Engineer turned a vape into a web server

Discarded vapes are becoming the new cigarette butts in pollution terms, but a hacker has found a novel way to repurpose the chips they contain to build a web server. BogdanTheGeek, the handle for researcher Bogdan Ionescu, took apart a discarded vape pen, which he describes as "fancier pacifiers for adults," and decided to …

[David 132]

Surely the bigger question...

...is why a damn disposable cigarette is using a general-purpose programmable IC with ROM and RAM in the first place?

I swear, if you asked many engineers these days to design a simple lightbulb + switch + cell circuit, their solution would involve an Arduino, a full Java virtual machine, cloud dependencies...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Surely the bigger question...

And that's why it needs an evaporative cooling system and is supplied with a tank of coolant.

[anderlan]

Re: Surely the bigger question...

NathanFillion_Um--Ohh.gif

[BartyFartsLast]

Re: Surely the bigger question...

Agree, but these chips are dirt cheap, single digit pennies each in quantity so why not, they run a Charlieplexed LED array that displays charge status and, I think, other stuff as well as controlling the heating elements in the vape, so yeah it's overkill but probably the cheapest way to do it.

And they make excellent little hackable platforms for geeks like me who run things like CW beacons with them.

[NapTime ForTruth]

Re: Surely the bigger question...

"... probably the cheapest way to do it..."

I mean... I'm pretty sure a paper sleeve filled with tobacco or other toxin of choice is the cheapest way to do it, but, yeah, sure, why not sellotape the entire Internet on top.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Surely the bigger question...

"paper sleeve filled with ... other toxin of choice" — unfiltered Camel [shit?]

Some of the contaminants that have ended up in vapes probably make the good old fashioned cancer sticks safer and at least more environmentally friendly.

I have seen broken discarded vapes and their batteries but never realized there was an embedded processor in them. Wonder what OS if any they run?

[GNU Enjoyer]

Re: Surely the bigger question...

Some vapes seem to use simple circuits, although many contain a microprocessor.

No OS is run - rather the microprocessor runs a single program (just like how Arduino's run a single program).

[BartyFartsLast]

Re: Surely the bigger question...

The really cheap vapes have a very simple circuit which is just a pressure switch and occasionally an external MOSFET that can handle a few amps,it's the rechargeable ones that use a micro to control the display with charger status, vape juice tracking, flashy LEDs etc.

There's no OS.

[David Hicklin]

Re: Surely the bigger question...

> Agree, but these chips are dirt cheap, single digit pennies each in quantity

They have largely displaced normal digital logic chips as all you have to do is write a fairly simple program once, the only real flaw is trying to do TOO much just because they can. And yes I do the same playing with 8bit PIC microcontrollers !

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Surely the bigger question...

The CS students I work with these days are distressingly ignorant of even how a file system is organised. They even confuse RAM with disk space.

[mdubash]

Re: Surely the bigger question...

And they conflate web with internet...?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Surely the bigger question...

It's especially puzzling given you really only need maybe a zenor diode & a resistor to charge the battery off a USB-C adapter.

[Jason Bloomberg]

Re: Surely the bigger question...

There's actually quite a lot going on in vape. There is battery status monitoring and indication, heater cut-off if the button jams or is held too long, they sometimes 'kicks' to heat the element so it doesn't clog, and the really fancy ones have adjustable wattage and all sorts of neat features, and some even drive OLED displays.

[sedregj]

Re: Surely the bigger question...

When I somehow managed to decide to give up fags, 2 Apr 2018, after 30 odd years, my plan was to hit a vape to take the edge off. That lasted a few days when I realised I would be swapping one habit for another and I wanted shot of the whole thing.

So I did and I'm glad I did not go the vape route and I can't say it was easy.

What worked for me, was two strategies. Firstly: time period doubling (attaining goals) - one day, two days, half a week, a week a fortnight, a month, two months etc; secondly: I had a couple of "mantras" that I would repeat mentally whenever the cravings hit. They were "I don't want to die" and "I don't want to smell" - two classic symptoms of smoking, one likely in the future and one that is guaranteed permanently. It worked for me but I had to "say" those mantras a lot to start with but it did work.

