San Antonio Hams

There was a software bug detected whereby hackers can illegally access an unpatched iPhone (prior to 3.0.1) by simply sending a loaded SMS message. The SMS message migiht appear to be blank, or have a small square character, but in reality it could have contained anything and appeared to have come from anyone.

If your iPhone got infected, your phone became a zombie. The attacker could take over your camera and microphone to watch / listen in live without your knowing, have access to any private information stored on your iPhone, and could then use your phone to contact and infect other iPhone users.   Until now, you had no protection, and if infected, your only option was to turn off your iPhone and take it in to the Apple Store or an Apple Tech to get it restored back to factory spec, risking the loss your data.

All the crook needed to know was the phone # of your iPhone.

Read the rest of this entry »

I was updating some of my wiring harness for my ham radio emergency go-kit, and needed to unsolder some wires from a LED switch to that I could try to reuse it.  I succeeded in getting the older wires removed and cleaned the solder off the terminals so that I could later reattach the connectors of my choice.

But something happened (this was 3am in the morning) and the soldering pencil (all 12 watts of it) decided to roll off the table and land on the inside of my left forearm.  

Ouch!   Those things are hot enough to melt solder, and hot enough to start burning their way thru my skin, especially the more tender skin on the inside of my arm rather than the weather beaten outer side. 🙂

Kids, don’t try this without adult supervision, and adults, don’t try it without adult supervision. 

I should have used my soldering station to put the pencil in while hot, but that was outside in my van from when we were installing the antenna and power lines for the radio, and (did I mention it was 3am?) so I didn’t feel like going out side to fetch it back inside just for a quicky task. 

Shame on me for taking short cuts and using my spare soldering pencil without taking proper precautions to ensure it didn’t get knocked off and start a fire or other hazard (like hitting my arm).

Six days later (8/5), and burn mark still very noticeable.  Not hurting as much, still keeping neosporin applied, plus those spray on bandages instead of tape on bandages.  Here’s a current photo.