One of the first steps while hacking any electronics is opening up the case and study the components used in the circuit board. If you are lazy or do want want to risk opening the case for whatever reason, there is a quick way to get a glimpse of the components inside the case, if the object you are hacking is FCC certified. I learned recently that you can get a considerable amount of information from FCC’s database, if you know the ID of the product or manufacturer. To test it out, I checked the remote for my tiny quad-copter for the FCC ID.

I went to FCC’s ID search form located at http://transition.fcc.gov/oet/ea/fccid/ and searched with the ID I found on the remote. As expected, the records showed up:

And one of the entries was “Internal Photo”. Clicking on it opened up a PDF with pictures of the circuit board inside the case:

If you poke around further, you might find some cool information. Have fun!