Hacking Times Square With an iPhone

This looks like a good place for this since to me it falls under Technology at least.

I think this is pretty cool actually, yet, it a odd way kind of scary considering the big picture and possible capabilites if you know what I mean. Some think this is a hoax, Im not so sure, What do you folks think. Im pretty sure there is a gadget that can probably do this.

Link to FULL STORY

Oh yeah, what the video is about, I think the title says it all actually!

Hmmmmm

That's pretty wild if true. I have been wondering what I should do with my unused iPhone.

I don't understand how it is using the headphone jack though. Time to do some more research and see if this can be replicated. Give me some time and I will post my results.

I could see a stripped down FM transmitter, but they uually plug in through the charging/data port on the bottom.

Ok it's usually hard for me to get really geeked out by something but that was so cool.

Originally posted by Acid_Burn2009
Hmmmmm

That's pretty wild if true. I have been wondering what I should do with my unused iPhone.

I don't understand how it is using the headphone jack though. Time to do some more research and see if this can be replicated. Give me some time and I will post my results.

Can't wait to read what you find out. lol Im more the artsy type so electronics are a bit over my head on how they really work! Have fun trying to figure it out for us!

Originally posted by KnowledgeIsPowre
Ok it's usually hard for me to get really geeked out by something but that was so cool.

I agree is it very cool, but, something tells me this could also be used for all the wrong reasons if in the wrong hands and if it really works of course. The good news is we may have that answer soon, since a trusty ats'er seems to all ready be on it!

its been proven as a fake .....but it would be a great way to promote ats

A perfect tool for the modern day protestor. Would be great to see all the screens get taken over in all the major cities of the world.

Can you provide a source proving as fake please?

Until I see that I am going to continue trying. I know I can control a camera with IR LEDs and an app on the phone so it does not seem out of the realm of possibility.

Originally posted by Mandelbrot2012
its been proven as a fake .....but it would be a great way to promote ats

Originally posted by Acid_Burn2009
Can you provide a source proving as fake please?

Until I see that I am going to continue trying. I know I can control a camera with IR LEDs and an app on the phone so it does not seem out of the realm of possibility.

Originally posted by Mandelbrot2012
its been proven as a fake .....but it would be a great way to promote ats

I work with video on a daily basis. I'm also a registered iPhone developer and I can without a doubt say this video is fake. Beyond the fact that even if there were API calls (or a library) that allowed you to pipe video thru the microphone port, it's a low bandwidth port and couldnt sustain the data rate. A more convincing video would have used the data port or even iPhone 4.3 os' airstream ability. I am not even going into the obvious problems with how the video upconverts and displays with "glitches" that conveniently look cool but are a 100% giveaway as the screen is not rendered like that.

not hard to do.. it's called tracking motion. takes a lot of time but if you put in the work you can make it look flawless.

fake

Gotcha...
I was not trying to say you have no skills.

Seemed odd that it was through the headphone port to me right away.
Wonder if something like TV B Gone might work for that.

Motion tracker can be found in adobe after effects, I have played with it.

Wow... if you could give this tech to some key city populations you could pull off a real life V for Vendetta situation. Plant a few Anon agents on busy streets with this video transmitter thing and EVERY public video screen suddenly shows Guy Fawkes masks. Put some PA systems on key positions around city blocks and there you go...

Originally posted by prepared4truth
Wow... if you could give this tech to some key city populations you could pull off a real life V for Vendetta situation. Plant a few Anon agents on busy streets with this video transmitter thing and EVERY public video screen suddenly shows Guy Fawkes masks. Put some PA systems on key positions around city blocks and there you go...

That is kind of what I meant when I said about it being in the wrong hands. Im still trying to figure out if we have decided if it is truly a hoax or not. I hate to think Im that suspectable to illusion.

Heh, that is pretty cool. Pretty sure it's a hoax, but it's cool anyway.

But I'm more interested in something else...

Originally posted by onehuman
it a odd way kind of scary considering the big picture and possible capabilites if you know what I mean.

No,.what do you mean?

Confirmed HOAX

Mods, please label appropriately.

Not my pic but I knew it looked familiar.


I did find some good info on peeking into wifi networks while I was looking though...LoL

The iphone doesn't support video from its headphone jack, but some iPODs do. Still, it makes me wonder if it is possible to hack those video screens. If they're operating on a simple radio frequency like a TV it is possible. But I bet they're actually connected via wireless internet.

reply to post by onehuman


What exactly makes this scary? Enormous corporate and government interests are already broadcasting all manner of imagery and audio straight to a shiny box in your living room. One random guy supposedly puts a video of himself on a screen, and suddenly broadcasting is scary? You DO know that it isn't particularly hard to build a transmitter of sufficient power to basically broadcast on all frequencies in your neighborhood, right? Of course, the FCC will come after you and fine you...

It IS possible to convert a video file into a sound file and then play the sound file out of the headphone jack. It is also possible to connect a microcontroller to the headphone jack and convert the sound signal back into a video file. That aspect is doable.

...but hacking the video screens in Times Square just by holding a transmitter device next to it? Not possible.

If you wait till the end of the video, there is another link to a vid where he describes how he does it, NZT he says a pill that lets him use 100% of his brain power...possible Limitless movie plug?

It is a promo for the movie Limitless. If you go into the video and click behind the scenes, at the end he says "I use a drug which allows all of my brain to be used", and that is a quote from the 2011 film, Limitless.

And anyway, I'm pretty sure the Big Televisions at Times Square are closed circuit so unless they have an awesome transmitter, it shouldn't "Hack" the TV.