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Show HN: Hacking airplane headphones
- iLoch 10y agoThis is also a great way to get arrested thanks to some overly concerned seating neighbour.
- grawlinson 10y agoI'm surprised that someone actually managed to smuggle tweezers onboard!
- danhak 10y agoTweezers are not prohibited (by TSA) on carry-on bags
- grawlinson 10y agoYou're implying TSA employees are trained properly. I've had to surrender small items that are not prohibited due to incorrect assumptions that airport security have made.
- Hydraulix989 10y agoI had a grooming kit with a pouch containing assortment of small things like nail clippers, tweezers, and tiny safety scissors that I carried with me on every flight. Gradually, the pouch became completely empty as TSA agents confiscated more and more of my items.
- grawlinson 10y agoYup, shortly after 9/11 I flew to Hong Kong and I forgot that I had my mini screwdriver kit (small screwdrivers for electronics, smaller than my pinky finger) in my bag. It got confiscated, to my disbelief.
- Hydraulix989 10y agoYes, HK searched my mini screwdrivers, and the security guy checked the size of the ends against his pinky finger, and since they were the same size, he let them slide.
- atomwaffel 10y agoYour parentheses make a good point: we don't know why if the OP was flying from/to the US at all. Other countries have different regulations. I've been allowed to carry a Swiss Army Knife onto a European flight because neither of its two blades was longer than 6 cm. (I've also had a bread knife confiscated because its blade was longer.)
- Hydraulix989 10y agoI was thinking the EXACT same thing, especially considering the UPenn professor who was reported for writing mathematics on the plane.
- x1798DE 10y agoSo you're thinking something like this? Author: <fiddles with headphone jack> Author: <fiddles with headphone jack some more> Author: "Hey, can I borrow some tweezers? I think this headphone jack is busted and I want to adjust these headphones so they'll work." Seat Passenger: "No problem." Author: <starts stripping the wires from his headphones> Seat Passenger (thinking): "Stay cool, Phillip, this guy is clearly a terrorist..." Author: <plugs in headphones> Author: "Hey, it works! Thanks, bud!" Seat Passenger (thinking): "Where is that god damned air marshall. Oh god, what am I going to do?!"
- Hydraulix989 10y agoNever underestimate the depths of people's stupidity.
- ma2rten 10y agohttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/rampage/wp/2016/05/07/ivy-league-economist-interrogated-for-doing-math-on-american-airlines-flight/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/rampage/wp/2016/05/07/iv...
- Hydraulix989 10y ago^ It's amusing watching the upvotes and downvotes on this comment oscillate sinusoidally centered around 7.
- toomanybeersies 10y agoGiven that a man was taken off a flight for doing Algebra, I set a low bar for how paranoid some passengers are.
- megablast 10y agoDepends what colour you are really.
- guessmyname 10y agoTry this as a Muslin and you are (probably) dead... Actually, try this as a non-white person and you are dead... Actually, try this, and you are dead (not sure how the author got away with it). Once I was flying to the United States and in the middle of the flight the screen in front of me printed a familiar image, Tux, the famous penguin icon of Linux (the entertainment system was rebooting or something). I thought it was interesting so I decided to take a picture, the woman that was sitting on my side asked me what was that and why was I taking a picture, so I smiled and said "Somebody hacked the plane", as you can guess she didn't get the "joke" and started (nervously) to look for one of the flight attendants, 3-5 minutes later she went to the bathroom but oh surprise (or maybe not) she returned with two of the flight attendants that started asking for my passport and to allow them to check my cabin bags. They were cool after I clarified the situation, but this was a lesson for me to 1) don't try to do stupid things in a plane, 2) don't joke with nervous people. I just remember the story of this mathematician that was writing some formulas in the plane and the person on his side thought that he was planning a terrorist attack. This is why it surprises me that the author of this article was able to get away with his "experiment" just like that. EDIT: Re-reading the article, he says that "the flight staff weren’t angry that I had cannibalized their headphones" and then continues with "If you work for Emirates, let me know and I’ll give you the seat and flight number". Considering this I will assume that they weren't angry because a) its a rich airline so they assume that people taking their flights are "harmless", or b) Middle East citizens are used to plane hijacks (this is actually a really bad joke, and I will accept the downvotes with resignation).
