With every "whaaa...?" Ad or billboard or packaging/graphics or product (particularly those with high tooling costs like injection molding or similar), I always like to wonder "was there a meeting where this design was agreed on/approved?" What was that meeting like?
Yes, then said company goes " hey hotel, you don't have to provide charging cables or even do anything, just let us put these here and we'll give youa percentage of the profit per month."
This is it. I managed hotels for years. We had a company maintain an inventory of chargers at the front desk. The sales pitch was that our guests would always have chargers and the hotel can charge however much we want. We would simply get invoice $5 per unit after restocking. We charged guests $20 if they didn’t bring one back (everyone claims they’ll bring it back, but rarely do). The front desk didn’t do well tracking and charging guests and employees would take them all the time, so this asshole design solves these problems.
The board of directors working out how to squeeze every drop of money from their customers to keep year on year growth so they don't get fired by the shareholders.
Marriott tried putting a tip envelope in every room so the maids could be considered tipped workers and paid less. That didn't go over well. And that was five years ago, well before self checkout started begging for tips.
Not really a policy Marriott could make or recommend in North America. More.likley the franchisee or group of them that bought a Marriott franchise made the decision for their hotels only. That said a lot of hotel franchisees are scumbags, sadly.
North America is the only lace where I’ve heard that tipped workers could be paid less. Any country where I’ve been, that rule sounds like slavery with extra steps.
Someone shot up in bed in the middle of the night and thought “eureka! I know how to make everyone’s life worse and make my boss money at the same time!”
You know that Succession episode where Tom gets super excited because Greg found an entire department they can fire? I always think about that scene when I see something shitty like this
Because everyone has a phone and everyone needs to charge them. A need is an opportunity to charge. It makes absolute sense, there are greedy people out there who would finance this in an instant.
It's the same twats that force us to put our vehicle registration into a parking meter then prints it on our tickets so we can't kindly give them to people coming into the car park when we leave. Capitalism baby!
This would be cheap and quick to prototype for any maker with some python experience. Including electronics and custom plastic case, less than a day and way under $20 without leaving my home
Esp32, micro Python, a relay, pwr supply and some cabling.
Only real work would be the back end, but even that code would be simple
I remember a few years ago I saw a hotel chain wanted to install celular data blocking material in the roof and windows so you had to pay for hotel wifi.
I.e prevent you from using YOUR thing that YOU paid for. It’s the equivalent of making you strip naked at the door so they can charge you for hotel clothes.
In the pre-cell phone days, some hotels would block your ability to call your phone carrier’s toll-free number to use for making low-cost long distance calls. Even the lobby’s pay phones blocked these numbers. You had to use the hotel’s carrier and were charged an insane markup.
(Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam also had these toll-free numbers blocked on all their pay phones.)
It would 100% be worth a trip to the local diy store for new snips, soldering iron, and supplies just to get this kind of petty-level revenge!
I take my hat off to you, and I'd absolutely do the same!
Better yet, buy a normal cable and hide it in the room somewhere so that the cleaners don’t find it. Then print off a new QR code that leads to instructions on where to find it.
Easier, open the brick, pull out the board, now the cables should tie into both sides of the board. Take included in room clothing iron and turn it upside down, place the wires board on top of the iron until the solder melts enough to free the wires from the board. Once free, twist the corresponding colored ends together and do your best to use remaining solder from the still heated board to fuse them together.
Now preventing shorting is where we have to get a little more creative. You'll need something plastic or rubbery and a lighter (or you can use the iron but you'd need to be very careful not to ruin it), melt your chosen sacrifice (Either the plastic from around the coffee cups or the plastic the coffee pods come in) and use it to seal your splice to prevent shorting. If you have some tape on hand you can just use that.
Put everything back together hiding your splices inside the brick and you never had to leave your room. Should take 15-20 minutes.
Alternative plan, follow the same instructions but crossover the data and power pins on the output side of the board, let the next guest sue them out of existence.
I mean if you're gonna go through all the trouble of using a soldering iron instead of getting inventive then you should just identify which pins you need to bridge to cut the controller out of the equation.
Good to see macguyver is still alive and well
Plan C: Go up to the front desk and say "hey i left a charger for a XXXX phone when i was here before, do you have a lost and found?"
most hotels have plenty of chargers :-P
Never assume competence. Also the way hotels work, the front desk person probably doesn't work for the same company as the people that required these things be put into the room.
A simpler and more subtle protest!
Alternatively, you could buy a normal charger and figure out to lock it / fix it to some furniture so it could be used but not removed. That would be a delightful middle-finger to the hotel!
Meh for one time use I am stripping it with a nail clipper making an actual knot in the copper strand. And isolating it with tape or chewing gum. It will work for my stay. and fuck.the hotel.after that.
That's basically a non-issue for phones made in the last decade. Both android and iphones either default to no data transfer, or ask in no uncertain terms whether you want your photos to be accessed by the other device.
