Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Uses DDR Dance Pad To Stamp Spam
writertype writes "Apparently Microsoft researchers are also DDR enthusiasts, for their StepUI research project uses a dance pad to stamp out spam from email, scroll through photographs or perform other functions. 'People really like stomping with two feet to delete spam,' said Kevin Schofield, general manager of strategy and communications at Microsoft Research." Given my inbox, I'd be ready for the '08 Olympics. If only they would make Spam Stamping a sport.
I wanna hire this guy to clean out my inbox!
As stupid as this whole idea is, it would probably be a lot healthier if people actually had to get up off their duffs to check their email. (StepUI also could end up appealing to another group: Couch potatoes looking for a way to lose some weight while still surfing the Internet) But in all honesty, even though there will be a whole following of DDR nerds who would swear by this, I think it will end up about as popular as a Dvorak keyboard.
Now if they ever find a way to hook up a Nintendo gun to shoot down spam, I'm all about that!
Capitalism: When it uses the carrot, it's called democracy. When it uses the stick, it's called fascism.
From TFA: After a thousand or so spams, this 'stomping with two feet' business is going to get mighty old.
Also, when (it's only a matter of time) one of those couch potatoes suffers a coronary after attempting to delete endless floods of spam by 'stomping with two feet', who will get sued?I can't wait.
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
Spammers report massive influx of new email addresses as people sign up on mailing lists in order to get their daily workouts and viagra for their 'other' daily workout.
...if this could me made to work as a controller for World of Warcraft.
Microsoft research guys really rock!
And now if you ducktape Nintendo Revolution controller to a chair... the options are endless!
Will we be able to credit the Evil Empire with a bit of humor and imagination? How many knee-jerk bashes will follow? From this longtime ABM'er {Apple, Novell, Linux, Sun}, I say, "Well done, Microsoft."
Perscriptio in manibus tabellariorum est.
Spam to a Eurobeat beat!
With 9 buttons, a DDR pad could provide 72 chorded input combinations -- more than enough for ASCII+Numeric+Controls.
Although I wouldn't want to write a novel on a DDR pad, it might be a good way to get some exercise during shorter text messaging sessions.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
The Rusty can have his own email! ..say what are all these USP shipments of dog toys...
-- www.globaltics.net
Political discussion for a new world
This has to rate as one of the dumbest ideas so far this year.
br> dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb
Athiesm is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby.
Always will be some ways to send SPAM... Police can not stop all killers, isn't right? The same thing with a SPAM. But here are some good thing: you always know who order this SPAM. Avery letter contains phone number and/or Internet address.
Hide your files and folders from others!
What if spammers are using the same method to send spam?
Dance Dance Revolution; you know, the dancing game you see in arcades (do arcades still exist?)
Given my inbox, I'd be ready for the '08 Olympics.
I don't get it. Does everyone except me have that big a problem with spam? SpamAssassin deletes 99% of my domain spam and Gmail catches another 95% or so. I only see one spam message every month. Granted, I don't get many (about 20 a day) total, but I don't see any of those, and I would imagine that people that got 100x that would only see about one or two a day.
Does anyone have a huge problem with spam getting through the filters?
Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
While stomping out your spam, you can also chant repeatedly: "Developers! Developers! Developers!" MS Microphone attachment sold separately.
-Rob
Biblical fiscal responsibility
... CTRL+ALT+DEL ?
My back hurts having to bend over to press the third key with my hand...
'People really like stomping with two feet to delete spam,' said Kevin Schofield, general manager of strategy
Someone needs to give MSFT a kick in the ass if this is what they think of as strategy.
DDR Pad? Nah. Give me a little voodoo doll of BillG. A poke with a needle deletes spam, a good choking does an anti-spyware sweep and a virus scan, and a healthy stomp reinstalls WinXP.
Problem solved. The Voodoo Doll Interface(tm). You heard it here first.
you can stomp on dupes!
Oh, stop it.
All that you'd need are volunteers inside the company who need a stress reliever. Not only would they be able to work out their frustrations in a physical manner, it would also be good physchological help. Pent up frustrations have been proven to have negative, physical reactions, so this could be a great way for employees to work it off.
