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Sonar Software Detects Laptop User Presence
Steve Tarzia writes "A research group at Northwestern University and University of Michigan has released open-source display power-management software that uses a new user presence detection technique. The goal is to shut off the display immediately when the user leaves the computer rather than using slow and error-prone mouse/keyboard activity timeouts. Surprisingly, the mic and speakers of many laptop computers are sensitive to ultrasonic frequencies. Those frequencies can be used to silently probe the laptop's physical environment. This software is based on research published at the UbiComp2009 conference. A Windows binary and source code for Windows and Linux are available for download."
Mouse/keyboard activity timeout works nicely for that. I rather don't have the computer know if I'm walking near it or not. But it seems we're heading in to this "everyone, and every machine, knows where you are" every day. Thank god I'm already old and not born in to this shit.
Damn, now PETA is going to bitch about what happens when dolphins use these laptops.
Don't know if I type slow, think slow, or both, but one of my pet annoyances is when the screen saver kicks-in as I'm staring at the screen in thought (sure I know how to set it, but I am not always in front of my own PC, and oft away and then back a lot through the day).
If this will simply tell the OS, hold on, he's sitting there doing something, I'd find it a pretty neat idea.
Greg
Looks like someone has been watching The Dark Knight.
Hooray, Batman science!
I'm just asleep, you insensitive clod! (or does it detect snoring?)
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
Can this tool be used as a means for laptop theft and loss protection?
I wonder how fine of a resolution is possible with a setup like this with generic microphones and speakers. Maybe it would be possible to use this as a biometric lock on a computer system. It could function as a facial recognition check using the ultrasound picture or series of pictures of your face. Lighting wouldn't affect it and someone couldn't simply use a picture of you to try and fool the camera. Even a bust of your face wouldn't work the same unless it accurately simulated your bone structure and flesh.
This wouldn't work with headphones plugged into the computer unless you can get the laptop's built in speakers working independantly (it can do it, old Ubuntu 7.10 had them on separate mixer controls on my laptop). But desktop users usually have their powered speakers off when using headphones.
Does anyone have an idea on how to solve that? You could put out ultrasonic sound through the headphones that get blocked when used, but it could damage your hearing depending on how loud it needs to be to get picked up by the microphone.
Unicode in Slashdot
And dimmer switches, cordless drill battery charges, and even a really annoying slice of whatever frequency god damn bats chatter at. In short, my super power is above average HF hearing. Hooray for me...
Now, I like this idea, it's neat, I just really hope it operates well over 18khz so my head does not explode all Scanners style when I walk into a room full of laptops.
pranks that we can play on those nearby once this becomes active. Randomly shutting off peoples screens.. waking them randomly without even being near them. : )
How will this benefit the general user though? There are many times that I get up but still want my laptop to be running for example, I can leave a music player on, hook up my laptop to a projector to play a movie, or a load of other things that this would prevent from happening.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Or just us a key combination (like in windows) to lock the system (and start the power saving).
It would be nice if they would make the software license clear. Even if just to say that "this is government sponsored and so available for copying with no restrictions". Also at the bottom of the page they say '"Windows" is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation.' but forget to mention that Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
=~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
...tie power savings to the manual screen lock feature. In Windows, the WindowsKey+L locks the workstation. It would be great if a second or two after the workstation is locked, the monitor turns off and the drives spin down. That would provide good power savings and avoid the problem of having to determine whether or not the user really wants their workstation to conserve energy.
"We can't use that laptop here, this is bat country!"
Riddle me this... What's the right laptop for bat country?
Bow-ties are cool.
What's wrong with a keyboard shortcut key or assigning a function key ? It's a laptop, you probably don't just walk away frequently and leave it unattended. Not anywhere I know anyway.
Just tell me where I put the postit note or soda bottle to fake it out so it thinks I'm there all the time...
You got that backwards. What they should do is deleting the remark about Windows. Anyone succumbing to the (tm) crap should have their head examined. Every time somebody writes "registered trademark", god kills a kitten. It's true. Between us, we just killed two. No, I'm not going to write it again.
Now someone is going to say legal blahblah necessary blahblah. But there is something wrong if fear of a big corporation is making you write that kind of kitten-lethal nonsense every time you mention a product made by that corporation.
Ultrasonic...sounds like a good way to have your dog pee all over your laptop. No thanks!
"O'Connor, smash the window." "Why me, Bigboote?" "It might be boobie-trapped!" "Oh!"<smash> -Buckaroo Banzai
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Could be built. Interesting.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
You're right. Not including a license text was an oversight. The source code is made available without any restriction. I updated the download page now says this.
-Steve
If the mechanism could be tweaked properly such that it can hear the difference between soft breathing and fan harmonics, this would be a great module for an alarm clock. It wouldn't bother sounding off when you're out of town, and it would automatically turn back on if you were there originally but haven't left for work yet. (too lazy to find the link to the guy who did the same general thing, instead by detecting his body weight added to the bed.)
