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DIY Sawed-Off USB Thumb Drive
Posted by Adam Pash at 10:01 AM on April 19, 2008
DIY web site Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories steps through putting together your very own obscured USB thumb drive, with the end result looking like a sawed-off standard USB cable.The guide is thorough, and the steps are surprisingly simple. For the cost of one slim USB drive and a cable you're willing to destroy, you'll be the envy of all your friends and coworkers. No, this one's not likely to significantly boost your productivity, but sometimes you need a little Friday fun in preparation for the weekend.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
neon
Posted April 21, 2008 11:07 AM
Heh heh, this is cute. I did a similar thing with a usb drive and built it into a guttet cricket brand lighter, which gets a lot of weird looks. Of course, the lighter no longer works, but the flint does, which can be really handy for igniting things like those little pocket blow-torches :)
Johnay
Posted 10:55 AM 19/4/08
First thing I thought of was someone finding the cut cable and throwing it away. Oops!
Johnay
Lazarus
Posted 10:55 AM 19/4/08
But how many gigs of data does your dog hold?
Lazarus
Iuvat
Posted 10:47 AM 19/4/08
Way ahead of you. My dog has already created a sawed-off power cable.
Iuvat
youngheart80
Posted 10:43 AM 19/4/08
Hmmm... And why is it the first thing I thought of when I read the article was "What a great way to hijack someones computer?" Just leave the cable intact, attach it to their printer, then when they plug in the printer BAM!
youngheart80
DarkHumour
Posted 10:35 AM 19/4/08
My cat knows how to make this...
DarkHumour
vfreak
Posted 1:23 PM 19/4/08
[clueless female office assistant] "OMG! Look at that! I'd better remove it carefully before someone accidentally touches the wires and gets electrocuted. Well, it's bin time so I might as well get rid of it now."
vfreak
vfreak
Posted 1:32 PM 19/4/08
@Lazarus: if it's made by Sony, not too much I think.
vfreak
Woodsyx
Posted 2:35 PM 19/4/08
This is cool but I would think annoying to carry in your pocket.
Woodsyx
Darkenigma75
Posted 4:38 PM 19/4/08
Lol, if I ever used one of these around any of my family, I swear they would run around trying to plug in any chewed through cable they could find thinking they could use it as a drive. The novelty is cute, but we have to remember why they put that little lable at the bottom of coffee cups reminding people it's hot.
Darkenigma75
BugMeNot
Posted 6:29 PM 19/4/08
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BugMeNot
BugMeNot
Posted 6:28 PM 19/4/08
suck me
BugMeNot
Victor V.
Posted 10:17 PM 19/4/08
@Darkenigma75: xD
Oh well, I don't know about you, but I actually considered doing this for the first time in DIYs...
Victor V.
Rubiximus
Posted 12:39 AM 20/4/08
@BugMeNot: Thanks for your contribution.
Anyway, this is pretty cool. Gotta love completely useless things to do to make awesome one's already very useful devices...
Rubiximus
Kafka
Posted 1:21 AM 20/4/08
Anybody else thinking this is an awesome way to make a nice long USB WiFi dongle antenna look cooler?
Kafka
chrishad95
Posted 4:33 AM 20/4/08
If you cut the end of the cable nice and neat, you could probably convince the more naive folks around you that you have a wireless hard drive in your pocket.
chrishad95
BugMeNot
Posted 5:14 AM 20/4/08
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BugMeNot
BugMeNot
Posted 5:15 AM 20/4/08
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BugMeNot
BugMeNot
Posted 5:15 AM 20/4/08
[redtube.com]
this is the best
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BugMeNot
BugMeNot
Posted 5:14 AM 20/4/08
[redtube.com]
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BugMeNot
misterlee
Posted 6:05 AM 20/4/08
Okay, either somebody got a hold of your account, you're drunk, or you're TRYING to get your account deleted off of LH.
misterlee
ripley
Posted 7:36 AM 20/4/08
@vfreak:
was "female" really necessary to the story? just to make it fit into the "dumb girls cant use technology" jokes we all know and love SO much?
re: the thimb drive.. This thing is kinda cute, more for giving tech-obsessives conniptions than anything else.
ripley
B1663R
Posted 8:48 AM 20/4/08
Hey Adam, can we get rid of the porn links that are posted above?
B1663R
dmtofree
Posted 10:54 AM 20/4/08
He has posted this else ware. Porn is sickening. Also please give option to remove gawker websites bar because of the link to fleshbot. Kids may go here and they shouldn't be exposed to that shit.
dmtofree
ACF
Posted 10:50 AM 20/4/08
@B1663R: Seconding that.
Whatever happened to the "flag post" button? Progress... sheesh.
ACF
stopNgoBeau
Posted 11:49 AM 20/4/08
@ripley: Yes, it was necessary.
@dmtofree: Kids already watch porn. Parents should do a better job policing their children.
stopNgoBeau
kbbales
Posted 11:11 PM 20/4/08
I check LH almost every day and have found it an extremely useful site. I have recommended it to a lot of friends and colleagues as many of the posts really do increase productivity and fun.
However, if it becomes a site flooded by porn pushers, I'm gone, and it will move over to my "do not go there" list for others.
kbbales
Johnay
Posted 10:01 AM 21/4/08
Boys start seeking out porn and porn-like materials (Sears catalog bra section, etc.) as soon as that first extra little trickle of testosterone makes its appearance. Instill in them a healthy attitude about the human body and they will (hopefully) seek beauty and passion over exploitation.
I can't speak for girls.
In any case, BURN THE SPAMMER!
Johnay
Popsonian
Posted 2:54 PM 21/4/08
The ultra-conservative moral of this story:
Link posting, in general, should be a LifeHacker capital offense.
Popsonian
phoenix
Posted 3:15 PM 21/4/08
@Johnay: You win, sir!
phoenix
elsifer
Posted 12:58 AM 22/4/08
Well, up until now, BugMeNot has had decent posts. Maybe he/she got hacked by their son or something.
But hey, that's just me, always thinking the best of people...
elsifer
finalellipsis
Posted 11:53 PM 22/4/08
@elsifer: BugMeNot.com is a site people can go to to get username/passwords for free sites so they don't have to enter any info, wait for approval, etc. So basically lifehacker should just disable any accounts from BugMeNot if they don't want those anonymous comments.
finalellipsis
dzillion
Posted 2:09 AM 23/4/08
My first thought on this was a prank where you leave the cable fully intact and plug it into a friends external as the USB connection... full drive, lack of capacity, all kinds of other hilarity ensues...
dzillion
roamer145
Posted 5:46 AM 20/4/08
@BugMeNot: Dude, chill with the comment spam. It's annoying.
Anyway, I think I'll make one of these to freak out my IT teacher.
roamer145