How to circumvent "laptop lojack" in 2 easy steps
on
Laptop Lojack?
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· Score: 1
Person steals laptop. Person wants either a) Laptop itself or b) Data on laptop
In the case of a), if there's a self-destruct device on the hard disk, the thief likely won't care. That's not one of the most expensive pieces in it anyhow. Yank it and replace it.
For b), use RF sheilding. All ya' need is a big ass metal box around the thing to prevent tracking. Getting the data wouldn't take that long. Then you just chuck the laptop in a lake.
This thing actually has a market for cars because there are so many cars and the probability of having a lojack in a car is so small that the risk is worth it for a thief. It's hard to find this thing in a car. Plus, it's kinda hard to find something RF shielded to stash a car in.
For laptops, it would probably be easy to find this thing inside, at least for anyone who cared. Once the word got out that they were common, ways would be found do work around it.
The simple solution: Don't fucking put classified information on laptops. Maybe that's not very practical. Just the first thing that comes to mind.
Thanks for the clarification. I originally realize what you said is feasable, I just thought it would be much more difficult than a more limited command set that has a limited domain for a large input range.
My concern was poorly placed, I now realize. I suppose the more syllables there are, the more likely an accurate match. I'm just wondering how intelligent your software is. For example, does it require an exact match, i.e. same number of syllables, or is it possible to say simply "Zero" for our above example. Either way, I suppose it doesn't really matter. It's up to the user to give their files a good naming convention. It may be a good thing to specify how your logic works, like maybe what sounds are recognized easily and which maybe aren't.
Sounds like you've really got something here. I actually would have use for the software alone for my home PC so I don't have to have a monitor and mouse on top of my entertainment system. If you can get this to market, I'd be more than happy to pay more than $600 and I'll be first in line. Good luck with it.
One big issue seems to be how the unit knows you're giving it a command. A "keyword" would work, though there is the issue of the music being too loud for the microphone to hear your voice. I would propose that rather than a audio cue for the system to listen to you, there be a physical one. A simple one button remote that would both tell the system you're giving it a command and instantly cut the output by 20db would likely work.
Voice recognition/dictation
About the effectiveness of the voice recognition. Like someone else mentioned, there is a huge difference between dictation and recognition as the words are used in the industry. (I once worked in a lab that was experimenting with voice controlled aircraft, hence my knowledge on the subject.)
Any voice system works like this: listen to the sample, break it down into elements, and extrapolate a word from a given set from the sample.
With dictation, the set of words is extremely large -- perhaps into the hundreds of thousands of words. With recognition, the set is much smaller -- maybe only a few hundred.
If you've never used one, most voice systems will always "come up with" a word for what you said. Yes, they're essentially the same thing. The "dictionary" is just smaller with recognition. Therefore, the probability of it choosing the correct word is much higher.
If you're going to use the voice system as recognition, i.e. replacing the functions of the buttons of an ordinary unit, it's considered recognition and fairly trivial, with probably at max 50 commands or "words".
If you try to actually choose the song by name, you're essentially doing dictation. That would be difficult, though not as difficult as normal dictation, because the system can use logic such as the number of words in the song to choose between songs. I personally wouldn't want to tackle coding this.
(This is, of course, ignoring the issue of how the computer thinks you should try to access the file 04_SMASHING_PUMPKINS_MELLONCHOLY_AND_INFINITE_SADN ESS_DISC_1_ZERO.MP3)
Alternative Interface
What if someone is speech impaired or doesn't like the voice interface? An alternative interface, perhaps in the form of a complicated remote control, is probably necessary, and is another issue (and cost) to think about.
This product, properly implemented, has real potential. Design and propagation into the market are the roadblocks.
I'm fairly heavily into Hi-Fi car equipment as well, and I can assure you that you would hear no complaints for lack of optical digital outputs on this unit. Anyone who would be interested in this feature and high end equipment is certainly interested in higher quality sound than the mp3 format can provide.
Did you somehow miss the magical word if in my post? I gave examples of OSes for illustrative purposes. If you're attempting to judge my opinion of OS superiority, you're missing my point entirely.
2) A lot of people who take more than 5 minutes to think about UI's will respond with "but my grandmother doesn't need to run pipes and greps and stuff". OK, but that's not an argument for a simple (minded?) Linux UI--it's an argument for your grandmother to use a different OS.