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What's driving my dog crazy, Krypto, is me NOT having a feature that shuts down the computer when I have sat behind the screen so long that his bladder is about to burst and he needs to go out for a walk - bad. When that proximity detector is available, let us know.
I think therefore I can't be ~TTNH
The idea behind turning off a monitor is to save power- but constantly polling an environment with active sonar uses power.
Polling is bad. Events are good. I say leave it like it is.
Looks like they addressed those concerns; see the "Source code README addendum (10/15/09)" at the bottom of the download page.
Does anyone think this will work underwater, if I am to put the laptop in ziplock bag for undersea research?
FragHARD or don't frag at all
I have a simple solution to that problem. I used to have similar problems (though not as bad) - the 15KHz whistle of the old color TVs used to bug me. But during my misspent youth I spent several years listening to lots of loud music - 10 feet from the speakers at rock concerts, etc. Now, other than a constant ringing in my ears, I'm fine! And I no longer hear HF audio, so no more annoying whistles for me :D Try it, soon you'll be as deaf as Pete Townsend!
(FYI, the last band I was in used in-ear monitors - Story about deaf musicians and using in-ear monitors. It wasn't even a loud band, but it was nice being able to mix our own levels without worrying about the house levels.
It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
I thought for sure I'd have seen a remark by now that said something to the effect of computer pings YOU!
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
someone is going to say legal blahblah necessary blahblah.
No; I'm going to say that some / most trademarks are useful (like Linux(R)). If the Linux(R) trademark gets diluted and became a common term for operating system that would make me sad (on the other hand I don't see that Windows has the right to exist - it's pretty clear they only escaped from the Lindows case by paying their way out). In the case of Linux(R) I don't see that it causes any problems to anyone. IF, by reminding people that Linux(R) is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds God kills a kitten then He is entirely responsible for His own actions. (Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds - other terms used in this posting may or may not be trademarks of their respective owners or not. Killing kittens is BAD(TM).)
=~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
It's Saves Power!
It's Cool Tech!
It's a Perfect Targeted Bomb Trigger.
Even with multiple users, it would be easy to "target" a certain person when at the computer.
Think of the possibilities.
Now, having to log in -again- when I return is slow and error-prone, especially while sipping coffee. The solution is obviously to use the same software to auto-login a soon as it detects the presence of a user.
Surprisingly, the mic and speakers of many laptop computers are sensitive to ultrasonic frequencies.
For anyone who actually knows about how microphones and speakers work, it's not particularly surprising at all. Timothy needs to go to school, and learn a little bit of physics.
So that's why my dog keeps barking / biting my laptop!
Cool idea! You could save megatonnes of CO2 with this.
Suggestions:
1. Allow configuration of "absent time" before darkening screen
2. Provide link to OS Power settings
3. Allow configuring (auto/manual) of Hz of sound, from 16khz to system max
- to avoid any interference from other noise sources
- for kid/pet preference (BTW, my dog didn't notice - standard poodle)
4. Provide totals by day/week/... of different activity states.
5. Show timeline along display box
5. Allow stretching of display box and scaling of time line
Ideasfor further investigation:
a. use stereo speakers to determine how centred the echos are. Consider "absent from
computer" (vs absent from room) if not both centred and close. You could allow a
configuration setting for this too - "how centred / how close", e.g., a slider on the
display screen, to compare with the graphs.
b. Use different frequencies within speaker/microphone ranges to "fingerprint"a room
c. Use "fingerprinting" to come to conclusions about what kind of room, e.g., bath stall,
outdoors, small, large, busy, empty, dimensions- what can you discover
d. Use 2-speaker sonar to create a crude touch screen. (No 3d mouse since you need a
plane to localise a point in 3D with only 2 speakers.) Could calibrate like on an old
palm - push here, showing a X in various places.
You must have hit the beta-tester jackpot with a Slashdot reference!
Epitaph: At last! Root access!
I can see so many of them freaking out cause of this.
This was my first thought -- would all that high frequency sound annoy pets?
I come here for the love
"so available for copying with no restrictions". Why does everything need a license? If that's all they say then there is no license. It's public domain. Do what you want.
Licenses exist for one reason only - to restrict what you can do with something. If there is no license, you can do whatever you want.
The way copyright works nowadays is that works are automatically copyrighted as soon as they are created.
So if you want to do anything with a work beyond what your countries fair use/fair dealing/etc rules allow then you need explicit permission to do so from the copyright holder.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
How much more explicit do you need than "available for copying with no restrictions?"
Do you want some legalese? Some small print?
Note that they seem to have added this information (addendum 10/16/09) after my comment; before there was nothing saying that it was "available for copying with no restrictions". All I can say is thanks. That was nice.
=~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
Maybe they could use this technology on auto flushing toilets so that they don't flush suddenly without warning when I'm sitting on it but happen to lean forward. That's such an incredibly nasty occurrence... ugh.