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                      Digital                             .                     
                       Information                                              
                        Group

                                Issue Number Fear
                                Friday 13th, 2006
                                
                                    UPDATED !

|______________________________________________________________________________|
 ______________________________________________________________________________ 
|                                                                              |

 This is not the future I signed up for.
The future was riding on light, dancing until the sun came up, smartdrugs,
technology and progress. We plugged our brains into a collective network and 
became one with everything. Going to work meant walking from the bedroom to the 
desk. Friends were never more than a button press away. Bandwidth was cheap and 
plentiful. Road warriors carried silicon and wore leather. They were dangerous 
enough to be useful, and smart enough to be trusted. We had clients, not 
employers. We made contracts and resolved our own conflicts. Politics took a 
back seat to technology when we spoke. Deadlines were something to be smashed. 
We were in constant competition with ourselves to make ourselves better. We 
worked as hard as we played, and our results proved this. Our friends never went 
hungry or dry. We celebrated ourselves and coming into our own. We saw the 
future with possibility not with fear. We invested in our future - the future as 
we saw it: knowledge, hard work that pays off, hard play that makes it all 
worthwhile. A life, not an existence. Now we face the world as you have made it. 
A place where it is illegal to dance. Where we choose between eating and paying 
rent. Where our work lines your pockets while we live in fear that a job well 
done today means unemployment tomorrow. Our future has not died. It lies dormant 
inside of us, fueling our hope and passion. A day will come when it will awaken, 
and we will be all this, and more.

---

...Magazine Information...

Disclaimer
Information is provided purely for educational purposes.  All information 
presented here is thought to be accurate; however no guarantees are made or 
implied.  DIG, authors, editors, and affiliates cannot and will not be held 
responsible for any actions arising from persons reading or downloading this 
information.  We do not condone, support or participate in any illegal 
activities.  Articles published do not neccessarily reflect the beliefs of DIG 
or it's affiliates.

Release Dates
There is no set release schedule for DIG, quarterly installments are expected, 
but the release schedule may vary.  Check our website (www.digzine.com) for 
updates.

Writers Wanted
We are always looking for more writers on topics of interest to hackers, 
phreaks, virus writers, crackers, and science, but other topics are of interest 
as well.  If you don't know whether DIG would be a good place for your article, 
email us and we'll talk.

Distribution
DIG is available for free online and can also be ordered in limited hard copy at 
www.digzine.com through Pay Pal (if you don't have Pay Pal, drop us an email for 
other payment options).  The hard copy contains all the same information as the 
online copy, but includes graphics, and you can hold it in your hand!  Feel free 
to and please do copy, reprint, and distribute DIG, as long as nothing is 
changed, and you don't try to make a profit off of our work.

Letters
We will print your letters.  If you would like to make a comment, ask a 
question, make a correction or a contribution send them to dig@digzine.com and 
we will publish them.  If you don't want your letter published, just let us 
know.  All contact information will be kept private.

How to help
You can help us by letting everyone know about us, spread flyers, link to us, 
print more copies to distribute, or write articles!  Monetary donations are 
accepted to help pay for hosting and printing, but providing information or 
services would be a better donation.

Privacy
We will honor all confidentiality requests.  We keep no record of addresses, 
privacy is important to us.

Contact
dig@digzine.com
Our Public Key is available on the website.


---

Table of Fearness

--Future
    Author Unknown

--Introduction
    lowtec

--Spoofing Charge Number
    greyarea

--T-mobile - Get More... Than you're supposed to!
    Lucky225 & Greyarea

--Laser Diode Operation and Application
    Unknown_Entity
  
--Modding The Kodak Disposable Flash Camera
    Unknown_Entity

--Meditation: A Definitive Study
    The Group

--New Hacker Manifesto - draft 0.1
    Goat

---

Introduction
lowtec

  Guess what all you techno-junkies, phreaks, and keyboard cowboys - your 
favorite 'zine is back in town. It's been a while, but we don't plan on going 
anywhere so don't get your hopes up all you three letter organizations. This 
issue might not be as thick as the previous issues, but we're planning on doing 
(somewhat) more frequent releases. Sometimes meatspace just takes over.

  On that note though, if you want to see more frequent releases, send in some 
articles! Let us know what your latest projects are, share them with everyone. 
Write in and ask for help on a project and see if you can't generate some 
interest.

  Enjoy the issue, and stay safe ;P

---

Spoofing Charge Number
greyarea@phreaksandgeeks.com

  Ok this is something that has been very controversial to most people in the 
scene these days, well at least the people who understand the whole concept of 
Calling Party Number (CPN) and Automatic Number Identification (ANI).  If you 
don't know the difference between the two by now I can give an example and the 
definitions of both to clear it up for you.

(Example given below)
1. Peter calls my phone and I have it forwarded to Doug.  Since Peter is the 
Calling Party Number (CPN) that will generate the CallerID to Doug and Peters 
number will show up on Doug's CallerID display.  However I am the Charge Number 
(CN) behind Peter's Calling Party Number (CPN) because I connected the call to 
doug.

2. Peter calls my phone and I have it forwarded to NPA-555-1212.  Even though 
he's the Calling Party Number, directory assistance will see my number because 
I'm the Charge Number (CN).  I originated the call to directory assistance and 
they will bill me.  Both calls Peter's ANI aka CN stopped at me and I became 
the ANI for both calls but Peter remained the Calling Party Number.  Got it..?  
If not here are the definitions.