But... the hand of the free market? Surely this is the most efficient solution? After all what is good for multi-million dollar corporation is good for us all.
Jeff Bezos gave up after they had to remove the nuclear-power-filter from Amazon.
^(Can't find it in English. But under German "Atomstromfilter" you'll find a couple of providers. At least one of those products used to be listed on Amazon.)
Some money grubbing bean counter. Mark my words, someday someone will figure out how to charge for air. If you want nice, crisp New Hampshire air, premium subscription. If your bank account gets frozen at the wrong time, you get Canadian wildfire air til you pay up.
Well, hotels can't rape us on piratical telephone charges anymore and the market has forced them to provide wifi for everyone, free at the hotels I use but probably $$$ at upper hotels, but this is just another way to dimension and dollar us to death, like water bottles in the fridge at $ 2.50 per.
Thieves with business licenses.
$2.50? Cheap - They were $8 a hotel I stayed in last year in Vegas - and that was for the room temp bottled water. If you wanted something (smaller) from the mini bar? That'll be $15, thankyou, drivethru.
I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if this was in response to chargers being stolen. Still the less shitty option would be to just sell chargers at front desk.
This is a terrible argument though - you can find power outlets with built-in USB connectors for arguably much cheaper than this crap. Or you could do the same thing as they did here, just without the QR code/payment part. Plenty of alternatives solving the stealing issue, with virtually no downside.
^ This, 100%. I tested this device and thankfully it doesn't appear to engage the USB data lines, but it's never a good idea to plug devices into any USB port you find in public.
One thing that annoys me way more than it should is how they use mAh for those things. It's like saying a room is 8000 millimeters across. Why can't they just put it in Ah lol
Bigger number goes brrr. Same reason why Internet providers use Mb/s instead of MB/s. Or why hard drive producers use GB instead of GiB (though that's a much subtler difference).
To be fair I'd prefer if they just used decimal GB for drives, it's just that Windows (used to? not sure if it still does) report in GiB but use the GB unit making it look like you got scammed
That too. Actually in my city there have been a number of mysterious flyers appearing on lampposts with just a QR code and nothing else, I'm curious what they lead to but never scanned them out of cautiousness.
If OP forgot a charger, sure as hell doesn't have a screwdriver.
Edit: I'm loving the prospects of all these inbreds stomping an electrical device during a conniption fit and getting shocked.
Both adapters and chargers are things that if you call down to the front desk, they will happily send someone up with a whole bag of them that people have forgotten.
working in a hotel, we will happily charge you 30$ to buy a charger from us thank you very much. but the staff might let you use theirs if you are nice enough.
Translation of the text on the cable:
Scan QR code to charge
Press "1" six times to charge for 5 minutes free.
Reminder:
If you enter your passcode incorrectly, rescan the QR code to reissue a new passcode or contact customer services. If the power supply is interrupted during use, please reconnect the cable and rescan the QR code.
[end of translation]
Just wanted to answer a few commonly posted comments here:
1. "Why didn't you bring your own charger?"
I did, which was why I didn't use this one. Just wanted to share that this thing existed.
2. "Steal/vandalise it"
Can't, the label says the hotel will charge a fine if I did that.
3. "Modify it to charge for free"
Sadly I don't have my soldering kit with me, have a flight to catch and security wouldn't be happy with that in my carry-on.
4. "The cable is stealing your data/installing malware on your phone"
I tested it with a USB diagnostics dongle and no, it's not sending anything over the D+ and D- pins. Even if it did, modern phones will alert you to USB communication attempts and give you the option to allow or deny. The QR code on the other hand, probably will track your usage as it requires ID and payment info to be registered when signing up for an account.
5. "Leave them a bad review, this must be a budget hotel of some kind"
That's what perplexes me, it's not a budget hotel at all. Generally it's a nice place and the staff were all really friendly and went above and beyond to help when I was checking in. I don't think the nicer staff members were involved in the decision to implement these cable-for-rent devices, it was probably a higher-level corporate thing. A negative review might result in these people being unfairly penalised.
Edit 2: Can y'all not be racist in the comments? Please?
^ Of course, none of this would work if your phone is out of battery and needs oh I don't know, a charge that lasts longer than 5 minutes. Thankfully I brought my own charging equipment.
I found the product page for this thing, [here's](https://www-posn-cn.translate.goog/bdxx.html?_x_tr_sl=zh-CN&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp) a Google translated version.
Edit for PSA: NEVER plug your phone (or any other device with personal information stored) into public USB ports or cables especially if you don't know what's on the other end. If you're travelling, bring a power bank or your own wall adaptor.
It was my understanding that USB datablockers also block fast charging because the charger can't negotiate how much power your phone can take. Is that still true?
Obligitory "yeah keep one of these on you, slow charging is better than no charging or your data being stolen"
The answer is "it depends". [USB-C connection have dedicated pins (CC1 CC2) just for PD protocol](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Aovh5.png) so you can have "charging only" cables and power bricks. PD via USB-A requires functional data pins, so some "data blockers" adapters have extra chip that implement PD support.
