But it was your electrical box? Was the device turned on? Definitely a bit concerning TBH. Someone who had access to the box put it there to listen. That person would also have to access the box again later on to retrieve the device and get the audio files. The article claims a 24 hour battery life, so if it was turned on, it was put there very recently.
Maybe check with the tenants and if it's not theirs, look and see what's on it.
I can imagine two scenarios:
Whoever put it there was hoping to record someone else. I think that @PonyOfWar@pawb.social brings up a good point that if the battery life is as limited as Pony believes it to be, that seems like it'd seriously limit what one could hope to get. If someone did want more recording time, it'd be really easy to hook that up to a USB powerbank and let it run for far longer and I assume hide it better, which seems like it'd kinda argue against that. If OP is the landlord, maybe they were curious as to what he'd say when he was near the box if they knew that he was going to be in the house. Or maybe it was someone else who wanted to record the tenants, especially if the box is in a living area.
Whoever put it there was using it in the way one traditionally uses a voice recorder, to take notes hands-free. If that's the case, I imagine that it may start with snippets from whoever put it there and forgot it. Like, say that you're trying to figure out what the switches in the breaker box are linked to. I will admit that it seems odd that, if the battery life is so short, that someone would have left it and OP happened to find it before the battery ran out. But I don't know why OP was looking at the box in the first place. If it was because there was some electrical problem and OP was coming out to look at it, could be a tenant trying to look into the situation themselves.
I'd note down something like that in text, but there are people who prefer to use devices like that or voice recorder apps on phones, and if it's voice-activated, it's hands-free, unlike jotting down text.
It does have a USB port, but it's better not to connect any weird devices to your PC. But if you have an old laptop or Raspberry Pi or something that you're willing to potentially sacrifice (making sure it's free of any personal data and not connected to any network), you could maybe find out what it's describing itself as.
21 Comments
PonyOfWar@pawb.social · 45 pts · 243d
Looks very similar to this voice recorder.
kSPvhmTOlwvMd7Y7E@lemmy.world · 26 pts · 243d
Thats so wierd. Thats not ours lol.
PonyOfWar@pawb.social · 34 pts · 243d
But it was your electrical box? Was the device turned on? Definitely a bit concerning TBH. Someone who had access to the box put it there to listen. That person would also have to access the box again later on to retrieve the device and get the audio files. The article claims a 24 hour battery life, so if it was turned on, it was put there very recently.
kSPvhmTOlwvMd7Y7E@lemmy.world · 31 pts · 243d
The house is being rented, so maybe one of the tenants put it there. Yes, it was recording when found
tal@lemmy.today · 20 pts · 243d
Maybe check with the tenants and if it's not theirs, look and see what's on it.
I can imagine two scenarios:
Whoever put it there was hoping to record someone else. I think that @PonyOfWar@pawb.social brings up a good point that if the battery life is as limited as Pony believes it to be, that seems like it'd seriously limit what one could hope to get. If someone did want more recording time, it'd be really easy to hook that up to a USB powerbank and let it run for far longer and I assume hide it better, which seems like it'd kinda argue against that. If OP is the landlord, maybe they were curious as to what he'd say when he was near the box if they knew that he was going to be in the house. Or maybe it was someone else who wanted to record the tenants, especially if the box is in a living area.
Whoever put it there was using it in the way one traditionally uses a voice recorder, to take notes hands-free. If that's the case, I imagine that it may start with snippets from whoever put it there and forgot it. Like, say that you're trying to figure out what the switches in the breaker box are linked to. I will admit that it seems odd that, if the battery life is so short, that someone would have left it and OP happened to find it before the battery ran out. But I don't know why OP was looking at the box in the first place. If it was because there was some electrical problem and OP was coming out to look at it, could be a tenant trying to look into the situation themselves.
I'd note down something like that in text, but there are people who prefer to use devices like that or voice recorder apps on phones, and if it's voice-activated, it's hands-free, unlike jotting down text.
orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 16 pts · 243d
24 total battery time with voice activation means it can go a lot longer.
PonyOfWar@pawb.social · 8 pts · 243d
Could be, though the spec sheet is not clear what mode the 24 hours refer to. Found this blog which claims around 30 hours in voice activated mode.
protist@mander.xyz · 18 pts · 243d
Well now you can download the files and see what it captured
PonyOfWar@pawb.social · 30 pts · 243d
But probably best to do it in a sandboxed environment that isn't connected to the internet, just to be safe.
Landless2029@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 243d
Yeah. I have random old laptops with fresh Linux on them for no reason. Good to have out to a friend/family or use as a air-gapped sandbox.
radix@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 243d
Just be careful plugging in unknown devices.
Landless2029@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 243d
I could see a use case for this...
You work in a office and keep this in your shirt pocket set to voice activation.
Good to capture any conversations to CYA in funky situations. Basically wearing a wire.
protist@mander.xyz · 12 pts · 243d
This is illegal in many states, and even where it is legal, could get you fired from many jobs
Landless2029@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 243d
The fact that you found this is wild
Townlately@feddit.nl · 13 pts · 243d
Whoever put it there, now they know that you know.
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 243d
But they don't know that you know that they know that you know......ya know?
HetareKing@piefed.social · 11 pts · 243d
It does have a USB port, but it's better not to connect any weird devices to your PC. But if you have an old laptop or Raspberry Pi or something that you're willing to potentially sacrifice (making sure it's free of any personal data and not connected to any network), you could maybe find out what it's describing itself as.
slazer2au@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 243d
Without seeing any markings there is little to tell.
You can open it up with that screw, but who knows what that will do.
snooggums@piefed.world · 5 pts · 243d
It is such a plain form factor that figuring out what it does is going be be pretty difficult.
Was it plugged in somehow (looks like a micro USB socket), or just sitting loose in there?
If not plugged in to maintain a charge I wouldn't expect the charge to last a very long time, which would indicate being placed there fairly recently.
Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 243d
You can mail it to me and I'll check what's on it. Unless you're local, I don't want to be too close to the action.
Bluetreefrog@lemmy.world MOD · -15 pts · 243d
Locking - Wong community. Try whatisthisthing.