Monday, May 21, 2001 | 10:32 a.m.
NEW YORK -- Ken Segler likes to fiddle with electronic gadgets in his spare time. So when the i-opener promised Internet access without a full-powered computer, he grabbed one and tinkered away.
Soon enough, he figured out how to add a hard drive for storage, turning the $99 Internet appliance into a low-end computer that normally costs $1,000.
Segler posted instructions and sold upgrade kits over the Internet, earning enough for a down payment on a home in Las Vegas. And he souped up six more i-openers for himself. Now he can check e-mail and listen to digital music from any room.
Segler is the digital era's version of the amateur mechanic. But instead of souping up cars for power and show, he and his ilk prefer appliances that depend on digital processors and software instructions.
With gadgets like game players and cell phones becoming more like computers, Segler and other hobbyists aren't about to run out of targets.
"Everything I buy I take apart," said Segler, 37, an electronics engineer by profession. "It's fun. It's a hobby to me, an obsession."
Segler also took apart the CueCat, a mouse-like device that links bar codes in printed ads and catalogues with specialized Web pages.
Using an X-acto knife, he disconnected a chip containing a serial number, turning the free device into a regular bar code reader that he could use without worrying about the potential for surveillance.
Other gadget enthusiasts have added storage space and high-speed Internet connections to TiVo, a device that records television programs digitally onto a hard disk for playback.
They've also tweaked displays for Palm handhelds and put new words into Furby dolls' mouths. Questions of legality aside, they've altered game machines and DVD players to bypass regional copyright controls, so that discs from Japan work in the United States.
No matter that these alterations usually void warrantees.
"If they can still receive the service, great for them," said Rebecca Baer, a spokeswoman for TiVo. "If they can't, ... it's their problem."
Jamie Shorey, a graduate student in electrical engineering at Duke University, turned her 14-hour TiVo into a 91-hour one by adding a 60-gigabyte drive. She and two roommates can now record shows all semester from a satellite dish.
"Once you buy the product, it's yours," she said. "I should be able to add any kind of part to it."
Such tinkering can have undesired consequences for manufacturers, however.
Netpliance Inc. sold the i-opener below cost and counted on recouping costs through monthly Internet access fees. But by adding a hard drive, people like Segler could choose a different access provider, depriving Netpliance of those revenues.
The company tried gluing on components to thwart such alterations, but Segler said he bypassed it in 15 minutes.
Other companies decided not to bother fighting, treating hacking instead as a source of cheap or free research.
Digital Convergence Corp., the distributor of the CueCat, is even launching a Web site this month to encourage unofficial uses, such as cataloging CDs and books through their bar codes or linking game cartridges with online cheat sheets.
The company always assumed that hackers would try to alter the devices and software, chief technology officer Doug Davis said, "and we decided we're just not going to worry about that."
All the company is asking now, he said, is for hobbyists to limit alterations to noncommercial uses.
Tinkering with gadgets is getting easier because manufacturers have turned to standardized components as their costs dropped, said John Gage, chief researcher at Sun Microsystems Inc.
"Essentially, the cell phone, the Palm Pilot, the tape recorder and the video camera are identical," Gage said. "They all have the same things inside them. ... This means I can change the functioning of what used to be a closed world."
Manufacturers are also turning to common software platforms. In particular, TiVo has been a popular target because it uses Linux, an open-source operating system.
A cottage industry has sprung around unofficial upgrades.
For TiVo, 9th Tee Enterprises sells $385 storage-upgrade kits, complete with screwdrivers. Souped-up units regularly appear on eBay. One site even offers to do the work for $75, plus shipping.
David Beckemeyer added an Ethernet port to TiVo for high-speed Internet connections. His techniques allow TiVo to obtain programming guides without making phone calls. Some hobbyists are also trying to program their TiVos from work.
"Ultimately guys like me are all probably a sign of things to come," Beckemeyer said. Generally, he said, hackers come up with functions before market demand justifies manufacturers adding them.
Having an Ethernet port could, for example, pave the way for file-sharing, allowing TiVo users to find the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" episode they missed on the unit of another TiVo owner.
A California startup called EnjoyWeb Inc. has developed ways to insert software into TiVos and similar recording devices so that they can receive shows on demand through the Internet.
Yangbin Wang, founder and chief executive of EnjoyWeb, said the company would use it only with manufacturers it has partnered with and for content it can legally distribute.
But he acknowledged that it would be simple for someone else to create similar software.
Brad Hunt, chief technology officer for the Motion Picture Association of America, said copyright holders are aware of the hacking potential and are working with various device manufacturers to improve protections.
Some hackers are already at work on ways to store TiVo files on compact discs. Although they insist they only want to expand storage capacity for personal use, the techniques could be easily adapted for piracy.
Such efforts, as well as suggestions for avoiding TiVo's subscription fees, have been strongly denounced at TiVo underground bulletin boards for fear the manufacturer would crack down on other hacks as well.
Beside self-restraint, imagination is the only limiting factor.
Digital Convergence's Davis links eight video cassette recorders with a satellite system in his home, controlling taping from a computer. He's exploring turning TiVo into a video security system.
EnjoyWeb's Wang knows of friends who, using low-power transmitters, are able to view satellite TV on multiple sets in their homes without having to buy more than one converter.
Trying to stop alterations is pointless, said Daryl Pitts, a Los Angeles game developer who expanded his TiVo.
"Hackers will always find a way around it," he said. "No matter how smart someone is, there's always someone else a little smarter."
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