In one of the old interviews the founder of Apple brand Steve jobs honestly – if he did not at the time found out about the “blue boxes” (“blue box”) and the philosophy of their creators, it is unlikely that the General would have been in the IT field. And, accordingly, no Apple with its historical innovation also would not exist. But what is this “blue box” and what does “Cap’n Crunch” (Captain Crunch), who in the world John Draper?

The story begins in the 1960s when a talented electronics engineer Draper left the service in the US air force and became part of the community “phone freaks”. They believed that the Telecom operators are too high, the cost for their services and rely too much on automation for the organization of work. And judges can and should hack, first for sport, and then for commercial purposes.

Draper was one of those who designed the algorithm to bypass the protection, it was necessary “to whistle” in the phone sound at a frequency of 2600 Hz, so that the system adopted is for the operator code. And given the opportunity to call long distance without paying. Therefore, the first hacking tool has become a child’s plastic whistle, which the manufacturer cereal “Cap’n Crunch” put in a box as a bonus. He was making a perfectly accurate sound for hacking, but it wasn’t enough.


“Blue Box”

After the first success Draper has already constructed an electronic “beeper”, which can produce signals at different frequencies and significantly broadened the capabilities of telephone hackers. The gadget called “blue box”, and soon found out about them young jobs and Wozniak. They realized that IT sector is not divorced from everyday life, and electronic “toys” there are lots of real use, and there are people who are interested. Moreover – selling illegal “blue boxes”, two Steve received the first capital and experience that has helped them then to create an Apple.
Source — Atlas Obscura