Hand-cranked CD, paper, and credit card shredder
By Peter Rojas 
posted January 26th 2005 1:49PM
posted January 26th 2005 1:49PM
Let's see, you're wealthy and powerful enough to have important data and documents you want permanently destroyed,
but not quite wealthy and powerful enough to afford a shredder with a power cord or battery?
[Thanks, Marc]
I wish my roommate had one of these. He likes to shred things when I'm sleeping. Bastard.
You don't have to be wealthy and power to need a shredder. You just need to be suceptible to identitiy theft, which is pretty much EVERYONE, which is why EVERYONE should have a shredder!
Do you get credit card solicitations? Do you put yout trash out where someone else could rifle through it (on the curb or in a public dumpster)? Bam - you're just begging for identity theft if you're not shredding those credit-card offers.
If you live in a major city, every night there are dozens of people roaming the streets, block to block, digging through trash, collecting those offers. Then they just fill out that form, change the address, and from there it's cake to take your whole identity.
Everyone needs a shredder. But even the cheapest motorized ones are not that cheap. I think a shredder everyone can afford is actually a great idea, and possibly even a major advance in the fight against identity theft.
That is absolutely the greatest thing I have ever seen on this site so far! hahaha I LOVE IT!
My shreader can barely cough down a damn disk everytime I toss in a CD and barely manages to shred it. I can't imagine trying to crank that thing with everything in it like in the picture.
Oh, my six-year-old son would love it! We'd have to hide all our paper, our mail, our credit cards,...
Ummm...one should really use a cross-cut shredder if one wants to keep their data private...
Available at your nearest Canadian RadioShack store...
http://www.radioshack.ca/estore/Product.aspx?language=en-CA&catalog=RadioShack&category=OfficeTools&product=2619529
Is it hand-cranked perhaps because shredding a CD would require too powerful a motor than whatever could be installed in a shredder?
This is for when the Feds cut the power and you need to "misplace" some information really quick.
I think you may be overlooking the obvious safety advantage that this product would have. I've got a home office and I always have to unplug the unit so that the kids don't get hurt in some freak accident. I just wonder if this thing is sturdy enough. I would worry that the crank would break off due to me cranking it too hard. I can also see the top unit lifting off during the up crank if it's not locked down well. Still if this thing works it would be great. I think I go through one a year because the motor burns out on these suckers.
I like that they labeled the various slots. I'm trying to picture the fool that would try to jam a CD in the credit card slot.
Hey, isnt the CD in that photo thats half 'shredded' still in one piece??
I guess with all that plastic mixed in with the paper, recycling is out of the question.
"Everyone needs a shredder. But even the cheapest motorized ones are not that cheap."
$30 is cheap enough.
I paid $40 for one that cross-cuts, which is important enough to pay an extra $10 for.
Server:
Look again closely at the CD. It is clearly being "shredded" into three pieces.
>>Look again closely at the CD. It is clearly >>being "shredded" into three pieces.
three pieces? might as well use scissors!
I shred my old underpants.
This is hilarious! Funny thing is, I went to the Radio Shack link provided by Karl and this thing is called a Cross-Cut shredder which, if the picture is any indication, it clearly is not.
Um, to the comment about credit card offers... filling them in and changing the address doesn't to them any good unless they know your ss# and fill that in too.
More important than shredding cc offers is NEVER put outgoing mail in an unsecure mailbox (the kind we have in the 'burbs where you put the flag up).
And if you're going to bother shredding something, anything besides cross-cut is a waste of time and money.
I think the intended use for this for those all too frequent times when you're camping and want to keep your sensitive information... from bears.
Solar Shredders next.
For those afternoons when it's just too nice outside to engage in corporate fraud cover-ups indoors.
Hand-crank shredders have been around for ages. I used to have a Hello Kitty one. That bastard got jammed all the time. Eventually the handle broke off entirely.
Even rich people need exercise and besides that handcrank doesn't require power...go eco force!
It's about time rich people learn manual labor anyhow right?
It's for the CEO with no time to head to 24hr fitness. Or the one that wants a strong right hook for when the auditors come a knockin...
I got one, and it is in fact a cross-shredder. The rotating metal wheels have a little extruding cutter on them that cut the ribbons at unevent points - very simple, and very hard to recreate the document without seeing where the cutter points are (the positions change over time).
Overall, it's a great product - and when I do use it, I take off the plastic handle and connect my 14v cordless drill directly to the shaft. It works very well, and very fast. It's very satisfying to shred paper at high speed.
I'm surprised to see this little post got so much feedback. I saw it in a catalog, and thought it was a lot more Cool Tools (http://kk.org/cooltools/) than Engadget. I mean it's not like they called it the "iShredder" although the color is right, and it doesn't even have a single USB port. I do like Alex's idea of attaching it to a cordless drill, though.
the point is being missed, It just became the LAW in the USA that if your an employer you MUST shred any information related to your employees, now that its a LAW expect to see lots more of these cheap shredders!
"TV Item" I think that means they want you to think it's an "As Seen on TV" product, but sadly, they didn't actually have the money to pay for the infomercial. So instead, it's vaguely related to the TV. Maybe if you sit it next to your TV it will be a "TV Item".
Hasn't the time passed that being seen on TV equaled legitimization? Come on, if that were true than Paris Hilton... Awww nevermind.
Joseph Elwell.
No, no, no .. it's a mobile shredder! Just imagine, in your car, you might need to do a lil'shred'n, got it? Or, you can take it to work with you in the morning and bring it back home at night -- this way, you don't have to buy two of them ... really smart indeed!
All kidding aside, it's a pretty smart idea -- not sure how many times a week I'm gonna shred my credit cards up (I should), or CDs, but all of those bills with my biling info could benefit from this thing .... way to go guys!
JC! did you happen to see their post on the DVD rewinder..... oooooh I pee'd myself :-D