Frustrated by your manager's micromanging? Dance it off (and help to get rid of spam).
Frustrated by your spouse or family members to the point that it's affecting your ability to work efficiently? Dance it off (and help to get rid of spam).
Frustrated by your next-door-cubicle-neighbor's incessant use of the speakerphone? Dance it off (and help to get rid of spam).
Frustrated by people trying desperately to get first post on Slashdot for reasons that no one seems to comprehend? Dance it off (and help to get rid of spam).
Hell, even just basic aerobic exercise that normal cubicle dwellers would not get would be motivation enough. I know that I wouldn't mind stomping out some spam for about 15 minutes after lunch to burn some of it off. That would be 15 minutes more exercise than I'd normally get and I'd love every minute of it, knowing that I'm thwarting the potential success of those low-life spammers.
Make it a volunteer-only project; make the rules clear that if you have a coronary -- well, you volunteered.
Stamp out spam, get some exercise, lose weight, release negative emotions, tone up, do some good for yourself and the computing community - at the same time. Sounds like a win-win to me.
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
...is a Strong Bad-style DELETED! button.
I was quite confused there for a moment... An East German Dance Pad?!?
-- A good compromise leaves everyone mad. --Calvin and Hobbes
Apparently Microsoft researchers are also DDR enthusiasts
There are some things that one should not openly admit...
Wasn't it a couple of years ago that Microsoft promised us that the SPAM problem would be fixed by now? This is their solution? {Hmmmm.}
onto a pile then two foot stomp to crush the spam.
Sounds like the joyboard that became famous in the Amiga circles. Instead of stomping on it to relive stress Amiga coders would try to sit as motionless as possible on it crosslegged.
Guru Meditation #00000004.0000AAC0
I am not interested in articles about life extension advancements.
I'm beginning to think that Taco is a bot. A few simple rules like "if subject like 'Mac' and subject like 'Intel' then insert.comment=$WOW_BENCHMARKING" and "if subject like 'spam' then insert.comment=$SIZE_OF_INBOX_WHINE" would cover it.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
I can't wait until my upstairs neighbor gets one of these.
Almost as good as the "Jump to Conclusions" mat...
People will pass up steak once a week, for crap every day.
Badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger badger, MUSHROOM! MUSHROOM!...
Do your jumping-jacks/squats with the badgers!
If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. --James Madison
Good job, let me congratulate you with a nice e-mail message.
Just fill in your e-mail here: ____________________
Don't forget to hyper-link the address!
Get your Unix fortune now!
The page was down for me; if you can't see the site, view the Coral Distributed Site.
Don't bother putting any more effort into things like SenderID, which could work towards a technological solution to the problem of spam.
Keep working hard on letting us play Whack-A-Mole with our feet instead.
Web 2.0 == Giant Blogspam Circle Jerk
From the headline, I got excited that I might be able to break out my Rambus rumba to crank out status reports as well!
You and I both know that this is just a stupid, fun project that will never go anywhere with any type of consumer market. Most new ideas we see posted on /. are things that will never make it to a real consumer market. My issue is that if this was an opensource project, or maybe done by a group of MIT students it would be "neat". Since this has been done by Microsoft we immediately flame them etc etc etc. I think the entire /. community needs to look at things with a more open mind and less judgement towards non-community owned projects. It is neat, I don't want one, but it's neat to see new ways to interface with your computer, even if it is to delete spam (LOL).
You talk better than you fool!
SPAM you just got SERVED!
Collector's Edition
1. Attach DDR dance pad to computer.
2. Remap key codes for debugger commands "Step In", "Step Over", "Step Out."
3. Actually step through code...
-Mark
do arcades still exist?)
Get thee to a Dave & Busters!!!
"22 astronauts were born in Ohio. What is it about your state that makes people want to flee the Earth?" Stephen Colbert
Foot injuries are more common than hand injuries. I'm talking about short-term injuries.
I have a possibly-broken toe right now; if it impaired my ability to work, I'd be even more pissed off at that Brazilian kid who bungled the right downward block than I already am.
Not to mention the fact that I can work in substantially the same way sitting in my recliner at home with my feet up as I can sitting in my crappy desk chair at work; I don't have to learn a completely different set of muscle movements for working in each location.
