What is that chip on the left?

[futz]

Cellphone IED detonator.

 

[Hero999]

Probably a PIC.

Surely this sort of thing should be banned from these forums as it promotes terrorist activity.

 

[Sceadwian]

Could be a lot of things, maybe a tone detector driven from the speaker to trip the relay (white box), why do you care? Hero, how does this promote terrorist activities? The circuits required to modify a cell phone and a pager into an IED trigger a smart high school student could figure out, showing a single blurry image of an ugly hack on a phone doesn't promote anything except perhaps the fact that the person that made the device made it wrong.
I'm not even sure why you would suggest it was a micro controller, PIC or otherwise.

 

[jeremygaughan]

My brother's humvee was flipped by a IED. He came out alive, but I asked him and he said there in Iraq you can find out how to make one of those in many places and that the people who make them have lots of resources. There are many types but the cell phone is one of the most common. They probably don't search eletro-tech to make their bombs, they just ask another guy in their organization. Either way I'm glad that one didn't work.

 

[kchriste]

It looks like an Opto Isolator (6 pin Dip). It is probably there for "safety"
This reminds me of some news footage I saw of the Air India bomber's workshop. You could see clearly in the background, behind the homemade timers, a box from DigiKey. I'm sure they cringed when they saw that.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

You could see clearly in the background, behind the homemade timers, a box from DigiKey. I'm sure they cringed when they saw that.

The IRA terrorists commonly used parts from RS Components, particularly mercury switches.

 

[picbits]

It looks like an Opto Isolator (6 pin Dip). It is probably there for "safety"

My thoughts exactly when I realised it was a 6 pin DIP.

 

[philba]

this brings up an obvious and immediate need for cell phone jammers. If I were a humvee jockey, I'd be trolling this forum for exactly that. I know the bombers would just switch to something else but no need to give them a free ride.

There might even be a more sophisticated device that not only jams but also snoops phone traffic.