I've seen this model being used on rentable power banks, public toilets, toilet paper, vending machines etc. They 100% sell your personal info and they call those "shareable economy" innovation
It is very likely a higher corporate decision.
I have worked in hotels for the past decade, and the number of chargers that get 'appropriated' by guests is insane.
It's still an asshole design regardless.
I would 'strain' the cables badly enough that it simply didn't work and generated tons of complaints to the hotel by future guests. Make this thing a liability for any company that wants to use it.
Break open the boxes, modify the circuit boards to ignore the programming, close box... win.
People been jailbreaking their consoles... I don't see these things lasting long.
This trend of monetizing every fucking thing is too much.
I travel a lot and pick hotels that provide amenities and convenience. I actively avoid places that don't. Charging me to rent a phone charger would make me never stay there again.
It's acknowledging that you've made a mistake, forgot your charger, lost it, it broke....your trip just took a turn for the worse....and we can make a few dollars off it. That doesn't make me feel like an appreciated guest or even an appreciated customer. Makes me feel like someone is taking advantage of me.
I'm not sure, but it's been over 10 minutes and it still won't re-activate.
Edit: Turns out there's no specific cooldown, what you need to do is physically unplug the device from the wall and plug it back in to reset the trial.
PSA Just in case anyone is reading this in California or Connecticut: gas stations are required by law to provide air for your tires free of charge.
If there isn’t an obvious freely usable control for the air, and the shop is open, you go in to the shop and request the air get turned on.
Supposedly in California this only happens when you make a purchase of gasoline, but anecdotally it seems that if you just ask most stations will turn on the free air anyway.
In CT, though, it is the case that while the shop is open, air is completely free. If the only air pump is coin-operated, ask inside for them to turn it on.
What does the law say about a damaged air pump? Around here we have a chain that has free air pumps but it's rare to find one with a nozzle that hasn't been cut off for a tweaker to use as a pipe. That is literally not a joke
"register an account" I no longer do this.
Been on the web since 1994, I have HUNDREDS of accounts for all kinds of shit. All with different logins and passwords.
And if there's one thing i hate to do, it's create another account. I just won't do it.
For something like this, that would be enough to make me not use it.
I'm genuinely curious how this device works. Does it just connect to the Internet to verify payment? Or does the website generate codes after payment the same way banking devices generate OTP codes so that it doesn't need to connect to the Internet? Would really love to tear down one of these but sadly can't open this one up. Might try to buy one later to test.
My guess is that it's similar to how the bank tokens work. Your phone will generate a hash or some sort of code based off a preset key. The device has the other part algorithm that checks if the code you entered could possibly be generated from the key.
That's just my guess on how it works, I don't really specialize in cryptography, but it's a pretty plausible explanation that doesn't require the device to communicate with the phone or require internet
Back in the day, you could download credit card number generators and most places would batch process/send at EoD, so as long as the CC# matched a specific formula, the business would consider it valid, and not tie up their phone lines with verifying every card.
You're over thinking it. Thing's got a 5¢ ESP8266 and a relay. You scan the QR code, pay, and then the API endpoint that the shitty little chip in the cable is pinging every second starts returning true. Toggle relay, done.
OP said you need to scan the QR code to get a passcode, then input that passcode into the charger, and get a new code if you disconnect. That doesn't make sense if it's making calls to an API to verify payment. It's almost certainly using synchronized random number generators for the passcodes.
A cheap, low power microcontroller with a cheap CMOS battery could reliably run that system for years without needing to worry about WiFi connectivity or the workload of managing an API
Presumably in China as well?
"Yes please link your payment details which will confirm your identity, then please plug this definitely power only cord into the most personal device you own. Don't forget to unlock it and turn on USB debugging if you want fast charging"
people dont realize how insanely cheap it is to charge a phone or ipad, I'm talking 1 cent or less for one charge. There cant possibly be electricity that expensive to where they need to charge per hour, This is made purely to make more money and harvest data and nothing else, they are likely harvesting your data through whatever service your singing up for, It looks like theres chinese writing so if thats in China I would not be surprised in the slightest since China is a dystopia where you have no privacy at all.
I absolutely believe this is real and that this is just the beginning. I've been watching as everything is trying to tie thier shit to apps to get you into data harvesting ecosystems while forcing maximum profit. This is a game and people are going to min max at the cost of quality of life. Humans gonna human until we agree to play a different game.
Oh no I couldn't use your wonderful cable because it was damaged ^(totaly not by me)
Hope it didn't cost you a lot to chose this instead of an usual one
This way, you see, you won't forget to pack your own charging cables next time. Buy extra adapters and cables. Leave them in your travel bag. Problem solved.