Sited: FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
47 CFR Part 64

[CC Docket No. 91-281, FCC 95-187]


    (a) ANI. The term "ANI" (automatic number identification) refers
to the delivery of the calling party's billing number by a local
exchange carrier to any interconnecting carrier for billing or routing
purposes, and to the subsequent delivery of such number to end users.
    (b) Calling party number. The term Calling Party Number refers to
the subscriber line number or the directory number contained in the
calling party number parameter of the call set-up message associated
with an interstate call on a Signaling System 7 network.
    (c) Charge number. The term "charge number" refers to the
delivery of the calling party's billing number in a Signaling System 7
environment by a local exchange carrier to any interconnecting carrier
for billing or routing purposes, and to the subsequent delivery of such
number to end users.


  Ok now that you have that down, lets move on to the fearness...  All this time 
everyone and their mom has thought that ANI was CPN and now you know it is not 
the same thing.  When spoofing Charge Number (CN) there are a couple of things 
to keep in mind first. 
1.  You will need to know what "real" long distance provider is originating your 
calls.
2.  You will need to know what provider is handing the calls off to the 
terminating number.
3.  You will need to be able to set your Calling Party Number to your liking.
4.  You will need to know if your VoIP provider is passing an ANI FAIL behind 
your set Calling Party Number.
5.  You will need a friend that can supply teh kind herbals to understand what 
is happening.

  A big handful of VoIP Providers will let you choose your CPN (which you know 
generates your CallerID).  That's not the ANI though because the call didn't 
originate from the number you chose.  Some VoIP providers will set a 10 digit 
non-billable number as your ANI so you can't charge someone else's phone with it 
and some of them will just simply pass an ANI Fail behind your CPN. An ANI fail 
is just a 3 digit area code that represents where the number delivery 
information was lost from the Originating Station ID.

  There are a couple of methods when changing your Charge Number (CN) and I'll 
get into the conditions now.  The first method is the "Crossing platforms" 
method.  This is when you have an ANI Fail behind your set Calling Party Number 
(CPN) and call a number that is on a different platform, for example terminating 
to a number provided by Qwest and originating your call from at&t's network.  
Since your call didn't start on the Qwest network their systems will receive 
your Calling Party Number as the Charge Number because they received no Charge 
Number (CN).

  Another method that is needed to change the Charge Number on the same network 
that your call originated from is called "Matching NPA's." NPA is the same thing 
as an area code. So when your VoIP provider is passing that ANI Fail you will 
need to find out what the NPA is and match it. Even though this method is good 
for changing the Charge Number on the same platform or network it is limited to 
the area code that is being passed as the ANI Fail. Getting around this and 
being able to change the NPA its passing as a fail on the same network, if it 
happens to be on at&t's network you can simply dial 1-800-callatt or 
1-800-operator passing a ANI Fail behind your set Calling Party Number and tell 
the operator the number you're calling from because they didn't get a Charge 
Number, only a Calling Party Number (CPN) and they ask for it. And say "fjear 
special needs operator privileges please dial 8xx-xxx-xxxx" and when they place 
that call it will pass your Calling Party Number they received as the Charge 
Number and that will give you the ability to choose whatever NPA you want on the 
network you originated the call on.

  A good tool to have is some ANAC's. Heres the definition for what a ANAC is:
 Sited: google.com
An Automatic Number Announcement Circuit (ANAC) is a special telephone number 
that is meant to be used by phone company technicians, phone phreaks and other 
telecommunications technicians to determine the phone number of a particular 
line.

  One thing to keep in mind is that when calling a real ANAC it is important to 
call the one that is on the same platform that your calls are being handed off 
by. Otherwise you won't get the real Charge Number you will get the Calling 
Party Number. So at&t to at&t, Verizown to Verizown, Qwest to Qwest and Sprint 
to Sprint. Remember that when testing. I would drop some but you know what would 
happen to them, sorry...

  By default on a regular call this is the call flow I currently believe takes 
place:
ANI generates the Charge Number, (Charge Number is what leaves the network 
acting as the ANI)
Charge Number generates the Calling Party Number
Calling Party Number generates the CallerID. 
 
  This wasn't intended to be put out there for people to start charging other 
peoples line either or blaming people for malicious calls. That's just plain 
stupid and gives you bad karma. It was put out to show how it works and the 
great vulnerability going beyond just spoofing CallerID and to help identify it 
so that if somebody gets blamed for bogus traffic their lawyers have a way to 
prove it didn't take place. Phreaking isn't about getting free phone calls or 
any of that other shit. It's finding out how something works and recreating it 
yourself or making it better or more secure but the key is being interested in 
how things work. Now with the knowledge of finding out how shit works comes 
along the ability to place free calls and so on but those types of decisions are 
up to the individual not the phreak scene.

 The audio version of this file can be found at: 
 http://oldskoolphreak.com/audio/spoofing_charge_number.mp3

Peace 
keep it stjeal
shouts:
Group Bell @  www.Phonetrips.org, www.oldskoolphreak.com, natas, dual, ACH,  
www.defaultradio.com, lucky, doug, whitesword, royal, ic0n, clops, moy slatko 
dunia-djuka, cup0spam, and licutis, notthoery, majest|c, lowtec, all the peeps 
up in Canada holding it down, and most of all Mr Pink, when I needed 
encouragment and support you were there and you help teach me as an example to 
keep my mind out of the gutter and really get into what phreaking is all 
about... learning, I hope you keep j0r head up in the times of bullshit; you 
have a lot of support from everybody. 

