Phantom CapsLock...<cough> Keystroker V2

ThinkGeek just released this little gem of a device...the Phantom Keystroker V2. Smaller, easier to use, only $14.99. And...notice in the picture above, right next to the Time Delay setting...do you see what I see? Caps Lock. I would put good money on the possibility that my Stealth CapsLocker influenced both the new size and the extra Caps Lock feature here.

And this is actually a pretty good deal. For $15...with a fancy case...it looks a lot better than what I was planning if I ever made the CapsLocker available. It's still pretty large in comparison..the CapsLocker is only as wide as the USB port and would extend out to the end of the word "Delay" on the Keystroker. However, this has spurred me to develop a CapsLocker V2. I'm not going to invest in injection molds for a fancy case, but I think I'll make the device accessible for hacking. The firmware I used is no secret anyway. And there's a way to make this even more stealthy.

So, ThinkGeek, I salute you. A much better product than the huge, cabled, Keystroker V1. But in the computer-annoyance-device war, I think I can stay a few steps ahead. Beware the Insert Monster! Or the Volume Maxer! Or the Muting Maddener! Or the Sleeping Puter! Just a few of the many possibilites. :)


Submitted by Garrett on Thu, 12/18/2008 - 13:07.

What about a random "enter",

What about a random "enter", random multiple "arrows up" (when writing text, that would be nice), or a Tab when filling out forms.

The ALT-key used in applications activates the menu. An additional user key might activate a special function :->

A random Num-Lock is quite good for laptop keyboards only, because the number keys are shared with the normal alpha-keys. However USB devices on laptops are too easy to detect, unless the user uses a USB-hub.

Laptops on USB-hubs might like extensive use of the brightness up and down function keys.

I thought brightness keys

I thought brightness keys and the like were implemented in BIOS though or a lower level (thinking possibly even hardware level basic logical operations brightness in particular)....

How about a random Alt+F4?

How about a random Alt+F4? Randomly open the optical drive? Randomly change resolution? How about throwing some Alt+Tabs out there?

It would be really sweet if these devices came with a board header so you could plug them directly into the motherboard and hide them inside the case.

@ Keyboard Devil: What if this thing was packaged to look like a USB hub, and the annoyance controls were hidden? You could give it to a friend, and not have to worry about installing the device yourself. Who's going to logically deduce that a USB hub is causing intermittent errors on their computer?

Sights are too low

Sights are too low here.
Make it programmable, and market it as a software QA tool. Extra points if you can manage it remotely over network.
You can get $50 a pop easy. My org would buy 100.