61
APFS in Detail
Apple announced a new file system that will make its way into all of its OS variants (macOS, tvOS, iOS, watchOS) in the coming years. Media coverage to this…
Topics /
Hardware & Electronics
The most popular blog posts about hardware & electronics on Hacker News. 148 posts.
62
Unlocking my Lenovo laptop battery
Introduction Two months ago, I bought a new battery for my Lenovo laptop (a ThinkPad X230T). I was about to go away on holidays and wanted a battery that could last me through a plane flight; the original battery was by then barely lasting ten minutes. Little did I know that I was about to be i
63
Verifying ARM processors against the official ARM specification
Researcher at Intel
64
65
Freeing my tablet: Android hacking, software and hardware
Freeing my tablet (Android hacking, SW and HW)
66
Getting started with Raspberry Pi – Building a Digital Photo Frame
What you can do with a tiny $35 computer and how I built a digital photo frame
67
Realistic alternatives to Apple computers
An assessment of 16 laptops.
68
Power Wastage on an Idle Laptop
Ever since I upgraded to Windows 10 it’s felt like my battery life is worse. My suspicion was various scanning tasks that were springing to life more frequently, but it was just a hunch. So, …
69
H265: Technical Overview
HEVC is among us. On January 25, 2013, the ITU announced the completion of the first stage approval of the H.265 video codec standard and in the last 1 year several vendors/entities have started to…
70
71
Updating my plane’s very old GPS data in a very modern way
Dmitry.GR: My epic saga of updating a plane's very old GPS's data in a very modern way
72
Why I don't like smartcards, HSMs, YubiKeys, etc.
This is a rant about smartcards with some digression into ranting about the integrated circuit industry.
73
74
Raspberry Pi Car Speed Detector
(2016-12-18 Version 2 is now on github. It fixes one bug, makes the code style more consistent, and adds a few additional options for tracking the results.) It started with a Facebook post from my …
75
Lumen: Auto brightness based on screen contents
Lumen is a menu bar application for macOS that magically sets the screen brightness based on your screen contents.
76
77
78
Weirdly broken Wi-Fi access points
And how to work around one kind on Mac OSX
79
Wired Documentary on Shenzhen
This shoot was a lot of fun, and it was a great pleasure working with Posy and Jim. I think their talent as producer and director really show through. They also did a great job editing my off-the-cuff narratives. The spot in the video where I’m pointing out Samsung parts isn’t matched to the b-roll of Apple parts, but…
80
81
Apple EFI firmware passwords and the SCBO myth
My original goal when I started poking around Apple’s EFI implementation was to find a way to reset a MacBook’s firmware password. My preliminary research found references to a “magical” SCBO file that could be loaded onto a USB flash drive and booted to remove the password. The normal process workflow is to first…
82
Practical Reverse Engineering Part 5 – Digging Through the Firmware
Fifth post in the series, covering how to obtain GPL source code, disassemble MIPS binaries with tools like IDA, and search the firmware for a default WiFi p...
83
Reverse Engineering a Real Candle
Two years ago, I spent some time analyzing the algorithm used in a candle flicker LED as commonly found in cheap artificial candles. I reverse engineered the algorithm from the flickering pattern…
84
Help Make “The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen” a Reality
Readers of my blog know I’ve been going to Shenzhen for some time now. I’ve taken my past decade of experience and created a tool, in the form of a book, that can help makers, hackers, and entrepreneurs unlock the potential of the electronics markets in Shenzhen. I’m looking for your help to enable a print run of this…
85
CCTV Cameras Sold on Amazon Come with Pre-Installed Malware
I needed a simple set of good outdoor surveillance cameras for a friends home. Like everything else I buy, I turned to Amazon. I found (what seemed like) a great deal for a set of 6 poe cameras and...
86
Unlocking my Lenovo laptop, part 3
The decryption function If you are just joining this story you may want to start at part 1. In part 2, we discovered that a embedded controller update is performed by uploading a small 'flasher' program to the EC. This flasher program is then responsible for programming a new firmware image t
87
88
Everything about the state of the Mac
Updates: October 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , November 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 18 , 22 , 27 , December 2 , 5 , 12 , 13 , 27 , January 2 , 5 , 5 , 9 , 11 , 13 , 22 , February 2 , 19 , March 15 , 17 , 21 , 22 , 28 , April 3 , 5 , 6 , 12 , 20 , 23 , May 3 , 6 , 19 , June 4 , July 27 …
89
90
UEFI boot: how does that actually work, then? (2014)
AdamW on Linux and more