Slashdot Mirror
Cube Privacy Via Gibberish
fury88 writes "CNN is running a story on a new device created by Herman Miller to help with lack of privacy in the cube life. It's apparently a device that will spit out gibberish when you are talking on the phone. You record a few words as instructed by the device and when you are having conversations that may be private, it will spit out sounds that sound like a clone of yourself all talking at once. Frankly I have to think this would be annoying after awhile. As if dealing with your project manager sitting next to you wasn't enough, now you get to hear several versions of your Project Manager talking at once. Talk about insanity!"
"Did you get the memo about the TPS Reports?"
I can imagine them all saying that by default.
How long before Scott will think of a joke for this? A PHB thinking there are several Wallys and Dilberts walking around?
Almost everyone has a cell phone. When I need privacy at work, I just walk out of the building and talk on my cell. Scrambling my voice would be annoying to me and to my coworkers.
It's doing like the summary says - we get to hear several versions of the same story at once
I saw this on Good Morning America six months ago. This is definitely old news!
I want this thing now!
Viable Slashdot alternatives: https://pipedot.org/ and http://soylentnews.org/
This idea has been around for years; it's why many banks and governments offices that deal with the public play musak over a speaker system. It's not for the listening pleasure; it's to make it hard to overhear other customers private conversations.
Indeed, another dupe.
Could they make a portable one for people's cell phones? There are some calls that I'd rather not hear even half of. (As Ren and Stimpy would put it, "Repugnant, yet strangely compelling".)
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
In other news...
;-)
boa13 writes "There's a new device to help with lack of contents on your web site. It's apparently a device that will spit out dupes when you don't have time to properly read the stories submitted by your users. You post a story once and when you're running short of stuff to publish, it will spit out a rehash that sounds like it's new and fresh, but is actually quite stale, so that casual users will not notice that you don't do a proper job of moderating submitted stories. Frankly I have to think this would be annoying after awhile. As if dealing with improperly written and biased stories wasn't enough, now you get to research the linked articles to discover if it's that old AP story rehashed one more time. Talk about insanity!"
Ahh, yes, $400 is the magic price point -- the price people will pay to try obscure their meaningless conversations. If you're job is so important that it requires privacy like this, they'll probably have put you in an office by now anyways.
Be a real patriot: Question authority. Think for yourself. Formulate your own conclusions.
so couldn't there be speakers that cancel incoming and outgoing noise planted at the edge of cubicles to make a field of silence?
I'm not sure it's feasible, but it'd be a cool idea.
Pick up your mobile phone and go to a quiet corner.
.. ... ... would have a mechanic check it out. You never know when a car starts making funny noises - you might end up with an expensive to fix problem.
Actually do this anytime your talking on your mobile, confidential/private call or not, that way nobody will notice when you actually DO go out to talk privately
Also mastering the art of smoothly changing subjects when somebody walks in is very usefull:
You (on the phone): Tell me what you're wearing
She: I have my black silk negligee on
You: If i was there i would pull the straps, slowly let it fall down and then
*somebody walks in*
You:
New? I saw a story about this over the summer (when I was still in the US!) on CNN!
"There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter," Jeeves, (Jeeves and the Impending Doom)
I can imagine a device which translates Slashdot articles into spoken word, but I'm afraid my boss would notice if it talked about the same subject again and again and again and...
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
Maybe it's not a dupe...
;-)
It could be some experimental product - posting old junk on slashdot to divert attention from the fact that samzenpus is on IRC / chatting with office-mates / on the phone / ?
First of all if you don't want people hearing your private conversations then do them in PRIVATE not at work like this. Odds are your co-worker doesn't want to hear it and might even find it distracting and annoying to begin with as he/she is actually doing WORK at WORK. Who would have believed? This thing makes it even more annoying and believe me I would first warn and then report someone using such a thing.
We already have white-noise generators in the ceiling of my dept, a call centre for a major corporate communications company. They do a nice job of dampening office echo, and creating a nice background noise that's also ideal for falling asleep to.
