O.mg Cable • Hacker News Board

Re: O.mg Cable

#21

Post by jtbayly » Thu, Sep 02, 2021, 5:25 PM UTC

deelowe wrote: post #19

shepherdjerred wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lightning cables are expensive, and Apple is definitely encouraging car theft by not including them in the box anymore. edit: this was a joke and it got appropriately downvoted. I regret nothing.

A cable that costs $20 - $30 retail NEW doesn't seem worth risking jail time over.

It's like soap, which is much cheaper. Both are easily sold.

Re: O.mg Cable

#22

Post by auslegung » Thu, Sep 02, 2021, 5:25 PM UTC

I want to need one of these things. Pranks on my friends are difficult with a lockdown and permanent wfh status, so I’d need a better reason. Can anyone think of non evil uses? My imagination is stunted I guess.

Re: O.mg Cable

#23

Post by chooseaname » Thu, Sep 02, 2021, 5:26 PM UTC

deelowe wrote: post #19

shepherdjerred wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lightning cables are expensive, and Apple is definitely encouraging car theft by not including them in the box anymore. edit: this was a joke and it got appropriately downvoted. I regret nothing.

A cable that costs $20 - $30 retail NEW doesn't seem worth risking jail time over.

You may be underestimating how significant $20-$30 is to some people.

Edit: wording.

Re: O.mg Cable

#24

Post by Natsu » Thu, Sep 02, 2021, 5:26 PM UTC

progman32 wrote: post #20

As an aside: somewhat ironic that a shop selling gear such as this has such a large 3rd-party javascript footprint. At least some of that js is required for the page to work, as I'm unable to see pictures of the device. I counted 25 3rd party domains in uMatrix. That's quite the attack surface.

You can get pictures if you enable scripts for a couple of shopify domains, but it just looks like an ordinary USB cable, which is kind of the point.

Re: O.mg Cable

#25

Post by fredley » Thu, Sep 02, 2021, 5:26 PM UTC

mmastrac wrote: post #13

Can you write custom code for this thing? I actually have some non-nefarious use cases...

They sell a programmer for it, so probably!

Re: O.mg Cable

#26

Post by progman32 » Thu, Sep 02, 2021, 5:26 PM UTC

deelowe wrote: post #19

shepherdjerred wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lightning cables are expensive, and Apple is definitely encouraging car theft by not including them in the box anymore. edit: this was a joke and it got appropriately downvoted. I regret nothing.

A cable that costs $20 - $30 retail NEW doesn't seem worth risking jail time over.

People break into cars to steal pocket change in the cup holder, so a $5 cable isn't outside the realm of what a thief would grab. Especially if they're already in the car.

Re: O.mg Cable

#27

Post by fragmede » Thu, Sep 02, 2021, 5:26 PM UTC

cbg0 wrote: post #9

aabajian wrote: post #2

I live in Seattle and have had my car broken into three times. Each time, they steal my iPhone's USB cable. I wonder, could they add cellular connectivity to this cable and use it as a GPS locator?

Are they really breaking into your car just to steal your USB cable or is there other stuff you leave in plain sight?

I'm in San Francisco, so not Seattle, but cars get broken into for the sport of it by this point. A friend's had her window broken and used, gross dog leashes and an old Nokia charger stolen. The lost hours of work to replace the window was the real cost to her dog walking business.

Re: O.mg Cable

#28

Post by coryrc » Thu, Sep 02, 2021, 5:27 PM UTC

deelowe wrote: post #19

shepherdjerred wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lightning cables are expensive, and Apple is definitely encouraging car theft by not including them in the box anymore. edit: this was a joke and it got appropriately downvoted. I regret nothing.

A cable that costs $20 - $30 retail NEW doesn't seem worth risking jail time over.

There's no risk of jail for theft in Seattle.

https://crosscut.com/2019/10/whats-seattle-doing-solve-its-s...

Re: O.mg Cable

#29

Post by elzbardico » Thu, Sep 02, 2021, 5:27 PM UTC

sushisource wrote: post #16

NamTaf wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a copy of the NSA ANT Coppermouth cables. That was part of the Snowden leak, so it’s been possible since at least then (the doc itself is circa 2008) if you have a three-letter name and a national security black budget. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA_ANT_catalog

Why is the NSA so good at coming up with sweet codenames for things? I swear it's someone's full time job there.

Far better names than Microsoft or IBM

Re: O.mg Cable

#30

Post by fidesomnes » Thu, Sep 02, 2021, 5:30 PM UTC

sushisource wrote: post #16

NamTaf wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a copy of the NSA ANT Coppermouth cables. That was part of the Snowden leak, so it’s been possible since at least then (the doc itself is circa 2008) if you have a three-letter name and a national security black budget. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA_ANT_catalog

Why is the NSA so good at coming up with sweet codenames for things? I swear it's someone's full time job there.

yeah thats right, lick the boot right there, you missed a spot, yeah that's right.