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Glowing Hobbit Sword Helps You Find Unsecured Wi-Fi
Molly McHugh writes By disassembling your plastic Sting and incorporating the Spark Core, a tiny Wi-Fi development kit, you can hack the toy's light and enlist it to show you when you are near an unsecure network. The best part about this hack? It only requires two things: a Spark Core and a replica Sting with lights and sound, like this one."
This thing would never go out. I mean, is there pretty much anywhere you can stand that doesn't have at least an HP printer ad-hoccing away?
Someone had to do it.
well, walking around with it is the most fun. --that's what she said--
Now you can run around in your hobbit-con costume saving the world from unsecured wi-fi, while trying to throw the token ring back from the fire from which it came.
"like this one" loses impact as a close when there is no 'this' to behold.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I mean seriously, unsecured WiFi is one thing, but it's the trolls I need to worry about.
> And walking around with it gets you arrested and held for psychiatric evaluation.
If it doesn't get you shot outright.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
It also identifies virgins.
Seriously, does anyone want to look more like a geek?
Excuse me ma'am but you seem to be lost. You are currently in Slashdot. If you're looking for Facebook, it's down the hall and the third door on your left.
Very similar to a project someone did a couple years ago that did the exact same thing: http://jomegat.wordpress.com/2...
with a lawsuit from the owners of the IP
Hey come on, stand down.. This the first article in a LONG TIME that actually FEELS like Slashdot...
No politics... no script kiddie bullshit.. not a random person's blog post..
Just fun hacking for no good reason other than to do it. That's why most of us are here!
"An overly simplistic diagram, and isn't a totally accurate" but more can be learned at our web page....
Can you say ripoff? I knew you could.
Open networks will do more for the world than indiscriminate wireless encryption. This sword should glow blue in the absence of an open network, in preparation for a future where a lack of connectivity is the real danger.
Yes, this. This is more like the Slashdot of 1999, when turning stuffed animals into USB ports with creepy glowing LED eyes was something people did.
That doesn't sound very safe. People will be thinking they've found unsecured wi-fi and then get themselves ambushed by orcs they weren't expecting.
Or you could just use one of the dozens of Apps for Android or Apple that shows that and much more info about the nearby hotspots.
Why do people re-invent the wheel - poorly?
Black Slashdotters may want to avoid walking around the city with something that could be seen as a weapon.
But what about the 2nd Amendment?
The right to bear arms includes swords as well as guns. Swords were more common when the constitution was written.
At the time, he was always running around in a ninja outfit. But this idea would have been just enough to get him to change costumes. Hint: If you're older than 12, you might want to consider wearing this getup strictly in your own house!
If only they released a model that detected a real live woman. Much more useful to the Slashdot community!
Providing all my WiFi hotspots unencrypted free for all around and I find my network perfectly secure. Security is ssh+openvpn one can use on top of it.
Hello,
For something a little less conspicuous, a Canary WiFi detector might be a better choice if, for some reason, one couldn't just walk around with a smartphone or tablet.
Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky
Dexter is a good dog.
But what about the 2nd Amendment?
The right to bear arms includes swords as well as guns. Swords were more common when the constitution was written.
Doesn't mean you can carry it drawn. There is a huge difference between waving a drawn sword around and having a large knife in your belt.
Still, I guess the safest is to avoid doing it, especially while being black.
...find fields of gold?
The best part about this hack? It only requires two things: a Spark Core and a replica Sting with lights and sound, like this one.
The worst part about this hack? Ah, who am I kidding, you all know exactly where I'm going with this.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
If it's a sword from the fall of Gondolin and forged by the elves of that time, it is already several thousand years old and definitely a rarity. Most swords will have gone rusty by that time, so I for one wish to learn the elvish technique for making stainless steel which maintains a cutting edge for thousands of years despite abuse by trolls and everyone else.
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
Why, exactly, are you on a site with the motto "news for nerds"?
Seriously, why would people whine about this? It's a cute little hack, and people are... ahem, up in arms over it. Live a little. Laugh a little. Stop trying to be "grown up". Are you 16 or something, and trying to appear older? Trust me, when you get older, you'll have enough of that in your life. Things like this will make you smile, even if you personally don't wish to make it.
Stop trying to tell others how "adult" you are.
Don't forget about the part where 50 cops shoot you repeatedly for waving that thing around.
Modify a toy sonic screwdriver to do the same thing. Then you can just say you are a future incarnation of the Doctor.
As a 10 year veteran of this site, Thank you! I miss Slashdot...
Isn't that precious! (Sorry, couldn't resist)
Even places with permissive gun laws tend to ban the carry of blades over 4 inches unless you're hunting or fishing. It's wrong, but it is what it is.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
This prompts Sting to join the network and publishes a message: "{YOUR WI-FI NETWORK} has been vanquished!"
Looking at the code snippet,
Spark.publish("vanquished",name); // Feel the Wrath!
Where exactly is this published? Sure does not appear that it would be anywhere that the owner of this supposedly-vanquished network would see it.
Hey, Windows users, there is no such thing as "forward" slash, there is only slash and backslash.
One does not simply walk around in public with a glowing pointy object.
That's actually Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer's other attribute, when he gets horny.
Hear, hear!