Other departments sound so quiet after this one. I prefer it.
To add a feature, any time you do math, it starts yelling out random numbers too add security:
8! 23! 42! 5432!
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
Let me get this right - if you play two conversations from the same person, people listening in will not be able to make head or tail of it?
All you would need to do is see the lips of the person talking and your brain would do the rest for you...
Wellybog
http://www.wellybog.com
For masking conversation, they should play the sound of a roomful of people chattering all at once...
This is the kind of thing that has manual solutions. If you actually need a device to be with you all the time to stay "private" you have bigger problems, namely a low IQ. And realistcally if your discussing anything that you don't want other people to here then for good reason you should be discussing these things when your off on lunch break on your cell or something. Under no circumstances should you talk about stuff that you don't want other people to here with other people around. And if it's some company secrets I'm sure your allowed to take a private room or something for that kind of discussion.
... a dupe. Although TFA back then called the device an "Electronic Silencer" it seems to be the same product.
While this may be a dupe, I still think that it just underscores what we really need from sci-fi.
The dermal subvocalization mike. Talking without making (audible) sound. What a blissful office that would make for.
yep, I remember this story from before on slashdot, and I rembmer a comment from one person that made a lot of sense to me: (it said something like these)
Nowadays, I have to stand the meaningless and stupid conversations of the persons shouting at the phone in my office, imagine the *party* there will be when all off them start using these things.
Nope, there is really not a need for more noise at the office. Please just get your cellphone and go to the freaking toilet.
Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
It's apparently a device that will spit out gibberish when you are talking on the phone.
Wait a sec, so you're saying that this magical device will spit meaningless gibberish completely free of intellectual content, designed to drown out anyone making any sense of what I'm actually saying?
What's the big advance? Isn't that what managers are for?
you're your yer yr...it's early and i'm just starting my coffee...
Be a real patriot: Question authority. Think for yourself. Formulate your own conclusions.
You could use this device for when your talking to your mother inlaw. Just set it going and walk away, half of them wouldn't know the difference!
"I'm going to f***ing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to f***ing kill Google"
The best lesson I ever learned was to use my work email account solely for work emails and my private accounts for the private stuff.
Similarly, work phone's for work stuff, private phone's for all those communications better kept 'out of earshot'.
This makes life a ahole lot easier without needing any slapstick digi-voice box.
From TFA:
The effect is strange, though not as annoying as one would think.
Not so annoying, really? I'm somewhat skeptical...
Clone #1 : That sounds like a crazy idea.
Clone #2 : And that's $395!
Clone #3 : Isn't that old news?
Clone #4 : Geeeez...
Clone #2 : And that's $395!
Clone #4 : Geeeez...
Clone #3 : Isn't that old news?
Clone #1 : That sounds like a crazy idea.
Clone #3 : Isn't that old news?
Clone #4 : Geeeez...
The problem with Slashdot memes is that YOU INSENSITIVE CLOD!
All of our project managers talk gibberish when they are on the phone.
It's not hardware based - they just went on a special training course. I think it had MBA in the title...
Open Source Drum Kit, LPLC deve board - mjhdesigns.com
If you need and want privacy, and it's work related, you should probably set up a meeting in a place where you have some privacy. Or use email or instant messaging if that will suffice. Encrypted if necessary. If it's just some family business you don't want spreading around the office, take a little trip away from your cube. If it's taking up too much time and you're worried that your boss won't like you spending so much time from your cube, then maybe you should take a day off to get your private business in order.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Wasn't there a 'cone of silence' on Maxwell Smart? Now that would ensure total privacy. Or you could simply walk out of the office and use you shoe phone!
Don't tell me I'm the only person that thought of the movie "Cube" reading this headline?? Maybe it's just too early for me
Not only that, it seems to be running out of stories to dupe and has resorted to self-advertising. Seriously, if you start using this, you may notice your colleagues staying back real late and hanging suspiciously around your cubicle one evening. The next morning, when your manager walks past you, your phone rings and Mr Duper kicks in: you know what, screw my boss he's such a scum..
