

Crazy things you can plug into your iPhone's audio jack - skram
http://www.tuaw.com/2013/11/11/the-craziest-things-you-can-plug-into-your-iphones-audio-jack/

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csmuk
These things all seem like risky hacks to me. It only takes a single "new
minor revision" of the iPhone with slightly different electrical
characteristics to scupper these devices.

I'd rather pay through the nose and get something proper for the job.

That goes for those POS card readers as well

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bradleyland
Heh, if you think this is a risky hack, you'd be amazed at how we used to use
the internet. Once upon a time, we used these things called modems that
modulated an analog signal in such a way as to send digital communications
down a wire that was designed as the technological equivalent of two tin cans
attached to a string. It's a miracle any of it ever worked. Hell, it's a
miracle any of this stuff works.

Many of these devices are, essentially, modems. They modulate the analog
signal in ways that are tolerant of the faults typical in analog systems.
Fortunately, they've got two things going for them:

1) They're sending the analog signal over a very, very short distance.

2) Modulated communications are a very well developed field of signal
transmission.

They're hacks, but they're old, established hacks.

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csmuk
It's not a miracle or a hack. Modems were sound bits of engineering and were
based on international standards that allowed them to interoperate with each
other properly. They had clearly defined electrical and protocol standards.

They may use the principle of a modem but there is no established standard for
communication. I assume that you know about impedance and loading based on the
above? If the internal resistance of the current loop suddenly flies up or
down, is the circuit on the other end going to perform to the same? Nope.
There will be less current available for the device. At that point it will
work intermittently or stop working all together.

Your microphone or earphones will still work quite happily though.

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bebna
But there are Standards. 2 to be exact: one from OMTP and one from CITA. The
OMTP one, is even used as national standard in china:
[http://www.cspress.com.cn/u/cms/www/201208/17092831ounz.pdf](http://www.cspress.com.cn/u/cms/www/201208/17092831ounz.pdf)

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mikeweiss
Those last items (Starbucks latte) will do more damage then good. Those 3.5mm
jacks are delicate and if you bump your latte into something it could break
it.

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jensnockert
I helped build an EEG device that connected to the head-phone jack, not a real
product though. Just a hackday project.

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rch
The 'iXR2012 Personal Radiation Meter' would be good for people that sometimes
work with or handle materials from drilling wells, and the like. A friend of
mine has a story about a particularly 'hot' sample sitting on a colleague's
desk for weeks.

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grandalf
notable link to research:
[http://web.eecs.umich.edu/~prabal/projects/hijack/](http://web.eecs.umich.edu/~prabal/projects/hijack/)

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wehadfun
What about card processor?

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skram
I don't think that's considered crazy anymore :)

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awakeasleep
Flagged blogspam listicle