---

// T-mobile - Get More... Than you're supposed to!
//
// by Lucky225 & Greyarea
// http://www.hexrev.com

  After I 'moved' to Iowa, I decided to go with T-mobile as my cellular 
provider. Like I do whenever I change carriers, I saw if I could break things. 
T-mobile, as anyone might have guessed, was fairly easy.  I have now found a way 
to have completely unlimited calling for as low as $26.98/month.

  Goto T-mobile.com or a T-mobile store and sign up for the Basic 60 whenever 
minutes/500 weekend minutes for $19.99 per month.  Then choose the option to add 
Unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling for $6.99/month.  This brings your monthly 
total to $26.98/month before taxes.

  Now you probably think you know where I'm going with this, a mobile-to-mobile 
Caller ID spoofer right?  Well read on.  I've found a way to place OUTGOING 
calls for free, as well as INCOMING.

// Outgoing Calls

  Aparently, voicemail is considered a mobile-to-mobile call. T-mobile voicemail 
(depending on what Mobile Voice Processor [MVP] you're using) will let you press 
8 to return calls if the person who left you a message didn't block their caller
ID.  The call is still considered mobile-to-mobile.  I immediately started 
thinking about spoofing my entire phone book into my voicemail, but then I had a 
better idea.  Just build an Asterisk dial out box, spoof the DID number into 
your voicemail, then everytime you want to place a call out, log into your 
voicemail and press 8 on the saved message with your Asterisk box DID phone 
number.  Now you can call out to anywhere and it wont waste any of your minutes.

// Incoming Calls

  Now obviously this one should be easy for you to guess, just set up an 
asterisk DID to give out as your cellphone and have asterisk call you from a 
T-mobile phone number for it to show up as mobile-to-mobile.  But what if you 
could have one particular phone number that you know would always show up as 
mobile-to-mobile? Well now you can, remember how calling voicemail is 
mobile-to-mobile? Well aparently if you spoof 805-637-7243 (805-MESSAGE, the 
national voicemail number) to your T-mobile cell phone it shows up as 
mobile-to-mobile.  Even stranger if you spoof 800-937-8997, T-mobile's customer 
care, the call doesn't even show up in T-mobile's call logs!

// Privacy

  Not only do you get the added benefit of all your incoming and outgoing calls 
on T-mobile for free, but in the event of a Paris Hilton type hack, anyone 
looking at your call detail records will only see incoming and outgoing calls
to or from voicemail!

// Disclaimer

  T-mobile updates their MVPs(Mobile Voice Processors) all the time.  This is 
not guaranteed to work in your area.  In Kansas, you don't even need to press 8 
to call back the person in your voicemail, you can press 9 to call out to 
anywhere, so not sure if Voicemail is mobile-to-mobile there, or if it's 
mobile-to-mobile now that this article is probably sitting on the CFO's desk at 
T-mobile.  Also, I've noticed if I 3-way conference voicemail, it apears to not 
show up as mobile-to-mobile unless I specifically dial 805-message instead of 
holding down 1 or dial 123.

// Voicemail Bouncing

  Since T-mobile's voicemail system is really insecure if the skip password 
feature option is enabled, you can use other people's voicemail boxes to 
'bounce' or divert your telephone calls.  Now spoofing to 805-MESSAGE doesn't 
work anymore, you would have to spoof to the particular MVP that handles the 
T-mobile cellphone you are trying to spoof in to. (When you call 805-MESSAGE 
from your cellphone, it is believed that the cell tower it's self actually 
redirects you to the correct MVP which is why skip password works from your cell 
but not when you spoof caller ID to it.)  Most of the time the MVP can be found 
in the cellular prefix with the last 4 digits being 9999.  If you goto 
telcodata.us you can lookup all the prefixes on the switch and scan out 9999 
until you find the MVP for that cellphone.  Once you have the MVP, you simply 
spoof caller ID to it, and if skip password is enabled, you will be let in to 
their voicemail box.  If you spoof a number to call to the voicemail, you can 
then spoof back into the MVP to retrieve the message and call that person back 
from the MVP.  The caller ID and Billing Telephone Number(BTN/ANI) will be that 
of the cellphone, so any call traces will get traced to the cellphone of the 
voicemail box you're bouncing through!

// Systems T-mobile uses

Systems Tmobile use's

 Remedy = Trouble ticket reporting system,  also the database that has all the 
   employees info in it.  
 Sampson = Billing, Call Detail records (CDR). 
 Watson = Activations / Orders
 CAM = Customer Account Manager (indirect dealerships use a different version 
   called iCAM) This contains customer info.
 

// Numbers

(877) 819-6042 Same thing as 800-937-8997
(877) 606-4801 Backdoor Customer Service. 
(800) 284-9291 IVR=Credit check/Number Port/Activations/Equipment changes/Easy 
  speak pre-paid program
(913) 753-6545 The number police have to fax to request documents about an 
  account.
(206) 313-0004 The number all text messages are sent thru.
(877) 369-4588 Backdoor Tier 2, The Data Group Technical Support. 
(888) 662-4662 NOC west 
(888) 218-6664 NOC east 
(800) 260-6003 California NOC 
(888) 624-5173 Risk Assesment team 
(425) 444-6235 Dale Orcroft's Cellphone number Hes the manager over at the 
  GlennAir Group. They handle all the MVP's.