I think I do something similar when I want to cross out something written on paper - write over the words a few times with some gibberish, its much safer than just scribbling over those comments you wish you hadn't committed to paper. Of course, anyone sitting in a cubicle is obviously not considered important enough to have anything private to say, cubicles are the most retarded invention known to the business world, a way of pretending to care but inadvertently insulting your employees - its like giving everyone a company car except the cars are 30 year old skodas which can't actually run for more then 10 minutes at a time and cant overtake pedestrians. Cubicles are essentially pieces of cheap board that just get in the way and only become useful when they double up as exhibition displays in ultra-stingy organisations.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
NATURE'S HARMONIC SIMULTANEOUS 4-DAY TIME CUBE
Singularity education begets evil, for you were born as an opposite, between opposite sexes & the opposite Earth poles. You are educated as a stupid android slave to the evil Word Animal Singularity Brotherhood. Your analytical mind is lobotomized and you cannot think opposite of lies you are taught to think. You build the hell 'they' teach.
Dr.Gene Ray, Cubic and Wisest Human
You have opposite brains to think opposite, but Big Brother icepick academic lobotomy has destroyed your mentality to think opposite of the evil singularity you are taught. The 4 days is above your godism and you don't even want to know. Universe is composed of opposite hemispheres and opposite sexes - equating to + / -, a zero existence, depicted by Pyramid's bare coffer. Your 1Day God Makes You Evil. 4 Corner Days Are Absolute, but ignored by stupid/evil educators. Until cornered, word is fictitious. God is product of fictitious word. 4Day Cube Disproves 1Day God All creation within the universe is composed of opposite hemispheres and opposite sexes - with opposite races, opposite seasons, opposite luck, opposite directions and opposite perspectives - equating a harmonic rotating zero value existence.
"To know all, is to know nothing".
You can't handle the truth.
As a native Gibber, I resent the implication that anyone can simply computerize the Gibberish language. While seemingly chaotic, Gibberish has complex linguistic features unique among the Indo-Iranian-Ubangi language group that simply do not fit neatly into computer generation. While Gibberish may be a near dead language, I remind you all that it is the official language of the U.S. Congress and would point all of you towards our greatest orator Donald Rumsfeld for an example of the beauty found in the known unknowns in this complex language. In closing, I'd like to say that two ducks making wine may find rabbits in unexpected places. Thanks.
I worked on a team with a bunch of Indian programmers, and they used to call the build team in Mumbi a lot. The conversations basically went likt this:
Aapko achaa lagaa?
Usse mat Sql Server chuuo.
Tumhein chhot lag Visual Studio sakti hai.
Sone kaa samay ho stored procedure gayaa hai.
Hum humeshaa tumhaaraa parivaar rahenge out of memory exception.
Hum tumhein kabhei nahin email chodenge sourde safe.
Kyaa tumhein tatti karni hai?
Tumhein kahaan dard ho breakpoint rahaa hai?
We never really new if it was business related or id they were just chatting with their mates and throwing in a bit of tech lingo here and there.
Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated up.
Ummm.., why not just take your cell phone and step out into an empty portion of the hallway?
Probably cheaper too.
I saw on TV a bank with a huge cubicle farm. The roof contained a large number of speakers which constantly spread white noise (think radio in between channels). Because your brain can't "lock in" on pure noise, you end up not noticing it anymore. In the mean time it still "overrides" other peoples sounds, and the end impression is a quieter background.
10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then
Granted, my employer may be a bit more enlightened than some, but we have a bunch of conference rooms and there's always people in them (when they're not being used for real conferences) alone on the phone. I rather suspect in a lot of cases that it isn't even a privacy thing as much as it is to keep the cube areas quieter.
Imagine initializing this thing with offensive language.
