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CVS Disposable Camcorder Hacked
ptorrone writes "We've been watching this on MAKE closely- and the king of the one-time digital camera hacks/analysis finally got his hands on a CVS Camcorder on Friday, the 24th via someone shipping him one FedEx. Within 18 hours, he had slurped the flash memory and has the unencrypted, XVID codec, 320x240, 30fps movies stored in the camera on his computer."
Now the obvious answer is "hack the camcorder. Then it doesn't cost so much and you get more value for your money." Hmmmm... I can get a 16 ounce sh*t-flavored milkshake for $3, but with a little trick, I can turn that into a gallon. What a bargain, so long as I don't mind that it's still sh*t-flavored. If I want more sh*t-flavored goodness, then darn, I better learn the trick. If I want a milkshake that doesn't taste like sh*t, I think I'd better save my pennies.
The ONLY reason I can think of getting this is to get a camcorder for your kid. If they break it, big deal.
It also sort of reminds me of that old Mattell video camera that recorded grainy B&W on audio cassettes. Though crappy, it has its own kind of retro cool if you can find one now. Perhaps these cameras have value as collectors items.
- Greg
Start a happiness pandemic
Getting a used Pure Digital / CVS Disposable Camcorder shipped to you... $15 dollars
Taking the day off work to be at home for the Fed-ex delivery... $140 dollars
Spending 18 hours hacking the camera for 30secs of video... Priceless!!!
"Simplify, simplify, simplify!" Thoreau
Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.
I beg to differ!
... isn't nothing sacred anymore? The next thing someone will hack will be the Hubble Space Telescope.
...do they completely reformat the flash every time one of these is returning for processing. This could become a strange form of voyeurism.
I wonder, if these people based their camcorder MPEG-4 encoding using the actual XviD codebase, where's the code? (not sure, but is XviD LGPL or GPL?)
I also wonder if they paid the MPEG-4 licensing fee too. (probably on that one)
Such cameras will bring a new dimension to bloggery. The extreme portability of these cameras, often smaller than the smallest commercially available MP3 players, will allow people to document their everyday lives in a very visual way. It will take videobloggery to a new dimension: a teatherless webcam, of sorts.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
Disposable Digital Camcorder Interfacing
Pure Digital's Single Use Camcorder for CVS
[PureDigital CVS camcorder]
Introduction
This web page is a little raw because I just got the camera and I'm leaving on a trip soon. So, I'll be brief and hopefully informative.
If you're not familiar with the camera, here is a good review.
Disassembly
Here's a photo gallery of the disassembly of my unit.
Similar in constructioon to the PV2, this unit is rugged and can be easily recycled.
Preliminary Analysis
Others found that pressing the Record and Delete buttons while turning on the camera yields a special diagnostic page. Mine said:
FW-VERSION: 03.40
CAMERA ID:
6B7051xxxxxx
PCB VER: B2
FLASH Memory Analysis NEW
I was able to get my videos out of the camera and onto my home computer by removing the 128MB flash memory chip and putting it into my home-built flash reader. I originally built the system for the PV2 camera -- here's some more info on it. The only modification I had to make was for the increased memory size of the new part. The reader is nothing special -- just a cheaper (and slower) version of comercially available units.
I've placed my analysis of the camcorder's flash memory on its own page. That page also has sample videos I have recovered from my camera.
Resources
The most current discussion that I follow is on the Camera Hacking message board. There is also discussion on Dakota PV2 discussion board.
contact me: my email address is my first name (john) at my last name (maushammer) dot com.
Is this legal? Yes.
Info on the original most recent still disposable digital camera
other systems I've played with
visit my homepage
Tired of free iPod sigs? Subscribe to my blacklist
It may not be as good as an XL-2, but it is like 30$ and it weighs a couple of ounces v $4000 and 20 lbs...
Is it really too much to ask that people know when to use JPEG and when to use PNG? The person behind this article ought to know, but... I mean, just look at it, it's the Screenshot From Hell.
Indeed, like I said, this will take videobloggery to the next level. Yes, people will start posting on their blogs videos of themselves performing the sexual rites. That's just part of the liberalization of the youth of America and Europe. This is the technology that'll allow the social changes to bloom.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
Zoran Corporation
COACH
COACHWare 1.0
2002:01:13 12:06:00
Better call in 007 for protection on this one!
This will finally enable you to create your own cheap sextapes, without the chance that some curious CVS employee(s) will see your work..
go to that link if you want ads, popups and some stupid mafia site
...some other dude would read /., get that hacker's tips, and point the Hubble at the Sun, ruining the fun for us all.