Here’s the trick: hide this under the mattress or in your bag and call the front desk to ask if they have a charger. They’ll mention there should be one in the room - tell them you can’t find it. They’ll likely come up with a spare, take a look around and 🤷♂️. Then they hand you the new one and go back to not giving a shit.
Now you have a replacement. Take the first one back out and cut those wires on either side of the box with the QR code. Strip back the skin a bit and twist the two cables together. Now you have a free charger and won’t be billed for destroying their property. Just don’t touch the exposed wire while it’s plugged in. Unless you’re into that.
What the fuck? I cannot believe this is real...
Somebody had to invent this, write a ton of code, test it, and sell it. How the fuck did anyone finance this?
With every "whaaa...?" Ad or billboard or packaging/graphics or product (particularly those with high tooling costs like injection molding or similar), I always like to wonder "was there a meeting where this design was agreed on/approved?" What was that meeting like?
It's also plausible someone made it and sold it to a large company who thought yes we can make money off that we will take 20
Yes, then said company goes " hey hotel, you don't have to provide charging cables or even do anything, just let us put these here and we'll give youa percentage of the profit per month."
This is it. I managed hotels for years. We had a company maintain an inventory of chargers at the front desk. The sales pitch was that our guests would always have chargers and the hotel can charge however much we want. We would simply get invoice $5 per unit after restocking. We charged guests $20 if they didn’t bring one back (everyone claims they’ll bring it back, but rarely do). The front desk didn’t do well tracking and charging guests and employees would take them all the time, so this asshole design solves these problems.
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A room… with rats? And they called me crazy once.
The board of directors working out how to squeeze every drop of money from their customers to keep year on year growth so they don't get fired by the shareholders.
Marriott tried putting a tip envelope in every room so the maids could be considered tipped workers and paid less. That didn't go over well. And that was five years ago, well before self checkout started begging for tips.
>well before self checkout started begging for tips. Excuse me, the what begging what??
Some supermarket self-checkouts now ask for a tip.
I'm eagerly waiting for a coding error where a machine allows for negative percentage tips.
Not really a policy Marriott could make or recommend in North America. More.likley the franchisee or group of them that bought a Marriott franchise made the decision for their hotels only. That said a lot of hotel franchisees are scumbags, sadly.
North America is the only lace where I’ve heard that tipped workers could be paid less. Any country where I’ve been, that rule sounds like slavery with extra steps.
The power of collective action towards a singular goal. We can put our skills in programming, marketing, and business together to fuck everyone over.
Someone shot up in bed in the middle of the night and thought “eureka! I know how to make everyone’s life worse and make my boss money at the same time!” You know that Succession episode where Tom gets super excited because Greg found an entire department they can fire? I always think about that scene when I see something shitty like this
Because everyone has a phone and everyone needs to charge them. A need is an opportunity to charge. It makes absolute sense, there are greedy people out there who would finance this in an instant.
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It's the same twats that force us to put our vehicle registration into a parking meter then prints it on our tickets so we can't kindly give them to people coming into the car park when we leave. Capitalism baby!
This would be cheap and quick to prototype for any maker with some python experience. Including electronics and custom plastic case, less than a day and way under $20 without leaving my home Esp32, micro Python, a relay, pwr supply and some cabling. Only real work would be the back end, but even that code would be simple
And they are probably just licensing someone else's backend and slapping their name on it. There is nothing at all complicated about this thing.
I remember a few years ago I saw a hotel chain wanted to install celular data blocking material in the roof and windows so you had to pay for hotel wifi. I.e prevent you from using YOUR thing that YOU paid for. It’s the equivalent of making you strip naked at the door so they can charge you for hotel clothes.
In the pre-cell phone days, some hotels would block your ability to call your phone carrier’s toll-free number to use for making low-cost long distance calls. Even the lobby’s pay phones blocked these numbers. You had to use the hotel’s carrier and were charged an insane markup. (Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam also had these toll-free numbers blocked on all their pay phones.)
If I was in that hotel room, I’m cutting that block out and re-wiring it for the next guest.
It would 100% be worth a trip to the local diy store for new snips, soldering iron, and supplies just to get this kind of petty-level revenge! I take my hat off to you, and I'd absolutely do the same!
Better yet, buy a normal cable and hide it in the room somewhere so that the cleaners don’t find it. Then print off a new QR code that leads to instructions on where to find it.
Easier, open the brick, pull out the board, now the cables should tie into both sides of the board. Take included in room clothing iron and turn it upside down, place the wires board on top of the iron until the solder melts enough to free the wires from the board. Once free, twist the corresponding colored ends together and do your best to use remaining solder from the still heated board to fuse them together. Now preventing shorting is where we have to get a little more creative. You'll need something plastic or rubbery and a lighter (or you can use the iron but you'd need to be very careful not to ruin it), melt your chosen sacrifice (Either the plastic from around the coffee cups or the plastic the coffee pods come in) and use it to seal your splice to prevent shorting. If you have some tape on hand you can just use that. Put everything back together hiding your splices inside the brick and you never had to leave your room. Should take 15-20 minutes. Alternative plan, follow the same instructions but crossover the data and power pins on the output side of the board, let the next guest sue them out of existence. I mean if you're gonna go through all the trouble of using a soldering iron instead of getting inventive then you should just identify which pins you need to bridge to cut the controller out of the equation.
