Japenese vending machine hacks Here are my two favorite ones, both with video demonstrations: 1. The Japanese vending machine hack. It’s really hard to find a Japanese vending machine in the US. You can find them in airports and shopping malls, but these only serve as photo props for tourists. Fortunately, we can go to Japan and pick a few up for free. Japanese vending machines are much more advanced than their foreign counterparts. They are programmed to spit out coins, so you can play the machine like a slot machine. Each machine only has a fixed number of “paylines” that you have to match up in order to win. If you run out of money, you have to press a button on the machine to start all over again. Unlike a regular machine that gives you money back if you are a losing player, the Japanese ones are programmed to give you back the money if you win. It’s like gambling, but there is no house edge. It is very annoying to have to carry these around. They weigh about 200 lbs, and the battery lasts a few minutes at best. So I came up with the hack you see in the video. You can use some cardboard to hide the card reader and some Velcro to hide the button. The only catch is that you have to start the game by inserting a credit card. Then, you push the hidden button to get the credit card back. I have heard that in Japan, only businesses can be registered in credit card numbers. This is to make sure that credit card transactions are not stolen by criminals. If you want to test this, you can use a fake card and see if it’s still accepted. 2. The European vending machine hack. Again, don’t go to Europe if you want to buy things from a vending machine. There is hardly any vending machine to be found anywhere except airports. What is strange is that even though there are so many vending machines, almost none of them work. You have to push a bunch of buttons and hold down a bunch of switches in order to get a single soda. Even the soda can machines don’t work. They require multiple button pushes, which is super annoying. There is no problem if you buy a big bottle of water at a supermarket, but try to buy something small, like a soda, at an airport and see how many buttons you have to press. I was really surprised by how difficult it was to actually use these machines, so I decided to make some fun of them. The hacks are actually very simple. First, there are two buttons that I have never noticed before. One is for selecting your beverage and the other is to add an ice pack. After pressing those two buttons, a little lever on the side is supposed to open up the fridge to get your drink. But for some reason, I only need to press that lever for the ice pack to work. The reason I don’t need to press any other buttons is because the system thinks that you are taking a picture. When you take a picture, the camera automatically starts recording. In the video, I am in a hurry to make a joke and I pretend that I am going to take a picture. I guess this camera was made by Apple, so it was actually expecting an iPhone. (It didn’t work) This is how I hacked those old European vending machines: When I go to Europe now, I usually buy a single glass of wine. Even if you’re not thirsty, I have found that buying some wine is a great way to meet local people. It’s a much better way than paying for a bus tour, at least in my case. In order to buy the wine, you need to press one button (select your drink), push one button (select an ice pack) and finally push another button (take a picture). After I take a picture, the system thinks I am taking my wine and it tries to pour the bottle into my hand. Once you get the wine, the system thinks that you are trying to put the bottle back, so you have to keep pressing a button. This is very annoying and has to be done for every single wine. It’s just ridiculous. I can’t believe that this hack wasn’t discovered by the inventors before me. Since I can’t go to Japan and Europe often, I decided to create a super easy, cheap wine bottle that only needs one button to open. I used a very simple design that is commonly used for beer bottles. The cap has a small hole on it, which makes it possible to hook it to a carabiner clip. This is how the new bottle works: All you have to do is hang the bottle on your fridge and you can drink without ever opening it. There are a few things I have to learn from this. First, I realized that I want to go to Japan and France to take some wine bottles for this hack. Second, I am going to make my own wine bottle that has fewer buttons. Here’s a list of my top 10 life hacks: 10. The best way to turn off street lights at night. This life hack has saved me about $15 every time I’m walking home at night. Since this hack was developed in Germany, it is quite universal so anyone in the US can use it. 8. Toilet hacks. I realized that you can use the lid to unlock the door to a public restroom. Just look for a place with a tiny keyhole, turn around the toilet cover and voila, you can take the key out of the lock. You can do it too. 7. My new way to store cables for my cell phone, TV and laptop. I don’t have to buy a wall-mounted storage rack anymore. All I have to do is push a long cable into the wall and keep them clipped. I can easily store them on the top of the wall and take them down whenever I want. 6. The new way to hang your bag on a bar. I am not going to admit it to you but I have cheated a lot when it comes to this hack. Basically, I’ve learned to open a beer bottle with a knife. That was how I have found my hidden storage compartment at the bar. 5. This is how you can get your laptop out of your bag, even if the bag is still locked. The key to this hack is to put your laptop in your backpack and place it close to the zipper. That way, when you walk out of the door, you can quickly turn around and grab your bag. 4. The new way to make your phone screen brighter. The first step is to place a large sticker with a black background on the phone screen. Then, cover the screen with black electrical tape. That is the cool part. Since there is no more screen, it makes your screen appear brighter. 3. Another new way to create a USB charger for a phone without any wire. If you run out of outlets and you need to charge your phone, just place an old cell phone next to the new phone. 2. I don’t have to open my door when I come back home. I never liked the big glass sliding door and as soon as I got my own place, I started thinking about how I could make this hack even better. When you are about to open the door, quickly push the lock and leave the door open for about 2 seconds. Then you can go back to the front door and push it closed, making the sound of the closing door seem as if the door was always open all along. 1. The greatest way to unlock the door on the other side of the house. The previous best way to unlock the door from across the house was to move the handle of the lock to open the door. That hack can only work if you are in front of your house. Otherwise, the front door and the back door are connected, which means that you can’t open one door and walk through. Then I discovered that if you place a piece of paper or a thin book over the handle of the door, you can then pull the lock handle. This way, you can unlock the door from across the house and lock it again. Now I can even leave doors open from the inside without having to worry about getting locked out. My new best hack is made of wood. If you are going to put the door handle on top of your mailbox, use a wooden one. You’ll never have to lock your mailbox again.