Switches:

 PHX 602-643-3586 602-643-3081
 OKC 405-270-5710
 Austin TX 512-437-6599
 Dallas TX 214-523-4183
 HOuston TX 281-372-2800
 Seatle WA 425-798-7477
 Portland OR 503-262-0005
 Chicago IL 773-444-5501
 TAMPA FL 813-243-3300
 Cleveland OH 216-525-6060
 Pittsburg 412-365-2250
 Minneapolis 952-833-4240
 San antonio Call Austin
 New Orleans 504-835-3434
 Idaho call salt lake city
 Hawaii 808-593-0074
 St louis MO 314-872-3733
 Kansas City 816-936-6400
 Colorado Denver NSS (Network SubSystem) 303-313-2902
 Colorado Denver BSS (Base SubSystem) 303-313-2960

California LA Market:
 
 213-346-0702
 562-777-0600
 714-446-0693

// Links

https://watson.t-mobile.com
https://icam.t-mobile.com
http://www.t-mobilenews.com
http://www.t-mobilesecretshop.com
https://mymail.t-mobile.com
https://learning.t-mobile.com

---

Laser Diode Operation and Application
ELCT 232
Unknown_Entity
4/27/05

Preface:
  The following is by no means a comprehensive coverage of laser theory. This 
article is intended to serve as an introduction for a laser project that I have 
yet to publish, if you're on the binrev forums you may already know what i am 
referring to. A complete and in depth analysis would require a 2nd or 3rd year 
university physics course and more math than you could shake a stick at. All the 
following information is true,  this is really how lasers work but analyzing the 
physics down to the most basic level is not necessary for an understanding how 
lasers operate. The terms atoms, ions, and molecules are used loosely in the 
context of this article to describe the action in a lasing medium, however the 
actual particle in question depends on the specific medium used (He-Ne, Ruby, 
Nd-YAG etc...). 

General Laser Theory and Operation
  Most lasers have three basic features in common. The first of which is a 
lasing medium. The medium can be a solid, liquid, gas or semiconductor material. 
The only requirement is that it must have a relatively low attenuation to any 
light energy traveling within the medium. Secondly, there has to be a way to 
"pump" energy into the lasing medium by optical, electrical or any other means. 
The third requirement is an optically resonant cavity. The most common 
arrangement is simply to place mirrors at the ends of the lasing medium so that 
most of the energy escaping the medium is reflected back into the medium thus 
achieving resonance. One mirror is 100% reflective while the output mirror 
allows a small amount of light to pass through thus projecting a laser beam. 

  If all the previously mentioned requirements have been met then it is possible 
for lasing to occur. Before any energy is pumped into the lasing medium the 
atoms/ions in the medium are at a state of rest known as the ground state. 
However by pumping energy into the medium the majority of the atoms/ions are 
elevated one or more energy levels and are now in an excited state, this process 
is known as a population inversion. When an atom/ion loses the energy that was 
pumped into the medium it falls one or more energy levels at the same time 
releasing a photon of light this is known as spontaneous emission. Spontaneous 
emission happens at random as the atoms/ions lose their energy and fall back 
towards the ground state.  The photons released by spontaneous emission collide 
with other atoms/ions in the medium and cause them fall back to lower energy 
thus releasing a photon of their own. This process is known as stimulated 
emission and is very similar to a chain reaction. Most of the photons/light 
released are reflected back into the medium by the mirrors causing other 
atoms/ions within the medium to drop to a lower energy level and release photons 
as well. This process is called Stimulated emission. When stimulated emission 
occurs eventually all of the atoms/ions that were pumped to a higher energy 
level give up their energy and release photons as they return to the ground 
state. This process produces a single pulse of light that is both monochrome 
(containing only one wavelength of light) and coherent (all the light waves are 
in phase with each other). This mode of operation produces only a single short 
pulse of light. To produce a continuous beam (CW Mode) as most diode and gas 
lasers do you need to pump energy into the cavity faster than the atoms/ions can 
fall back to a lower  state so that the population inversion is never depleted. 

Laser Diode Types
  The first diode lasers were developed in the early 1960's and were a miniature 
version of the single optical cavity pulsed laser described above. They were 
composed of a normal light emitting PN junction (LED) with an optical cavity 
made of semiconductor crystal. As a result they were horribly inefficient and 
could only be run in short pulses or risk melting the diode itself from 
excessive heat. The beam shape of the output has an oval pattern that is common 
among all types of edge emitting lasers.   This early form of diode laser is 
rarely used anymore.

  Edge emitter type lasers are still used today however many advances have been 
made to increase the efficiency of diode lasers. By replacing the single large 
optical cavity with several layers of PN semiconductor forming multiple small 
closely spaced cavities (usually no more than 5 layers) efficiency was greatly 
improved.  These same added layers also confine the free electron and hole pairs 
to a concentrated area around the middle of the junction in the active region.  
Due to the increased efficiency, less power is used to run the laser. Drive 
requirements for this type of laser are very similar to that of standard LEDs 
which is about 15-30mA DC. This means it can be ran continuously, rather than 
just pulsed because overheating is no longer an issue. These types of diodes are 
called heterojunction (multi junction) laser diodes and are the most common type 
of diode lasers today.