Ok, am I the only person who thinks this would just make the phone conversation nearly incomprehensible? I mean sheesh, if you want total privacy, just blow raspberries at each other. Then nobody will know what you are talking about...not even you! I bet this guy also thinks the best lock is a door that is welded shut. This has got to be the most retarded technology I've heard of all year! :)
Michael J. Bertrand, AKA Fruvous or FruFox My
Really ugly link using /. link feature follows:
ahref=http://www.google.com/search?as_q=throat+mic rophone&num=10&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as _oq=&as_eq=&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as _occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&as_rights=&safe=i magesrel=url2html-25324http://www.google.com/searc h?as_q=throat+microphone&num=10&hl=en&btnG=Google+ Search&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filety pe=&as_qdr=all&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=& as_rights=&safe=images
>
You don't have to speak loudly to pick for the mic to pick up.
Active noise cancellation can work on any sound as long as you can put a microphone between the sound source and your ear. Electronics are much faster than sound waves, and they can compute the inverse signal by the time the sound reaches your ear.
Patrick Doyle
I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
But then my sympathy for people that expect the "right" to make or accept personal calls at work in the first place is somewhere in the vicinity of zero anyways.
If the conversation is work-related and still needs to be private, then one has a perfectly legitimate reason to have access to a telephone in a more private area than one's cubicle anyways. If the conversation isn't work related, one just has to bite the bullet and accept the fact that there is no reason why they should be afforded the luxury of increased privacy for such an activity. If they _REALLY_ need increased privacy for a personal call, they can ask their boss to see if he'll allow it. If personal calls are infrequent enough and the reason is legitimate, even if not work-related, they may permit it anyways.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Please, this "technology" could be replicated by anyone with a cursory knowledge of
audio files and WinAmp.
And how is this different from when I turn up the music to make a phone call?
Because this is pre-recorded speech? Congratulations Herman, you've replaced "hip"
with "weird".
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
I've seen courtrooms that turn on white noise generators when the judge is discussing some legal issue with the lawyers.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
I understand that it uses dupes on Slashdot as its souce of background noise. Good thinking. That way they know they'll never run out of input.
Serving your airship needs since 1995.
Seriously. It's not all that uncommon for one hearing aid to fail, or be unwearable temporarily (think ear infection), in which case anyone with severe to profound deafness will not be able to hear their own voice on the phone (since hearing aids at that level pick up the B-field from the phone via induction, and turn off the microphone). This makes using phones somewhat unnerving, as you have no idea whether you're talking too loudly for privacy or not.
They must have also released a device to duplicate slashdot articles - it's working well!
----------------------------
Esobofh - Currently drinking fresh mango juice.
To be more efficent, you could use one or more conical shaped pieces of this material that are just large enough to surround a single person's head/upper-body. This could then be lowered down from the ceiling only when you need to use it. You could call it, "The Cone of Silence".
*presently laughing his ass off*
If I had one of those, or even worse, a cow-orker had one I'd be laughing hystericaly if I heard it. For some reason, and this is appropriate for today (US Thanks Giving Day) I imagine it would sound like a Turkey farm, hundred of Turkeys all gobbling at once. Even worse would be if *everyone* had one! lmao
It's apparently a device that will spit out gibberish when you are talking on the phone.
Thanks, but I already have a girlfriend.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
The problem with that idea is that it's fairly easy to cancel sounds with one speaker in one point - ear or microphone, typically - but mathemathically impossible to do so in an entire area. You'd need one speaker for each of the infinite number of points in it.
We just tested a babblebox like this at work yesterday. It is COMPLETELY ineffective. In fact, it almost has the opposite effect - by sounding like a bunch of background conversations, it's quite easy to pick out one - the real one - over all the others!
Now that said... I find that when an employee is at work, there may be legitimate reason for them to make a personal call. One shouldn't need to go into specific details when justifying why a person might need to use the office phone for a personal call, and in fact many bosses are more than accomodating even if no reason is given, as long as it does not become a frequent occurence. So of course, this wouldn't even be an issue if a person is working for a good boss and they don't make personal calls that often.
