
Personal Cell Phone Jammer, $27.41 - frisco
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4355~r.51715689
======
yb
Probably beyond the abilities of a typical hobbyist:
<http://www.ladyada.net/make/wavebubble/index.html> but since this is _Hacker_
news.

~~~
gamache
Limor is a first-class hacker and this is a first-class hack. I was present
when, a couple years back, she used her Wave Bubble to prevent interruptions
to a wedding ceremony. It worked perfectly, and upon shutting off the jammer,
there was the sound of voicemails arriving to a number of the guests.
Bullseye.

------
ckinnan
These are apparently illegal to use in the U.S.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/technology/04jammer.html>

~~~
DanielStraight
And for good reason. Who wants to have their cell phone rendered useless just
because they happen to be standing too close to someone who decided they're
more important than everyone else around them.

~~~
sho
Similarly, it's a good thing dangerous chemical kits are outlawed in the US.
Who wants to have their house burned down just because they happen to be
living too close to someone who decided they're more important than everyone
else around them?

update: Hey, why am I being voted down? Not trying to be a douchebag here. I
really do view EM freedom as strongly correlated with normal-speech freedom.
"Pirate" radio stations anyone?

Clamping down on "rogue" EM radiators is like clamping down on "rogue"
anything else. We need a broader definition for "freedom of speech". EM is
speech, too.

~~~
eli
1) Unless you're really trying, it's pretty difficult to burn down the
neighborhood with a science kit. When using a cell phone jammer it's pretty
hard _not_ to affect all the people around you. That's kinda the point. Now,
if you don't want cell phones used in some place that you own, then paint the
walls with signal-blocking paint.

2) Have you tried to buy a chemical kit lately? They took out all the fun
stuff years ago.

------
alaskamiller
I have this sitting on my desk right now. I got it a year ago. Unfortunately
it doesn't work, or I'm too dumb to get it to work, but other people on the DX
forum mention that you have to tweak it. Anyone want to buy mine and give it a
shot? $20 shipped in the US. I'm serious.

------
sho
Coincidentally, I received two envelopes from DX today! I love that site and
would like to vouch for their legitimacy. However, do be careful - if it seems
too cheap to be possible, it's probably fake, just like my "Sandisk"
Micromates microSD USB adaptor which is rather different from the Australian-
bought genuine article sitting next to it.

------
yan
Way cooler: <http://www.ladyada.net/make/wavebubble/index.html>

------
ars
Instead of jamming the signal, how about spoofing the various protocols (i.e.
make a micro-cell), but one that will connect all calls with silence.

Would take much less energy, since all you need is to be slightly stronger
than the cell tower, plus you don't need to transmit all the time, just when
there is a call.

For extra points, detect and forward calls to 911.

~~~
eli
Huh? How exactly did you conclude that it would take less energy to build a
fully functional mobile cell phone tower that supports a variety of
incompatible protocols, all of which are secured with non-trivial encryption?

Even without the encryption, it is extremely difficult to demodulate a GSM
signal

~~~
ars
Perhaps you have a different meaning of the word energy? It will certainly
take less radio energy to do what I suggested.

And as for GSM, have a look at
[http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/09/08/17/0014235/Open-
Sourc...](http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/09/08/17/0014235/Open-Source-GSM-
Network-At-Dutch-Hacker-Convention)

~~~
dhimes
Perhaps he interpreted your comment to mean "less energy for the hacker to
build" rather than "less battery power for the device to operate."

~~~
eli
Indeed. And I'm not convinced it would take less battery power to build a
working cell tower.

------
nfriedly
Does anyone know how to make a cellphone _booster_? I'd love to be able to get
a bit more range out of my cell...

------
makmanalp
I bet a ton of highschool professors wish they had one of these.

~~~
jcl
Apparently they are in wide use in Chinese and Indian schools.

[http://pcworld.about.com/od/wirelessphonesvoip/Should-
Cell-P...](http://pcworld.about.com/od/wirelessphonesvoip/Should-Cell-Phone-
Jamming-be-L.htm)

------
zaph0d
I went ahead about bought one right-away.

------
onreact-com
Does selling products on HN conform with the TOS?

~~~
almost
It seems unlikely that the poster is the one selling this item. It seems more
likely that the reason for posting this was to show that you can in fact now
buy cell phone jammers for only a few dollars. This is quite interesting
whether or not you actually want to buy one :)

~~~
affiliator
While I'm not begrudging, it should be noted that DX links ending with ~r. and
a number are affiliated to a particular user's account.

~~~
frisco
Oh -- sorry about that! I found it through stumbleupon and didn't realize
there was an affiliate link at the end. It won't let me change the URL now
though.

~~~
affiliator
No need to apologize even if you did do it yourself. I checked your previous
submissions and it is obvious you are not spamming HN. There is no shame in
linking to a interesting product using an affiliate program. You are
technically advertising for them after all and deserve a payment.

I do wonder how much you earned the Stumbleupon user though. A quick google
search on the affiliate suffix shows he links to a few other DX products on SU
and elsewhere. Today I'm sure he saw a boost in profits.

------
TriinT
This is more badass:

[http://www.amazon.com/Uranium-
Ore/dp/B000796XXM/ref=cm_cr_pr...](http://www.amazon.com/Uranium-
Ore/dp/B000796XXM/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top)

~~~
biotech
This product is called "Uranium Ore"... There is an interesting/funny comment,
though.

Kyle J. Von Bose says:

 _I bought this to power a home-made submarine that I use to look for
prehistoric-era life forms in land-locked lakes around my home town in Alaska.
At first I wasn't sure if this item would (or could) arrive via mail, but I
was glad to see it showed up with no problems. Well, almost no problems.

Unfortuantly my mom opened my mail, because she does not respect people's
privacy. She was pretty upset to see Uranium Ore. After a long argument and me
running away from home again, she finaly stopped being such an idiot and I was
able to get back to work.

The quality of this Uranium is on par with the stuff I was bying from the
Libyans over at the mall parking lot, but at half the price! I just hope the
seller does not run out, because I have many projects on my list including a
night vision sasquatch radar, an electromagnetic chupakabra cage, a high
velocity, aerial, weighted Mothman net and super heated, instant grill cheese
sandwhich maker._

~~~
jacquesm
he has two more:

<http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A2BC94DUL2FII7>

------
jacquesm
Wait until you own up to having this thing and using it, you'll find yourself
waking up in hospital wondering why.

~~~
Bjoern
What do you mean? That the device will make you sick or somebody else will
beat you up?

~~~
jacquesm
You are interfering with the ability of others to communicate, it is the same
as gagging everybody around you, which is about as rude as you could possibly
get.

When somebody wonders out loud why their cell doesn't work, especially if the
call they need to make is an urgent one and you whip out your 'gadget' be
prepared for nasty stuff to happen to you.

Interfering with any kind of communication is about as low as you can go in my
book (other than doing violence to other people), doing it on the sly makes it
one step worse.

~~~
djehuty
Talking loudly on a cell phone, oblivious to the tranquility you destroy
around you -- that will come pretty close.

I'd like to think restaurant patrons and mass transit commuters had
consideration for others (and the presence of mind to talk quietly) but they
often don't. Jamming is probably not a good solution, though.

~~~
jacquesm
Society is about playing nice. To talk loudly on a cell phone is not nice,
jamming isn't either (and illegal besides).