- viraptor 10y ago> its a rich airline so they assume that people taking their flights are "harmless" It's your average airline that spans from Europe to Australia from bases in middle east. Nothing really rich about it. (although, it is quite comfortable)
- nstj 10y agoEmirates has some of the highest revenue and cost numbers per average seat kilometre [0]. It's also subsidised to a large extent by the UAE [1]. I don't find the word "rich" to be very descriptive, but "high end" could easily apply in this circumstance. [0]: http://www.oliverwyman.com/content/dam/oliver-wyman/global/en/2016/jan/oliver-wyman-airline-economic-analysis-2015-2016.pdf http://www.oliverwyman.com/content/dam/oliver-wyman/global/e... [1]: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/emirates-confirms-billions-in-government-subsidy-for-airport-terminal-300134208.html http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/emirates-confirms-bi...
- danhak 10y agoI'm shocked this guy didn't get tackled to the ground by other passengers while doing this.
- alex_young 10y agoWait. You insulated some live DC wires with _paper_ and then hid that behind some plastic in an airplane somewhere? I'm way more concerned with the fire hazard you introduced than the profiling stuff others are mentioning. Please don't do this to my airplane.
- x1798DE 10y agoIt's headphones, not some wire hidden behind anything, or anything carrying a significant current. He stripped the wires on the headphones they gave him to listen to the in-flight audio.
- guynamedloren 10y agoDo you have any resources to show how this is potentially a fire hazard? Genuinely curious.. because I often hear people talk about even the most basic electronics as this Big Scary Thing, and in my mind, it is quite simple and harmless. Please share.
- StavrosK 10y agoEasy: Because the wires are wrapped in paper, if you simply light a lighter next to them and hold it to the paper for a few seconds, you have kindling. Then, if you can find something in a plane that's not fire-retardant and heat it with the flaming piece of paper enough, voila: an inadvertent fire.
- gcr 10y agoWhy go to the complicated step of insulating a wire with the paper? You could make the situation much easier by just tearing some paper out of your notebook for kindling. Not sure how one would manage to sneak a lighter onboard though.
- pacbard 10y ago> Not sure how one would manage to sneak a lighter onboard though. Lighters are allowed as carry-on luggage: https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ash/ash_programs/hazmat/passenger_info/media/airline_passengers_lighters_faq.pdf https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/as...
- x1798DE 10y agoMan, I was thinking that would be such a pain to use because whenever I hack something together like that it's super sensitive to jostling, but tying it off like that is just brilliant! I'm going to use that. Also: > The finished product worked beautifully, despite now only providing monaural audio and is about five centimetres shorter, which is still perfectly usable since the seats hardly recline. I would consider the monoaural audio to be a benefit! When possible, I try to set my phone to force mono. I'm considerably more likely to be distracted by stereo effects than entertained by them.
- dingo_bat 10y agoI feel that stereo makes for more spacious sound. The sound feels like it is filling the room, whereas mono feels kind of claustrophobic.
- purpleidea 10y agoGlad you liked the hack! With some bad stereo signals, I've found the audio dialog to be softer in one of the two channels, and the music in the other, so if you're watching that sort of film you might not get the best mix!
- bonestamp2 10y agoMaybe I'm missing something, but couldn't you just buy the proper adapter for $1.60? http://amzn.com/B00G53TDF4 http://amzn.com/B00G53TDF4
- timor 10y agoIt's a long shot, but you might be missing that he was on an airplane?
- Bromskloss 10y agoAmazon drone delivery?
- kiallmacinnes 10y ago
- jlg23 10y agoI think it is a sad commentary on our society that all comments so far revolve around the possibility of being arrested for this simple hack :{
- reviseddamage 10y agoit's not sad, it's cautionary. It's impressive to me, but it's also incredibly difficult to keep hacking and doing cool stuff from inside prison.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- aaron695 10y agoI think HN should bare some if not all of that comment. People didn't have to comment this way, but they chose to. Society are not idiots. No people would not report you for doing this, no more than people might murder you. Yes it could happen but it won't.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- SixSigma 10y agoI'm sad that anyone thinks this is hacking
- purpleidea 10y agoWhy be sad? Define a "hack". I think this fits the bill, maybe you're thinking of "cracking" ? :)
- SixSigma 10y agoNo, I'm not. It's just totally lame, like "how I changed a US for a UK plug" or something
- tommoor 10y agoMakes note never to fly Emirates internationally incase I get stuck with these anti-customer audio jacks.
