I hate keys. I am on a mission to dispose of them all. There is currently a key pad to enter the SparkFun building, a key pad on my home, and RFID to get into the interior rooms at SparkFun. It is my goal to get rid of the last key in my pocket, my Mazda key I combined the Nike+iPod device and my key fob, with an Arduino Pro Mini, to create the iFOB.

So let me show you how to get into Defcon for a measly $15! (That still leaves you some scratch for BEER!) It is time to introduce this years I-Hacked T-Shirt.

Not only will you get into Defcon for free (minus the cost of the tshirt of course) but you will have access to areas most “Humans” simply wont! Imagine hob-knobbing in the goon’s private skybox! Imagine finding the talk that you are most interested in, COMPLETELY FULL… With a normal badge you would be out of luck, but using the 2009 Defcon17 I-Hacked shirt, you can tell some sad sorry sap to get the hell out of your seat, because you are a goon and they have to listen to you! And it is completely legal!

How were we able to do this? Simple, We were able to (easily I might add) obtain the details of the badges early by social engineering the company that Joe Grand used for production. Not only did they provide the final proofs back to us, but actually sent us some PHYSICAL SAMPLES! (wh000000t!)

We took those proofs and produced a T-Shirt that we feel captures the “hacker spirit”. This limited edition 2009 Defcon17 I-Hacked tshirt, which is SURE to be “THE” topic of DC17 and making it to DEFCON LORE can be had for only 15 bucks.

All proceeds will go to providing beer to those who are wearing the shirts.

As builders of improvised electronic devices, we’re worried that we may find ourselves running afoul of the law. Lucky for us, we’ve got the advice of Regent University Law Professor James Duane on using the 5th amendment. He runs through many examples where saying anything at all, truth or otherwise, can get you into trouble. Embedded below is the other side: Officer George Bruch discussing some of the interview techniques he uses.

Stealing $15 of Del Taco food for you and your buddies can land you a maximum of seven years in prison. That’s what two accomplices are up against in a case where three men filmed themselves tricking Del Taco employees over the phone to give them a free meal and then posting it on YouTube. The video’s “star,” Robert Echeverria, who Rialto police said is a known gang member and was “crying like a baby” at the station before making a plea bargain to serve 30 days in jail with three years of probation.

“How To Scam Del Taco” was posted on YouTube embedded below on February 22nd it has over 20,000 views so far and after a tip to police, the three were soon in custody. The two boys posted bail, but Echeverria remained as he could not produce enough money to follow suit.

For prosecutors, this is a slam dunk case and say they’ve never had anything so ready to go. Echeverria was scheduled to be in court yesterday. The three say they were just fooling around and never intended this to be blown out of “proportion.” Stealing is stealing, isn’t it? Video after the jump.

I am so glad these guys went to jail. If you are going to film a “Social Engineering” attack — make it slick. Not stupid.

We have decided to have a little contest — The winner will receive this free pass, an I-Hacked T-Shirt, and a VIP pass to the I-Hacked party all of which is worth over $120!

All you have do is submit the most Hackerish, scandalous, or ingenious i-hacked.com photo or image! Previous contests excluded Photoshops, but not this one. Examples of entries: Could be of someone in a I-Hacked T-shirt doing something they shouldnt, or a Photoshop of the word I-Hacked.com on the NYSE. The possibilities are endless.

Send all submissions to: defcon-entry@i-hacked.com

Contest will end Wed at Noon (central), and all entries will be posted on I-Hacked.com.

SPREAD THE WORD!

Just FYI Defcon starts THIS FRIDAY (8/3) SO HURRY!

MIT Project aims human buffer overflow at Secret Service

By Nate Anderson
| Published: July 16, 2007 – 11:59AM CT

We’ve known for years that color laser printers can embed a series of tiny yellow dots on pages they print. The dots—almost invisible under normal circumstances—can be used to determine which particular printer produced the image. Essentially, each printer outputs its own serial number. This is great for busting counterfeiters but raises all sorts of privacy concerns. Now, MIT students are getting involved in the campaign against the dots with the new Seeing Yellow project.

Seeing Yellow is the brainchild of MIT’s Computing Culture research group, which “want to preserve the right to anonymous communication by fighting both printing dots and the government bullying used to sustain them.” The project was conceived after the team received word that an anonymous hacker had called his printer manufacturer to complain and was subsequently visited by the Secret Service, who were curious to know why someone with nothing to hide would want to disable the tracking dots.

The dots (image courtesy of Seeing Yellow)

Seeing Yellow now encourages waves of people to contact printer manufacturers, enough so that the Secret Service and other government agencies cannot simply single out those who call to complain. The project is simple: suggest that people call manufacturers, then provide contact information and talking points. That’s it. So far, according to the site, 434 people have called.

Not sure if your printer is on the list? The EFF has a partial list of dot-printing machines. The dots are nearly invisible to the naked eye, but Seeing Yellow points out that the easiest way to see them is to shine a blue light on one of the printed pages. If the dots are there, they will show up as tiny black marks.

Just digging through upcoming in digg.com, I came across iphoneunlocking.com.
Some people claiming to have unlocked so many iPhones. Since iPhone is locked to AT&T and it would be ages before apple release the unlocked version, I thought I might as well as see if this unlocking is legit.

Here are some screen shots which pretty much explains it all. By the way, I disabled All JavaScript on my browser before I did this.

Today Vista launches. I’ve received a number of e-mails from readers looking for more information on the black arts of the OEM edition, so here it is: my brief introduction to everything you need to know before going OEM.
What is OEM?

OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer, and most often refers to the likes of Dell or Gateway. At least originally, “OEM versions” of products were usually the same products that you’d find at retail, but with no-frills packaging, reduced support, and sometimes lesser warranties.

When it comes to Windows, “OEM editions” most often refer to the cheaper versions of Windows made available to “system builders” and other classes of Microsoft partners. You can buy OEM versions of Windows online almost any place that sells software, such as NewEgg. Companies keep compliant with Microsoft’s rules by bundling OEM versions with a token piece of hardware, like a cable. Here’s a glimpse of current OEM pricing:

* Vista Home Basic $99 (full version retail: $199)
* Vista Home Premium: $119 (full version retail: $239)
* Vista Business: $149 (full version retail: $299)
* Vista Ultimate $199 (full version retail: $399)