  The latest type of diode laser is called the Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting 
Laser (VCSEL). VCSELs use the same concept of several smaller cavities to 
increase efficiency however the number of layers can easily reach over 100. It 
is different from most other types semiconductors lasers in that the laser beam 
is amplified and emitted vertically (perpendicular to) rather than horizontally 
(parallel with) the many semiconductor layers that make up the laser cavity. 
VCSELs have many advantages over edge emitter type lasers. For example in the 
manufacturing process there is greater degree of control of the qualities of 
VCSEL type lasers because the final output properties can be altered by adding 
more alternating PN layers or changing their thickness. Drive requirements for 
VCSELs are only 1-2mA DC because the many PN layers cause it to have a rather 
high impedance. This means they are far more efficient and have the potential 
for faster switching speeds and data rates than edge emitter types. The optical 
qualities (beam shape/astigmatism) of VCSELs are also superior to all other 
semiconductor lasers, this is because the aperture and lasing cavity in VCSEL 
lasers is round rather than oval like edge emitters

Diode Laser Applications
  Diode lasers are used for a wide range of applications today ranging from a 
simple laser pointer to high speed communications; however only a select few 
will be discussed in detail here. The most familiar application of laser diodes 
would be the simple laser pointer. The most basic laser pointer consists of only 
a few simple parts such as a power source, switch and a series resistor to limit 
the diode current to a safe level of 20mA or lower. The output of the laser 
diode alone is not focused very well it is in the oval pattern of the edge 
emitter. Therefore a minimum of two simple lenses are needed to focus the output 
of the diode into the narrow beam that we are familiar with.

  Diode lasers are also used as a pump source to feed higher power solid state 
lasers. When laser diodes are used for this purpose they are often manufactured 
as a "pump bar" unit. A pump bar consists of several diode lasers on a single IC 
die. They can be stacked both horizontally and vertically to decrease the size 
while increasing the power of the pump source.  A common application of diode 
laser pumps are handheld green lasers. They are often called Diode Pumped Solid 
State lasers (DPSS). Handheld DPSS lasers use a single CW red laser diode to 
pump a solid state laser cavity. The solid state cavity is what actually 
generates the green wavelength of the output. Notice that the wavelength of the 
pump input is not the same as the output. The energy levels traversed as well as 
construction and composition of the solid state cavity determine the wavelength 
of the output.

  One application for laser diodes that is becoming increasingly popular is 
their use in communication. Laser diodes and optics in general have a very high 
bandwidth compared to more traditional means like transmission wires, radio 
transmission or even microwave relay applications. Consider the wavelength of a 
common red diode laser, it is about 640nM. If we wanted to calculate the 
theoretical bandwidth we would need the frequency which is found by dividing the 
velocity of light by the wavelength. This yields the equation 
(300,000,000M/sec)/(640nM) resulting in a frequency of 4.74 x 10^14 or 
474,000 GHz. If you were to divide this into separate voice channels each with a 
bandwidth of 10kHz you would be able to fit 47 billion voice channels on a 
single beam of light. This incredibly high bandwidth limit is the reason why 
many industries such as the telephone and cable are making use of this 
technology to enhance their networks.

~*Shouts To Decoder, Stankdawg, ic0n, everyone in the DDP and all the members on 
the Binrev forums*~   For questions an comments you can contact me via email 
unknown_entity@winbolo.net or on the binrev forums.

References & Photo Credits:

Poptronics Vol.3 No.4 April 2002 "Service Clinic: Laser Pointers and  Diode 
  Modules"-Sam Goldwasser

Nuts & Volts Vol.22 No.12 December 2001 "Laser Insight"-Stanley York

Nuts & Volts Vol.23 No.3 March 2002 "Laser Insight"-Stanley York

Nuts & Volts Vol.22 No.6 June 2001 "Laser Insight"-Stanley York

Nuts & Volts Vol.22 No.2 February 2001 "Open Channel: Fiber Optic Technology 
  Part II"-Joe Carr

Website: "Sam's Laser FAQ" http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/sam/laserfaq.htm

Website: "Diode Laser FAQ" http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/sam/laserdio.htm

Website: "Laser FAQ Index" http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/sam/laserfil.htm

Website: "Wikipedia: VCSEL" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VCSEL

Website: "Wikipedia: Laser Diode" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_diode

Website: 
  "How Stuff Works: How Lasers Work" http://science.howstuffworks.com/laser.htm

Website: "Mike's Electric Stuff" http://www.electricstuff.co.uk/

---

Modding The Kodak Disposable Flash Camera
By ~Unknown_Entity~

  Warning: This article assumes the reader has basic electronics knowledge and 
soldering skills and is for informational/entertainment purposes only. Many of 
the procedures in this article can cause bad things to happen if done 
improperly. Capacitors can shock the crap out of you or explode like M-80's if 
you exceed their rated voltage or reverse the polarity. Neither myself, nor the 
publisher will be responsible for your use or misuse of the information 
contained herein.

  This article will cover the basics of modifying the Kodak disposable camera to 
function as a high voltage current limited supply, or quite simply something 
cool to shock the crap out of your friends with. The circuit functions as an 
inverter that converts 1.5VDC to 330VDC or higher, not something that you'd want 
to stick your tongue on. There are many things that can be made from this 
circuit board including some power modifications that can generate over 600VDC 
from a 1.5V battery, this article will only cover the simplest modification.

To start with you will need the following materials and tools (most are 
available from RadioShack):



  If you want to exercise your SE skills and get some free camera circuit boards 
try asking at places that develop pictures if you can have a few from the 
disposable cameras people turn in to get developed. If you're of the school age 
it would be best to say that you need the circuit board for a school project and 
your instructor told you to ask around film developing places. If they ask about 
the project itself, say you're using it to make a strobe light for an 
electronics class.

