In an informal and spontaneous contest to see who could share the geekiest key holder from their office or coworking space, a series of Redditors (on /r/geek) submitted a great series of photos featuring clever (and useful) key storage systems – you can ignore the vote count, though, and pick your own favorite, as each has features to recommend it (though a few may have bugs as well).

First and by far the most popular, the top-voted design features ethernet cables looped and plugged into a 5-slot box. While more of an aesthetically-inspired setup and not technically active as such, commenters suggested modding the device to register which keys are in place at any given time (via zedpee, who was ‘gilded (given Reddit Gold) for his efforts).

The Keyboard 2.0, meanwhile, actually works not only to tell you whether keys are plugged in but also has a locator system that lets you find your keys when you misplace them around the office – its plug-and-play interface also looks somewhat more robus, using traditional snap-in key ring connectors rather than breakable plastic (via h0uz3_).

Finally, no geek collection would be complete without something using LEGO, perhaps referencing Star Wars and/or including a comic book superhero, so this last submission conveniently does all three, with detachable blocks that let you snap in your key chain easily and without requiring much extra pocket space (via Spaz_Chicken).

The post DIY Hackers: 3 Geek Key Holders for Shared Office Spaces first appeared on Gajitz.

This may be the world’s only truly un-pickable lock. With its bizarre configuration and creative mechanism, it might be as close as anyone has ever come to completely foiling would-be lockpicks.

Youtube user Bosnianbill, one of the internet’s best-known lock-picking experts, published a video in which he plays with the extremely rare lock. Unlike traditional locks, this one works only with a special flexible key that can snake its way through the serpentine barrell.

Anyone trying to pick the lock would be defeated immediately after the first pin. After that, the keyway curves sharply one way and then the other, meaning that traditional lock-picking tools would be completely useless.

The key that fits the lock is unlike any other key. The ridges that unlock the pins are all located on a flexible piece of metal encased in a rigid housing. To use the lock, you have to push the flexible metal out of the housing and into the lock where it can wind its way around those curves and interact with the pins.

Although Bosnianbill isn’t quite sure of the origin of the lock, io9 found several patents (here, here and here) for the device, all showing some impressive pictures of the lock’s unique mechanism. In the patent drawings, the lock even features false keyways inside to further deter picking efforts – a seriously ingenious touch to an already amazing invention.

The post Ingenious Unpickable Door Lock Uses Flexible Key to Open first appeared on Gajitz.