HackNation

It’s coming! And it sounds great. mc decided to share the final day of recording with his fans on stickam, and I tagged along to watch (and listen) to the magic happen.

Needless to say, you’ll love it regardless if you’re a fan of him or not. Preorders just began, so go ahead and grab a preorder!

I got to peep “Japanese Maid” and “Potato Cakes” from mc tonight, as well as some awesome song about washing his hands and some other things… even a line from freebird. These are the reasons I love mc… he actually interacts with the fans. He relates to them. Good job mc. Also, mc may be offering a remix contest for DJs later this year. Mixes will be of the bounty hunter songs he has made, such as Fett’s Vette, IG-88’s ‘57 Chevy, and Zuckuss’ Prius. The winners will be pressed onto a cd and sold. All money from that will be donated to his Cystic Fibrosis fund.

While you’re at it, mc is also raining money to fight Cystic Fibrosis. Please donate to him, even if it’s just $1.

http://www.mcchris.com

It’s coming! And it sounds great. mc decided to share the final day of recording with his fans on facebook, and I tagged along to watch (and listen) to the magic happen.

Needless to say, you’ll love it regardless if you’re a fan of him or not. Preorders just began, so go ahead and grab a preorder!

I got to peep “Japanese Main” and “Potato Bread” from mc tonight, as well as some awesome song about washing his hands and some other things… even a line from freebird. These are the reasons I love mc… he actually interacts with the fans. He relates to them. Good job mc. Also, mc may be offering a remix contest for DJs later this year. Mixes will be of the bounty hunter songs he has made, such as Fett’s Vette, IG-88’s ‘57 Chevy, and Zuckuss’ Prius. The winners will be pressed onto a cd and sold. All money from that will be donated to his Cystic Fibrosis fund.

While you’re at it, mc is also raining money to fight Cystic Fibrosis. Please donate to him, even if it’s just $1.

http://www.mcchris.com

I just was reviewing a bit of site traffic. A lot of traffic comes here regarding GameStop. So let me answer a couple of questions.

Q: What are the stipulations to getting cash for trade ins?
A: You have to be 18 years old and the games have to be in good condition that are $1. Anything that needs to be refurbished and is under $1 will not trade in.

Q: Can I Hack the edge card to get more money?
A: No. The Edge card contains only the number available on the back of the card. Not even the pin. The GameStop’s authorization process woks around a centralized server.

Ever since I worked there, I wanted to develop a plan on finding a way in. Here’s the plan I came up with

Social engineer your way in. Call into the store, saying you’re from corporate. The managers will just accept it. Say you’re coming in to install a new router. What you will do then is come in the next day and install a Cisco router that supports EPC into the existing setup. EPC, Embedded Packet Capture, is a new piece of technology designed by Cisco that essentially transforms the use of only a router into a packet capturing device. Route all traffic into that router before it leaves the store. The printers are all connected via LTP, not via Cat5 cable. From there, make a call saying you’re from tech support once more (7 days should be sufficient time) and then come back a few days later to get your device back. The EPC router will upload your packets to a remote server. From there analyze the packets and you’ll get your answer. I’m pretty sure that GS does not use encryption with their POS systems.

Q: What is cash value at GameStop?
A: 20% less than regular trade in value. 10% less with the edge card.

Well eCommerce is becoming more and more popular each day when it comes to shopping online, so, naturally, someone is going to try to get something for free, right?

I stumbled across a site today while looking for a service manual for my car. This particular website advertised the product to be downloaded when payment was received. I clicked “buy now” and noticed the price already there. Well, since it was informed of the price already, something is telling it what to charge. Before we begin, I have to do the disclaimer thing…

We, at HackNation, do not condone theft or deception of any kind. The information posted here is for educational purposes only and should not, under any circumstances, be reenacted to profit or be used for malicious activities.

Get it? Got it? Good. So let’s take a look.

<form action=”https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr” method=”post”>
<input type=”hidden” name=”cmd” value=”_xclick”>
<input type=”hidden” name=”business” value=”sales@<em><insert-company-name></em>”>
<input type=”hidden” name=”item_name” value=”<em>Mitsubishi Repair Manual that Robb was looking for</em>”>
<input type=”hidden” name=”item_number” value=”911cd”>
<input type=”hidden” name=”amount” value=”10.00″>
<input type=”hidden” name=”page_style” value=”PayPal”>

<input type=”hidden” name=”no_shipping” value=”2″>
<input type=”hidden” name=”return” value=”http://<em><insert site name here></em>/thankyou.php”>
<input type=”hidden” name=”no_note” value=”1″>
<input type=”hidden” name=”currency_code” value=”EUR”>

So, I found it does… what the eclipse looked like… before the wreck… before the swap…

That’s it… that’s my car - er, what it previously looked like. Right now, mine is finally prepped for the frame shop (it’s going in next week!).