I did try the conventional methods many years ago. However, to my mind, if nicotine is the addictive ingredient in fags, why don't patches/gum etc work 100% ? I don't think that the "habit" thing holds much water either - I had no problem with that side of things (*). Quite simply, there are other ingredients that are addictive in fags and they are worse than nicotine and there is no other way to ingest them without a burning fag.

I would say that for me it took about two weeks to know I was definitely on track but about 18 months to be able to feel I could (nearly) totally let my guard down. I had some bloody weird dreams at times!

(*) When the pandemic hit, I stopped biting my nails - a habit of over 50 years.

[jdiebdhidbsusbvwbsidnsoskebid]

Re: Surely the bigger question...

Don't forget the batteries. Who would have thought years ago that we would end up producing large numbers of rechargeable batteries and fitting them into single use disposable devices?

Perhaps there should be a law that says single use vapes can't contain any batteries or processors. Instead they should include a finger crank to generate the evaporation heat through friction. Or even better, have a small combustion chamber inside to generate the heat required to vapourise the liquid. You could ignite it with a single match or some sort of miniature portable liquid fuel based lighter. Even better, the vape liquid itself could be made to be burnt reducing the need for a heat exchanger. For safety, it would be embedded into a fibrous matrix that burnt away leaving only a tiny residue. The fibrous support matrix could be made from renewable materials like plant leaves. All that would remain is a small section of the device that forms the oral interface which could be easily stored in a pocket for disposal later, where it would safely biodegrade. How do I patent such a thing?

[Johnb89]

Re: Surely the bigger question...

Something needs to manage the battery charging, is my guess. There is possibly a thermometer and thermal shut down logic. Once you've got it for that you can use it to manage the light and heating element. I imagine the people that design these are rather cost conscious.

[MrBanana]

Re: Surely the bigger question...

It's singe use - no battery charge management required.

[tyrfing]

Re: Surely the bigger question...

Can they ship the batteries charged?

If not, they need battery management when they're charged before selling, so they don't blow up.

But yes, the expectation these days seems to be that anything more complicated than a pair of trousers needs a display of some sort.

It's only a matter of time for the trousers as well.

[Munchausen's proxy]

Re: Surely the bigger question...

"I swear, if you asked many engineers these days to design a simple lightbulb + switch + cell circuit, their solution would involve an Arduino, a full Java virtual machine, cloud dependencies..."

Ah, so you're familiar with Philips.

[Antron Argaiv]

Re: Surely the bigger question...

My Philips story...

I use a Philips rechargeable razor. They last about 5 years before the LiIon cell starts to want to be recharged once a day.

A friend came to me with her late brother's model motorboat, which she wanted restored for her grandson. Motor and battery holder rusted and falling apart, needed replacement. I browsed Amazon and then had one of my rare flashes of brilliance: I had an old razor sitting in a cabinet under the sink...

Screwdriver and pliers to the task, and I shortly had a quite serviceable motor and a modular battery/charge controller/power switch. A bit of epoxy, a bit of silicone caulk, and the old boat had a shiny new motor, a waterproof power source (complete with wall wart recharger), all for zero cost! Unfortunately, the two new propellers had to come from China and cost nearly $15 each (due to shipping and tariff)!

She's happy, I told her the only payment needed was a video of her grandson using it.

[prandeamus]

Re: Surely the bigger question...

I have taken apart a number of these, even a recent rechargable vape left lying in the street. I've never found anything of this complexity. Until recently a lot of disposable vapes used lithium cells without recharge circuits (waste!). The only active components were the detection of pressure changes and timer to heat the coils for a few seconds. One recent vape I found has a dedicated package to do that AND incorporate USBC charge circuitry, all bonded to a pressure sensor about 5mm across. Very very surprised to find a microcontroller doing the job, and I'd guess this is an outlier.

