If you have one of AMD's 64 bit processors you can get a prerelease version of the operating system to try out. Info & a signup link are available here.
I think you were making a joke... but... you weren't!
Ambient has a channel (one of the ~10 free ones) called 'Homeland Security'. The color map is solid green, blue, yellow, orange, red (no gradients between them) just like the official 'Homeland Security Advisory System'. This channel doesn't map the orb pulsing to anything - it may have been a bit more interesting of a channel if you could map the pulse to indicate whether an actual 'event' is occuring.
Your response makes it sound like you think they are trying to trick you in some way - like it is some big secret that pagers are involved.
They are not doing that. In fact, there are several pages on their website where they specifically call out that they are using existing pager technology. The first example that comes to mind is the main 'Technology' page where they say
This platform takes advantage of existing long-range (pager networks, 2.5G, SMS), as well as emerging short-range (Bluetooth, 802.11) connectivity standards.
The second example is probably the one more interesting to Slashdot readers. On one of the developer support pages there are bunch of helpful links, including one to a PDF of old schematics that says
These are the schematics to our "orb classic" which used an external pager. The orb we currently sell has the pager unit internal to the orb.
Also, you say that you may end up worth a worthless piece of junk one day if you don't hack it. Well, they sell serial interfaces so you can do custom programming (again, see developer support). The existing orb doesn't use SMS, Bluetooth, or 802.11, but those technologies aren't going anywhere anytime soon so future devices will have an ever longer lifespan. (I'm sure you know that pager networks cover much larger areas that cell phones, and that many parts of the world still use pagers more than cell phones too)
No, I do not work for this company. Yes, I do own an Orb.
Slashdot Mirror
If you have one of AMD's 64 bit processors you can get a prerelease version of the operating system to try out. Info & a signup link are available here.
I think you were making a joke... but... you weren't!
Ambient has a channel (one of the ~10 free ones) called 'Homeland Security'. The color map is solid green, blue, yellow, orange, red (no gradients between them) just like the official 'Homeland Security Advisory System'.
This channel doesn't map the orb pulsing to anything - it may have been a bit more interesting of a channel if you could map the pulse to indicate whether an actual 'event' is occuring.
They are not doing that. In fact, there are several pages on their website where they specifically call out that they are using existing pager technology. The first example that comes to mind is the main 'Technology' page where they say
The second example is probably the one more interesting to Slashdot readers. On one of the developer support pages there are bunch of helpful links, including one to a PDF of old schematics that says
Also, you say that you may end up worth a worthless piece of junk one day if you don't hack it. Well, they sell serial interfaces so you can do custom programming (again, see developer support). The existing orb doesn't use SMS, Bluetooth, or 802.11, but those technologies aren't going anywhere anytime soon so future devices will have an ever longer lifespan. (I'm sure you know that pager networks cover much larger areas that cell phones, and that many parts of the world still use pagers more than cell phones too)
No, I do not work for this company. Yes, I do own an Orb.