4 ms·
Lots of fun history around 2600Hz for those too young to remember or not part of the phreaking crowd, a fairly extinct form of hacker these days. A phreaker go
by 0xEF 3y ago
Lots of fun history around 2600Hz for those too young to remember or not part of the phreaking crowd, a fairly extinct form of hacker these days.
A phreaker going by Joybubbles was the first to exploit the tone by whistling. Later, a toy whistle in a cereal box was found to be able to produce the tone, leading to further exploit by John Draper, aka, Cap'n Crunch.
You can 3D print the whistle these days for a bit of nostalgia.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2630646 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2630646
- plapsley 3y agoShameless plug for my book on the history of the subject, for those interested: https://explodingthephone.com/ https://explodingthephone.com/
- chris0x00 3y agoI enjoyed your book
- plapsley 3y agoThanks!
- kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 3y agoI, too, enjoyed your book. Everyone go buy it, it's good.
- plapsley 3y agoThank you, appreciate the plug! :-)
- endgame 3y agoNot surprised at all to see the author on here. Your book is marvelous. I demolished your book on a flight a few years back, thoroughly enjoyed it, and was sad that it was all over so quickly (both the book, and the phreaking era). It has a permanent home on my shelf next to "The Cuckoo's Egg" as one of my favourite old tech storybooks and I recommend it to anyone vaguely interested in the subject.
- plapsley 3y agoThanks for the kind words, they mean a lot!
- peterleiser 3y agoNice! I just ordered a copy and can't wait to read it! Getting Steve Wozniak to write the forward is quite literally a "ringing" endorsement. ;-) Woz spoke at UC Berkeley (might have been 1998 commencement), and I asked him to sign an issue of 2600 magazine. After he signed it he flipped through it and asked if 2600 was still good and worth reading because he was thinking of getting a subscription for his son.
- dylan604 3y agoI was going to suggest this book as well, but no need if you're here doing it. Just a quick thanks for the book! I've read it multiple times whenever I feel nostalgic, and recommend when the subject comes up. I've even gifted a few copies.
- plapsley 3y agoThank you!
- 0xEF 3y agoHey, I notice you sell via a variety of sources. Which one ensures you the most ROI? I've always been curious, and like supporting others, but I worry that there's so many hands between you and your customer that by the time it the money reaches you, there is not much left.
- plapsley 3y agoThat's a very kind question, thanks! In terms of what I get in the end, it doesn't really matter where you buy it (e.g., Amazon, local bookstore, whatever), although I'd love it if you supported your local bookstore -- they need help! Format matters a bit more in terms of royalty percentage (I get a higher percentage on ebooks)but ebooks also are priced lower, so the net to me between paperback and ebook is not much different.
- theryan 3y agoJust a heads up, the Amazon link from your site lands on the hardcopy version which there are only used copies of.
- plapsley 3y agoThanks for the heads up! I'll attend to that!
- 462436347 3y ago> A phreaker going by Joybubbles was the first to exploit the tone by whistling. Joybubbles (formerly Joe Engressia) specifically denied being the first. In this interview (no timestamp), he mentions having heard of others phreaking as far back as the 50s: https://www.2600.com/offthehook/mp3files/1991/off_the_hook__19911120-128.mp3 https://www.2600.com/offthehook/mp3files/1991/off_the_hook__... He also demonstrates whistling 2600hz during that interview, including doing so on one of the only US trunks in service at the time still using it for supervision. > Later, a toy whistle in a cereal box was found to be able to produce the tone, leading to further exploit by John Draper, aka, Cap'n Crunch. Not true, even he admitted, belatedly, that Denny Teresi introduced him to it: > https://www.dailydot.com/debug/john-draper-beyond-the-little-blue-box/ https://www.dailydot.com/debug/john-draper-beyond-the-little... > Denny called me and told me about this whistle that blew the magic tone that disconnects long distance phone calls, and that he had a spare. He asked me if I could drive him to San Francisco so he could show me how it worked.
- washadjeffmad 3y agoThanks. I was in Team Virus and later Team Phreak, and we had plenty of people coming to tell their stories of being either Draper or the first to discover red/blue boxing after we put out NPA-NXX. A lot of absolute nonesense, but tons of fun while it lasted.
- peterleiser 3y agoOh, to live again in 1995! The year of peak payphone and working red boxes. It was glorious, but sadly lives on only in our memories: https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/pay-phones-coming-back-free.htm https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/pay-phones-coming-back... "The stark shift happened fast; in 1995, the number of pay phones in the U.S. peaked at 2.6 million, Slate reported in 2022. In less than three decades, that's dwindled to fewer than 100,000."
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
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- retrac 3y ago> for those too young to remember or not part of the phreaking crowd Always important to remember that the telecom revolution was underway in 1890, let alone 1990. I still think the telephone system trumps the Internet in terms of revolutionary impact on society.