[DS999]

I guess it is easy to overload

First time I've ever seen a just posted Reg article "slashdot" a web site.

Imagine when slashdot (even in its very depleted state in 2025) posts this. People might think vaping isn't the same as smoking, but that little vape server is gonna start smoking!

[BartyFartsLast]

I've got a few of those, one is being tested as a CW beacon

[hoofie2002]

Any links ? Sounds like a good use to be honest. Or as a WSPR source but that might be asking a bit much of it

[lorentzus]

When will it run Doom? Seem to be the standard on which new devices are measured :-)

[Oh Matron!]

This could barely run Horace Goes Skiing

[John Brown (no body)]

It's got three times more RAM than a base level ZX80/81 and they could run Space Invaders :-)

[chivo243]

Just recently

I've seen a lot of vapes on the ground, one at the filling station, my son said people spend lots of cash on those. I saw two others in the past two days. Might be a market for these re-imagined webservers!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Just recently

I wonder if you could interface one with a pen webcam?

[that one in the corner]

Re: Just recently

Or look at Big Clive's videos and (carefully!) reuse the "Street Lithium" to power something interesting.

[wolfetone]

Re: Just recently

A young lad on YouTube collected a lot of these disposable vapes and ended up building an electric bike for himself with them.

He even found the little capsule full of vape "juice" wasn't even empty in a lot of them. It's criminal they can't be refilled.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Just recently

Depends where you live. Single use vapes are illegal now in the UK. But the cheapest re-usable ones are so cheap, it seem many treat them as disposable despite being able to re-charge them and even more cheaply replace the "pods". And even the "pods", depending on the brand, can be quite easily re-filled at a fraction of the price of buying or throwing the whole thing away. But there seems to be a culture, especially amongst the younger vapers of "too much hassle, just buy a new one". Some are probably spending £10-20 per week and see that as "nothing" when they could be spending only a quid or so. I wonder how many would change if they added up a years worth of their throwaway spending and realise it could easily be £500-£1000?

[Anonymous Coward]

... long after the addictive drug has been smoked.

Technically the vapes are simply inhaled, not 'smoked.'

Does anyone have a carton of plain tip Pall Mall they'd be willing to sell me? The fact that they'd be several years old doesn't matter to me.

[Jason Bloomberg]

I miss those 'Russian Cigarettes', the ones which were half cardboard tube you had to crimp in both directions to stop your lungs being instantly torched.

There used to be a shop on Shaftesbury Avenue which sold them but I haven't seen many since the USSR collapsed.

I finally kicked the habit and have been a vaper for a while. I collect discarded vapes for the batteries but never thought to check if they could run a server. I thought disposables should have been banned long ago. According the press; it seems the yoof are now choosing to throw reusable ones away.

[45RPM]

We pollute our own bodies with toxic chemicals. We pollute our environment with heavy metals from batteries that we only use once, we waste compute on these lethal little devices. And that’s not the worst of our crimes as a species. Far from it. We really don’t deserve to survive. I just pity all the other flora and fauna on this beautiful planet that we’re condemning to extinction with us.

[Anonymous Coward]

<pedant> Light metals. Lithium is a light metal. </pedant>

[cyberdemon]

But Cobalt isn't so light

[mrcreosote]

How long until it is running 'Doom'?

or maybe a Beowulf cluster?

[that one in the corner]

You may look at those specs and think that it’s not much to work with

> consisting of a 24MHz Cortex M0+ chip, 24KB of flash storage and just 3KB of static RAM, but it was still workable.

Luxury!

There is loads of stuff you can do with that - just look at everything that could be done on, say, an Acorn Atom, an interactive programming environment (admittedly, I blinged mine up with the full 12KB of RAM in order to get colour graphics or a decent game of Space Invaders) but it was still just 1MHz and a max of 12KB of ROM (so being able to easily change the code in the flash storage is an immediate advantage).

Running HTTP servers on tiny devices is hardly brand new - ok, this 2008 ATMega88 web server might be "cheating" using an Ethernet chip, but given the difference between this AVR's 8KB flash and 1 KB RAM there is loads of space on the Arm device to implement SLIP and do it all without extras.

