sounds like what he's had for 3 years is too much time on his hands
No actually it started with a project for Rio Solado college in PHX. They had a "shrinkage issue" and a 3rd party vendor sold them a real time tracking solution that was basically a combination of issuing a unique inventory label with a real time tracking capability and then integrating it into campus security....so they needed a test bed...so this guy stepped up and deployed the test bed in his house. Initially "wired" his kids and there toys so he could "track" movement and "theft"...then went a bit overboard and started fooling with stuff....he had his CD collection and all other stuff tagged. Basically a small little metal (or so it looked adhesive tag)...was a bit of a hoot....gee hon I can't find my keys....they're in the bathroom right by the window...
From the little I saw it doesnt take a huge amount of equipment...just an understanding of how the stuff works. I'm component savvy to a degree...but if I look at an old 7900GT I have here at my desk I have zero clue what the various "gizmoids" are or what they do....these guys will look at it and start to argue/comment on the merit of a specific part or combination etc or how it can be "improved"...often they'll buy stuff or liberate it via work connections just so they can do exactly that.
Realize that as more and more stuff gets hardened hardware wise to avoid software hacks the hardware skills get more in demand again. My understanding is that you have to hack the iphone hardware before you mess with the software (not entirely sure on that) for example...
