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Hacking old hardware by renaming to .zip [video]

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Re: Hacking old hardware by renaming to .zip [video]

#71

Post by WalterBright »

nkrisc wrote: post #19
morsch wrote: post #10

What a coincidence, I just got an email announcing that Breville intend to orphan my Joule sous vide stick: the existing app will stop working, the new app is only available the US and Canada and in parts of Europe. Live in another country? You're s.o.l., it wasn't officially sold there. You need a new account as well, hope you like the TOS. All of this for a device whose core functionality -- setting a target temper…

I have an Anova sous vide cooker that is also about 10 years old and has an app, but is fully functional without it. When I bought it the app was free, but then later became a subscription addon. However they grandfathered all original owners into a free lifetime subscription. Pretty classy.

I've bought 4 internet radios over the last 25 years. They work for a few years, then are bricked because the remote server disappeared.

Re: Hacking old hardware by renaming to .zip [video]

#72

Post by seany »

greenavocado wrote: post #62
morsch wrote: post #10

What a coincidence, I just got an email announcing that Breville intend to orphan my Joule sous vide stick: the existing app will stop working, the new app is only available the US and Canada and in parts of Europe. Live in another country? You're s.o.l., it wasn't officially sold there. You need a new account as well, hope you like the TOS. All of this for a device whose core functionality -- setting a target temper…

It is essential to purchase and configure Home Assistant ( https://www.home-assistant.io/ ) compatible devices around the home whenever possible if you want a "smart home" that will last. Everything else is an Internet of Shit treadmill that lasts at most a few years before it falls off and is replaced by a new piece of e-waste.

The caveat here is that it needs to be local. I have a few things that work with HA, but they basically highjack the apps cloud login tokens ..

Re: Hacking old hardware by renaming to .zip [video]

#73

Post by EvanAnderson »

WalterBright wrote: post #71
nkrisc wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an Anova sous vide cooker that is also about 10 years old and has an app, but is fully functional without it. When I bought it the app was free, but then later became a subscription addon. However they grandfathered all original owners into a free lifetime subscription. Pretty classy.

I've bought 4 internet radios over the last 25 years. They work for a few years, then are bricked because the remote server disappeared.

You rented the devices with a full up-front payment, but the manufacturer stuck you with the e-waste problem when they decided to be come an absentee landlord.

This needs to be fixed by regulation. If a device requires an online service to function it (a) needs to be clearly advertised as rental and not a purchase, and (b) the device manufacturer must take the devices back and deal with the e-waste if they discontinue the services or release the software stack (including complete and corresponding source code and build environment) to allow third-parties to host it.

Re: Hacking old hardware by renaming to .zip [video]

#74

Post by RobMurray »

charcircuit wrote: post #2

I've found that Claude Code works well at reversing java applications. Even if it is fully obfuscated claude can restore sensible names for everything and understand how it all works and answer questions about what it is doing.

I got codex to vibe reverse engineer two devices from rom dumps recently - a talking timer that uses an 8051 cpu and a custom 5 bit audio format, and an ice cream van chime box that used a z80 and a ym2149 sound chip. Quite simple devices, but it did a great job. also made a web-based emulator for both. apparently WASM is hard, but I didn't notice.

Re: Hacking old hardware by renaming to .zip [video]

#75

Post by ErroneousBosh »

bombcar wrote: post #70
ErroneousBosh wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most agricultural plant had a "Lucas key" [1] which meant you could use any key to start any machine. I used to have one on my house keys long after I actually needed it, kind of an agricultural/industrial shibboleth. It's also how many many years ago I came to be drink-driving an eight tonne excavator through streets of Glasgow at 3am, with some rather grateful Strathclyde Police traffic cops keeping my way clear, b…

I have a ring somewhere with all the “common keys” such as elevator overrides, construction equipment, etc.

I used to have a keyring with the dozen or so different keys we have for network and equipment cabinets. One day I left it at home, and when I got to site realised that the cabinet was almost certainly one of the ones I didn't have a key for anyway.

I pulled the thin stainless strip out of an old wiper blade I'd thrown into the boot of my car to put in the bin later (and six months later, still had not), chopped two lengths of it, bent one into an L-shape and filed the little notch at the end of the other a little deeper and rounder. At some point muuuuch later I welded a little stainless washer to the ends of them both to put it on a keyring.

Yes, it was quicker and easier to just rake the wafer locks in the rack than find the right key.

Re: Hacking old hardware by renaming to .zip [video]

#76

Post by userbinator »

firtoz wrote: post #43
toast0 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that just a microwave oven, more or less?

Just need to amplify it 10000 times

Or 40dB. This is why those working with RF use dB --- power varies by orders of magnitude between the transmitter and receiver.

Re: Hacking old hardware by renaming to .zip [video]

#77

Post by RajT88 »

Ekaros wrote: post #36
morsch wrote: post #10

What a coincidence, I just got an email announcing that Breville intend to orphan my Joule sous vide stick: the existing app will stop working, the new app is only available the US and Canada and in parts of Europe. Live in another country? You're s.o.l., it wasn't officially sold there. You need a new account as well, hope you like the TOS. All of this for a device whose core functionality -- setting a target temper…

From get go I considered the whole design with no interface on device a bad idea... Apps can and will often go. Better to have also the local controls.

It's a plus from the manufacturer side - kitchen gadgets you keep more than 10 years.

With required smartphone app, it is almost assured to not work in 10 years, and you have to buy another one. Just another method of planned obsolesence.

Re: Hacking old hardware by renaming to .zip [video]

#78

Post by RajT88 »

firtoz wrote: post #43
toast0 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that just a microwave oven, more or less?

Just need to amplify it 10000 times

So - I know folks who have mulled over attaching the emitter of a microwave oven to a parabolic 2.4ghz antenna (indeed, same spectrum).

It would be cool... For anyone who does not want children one day.

Re: Hacking old hardware by renaming to .zip [video]

#79

Post by somat »

nkrisc wrote: post #19
morsch wrote: post #10

What a coincidence, I just got an email announcing that Breville intend to orphan my Joule sous vide stick: the existing app will stop working, the new app is only available the US and Canada and in parts of Europe. Live in another country? You're s.o.l., it wasn't officially sold there. You need a new account as well, hope you like the TOS. All of this for a device whose core functionality -- setting a target temper…

I have an Anova sous vide cooker that is also about 10 years old and has an app, but is fully functional without it. When I bought it the app was free, but then later became a subscription addon. However they grandfathered all original owners into a free lifetime subscription. Pretty classy.

Needing an app for these things is stupid in the first place, but the real kick in the metaphorical nuts is that the needed app should be stored on the device. Want to use your phone to control the device load the program to do so off the device itself.

We really only have one tech stack where this actually works, the web. And I consider this to be either the great failure of the app ecosystem(why on earth do apps need a manual install step?) or amazement that the corporate overlords let the web slip through the gaps.

Is there a way to do web over bluetooth? or is that another missing piece?

Re: Hacking old hardware by renaming to .zip [video]

#80

Post by thin_carapace »

ACCount37 wrote: post #15
egeozcan wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, I'd have assumed the guardrails would disallow them from doing anything like that, regardless of legality. Do you need to "convince" it to do it or no questions asked?

Claude doesn't care as long as you aren't straight up asking it to write exploits. It's my go-to for reverse engineering tasks. ChatGPT is full of refusals and has to be jailbroken out of it.

may i ask how the current generation language models are jailbroken? im aware the previous generation had 'do anything now' prompts. mostly curious from a psychological perspective.
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