A smart ear wax remover? Yep, the Spade is your safe and effective next-gen answer to the cotton swab

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Originally published at: A smart ear wax remover? Yep, the Spade is your safe and effective next-gen answer to the cotton swab | Boing Boing

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Why stop at ear canals? This camera/LED tech could revolutionize the bidet and/or TP industry!

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I was actively cleaning my ears when I saw this Boingervtisement! However, I was using this, inexpensive and software tool. https://amzn.to/36KhU36 . Yes, clicking gives me 2¢ of your purchase.

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If one is averse to spending $85 to still stick something in their ear and potentially damage their ear drums, but now with a first person view of the damage from the POV of the space, you could spend $8 on a bottle of debrox and rubber bulb for water and do it safely.

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As soon as I saw it was a BBStore link, I knew the comments would be amazing.

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Or you could just use a bobby pin like everybody else …

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Does it double as a lockpick? I only buy multipurpose tools

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Hammerdrill or bust.

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I’ve never understood why people consider ear wax a “nasty” problem to be removed. Ear wax has a protective function and naturally moves outward. If it gets impacted (probably from poking objects into the ear canal), use ear drops and an ear syringe, or see your local health provider.

…because nothing says “I love you” like a personal “hygiene” tool with a camera.

ETA: Just noticed it’s called “the Spade”. yikes

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For me, it’s usually “ugh, this has become crackly/itchy/whatever” and I need that to stop. Thankfully that’s an annoyance, and not a health problem that requires attention, so most of the time I just deal with it.

I… do not think I can handle a camera down my ears though. Ew.

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OMG - YESSSSS I got one of those electronic microscopes recommend by BB a few times off Amazon. DO NOT start aiming it at body parts.

Also, I see these little spades at the Asian market for a few bucks at the check out. Granted, they don’t have a camera.

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I’m disappointed it’s not tactical.

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As near as I can tell, it isn’t connected to the internet. Now what, I ask you, is the use of that? Doesn’t this break the BoingBoing Store Terms and Conditions or something? I demand an Internet of Things earwax scraper!

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I have a similar device. It’s probably the same guts, as the business end of mine looks just like the one in the pictures but the device itself looks slightly different. Mine was cheaper. It was your typical Amazon “randomly-named electronic device”.

  • don’t use the scooper thing. Just don’t. Not only can you hurt yourself by poking your eardrum, you can poke your ear canal which will also injure it as it’s not the kind of skin that is used to being poked.
  • The camera is useful to figure out “do I have impacted earwax?” although it’s not very good quality compared to the ones that audiologists/ENTs use. The image does auto-rotate as you twist it around, which is very useful.
  • Some people make too much earwax and it will get piled up in there - I am one of those people. Wearing any kind of earbud that goes into my ear makes it enormously worse, as does sleeping on my side, which is the only way I can sleep comfortably. So you shouldn’t just remove any earwax you can see but if it’s obviously blocking your ability to see your eardrum fully or at all (not to mention affecting hearing), it’s okay to rinse it out.
  • Don’t bother with those little squeezer bulbs. Get a Doctor Easy Elephant Ear/Rhino Ear squirt bottle thing, some distiled water, and some regular over the counter hydrogen peroxide. Apparently lots of doctors and other medical professionals use it. It’s the closest thing to using a power washer in your ear.
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Are you filling & soaking your earhole first with the H2O2, and then “power rinsing”? Or is the peroxide mixed in with the water?

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What’s wrong with old fashioned ear candling?
image

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Better send one to the Lock Picking Lawyer and see what he can do with it. My guess is he’s got a near-identical tool already.

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Ear hole porn! Because you know it’s going to happen eventually anyway.

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Already a thing in Japan (no big surprise there).

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He’s got one better, a wireless camera that lets you see in the keyway of Kwikset SmartKey locks and visually decode them so you can cut a working key. No picking needed. However, the camera and the specialized key cutter aren’t cheap.

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