- viraptor 10y agoI think that's a bad decision on N=1 samples. I find international Emirates flights to be one of the most modern and comfortable ones. I mean, you even get power sockets in economy most of the time, which is still pretty rare. Connectors like these are pretty much a standard for whatever crazy reason as well. (the third hole seems to provide some power, since their noise-cancelling version in business uses it)
- monochromatic 10y agoI've seen similar jacks on multiple airlines.
- voltagex_ 10y agoIt's not the airline, it's the aeroplane manufacturer. Boeing and Airbus use different connectors.
- themartorana 10y ago...which are still there only to make you pay for proprietary headphones.
- lokedhs 10y agoPay for headphones? What airline is that? I've flown on a lot and I've never had to pay for them. I've always assumed they used the weird connectors to prevent people from taking the headphones with them (since they can't easily be connected to anything except an airline entertainment system)
- soundwave106 10y agoSome do. I think in the US it's somewhat common for many domestic flights still. It used to be way more common. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travelbuzz/862199-does-any-airline-charge-sell-headphones-anymore-they-always-free.html http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travelbuzz/862199-does-any-ai... http://www.fodors.com/community/air-travel/headsets-on-delta-international-fee-or-free.cfm http://www.fodors.com/community/air-travel/headsets-on-delta... I've heard that also historically one of the big reasons for the odd jack was to prevent theft (back when headphones were relatively more expensive and all airline headphones were designed for reuse...)
- corruptio 10y agoOr, just stick a regular 3.5mm headphone jack into the two-pronged hole half-way in. The contacts line up in such a way that one channel touch both inputs. Just turn up the volume a bit.
- dingaling 10y agoI always have one of these two-pin-to-3.5 adapters in my bag when I fly: http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-pcs-3-5mm-Airline-Airplane-Earphone-Headphone-Headset-Jack-Audio-Adapter-New-/121684665772 http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-pcs-3-5mm-Airline-Airplane-Earphon...
- viraptor 10y agoI recommend also adding this to the flying set: https://www.amazon.com/Stellar-Labs-35-4180-Headphone-Control/dp/B008DJTB32/ref=sr_1_12 https://www.amazon.com/Stellar-Labs-35-4180-Headphone-Contro... In most airlines the announcements are at fixed volume, independent of the movies. That means you can put the video on full volume and turn it down inline. No more announcements screaming in your ear :) (and better sound quality as a bonus)
- nness 10y agoBoth your link, and the link above, are two components I recently purchased after my own experiences. Just funny to realise I wasn't the only one who encountered this...
- bonestamp2 10y agoYes, I too travel with both of these. The volume control is convenient, but I originally bought it after breaking a couple of my headphone connectors. Now I break a $5 part instead of a $50 part. (Shure's with removeable cords are great, but the cord is still $50)
- dzhiurgis 10y agoYou know what I would pay for? Some sort of holder or cradle that would hold my laptop at an eye level.
- p1mrx 10y agoHe was lucky that the headphones used standard rubber insulation. It's common for headphones to use bare copper wire coated with some sort of insulating lacquer, that can't be stripped mechanically. The best way I've found to remove such insulation is to light it on fire, which would be frowned upon during a flight.
- mcpherrinm 10y agoThat's "enameled wire", also known as "magnet wire". You can sand the insulation off with an emery board, commonly found in nail care kits.
- skykooler 10y agoYou can also scrape it off with a blade. Just don't use one you care about, because the metal dulls blades quickly.
- bigiain 10y agoThere's an old trick there (not for use on commercial flights...), if you place the enamelled copper on an asprim tablet and briefly touch them with a soldering iron, it almost magically becomes clean solderable shiny copper. (Source: I rewound _so_ many CD Rom drive motors into model airplane motors back before you could buy them easily... I think my knowledge of that asprin trick predates that by a decade or more though...)
