It is a shitpost. It is a variant on the "did you know flock cameras contains valuable copper and wiring etc". They don't contain much that would amount to anything of that either, but that is not really the point.
If I were ever to have stolen hardware from an evil surveillance tech company, I wouldn't connect any part of it to the power grid, much less my internet.
Interesting teardown, if that large battery only protected by thin plastic? I'd be a bit concerned that a fast enough projector like a BBC gun could penetrate the battery and start a fire. I mean someone could drive by and for from their car without being seen! Seams like an issue they should really address.
I'm noticing a LOT more lately that everything is geared towards the US. I really wish I could move from here for peace of mind. There is no reason we have to work ourselves daylight to dark every day.
Honestly, I'm loving the Remake. I never played much of the original, so I'm gonna see this one through. It definitely hits the nostalgia receptors though.
Some are strait up RaspberryPis or other SoC boards that can easily run DOOM. Wouldn't suprise me if they had models with SODIMM. They for sure have 18650 or poly pack batteries in all the solar ones
It's recording video & audio, scanning plates on cars & comparing them to a database, waiting for input to view live feeds (possibly to multiple users at once), probably running some type of encryption so people can't "steal" the data they're collecting...
If an apple watch has like a gig of RAM, I'd believe a flock cam is in the double digits
The scanning and sharing are almost certainly cloud based, not on device. Streaming encrypted data to a remote endpoint doesn't take much ram especially if it has dedicated crypto hardware
Recording video and audio needs like 1GB RAM max. It would then stream that to a data center to do the heavy lifting for scanning the images, extracting license plates, running the database and so on. But even if they did that locally, 4 GB is enough.
As someone with a home server and security cameras... (See 3rd paragraph for flock)
The cameras don't have any ram. At least not the kind we are talking about. They use onboard processors and flash memory.
The NVR typically has 4-8g ram but that's the not the camera, that's the hub that they all connect to, and it also has the HHD/SSD wich is now also double+ the price. It's also not external, it's in a secure location.
Flock: AFAIK cameras run snapdragon, so it's like a cell phone, with 2g ram chip. Not PC RAM. That, once again, could be in the NVR, which I believe is cloud based, so not a local device you can access.
64 is definitely too much, but they do real time video streaming with I'm sure some preliminary processing and maybe some ml shit. All of that is memory intensive so 2 is def too little, and ddr3 might be too slow. It's totally soldered onto the board though, that's for sure.
Edit: https://cdn.lantronix.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf/MPB-00092-RevB-Open-Q-624A-SOM.pdf apparently you're right, and I was way off.
Ah, nice! Looks reasonable. I think the stream just goes directly to a data center, where the actual license plate recognition and any computation happens.
Yeah, I thought that since they're not storing video, they do some preliminary stuff on it, but this way it's way cheaper. There is also different type of camera and even different company that also does the same, so it's possible that those are bigger
I'm trying to keep up with what's happening in the US and it's kinda crazy to me that there are so many. We have security cameras in Sweden too but you really can't just put them up anywhere.
This map shows there are 8 right at the corner of my apartment... But there aren't? Unless it's also tracking the cameras on the traffic lights that have been there for years before Flock even existed. 🤨
I always thought those were just part of the traffic light's sensor system to control the flow of traffic, not ALPR cameras. Crazy.
Click on it and click view OSM. It'll give you substantially more data about the device. Most likely those are flock cameras now and you didn't notice when they were changed. Could just be a false positive as anyone can submit them for review. Though I think that is getting more and more rare.
If you're in the U.S., I'd be surprised if you don't have any. There's a little "town" near me with literally only a Post Office. It has at least two already.
The town of 10,000 people I live in had 8 of them and there's a town of 500 people my wife grew up in that has one. Heck the rural county I live in had one of those ex-military armored vehicles which the sheriffs looked half-tempted to try to hook up at the tractor pull when they were showing it off.
Never underestimate the questionable spends of police departments with little oversight on new toys that are of dubious ethics, efficacy and legality
96 replies
Seems to be misinformation? A teardown of a flock camera does not show any distinguishable RAM. The rechargeable battery would be worth a lot though.
It is a shitpost. It is a variant on the "did you know flock cameras contains valuable copper and wiring etc". They don't contain much that would amount to anything of that either, but that is not really the point.
Did you know flock cameras have at least a kilo of meth in them?
I've heard that flock cameras contain the rest of the Epstein files
I heard that each one has a different file for a specific famous person that you hate. So you will need to catch them all to get the full deets
Politician Pokémon
only the rest? So that means flock cameras don't contain the full Epstien files right
That's true but I like taking memes seriously and getting into internet discussions about them.
