While hackers can deftly navigate their way through circuit diagrams or technical documentation, for many of us, simple social interactions can be challenge. [Simone Giertz] decided to help us all out here by making a device to help us share our feelings.
Like an assignment in Mission: Impossible, this aluminum box can convey your confessions of love (or guilt) and shred them after your partner (or roommate) reads the message. The box houses a small shredder and timer relay under a piece of bamboo salvaged from a computer stand. When the lid is opened, a switch is depressed that starts a delay before the shredder destroys the message. The shredder, timer, and box seem almost made for each other. As [Giertz] says, “Few things are more satisfying than when two things that have nothing to do with each other, perfectly fit.”
While seemingly simple, the attention to detail on this build really sets it apart. The light on the front to indicate a message is present and the hinged compartment to easily clean out shredded paper really make this a next-level project. Our favorite detail might be the little space on the side to store properly-sized paper and a marker.
While the aluminum box is very industrial chic, we could see this being really cool in a vintage metal lunch box as well. If you’re looking for other ways to integrate feelings and technology, checkout how [Jorvon Moss] brings his bots to life or how a bunch of LEDs can be used to express your mood.
Now this is techno-cool. Could be used in murder/mystery games or even an escape room.
I would have one ready for my untimely end for my relatives…. “The billion dollars in cash is hidden in the… (zzzzzzz…. shred.. shred… shred)” 😂
Use an ink-jet to print on TP. The rest will come easier.
I wonder if Banksy would like one.
This is Schrodinger’s Shredder…. is it shredded or not ?…. you don’t know until you open the box… and no cats are harmed in this experiment… 😺
You need a better shredder, the one that cut also horizontally. And something to incinerate and mix the ashes. Then some black epoxy mixed with the ashes so when it is cured will fly everywhere when you try to break it. Then a small tactical nuke to clear all. Hmm, what am I missing?
Alien’s acid blood?
“Dust off and nuke it from orbit…. it’s the only way to be sure..”
Or, a thermal printer and a heated roller that blackens the entire page once it scrolls past the viewing window. Which is of course made of bulletproof glass.
I know you’re joking, but I had also though about putting up a window to prevent someone from grabbing the note before the shredder kicks off. The problem is that the note is no longer ‘hand-written’, but I guess instead you could have a small keyboard, have it print out a note for viewing, and then when the box is opened/triggered it displays and shreds/destroys.
It’s less personal, but would be fun as some sort of ‘public art’ display. (Write your secrets here that one person will get to read before it’s destroyed.) Heck, it could replace the confession box used in Catholic churches. (pair it w/ Chat GPT to get your punishments/retribution/whatever they call them.)
Well, to be more handwritten, you could write with a heated stylus, maybe a soldering iron adjusted to a low temperature. Or you could continue writing normally but put a roller with ink which is hard to distinguish from whatever you use in your pen, or if you’re careful about the fumes/smoke, you could burn the paper instead of just shredding it. But I was thinking the thermal method would lend itself to a variety of kinds of spy-tech-toys. One-time-pad generation? Oh, here’s a silly toy idea. Maybe a one-time-receiver that you have to prepare by doing a certain set of tasks in the right order at the right time, e.g. scanning your fingerprints in an order that represents a secret code for the current date, then passing a challenge/response or something. If you get it wrong, the message fails to decrypt properly and either way it is destroyed. Or, chatgpt generates a false message that mimics the real one to mislead your enemies/siblings. :P
May I suggest an ancient optical recorder that uses Kodak Linagraph direct printing paper for that purpose? The paper will get black and unreadable within a couple of minutes if exposed to sunlight or other UV sources.
Supernova, galaxy collision, black hole merger, universe implosion?
On Toilet,
1.write on Toilet Paper,
2. make a Photo,
3. send message via WhaazzzZZZ Uuuuup,
4. delete Photo,
5. delete message,
6. use toilet paper.
Fly away on your unicorn-shark-train.
7. To flush is not nessesary nobody will touch the paper.