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The linked article is a guide to "hacking" a $30 Xiaomi Dafang IP camera. This camera is an "indoor motorized WiFi camera capable of 1080P resolution and decent

The linked article is a guide to "hacking" a $30 Xiaomi Dafang IP camera. This camera is an "indoor motorized WiFi camera capable of 1080P resolution and decent night-vision, its price is cheap". If you bought one, all the "hacking" required is inserting a MicroSD card with a custom firmware on it and pressing and holding the camera's reset button to flash the custom firmware. From then on, the camera has the ability to boot from your MicroSD which can contain services that allow the camera to stream to local clients, among other things. More detailed instructions in the article.

diggan 9y ago
Thanks, I saw said article as I'm commenting in it's thread :) But I wanted to avoid the hacking and just buy something that I don't have to force into doing what I want but rather come in a clean slate.
- epicide 9y ago
  Not trying to sound (too) snarky, but the fact that there is an article on hacking a camera to do that kinda tells you that a boxed solution to do mostly the same things doesn't exist :)
  - diggan 9y ago
    No worries, my initial comment might have been on the wrong post ("hey, I see you hack cameras but if I don't have time for that, where can I buy one with acceptable out-of-the-box behaviour?") but I felt the subject was a bit related at least, and I don't know any of them so I asked :)
  - TheForumTroll 9y ago
    Lots exist, just not cheap :)
    - epicide 9y ago
      Yep, I should've been more explicit, but I was counting "be cheap" as part of "mostly the same things". Recently bought a Nest camera since it seemed like a DIY approach was going to be harder than I thought. Might end up returning it if I can get this to work how I want.
- blacksmith_tb 9y ago
  I have a couple of Xiaomi Yi cams, which out-of-the box stream to a mobile app, don't require a subscription, and will save video locally to an SD card. They are cheap and cheerful (but you would want to keep them behind a firewall). That said, this hack clearly offers a lot more functionality (I think I will replace my Yi cams with these and relegate them to recording raccoons in my backyard).
rashomon 9y ago
I'm not a conspiracy nut but there is something to say about how attractive Xiaomi's offerings are. For everything from phones, TVs, and other electronics; you would be crazy not to purchase it. In there lies a hidden threat. Possible from a tiger nation state.
- tomswartz07 9y ago
  Or, it's more likely that they only pay workers a few dollars a day to crank this stuff out.
- Klathmon 9y ago
  I don't think it's a "hidden threat" as much as it is a company racing to the bottom first. Xiaomi has consistently shown that they don't care about security (or at least consistently enough that they have lost my trust).
  - O_H_E 9y ago
    I want to believe this, but I have never seen something about Xiaomi/security. Can you please give some pointers/links/events that happened before
    - Klathmon 9y ago
      I don't have any links on hand, but I know of a handful of situations that I remember: * Xiaomi android phones had some kind of analytics APK built in around 2016 that would send a shitload of data over HTTP to their servers, and even would allow downloading emergency updates over HTTP. Their "fix" was to enable HTTPS, but leave the ability to force downloads and continue to run the analytics programs on the phones. * Their robot vacuum used a password of "robotrock" to encrypt and sign updates. * Their "yeelight" smart-bulbs were recording audio and sending them back to their servers over HTTP. * Their "air purifier" also sends analytics and does updates via HTTP without any signatures. IIRC many of these were fixed at some point, but I know at least once they said (paraphrasing) "we aren't going to fix it because the device isn't capable of HTTPS", but I don't remember which device it was. And it's enough for me to understand that they don't seem to take data privacy and security very seriously at all.

diggan 9y ago

Thanks, I saw said article as I'm commenting in it's thread :) But I wanted to avoid the hacking and just buy something that I don't have to force into doing what I want but rather come in a clean slate.

epicide 9y ago
Not trying to sound (too) snarky, but the fact that there is an article on hacking a camera to do that kinda tells you that a boxed solution to do mostly the same things doesn't exist :)
- diggan 9y ago
  No worries, my initial comment might have been on the wrong post ("hey, I see you hack cameras but if I don't have time for that, where can I buy one with acceptable out-of-the-box behaviour?") but I felt the subject was a bit related at least, and I don't know any of them so I asked :)
- TheForumTroll 9y ago
  Lots exist, just not cheap :)
  - epicide 9y ago
    Yep, I should've been more explicit, but I was counting "be cheap" as part of "mostly the same things". Recently bought a Nest camera since it seemed like a DIY approach was going to be harder than I thought. Might end up returning it if I can get this to work how I want.
blacksmith_tb 9y ago
I have a couple of Xiaomi Yi cams, which out-of-the box stream to a mobile app, don't require a subscription, and will save video locally to an SD card. They are cheap and cheerful (but you would want to keep them behind a firewall). That said, this hack clearly offers a lot more functionality (I think I will replace my Yi cams with these and relegate them to recording raccoons in my backyard).

rashomon 9y ago

I'm not a conspiracy nut but there is something to say about how attractive Xiaomi's offerings are. For everything from phones, TVs, and other electronics; you would be crazy not to purchase it. In there lies a hidden threat. Possible from a tiger nation state.

tomswartz07 9y ago
Or, it's more likely that they only pay workers a few dollars a day to crank this stuff out.
Klathmon 9y ago
I don't think it's a "hidden threat" as much as it is a company racing to the bottom first. Xiaomi has consistently shown that they don't care about security (or at least consistently enough that they have lost my trust).
- O_H_E 9y ago
  I want to believe this, but I have never seen something about Xiaomi/security. Can you please give some pointers/links/events that happened before
  - Klathmon 9y ago
    I don't have any links on hand, but I know of a handful of situations that I remember: * Xiaomi android phones had some kind of analytics APK built in around 2016 that would send a shitload of data over HTTP to their servers, and even would allow downloading emergency updates over HTTP. Their "fix" was to enable HTTPS, but leave the ability to force downloads and continue to run the analytics programs on the phones. * Their robot vacuum used a password of "robotrock" to encrypt and sign updates. * Their "yeelight" smart-bulbs were recording audio and sending them back to their servers over HTTP. * Their "air purifier" also sends analytics and does updates via HTTP without any signatures. IIRC many of these were fixed at some point, but I know at least once they said (paraphrasing) "we aren't going to fix it because the device isn't capable of HTTPS", but I don't remember which device it was. And it's enough for me to understand that they don't seem to take data privacy and security very seriously at all.