FTFA: "In fact, for those for whom hands are less of an option, as a result of disabilities or injuries, feet might be the optimal solution" So it looks to me like Microsoft is actually trying to do something useful. I for one welcome any attempt at making technology available to a wider audience. But of course, this is slashdot talking about microsoft, of course no one will say anything nice.
"DDR Dance Pad"
my head asplode
I can't say "dance" that many times in a sentence.
OK, I know that they say it's for those with disabilities, but it came to mind.
I could have endless hours of antispam amusement if they shipped my antispam dance pad with one of the bigger spammers tied to the top of it. Stomping away at a spammer would be much more fun than stomping away at spam. Heck, for that I'd probably even invites my friends over, it's more fun than 'twister' :-)
...I get so tired of big companies sponsoring genuinely interesting research, but never actually using the results. The research departments seem to be window-dressing or public relations or vanity.
Remember Xerox PARC?
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
If you're a hardware techie, you immediately thought, "how is Microsoft, a software company, using a type of memory to stamp out spam? Is it detecting spam and refusing to store those bits? WTF?"
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
Advertisements for quack remedies for fallen arches.
Before, I had to say my weight was due to not having to get up in order to admin the box, but now it's due to effective spam fighting techniques.
I can't wait until MS releases the "Ballmer Edition", complete with a pad on my wall so I can bust spam by hurling chairs at it!
I suspect that they'll probably patent the hell out of it. And that means that a great innovation like this will be locked down to the whims of our favorite convicted monopolist.
So... if I'm reading this right...
Using Hotmail means the same thing as playing a 10-footer on Heavy?
was one of those bike machine things that would be rigged so that if you stopped pedaling you'd lose power to your PC. That'd give new meaning to Warcrack 'marathons'. Hehe.
Only someone that still has a spam problem would dumb enough to but this. I spent 5 minutes setting up Gmail (with no other software) and get no spam, which gives me more time for kickboxing.
The 'Net is a waste of time, and that's exactly what's right about it. - William Gibson
I see this linked to Microsoft's Origami Project. The iPod/cell phone/video player/messenging and all the other speculation may be getting some sort of e-mail.
:)
I really see people in the streets jumping in order to delete their mail, snapping to open it, touching their finger to their nose to create a new message...
oh and tossing their Microsoft Origami across the room
-M
when you see the word 'Linux', drink!
I saw this on /. and could not stop laughing. I put this pic together for a dumb Vista parody last night and had no idea it was actually real-
5 25
http://www.ridiculopathy.com/news_detail.php?id=1
While the concept of DDR spam filtering is a load of McGriddle-induced dementia, the use of feet to control computers is not a new idea. Usually people type with both hands, so why not use the feet to do non-textual tasks ? Perhaps even mousing, with a little practice. A decent-sized touch sensor at your feet could allow you to work faster and more comfortably.
I recall many years back someone had prototyped a "kick box" that laid beneath the desk and housed several pressure switches along its sides. It was demonstrated using a diminutive flight simulator. Gentle tap the left side and your craft does a barrel-roll, kick the top and you perform a wheelstand. One of the main issues was strength: feet are strong and clumsy, and it's quite easy to damage the input device by kicking too hard, or even injure oneself, and what about people with short legs ?
I would see the combination of a touchpad-type sensor, pedals and/or rollers, and these kick sensors assuming they can be ridigly built. Mouse around with your feet, kick left/right to move back/forward in your browser, kick up for home. Use the pedals in Photoshop to affect brush size and pressure. Use rollers to scroll around. All this without moving your hands away from the keyboard.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
jopytokey or joy2key, I forget. when used in conjunction to any 10-20$ ps2-usb adapter, this utility converts the action buttons and directional keys to any mouse movement or key press you want. It also works for standard pc gamepads and joysticks.
As a matter of fact, I already use this system for flipping through images, managing video players/editors, even webbrowsing on a ps2 controller. its alot easier on the arms and wrists than reaching for the mouse and having to keep the proper arm position when browsing. I could just as easily plug in a dance mat and perform alot of the same functions.
of course, i think it is windows only.
