Gizmodo: coin

Butt-Crack Detector: Plumbers Are So Hot These Days

Dan Nosowitz — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 09:00:00 EDT

Instructables posted a guide to creating a plumbers'-crack detector, using a LilyPad Arduino controller, a vibrating motor, and a photoresistor to measure how much light is beaming into your crack. When the photoresistor comes uncovered, the motor starts to vibrate, letting you know that your "coin slot" is exposed and people behind you may be looking and/or laughing. After that, it's your choice: hike up those low-ride jeans, or give a little show? [Instructables, created by Amy Khoshbin]

Handlink Wi-Fi Base Station: Quick Net Access at Drop of a Coin

Kit Eaton — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:16:00 EDT

This gizmo from Handlink is clearly aimed at hotels, coffee shops and other public places where you may need net access, and you can't argue with the thinking in its design. Simply pop in some coins, grab the printout with your time-limited access codes, and then connect up your notebook, or phone to its 802.11b/g service. Kind of the retro-future public payphone of the internet era, it saves time from all that messing about you sometimes have to do in internet cafes. Useful if you're without credit cards, I guess. [RegHardware]

Pocket Coin Screwdrivers Pass FAA Screening

Jason Chen — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:55:45 EST

Although not as long or stabby as real screwdrivers, these pocket coin screwdrivers go many places where real ones cannot (when's the last time you stuck a flat-head into your pants without getting a dirty look from your wife?). However, with these coin screwers, you can both screw in and out on the go with nothing but a pocketful of jingling to make anyone the wiser. A set of twelve can be yours for $8.50, which is the perfect price for stealthily unscrewing the train seat in front of you for subsequent laughs. [Leevalley via Book of Joe via Make]