Many of the sites take all phones – including clunky, brick-shaped dinosaurs – and simply recycle those that cannot be reused. Phones taken in that still have value are tested, outfitted with any needed accessories and then sold to dealers who resell them as refurbished phones in the United States or abroad. Some phones are donated to charities for use as emergency phones. [via] Link.
If you’re looking for past volumes of MAKE, we now have another way of getting them! VOLUME #2: Robot builders, building your own high definition video recorder, how to podcast, making a robot from an old computer mouse, reconditioning an old amplifier…and more! And volume #1 our premiere issue! Link.
Handy to review, since a lot of folks are talking about weezin the Wi-Fi being a crime now...”Unauthorized access” entails approaching, trespassing within, communicating with, storing data in, retrieving data from, or otherwise intercepting and changing computer resources without consent. These laws relate to either or both, or any other actions that interfere with computers, systems, programs or networks. Link.
A little history on Phrack…The in-house magazine of the digital underground, Phrack, is closing after 20 years as its editorial team steps down. As much manifesto as hacking handbook, the magazine was hugely influential in the early days of hacker culture. Link.
MAKE Flickr pool member gadgetgirl posted photos on how to make your own Magial Money. You’ll need Gold, silver and bronze Fimo, a rolling pin, small circular cookie cutters, some sort of alphabet rubber stamp set, mythical themed rubber stamps or charms (I found these in the scrapbooking section), black acylic paint and gold acylic paint. Link.
Roger W. Sutton, an inmate at Mountain View Correctional Institution in Spruce Pine, NC, built a working clock out of paper, popsicle sticks, and pencils, using only a razor blade, tweezers, and nail clippers as his tools (Mountain View must allow access to sharp objects). The clock has beautiful colors, too! I’d imagine that being imprisoned gives people a keen interest in the passage of time– and that there are probably many other amazing but little-known projects by prisoners. Link.
The unhackable BIOS exists for one very simple reason: the manufacturer wants this PC to work for the broadest, simplest set of PC users. In other words, it does not want to have to bear the cost of support calls related to hacked BIOS settings. Completely understandable if this is a family PC but very frustrating if you’re a real techie and wish to experiment. All hope may not be lost. Many vendors use the same or a similar version of system boards that you can get off the shelf or by mail order. Link.