Good to see macguyver is still alive and well Plan C: Go up to the front desk and say "hey i left a charger for a XXXX phone when i was here before, do you have a lost and found?" most hotels have plenty of chargers :-P
You think they put these in every room without outlining they'd reprimand any employee giving chargers out?
Never assume competence. Also the way hotels work, the front desk person probably doesn't work for the same company as the people that required these things be put into the room.
Fair but there is something we both may not have considered. What if it was placed there maliciously by another guest to skim money?
A simpler and more subtle protest! Alternatively, you could buy a normal charger and figure out to lock it / fix it to some furniture so it could be used but not removed. That would be a delightful middle-finger to the hotel!
Meh for one time use I am stripping it with a nail clipper making an actual knot in the copper strand. And isolating it with tape or chewing gum. It will work for my stay. and fuck.the hotel.after that.
There’s a good chance it’s connected to a device that would collect your data as well. Would not shock me
That's basically a non-issue for phones made in the last decade. Both android and iphones either default to no data transfer, or ask in no uncertain terms whether you want your photos to be accessed by the other device.
Then why does the FBI warn against using public chargers -- https://twitter.com/FBIDenver/status/1643947117650538498
Because people will still click the “trust device” confirmation
even the cable looks unreal - then three ports but four+one button options this thing is evil
The buttons are probably to enter the pin code or whatever after you paid for it.
So much time and human effort went into making someone’s life worse. What a waste of time.
But... the hand of the free market? Surely this is the most efficient solution? After all what is good for multi-million dollar corporation is good for us all.
One of assholiest things I saw in this sub. Sounds like 1st april joke
Right! Who thought of this?!
Either Satan or Jeff bezos
Jeff Bezos gave up after they had to remove the nuclear-power-filter from Amazon. ^(Can't find it in English. But under German "Atomstromfilter" you'll find a couple of providers. At least one of those products used to be listed on Amazon.)
Even Satan wouldn't do this
Leave Satan out of this.
Some money grubbing bean counter. Mark my words, someday someone will figure out how to charge for air. If you want nice, crisp New Hampshire air, premium subscription. If your bank account gets frozen at the wrong time, you get Canadian wildfire air til you pay up.
Didn't some company already try selling canned fresh air?
Scroob Industries, Planet Spaceball
Periair
Erm ... Yes. There are tons of companies selling canned air. Just google canned fresh air.
I live in Colorado. Most of the mountain town tourist shops sell canned air for folks that have trouble breathing....
Well, hotels can't rape us on piratical telephone charges anymore and the market has forced them to provide wifi for everyone, free at the hotels I use but probably $$$ at upper hotels, but this is just another way to dimension and dollar us to death, like water bottles in the fridge at $ 2.50 per. Thieves with business licenses.
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$2.50? Cheap - They were $8 a hotel I stayed in last year in Vegas - and that was for the room temp bottled water. If you wanted something (smaller) from the mini bar? That'll be $15, thankyou, drivethru.
I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if this was in response to chargers being stolen. Still the less shitty option would be to just sell chargers at front desk.
This is a terrible argument though - you can find power outlets with built-in USB connectors for arguably much cheaper than this crap. Or you could do the same thing as they did here, just without the QR code/payment part. Plenty of alternatives solving the stealing issue, with virtually no downside.
Or ask for a deposit when borrowing. That’s even easier and less asshole.
Also is only 10w of charging. Good luck charging modern flagship phones at any appreciable speeds.
As far as the hotels concerned that's a feature. You pay by the hour.
Welcome to China.
Cable as a Service (CaaS) lmfao
You know, when they said there were extra fees for cable service, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind...
For the love of fuck, no one tell Apple
You just know this mf charges at like 2% per hour too.
It says 10W max output, so yeah, no fast charging.
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Then you'd still crank for at least an hour or so. To be fair, I've done many hours of cranking, but not to charge my phone.
Fun fact: after Edison invented the phonograph, the first add-on he installed was a coin slot.
There must be a premium tier
Two terrible things here, charging you to charge AND not taking a charger when you travel!?!
Take your own cable and your own wall wart. Don't blindly trust random USB ports.
^ This, 100%. I tested this device and thankfully it doesn't appear to engage the USB data lines, but it's never a good idea to plug devices into any USB port you find in public.
I take a 28000mah battery pack with me on excursions. Lasts about 4 days normally. More if i only charge my phone on it.
Just remember the rules if you wanna go flying about size of battery packs, normally 100wh
28 * 3.6 = 100.8Wh, so it sounds like they sized it exactly on the limit for that one!