So here’s what I did today to prep the front end:

I sanded for the past 2 days… today, I primed!

It’s all ready to go to the frame shop, so we’ll grab some more pics then!

Alright, it’s been a while since a new post has surfaced - so why not now? A new page was added:

Second Thought Motor Sports

We’ve been needing a quick about us and vehicle list for a while, so here it is, with me new fresh acquisition: a 1997 Mitsubishi Eclipse GST.

- 2.0l, Turbo charged
- 6 Bolt 4G63T Swap
- 20G Evo IX Turbo
- DNP Tubular turbo manifold
- KYB Adjustable Shocks
- Skunk2 Coilovers
- Full Turbo-back exhaust
- Magnecore Plug Wires
- Greddy Profec B-Spec II Boost Controller
- Apexi S-AFC II Controller

I’ll be posting the built/repair log as I go with my limited funds, so keep an eye out and enjoy!

- Rob

This was a short essay I was required to write for a class, so I figured I might as well share it out!

File sharing has been a controversy who’s legality has been frivously debated since the founding fathers of piracy founded Napster in 1999. File sharing has been exaggerated to be an instrument of theft and the “downfall of the music industry”, fortunately; these claims have been disproven with several studies based on just that statement. Thanks to file sharing, users have been exposed to music they would have otherwise never known existed. File sharing of intellectual copyrights should not only be decriminalized, but recognized by organizations such as the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) as a helpful tool for many of the artists whom it represents.

Piracy was first recognized as a widespread issue in 1999 when the formation of Napster occurred. Napster effectively promoted file sharing and piracy to such an extent that it was forcibly required to discontinue its service in July 2001 after claims that Napster could not effectively block access to any material that could be considered an infringement of intellectual property rights. Shortly after the shutdown, the RIAA became a mainstream organization. Formed in 1952, the RIAA is a “trade group that claims to represent the US recording industry”, which led several thousand lawsuits (totaling 17,587 individuals) against people who were believed to be downloading music illicitly. Previously fined at $750 per song (President Obama has currently sided with the RIAA, approving a fine of up to $150,000 per violation), the RIAA generated at minimum $13,190,250 (due to each individual being sued for only one violation, which is a complete understatement). The RIAA has also publically stated that over the 6 year period, ranging from 2003 to February 2009, it has lost more money in court costs than it has actually generated via the lawsuits against the citizens. If one would compare the amount of funds lost, at minimum $26,380,500 from the citizens sued and costs spent from the RIAA, 29,475 32 inch HDTVs could have been purchased. One could go as far as stating that if those funds could be applied to the economic crisis of the United States, it could have effectively lessened the impact that it is now facing.

To say that file sharing has caused sales to diminish is pure legend. In 1999, physical media (CD’s, vinyl, and cassette tapes) sold approximately 1.175 billion units. From 2000 to 2003, unit sales decreased to 750 million units, effectively being cut almost in half. In 2004, the introduction of mainstream sales of digital downloads, began to increase sales into 2007, where a total mark of approximately 1.4 billion units of both physical media and downloads were sold, an increase of 19.14% from the peak of record sales. These statistics based on Atlantic Record’s sales show that when file sharing and piracy became mainstream in 1999, a steady decrease in sales occurred until 2004, when digital downloads statistics were first made available while being sold to the public. File sharing has contributed to the sales of the music, clearly shown by the statistics.

Piracy is not all about lawsuits and monetary compensation; however, it has a positive effect on the people who take part in pirating material and file sharing. Without piracy, it can be said that some artists would have never taken off or have been discovered by top labels. It can also be said that some artists would not have generated fans or sales because they would not have been discovered by their fans, who may have found it through piracy. Piracy is not only a helpful tool, but an underestimated one where its participants are prosecuted for an unethical and predominantly profitable practice. With the gain of profits that music piracy has unintentionally added, focus should be set to file sharing of print materials, such as text books, which are currently newer additions to the piracy list.

