Hulleye Comes By!

in case, anyone didn’t get it, that topic is reference from hackers the movie. so i just tried hacking the coke machine at my workplace. it’s quite fun to play around with. i guess the pakistani readers of this site won’t really be able to do it because from my recollection, i don’t know of any coke vending machines in pakistan. but times are changing so i could be wrong. anyway this is a long entry so go through it if you feel like….or not. by the way, this is all over the web so i’m not gonna source any particular site.

PREFACE
Coke vending machines are everywhere. They’re getting more and more like regular computers with LEDs that show little “ICE COLD” messages and whatnot. Well, there’s a lot more to those little built-in computers than you may think. Included in the low-level operating system that these babies run on is an actual debug menu that gives you access to all sorts of machine information and possibly gives you free cokes in older machines.

WHICH MACHINES WORK?
There’s a very strict list of vending machines that have the debug menu. First off, they’re all COCA-COLA product vending machines. This means the giant, un-missable picture on the front must show any of the following: Coke, Dasani (Water), Barq’s Root Beer, Vanilla Coke, Cherry Coke, Sprite, Evlan (water), Fanta, Fresca, Frutopia, Hi-C, Sprite Remix, Mad River, Mello Yello, Minute Maid, Nestea, Odwalla, Mr. Pibb/Pibb Xtra, Planet Java, Power Ade, Seagram’s Ginger Ale, Simply Orange, Sparkletts, or Tab. Of course anything Diet or Caffeine free works too.
The machine must have an LED screen. Some of the older ones just allow the LED to be set to a price amount and won’t have the debug menu. You’re safer if the little LED is telling you something. Usually it will scroll a little message like “Ice Cold Cokes”. Newer machines are more likely candidates.

ACCESSING THE MENU
To enter the menu, there’s a button combination. HERE’S THE ONLY THING YOU HAVE TO REALLY REMEMBER:

[4]-[2]-[3]-[1]

The buttons are numbered depending on how they are positioned. They will either be vertical (more likely), or in horizontal rows of 4 buttons per row. If it is vertical, the first button is #1, the one below it is #2, and so forth. If the buttons are in horizontal rows, the first button is #1, and the one to the right of it is #2. The numbers work like a type writer after that. In rows of 4, the first button of row 2 will be button #5. So, to review, getting in to the debug menu looks like this:

COKE MACHINE::::::
$1.00 ——-
————-
[ Coke ]

so someone beat me to it. now all we need is a desi trivial pursuit.

Desi Monopoly is a new special edition board-games celebrating Indians, Pakistanis and other Asians living in the UK; the properties are a mix of Indian icons (famous train stations, the Taj) and Asian neigbourhoods in Britain.

too bad you can’t get it in time for christmas.

via haseeb,

read the letter that got leaked and was from the US secretary of state, hers truly, condoleeza rice dealing with the issues of internet governance. someone got ticked off when the EU proposed that they should rule the internet. the letter is pretty stern but you should also read it bearing in mind that letters of this type are not only very rare but they are always written in very, very soft diplomatic language. this was not. the result of the letter was that the EU dropped its plan for an inter-governmental oversight body for the internet and we have ended up with the status quo (ICANN, US government control). the letter was never meant for publication.