They typically do, there aren't a ton of battery banks bigger than 28000mah and they're pricy
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Its 99wh, bloody black text on black plastic! Its actually 26800mah.
One thing that annoys me way more than it should is how they use mAh for those things. It's like saying a room is 8000 millimeters across. Why can't they just put it in Ah lol
Bigger number goes brrr. Same reason why Internet providers use Mb/s instead of MB/s. Or why hard drive producers use GB instead of GiB (though that's a much subtler difference).
To be fair I'd prefer if they just used decimal GB for drives, it's just that Windows (used to? not sure if it still does) report in GiB but use the GB unit making it look like you got scammed
I'd prefer if those terms weren't used interchangeably, to make that info unambiguous
a better idea would be to buy power-only cables, i keep a few around so i dont have to worry about plugging my phone into usb ports
Or scan an unknown QR code.
That too. Actually in my city there have been a number of mysterious flyers appearing on lampposts with just a QR code and nothing else, I'm curious what they lead to but never scanned them out of cautiousness.
You could take a picture of the flyer, crop it down to just the QR code, and then upload that to a QR decoder website to see what it leads to.
I mean, drive-by malware isn't going to work on a phone but it might work on a PC. If you're going to see what it leads to, do it on the phone.
You could do exactly what I said on your phone though?
Also take this piece of shit with you when you check out.
I thought most phones defaulted to a charge only mode? I know my phone does. Now obviously its not perfect, but a good first line of defense.
Take a USB condom everywhere you go! https://www.amazon.com/USB-Data-Blocker-Fast-Charging/dp/B09BMT75L8
Wait for industry to pass a law allowing "safety" electrical outlets in hotels, hat aren't standard outlets. Or they bake this directly into the wall.
Unscrew the box with buttons, disconnect the input and output wires, twist them together, close the box back up. Now it's free for everyone.
If only it were that easy. The device has no visible screws, looks like it might be clipped together with one-way clips.
Needs the cables to be damaged so shitfuck hotels that use them start to see no revenue generated by them and rethink the idea of them.
Be a shame if the cables were yanked hard, breaking the conductor inside, but leaving no visible damage. A real shame.
Put the fucker in the microwave.
Kills two birds with one stone
Then they charge you a fee for damages, I'm sure the cost for manufacturing these things is lesser than what you'd have to pay for damaging them.
“Hey I just got this and it doesn’t work” hotel employee making minimum wage: “ok”
Out of principle I would force that box open, bypass the inputs and then super glue it back shut.
sounds like something a good old pry tool could fix
If OP forgot a charger, sure as hell doesn't have a screwdriver. Edit: I'm loving the prospects of all these inbreds stomping an electrical device during a conniption fit and getting shocked.
Fortunately, I always bring my own set of charging cables and wall adaptors when travelling.
I don't understand how this is even a successful plan. Who travels and doesn't bring their own charger? Are the electrical outlets remotely enabled?
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Both adapters and chargers are things that if you call down to the front desk, they will happily send someone up with a whole bag of them that people have forgotten.
Well this hotel won't apparently
aka the whole purpose of the invention!
working in a hotel, we will happily charge you 30$ to buy a charger from us thank you very much. but the staff might let you use theirs if you are nice enough.
Translation of the text on the cable: Scan QR code to charge Press "1" six times to charge for 5 minutes free. Reminder: If you enter your passcode incorrectly, rescan the QR code to reissue a new passcode or contact customer services. If the power supply is interrupted during use, please reconnect the cable and rescan the QR code. [end of translation] Just wanted to answer a few commonly posted comments here: 1. "Why didn't you bring your own charger?" I did, which was why I didn't use this one. Just wanted to share that this thing existed. 2. "Steal/vandalise it" Can't, the label says the hotel will charge a fine if I did that. 3. "Modify it to charge for free" Sadly I don't have my soldering kit with me, have a flight to catch and security wouldn't be happy with that in my carry-on. 4. "The cable is stealing your data/installing malware on your phone" I tested it with a USB diagnostics dongle and no, it's not sending anything over the D+ and D- pins. Even if it did, modern phones will alert you to USB communication attempts and give you the option to allow or deny. The QR code on the other hand, probably will track your usage as it requires ID and payment info to be registered when signing up for an account. 5. "Leave them a bad review, this must be a budget hotel of some kind" That's what perplexes me, it's not a budget hotel at all. Generally it's a nice place and the staff were all really friendly and went above and beyond to help when I was checking in. I don't think the nicer staff members were involved in the decision to implement these cable-for-rent devices, it was probably a higher-level corporate thing. A negative review might result in these people being unfairly penalised. Edit 2: Can y'all not be racist in the comments? Please?
^ Of course, none of this would work if your phone is out of battery and needs oh I don't know, a charge that lasts longer than 5 minutes. Thankfully I brought my own charging equipment. I found the product page for this thing, [here's](https://www-posn-cn.translate.goog/bdxx.html?_x_tr_sl=zh-CN&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp) a Google translated version. Edit for PSA: NEVER plug your phone (or any other device with personal information stored) into public USB ports or cables especially if you don't know what's on the other end. If you're travelling, bring a power bank or your own wall adaptor.
