dental check up which has put my time here in Phoenix into perspective, what I have been through in the six months back in the ol' 602...
Juggling is the first thing that comes to mind. Without an internet connection I delved into the world of juggling tennis balls for hours on end, it was fine when it was nice outside (pre-summer) but now I don't spend as much time juggling, I need some bean bags or something that doesn't bounce so I can practice inside.
I've been confusing to my family, Heisenberg uncertainty principle applied to a my direction in life... Causing an apparent general ruckus in the minds of the 2 biologically-authoritarian females in my life: my Mother and Grandmother, I can only assume when their teeth gnash and claws become revealed it's with good intent.
Heavy assumptions being made, confusion, misinformation, fear lace their words when I finally get a smell of the concerned gossip that goes on behind my back. When it's directed at my face statements such as "You're doing nothing with your life" are unleashed upon me, which creates a wave of discontent in my being. Assumptions that I have an enemy called "The Man" that I am totally against working for ???? being a parasitic being on my Father and his finances etc. Perhaps, I tried discussing how he felt about me staying with him, he seemed to appreciate it, but at the same time didn't want me to feel obligated to stay with him? I love, and I don't care (if that makes sense) in a very Henry Milleresque way. I don't care enough, so I can love purely, without any bounds. I'm wild... or the domesticated beast, what's the difference? I don't feel the need to "make my own way" in a world where all the ways are made, all you have to do is decide and do what you want to do. They are very concerned with money, and it's actually getting to a point where I need to make some, my bank account just went under 100 dollars for the first time in my life, for some people this is normal living from paycheck to paycheck, I never had that issue, never had the feeling of being "stuck" in a cycle of work->check->pay rent->work endless cycle of poverty, just barely clutching on to the necessities. I tend to give up luxuries, or cut as many corners on my own life in order to keep a balance in the finances... or in reality I spend money at thrift stores thinking (well, this is a good deal, if I can't use it I can probably sell it...) or buying PA systems that are now being lent out because...you know... living with parents you can't play loud music. My Dad is paying 22 bucks for a copper ring/tip phone line and isn't quite aware of how awesome a high-speed internet connection is (why I am sitting out here on the back porch writing a blog post at 1:03AM in order to escape the day time heat, and absorb the WiFi from a neighbor) The thermometer reads about a 95 deg. F even at this hour. This area of suburbia is pretty humid as well, maybe it's the canal and all the irrigated lawns producing work for the illegal immigrants... My umwelt is interesting in it's own right.

Mosquitos bite at me, which is living poetry, me sucking wifi, them sucking my blood, it's a circle of leeches all the way down to the "last hole" that can be sucked, the last well that can be tapped and used. There is no art to the utilitarian (I lie!). The machine is art, money and making it is art, it's sexual.

As stated in Kinsey:
Fucking is... nothing more than-- than friction and harmless fun?

Well, let me tell you... that is a risky game,
because fucking isn't just something.
It's the whole thing.
And if you're not careful... it will cut you wide open.


From Kinsey script

How easy it is to fall inside of yourself and forget where you CAME from~
*contemplates belly button*

Monday, August 8, 2011

Defcon 19

I don't think I paid for a drop of alcohol this time in Vegas.
So: I get to Defcon wanting a beer, and what'dya know, there's a Coors Light in our hotel fridge, the one that ISN'T connected to the room service and charging scales. Awesome.
It's Wednesday, there aren't many others besides the B-Side folk, which are hard to spot (I still don't know what their badges were like, I guess it's a free conference... but I didn't register... or there's some weird ritual I don't know in order to get in)

My internal monologue was going something like: "Well, here we go again... I wonder what this year holds, a new venue: The Rio, a new badge designer "Lost" (who I knew from phoenix 2600 meetings, but fell out of contact with, especially after his mystery box competitions -- one time pad with a chapter from the Great Gatsby?! Oi vey!)" ... Lost, having worked his way up the ranks all the way to badge designer seemed to have consumed the whole conference into his mystery box challenge, clues were everywhere I looked, every badge had a different number, shape and was inter-related... I knew I should've brought Aleister Crowley's 777 with the tables of correspondence and the reference book on ancient Egyptian gods. Lost or 1o57 as it went in the competition must be a direct descendant of Set or Thoth... or perhaps Thoth and Isis got together and cosmically jizzed him on this planet :P, so much incest around the center of space-time-multi-verse )

The eye of providence was a re-occuring theme, the dollar bill has 13 steps up to the disconnected eye, however the decal in the middle of the Rio had only 11 steps... maybe a hint? Maybe just another random "fact"? Every badge had a number, all the ones I saw were even (mine was a 34) ... there were ancient Egyptian and Japanese numerical systems, logic gates, and binary codes, a little much for me :)
The badges were also made of water cut Titanium, very cool.

The talks I saw this year weren't blowing my mind. There's usually some good talks, but I feel it takes some special talent to make a technical talk interesting and also contain information which can be absorbed easily in a one hour period.
I was able to catch the Art of Trolling by @openfly (twitter), here's his blog with the slides: http://www.music-piracy.com/?p=434
One of the more entertaining, and probably my favorite talk I saw.

