Project Gargoyle

For a while I have been interested in wearable computers, small devices which let you stay connected to the net wherever you go so you can access data and record important stuff on the go. The main sticking point for this is the displays so you can see the data. They either look big, ugly and kludgy or are very expensive. This is not likely to change for a while.

I opted to go for the cheaper solution and got what would normally be considered a kid’s toy off ebay. It is one of these things kids use to spy on folk and suchlike. The toy consists of a tank like remote controlled vehicle with a camera mounted on the front which wirelessly relays video to the user. The video is shown by way of a head mounted display, which is the part I was after. The display accepts composite video signals through a 3 pole 3.5mm jack (the same as found on headphones).

My phone, a Nokia N95 8Gb has video out capability, conveniently in the form of a composite video signal delivered through a standard phono jack. Combining the two is a relativley simple affair, some minimal soldering is required but nothing that will be permanent between the two devices.

My phone was chosen as the main processor due to the wealth of functionality it provides: bluetooth, wifi, 3g internet, installable applications, media playing etc. If I didn’t know better, I would say this was meant to be.

I do have to credit Soylent_Bomb (aka PseudoKroW) for this, his review and notes on the headset are what convinced me to try it out. The fact that I had to get the rest of the toy is a tad annoying but hopefully I will be able to repurpose the tracked vehicle into a robot chassis, depending on how easy it is to subvert to my whims. If not, it will be ebayed.

Upload Reloaded

I did a bit more hacking of my upload script (note the exension change) to tweak some things and make it more secure. The updated code is available for criticism/comment.

I still consider the script to be in beta. It would be nice if folk could test it and report on any errors you encounter (particularly file size related).

I am blocking php asp and python scripts as they are most likely to run on the server and are capable of owning me (which I do not want happening. What other extensions should be blocked on a Linux server?