I hope not, 'cause NASA would kill me if they heard that I found a classified technique for downloading Hubble images to my CVS camc9waryv8at0 *muffled screaming as shotgun blasts*
You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
it's called happy slap
"a new craze amongst London youths: slapping random commuters in the face and filming the result on mobile phones with video cameras. The resulting 'Happy Slap TV' clips are then shared amongst friends (via MMS?), causing much hilarity."
ahh, the children of the children of thatcher.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
As a current CVS employee, I can tell you that these camcorders and their digital camera like brethren are going on sale the week of July 4th. They are going to be 19.99 but you get $10 in "ExtraBucks" back. As the ad flyer says, "Its like paying $9.99".
The ExtraBucks print from the register 2 days after the qualifiying purchase and although you do need your own ExtraCare card, the information you provide can be as false as possible. ExtraBucks are good on anything in the store excluding tobacco, alcohol and prescriptions.
He might have gotten charged with a felony.
A use for hacking disposable cameras: They're disposable. That is, they're cheap enough that if you break them, you haven't lost much. That's useful for this kind of thing:
http://www.xkcd.com/kite/
I was so confident of my engineering skill and my insistence on multiple safety measures that I sent my nice, $150 digital camera up the kite line. It worked for a few hours after the 70-foot fall, but hasn't since.
xkcd.com - a webcomic of mathematics, love, and language.
Not everyone has time to bother with that shit. Stop your bitching.
From TFA:
- NH- TD-AP-HA-GF-DD-AT-MF-MS-DW-USA-CA-SD-SDSU
And there are plenty of strings!
Here are some clues about tools used to build the project:
Copyright (c) 1996-2001 Express Logic Inc. * ThreadX LX4180/Green Hills Version G4.0.4.0 *
G-GB-GL-M-D-DL-KML-CMR-HMR-ML2-GZ-KH2-CM-RP-TC
Copyright (c) 1996-2004 Express Logic Inc. * FileX LX4180/Green Hills Version G3.1a.3.1a *
I find ironical that the reverse engineered firmware was built using tools from the same Green Hills Software that spread that FUD about Linux not so long ago.
Sure I could Google it, but my point is that I don't know what CVS cameras are, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. An explanatory link like this one would be nice.
For the rest of us, CVS is a chain of pharmacies, they're selling a small, locked, one-time use digital video camera for $30 and charging $13 to get the data off it and onto DVD.
Link
Hmm... I'm really starting to like Coral.
An excellent question. Even if they do format it, there's still the question if the data is still there. I don't know enough about flash technology, but on magnetic disks a format just overwrites the tracking information, not the data itself.
Regardless of whether they're formatting, I have a feeling they're not doing a security wipe.
how is that a troll? it's a serious question
im recently unemployed and theres a cvs nearby and if, for some strange reason, employees dont get sick there, i may apply
jesus christ i should start metamodding
Please. Do tell.
I used to have a few friends down the street with one. I don't think they ever really fully appreciated it. My first impression was : "Wow. On audio tape. Audio tape."
Evidently, nothing is sacred anymore. Not even grammatical rules against double negatives in the English language.
Unlike French, the English language does not have a standards body.
"Standard English" is a particular regularization of a particular dialect (from the US east coast quite some time back), foisted on children continent-wide by an educational establishment. It qualifies as merely one of the regional dialects. (Granted it's a widespread one thanks to the institutional support, as well as to its origin within, and use by, a region with a lot of money and power.) Claiming there is one "correct" English usage and this is it is an example of provincialism.
A number of regional dialects of American English use the double-negative as an intensifier, rather than forbidding it or using it in the mathematical sense of reinverting the sign to restore the positive.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
There is another topic currently being discussed on Slashdot regarding Customer Service .
That lady may have good reason to argue with you over a 30 cent coupon. Apparently CVS has been paying you enough you don't have to worry about every cent. Your customer obviously is having financial problems.
CVS was apparently willing to give her the benefit of the coupon at one time, why not now? Why is CVS forcing her to prostitute herself to you over thirty cents? Could it be the people who dream up all these games to play with their customers to be so well paid they have no idea that other people may not be so fortunate as to have such a well-paying career?
Personally, I would not have argued with her so much and gave her the benefit of the coupon, and personally taken it on myself to put it up the chain of how much frustration and anger amongst your customers ( as YOU see the Customer, not THEM!!! ) they are causing by coupon trickery.
Game Playing by Businesses ranks very high on my pet peeves of dealing with Business... and is also the number one reason I check Wal Mart for anything I need first. Yes, I will plug Wal Mart as they are one of the few businesses that don't make me feel like a nut for shopping there. You know, the old "I'm sorry, Sir, you don't have Our Club Card... the stated price is only for insiders - and you are not one... for you its ten dollars more" kinda shit. In my case, the Club Card was the quickest way to coax me out of their business and into Wal Mart.