Disassembly

Warning: Before continuing any further be aware that the capacitor inside may be 
fully charged to 330V. You will need to remove the AA battery and discharge the 
cap with a 1K ohm resistor before moving any further. The capacitor can be 
discharged by placing a 1K ohm resistor across it's terminals. Just be sure to 
use a pair of needle nose to hold the resistor or use wires and alligator clips 
to discharge the cap with or else you may get shocked while doing so. Also do 
not directly short out the cap at any time, doing so may destroy the circuit 
board making it unusable.

  Now that you have gathered all the tools and supplies previously mentioned we 
can begin by liberating the circuit board from its plastic shell. Now would be a 
good time to make note of the polarity on the AA battery. After the circuit 
board is discharged and removed from the plastic case we can begin to remove 
some unnecessary parts and add leads for our switches and battery. Your circuit 
board should look similar to the one here. The parts that need to be removed are 
all of the sheet metal brackets, pressure switch in the center of the board, 
flash lens, flash tube and reflector. The brackets are soldered in at several 
points; just make sure all points are desoldered before you start prying on the 
board. This is where the good or at least decent soldering skills come into 
play. Remove the parts shown in the picture while being careful not to damage 
the board by overheating or prying on parts. 

  With the unnecessary parts removed your board should look similar to these. 
Cutting the circuit board as shown is only necessary if you plan on putting this 
in a project box to save space. You can also fold the capacitor over to help it 
fit inside the project box, just make sure not to rip the leads out of the cap 
while doing so. The next step is to solder wires to each point shown in the 
picture. The negative (black) lead from the battery holder should be soldered 
directly to the negative battery terminal on the board; all others should be 
connected as shown.  The 1K ohm resistor serves to protect from a direct short 
across the terminals, which may damage or destroy the circuit.

Final Assembly
  I will leave the final assembly to the reader's discretion, but I will offer 
some tips and suggestions. The project box listed at the beginning of this 
article and N type battery holder fit perfectly for a project of this size. If 
you plan to fit this inside a project box put heat shrink tubing around the 
resistor, coat all switch terminals and the bottom of the circuit board with hot 
melted glue, you don't want this to blow up or shock someone unintentionally. 
If you use the project box listed you will have to remove the two standoffs 
used to hold the board included with the box. Finally, the hot glue gun is your 
friend; you can use it to secure the board and battery holder to the box. 

Safety and Common Sense
  A charged high voltage capacitor of sufficient size can kill you under the 
proper conditions; they are not something to be taken lightly. If you plan to 
use this as a small high voltage supply you can keep, change or omit entirely 
the 1K ohm resistor in series with the cap. However if you plan to use this to 
zap people with you will need to change the 1K ohm resistor to a higher value. 
The purpose of the resistor is to limit the maximum current that the cap can 
output. It is current flowing through your body that causes you to feel an 
electric shock. Therefore the more current that passes through you the more 
painful the shock received. The only thing obstructing the current flow is the 
resistor you add to the circuit and if you were to touch the terminals, your own 
body's resistance. Some other factors that affect the severity of a shock are 
contact area (touching a flat piece of metal vs. a sharp point), contact points 
(two fingers on the same hand vs. arm to arm). Under normal conditions using the 
1K ohm resistor if you were to touch the HV terminals you would get a nasty 
shock. This circuit with the 1K ohm resistor hurts worse than the 120V wiring in 
your house. You can reduce the severity of the shock by replacing the 1K ohm 
resistor with a higher resistance.

  The resistance of the human body varies greatly depending on many conditions 
and in this case it is best to err on the side of caution when choosing a 
resistor value. You can use Ohms Law to calculate what the maximum current is 
for a given resistance. In other words by choosing the proper resistance we can 
limit the maximum current that the cap can output regardless of what other 
resistance (or body part) is placed across the output terminals. The following 
formulas hold true where V is the 330V stored in the cap, R is the resistor 
value in ohms and the result I is current in Amps.

I= (V/R)    V= (I*R)   R= (V/I)      Ex. (330V/.010A)= 33,000 ohms

  Let's assume we wanted to limit the maximum current our cap can output to 
.010A or 10mA. We would use the formula that is set equal to the unknown R where 
V is the 330V and I is the .010A limit we wish to have. Solving for the equation 
yields the value of the resistor needed to limit the current to .010A. Of course 
if you were to touch the terminals in our example the current that would pass 
through you will always be less than what we calculated because your body does 
have a certain amount of resistance. Using this method to set the maximum 
current more or less serves as a cover your ass policy? so don't say I didn't 
warn you. The following numbers are for hand to hand and hand to foot contact 
but the effects will be similar for other contact points.  

Current                      Reaction
Below .001 Amps              Generally not perceptible

.001 Amps                    Faint Tingle

.005 Amps                    Slight shock felt. Not painful but disturbing. 
                             Average individual can let go. Strong involuntary 
                             reactions can lead to other injuries.

.009 to .030 Amps            The freezing current or "let go" range. If extensor 
                             muscles are excited by shock, the person may be 
                             thrown away from the power source. Individuals 
                             cannot let go. Strong involuntary reactions can 
                             lead to other injuries.

.050 to .150 Amps            Extreme pain, respiratory arrest, severe muscle 
                             reactions. Death is possible.

1.0 to 4.3 Amps              Rhythmic pumping action of the heart ceases. 
                             Muscular contraction and nerve damage occur; death 
                             is likely.