Participated in the beard competition, and generally dressed in opposition to the status quo, swapping scarves every few hours the first couple days and wearing a tie during the beard competition. One of the judges said I was cute, but I think I ruined any cuteness with my speech on how my sunken chest contains no heart to feel for humanity... I gave her my # and the Bavarian Illuminati... first time for everything I suppose. Haven't heard back from her :)

Aaron Barr from HB Gary was supposed to show up and be on a panel, we got front row seats to that show, however "the lawyers from HB Gary (and HB Gary Federal? ... they are 2 seperate companies) refused to let him appear..." this isn't surprising. The panel got some LulzSec badges... was hoping Mr.Barr could get one too, maybe someone from the panel could bring a button home to him ;)
That panel was neat, I liked the chaotic <--> lawful and good <--> evil Dungeons and Dragons hacker alignment analogy. One of the panelists wanted anonymous/lulzsec/antisec movement to go after "child exploitation sites" -- "Any of you for child exploitation sites? No it's ok to raise your hand." ... He doesn't know "Anonymous" I suppose; 4chan /b/ has it's fair share of CP (child porn) popping up, anonymity breeds the ability to share deviance from the perceived majority, the ability to be something OTHER than the HERD. He was really into trying to get a Anti-sec constitution or 10 commandments. Some sort of law to lay over the "Chaos"/"Disorder" that he saw as Lulzsec/Anonymous... If anything I could say that this cab was rare but I thought nah forget it THAT'S THE OPPOSITE END OF THE SPECTRUM. Chaotic Good isn't Lawful Good, sorry bub. We could get into the problem of defining these terribly vaporous words Good, Evil, Chaotic, Neutral... but that's the making of a whole damned book. You can only ask an individual what he feels in the moment, that's the closest answer you're ever going to get.

The talk on skimming chip credit cards in Europe was impressive, I enjoyed their humorous video and technology and reverse engineering of the system. Second favorite talk.

Lost $7 on the slot machines.

Swam for the first time at the hotel hosting defcon (Although I made it to Defcon 13, we didn't stay in the Alexis Park and I never remembered the Riv letting people swim much.)
The closed circuit television was great, being able to see the talks from your room was awesome (although our room only got Track 1... our friends were able to see them all, and we hung out over there a bit)
Hung out in a hot tub with some folks, played beach ball bounce with the guy who did the Stego/Crypto talk and gave him one of my stego ideas I got recently. The girl that brought the ball to the tub was cute, but we didn't really say anything to each other, girls are like gems at defcon, few and when you see one they're usually pretty -- physically, if not just for being at a hacker convention, I'm so sexist.

It was a good trip overall, I was happy to see Akira being shown, got to walk in on my favorite part: the whole talk about the "Amoeba Energy"... a very good anime.

Didn't dance too much compared to other years, low energy(or not enough booze) I suppose, or not enough fidget house, acid tech, and french hard electro :) ... the DJ playing the freakshow was funny mixing in Nyan cat and the Bel Air theme song, bringing back memories of ol' school /b/ days.

Defcon is now a huge leviathan that has lost it's original sheen that it had when I first went as an 18 year old anarchist hacker fresh out of highschool... I need to either perform music or speak next year to make it worth it. I also want to start more of an underground con without as many... uh... how do I put it, lamers :P
Out of the thousands of people there how many weren't lame? The few I talked to were sorta lame hackers (according to my self-definition of hacker) ... we need to concentrate the win, and flush the alphabet soup and corporate suits imho (and no, you weren't lame, you were pretty cool... it was someone else... really, it was just one lame dude haha)

Went to the EFF summit for the first time as well. DJ Jackalope has great taste in EDM and can spin those records like a boss. Won a raffle for a lockpicky-kevlar-handcuff-shim kit which was neato, bid on a Pwnie Express, I was nervous bidding over 400 dollars seeing that I am basically broke... it would've been bought on my Visa if I won. The actual winner of the auction got a smoking deal on the http://blog.pwnieexpress.com/post/7741234681/announcing-the-pwn-plug-elite lucky duck whoever you were :) *jealous* hardware script kiddy? hehe awesome. The "open bar" was out of drinks before I could get a second, but I finished off my friend's margarita in addition to my original red bull and vodka...

It was an experience worth having, I feel in debt to my friends who let me have the experience by piggy backing the ride and room, I hope I added some ~~spice~~ to their experience as they added to my own.

Shouts to: Penguin and SamueLjackSUN, PhlaK and Sarah-ACK, Matt Gee-zuZ and Pappy GleeSUN, -- and a special place in my heart for Sting.

Fuckings to: That one guy, the jester, and "LulzSec"(and in a good way to LulzSec... ya know, until you had a "mission" with chinga la migra you were cool, I like the dude with the wine and mustache, he has good fuckin' taste.)