Really don't want to demean this project - getting random boards into a programmable state is a pretty challenge in its own right and he did do all the necessary to get the response times down - but it is depressing to come across the line I've used for this comment's title, or variants on it, so often when MCU projects come up.

On the other hand, it is gratifying to know that there is (still) a large group of "non-programmers" that use/used original Arduino Uno boards (and equivalents) for art projects within 32 KB flash & 2 KB RAM when there are so many "pros" who can't imagine being able to work in such straitened circumstances.

[xanadu42]

Re: You may look at those specs and think that it’s not much to work with

Makes the Sinclair ZX80 with a 4MHz Z80, 8KB ROM and 1KB of RAM look absolutely awful as the gateway into my computer career

[wolfetone]

"fancier pacifiers for adults"

Finally a proper description of the dirty things.

[Korev]

I think the British (ie correct word) is Dummy which seems even more appropriate

[wolfetone]

Reminds me of the story of someone in Paris sucking on a vape, and some Parisian comes up to them, takes the vape out of their hand and gives them a cigarette and says "here, you are not in America now"

[Kurgan]

Disposable vapes are the worst E-waste source after Microsoft windows 11

As stated in the title, disposable vapes should have been number one source of avoidable e-waste if it was not for Microsoft Windows 11 forced hw requirements.

[Dave559]

Brings a whole new meaning to vapourware

I guess this really does bring a whole new meaning to vapourware!

[headrush]

Outdated already

AFAIK, disposable vapes have been banned from sale since June 1st this year.

Also, despite what many seem to think, vapes do serve a purpose for wannabe ex-smokers.

I've not had a cigarette for 18 months now due to using my vape.

This is at least the third time of trying, I've tried will power, prescribed drugs, chewing gum and enforced environmental control. Nothing had prevented me from going back to the evil habit. Try doing something that is clinically addictive for over 40 years and then see how easy it is to quit.

I don't blow huge clouds of smoke, it doesn't smell bad, it doesn't stick to your clothes.

So if you've a problem with people doing it, I really hope you never get addicted to a product that was advertised and recommended by every major media company in the world for over 50 years together with the attendant social consequences.

At least having a fag didn't cause massive social upset and disruption like, for instance, Facebook.

[I am David Jones]

Re: Outdated already

“Also, despite what many seem to think, vapes do serve a purpose for wannabe ex-smokers.”

That is just the figleaf of legitimacy covering the huge industrial effort to create new addicts aka reliable customers.

[PerlyKing]

Re: disposable vapes have been banned from sale since June 1st this year

As I understand it, the reusable replacements are the same size, same shape and near enough the same price, so the kidz are still treating them as disposables.

[CT]

Re: Outdated already

“ it doesn't smell bad”

I beg to differ,

[tiggity]

Re: Outdated already

@headrush

"I don't blow huge clouds of smoke, it doesn't smell bad, it doesn't stick to your clothes"

.. though the vast majority of vapes trigger my asthma when people walk past me in the street vaping, so not great.

Vapes seem to be only marginally less triggering than actual cigarettes, but obviously peoples asthma triggers vary a lot, and vapes may well not affect some cohort of asthmatic people.

[Blackjack]

I want someone to network several Vapes hardware together so it can run Doom at ah acceptable speed.

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't wait for the HyperText Nicotine Transfer Protocol.

[mirachu]

Well, we already have NTP, just need to add hypertext...

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Vapourware

For the ultimate in vapourware, make a supercomputing cluster from these and run AI learning on it

[I should coco]

Vape Cluster?

Sure the overhead of simply providing a cluster would kill it, but there might be enough CPU leftover and with a couple of thousand (1.3m per week) you could get a decent version of Doom for sure?

[Slow Joe Crow]

Just found this from the car running on vape batteries. In a world where Doom runs on a pregnancy test this is almost mundane, but it seems like a lot of compute power for a battery and a heating element