I hear tell there's a small piece of a large map in each camera. No one has collected enough pieces to tell what the map reveals.
I believe it might be the One Piece.
Or is it One....Drive? (This was funnier in my head)
Wealth. Fame. Power. The man who had everything in this world... The Pirate King, Gold Roger.
Does the map lead to some National Treasure?
I've heard each Flock camera contains 8 oz of pure gold
2 gigs lp ddr3, if anyone was actually wondering
https://cdn.lantronix.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf/MPB-00092-RevB-Open-Q-624A-SOM.pdf
You could turn it into a Linux box to connect to a TV with those specs. It's so sad I don't live close to those things.
You will soon!
That's actually way better. Don't shit where you sleap and all that.
If I were ever to have stolen hardware from an evil surveillance tech company, I wouldn't connect any part of it to the power grid, much less my internet.
Depends on the hardware, check its specifications and check if it can connect to the internet before you jailbreak it.
I know the "Flock cameras contain precious metals" is a bit, but that is a fat LiPo. 10.8V, 19Ah, 205.2Wh.
10/10 would make a powerbank out of a Flock camera.
You could build a solar battery with them.
It is a bit late now, but they missed blurring the MAC address of one of the cards
Shhhh, don't correct them
The ones that don’t use quality RAM just use big booba cat girls instead.
Are you telling me that every Flock camera is equipped with estrogen?
I had heard that Flock cameras were transing the youth with the 5G...
Yes it does show RAM. Look at the photo of the SoM.
Here's the spec sheet for it: https://cdn.lantronix.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf/MPB-00092-RevB-Open-Q-624A-SOM.pdf
2GB LPDDR3, integrated, so it's not a SO/DIMM module.
They didn't get the joke, and are talking about DIMM slots
Interesting teardown, if that large battery only protected by thin plastic? I'd be a bit concerned that a fast enough projector like a BBC gun could penetrate the battery and start a fire. I mean someone could drive by and for from their car without being seen! Seams like an issue they should really address.
Hot BBC penetration you say?
From environmental perspective I like it more when someone finds them thrown in a ditch with no identifying information, and reuses it.
Battery wouldn't be worth all that much, either, really.
The SoM there has either 2 or 3 GiB of LPDDR3 but it's built into the package, and the expensive ram is DDR5 or higher or HBM.
So like, there's definitely RAM, but it's neither accessible nor valuable.
There is also a Threadripper PRO 9995WX inside and a 12TB SSD drive.
Only once though
It will also pay out retirement
Ok that SSD got me.. new games simply won't run on HDDs anymore.. almost makes me sad I don't have this shit where I live
I'm noticing a LOT more lately that everything is geared towards the US. I really wish I could move from here for peace of mind. There is no reason we have to work ourselves daylight to dark every day.
Enjoy what you have my friend.
New AAA(A) games won't run well on them, no. Play other ones.
Gothic 1 remake needs SSD space and I'm curious to see how they handled one of my favourite classics.
Honestly, I'm loving the Remake. I never played much of the original, so I'm gonna see this one through. It definitely hits the nostalgia receptors though.
The components inside are the same as a PS5, you just gotta rearrange them a little
From the side of the road to my house.
I really doubt it's in a form factor compatible with your PC, though...
However, on second thought, can a Flock camera run DOOM?
Yes, the OS is designed to run any dystopian hellscape OOTB. A better question is how to stop it.
By becoming the Flockslayer. Snip and saw until it is done.
Why would you stop DOOM?
You run DOOM on it.
Hey DOOM Nerds, here's a challenge for you! The best part is Flock cameras are everywhere and easy to get!
Some are strait up RaspberryPis or other SoC boards that can easily run DOOM. Wouldn't suprise me if they had models with SODIMM. They for sure have 18650 or poly pack batteries in all the solar ones
Almost certainly. It would be a shame though, as you couldn't tell anyone without admitting you have stolen property.
Yeah, they run Android.
Fun joke and all but they can't possibly use 64gb ram, it's probably 8 or 4 I'd expect, and probably sodimm at that
Soldered to the board probably
Most definitely, that is faster and cheaper than using socketed ram.
It's some kind of SoC with DDR3 soldered to the board. It's a very old hardware design from 2017, so it uses cheap and old stuff.
The Flock Falcon Flex camera has a Snapdragon 625 with 2GB of LPDDR3. That's a SoC from 2016.
does that mean you need to harvest much more cameras to get to 64gb ram?
Yeah, get your scythes ready, there is a whole field of them.
Well that just sounds like a challenge. Watch me write the software for that thing in Electron and React and we'll see how much ram it can use
it's 2GB, with a nearly decade old SoC.
But does the Flock camera RAM have RGB?
Yes.
