The Kroger by my house as these (or ones that look very similar). I generally avoid that store for many reasons, but I’m tempted to go there just to try this out. This is a few years old now; I wonder if they changed the tones.
I despise these wheels. About 15 years ago, my wife and I went to Target and first went to lunch at the far end of the parking lot. After lunch we headed into the store, grabbed a cart, now loaded with our newborn in his car seat, and our two year old sitting in the cart. A quick shopping trip later, we headed back to the car. When crossing the Target parking lot, the wheels locked up, in the middle of the road. Cart wouldn’t budge. Traffic all over the place, and now I have to pull both my children out, along with the shopping, and carry them all to my car. Pissed is an understatement. After my wife and kids were secured back in the car, I retuned to Target, complaining to the manager. A shrug was the best I received. Why did they need to put the wire in the middle of the road???
I hope someone attaches Bluetooth speakers to their shoes and locks every cart in target, so they have to remove the system.
No. That won't work. It needs the electromagnetic / rf field. It can work if your phone is nearby becaause of the " parasitic EMF from your phone's speaker to "transmit" a similar code by playing a crafted audio file" according to the article and the DEFCON talk
> I hope someone attaches Bluetooth speakers to their shoes and locks every cart in target, so they have to remove the system.
Friends did this college in like 2005. Cambridge area, Shaws Market I think. I imagine the hardware setup was a bit different. All the details are hazy but I recall their lock transmission signal had a huge range and locked all carts in a wide area.
Based on what's still around, likely the one (now rebranded a Star Market, same holding company) in Porter Square, right by Porter Square station.
Based on what I recall, I believe there was one on the southeastern end of Green Street, a bit between Central and Kendall Square, barely northwest of MIT's primary campus area on the corner Massachusetts Ave and Vassar Street. That location has apparently closed in recent years.
Around that year, or maybe even earlier, I remember reading an article about how to DIY one of those devices with a PIC microcontroller and wreck havoc on the store. It might have been something very similar to this:
I suppose now I can admit that we did this in college in 2003 (with RF, not audio), and had great fun seeing a grocery store descend into utter pandemonium, until the power electronics overheated and burned the signal carrier to whose chest the circuit had been taped, who started yelping in the store and drawing a lot of suspicion to himself.
You can also take a wrench with you, to quickly remove the locking wheel from your cart. Maybe replace it with a non-locking wheel from another cart.
Shouldn't be difficult to find carts left near or beyond the edge of the parking lot.
I find the locking wheels annoying, because they're so often defective and make it a noisy struggle to get your cart through the store. But years ago I also had a neighbor in my apartment complex who would walk home with a cart every week, and would just leave (a dozen of) them there... she couldn't be bothered to push the empty carts back to the store, not even once. I'd think a $1 deposit/return system for carts would work better, and give the homeless in the area some gainful employment.
That talk was incredible. Thanks for posting this and now I want to find them in the wild.
The Kroger by my house as these (or ones that look very similar). I generally avoid that store for many reasons, but I’m tempted to go there just to try this out. This is a few years old now; I wonder if they changed the tones.
If Defcon talks about hotel security have taught me anything, it will never be changed until the store is bulldozed to build a bigger store.
This perfectly embodies the kind of hacker spirit that I love.
Reminds me of the LoLRa project from cnlohr that transmits LoRa without a radio transceiver.
Author's bio line says they are a "flat mooner". Which gave me quite a chuckle.
What's the meaning? Like, they have a flat ass?
They're (jokingly) saying they believe the moon is flat. Like a flat earther, but the moon instead of the earth.
They believe the moon is a flat circle (not a sphere).
I despise these wheels. About 15 years ago, my wife and I went to Target and first went to lunch at the far end of the parking lot. After lunch we headed into the store, grabbed a cart, now loaded with our newborn in his car seat, and our two year old sitting in the cart. A quick shopping trip later, we headed back to the car. When crossing the Target parking lot, the wheels locked up, in the middle of the road. Cart wouldn’t budge. Traffic all over the place, and now I have to pull both my children out, along with the shopping, and carry them all to my car. Pissed is an understatement. After my wife and kids were secured back in the car, I retuned to Target, complaining to the manager. A shrug was the best I received. Why did they need to put the wire in the middle of the road???
I hope someone attaches Bluetooth speakers to their shoes and locks every cart in target, so they have to remove the system.
Huh, I wonder if it works if you play it over the PA system.
https://hackaday.com/2016/03/04/social-engineering-your-way-...
Edit: looks like an Ardunio can do this with PWM too
No. That won't work. It needs the electromagnetic / rf field. It can work if your phone is nearby becaause of the " parasitic EMF from your phone's speaker to "transmit" a similar code by playing a crafted audio file" according to the article and the DEFCON talk
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=croc+speaker
> I hope someone attaches Bluetooth speakers to their shoes and locks every cart in target, so they have to remove the system.
Friends did this college in like 2005. Cambridge area, Shaws Market I think. I imagine the hardware setup was a bit different. All the details are hazy but I recall their lock transmission signal had a huge range and locked all carts in a wide area.
Based on what's still around, likely the one (now rebranded a Star Market, same holding company) in Porter Square, right by Porter Square station.
Based on what I recall, I believe there was one on the southeastern end of Green Street, a bit between Central and Kendall Square, barely northwest of MIT's primary campus area on the corner Massachusetts Ave and Vassar Street. That location has apparently closed in recent years.
Around that year, or maybe even earlier, I remember reading an article about how to DIY one of those devices with a PIC microcontroller and wreck havoc on the store. It might have been something very similar to this:
https://www.instructables.com/EMP-shopping-cart-locker/
It might been the same text that somebody copy/pasted there, sounds vaguely familiar.
Avoiding these stupid wheels is probably the biggest reason I shop at Costco
I suppose now I can admit that we did this in college in 2003 (with RF, not audio), and had great fun seeing a grocery store descend into utter pandemonium, until the power electronics overheated and burned the signal carrier to whose chest the circuit had been taped, who started yelping in the store and drawing a lot of suspicion to himself.
You can also take a wrench with you, to quickly remove the locking wheel from your cart. Maybe replace it with a non-locking wheel from another cart.
Shouldn't be difficult to find carts left near or beyond the edge of the parking lot.
I find the locking wheels annoying, because they're so often defective and make it a noisy struggle to get your cart through the store. But years ago I also had a neighbor in my apartment complex who would walk home with a cart every week, and would just leave (a dozen of) them there... she couldn't be bothered to push the empty carts back to the store, not even once. I'd think a $1 deposit/return system for carts would work better, and give the homeless in the area some gainful employment.
Aldi does it for a quarter and it works pretty well to get people to return them.