U.S. Special Information Tone signal for “vacant circuit”, which signifies and out-of-service or nonexistant numb
Chris recorded a little sound file onto his answering machine that stopped a debt collector robot that kept calling him, seeking people who didn't live there.This .WAV is the U.S. Special Information Tone signal for "vacant circuit", which signifies and out-of-service or nonexistant number. You know it better as "boo-boo-BOOP!" Chris recorded a new message on his answering machine with the tones at the beginning and the next time the robot called, it thought it was getting a dead line and dutifully erased the number from its system. Voila, automatons be gone. Some places have autodialers that don't (or have been tweaked) to respond to SIT tones, but if you've got a persistent unwanted robot caller, it's worth a shot.
| Create giant images with the Rasterbator |
| takes any raster image, and blows it up to a poster of any size up to 20 meters, or about 60 feet. |
| What's really cool though is that the app will carve it into prinatble chunks |
| Oh, and it is both a web app and a download |
LCD MOUNT Atdec TH-400-LED Ultra Thin Flat Panel Wall Mount for LED TVs - Supports up to 110lb - TH 400 LED
0. Install the Blue Screen of Death Screensaver
9. Fake a Desktop with Screenshot Wallpaper |
Freak out your co-worker or family member by faking out their Windows desktop with an unclickable facade: Take a screenshot of their current desktop, then set it as the desktop wallpaper. Hide the actual taskbar and disable desktop icons (right-click the desktop and choose "Arrange Icons By" and uncheck "Show Desktop Icons.") When your victim returns to the computer, watch the futile clicking begin. |
8. Schedule a Phone Call with a Text-to-Speech Message from Wakerupper.com |
 Wake up calls aren't just for the a.m., you know. Pop your victim's phone number, a time, and a custom message intoWakerupper.com, a free wakeup call service, and they'll get a call with the message read Silicon Sally text-to-speech style back to them. (original post)
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7. Fill an Office with Packing Peanuts (Or Make It Look That Way) |
Actually filling your co-worker's cubicle with packing peanuts can be a pain in the ass, but if there's a glass wall involved, it's easy to make itlook like you did. Check out Hack N Mod's nifty gallery of what looks like a glass room filled with packing material.
6. Remote Control Your Co-Workers' Computer with VNC
| How would it feel to have your mouse taken over by a ghost and do things on your computer you never intended while you watched? You can inflict this feeling of utter confusion on your victim using VNC, a computer remote control protocol. You'll need to install the VNC server on your victim's computer first, and have their IP address, so this one will work best in the office when you're on the same network. Here's how to remote control a computer with VNC. Mac users, here's how to remote control Leopard with TightVNC. |
5. Message Co-Workers with NET SEND |
Hidden in the depths of the Windows command line is a nifty little utility called Net Send, which pops up very official-looking alert messages on any computer you send them to. If you know your co-workers' IP address, you can net send them goofy messages, like this person on the Geeknewz boards:
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| A good prank that I have played on some friends involves the net send command. What I did was I used the net send command to send a message that said "Microsoft has detected that you have |
| Please consider upgrading for better performance" to other people on my local network. |
| When you use the net send command in the command prompt, you specify the computer you want it sent to by typing the computer name, it also says on the message which computer it came from, so I changed my computer name to Microsoft, so it appeared, to the technically challenged, that the message actually came from Microsoft. In case you were interested, the syntax for the net send is: net send computername message
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4. "Break" Your Victim's LCD Screen with Wallpaper |
| Want to put a crack into that shiny new widescreen monitor? Download thebroken LCD desktop wallpaper, set it as your victim's desktop wallpaper and hide the taskbar and icons. |
2. Customize the Office HP Printer's Console Message |
1. Turn Web Pages Upside Down
| If your office or housemates all use the same Wi-Fi network and you've got some network admin skills, run the web traffic to their computers through custom scripts that turn images upside down, blur them, or redirect all web page requests to kittenwar.com. This is the most difficult trick in the list to implement, but it's pretty clever. Here's more on how to set up Upside-Down-Ternet. (original post)
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10. Make Your Shoes Float
9. Keep Your Cats and Their Necessities Hidden
8. Get Your Bike Off the Floor
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| 7. Make Your Filing Cabinet Actually Usefu |
| If your filing cabinet serves more function as unintended shelf space than an actual filing destination, it probably needs some work. Gina showed us herextreme filing cabinet makeover, touching on the physical changes she made to make paper shuffling more convenient. Jason gave us a tour-de-force of hisfiling system workflow, which gave order and purpose to his old documents and made him actually want to file things away. Photo by Matthew Cornell. |
| 6. Declutter Your Spices and Make Them Accessible |
| Having spices you can read, see the fill level of, and easily access saves you time while cooking, and money on unnecessary purchases, as suggested by the Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories. Then there are the magnetic spice racks, which hang your dried goods both under a shelf and on the wall. Then, for those with quite a few spices to grab, there are the minimalist, all-access shelves that most anyone can make themselves. (Original posts: DIY spice jars, magnetic under-shelf, magnetic wall, minimalist). |
5. Stash Your Headphones Without Tangled Wires
4. Stash Your Peripherals When Not in Use
3. Store Stuff Vertically with DIY Shelving
1. Hide Your Cables in Plain Sight |
nd you're willing to spend a little bit on style, we've dug the idea of FlatWire, too.
| You've got stuff in your pantry and fridge but you're not sure how to take it from basic staples to delicious dish. RecipeChimp can help by showing you what you can whip up with what's in your kitchen. |
| GMAC Insurance National Drivers test |
| New York where the average driving test score was a mere 70.0%. |
| New Jersey wasn’t that far behind with an average test score of 70.5%. |
| The “smartest” drivers were in Kansas (82.3%) and Oregon (82.1%). |
| Here are the results in an interactive app that doesn’t really work all that well. |
| also asked how many people apply makeup while driving, eat while driving, or change their clothes while driving. |
| Change their clothes! Who changes their clothes while driving? Apparently a lot of people do because 2.9% of the respondents in Kansas, the “smartest” drivers, have changed their clothes while driving. |
I know a lot of folks love Costco, I’m one of them. Did you know that their return policy permits you to return ANYTHING (except computers) with or without the receipt whenever you want as long as you still have the same membership. If you bought a pair of pants, as I did, and found that you didn’t really like them but tossed the receipt already… no fear, just go back and they have it all on record. Yes, I bought these pants two months ago and had been meaning to return them for two months. You can also use this as a (semi-free) extended warranty – buy a TV or DVD player and if/when it stops working after four or five years, just return it! The only exception to this rule is a computer purchase and that return period expires after six months. |
Update: Costco recently amended their return policy. Televisions, projectors, computers, cameras, camcorders, iPOD / MP3 players and cellular phones can only be returned within 90 days of purchase. |
Don’t believe me? My friend David bought a mattress from Costco and emailed them to find out their return policy on mattresses. In short, he could return at any time, at no cost, to a store or arrange with customer service for pickup if you can’t get it to the store because of size and weight. Pretty sweet. |