Wrong. What has the lack of need for certain programs to do with an OS? That's like saying that you should get the 4 cylinder instead of the 6 cylinder because you don't need the navigation system. You can get a grep that will work in Windows, too, you know. Most people don't need it, though. Just because it's there doesn't mean you have to use it.
If Linux is, in fact, superior, there should exist an interface that makes it so for everyone. And that includes your no-grep-needing grandmother.
I buy into the notion that perl programming replaces masturbation with sandpaper as the stupid, masochistic thing geeks like to do to avoid realizing that they need to get a life.
This coming from someone who says that they have written complex sh scripts, and, wait... get this... they work. Priceless.
I'd rather write any amount of sh than perl. When I need more than what's comfortable to do in sh, I call out to awk or sed, or write a C program.
If you knew how to use perl effectively, you wouldn't need to 'call out' to awk or sed. And writing a C program for something that you'd use sh for in the first place is pounding in a tack with a sledgehammer.
The single thing I probably hate most about perl, though, is that stupid "default variable" (called $_ or something like that... I forget).
Then quit your bitching and don't use it. Perl doesn't require you to use it. In fact, I didn't use it at all when I first started learning. Then a light bulb went on, and everything got much easier and made much more sense. Don't say something's 'stupid' because you lack the power to understand it.
Some perl bulitins operate only on $_
I'd like a few examples here.
others do so only if you don't specify otherwise
... which allows flexibility and makes perfect sense when you know what you're doing.
leading to ugly code that is impossible for anyone not already perl-literate to understand
You have a point there. I forgot how you can't understand a language you don't understand. Don't you get it? Was sh easy for you to understand before you learned it? Was C?
And don't even ask me about the six different ways of writing an "if" statement...
You're free to use only the ones that your simple mind can comprehend.
If you don't like Perl, don't use it. No one's twisting your arm. Take your sandpaper, go back to your desk, and write some shell scripts. Those of us who take the time to learn Perl will accomplish the task at hand much faster.
Yellow fur? That's nothing. It took me months to my arms and legs as long as Dhalsim's. I can kick people at the drinking fountain while I'm sitting at my desk punching people. Try that with your yellow fur.
I had an AOL account a few months ago. I had just graduated from college and was living at home for a month before moving. Didn't want to pay a startup fee at an ISP, just used an AOL trial.
Open, click "sign on", walk away for 5 minutes, then minimize: instant, free, short-term ISP.
What is it with this open source does nothing to kill profits kick?
They could stop people from making money by mirroring a version with the ads stripped out and then post about it here. Then you could put ads with your weather in there, too.
Not everything has to be somehow related to open source, you know.
Linux is extremely popular because it is totally free and of the large software base supporting it.
Nope. Try again. Ever think it's because it's a great OS? Plenty of people I know pay for it, and there are other OSes that have a much better "software base."
GNU is the group of programmers that make all the programs for Linux,
Strike two.
one of the requirements for making a program under the GNU license is that the program must be free and the source must be available to everyone.
Strikes 3 and 4. Man, you're not doing too well today.
While you were looking for quotes on the GNU website, did you run across the license, perchance? Since it's clear you didn't read it, please go back and do so. Along with the rest of the site.
Everyone helps everyone else, this is the way life should be..
Right. So please help everyone by not posting a mixture of obvious and incorrect information.
WTF is up with preview eating all my HTML tags today? It's really pissing me off.
I ususally know where I'm going, but it'd be nice to not have to get a paper map out and have to see where you're going to have to turn while you're trying to cross four lanes of heavy traffic.
Not only that, but if you're really lost at night, stopping, turning on a light, and looking at a map in your car is like saying "Please carjack/rob/kidnap/rape me."
For answers to this and all of your other Perl questions that have been answered a quadrillion times before, see the Perl FAQ here, look in your distribution, or man perlfaq.
It's not the isolation factor that's stopping them. It's the possibility of new software to allow effortless trading of digitized books between pirates using university campus networks.
Me: Interesting. How about a post that's off topic?
Moderator: Again, "Troll."
Me: I see. So how about a post that's redundant?
Moderator: That gets a little trickier. Sometimes an "Insightful" is necessary, sometimes an "Informative." Other times, maybe an "Interesting." It just depends on how redundant it is.
[...] if ONE snippet of code you use in your system is GPL-ed, your code should also be GPL-ed [...]
Yes, for certain values of "code." I'm not certain, but I would imagine that "code" in this case would mean that particular component that uses the GPLed code, not the entire OS.
