AndrewHuang
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Bunnie Huang builds open-source geiger counter to help Japanese civilians
Chumby co-creator Andrew "Bunnie" Huang was so moved by the Japanese Earthquake and Fukushima meltdown that he felt compelled to help out. Teaming up with nonprofit organization Safecast, he started work on a radiation monitor that was suitable for everyday civilian use, rather than it remain the sole province of officials. As well as its readings being able to stand up to scientific scrutiny, Huang's counter had to remain functional after a natural disaster, last for ages and be small enough for people to carry around. When he had finished building the reference design, he open-sourced the design so companies like Medcom and individuals could build their own. If you'd like to dabble in the arts of radiation monitoring, head on down to the source link for a fascinating insight into how it's done.
The surprisingly seedy side of microSD production
That little memory chip serving tunes to your smartphone, the one that's just a sneeze or twitch away from going where the socks go whenever you take it out, has a far more interesting history than you think. Andrew "Bunnie" Huang, co-creator of the Chumby, explored the surprisingly interesting underside of microSD production in China after being given a batch of questionable memory cards direct from Kingston itself. Huang's conclusion is that the chips were created during a "ghost shift," when a rogue employee runs the manufacturing lines after hours to produce authentic looking but decidedly sub-par memory chips using materials of inadequate quality. Huang bought numerous questionable examples on the gray market and watched as vendors took bogus cards and threw them into authentic retail packaging, complete with serial numbers and holograms. If you're as fascinated by the world of KIRF as we are, it's a very interesting read.
WSJ: Xbox 360 is home of hacker hoedown
The illustrious Wall Street Journal sullied its white gloves while getting down and dirty with the Xbox 360 hacking scene yesterday. They profiled superstar hacker Bunnie Huang (he wrote Hacking the Xbox: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering) and his desire to duplicate his earlier success on the 360.When Microsoft bragged about how hack-proof their console was, we wrote, "Going out of your way to boast about how hack-proof your next product is going to be is probably the only surefire way to get an army of hackers on your ass." Turns out we were right. Huang says of his motivation, "It's about overcoming the challenge Microsoft has set out there ... They've bragged about the security for the Xbox 360, so now it's like: Well, let's see."While Huang hasn't had many successes himself, another 360 hacker (who goes by the hacker alias "Acid Burn" "The Specialist") has had a couple, exploiting the console's DVD-drive's firmware. Huang rightfully doesn't consider it a full decoding of the system, but acknowledges he might not be the one to do it either. "Things are different from a few years ago ... The stakes are higher for Microsoft and the hacking community has intensified its efforts."
