For DEFCON 17, Ninja Networks designed and built a electronic badge to be given out as the invitation to their trademark event, the Ninja Party. The plan was ambitious, incorporating a completely custom-designed PCB, a host of components including a Freescale processor and 10 16-segment HIOX displays, and much more. Ultimately, we were successful, building more than 500 badges and distributing them at DEFCON as planned. But that's not the whole story. What most people don't know is that the idea for this badge started out on a bar napkin at Toorcon 8, and ultimately would turn into a year-long odyssey of shady holding companies, shadier international vendors, and very nearly end with complete disaster.

This talk will cover in great technical detail the project's inception, design, build, and very nearly its epic fail. You'll learn how to (not) to get screwed over by shady Chinese vendors, how to do SMT work without a reflow oven, and hear about the coolest spontaneous event we've seen at a hacker con in the last 10 years.

barkode

Barkode has been active in the hacker community since the mid-90s, when his bust (along with most of Sacramento 2600) helped lead to the creation of Ninja Networks, a closely-knit group of computer hackers. There was a time when he used to provide information security consulting for everyone from the FBI to the local cops and back, but he spends most of his time these days yelling at the kids to get off his lawn.

cnelson

cnelson has been bending technology to the whims of multinational corporations for fun and profit since 1995. When not slaving away for his corporate masters he enjoys causing trouble on the internet, attending cons around the world, and drinking hackers under the table.

cstone

cstone has been writing code for underpowered processors since 1990 or so.  He bikes a lot and does research for a small security company on the East Coast.

w0z

w0z has been alternating designing and destroying hardware since 1999, and it's so TTL till you can't stop. She gets paid to prototype medical equipment and enjoys RF systems, machining and making stuff with cstone.