We’re used to seeing teardowns of all kinds of new and exciting electronics. Whether it’s the iPad 2, the BlackBerry PlayBook or the 3DS, landing on the iFixit work bench has become something of a right of passage for newly released gadgets.
However, the latest gadget to go through the ordeal of an iFixit teardown is not something you’ll be able to pick up via Best Buy or NewEgg anytime soon. Nope, this device is something completely different: It’s a government gadget used by the FBI to track suspects. iFixit’s teardown is done in collaboration with Wired and the DIY repair company says the device in question is a loaner. Similar to California student Yasir Afifi who last year discovered that the FBI had been tracking him via a device attached to the underside of his car -- the 20-year-old was half-Egyption and his dad was an Islamic-American community leader who had died in 2009 -- the owner of the device featured in these pictures also discovered it on their car.
So what’s inside one of these things? According to iFixit, the device is comprised of a GPS unit for receiving the car's position, an RF transmitter for relaying your location to the owner of the device, a set of four d-cell lithium batteries to keep it chugging along and a magnetic mounting rack to help it stick tightly to your car.
Interesting to note that the magnets used are so strong, they ripped right out of the mounting bracket and remain on the host vehicle. Additionally, each of the batteries carries a service life of between 10 and 20 years.
Check the full teardown, complete with full gallery of gory images, over on iFixit.
- Sony Aims to Have PSN Fully Online By End of May
- Why You Should be Grateful For The PSN Attack
- Man Busted for File-Sharing While House-Sitting
- X360 Getting Support for PayPal, XGD3 Format
- Microsoft Acquires Skype for $8.4 Billion
- Teenage Killer Caught Through Xbox 360 Game
- WiMAX Sleeve Gives Korean iPhone Users 4G
- Hating PSN? Man Shoots PS3 With Desert Eagle
- China's iPad 2 Launch Turns Violent
- Google to Control Your House With Android@Home
- Zynga, Lada Gaga Teaming Up For... GagaVille
- Minecraft Creator Mulling Over MinecraftCon
- This Ultra-Modern Home is Half Underwater
- revOlve: The Spinning, Self-Recharging Phone
- Meet the Coin Operated Self-Wiping Shopping Cart
- Google To Focus On WebGL in Chrome
- Angry Birds Comes to Chrome
- MSFT: We Promise Not to Screw Up Skype
- Meet Sony's Colorful New MP3 Player
I guess the FBI got pwned.... He, he.
WANT those magnets!!! Don't know why but magnets fascinate me. Rare earth magnets are the best. Reading this I like the sound of those magnets... WANT!!
i hope there first stop after they found it and hacked it, was to a civil rights lawyer...
batteries that last between 10 to 20 years?
really?
Something you don't want to find on your car.
With terrorism and pervs out there, such devices have been used for years. From a news-doc, there are many agents out on the field that may get called on at any time to "Watch" somebody and are very difficult to notice.
With everything going on - a tip or a red flag may have them open a file on you, they may be watching and checking you out for a bit... and if you're okay, they'll just go away.
Example, if you ended up on a terrorist site somehow, maybe flipped through a few pages to check it out and never returned or reported it... you should be okay. If you visit regularly, post info, ask questions on how to make weapons, etc... I hope they are watching you.
WANT those magnets!!! Don't know why but magnets fascinate me. Rare earth magnets are the best. Reading this I like the sound of those magnets... WANT!!
They are just neodymium magnets.
Put your hand between two of those and kiss it goodbye.
http://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddet [...] 52&cat=168
wicked nice otacon72, I love magnets and would love to own one of those chunks!
Belardo 05/11/2011 4:52 AM
Hide
-0+
Something you don't want to find on your car.
With terrorism and pervs out there, such devices have been used for years. From a news-doc, there are many agents out on the field that may get called on at any time to "Watch" somebody and are very difficult to notice.
With everything going on - a tip or a red flag may have them open a file on you, they may be watching and checking you out for a bit... and if you're okay, they'll just go away.
Example, if you ended up on a terrorist site somehow, maybe flipped through a few pages to check it out and never returned or reported it... you should be okay. If you visit regularly, post info, ask questions on how to make weapons, etc... I hope they are watching you.
You are part of the problem by being a fascist prick who supports the fake war on terror that is designed to remove our rights. I hope you get hit by a car and you never reproduce.
http://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddet [...] 52&cat=168
That's a quick way for format a hard drive lmao!
WANT those magnets!!! Don't know why but magnets fascinate me. Rare earth magnets are the best. Reading this I like the sound of those magnets... WANT!!
If you take apart a 3.5" HDD, it has smaller magnets of that power. They are amonia magnets.
I take them out of dead HDDs and see if my friends can actually pull two of them apart without sliding them around. For the most part, no one can.
