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Using Your Computer to Repel Pests

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the you-gotta-be-kidding-me dept.

circletimessquare writes "A Thai guy wrote a program that uses your computer speaker to repel mosquitoes, cockroaches, and rats! Just when you thought you heard it all before (pun intended for no good reason). " Thats nothing- CowboyNeal can repel all known lifeforms just by playing his massive collection of boy band MP3s.

7 of 409 comments (clear)

  1. Taco takes advantage of no -1s! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Thats nothing- CowboyNeal can repel all known lifeforms just by playing his massive collection of boy band MP3s.

    Good thing -1's aren't around anymore, cause they'd have a hayday with that comment, taco!!

  2. uhm by Dizzo · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "Some users of the mosquito-repelling program have reported headaches after long periods spent in front of a computer emitting the bug-repelling high-pitched whine."

    No comment on whether these users got the same headaches just by sitting in front of the computer for hours at a time without the program running?

  3. High Frequencies by Flaming+Foobar · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The electronic mosquito repellents use ultrasonic sound, i.e. sound that is so high that it can't be heard by humans. Basically, they emit similar sounds as the natural enemies of mosquitos. I really wonder how well such sounds can be reproduced using regular computer speakers that can barely reproduce the frequencies we hear.

    - FF

    --
    while true;do echo -e -n "\033[s\n\033[u\134_\033[B";done
  4. I remember this stuff from Back in the Day (tm) by jpmoney · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Back in the BBS days, I remember "a friend of mine" downloading a program that was supposed to emit "mind-altering" tones that would simulate drug-use/hallucinations. Basically the program just showed random screensaver-esque and nifty/trippy color stuff on the screen while making your pc-speaker buzz odd tones.

    Yeah, it was crap, but it just makes me wonder if this thing is crap too.

    --
    unf.
  5. Re:You cant scare rats away! by k2enemy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    just put the speaker behind him and he'll run faster!
    actaully it would be interesting to do an experiment where the rat powers the speaker. i wonder if he would try to run faster or if he would "get it" and stop running.

  6. Re:Dragonflies by f00Dave · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "I can sense tones up to 21KHz or so ... "

    Yeah, right.

    This isn't an uncommon claim. Go look, keeping in mind that I said "sense" (which some of the below translate as "feel"):

    Dumbed down: http://home.netvigator.com/~ntomyng/dcc900/compare /

    More technical: http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/psychoacoustics

    Etcetera.

    --
    .f00Dave
  7. Linux version of this program looks bogus to me by leto · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I read the CNN article and went to the download site. I downloaded the file from thaiware.com.

    I created a "testuser", chmod a+rw /dev/dsp* and ran the thing. It seems like it's doing absolutely nothing. Though I'm curious was the experts can say about the strace

    Makes you wonder what the Windows version does. Too bad. I could use a working solution :(