August 06, 2004

2 guys, a "sniper" rifle, and your Bluetooth-enabled phone. This is easily the most awesome-est thing that I have read all morning. Two guys add a yagi (a type of directional antenna) to a sniper rifle, and are able to capture data from the cell phone more than 1 mile away.

"The BlueSniper 'rifle,' created by John Hering and colleagues at Flexilis as a proof-of-concept device, resembles a rifle. It has a vision scope and a yagi antenna with a cable that runs to a Bluetooth-enabled laptop or PDA in a backpack. Aiming the rifle from an 11th-floor window of the Aladdin hotel at a taxi stand across the street in Las Vegas, Hering and colleagues were able to collect phone books from 300 Bluetooth devices. They bested that distance and broke a record this week by attacking a Nokia 6310i phone 1.1 miles away and grabbing the phone book and text messages." This is why I love technology.

  • In a related story, Las Vegas police department sharpshooters shot two men who they say were preparing to assassinate random pedestrians from an 11th floor window of the Aladdin Hotel. When the concept of the "Bluetooth rifle" was explained to the police spokesman, he said, and we quote, "what a pair of f***ing idiots." Since the pair was shot approximately 10,000 times by the nice policemen with *real* rifles, only splinters of the "Bluetooth rifle" remain. Film at 11.
  • Hopefully Congress will act quickly and ban all electronics.
  • Dr. Venkman, activate your Proton Pak!
  • Necessity is the mother of invention...but "hey, let's try this!" is the crazy aunt locked up in the attic.
  • best. quote. ever. must resist. aw crap. MonkeyFilter: The crazy aunt locked up in the attic.
  • ) for davidmsc!
  • It's kind of the reverse of this.