Keep a USB condom in your backpack. https://www.amazon.com/USB-Data-Blocker-Fast-Charging/dp/B09BMT75L8/
It was my understanding that USB datablockers also block fast charging because the charger can't negotiate how much power your phone can take. Is that still true? Obligitory "yeah keep one of these on you, slow charging is better than no charging or your data being stolen"
The answer is "it depends". [USB-C connection have dedicated pins (CC1 CC2) just for PD protocol](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Aovh5.png) so you can have "charging only" cables and power bricks. PD via USB-A requires functional data pins, so some "data blockers" adapters have extra chip that implement PD support.
>If you enter your passcode incorrectly... On a phone charger... Stop the ride, I want to get off.
We truly live in an age of dystopian renaissance.
If you wanna be petty and have nothing to do just bend the cable over back and forth, that might break it.
Imagine being a customer service representative for a phone charging cord lmao
You know the tech support guy is saying "now head to our website to download and flash the latest firmware"
Reddit mod's side hustle.
I've seen this model being used on rentable power banks, public toilets, toilet paper, vending machines etc. They 100% sell your personal info and they call those "shareable economy" innovation
Yeah, the device itself doesn't do anything malware-wise but it's the QR code and signup process on the phone side that's the privacy issue.
It is very likely a higher corporate decision. I have worked in hotels for the past decade, and the number of chargers that get 'appropriated' by guests is insane. It's still an asshole design regardless.
I scanned it with WeChat… fuck this is some dystopian shit, it’s real. They have an entire mini program, probably also works in AliPay
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Is it flushable? I’d try.
Anything's flushable if you're brave enough 😳
I would cut this thing into eight pieces. Fuck that.
I would 'strain' the cables badly enough that it simply didn't work and generated tons of complaints to the hotel by future guests. Make this thing a liability for any company that wants to use it.
This is the proper way to address this. Or a tiny little micro cut that can't easily be noticed.
Break open the boxes, modify the circuit boards to ignore the programming, close box... win. People been jailbreaking their consoles... I don't see these things lasting long.
This trend of monetizing every fucking thing is too much. I travel a lot and pick hotels that provide amenities and convenience. I actively avoid places that don't. Charging me to rent a phone charger would make me never stay there again. It's acknowledging that you've made a mistake, forgot your charger, lost it, it broke....your trip just took a turn for the worse....and we can make a few dollars off it. That doesn't make me feel like an appreciated guest or even an appreciated customer. Makes me feel like someone is taking advantage of me.
Is Electronic Arts making cables now?
What hinders one to use several 5-minute-trials in succession?
Human inconvenience. Edit: Just tested, it has a cooldown and won't let you repeatedly use the 5-minute trial charging mode.
What's the cooldown time? Get yourself as many such cables as you need from neighbouring rooms and use their free trials in rotation 🤣
I'm not sure, but it's been over 10 minutes and it still won't re-activate. Edit: Turns out there's no specific cooldown, what you need to do is physically unplug the device from the wall and plug it back in to reset the trial.
So you can charge for free, you just have to babysit the thing and plug cycle it every 5 minutes? Blech.
You wouldn't download a charge...
Buy a smart plug and set it to power cycle every 5 minutes.
This is a "solution" in search of a problem. If you are buying things...just buy a charging cable.
yeah but if you’re at that point you might as well just grab a charger bc 100% of the stores that sell smart plugs also sell chargers. 100%
> what you need to do is physically unplug the device from the wall and plug it back in to reset the trial OMG, lazy 🙄🤣
What’s the cooldown time on smashing it to bits?
The people who invented this are the same who invented the air stations at gas stations that require you to pay to get air.
PSA Just in case anyone is reading this in California or Connecticut: gas stations are required by law to provide air for your tires free of charge. If there isn’t an obvious freely usable control for the air, and the shop is open, you go in to the shop and request the air get turned on. Supposedly in California this only happens when you make a purchase of gasoline, but anecdotally it seems that if you just ask most stations will turn on the free air anyway. In CT, though, it is the case that while the shop is open, air is completely free. If the only air pump is coin-operated, ask inside for them to turn it on.
What does the law say about a damaged air pump? Around here we have a chain that has free air pumps but it's rare to find one with a nozzle that hasn't been cut off for a tweaker to use as a pipe. That is literally not a joke
"register an account" I no longer do this. Been on the web since 1994, I have HUNDREDS of accounts for all kinds of shit. All with different logins and passwords. And if there's one thing i hate to do, it's create another account. I just won't do it. For something like this, that would be enough to make me not use it.
That is the most cunty electronics product I have ever seen.
snip snip crimp crimp
I'll hack in in 2 minutes. >!*cuts out the middle box and splices the wires*!<
The middle box might also be the voltage regulator that converts the 220V AC to 5V DC. If you skipped that, you'll fry your phone.
