Anatomy of a Hack

So, I have that "New every 2" plan for my cell...which basically gives you a $100 credit for a new phone every 22 months. Well, Thursday was new phone day. I used the credit and another special rebate they had going to hook myself up with a shiny new phone.

Now, some of you will understand and some just won't, but for people like me the funnest thing about a new electronic device is to see how far you can push it. I'm the guy that explores all the features of a device just because they're there. And then I try to make some new features. So, this post is mostly for the Reidolphs and AArolphs out there who dig adventures in nerd land.

I got my phone on Thursday afternoon and by Friday at 6:00PM I successfully "hacked" it. It was fun and interesting so I will describe it here. Please note that trying any of the things I mention in this post may very well "brick" your nice phone or any other electronic device you are trying to hack or mod. I was well aware that I might ruin the thing but have you noticed that every time someone does something cool there is a "Don't try this at home" disclaimer? How do you think those people learned how to do it? That's right, trying it at home.

Chapter 1 - Proxy Servers:
Cell phone service providers (hereafter referred to as CellCo) charge too much for internet access on your phone. I already pay for internet service at my house. I also pay for every minute I'm on the cell. Why should I pay for Net again and pay for airtime? Phones access the internet by dialing (like a phone call) a server that translates the web into a format the phone can understand. These servers operate something called a Wireless Application Proxy server. When you access the internet, via the proxy, your cell provider makes a note of your phone number and begins to charge you for every little thing you do. But these WAP servers are nothing special, they are very similar to HTTP proxy servers and there are a variety of free HTTP proxy servers out there for Windows and Linux. I figured if it exists for computer browsers it probably exists for phone browsers. Turns out that I was correct, there are free solutions that let you provide an internet access point for your phone.

Chapter 2 - the Phone OS:
Most interactive electronics have an Operating System in some form. That OS often has a file structure, configuration files for programs and other things, just like a computer (usually because it has to interface with a computer at some point). If you can access these configuration files you can often alter the intended function of said device. I needed to change some of these files to redirect my phone to my own proxy because it's set by default to go through CellCo's servers. Unsurprisingly, these configuration files were locked. You can get to the settings on the phone via a hidden service menu but it won't allow you to change them. Surprise, surprise.

Chapter 3 - Access Roadblocks:
I got a data cable with my phone that allows me to transfer music to my phone. However, the CellCo intentionally crippled the functionality so I couldn't transfer ringtones, pictures, my contacts, etc. Why? Because they charge $0.50+ per ringtone (that you can download anywhere on the internet in many cases for free), they charge you $10 to transfer your contacts from your old phone, and they charge you for the airtime and Net time it takes to download the info. Is that evil or what? Plenty of files are legally and legitimately free on the internet, I paid for a data cable (extra) and my phone has the capability to transfer the data and even accept data from programs like Outlook, etc. But they turn it off because they want me to pay them for that too. Forget that. I found a tool that would allow me direct access to my phone's root file structure and I was in...

Chapter 4 - A Parting Blow:
The phone knows I'm inside. I can see all the data contained neatly within it's little circuits. I navigate the directory structure until I understand where and how ringtones, pictures and other info is stored. However, when I try to open, copy any of these files or move any additional info to my phone....DENIED. CellCo has installed a last little barricade to forward progress. But it can't be a complete roadblock. What if your phone needs service? What if a file gets corrupted and the OS stops working? CellCo doesn't want to replace the whole phone for a software error. So they build in a service mode that usually allows a little more "flexibility." I had been into the basic service menu (using a special combo code that you can find around the net if you know where to look) but that was the menu where they locked the proxy config so you can't change it. Time for advanced service mode. This got a little more complex but suffice it to say that I released the ties that bind and made some alterations to the way my phone was set up. I also am now relatively confident that I could restore my phone to factory defaults if things really went south.

Chapter 5 - Triumph:
Proxy server installed and running on a computer: check. Account created on proxy server for cell phone: check. Port access allowed for cell phones: check. Configuration files backed up, hacked and overwritten on phone: check. Phone rebooted: check. Time for the moment of truth. I turned my phone back on and logged on to the internet, meanwhile watching the logs on the proxy server:
[cellphone] is attempting access. Password accepted. User [id number] logged on.
And there it was: Google Mobile on my cell phone screen and the sweet taste of success.



Let me make a few things clear here: as far as I know I did not break any laws. I'm sure I voided some warranties, and I probably pushed the rules in my EULA a bit. But there are companies out there that offer legal, cheap alternatives to your CellCo's mobile internet service so it appears to be a legitimate industry. Also, I am not getting anything for free that I should be paying for. The CellCo charges you to access the internet through their servers. However, I am not using their servers. I'm accessing it through my own, which I provided using Internet service that I paid for and computers that I built. I still have to pay for the air time like a regular mobile customer (but nights and weekends are free). I'm sure that CellCo would be irritated that I'm not buying ringtones, etc from them but I wouldn't have done that anyway on principal. The phone manufacturer themselves shouldn't have any problem with me demonstrating that their product does more than advertised.

Hacking my phone has provided a few useful things, I can transfer pictures and data back and forth more easily and add unique ringtones. I can also back up my contacts, which I did. Mobile Internet actually is near-worthless on a tiny cellphone screen and I can't imagine what I'd use it for (try typing in a URL on a stupid cellphone keypad). Most of the things I hacked you can do in other ways...it's just slower and/or more expensive. I mostly did this because I thought it might be possible and challenging. Both were true and I learned a lot.