And don't get your finger pinched by two of them. They are not very nice that way.
Hurumph...
Now if we can get a detector for one of these things we would be all set....
If you take apart a 3.5" HDD, it has smaller magnets of that power. They are amonia magnets.I take them out of dead HDDs and see if my friends can actually pull two of them apart without sliding them around. For the most part, no one can.And don't get your finger pinched by two of them. They are not very nice that way.
When I worked at a local PC shop, I'd stick two of them together, tie on a string and drag it around to gather up baseball sized chunks of fallen screws.
Quoting - TheCapulet -
--When I worked at a local PC shop, I'd stick two of them together, tie on a string and drag it around to gather up baseball sized chunks of fallen screws. --
Hope you weren't dragging those magnets around the inside of the cases of your customers computers
Let's reassemble these and attach them to a stray dog!
the best part is that it doesn't come with a warrant
I hope they are watching you. ...
What a waste of a first post.
they don't need these things...now they can just ask for your cell phone records and gather the same information
Did anyone consider there might be a reason that the recipient of this "gift" might have given a reason to the FBI (alleged) to track their movements. Reference is made to another similar case, but the "owner" of this one is left out of the Tom's snippet.
Belardo 05/11/2011 4:52 AMHide-0+Something you don't want to find on your car.With terrorism and pervs out there, such devices have been used for years. From a news-doc, there are many agents out on the field that may get called on at any time to "Watch" somebody and are very difficult to notice.With everything going on - a tip or a red flag may have them open a file on you, they may be watching and checking you out for a bit... and if you're okay, they'll just go away.Example, if you ended up on a terrorist site somehow, maybe flipped through a few pages to check it out and never returned or reported it... you should be okay. If you visit regularly, post info, ask questions on how to make weapons, etc... I hope they are watching you.You are part of the problem by being a fascist prick who supports the fake war on terror that is designed to remove our rights. I hope you get hit by a car and you never reproduce.
real war, however abused policies.
i hope there first stop after they found it and hacked it, was to a civil rights lawyer...
Warrant's. Have a nice day.
they don't need these things...now they can just ask for your cell phone records and gather the same information
Or maybe they could retrieve all your GPS positioning data from you iPhone or iPad.
real war, however abused policies.
I happen to agree with this statement.
I do feel that everyone should pick up a gps jamming device and keep it with them before the government makes those devices illegal (you know they will).
That's a quick way for format a hard drive lmao!
A magnet will not format a hard drive, it's been proven that even a super powerful magnet won't erase your data. I've seen people try to use magnets from the huge magnetic car lifts on HDD with the drives being still usable and the data intact for the most part.
The only way to completely destroy data on a HDD, is to do what the FBI does. Use a wiping program to completely wipe the drive clean. Then run it through a HDD shredder.
This was on Wired last week. The GPS device was "Abandoned" after it was found on an environmentalists' car (she was a member of food not bombs). Wired did a more in-depth tear down of the device.
WANT those magnets!!! Don't know why but magnets fascinate me. Rare earth magnets are the best. Reading this I like the sound of those magnets... WANT!!
Fcuking magnets, how do they work?
That's a quick way for format a hard drive lmao!
If you go to an NMR lab you'll find that computers are used just feet away from NMR spectrometers containing a 10+ Tesla superconducting magnets 24/7 for years. I don't think that even an extremely strong magnet is capable of wiping a hard drive.
If you go to an NMR lab you'll find that computers are used just feet away from NMR spectrometers containing a 10+ Tesla superconducting magnets 24/7 for years. I don't think that even an extremely strong magnet is capable of wiping a hard drive.
It just occurred to me that those magnets are probably pretty well shielded, but nevertheless. I've had my wallet right up against the instrument tons of times and the mag strips of my credit cards were not affected.
Something you don't want to find on your car.With terrorism and pervs out there, such devices have been used for years. From a news-doc, there are many agents out on the field that may get called on at any time to "Watch" somebody and are very difficult to notice.With everything going on - a tip or a red flag may have them open a file on you, they may be watching and checking you out for a bit... and if you're okay, they'll just go away.Example, if you ended up on a terrorist site somehow, maybe flipped through a few pages to check it out and never returned or reported it... you should be okay. If you visit regularly, post info, ask questions on how to make weapons, etc... I hope they are watching you.
...and this, ladies and gentlemen, is the perfect result of brainwashing by corporate media. Behold!
The amazing thing about this device is its battery life, between 10 to 20 years, wow.
Or maybe they could retrieve all your GPS positioning data from you iPhone or iPad.
you also forgot to add any cell phone that uses the Android OS....it's not as secure as people make it to be....i pitty the fool who thinks the Andoid is God's gift to the mobile world....i have such a device and i can't wait to get rid of it, waiting for my upgrade time to come and will get and iPhone