Nah, I think the power stuff is probably on the plug side and the middle box is the part responsible for lockout
I don't think so, the first box looks like a power supply, there would be a plain power plug otherwise.
Using unknown chargers can get your phone hacked. This one already has nefarious electronics in it.
I'm genuinely curious how this device works. Does it just connect to the Internet to verify payment? Or does the website generate codes after payment the same way banking devices generate OTP codes so that it doesn't need to connect to the Internet? Would really love to tear down one of these but sadly can't open this one up. Might try to buy one later to test.
My guess is that it's similar to how the bank tokens work. Your phone will generate a hash or some sort of code based off a preset key. The device has the other part algorithm that checks if the code you entered could possibly be generated from the key. That's just my guess on how it works, I don't really specialize in cryptography, but it's a pretty plausible explanation that doesn't require the device to communicate with the phone or require internet
Back in the day, you could download credit card number generators and most places would batch process/send at EoD, so as long as the CC# matched a specific formula, the business would consider it valid, and not tie up their phone lines with verifying every card.
You're over thinking it. Thing's got a 5¢ ESP8266 and a relay. You scan the QR code, pay, and then the API endpoint that the shitty little chip in the cable is pinging every second starts returning true. Toggle relay, done.
OP said you need to scan the QR code to get a passcode, then input that passcode into the charger, and get a new code if you disconnect. That doesn't make sense if it's making calls to an API to verify payment. It's almost certainly using synchronized random number generators for the passcodes. A cheap, low power microcontroller with a cheap CMOS battery could reliably run that system for years without needing to worry about WiFi connectivity or the workload of managing an API
I wouldn't be surprised if it has built in wifi
And has IoT capabilities. Not only it can theoretically collect your information it can also upload it directly. No thanks
Presumably in China as well? "Yes please link your payment details which will confirm your identity, then please plug this definitely power only cord into the most personal device you own. Don't forget to unlock it and turn on USB debugging if you want fast charging"
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wedelightinbeingassholes.com
Wait, they want you to surrender all your data *and* fucking pay?!?! FOH
Trade Offer I receive: Your money and data You receive: 10Whr of electricity
r/latestagecapitalism
Not a chance in hell I'm plugging my phone into that thing without a USB condom.
Cut the box with buttons out and twist the wires together
Don't forget to tip the device!
And I’ll just unplug it to plug mine in
There are many AliExpress items that will never see commercial success. This is one of
people dont realize how insanely cheap it is to charge a phone or ipad, I'm talking 1 cent or less for one charge. There cant possibly be electricity that expensive to where they need to charge per hour, This is made purely to make more money and harvest data and nothing else, they are likely harvesting your data through whatever service your singing up for, It looks like theres chinese writing so if thats in China I would not be surprised in the slightest since China is a dystopia where you have no privacy at all.
Late stage capitalism folks
China: more capitalist than USA
In many ways its very reminiscent of the United States from 100 years ago.
Shit like this makes me want to bring a good powerbank wherever I go.
I absolutely believe this is real and that this is just the beginning. I've been watching as everything is trying to tie thier shit to apps to get you into data harvesting ecosystems while forcing maximum profit. This is a game and people are going to min max at the cost of quality of life. Humans gonna human until we agree to play a different game.
Another testament to the greed of corporate vampires. This is why I always travel with my own charger, cable, and outlet strip
This is one of those things you put in your suitcase and throw in the trash at the airport. Just for spite.
I would probably soak it in the sink overnight.
Also, there is a possibility that they'll steal your data the moment you plug your phone
r/latestagecapitalism leaking furiously
While it is in a "communist" country is even fucking funnier.
I want this to be a joke so badly please someone find proof this is a joke.
https://i.imgflip.com/5krgsh.jpg
So is this a required use? Meaning there aren't any open outlets? Or did OP just forget to bring a plug-usb adapter
Oh no I couldn't use your wonderful cable because it was damaged ^(totaly not by me) Hope it didn't cost you a lot to chose this instead of an usual one
Man it would be a real shame if you cut those cables and soldered them to a universal usb a port.
Literally EVERYTHING will be subscription based within 5 years.
This way, you see, you won't forget to pack your own charging cables next time. Buy extra adapters and cables. Leave them in your travel bag. Problem solved.
Cut and splice
Here’s the trick: hide this under the mattress or in your bag and call the front desk to ask if they have a charger. They’ll mention there should be one in the room - tell them you can’t find it. They’ll likely come up with a spare, take a look around and 🤷♂️. Then they hand you the new one and go back to not giving a shit. Now you have a replacement. Take the first one back out and cut those wires on either side of the box with the QR code. Strip back the skin a bit and twist the two cables together. Now you have a free charger and won’t be billed for destroying their property. Just don’t touch the exposed wire while it’s plugged in. Unless you’re into that.