YouTube has grown into so much more than the online receptacle for videos of wannabe reality TV stars that it once was. You can actually use the website for educational purposes! Learn how to cook, make arts and crafts, apply makeup like a pro, do yoga, fix your car like an auto mechanic … yes, you can learn how to do just about anything on YouTube these days!
In 2008, Google’s YouTube guidelines were changed to “not tolerate uploaded videos intended to incite violence or encourage dangerous, illegal activities that have an inherent risk of serious physical harm or death.” Despite these rules and regulations, a little YouTube super-sleuthing can help you discover how to perform devious tasks from locksmithing to building your own spy gadgets. Please, use your powers for good, not evil.
Don’t believe it? Here are just a few examples:
- How to Pick a Lock with One Bobby Pin
This video demonstrates how to pick a Kwikset lock (one of the most common brands of locks in America) with a single bobby pin.
- How to Pick a Lock with a Paper Clip
The days of calling a locksmith or breaking into your own home when you accidentally forget your keys are over! This how-to video shows how to pick a lock with a paperclip and tension wrench.
- Homemade Spy Gadget
Every good spy needs a secret weapon! claims this YouTube video, which instructs viewers how to how to make a dart and blowgun out of a straw and a few paperclips.
- How To Make a Voice Changer Spy Gadget
“DIY Mike” teaches viewers how to manufacture their own voice changer in less than 30 minutes with supplies that are available online for less than 15 bucks.
- How to make a USB Spy Camera
With a little help from “Household Hacker,” you too can learn how to transform a common USB webcam into a spy camera with just a tiny set of household screwdrivers. Sneakily slip your new spy camera inside a hole cut into the pocket of a black sweatshirt and carry your laptop in a shoulder bag to record videos of innocent bystanders as you walk around.
- Hollow Book
Why not hide all of your favorite spy gadgets (or other top-secret personal belongings) inside a hollow book? As the video suggests, just make sure you are using your own books and not ones that you borrowed from the library.
As you can see, these six examples of YouTube super-sleuthing videos can help teach you multiple talents that will not necessarily make your parents proud of your newfound interest in education. But despite the reactions you might get from embarrassed family members, MacGyver and Inspector Gadget fans across the globe can now rejoice over the fact that it’s completely possible to learn how to break into locked buildings, make spy gadgets from easily-available objects, and create hollow books that are straight out of a mystery movie … right from the comfort of your own computer.
I repeat. Use your powers for good, not evil.
Meg Jones enjoys writing about sleuthing and imagining she solves mysteries like Angela Lansbury. For reality, she writes for http://www.fc-locksmith.com/ and enjoys that as well.