Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

MS Researchers Develop Acoustic Data Transfer System For Phones

Posted by timothy on from the just-do-it-quietly-ok dept.

angry tapir writes "Smartphones that support NFC have been making their way onto the market, but many handsets still don't support the wireless technology. As an alternative, Microsoft researchers have prototyped a system that instead uses a phone's microphone and speaker to transmit and receive data. The P2P data transfer system uses a novel technique of 'self-jamming' to stop nefarious third parties from monitoring transfers, and the researchers believe it's more secure than standard NFC communications. No word on whether it sounds like the squeal of a 56k modem."

6 of 180 comments (clear)

  1. Re:And they call it by krlynch · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've always found it interesting that "modem" and "modern" are so easy to confuse in most fonts....

  2. Return of the acoustic modem by Geoffrey.landis · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Wow, return of the acoustic modem. That really is a trip back in time. Was cutting-edge technology, back in the era of blinking-light consoles, when telephones were hardwired into the wall.

    Ah, nostalgia for the tech of yore.

    --
    http://www.geoffreylandis.com
    1. Re:Return of the acoustic modem by goombah99 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Grandpa here.
            My recollection is that paper tapes and punchcard readers where a lot faster than cassette tapes for loading in programs. The reason cassettes were nice is that that the cost of the reader hardware was cheap--you probably already had a casstte player. and the results were compact. In my experience the paper tapes were the most durable. the tapes tended to go bad on you or not work between different machines with different settings. If you dropped your punch card deck it could get scrambled. the paper tapes were compact and reliable.

      --
      Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
    2. Re:Return of the acoustic modem by OhSoLaMeow · · Score: 3, Interesting

      ...If you dropped your punch card deck it could get scrambled.

      For me it was when you dropped your punch card deck, it would be scrambled.

      That's why I always punched sequence numbers in col 73-80. If the deck is dropped, a few minutes in the card sorter and the problem is fixed.

      --
      They can take my LifeAlert pendant when they pry it from my cold dead fingers.
    3. Re:Return of the acoustic modem by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 3, Interesting

      If you dropped your punch card deck it could get scrambled. the paper tapes were compact and reliable.

      Better yet, punched card readers had a habit of crunching up the first card on the deck fairly often.

      The first card at the Batch Terminal that I used at the U of M back in the late 70's was the password card. So it was fairly common to be able to dig in the trash can next to the unattended Remote Batch Terminal in the History Building and find someone's mangled password card. Which could then be read/decoded and the password used to run my programs. Even better yet, the ID/password could be used in the terminal room in the basement of Lind Hall to log onto an interactive session. 300 baud on an ASR-33 teletype. For free.

  3. It's like my washing machine? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    My LG front loader has a way to send diagnostic data to the factory; you hold the phone's mic to the washer and it sends data to the factory (which you presumably have to call first).