It has been my observation that Club Cards are for businesses who have graduated beyond providing a service or product for their customer base and are now in the business of collecting marketing and demographic data. I do not go to a marketing analysis firm to buy a garden hose or a loaf of bread.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
I always find it funny when people post rants about bloggery. Your whole point is that you don't care what others think, you don't think others should care what others think, and yet you post as if you think people to care about what you think.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
Aerial photographs? Ooo, you must be a terrorist planning your bombing campaign? I ask you, people of the jury, can you conceive of any legitimate reason to put a camera on a kite?
While I too shop at Walmart for not requiring club cards to get normal pricing, they have one of the most sophisticated data collection systems around. Their ability to spot trends is remarkable, and while I'm not certain that they keep track of who buys what, be certain that if you use plastic, they are more than capable of doing so.
I know you were going for Funny, but since no one else has pointed this out, a double negative is acceptable in English, it just rarely makes sense. And also that wasn't really an example of a double negative, since "nothing" is a noun and it is part of a question. Is not nothing sacred? No, "nothing" is still sacred, or you could respond Yes, nothing is no longer sacred, but something is. A Buddhist might tell you nothingness is sacred. So there!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signature_bloc
You show those big businesses like CVS! Take your business to WalMart!
While CVS uses the card to track whatever purchases you make, you don't even need to fill out paperwork on a card. I just took my card from by the register and even though I never filled anything out, it works fine. Also usually with card scanning places (except for say Costco)you can just say hey I forgot my card "my bad" and they will just scan one for you. Take that Big Brother
I'm not certain that they keep track of who buys what, be certain that if you use plastic, they are more than capable of doing so.
They could, but they don't. To be honest, the cost/benefit on it just isn't worth it. The challenge of correlating purchases with individuals is so low-fidelity and ultimately so worthless (to them) that it just doesn't make sense to do it.
Wal-Mart deals in macro trend analysis. They record every single purchase made at any of their stores. Specifically, they not only record what was bought, but most importantly, what else what bought with it.
The actions of individual customers mean absolutely nothing to them. They simply do not work at that level. What Wal-Mart is interested in is the collective actions of thousands and millions of customers as a whole and they have a data warehouse that the Pentagon would be proud of to mine that information from.
The
Finally!
As a teacher - I can a buy a bunch of these and use them in class for projects!!! I can give them to my students and don't feel absolutely mortified that they'll kill something. As the article says, the quality is not awesome, but for some of the kids who don't even have access to this stuff - it'll be a great hands on learning tool..
Can't wait to buy these the week of july 4th!
I prefer the term "videobloggery", because it offers a very descriptive description of what the activity itself is. "Voging" sounds like something you do when watching Madonna's Vogue music video.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
Specifically, they not only record what was bought, but most importantly, what else what bought with it.
I wonder what they would corrolate from the time I bought 3 bags of Funyuns, 4 2-liter bottles of generic store-brand Mountain Dew, a bag of gummi bears, a bag of Pixie Stix, a cheap horror movie, and a couple of discount-bin Carebears DVDs all in one purchase one night...??
So is there a step by step guide out yet?
I was so with you on the the virtues of customer service (especially about the card bullshit) until you suggested that taking your business to WalMart was the answer. I understand where you're coming from, but find that to be so very short sighted. Following this to its logical (although not necessarily inevitable) conclusion, when there's only WalMart, how high a priority do you expect customer service to be?
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
But I live in Iowa. The closest store to me is in Missouri. You can check yourself to find the closest store to you.
Here, my Marketing professor is showing us many ways of using "promotional tools" and "lock-in" techniques of couponing, bundling, contigencies, and spin-doctoring the whole shebang so it sounds good.
I see through it and am infuriated. I hate it when marketers do these things to me in the store.
Dammit, I come into the store with money and I want a roll of toilet paper, and I am in absolutely no mood to play games and get charged more for not playing.
Its especially infuriating to me to see all these people who have inserted themselves into the flow so as they don't produce a thing, they just get in the way of my getting what I want, and even get paid ( as part of the product price I end up paying ) to do this.
Its also infuriating to be the guy behind the person who lengthens line wait time negotiating coupons. You know, its like the person at a traffic signal that doesn't go when cleared because they they are taking care of other business at the time. On the road, its customary to honk, but how do you handle line hangups over negotiation of needless deliberately-created pricing anamolies?
