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Hardware Hacking In The WSJ

Posted by timothy on from the it's-been-in-low-rider-for-years dept.

NaDrew writes "The Wall Street Journal has an interesting piece called "So Your Roomba Vacuums ... Does It Also Take Pictures?" (No reg. req.), profiling a couple of hardware hackers. Phillip Torrone has modified a laptop-brained robot to follow his Segway, which he is modifying to follow a pink ball. He's also modded his Roomba with a built-in Webcam. The article goes into a bit of the history of hardware hacking, from the CueCat to Andrew 'Bunnie' Huang's Xbox hacks."

1 of 104 comments (clear)

  1. Re:My Roomba doesn't take pictures by Dancin_Santa · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Not really. The power that geeks have nowadays, with the pervasiveness of computers, not to mention the power that computers provide, storing things as innocuous as love letters to things as vital as credit card numbers, the geeks of today have an infinitely greater amount of power than the "car geeks" of 20 years ago.

    Just like how media can be swapped in the blink of an eye whereas it used to take a really long time to record an album, the rules have changed and what used to be borderline-acceptable is now quite threatening.

    So the choice is to whether it is important that we continue to threaten the general public as geeks, or to show our beneficence. Personally, I'd like to be looked upon as a helper and hero rather than rat and criminal. Perhaps you think otherwise. I can't help that.