{"id":1297,"date":"2014-10-14T09:55:20","date_gmt":"2014-10-14T08:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/?p=1297"},"modified":"2019-01-10T13:53:00","modified_gmt":"2019-01-10T13:53:00","slug":"spy-pens-fact-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/pens\/spy-pens-fact-fiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Spy Pens: Fact or Fiction?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-4066\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/daniel-1829795_1280-751x1024.jpg\" alt=\"James Bond\" width=\"650\" height=\"886\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/daniel-1829795_1280-751x1024.jpg 751w, https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/daniel-1829795_1280-220x300.jpg 220w, https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/daniel-1829795_1280-768x1047.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/daniel-1829795_1280-110x150.jpg 110w, https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/daniel-1829795_1280.jpg 939w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve all seen it, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=X_G3HG73cK0\">the James Bond film<\/a> where Boris the computer nerd casually clicks away at a pen-grenade before accidentally detonating it, blowing up the evil lair and letting Bond get away with his lady.<\/p>\n<p><em>Click, Click, Click\u2026.BOOM<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Poor Boris.<\/p>\n<p>But have pens even been used in such a sense?<\/p>\n<p>Not that we know of. Although of course, there are online videos and guides showing and even demonstration how a pen-grenade could be made \u2013 if only for the use of a practical joke.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0iwgaW5MQaU\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Although <strong>we do not advocate<\/strong> making explosives from pens, the above video could prove for an amusing trick.<\/p>\n<p>So although Mr. Bond\u2019s pen is only the work of fiction, it might interest you to know that in fact, pens have and are being used for spying (and probably covert espionage if you fancy being dramatic).<\/p>\n<p>The history of the spy pen however, originates not in pens, but as you may or may not have guessed, in various forms throughout history.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.spypenhq.com\/the-history-of-spy-pens\">According to Spy Pen HQ<\/a>, the first spy gadget was created not even in the 20<sup>th<\/sup> century, but in the 19<sup>th<\/sup>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cCreated in France in 1865, a small wooden precursor to the spy pen was born, measuring a mere 1 inches by 2 inches.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUsing dry plate snapshot photography this technology continued for approximately six decades until the evolution of film brought us the Ansco Memo Miniature Camera in 1927, developed by Ansco Memo of New York.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That said, you may well be surprised for when the first spy pen did appear, as it did so in many forms with the first subminiature camera being conceived in 1922 and then actually invented in 1936 by Walter Zapp \u2013 although it was not used in a pen.<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t until the 1950s however, that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pimall.com\/nais\/pivintage\/firstbuttoncamera.html\">button cameras used in the Cold War<\/a>, advanced the technology to a point where it could be reliably used. The prime users were of course the KGB, the British Intelligence Agencies and the CIA.<\/p>\n<p>The issue with button cameras however, were that they were bulky, afforded little creativity in clothing (as heavy coats often had to be used), and left the user at risk of being caught red handed.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, it wasn\u2019t until 40 years later in the 1990s that the true spy pen came into fruition \u2013 when computer technology was advanced enough to advocate their usage. As digital technology grew and grew, flying into mobile phones and other handheld technologies (even <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nintendo_DSi\">hand-held computer consoles<\/a>), so did the spy pen.<\/p>\n<h2>So what does a spy pen look like today?<\/h2>\n<p>Well, like a pen.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, technology, as you can well imagine, is so far advanced that without actually taking a pen to pieces, it is often impossible to tell that stowed within its body, is in fact a camera \u2013 and one that takes SD cards.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/spypencam1337.wordpress.com\/2013\/06\/30\/how-the-spy-pen-camera-became-so-popular-and-the-history-behind-all-of-it\/\">Spy Pen Cam<\/a>, a blog dedicated to covert spying, says that:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cA spy pen is power-driven by a rechargeable lithium-ion polymer or lithium ion battery, and has tiny colored LEDs (light-emitting-diodes) to show it\u2019s in working condition, and controlled by buttons.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is a slot for insertion of a micro SD memory card. It\u2019ll broaden the recording capacity by numerable hours and have to be connected to the USB port of a computer to upload the recording.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Today spy pens can hold up to 16GB in memory, which is an amazing feat considering that only ten years ago, this was what the average top-of-the-range digital camera would probably hold in its memory bank.<\/p>\n<h2>So can anyone buy a spy pen?<\/h2>\n<p>Interestingly, the answer is yes, as you need no license to operate a spy pen, though you would probably want to fork out hundreds of pounds for a reliable one. And we\u2019d only advise them (at best) for playing jokes on your friends.<\/p>\n<p>Not for taking down the nearest criminal gang.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019ve all seen it, the James Bond film where Boris the computer nerd casually clicks away at a pen-grenade before accidentally detonating it, blowing up the evil lair and letting Bond get away with his lady. Click, Click, Click\u2026.BOOM Poor Boris. But have pens even been used in such a sense? Not that we know&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.7.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Spy Pens: Fact or Fiction? - The Pen Company Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We\u2019ve all seen it, the James Bond film where Boris the computer nerd casually clicks away at a pen-grenade before accidentally detonating it, blowing up\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/pens\/spy-pens-fact-fiction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spy Pens: Fact or Fiction? - The Pen Company Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We\u2019ve all seen it, the James Bond film where Boris the computer nerd casually clicks away at a pen-grenade before accidentally detonating it, blowing up\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/pens\/spy-pens-fact-fiction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Pen Company Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ThePenCompany\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-10-14T08:55:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-01-10T13:53:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/daniel-1829795_1280.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"939\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anna\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@thepencompany\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@thepencompany\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anna\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/pens\/spy-pens-fact-fiction\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/pens\/spy-pens-fact-fiction\/\",\"name\":\"Spy Pens: Fact or Fiction? - The Pen Company Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-14T08:55:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-01-10T13:53:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/26789e35c33893c90c2ee3f3f7065e35\"},\"description\":\"We\u2019ve all seen it, the James Bond film where Boris the computer nerd casually clicks away at a pen-grenade before accidentally detonating it, blowing up\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/pens\/spy-pens-fact-fiction\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/pens\/spy-pens-fact-fiction\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/pens\/spy-pens-fact-fiction\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Spy Pens: Fact or Fiction?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Pen Company Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/26789e35c33893c90c2ee3f3f7065e35\",\"name\":\"Anna\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thepencompany.live\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5435c91ba6b900159a6091fde1d8dec8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5435c91ba6b900159a6091fde1d8dec8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Anna\"},\"description\":\"Anna has been a lover of stationery since the age of three, when she got her first red spotted pencil case. 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