However, I also recognize that the phone line is _NOT_ the employee's property to do what they will, and last time I checked, the so-called "right" to make personal phone calls while at work was not enumerated among human, constitutional, or civic rights. It's a privilege, and people need to remember that.
I won't address your ad-hominem statements beyond mentioning that they were observed. Neither the truth nor what sort of person I am is dependant on what you think of me personally.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
A lot of work on Babble was done by Appled Minds for Herman Miller. Here's a Wired article that describes the project:
t w=wn_tophead_1
1 585,a9-c407-n350,00.html
http://wired.com/news/20050621_appliedminds.html?
Here's Herman Miller's press release for the device:
http://www.hermanmiller.com/CDA/SSA/News/Story/0,
--Pat
Actually, I don't think that's fine at all. When a person is off the clock, they are off the clock, and it better be *DAMN* important if someone's boss is going to interrupt their personal time with a business matter.
Many of the personal calls that many people make/get at work are *DAMN* important, too. If an employee needs to take a call from their doctor, they should be able to talk without fear of being overheard. If they can't, then the business needs to take steps so that they can.
One shouldn't need to go into specific details when justifying why a person might need to use the office phone for a personal call, and in fact many bosses are more than accomodating even if no reason is given, as long as it does not become a frequent occurence. So of course, this wouldn't even be an issue if a person is working for a good boss and they don't make personal calls that often.
Professionals should feel free to use their discretion as to the number of personal phone calls that they make or receive at work. If it becomes excessive, then the employee should be counseled. If it's not excessive, it's not the business of the employer.
However, I also recognize that the phone line is _NOT_ the employee's property to do what they will, and last time I checked, the so-called "right" to make personal phone calls while at work was not enumerated among human, constitutional, or civic rights.
The toilet at work is _NOT_ the employee's property, either, but I'm not in favor of the employee having to ask the boss's permission in order to use it -- even if the boss doesn't insist on knowing if it's number one or number two. Would you tolerate an office where the toilet stalls had no doors? I've never seen the so-called "right" to privacy while using a toilet enumerated among human, constitutional, or civic rights -- but I consider it a right nonetheless.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
It is when you are using the boss's phone line to discuss it. Like it or not.
Professionals have a right to some privacy whether you wish to respect it or not.
If the justification for so much privacy that you can't even mention that you are talking to your doctor is genuine, you can probably get medical leave in the first place (at least where I live).
I don't need to justify privacy. As a professional, I have a right to it. Maybe someone doesn't want their boss speculating about whether there are health problems ("our medical insurance premiums are going up and Bill's got another call from his doctor", "maybe I should put off promoting Bill until we see whether these calls from his doctor are about something serious", etc.).
I've replied as AC this time because I'm not interested in being notified about replies to this comment.
You replied as AC because you had no answer for these points:
1. "It doesn't matter if you have your boss's permission to use a private phone because the doctor will call you at your desk. They won't have patience when you put them on hold, only to discover that the conference room with the designated private phone is in use. It's not a plan."
2. "So just what kind of "crapload of trouble" can a business get for providing doorless restroom stalls? No one is making you use the stalls. No one is forcing you to work for that company. Can you provide any links to newspaper articles or court cases showing that a business got in serious trouble for not having doors on bathroom stalls?"
3. "Professionals have long expected privacy for occasional personal phone calls and it's only in the last two decades that this expectation has been eroded by the disgusting trend of putting people in cubicles. People like you are only making the situation [worse]. By condoning this type of arrangement, you're telling businesses that it's okay to put people in doorless cubicles where their every word is overheard. You're saying that it's normal for a professional to be in a cubicle where everyone within 50 feet knows when they clip a fingernail, cough, sneeze, or fart. Grow a pair and tell your boss that you expect to work in an office with a door. Tell him that you expect to be able to make or receive a phone call without everyone in the area hearing your every word. Don't sing the company song while they tear down office walls."