I think you've been misinformed. MS Earth 40,000,000 B.C. was in spec a long time ago and is currently in production. They're just a few million years behind schedule. These things take time; cut them some slack.
Slashdot Mirror
a) Laptop itself
or
b) Data on laptop
In the case of a), if there's a self-destruct device on the hard disk, the thief likely won't care. That's not one of the most expensive pieces in it anyhow. Yank it and replace it.
For b), use RF sheilding. All ya' need is a big ass metal box around the thing to prevent tracking. Getting the data wouldn't take that long. Then you just chuck the laptop in a lake.
This thing actually has a market for cars because there are so many cars and the probability of having a lojack in a car is so small that the risk is worth it for a thief. It's hard to find this thing in a car. Plus, it's kinda hard to find something RF shielded to stash a car in.
For laptops, it would probably be easy to find this thing inside, at least for anyone who cared. Once the word got out that they were common, ways would be found do work around it.
The simple solution: Don't fucking put classified information on laptops. Maybe that's not very practical. Just the first thing that comes to mind.
Sorry. Don't think this would work.
My concern was poorly placed, I now realize. I suppose the more syllables there are, the more likely an accurate match. I'm just wondering how intelligent your software is. For example, does it require an exact match, i.e. same number of syllables, or is it possible to say simply "Zero" for our above example. Either way, I suppose it doesn't really matter. It's up to the user to give their files a good naming convention. It may be a good thing to specify how your logic works, like maybe what sounds are recognized easily and which maybe aren't.
Sounds like you've really got something here. I actually would have use for the software alone for my home PC so I don't have to have a monitor and mouse on top of my entertainment system. If you can get this to market, I'd be more than happy to pay more than $600 and I'll be first in line. Good luck with it.
Control
One big issue seems to be how the unit knows you're giving it a command. A "keyword" would work, though there is the issue of the music being too loud for the microphone to hear your voice. I would propose that rather than a audio cue for the system to listen to you, there be a physical one. A simple one button remote that would both tell the system you're giving it a command and instantly cut the output by 20db would likely work.
Voice recognition/dictation
About the effectiveness of the voice recognition. Like someone else mentioned, there is a huge difference between dictation and recognition as the words are used in the industry. (I once worked in a lab that was experimenting with voice controlled aircraft, hence my knowledge on the subject.)
Any voice system works like this: listen to the sample, break it down into elements, and extrapolate a word from a given set from the sample.
With dictation, the set of words is extremely large -- perhaps into the hundreds of thousands of words. With recognition, the set is much smaller -- maybe only a few hundred.
If you've never used one, most voice systems will always "come up with" a word for what you said. Yes, they're essentially the same thing. The "dictionary" is just smaller with recognition. Therefore, the probability of it choosing the correct word is much higher.
If you're going to use the voice system as recognition, i.e. replacing the functions of the buttons of an ordinary unit, it's considered recognition and fairly trivial, with probably at max 50 commands or "words".
If you try to actually choose the song by name, you're essentially doing dictation. That would be difficult, though not as difficult as normal dictation, because the system can use logic such as the number of words in the song to choose between songs. I personally wouldn't want to tackle coding this.
(This is, of course, ignoring the issue of how the computer thinks you should try to access the file 04_SMASHING_PUMPKINS_MELLONCHOLY_AND_INFINITE_SADN ESS_DISC_1_ZERO.MP3)
Alternative Interface
What if someone is speech impaired or doesn't like the voice interface? An alternative interface, perhaps in the form of a complicated remote control, is probably necessary, and is another issue (and cost) to think about.
This product, properly implemented, has real potential. Design and propagation into the market are the roadblocks.
I'm fairly heavily into Hi-Fi car equipment as well, and I can assure you that you would hear no complaints for lack of optical digital outputs on this unit. Anyone who would be interested in this feature and high end equipment is certainly interested in higher quality sound than the mp3 format can provide.
Just another among the wealth of compelling reasons to use a robust tool such as Microsoft FrontPage.
*duck*
Did you somehow miss the magical word if in my post? I gave examples of OSes for illustrative purposes. If you're attempting to judge my opinion of OS superiority, you're missing my point entirely.
Wrong. What has the lack of need for certain programs to do with an OS? That's like saying that you should get the 4 cylinder instead of the 6 cylinder because you don't need the navigation system. You can get a grep that will work in Windows, too, you know. Most people don't need it, though. Just because it's there doesn't mean you have to use it.
