A pair of Canadian university students are raising Kickstarter funds for a USB prank stick, aptly called the Prankstick. The Prankstick is a USB key with a pranking software installed on it. Simply stick the Prankstick in someone's laptop, load the included program, remove the stick and watch hilarity ensue; your victim will return to their computer to find that it's seemingly been taken over by some sort of poltergeist or hacker.
A range of pranks are loaded onto this USB prank stick. They include 'Mouse Move' (causes the mouse cursor to randomly jolt around the screen,) 'Eject CD' (ejects the CD drive at random intervals,) 'Caps Lock' (toggles the caps button on and off,) and 'Backspace' (prompts the backspace key to backspace every five seconds).
The Prankstick is currently only configured to work with Windows, but the inventors are looking to eventually release a Mac-friendly version.
Key Themes Behind This Trend
- USB Prank Devices
- The rise of USB prank devices presents an opportunity for tech companies to create new software and hardware that can be used for harmless humor.
- Pranking Software
- As the popularity of pranking software grows, businesses can create software to produce similar effects that can be used for marketing or training purposes.
- Desktop Humor
- There is an opportunity for companies to create desktop applications that can be used for entertainment purposes, such as creating customizable prank programs for users.
Where This Applies
- Technology
- The technology industry can produce new devices and software for pranksters to enjoy this kind of fun.
- Entertainment
- As pranks become more popular among audiences, the entertainment industry can produce content for television or streaming featuring pranks as the premise.
- Education
- Pranking can be used as a form of digital training, especially for cybersecurity personnel who need to learn how to identify and prevent hacking attempts.