My feeling is if a merchant thinks so little of my dollar and so much of the expiration dates and conditions of his coupons, go ahead and let him print up, distribute, sort, verify, whatever to the thouseands of little slips of paper we are all supposed to hoard and redeem, let him play his little "businessman" game,,, while I go somewhere else cause I have a roll of toilet paper to buy.
I know there are companies out there who search through public discussion posts such as Slashdot to garner public reaction to business trends.
My main point of posting is to try to reach those people and get my statistic in, as I can't do anything to steer business if I can't give them feedback. I have used some specific company names to trigger their data-mining bots. Hopefully, if my pleas are mentioned in a Professional Marketing Research Report, Paid for by Business, it will be taken more seriously than the whining of a customer who is probably never returning.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
I agree with you fully on every point above. I haven't carried any of those obnoxious little "loyalty cards" on my keychain for years, and simply refuse to buy the products for which I would be charged more. I've got two grocery stores across the street from each other. If Harris Teeter requires the use of a "loyalty card" to pay the real price for steaks this week, I'll buy them at Lowe's Foods (most of my grocery trips involve hitting both stores anyway). If both stores require the use of a "loyalty card" to pay regular price for steaks that week, then I'll have fish for dinner.
Coupons don't offend me nearly as much, but neither do I use them.
I think we agree on 98% of this stuff. The only area where we differ is whether or not it is "ethically" appropriate to take one's business to WalMart instead. I contend that it's not, because although it's nice that they don't use those particular tactics, everything else about their business practices far outweighs the marketing games that other stores play.
But all that aside, I commend you for voting with your feet and your wallet. Of the small minority of people who do bitch about these things, the vast majority of *them* just lay there and take it anyway.
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
everything you mention is 10 years old, or sounds like it.
It seems like Fedco, Gemco, and Costco started all this "Club Card" stuff... then it caught on and it seemed every grocery store in town insisted we carry their card... Ralph's, Vons, Albertson's - the big chains. As each store became a Card store, I shifted my business to other stores that did not require The Card.
There are now three large grocery stores in town left that do not require these cards. Stater Brothers Grocery, Big Saver Foods, and WalMart.
Of the remaining non-Card requiring stores, WalMart is closest to me, but to get there, I drive past the Ralph's, Von's, and Albertson's.
I just kept going further and further out as each merchant became a Card Merchant. I made an ass of myself just one time at each business location, noisily whining my displeasure at being charged "outsider" prices - especially at the Albertson's store when they did it - as I had been shopping there for about twenty years.
I had to realize that my patronage isn't what they wanted, it was my obedience to their demand that I carry their card. You know, out of force of habit, I still find myself pulling into the Albertson's parking lot before I suddenly remember I can't shop there anymore without paying "outsider price". I pull out and proceed on to WalMart.
I was quite happy with the previous three stores, but I was not gonna stand for having to carry walletfuls of cards and paraphanalia just to avoid surcharges for not doing so, when other stores would simply sell me what I wanted without playing games with me. If I am not careful, I can easily end up with 30 to 100 cards in my wallet! Just to be allowed to buy at the WalMart everyday price. WalMart just gets the business the other stores, by their pricing tactics, said they didn't want!
So, I figure all the "little old ladies" can gather around the Cash Register like the sewing circles of old, and negotiate coupons, rebates, Card Prices, and whatever. I figure its a modern-day reincarnation of Bingo as a way to involve much negotiation over a trivial matter as purchasing a roll of toilet paper. I take it as a given that if I'm not gonna jump through all those 'Simon Says' hoops, they are gonna ding me pretty hard.
If their "Club Card Price" with double couponing adjustments is right around the same as the WalMart price, why even mess with the Card and coupons? Why are all these "outsiders" - who have absolutely nothing to do with the manufacture or logistics of the products I want to buy - allowed to insert themselves into the sales procedure? Why does the merchant - who supposedly understands he is in business to fulfill his customer's need for his products - allow these guys to hinder that process?
Sam Walton seems to be one of a dying breed who knows what his customers want, and gets it for us.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
I get FedEx packages left at my door by (gasp!) making a five-minute phone call to the FedEx company and asking the package to be left behind the screen door at my house.
You did know you could do that, right? Right?
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
Well, that's novel.
She: What the fuck?
He: Uh, I see you've stumbled onto my vast drawer full of amateur porn.
She: You've been taping us? Taping ME?!
He: Yes, you see---
She: YOU SICK FUCK!
He: ---it's in case you turn out to be a psycho and accuse me of raping you.
She: Oh. Well, I can totally understand that, and have no desire whatsoever to stab you in the balls with a knitting needle.
He: Thanks, sweetie. You're the best.
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca