Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/02/29/doom-running-on-a-toothbrush.html
…
4 Likes
11 Likes
8 Likes
Why would a toothbrush need that much processing power?
6 Likes
For mining crypto or the inevitable DDoS botnet 
But on a practical level, i don’t know. Perhaps something about adding enough unneeded smart features that you’d likely have to pay to access? I like my electric toothbrush but i’ve never thought i needed more from it that i’d want a mini computer slapped in there.
7 Likes
At some point in the future, we will be a Dyson sphere of computronium, where every molecule is running it’s own instance of Doom.
7 Likes
Life, uh, finds a way
8 Likes
I want to see Doom running on a vibrator.
1 Like
I have no idea what sort of processing power is needed for this, but a lot of toothbrushes now are sending metrics out for users to track; duration, frequency, etc. I have a bathroom scale that connects via BT to my phone and logs all sorts of metrics like weight, BMI, bone density, etc. I find that valuable, but toothbrush tracking seems for the hardcore gamifiers who just want to quantify every facet of their lives.
1 Like
The toothbrush botnet story was fake, I’m afraid.
3 Likes
The toothbrush DDoS story is the root of this effort. Here’s the timeline:
- A Fortinet employee is on a panel discussing real problems of DDoS attacks, and posits a scenario with a hypothetical DDoS attack involving a botnet comprised of 3 million toothbrushes (for absurdity’s sake.)
- A reporter for a German news organization reads a machine mistranslation of the event, and reports the 3 million toothbrush DDoS attack was real.
- Other tech news organizations pick up and repeat the story.
- Just about every IoT expert says “story can’t be true, most toothbrushes run Bluetooth, not WiFi.”
- As the truth came out about the mistaken source of the story, mocking of the media on the internet ensued, Streisanding the story even further.
- Aaron Christophel sees the story as a challenge, and takes apart a real WiFi toothbrush that includes a tiny color screen and discovers a common cheap-but-powerful ESP32 chip inside.
- Aaron figures out a way to flash his own software onto the chip and creates a demo showing how a worm could transmit from toothbrush to toothbrush, potentially creating a network of zombie toothbrushes. He posts his demo software on Github and calls it done as he has no interest in actually creating a worm.
- Intrigued by the power of the chip and his ability to reprogram it, he challenges himself to port Doom to the toothbrush.
- You are here.
19 Likes
I had no idea those were related. Thanks for the info!
4 Likes
New band name?
4 Likes
But can you play multiplayer deathmatch with other toothbrushes?
1 Like
I came in late to this movie. Why does a consumer toothbrush have a screen in the first place?
1 Like
It’s just some fancy stuff to show you what mode you’re using, and things like that. The thing is an ESP-32 is a really capable platform and is extremely underutilized on a toothbrush. But it’s really cheap and easy to program so it gets used a bunch of places you wouldn’t expect.
5 Likes
The chips are about $1 per, and easier to program than a smaller microcontroller which needs assembly code. Just a case of using something cheap enough that’ll get the job done…
5 Likes
This one measures your brushing technique. It’s not motorized.
Before you laugh derisively, this could be quite helpful for people learning to brush properly.
This brush apparently shows you everything. Did you get all the surfaces? Are you pushing hard enough? Did you spend enough time on that back right molar?
And it gives you immediate feedback, rather than waiting six months to visit the dentist and have them tell you “you didn’t brush the back of tooth #24 and now it has a cavity.” I imagine it could be useful to dental patients who never learned to brush as a kid.
In dealing with many types of IoT devices I’ve found that a lot of them are very beneficial to a certain niche. And it can be very ableist of me to dismiss them as ridiculous. Some people need specialized personal help, and why not get it from a technology that has infinite patience, and doesn’t shame you for not knowing how to do something the rest of society considers commonplace?
3 Likes
So the toothbrush movement sensor is driving the game? I was wondering. It’s one thing to display Zoom on a toothbrush. It’s another to play while waving it wandstyle.
I’m pretty sure he uses the toothbrush head as a joystick.
A spit covered, mint flavored joystick. Eeeew.
2 Likes
