Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Embedding Data Signals In White Noise

Posted by timothy on from the literally-subliminal dept.

Anemophilous Coward writes "ZDNet has the following article which describes a company that 'has devised a method for sending wireless signals over ordinary audio speakers so that humans can't hear them. With this same technology, radio stations can unobtrusively transmit ads, Web site URLs, or information about music and artists to in-car cell phones.'" Here is some further reading about the company, Intrasonics.

15 of 239 comments (clear)

  1. OK....Where's my tinfoil hat? by Dutchmaan · · Score: 5, Funny

    We all know this is just a cover story for the REAL secret messages in the static!

    1. Re:OK....Where's my tinfoil hat? by naasking · · Score: 3, Funny

      We all know this is just a cover story for the REAL secret messages in the static!

      Come on' this is /.! It's ALL static. ;-)

      --
      Higher Logics: where programming meets science.
  2. Oh Great..... by GeneralEmergency · · Score: 5, Funny

    ....more invisible voices urging me to do bad things.
    .
    .

    --
    "A microprocessor... is a terrible thing to waste." --
    GeneralEmergency
  3. Why does spot keep beating his head on the ground? by KnowledgeFreak · · Score: 5, Funny

    And life for all dog's everywhere will never be the same.

  4. Hey! by gpinzone · · Score: 3, Funny

    I want an in depth analysis of the Beatles' White Album immediately! Charles Manson was right!

  5. Exciting! by joebagodonuts · · Score: 5, Funny

    The pr0n industry should be all over this. You can watch a movie at home with a special "doll", responding to commands...

    Where can I buy stock?

    --
    "Give a woman two glasses of wine and some pad thai, and they'll agree to just about anything." the Sports Guy
    1. Re:Exciting! by RobertB-DC · · Score: 2, Funny

      The pr0n industry should be all over this...

      Actually, a pervasive peddler of socially repugnant (but widely used) products has already enlisted an unsavory character to respond to hidden broadcast signals: 2/7/1997: Microsoft Launches ActiMates Early Learning System, featuring Barney the Dinosaur

      Oddly enough, both product concepts include playing "peek-a-boo".

      --
      Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
  6. And straight into our brains, man! by burgburgburg · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is just like that time that the phone police were sending me those messages through the rings, man. Exactly the same, except different. Man.

  7. Ignore the man behind the curtain by M00NIE · · Score: 3, Funny
    Or rather...

    Ignore the messages embedded in this whitenoise.

    You will Loooooooove Microsoft
    You will Haaaaaaaate Open Source
    Linux is eeeeeeeevil
    War on Iraq is goooooooood

    --
    "As far as I'm concerned, I prefer silent vice to ostentatious virtue." ~A. Einstein
    1. Re:Ignore the man behind the curtain by Dannon · · Score: 5, Funny

      "Can you hear me now? No? Good!"

      --
      Good judgment comes from experience.
      Experience comes from bad judgment.
  8. I can hear the audiophiles now... by dameron · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I can hear it, can't you?"

    -dameron

  9. question... by vmxeo · · Score: 3, Funny

    "With this same technology, radio stations can unobtrusively transmit ads, Web site URLs, or information about music and artists..
    Humans tend to filter out what they don't want to hear, especially the pop, fizz and hum of white noise."

    So if I understand this correctly, the technology can transmit advertisements, spam, and pop music completely unheard by the human ear by disgusing them as advertisements, spam, and pop music?

    --
    Shameless plug for my photos on Flickr
  10. I think I know... by nebenfun · · Score: 3, Funny

    isn't white noise like britany spears, nsync, backstreet boys,etc?

    oh wait...you mean the OTHER white noise
    nbfn

  11. Color encoded in black-and-white signal! by Kaz+Kylheku · · Score: 3, Funny

    A hot new startup in California has announced a technology for encoding color information in black-and-white television broadcasts. The extra signal is encoded such that black-and-white receivers don't notice it, using a proprietary technique referred to as a ``subcarrier''. Millions of Slashdot kiddies are smitten with awe.

  12. That's the easy part... by ryanvm · · Score: 2, Funny

    Embedding data signals in white noise is the easy part. It's getting them out that they haven't figured out yet.