I like to run at night in the park. I just moved to NYC and running in the parks here at night is a bad idea for small female persons, and even worse if you are carrying a $200 mp3 player. So I take my $9 tape player instead ... why can't they make a mp3 player that looks just like a cheap $9 tape player? Maybe with duct tape around it to imply brokeness?

This idea could be extended to other items, like what if my digital camera looked like one of those disposable kodak deals? Or if a palm pilot looked like a 1960s calculator? You know the kind where you have to enter the two numbers, then "sum" instead of just 2 + 2 and then =...

Of course the stylus would be a dead giveaway, but maybe you could use your finger nail and pretend to be picking some crud off of it ...
-- futurebird, Jul 17 2001

Retro Cell Phone http://www.halfbake...etro_20Cell_20Phone
Kind of related idea. [hippo, Jul 17 2001, last modified Oct 05 2004]

(?) Tivoli http://www.tivoliaudio.com/index.htm
Designed by Henry Kloss [Cedar Park, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Rolleiflex MiniDigi http://www.rollei.jp/e/pd/MiniD.html
Jun 14 2004: Subsequently baked in camera form. Here's a digital camera that looks like an old style twin-lens reflex. [krelnik, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Ugly but killer http://www.jvc.com/...RD3000000&pathId=13
500 watts of sheer hideousness [macrumpton, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

PowerPizza laptop case http://www.humanbeans.net/powerpizza/
With room for accessories, too! [jutta, Jan 24 2005]

My Ugly Camera http://blog.jimmiep...my-ugly-camera.html
Someone else re-invented this in 2005 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He "uglified" his camera to keep it from being stolen. [krelnik, May 18 2009]

Buy a cheap cassette-player, take it apart (no need to be too careful), remove the guts, and put your mp3 player inside. Fix with duct tape.
I'm assuming, as you seem to be, that your friendly local mugger ('Hi, I'm Dennis; I'll be your mugger tonight') wouldn't just steal it anyway.
-- angel, Jul 17 2001


But if I do that, how do I reach the buttons on my mp3 player? No, I want the thing made to the big clunky play button makes it play ...
-- futurebird, Jul 17 2001


Wear a Shinobi Shozoku with accessories. Nobody tries to mug a Ninja.
-- thumbwax, Jul 17 2001


This would suffer from the same problem as those Hide-A-Key devices. It wouldn't take long for thieves to figure out what these things look like if they all look like crap.
-- phoenix, Jul 17 2001


I suggest wearing a Jerry Garcia shirt and a f*** you hat. That might deter some would be muggers.
-- talamunda, Jul 18 2001


Such a thing exists: Naim audio equipment. I had my house broken in to and, while many things were taken, my (older) Naim gear was left alone. My theory is that it is just such homely looking equipment that the uninformed burglar let it be. This was a Good Thing.

Related: I have long thought that it would be cool to have a decrepit looking car that, underneath it all, is really an exceptional vehicle with all the latest comforts and performance.
-- bristolz, Jul 18 2001


[bristolz]: You've reminded me a guy I once knew who had a beaten-up Transit van with a Cosworth engine out of a Formula 1 car.
-- angel, Jul 19 2001


//Wear a Shinobi Shozoku with accessories. Nobody tries to mug a Ninja//

Except other ninjas, according to kung-fu movies. The local hero can take on up to 13 ninjas at a time, and occasionally 14. If others are attacking him also and he has a stick/bowl of rice/fist of fury, the rate goes to 8 ninjas, 29 angry villagers, 7 mounted soldiers, 34 foot soldiers, and a baboon with diarrhea in a pear tree.
-- AfroAssault, Dec 25 2001


Before the front panels, they used to have removable boxes built in...flip up the handle and pull the whole radio out, leaving a gaping hole.

