Thanks for your enthusiasm about gunning people down with your adjusted Nerf. 
Now meet “The Stunning Camera” brought to you by Pyro Electro.
The site details a neat way of pulling a prank on your friends (or anyone) by asking them to take a picture of you. They press the capture button on your disposable, and ZAP!! their hand is stunned with electricity wired from the battery.
<—- The result is pretty funny.
Once again, the DIY shared online combined with the ability to hack into existing products becomes another way to just have fun…
Until someone calls the cops on you. A 14 year old teen student in Connecticut was charged with possession of a dangerous weapon on school grounds, attempted assault and breach of peace.
Apparently the prank camera he had DIY’d could shock up to 600 volts, straight into your hand.
I know the Stunning Camera is extremely far from a full-blown attack on a school, and I won’t deny that if given the chance I’d probably pull a few pranks myself. I wonder though, how all the sharing of DIY hacks might do something of a larger scale. Also, if you hack a product that has a well-known brand name, does that fall somewhere under piracy? What if the Stunning Camera said something like “Kozdak” on it and was wrapped in that easily identifiable yellow paper? Kinda like the famous Obama ad/art that was originally an AP pic…
I’m going to see if I can find out if Rite Aid (you can see the tiny label) had anything to say about this. More soon.
Possibly Relevant Posts:
- Hacked-Out, And They’re Okay With That (5) | Angela
- DIY Blew Up On The Net, But Does That Mean Anything? (1) | Angela
- Film on the Fly-Travelogue 3 (0) | ethram
10 Comments
This is so funny. It is interesting that this is coming around in the digital era where no one even has a disposable one. My friend had a disposable this weekend and it was so awkward to see how people judged you for having a disposable one.
I think your idea about piracy is really good, but i dont know if they would even need to market it like a Kodak or anything. Its been so long since disposables were the in thing that i am not sure people would really notice labels or that is isnt an “in” camera. But maybe!
Just a follow up to Nate’s comment — find it shocking that people didn’t realize they were about to get duped right away when they saw a disposable camera. In a way I’m shocked they still sell them — and if anyone reads this post and can tell me what those long narrow reusable cameras that were super hot for awhile when we were probably in middle school were called I will love you because I saw the film yesterday while walking through Soho and can’t for the life of me remember what they were called (and I can’t find it on Google). The film came out on strips that had like the designs on either side of the tiny little pictures that came out. It was like a small polaroid.
Also interesting to me is what will people do to have a good laugh and get there friends.
Note to class: Do not agree to it if Angela asks you to class photo with a disposable camera tomorrow.
Some kid in my high school turned one of these things into a tazer using the charge that’s built up (normally to use the flash) and outputting it to two small pieces of metal. It was less funny and more actually a weapon. Still kind of cool though.
Also, I have no idea why I’ve had personal stories about both of your “turning normal things into weapons” posts, but I feel that I have say I’m not that guy that turns everything into a weapon. Did everyone know that guy in their junior/high school or was that just my neighborhood?
Aren’t disposable cameras digital now?
http://www.disposabledigitalcameras.org/
I would be very suspicious if someone handed me a disposable from 1994, especially after seeing that video.
Amanda I totally know the little polariods you are talking about. You could peel off the back and they were a sticker too! What a great old technology.
i-zone cameras
Didn’t they always have those prank things that could shock you, like a pen or stapler, or even a piece of gum? Although, I can see at 600 volts why everyone is so angry…
This is similar to your post about the planes, but this may be my dream DIY project. I don’t know if I’d call it a toy but…
http://www.kontraband.co.uk/videos/16478/Formula-Fun-Racing/#show
Update: I got got; it’s viral marketing. I kind of feel cheated…
Although that presents an interesting angle for you to check out if you’d like.
They have had those shock gag-toys forever. I remember my brother used to carry around a piece of the shocking-gum. Though I would think the disposable camera may seem more realistic since its so much bigger than a piece of gum, thus more expensive… and who would expect someone to pay a lot just to pull a prank?