If Linux is, in fact, superior, there should exist an interface that makes it so for everyone. And that includes your no-grep-needing grandmother.
100 BILLION DOLLARS!!!
Sorry. Couldn't resist. :P
This coming from someone who says that they have written complex sh scripts, and, wait... get this... they work. Priceless.
I'd rather write any amount of sh than perl. When I need more than what's comfortable to do in sh, I call out to awk or sed, or write a C program.
If you knew how to use perl effectively, you wouldn't need to 'call out' to awk or sed. And writing a C program for something that you'd use sh for in the first place is pounding in a tack with a sledgehammer.
The single thing I probably hate most about perl, though, is that stupid "default variable" (called $_ or something like that... I forget).
Then quit your bitching and don't use it. Perl doesn't require you to use it. In fact, I didn't use it at all when I first started learning. Then a light bulb went on, and everything got much easier and made much more sense. Don't say something's 'stupid' because you lack the power to understand it.
Some perl bulitins operate only on $_
I'd like a few examples here.
others do so only if you don't specify otherwise
leading to ugly code that is impossible for anyone not already perl-literate to understand
You have a point there. I forgot how you can't understand a language you don't understand. Don't you get it? Was sh easy for you to understand before you learned it? Was C?
And don't even ask me about the six different ways of writing an "if" statement...
You're free to use only the ones that your simple mind can comprehend.
If you don't like Perl, don't use it. No one's twisting your arm. Take your sandpaper, go back to your desk, and write some shell scripts. Those of us who take the time to learn Perl will accomplish the task at hand much faster.
Nope. They never appeared. If you cancel in time, that doesn't happen. Not everything's a conspiracy.
Open, click "sign on", walk away for 5 minutes, then minimize: instant, free, short-term ISP.
They could stop people from making money by mirroring a version with the ads stripped out and then post about it here. Then you could put ads with your weather in there, too.
Not everything has to be somehow related to open source, you know.
Nope. Try again. Ever think it's because it's a great OS? Plenty of people I know pay for it, and there are other OSes that have a much better "software base."
GNU is the group of programmers that make all the programs for Linux,
Strike two.
one of the requirements for making a program under the GNU license is that the program must be free and the source must be available to everyone.
Strikes 3 and 4. Man, you're not doing too well today.
While you were looking for quotes on the GNU website, did you run across the license, perchance? Since it's clear you didn't read it, please go back and do so. Along with the rest of the site.
Everyone helps everyone else, this is the way life should be..
Right. So please help everyone by not posting a mixture of obvious and incorrect information.
WTF is up with preview eating all my HTML tags today? It's really pissing me off.
I've never heard of the "Hamfest", but I've heard of the "Hamvention", which is oddly enough the name of the website in your link.
I go there occasionally because you can pick up some good used computer equipment. You think you have seen dorks until you go here. Man...
Not only that, but if you're really lost at night, stopping, turning on a light, and looking at a map in your car is like saying "Please carjack/rob/kidnap/rape me."
from the now-no-one-will-know-where-i-am dept.
Shouldn't it be:
from the now-not-even-i-know-where-i-am dept?
On another note, they should change the Preview button text to Strip all the html tags from your post source.
For answers to this and all of your other Perl questions that have been answered a quadrillion times before, see the Perl FAQ here, look in your distribution, or man perlfaq.
We're screwed now.
Me: How do you moderate a post that is flamebait?
Moderator: "Troll."
Me: Interesting. How about a post that's off topic?
Moderator: Again, "Troll."
Me: I see. So how about a post that's redundant?
Moderator: That gets a little trickier. Sometimes an "Insightful" is necessary, sometimes an "Informative." Other times, maybe an "Interesting." It just depends on how redundant it is.
Yes, for certain values of "code." I'm not certain, but I would imagine that "code" in this case would mean that particular component that uses the GPLed code, not the entire OS.
I should get my girl one of these just so I have a good reason to bitch about pulli... ahh... nevermind.
I think you've been misinformed. MS Earth 40,000,000 B.C. was in spec a long time ago and is currently in production. They're just a few million years behind schedule. These things take time; cut them some slack.
This is breaking news. Where's that article submission form?
This is so hilarious I nearly fell out of my chair when I read it. I needed a good laugh to get me through the rest of the day. Thank you.