So before one blames piracy for the decline in sales, they must take a look at the facts and see that file sharing has contributed more than it has taken away. File sharing is one of the leading ways flowering musicians are discovered and “marketed”, if you will. From 1999 to 2009, file sharing could only have helped stimulate economy; however, the RIAA has inhibited such a thing from happening with its lawsuits and legal threats. There is absolutely no difference when one checks out a book or CD from a library from when that same individual downloads that book or CD online other than violating a criminal code when downloading the music for their own personal use.
 
Works Cited
Arango, T. (2008, November 25). Digital Sales Surpass CDs at Atlantic . The New York Times, pp. B1.

Kazaa downloads cost one man $750 per song in RIAA suit. (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2009, from www.houseplanet.dj/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=906

Kravets, D. (n.d.). Obama Sides With RIAA, Supports $150,000 Fine per Music Track. Retrieved April 1, 2009, from http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/03/obama-sides-wit.html

Mann, J. (n.d.). RIAA admits to losing money due to lawsuits - TechSpot News. Retrieved April 1, 2009, from http://www.techspot.com/news/27304-riaa-admits-to-losing-money-due-to-lawsuits.html

RIAA - Who We Are - April 01, 2009. (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2009, from http://www.riaa.com/aboutus.php

Stross, R. (2008, July 27). First It Was Song Downloads. Now It’s Organic Chemistry. . New York Times. Retrieved April 1, 2009, from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/technology/27digi.html?pagewanted=2

Strumpf, K. (n.d.). The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales An Empirical Analysis*. Retrieved April 1, 2009, from www.unc.edu/~cigar/papers/FileSharing_March2004.pdf

Metasploit - my favorite framework.

Mocking a fake shutdown by the FBI and DHS for aiding in unauthorized access of a computer (something myself and other colleges know a bit too much about). Just a bit of a joke, the mirrored page can be found here: http://hacknation.org/content/April2009/metasploit/

So how did I figure out it was an April Fool’s joke? Well, you can still access other pages from the site, such as http://www.metasploit.com/framework/.

So here’s something that you may or may not know about me, but I’m a huge fan of Google’s Android operating system for mobile devices. I own a HTC G1, the first phone actually powered by Android, and ever since the little guy greeted me, I’ve been amazed at the functionality of the device thanks to the wonderful community aspect that Google based the phone off of. So here we go, the top 10 Must Have Android Apps, and - they’re free!

10. Myspace Mobile

Alright, admit it - you’re a myspace junkie. You like to update your status or hang out with your friends, post bulletins, meet new people, check out profiles (I’m just getting carried away now). The Myspace Mobile application gives you access to just that.

9. fBook - Facebook for Android

Similar to Myspace for Android, fBook takes the same aspect and throws it in your face for quick use. Personally, I’m more of a myspace guy to promote my music and chat with my friends, but I still have a facebook profile. Enjoyable if you use facebook!

8. Yellow Book

Very awesome. Find what you’re looking for by bypassing google! Works pretty quick, is accurate, don’t forget about a number again!

7. Rafflebot

I have a mild case of OCD, and sometimes this requires me to make a decision I can’t decide on! So raffle bot, you’re my friend. Awesome little tool for picking who is the designated driver or what to eat, even a “yes or no” question.

6. Missed Call

For all your notification tweaking needs! Bypass the stock notifications and customize your LED colors, vibration, and more!

5. SMSBarrage

If you’ve got a few people to annoy with texting (I hope the have unlimited texts, otherwise, just stay away from this), grab this application and start using it! Allows you to send 1 - 100 messages with a programmable delay to anyone. Also now searches your contacts! Very fun little app.

4. WikiMobile

Wikipedia in a nice little fast browser (faster than Androids!). ’nuff said.

3. Ringdroid

With a similar interface to the popular audio editing program, Audacity, Ringdroid is one of the most useful applications to have for those who like their phone to blare their favorite tracks (I’ll be making a ring tone for mc chris’ IG-88 shortly… yes, I still have it on repeat…) when someone gives them a ring, and with the G1’s awesome speaker, who wouldn’t want to?

2. WeatherBug

Even though it’s still in beta, it blows the weather channel app out of the water. Gives you a nice little notification for the weather in the system bar (top left) about the weather and is nothing at all like the pesky PC version.

1. T-Mobile My Account

T-Mobile’s first party App for Android, access to text usage, minute usage, everything you need to know about your account, including knowing that your account is past due. My only complaint is that you have to turn your wifi off before using it.