Hack Turns Hobbit’s “Sting” Sword Into A WiFi Detector

If you’ve read Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit, you’re probably aware of the sword called “Sting”. It is a sword used by Bilbo (and later Froddo) and it glows blue when it detects Orcs. Pretty handy, right? Well thankfully we are in a world in which Orcs aren’t real, or at least that’s what we hope, so what use is Sting for then?

Well instead of being able to detect Orcs, how about if Sting could simply detect WiFi instead? Well if you thought that is a nifty idea, you can actually go ahead and create it for yourself. There is a tutorial on Make which actually shows you how to put together the sword yourself. The device will require users to get the replica Sting toy and a Spark Core.

For those unfamiliar, the Spark Core is a WiFi development kit with a reprogrammable chip that comes with a WiFi module that interacts with sensors and actuators. When the device detects WiFi and hops onto an unsecured one, it will then publish a message saying that your WiFi network has been “vanquished”, although this isn’t a hack on your network by any means.

We have to admit that this is a pretty cool idea, albeit a bit nerdy, but if you don’t mind spending some time to work on it and create the WarSting for yourself, head over to Make’s website for the details, or check out the video above to see it in action.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Gadgets
Tags: Hacking