10 Amps                      Cardiac arrest, severe burns, death is probable.

Completed Projects
  The following picture shows two different examples that I have built during 
the course of writing this article. The first is the basic one that was used 
throughout the article. The high voltage output is fed through two banana jacks 
mounted to the box. The second unit pictured is my favorite mod and should 
provide endless hours of entertainment. The circuit is the same as the basic mod 
except that there is no switch to turn the unit off, it only has the charge 
flash switch. Secondly the high voltage outputs are wired directly to two 
brushed aluminum plates on opposite sides of the plastic case. All you do is hit 
the charge flash switch and set the box down for someone to pick up. Most people 
are like "Ooh? Shiny Object" and pick it up, if not tape a $1 bill to it. When 
they touch both plates at the same time they get zapped and you get a good 
laugh. I have also included the schematic for the unmodified Kodak Max 
disposable camera. The circuit for the regular Kodak and the Kodak Max should be 
very similar if not identical.

[ Editor's Note: Pictures & schematic will be available on www.digzine.com ]

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Meditation: A Definitive Study

  When you look up meditation on the internet you're bound to find a multitude 
of links, each with a different view of what constitutes meditation and its 
various benefits.  Turning to the general public for personal, experiential 
input, you are bound to have similar results: a multiplicity of various 
techniques and experiences. Among this barrage of often conflicting information 
there is a tendency for one to get lost, confused, misled and eventually to 
write the whole meditation thing off as some hokey, modern fad.  Fortunately for 
the seeker of Truth, there is a common thread to all substantive approaches to 
meditation: Clarity.  We all have some sort of inner dialogue that is constantly 
questioning everything it can get its philosophical feelers on.  The questions 
are boundless in supply and they demand answers for which people have been 
searching for since the beginning of thought/time (same thing).  They are 
questions like "Why?...",(did I/He/ She make the choice to do that?), "How?", 
(can I change this or that about myself/ the outside world?), "Where?", (did I 
and my thoughts come from? Can I keep them?), "What?", (in the hell does he mean 
by ?thought/time (same thing)'?).  More often than not, the answers we  find to 
these questions and the infinite others like them, are superficial by a long 
shot, leaving our thirst wide open and overwhelmed by the 10,000 answers that 
popped up in your search engine when you looked up "Meditation".  It is the 
process of meditation?looking inward, composed in stillness?that brings 
boundless clarity and sheds unfettered light on one's inner dialogue.  
Eventually, the clarity and light are everywhere you look and a greater general 
understanding awakens. 

  No matter which of the various techniques you try, the essence of bringing 
about clarity in any situation is stillness.  Looking into the depths of the 
clearest water, one's view is distorted by raindrops rippling across the surface 
and stirring the sediment below.  Only when the rain subsides, the wind calms, 
the dust finally collects at the bottom of the pond, only then can we once again 
clearly observe the life beneath the surface.  The same is always true of trying 
to observe objects in action; details become blurred and there is a broad avenue 
of interpretation, no matter what it is you are trying to see.  Race cars 
zooming by look like intangible blurs of color, a diving bird of prey could be 
an Osprey, Eagle or Falcon, a flock of thoughts mingling with the void could be 
jealousy, admiration, greed, ambition, insecurity or passion.   Until both the 
subject and its vigilant caretaker are at rest, the details regarding either one 
(subject or object) are uncertain.  When beginning to observe the mind, it is 
often tempting to accept the apparent stillness found in concentration or focus 
practice.  This situation is like looking at the surface of a pond on a still 
day and assuming that your view beneath the surface is ultimately clear.  
However, upon further investigation, you may find myriad activities beneath the 
surface that muddle the view.  It is the same when first observing the mind; one 
will feel an overarching tranquility when first practicing meditation, but as 
the focus moves deeper into the consciousness, the turmoil beneath the surface 
becomes evident and the real work of stilling the mind begins. 

  After constant and vigilant practice, after reconciling one's inner dialogue, 
a deeper personal understanding begins to emerge along with a new level of 
clarity and transparency in one's view of the outside world.  The difference 
between self and other begins to lose its significance and the inwardly applied 
understanding begins to be more easily applied outwardly as well.  It is here 
that compassion is built and one can begin to learn how to motivate and share 
insight with others.  Unfortunately, not all of the ?others' will be open or 
able to receive or understand the unfamiliar type of insight found in meditation 
which is more spontaneously amorphous and intuitive than the linear and rational 
types of problem solving familiar to most people. Meditative problem solving 
works in a reversed progression to logical deductive reasoning.  In the 
intuitive approach,  the solution becomes evident first by stopping thought 
altogether, then the how and why of the solution can be reconciled if necessary.  
Typical problem solving works just the opposite way?that is, by asking repeated 
?how's and ?why's and eventually (hopefully) reaching a solution.  The 
meditative or intuitive approach has learned that thought itself is unclear by 
nature, that words and tools of logic move only toward conditional truth and 
cannot ever find absolute truth.  On the contrary, in transcending rational 
thought and its logic tools (words, signs and symbols), intuitive or meditative 
?thought' is a mechanism designed by the creator for grasping the ultimate or 
absolute truth. 

  When one is enshrined in stillness, he sits with the nameless 
Gods of every religion.  Various cultures use various localized symbols and 
ideas to express their personal value systems into modes of religious thought, 
usually with the intention of pointing the way toward what they have experienced 
as the penultimate reality.  However, in their truest form, all religious 
symbols, ideas, and ideologies point to the same space beyond space; a place 
called God that exists within each of us and that is reached by the most 
difficult road there is to navigate: the road to silent composure in stillness. 