- AnthonBerg 10y agoTHANK YOU So many headphones to fix. So many Litz-wire inductor cores in Class-D amplifiers to solder. Thanks.
- fit2rule 10y agoOff-Topic: any chance you've got some literature on the subject of turning CDROM drive motors into model airplane motors? This sounds like a great hack for HN ..
- mads 10y agoAnyone know anything about those USB connectors? I was on a flight some time ago and noticed that my device said that USB debugging is now connected (Android), when I plugged it in, so I don't think it was only for charging. Don't remember which airline it was.
- yoo1I 10y agoI remember at least one system where the USB port allowed you to plug in USB stick and then let you listen to the music you had on it. So it's just a proper USB host.
- x1798DE 10y agoI don't plug my USB devices into strange USB ports (because I don't own a USB condom): See: http://krebsonsecurity.com/2011/08/beware-of-juice-jacking/ http://krebsonsecurity.com/2011/08/beware-of-juice-jacking/
- rangibaby 10y agoiOS 7 onwards (AFAIK) doesn't allow a data connection by default: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202778 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202778
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- dingo_bat 10y agoNot needed since android will ask you to verify PC fingerprint before exchanging any data or allowing debugging.
- ygra 10y agoI guess it's a case of defense in depth. Software may have vulnerabilities that still allow for data connections despite the prompt. But no data wires being physically present cannot have that problem at all.
- gedy 10y agoThat's cool. Reminds me of being a kid in the 70s and switching though the channels on a 747 flight - one channel was playing all music backwards, and finally recognized one as Dolly Parton's 'Jolene' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9re90HG2dw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9re90HG2dw
- Bromskloss 10y agoThis is a good opportunity to post the surprisingly good slowed-down version of _Jolene_. https://youtube.com/watch?v=CMrfM711vXI https://youtube.com/watch?v=CMrfM711vXI
- throwaway_xx9 10y agoAs a commercially-rated pilot, I find this post very disturbing ... 1) Tampering with an aircraft system is a felony. It could very well get you shot. 2) Aircraft entertainment systems have had numerous fires. (A gambling system brought down Swissair near Halifax.) If you're even thinking of stripping insulation off an aircraft wire, just don't.
- Raed667 10y agoI'm really saddened by the first thought that came to my mind: "I could have never pulled this off because of my skin color"
- logicallee 10y agodon't worry, my first thought without that was, "holy shit what kind of an idiot is doing this on a plane". skin color doesn't matter, that is not normal in-plane behavior.
- jsingleton 10y agoNice. I wonder if he's a climber? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure-eight_loop https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure-eight_loop is a classic climbing knot and I guess most people would just use an overhand knot. I usually prefer a bowline for tying in, but that's not as safe. :)
- phelm 10y agolooks more like an overhand loop to me https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overhand_loop https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overhand_loop
- hobbyjogger 10y agoDefinitely figure eight. He says as much in the article.
- purpleidea 10y agoI used to climb, yes, and I've learned a lot of knots. I used a figure-eight for one of the reasons it's used in climbing: the bend radius isn't as sharp, thus putting less strain on the knot.
- smoyer 10y agoI carry an adapter for these connectors in my Bose headphones case: https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Plated-Airline-Airplane-Adapter/dp/B00G53TDF4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468934521&sr=8-1&keywords=airline+headphone+adapter https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Plated-Airline-Airplane-Adapte...
- liveshops_ 10y agoLove it. The part that was omitted: "Hey, do you have some tweezers I can borrow?" "Tweezers? Um, no. I have an extra pair of headphones, though. It looks like you're having trouble with yours." "Oh, uh, no thanks--I just need some tweezers." The reason this is so cool is because it's a perfect example of problem solving, and how our determination kicks in when we have an innovative solution. Even if that means skipping over the easiest or the most common solution.
- MrZeus 10y agoHehe, ironic response about missing the obvious, since the first thing the hacker did was check it wasn't the headphones that were faulty :-) Asking a co-passenger for a spare set of phones would have left him with the same problem: the plane socket was only feeding audio from one hole, not both.