What’s going on with Household Hacker?

Household Hacker is a relatively new site that demonstrates FAKE hacks with simple household items. A WHOIS search reveals that their domain was registered on Nov 8 ’07. The site has been fairly popular after their hacks were picked up by popular blogs such as TUAW and Gizmodo. Here is a link to the google trends of “household hacker”.

Their hacks include charging an iPod with an onion, powering a TV with a AAA battery, turning your PC into a space heater and improving XBOX 360 WiFi reception. All of these hacks are fake. Charging an iPod with an onion is fake; I even tested it out here. There is no way that a AAA battery will ever be able to power a TV. The space heater is obviously fake as well. It involves taking the side off of a computer and continuously running a processor intensive task; they claim this will heat up a room by 15 degrees. They improve WiFi reception on an XBOX 360 with a ridiculous tin foil contraption. It is a pretty crude reflector that wouldn’t work very well, if at all. These reflectors need to be a precise parabolic shape like the popular ones over and FreeAntennas.

I’m am not sure what the goal of Household Hacker is. At first I thought that it was just stupid, but I am now finding it funny. Many people are actually taking these guys seriously and are providing some cheap entertainment. Other people are going along with it and making some pretty funny video replies. Here is a funny video with another way to charge an iPod.

I can’t wait to see what these Household Hoaxsters come up with next and who will fall for it.