  Defining meditation is, in all truthfulness, an impossible task; in action, 
meditation is immobile, to speak of meditation is silence, to write about 
meditation is to leave behind an empty page. Truth is most often sought as 
something definitive, tangible; but truth is not a linear, logical process of 
reasoning.  If it were that simple, we would have surely stumbled across it 
somewhere in our thousands of years of searching the human mind.  In a sense, 
all of those links you looked up on meditation (including this one) are equally 
valid and invalid.  Practice is the only way to reach a definitive understanding 
(or truth) of meditation or anything else for that matter.  In fact, according 
to some of the most devout scholars of truth, the true definition of meditation 
is as simple as "sitting practice" or "just sitting".  The only advice I can 
offer someone interested in finding out what meditation really is: Be still, and 
the truth shall set you free.

~The Group.

---

New Hacker Manifesto - draft 0.1
Goat

  In any society, there will be those who need rules to tell them the obvious. 
"Thou shalt not kill" reflects the tendency of most people to be unable to tell 
the difference between a justifiable killing and one that is not. All killings 
appear the same, just like all computer break-ins have the same appearance, thus 
are dubbed "unethical" and "illegal".

  Life is not as simple as it seems. When an individual reaches a certain stage 
of proficiency, he or she either gets sidetracked by quick gratification, such 
as theft, or rises to a higher proficiency because the love of learning and joy 
in the powers granted by it drives them forward. Such is the case with hacking, 
where those who have learned a few trivial skills become destructive, but those 
who are constantly reverent toward their task become constructive, even if they 
must use some destruction toward that end.

  Some try to divide the hacking community by ethics, as in "white hat" 
(ethical) and "black hat" (criminal) hackers, but the reality is that there is 
another category for those who hack because they appreciate technology and like 
pushing it to do things that otherwise could not be done. They do not get 
sidetracked by appearance such as theft or vandalism, but use technology toward 
the end of making technology better.

  This is comparable to the state of a knight in ancient cultures. The knight 
was above all laws made for normal people, as he was trusted to do what was 
right according to the whole of civilization and nature, even if it meant that 
some unfortunate would be deprived of life, liberty or happiness. The knight did 
what was necessary to push his surroundings toward a higher state of order, 
avoiding the entropy caused by those who were doomed to the world of appearance 
and could thus see only binaries: living/dying, money/poverty, right/wrong. The 
knight transcended these boundaries and "hacked" his surroundings by pushing 
them to do things that otherwise could not be done, replacing previous designs 
with better ones.

  Design and logical structure are the "hidden world" in which hackers, 
philosophers, artists and knights operate. The world of appearance deals with 
physical objects, but not the underlying structure which connects them. 
Similarly, users see the appearance which computers are programmed to show them, 
but have no idea of the workings of networks and operating systems. A knight 
must know how to manipulate this hidden world, and must have the moral strength 
to be destructive only when it is constructive to do so.

  Hacking today is far different than it was twenty years ago. During the 
formative days of hacker culture, computing resources were scarce. Most people 
used 1-10 MHz machines and could not get access to the instructive operating 
systems like UNIX and VMS unless they hacked into larger machines for that 
access. Today, desktop UNIX-like operating systems are plentiful, and network 
access is a nominal monthly fee. One reason that hacking has appeared to 
stagnate is that it has not re-invented itself to address this new reality.

  When most people think of "hackers," they imagine the black hat criminal 
element that steals credit cards and identities. White hat hackers have become 
like adult chaperones at a teenage sex party, wagging disapproving fingers but 
having little overall effect. Since it is no longer necessary to hack machines 
for access, hacking must redefine itself according to its core principle: 
understanding the structure behind the appearances of computing, and to like a 
good knight, always reinvent the design of the underlying layers so that 
technology and society move toward higher degrees of organization.

  In this capacity hackers are a hedge against entropy, or the state of disorder 
that occurs over time and is exacerbated by people acting on appearance as if it 
were structure, causing them to manipulate form but not function. Most human 
technologies are flawed and operate poorly, subjecting the user to untold 
problems, much as governments and ideas are flawed and cause similar confusions. 
The hacker of today must unite philosophy, computing and politics in a quest to 
find better orders and to defeat entropy by understanding how things work, and 
not what pleasing appearances will sell to a credulous consumer base.

  Hackers as knights represent a potential force of change in our society. We 
can see where technology could be organized better, so that without inventing a 
new type of computer we can make older computers better; hackers can prank 
society to point out its illusions and contradictions. Because we have the 
skills to do this, we are necessarily above the law, and must use that status to 
achieve the kind of reordering of civilization that normal people cannot. Should 
we choose to accept the role with all of its responsibilities, we are the 
knights who can redesign industrial society into something that serves humans 
instead of imprisoning them in a world of appearance.

---

                              POPULARITY IS FAILURE
"But that's what everyone wants!" -- For too long, humanity has been ruled by 
popular opinion. Most people are gawking fools who desire the lowest common 
denominator in any situation. You see them in offices, doing menial tasks that 
must have been invented for them because they can do nothing else. In every 
election they vote some smirking, condescending mall-culture moron into office. 
At stores, they agitate for dumber cheaper products to replace quality. They 
murdered culture because they didn't understand it. They demanded pluralism so 
no one could criticize their inane "lifestyle choices." We are the consequence: 
a separate culture within that rejects the illusory world of "what everyone 
wants." We will hack your networks, reprogram your philosophy and decode your 
values. We are a civilization where truth is more important than popularity. 
You are a failed past. We are the future.
                                YOU ARE OBSOLETE
                                  www.anus.com

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eof