Amazing Video: Man hacks Times Square billboards with iPhone?

By: Will Goodman
Topics

(CBS) - First off I'm going to state that I do not know if this is in fact real or fake. My gut is telling me it has to be fake... but if it's real, I'm so going to buy one! In this video, a man uses his iPhone, and a video transmitter and repeater to "hack" video billboards in Times Square.

Starting off small, he exhibits how the device works on various video billboards on the ground and ultimately leads to a big finale. I'm not going to spoil the ending, but will say it involves a balloon and the giant CNN billboard in the middle of Times Square!

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by fabbyrob March 18, 2011 10:39 PM EDT: This is an add for a movie. Watch the first few seconds and last minute of this version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKxG7wQoSt8

Way to fail at news, CBS.; Reply to this comment


by fabbyrob March 18, 2011 10:38 PM EDT: This is an add for a movie. Watch the first few seconds and last minute of this version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKxG7wQoSt8

Way to fail at news, CBS.; Reply to this comment


by gruven13777 March 17, 2011 1:43 PM EDT: What is this suppose to make me want to do...buy an iPhone?; Reply to this comment

by albert.doolittle March 17, 2011 5:13 AM EDT

Fake, fake, fake.... There is one glaring mIstake. In the CNN display the iPhone only took over the picture portion of the display and not the temperature scroll which is part of the video as well. The "device" should have taken over the whole screen if it were real.

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by RedWings_ninety_one March 17, 2011 10:59 AM EDT: They are 2 seperate screens and 2 different feeds.


by rwsmith29456 March 17, 2011 12:19 AM EDT: What's really amazing it Time Square itself.; Reply to this comment


by lutzmark March 16, 2011 3:50 PM EDT: FAKE...Shame on you CBS news.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1366306/Hoax-mad-scientist-hijacking-Times-Squares-video-screens-iPhone-viral-smash-hit.html?ITO=1490

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1366306/Hoax-mad-scientist-hijacking-Times-Squares-video-screens-iPhone-viral-smash-hit.html?ITO=1490; Reply to this comment


by verishares March 16, 2011 2:50 PM EDT: FAKE!! Those are digital displays fed by shielded cable from a PC type device. The PC would have to be hacked not the display. If it was an old style analog TV set it would be possible to overpower the internal oscillator with an RF signal but still not very likely. Nice special effects though :-); Reply to this comment

by AgentGGG March 16, 2011 1:42 PM EDT

The fact that he places the device in proximity to each hacked monitor is evidence that this is real. Further evidence is that the screen returns to its original display. His video repeater could simply have found a way to overwhelm the driver circuit for the LCD screen. This could be some sort of electromagnetic interference EMI source (notabene not FCC certified) that is stronger than the display input signal when in proximity to the display. The interference signal could be coupled and amplified by some property or feature of conducter lines in the display. My further guess is that this only works with a certain kind of display, of a given refresh frequency and number of pixels.

Also, I do not believe that these displays are being driven by WiFi or another wireless network signal, but that they are all hardwired to receive video input signals.

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by bmurphytech March 16, 2011 4:51 PM EDT: Simply because he places his device in proximity to a monitor DOES NOT mean this is real. Are you cracked? Have you ever seen a magic show? Just because an illusionist passes a ring around a seemingly floating assistant, does not mean she IS floating. Your logic is fail. Furthermore, I see nothing that resembles a battery on this repeater. Lastly, this has internationally been lauded as a hoax by many, and you are awful quick to defend it based on childish assumptions. Sad.


by AnnieDanny March 16, 2011 11:10 AM EDT: So many computer systems are run by wireless now I suppose it's possible. I assumed these electronic billboards were hardwired though. I don't see how it's possible to hijack a screen that's physically plugged into it's source.; Reply to this comment


by mezzarip March 16, 2011 9:22 AM EDT: FAKE! You can do this with a chroma keyed background or image and superimpose a video instead of an image. This is how a lot of really bad 80's music video were done.; Reply to this comment