SenderID is an attempt by Microsoft to hijack a working open standard called SPF. At this point it is effectively dead because of Microsoft's cynical manipulation of Meng Wong's altruistic attempt to help everyone.
You will note I'm not normally a MS-basher, but in this case it's well deserved. SPF was ramping up into a system that would make email forgery impractical for spammers and virii, but Microsoft (with help from Yahoo and AOL, I guess) muddied the waters to the point where the anti-forgery community couldn't get a clear message out. Now SPF is still going, but very slowly, which is a shame since it is a practical thing you can do today that makes a real difference. If comcast (for one example) took the five freakin' minutes that would be required to publish SPF in their DNS, the world would be a better place for it.
Implement SPF. Laugh at the rotting corpse of SenderID.
does it again!
Everyone always discusses the amazing stuff that comes out of MS Research. Why am I never, ever impressed?
Perhaps they can design a "reclining throne-type waste receptacle that determines whether to delete or quarantine viruses based upon the volume of flatulence."
MS Research produced vaporware, buzzwords, and toys. No interesting development, no pure-science research.
IBM does loads of hard science.
Apple has mastered product development.
Why does MS, with a far, far larger budget, and arguable (or at one time) the brightest in the industry, research or produce nothing of any interest whatsoever. The only "innovation" I see coming out of MS is repackaged of other SUCCESFUL products that have already been brought to market; hell, they don't even repackage stuff that has failed for reasons of insufficent marketing.
Snore.
WhiteWolf666 an exBush supporter. All you new-school,compassionate,save the children Republicans can rot in hell
Oh yeah, I suppose that wouldn't work for me. I don't get spam. Ah well, back to reading only things I care about in my inboxes.
Now if you had to input some DDR code to *send* spam, I'd love this. Nothing would entertain me more than blocking out spam because the once-entrepreneur can't dance. Translating MD5 checksums from dance patterns, while an incredible waste of processor time, would totally make my day.
How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
Arcades will reappear when DDR SuperNOVA come out.
According to time travelor john titor, there won't be a 2008 Olympics. You might as well give up now.
Sig: I stole this sig.
Fair enough, and I didn't know any of that.
In any event, there's still legitimate work to be done, which is only mocked by implemeting what I shall now call "Whack-A-Spam" or "Spam Spam Revolution."
Web 2.0 == Giant Blogspam Circle Jerk
A program that takes the steps from DDR songs and turns the step notes that appear on screen and make each one turn into spam mail. Then you'll be 'stomping to the beat' and deleting spam with each note hit. Of course, you might accidentally delete good e-mail, but hey, you just make sure that trusted e-mail addresses aren't on there.
Before you know it, Spam Spam Revolution is a worldwide sensation. I can see the newspaper classifieds now..
Need talented DDR player to stomp out huge amounts of spam mail. Will pay for services.
I did something similar a while back by running a ps2 ddr pad through a pc joystick converter. Set up joy2mouse joystick to mouse mapping with X then could use up/down/left/right to move the mouse. I mapped the bottom right and left corners to right and left click, so could move to select then double stamp. It worked well, with the only problem being that the chair legs got in the way. With a fixed mount chair and a slit in the pad, it would be another quite natural input method. Could be really useful in games or other vr immersion applications.
What I want is a punch controller so that I can beat the cr*p out of spam.
Will this thing work with my LapBoard?
http://nerdcartoons.com/
"Spam Stamping"? Isn't that the AOL/Yahoo! email initiative?
This has to be up there as one of the dumbest research projects ever.
When will they get it? People are LAZY. They don't want to move their limbs to use software. It's the reason that "PowerGlove" interfaces failed, and it's the same reason this technology won't prevail.
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
If any story called for the "foot" icon, this one did!
Back in 1991, ponton european media art lab. Piazza Virtuale. I used a Nintendo 4 X 4 pad, a "brick" interface from the nintendo connector to Apple's ADB on a Mac IIfx, and then a MacroMedia Director script to send serial commands to a telephone interface, which would drop (or "censor") callers to a TV show. Was whole lot of fun to jump around in that studio and literally "kick" out annoying callers.
This is the first good Microsoft idea. :)
Michael Flatley - Lord of the Spam: The latest task force in spam management.