It's A Girl (we think)

Well, you probably figured out by the title of this post that Wifey got an ultrasound today. Lots of our friends lately have had little baby girls so we were sorta hoping for a boy to mix things up a little. That being said, we were not disappointed to find that Wifey is, most likely, carrying a little girl. I have taken the liberty of posting the poor girl's picture right out here in public, girly bits and all, properly labeled and identified. Sorry kid but there ain't much to see anyway. If you're not offended by murky sonar images of naked babies, then scroll on down.


Below is the first portrait of our baby girl. It's kinda like one of those 3D magic-eye pictures. If you sorta squint at it, cock your head, and back up a few feet, you can almost make out a human-like face.


And the last pic is her foot. They measured a bunch of different bits of anatomy: spine, head, guts, etc. and finally determined that she ought to be a roughly-normalish kid. It's pretty fascinating to see everything where it's supposed to be, heart pumping and all. Miraculous. Speaking of the heart, I got to hear the little ticker on the ultrasound machine. Have you ever taken a two-liter bottle or a milk jug and upended it? The baby's heart sounds pretty much like that "BLUBG-BLUBG" sound that water chugging out of a bottle makes.


After looking at that little foot (not quite an inch long) I shudder to think how many pairs of tiny baby shoes wifey will come home with tomorrow. She was already eyeballing some tiny Puma's at the mall. I admit, they were pretty cute.

Now excuse me while I go talk to my shrink about living with two females in the same house.

When You Come Back Down

So, I recorded a version of "When You Come Back Down" on a $5 mic I got from a pawn shop several years ago. I used an electric guitar, piped into the computer and the cheapo mic for vocals. I knew even less about recording then and it turned out pretty awful. Mostly due to the mic recording sound quite terribly. I sound like David Allan Coe with a head cold.

Since then, I've wanted to take another shot at that song. I recorded a quick version last Friday night and then did some refining on it on Saturday morning but it came out very plain with just a guitar line, vocals and faint "shaker" in the background.

When my Great Grandfather (mom's mom's dad) passed away, his well-used mandolin went to my Grandma (mom's mom). Before she passed away last year I asked for the mandolin and claimed it after she was gone. In the months that have passed since then it has primarily been holding our piano down (that sucker is always trying to float away). I wanted to play it but it appeared to have significant structural damage and I was afraid it wouldn't take the strain of being tuned properly. I inquired with a few luthiers about repairs but they basically told me that it wasn't a very valuable (sentimentality excluded) instrument and not worth the considerable expense of fixing. I examined it more carefully and the main damage appears to be more cosmetic than structural.

So, I tuned up the ol' zither and looked up a the chords from "Come Back Down" in a mando book. I recorded some ham-fisted, mando strumming that was supposed to be very subtle in the background and quit working on it for the day. I intended to go back and adjust the volume and such (Wifey didn't like the mandolin so present in the song, especially since I can't really play it very well) but when I opened back up the source file it was corrupted and half the song was gone. Fortunately I had exported it as an mp3 but I can't go back and edit individual volume levels or other things now.

Being a geek, I did save the project in stages (meaning I have a v1, v2, v3...) but I would have to do about an hour's worth of tweaking to get back to where I was and re-record the mandolin parts if I still want them in the song. I'm already bored with this project so that ain't happening. You get the product as is, too-loud mandolin and all.

Oh, and there is also about 5 seconds of silence before the song starts. And the tempo is too slow. This is an amateur production folks, what did you expect? That dude from Nickel Creek, the one that sang this originally, would cry if he heard me butcher this tune.

Listen to the new AKoustic47's When You Come Back Down cover.

and just for kicks:

Listen to the old $5 mic version from several years back.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure the new version is any better. I like the harmony on the old version better but the audio quality is terrible.

AKoustic47

Okay! My rear is now numb from sitting on this little wooden stool toying with sound waves. Here is my latest effort at recording something to earitate the masses. It's short because I got sick of working on it. It's crappily crackily, ludicrously low fidelity, got more gold than Greg Louganis, more gain than Gloria Gaynor and more chorus than Deep Forest. It's called Blues on Glue, recorded in G flat-ish because I like G and I felt like playing flat. I hope you think it's sharp...

Download AKoustic47's Blues on Glue

New: Infernal Racket in High Fidelity!

I ordered a Large-Diaphram, multi-pattern, condenser USB microphone (Samson CO3U) from Sweetwater.com last Saturday. Large-Diaphram means that it can pick up a fairly wide range of frequencies. Multi-pattern means that it can record from a single direction or a few different configurations (so you can record a single instrument or multiple people at once). USB means that it plugs into my laptop. I don't know what the hooey "condenser" means but I've got my fingers crossed for "makes you sound awesome."

To my great delight the microphone was waiting at the door when I got home. I went and played ping pong again so I didn't get to experiment with it right away. But you can bet that after I got home the first thing I was doing was plugging it in and testing it out. The mic lived up to my expectations: which means it captures every flat note I hit and every buzzing string on my guitar in high-fidelity. Or at least, it records pretty good for the price. Good microphones can get extremely expensive. This one strikes a balance between performance and price.

The last mic I tried to record something with was a $5 piece of junk I picked up from a pawn shop back in college. The results were pathetic at best.

Anyway, I downloaded Audacity, a free sound recording and manipulation program and began fiddling. I don't know anything about recording, sound manipulation or much of anything else short of how to play the guitar. The result of my efforts is still pretty sad but at least you can tell that the mic records nicely for amateur stuff. Now if I could sing better, add some other instruments so it's not so bland, and actually learn to use the music software to take out the pops, crackles and other imperfections I will eventually achieve mediocrity! Now if Wifey ever gets over her cold, I can coerce her into laying down some vocal tracks. Yeah!

If you care to torture your ears you can download the mess here:
my first recording effort