Was a pain to carry the radio around, though...
-- StarChaser, Dec 26 2001


I had one - just put it in the boot
-- po, Dec 26 2001


Mine has a detachable face that will flip over when the power is off (assuming you don't detach it) making it look almost like nothing's there. Also, if it loses power completely (read: it is stolen), whoever has it must put in a 4 digit code that I personally entered or it won't work.

I did have a friend who customized his car stereo, somehow he made a fold-down panel with ugly wires sticking out. Didn't even look like he had one, and no one broke in.
-- AfroAssault, Dec 27 2001


had a similar idea for a laptop when my mom was about to force me to goto summer "math-camp" again (I got out of tht after much arguing so the laptop won't be necessary).I was going to get a cheap laptop from eBay, and make it look very gheto. But i was also going to electrify it. I was going tohack one of those disposable camera flash circuits to shock the sh*t out of anyone who touches it. I would attatch metal wires all around it, which would be connected to the camera circuit's flash capacitor (charged to 300 volts...ouch). I was going to use an op-amp coparator circuit to only run the charging inverter when the capacitor's voltage dropped below a certain value (The capacitor can store a charge for a LONG time...I know).I might have used to laptop's battery for this. I would use a garge door style remote or a keylock to disable it.
-- dr_photon, Mar 14 2002


How about an Mp3 player shaped like a well used .45 automatic ? Incidentally a farming acquaintance of mine got fed up when his car was broken into twice in the local town, so he rigged up an electric fence transformer to run off the battery and connected it to the bodywork. Unfortunately he was a little careless with his parking and when the local law enforcement placed a ticket under his wiper they got a full belt off the machine.

He got a huge fine and had to pay compensation to the officer involved.
-- IvanIdea, Mar 14 2002


but to be fair, [dr_photon] sounds like he could get a scholarship to physics camp pretty easily. due respect to you, kiddo! Please use your talents wisely.
-- sappho, Mar 14 2002


im sure half of this is illegal...
-- eddidaz, Apr 07 2002


Futurebird's Electrashics...

Luckily, I live way out in the country. Closest thing to mugging out here is the occasional escaped herd of rabid cows.
-- Pseudonym #3, Apr 07 2002


Hmm, Crap - is - cool. Like the idea, hate the proposed fasion trend (As this would no doubt end up)
-- QuadAlpha, Apr 08 2002


I drive an 88 torus station wagon and wear cloths from second-hand stores, not to mention that my desktop is a P133 and my laptop is a 95 toshiba Satelite Pro. Does this mean that I am "ahead-of-the-times"?
-- LED Prism, Jun 18 2003


<fresh prince of bel-air>"I used to hide my school books in a pizza box. It worked real good until some guys tried to steal my pizza."</fpoba>
-- chud, Aug 12 2003


//I was going tohack one of those disposable camera flash circuits to shock the sh*t out of anyone who touches it.//

I once set up a gag shocker using the innards from a mosquito zapping 'fly swatter'. It ran off 2 AA batteries and was designed not to kill stupid humans, though it packed a decent punch. The circuit required almost no modification.

//the local law enforcement placed a ticket under his wiper they got a full belt off the machine//

I read of a gag where fecal matter was placed under the half the door handle. Only the joker knew which half. That's intended to be gross enough to make the thief run off looking for somewhere to wash his/her hands, yet less likely to warrant a law suit or assault charges, than say, a stun gun.
-- FloridaManatee, Aug 12 2003


Oh, I simply must have the little Rollei.
-- bristolz, Jun 14 2004


Way cool, is it not? Fairly feature-free, and expensive, but that's really not the issue.
-- angel, Jun 18 2004


//he rigged up an electric fence transformer to run off the battery and connected it to the bodywork.// Im not sure this would work.Im most cars the negative terminal of the battery is connected to the body, and the positive goes off to the varius electronic devices on the car, which have the negative terminal also connected to the body, thus reducing the number of wires used.But if this electric fence transformer was connected to the body, wouldnt that short out the cars electrical systems?
-- andrew1, Sep 27 2005



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