What kind of RAM, tho?
At this point it doesn't matter... They've got me at flock camera.
I mean it matters to me because would I be selling the RAM or putting it in my own machine? :P
It's fake. What the hell would a camera do with 64 GB? I'd be surprised if it's got more than 2 GB, probably DDR3 soldered onto the board.
I'd believe 8GB easy, probably 16GB or more.
It's recording video & audio, scanning plates on cars & comparing them to a database, waiting for input to view live feeds (possibly to multiple users at once), probably running some type of encryption so people can't "steal" the data they're collecting...
If an apple watch has like a gig of RAM, I'd believe a flock cam is in the double digits
The scanning and sharing are almost certainly cloud based, not on device. Streaming encrypted data to a remote endpoint doesn't take much ram especially if it has dedicated crypto hardware
Recording video and audio needs like 1GB RAM max. It would then stream that to a data center to do the heavy lifting for scanning the images, extracting license plates, running the database and so on. But even if they did that locally, 4 GB is enough.
As someone with a home server and security cameras... (See 3rd paragraph for flock)
The cameras don't have any ram. At least not the kind we are talking about. They use onboard processors and flash memory.
The NVR typically has 4-8g ram but that's the not the camera, that's the hub that they all connect to, and it also has the HHD/SSD wich is now also double+ the price. It's also not external, it's in a secure location.
Flock: AFAIK cameras run snapdragon, so it's like a cell phone, with 2g ram chip. Not PC RAM. That, once again, could be in the NVR, which I believe is cloud based, so not a local device you can access.
64 is definitely too much, but they do real time video streaming with I'm sure some preliminary processing and maybe some ml shit. All of that is memory intensive so 2 is def too little, and ddr3 might be too slow. It's totally soldered onto the board though, that's for sure.
Edit: https://cdn.lantronix.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf/MPB-00092-RevB-Open-Q-624A-SOM.pdf apparently you're right, and I was way off.
Ah, nice! Looks reasonable. I think the stream just goes directly to a data center, where the actual license plate recognition and any computation happens.
Yeah, I thought that since they're not storing video, they do some preliminary stuff on it, but this way it's way cheaper. There is also different type of camera and even different company that also does the same, so it's possible that those are bigger
I'm not exactly serious here; I don't even think there are Flock cameras in my city. Tho now I am wondering how I might find out for sure.
Deflock?
Apparently there's a map.
I'm trying to keep up with what's happening in the US and it's kinda crazy to me that there are so many. We have security cameras in Sweden too but you really can't just put them up anywhere.
This map shows there are 8 right at the corner of my apartment... But there aren't? Unless it's also tracking the cameras on the traffic lights that have been there for years before Flock even existed. 🤨
I always thought those were just part of the traffic light's sensor system to control the flow of traffic, not ALPR cameras. Crazy.
Click on it and click view OSM. It'll give you substantially more data about the device. Most likely those are flock cameras now and you didn't notice when they were changed. Could just be a false positive as anyone can submit them for review. Though I think that is getting more and more rare.
If you can find out for sure what they are, you can submit corrections to the map. It's crowd-sourced data.
If you're in the U.S., I'd be surprised if you don't have any. There's a little "town" near me with literally only a Post Office. It has at least two already.
The town of 10,000 people I live in had 8 of them and there's a town of 500 people my wife grew up in that has one. Heck the rural county I live in had one of those ex-military armored vehicles which the sheriffs looked half-tempted to try to hook up at the tractor pull when they were showing it off.
Never underestimate the questionable spends of police departments with little oversight on new toys that are of dubious ethics, efficacy and legality
Ram 1500, 2500, 3500 ... I'm sure it has license plates of at least one of them.
Fam, those SSD's....
If only I was America, this distopia would quickly become a utopia.
Back in early 2025 if I saw a 500GB SSD for 50€ I'd call it overpriced
flock.md
rule Flock cameras are extremely valuable and meth/fent dealers will take them in trade rule
observation the police don't want you to know that the flock cameras are free, you can just take them observation
thought I should recommend resale of flock cameras when people ask me how to make money or say they are having hard times thought
In what world would a glorified license plate reader need 64 gigs of ram
if ram was cheap it would be a better (more durable) alternative to flash for when the network is down.
There's so much inefficient software these days. People routinely waste gigabytes on processes that should take megabytes.
I'm interested in grabbing one for my streaming setup
Skamtebord
Crazy the PSP had 64mb of RAM. I only really need 32 to fucking obliterate in Midnight Club 2.
But those flock camera don't use 64gb of ram
I know. I'm just reveling in the minimum requirement of PSP games being 32 fucking mb
Vengeance
Well I was going to build another gaming PC...