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35 Comments
- Error601, on 10/10/2007, -3/+20Because we all are constantly turning on and off appliances as we move about the house?
- cygnus2112, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Wow! This has to be ranked up there with plastic kitchen knives that cut out interesting squiggly shapes from potatoes and carrots!
- Godlike, on 10/10/2007, -3/+9Why not just get an RFID enema instead?
- TheKorn2, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6This would have been great technology in 1980 when people actually turned things off. Nowadays with everyhting in perpetual standby, you don't have much real noise just a (mostly silent) increase in load. Or worse, items (like DVRs) that stay on all the time, period!
Plus, I think it'd be annoying to have the kitchen lights go on every time the fridge compressor kicks on! :) - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Let's change this, so the left can comprehend this.
"Bush could one day track your movements around the house by monitoring the electrical noise made by household appliances as you switch them on and off."
Not so cool anymore is it? - inactive, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3I do in hopes that one day winter will be no more.
- cygnus2112, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Free in a box of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes or Special K!
- Hojohto, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I'd rather be able to track how much pacing I do.
- SpiroPope, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Hmm... New Scientist usually reports interesting cutting edge stuff... this seems to me to be a bit pedestrian and worthless. There are much better ways and possibilities to track someone's movements.
- JFitzpatrick, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1If I turn the monitor off, how will I be amused by the flying toasters?
- spyd3rweb, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I'm sorry Dave I can't do that.
- TyrannousDotNet, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2why not track the electrical signal of the body? not appliances?
- TheKorn2, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1If you're sleeping, why would you want the lights ON?
- RicktheBrick, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1An old gas stove with a pilot light would not use any electricity neither would a sink and getting a bowl or utensils would not alert the computer. I do not know what the computer could do if it knows someone is in a particular room either. The computer needs to communicate with that person so there is a need for a microphone and a speaker so that the computer could ensure that the right person is there and that the person is not in any trouble.
- sishgupta, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I'd bet that the reason is because it is much harder to pick up. One would have to install sensors in places. You might as well just stick a tracker to your body and skip the electrical signal of the body altogether.
The electrical signal of an appliance can often travel throughout a house because a houses power grid is all connected. (think ethernet over your homes power) - Otto, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Yes. Lights. Or do you leave all your lights on all the time?
- Radar3D, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1S.A.R.A.H., door!
- cygnus2112, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Dave, although you took thorough precautions in the pod against my hearing you, I could see your lips move.
- JFitzpatrick, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2This seems like a ridiculous and terribly ineffecient system. I've been awake for 5 hours so far today and I've turned on no lights (sun was up when I got up) I didn't turn on my computer (it was already on working on some over night tasks) the only thing I turned on was the espresso machine for about 7 minutes. So this amazing computer system would be under the impression that I sat at my computer for the last 24 hours and then went and made some coffee. At least the MIBs will know where to find me =)
- sishgupta, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1The increase in load between standby and actual on is large enough that it would make a recognizable disturbance if someone were to measure it
- ,,|,_, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Open the garage door, HAL...
- thunderer, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Well, why not use an existing device as a tracker, such as a cell phone's wifi signal? Have three access points, and triangulate. If your house is bigger than the range of the wifi, or you have a dead spot, you're probably going to want the area to have access anyway, so adding another receiver is already in the cards. Calibration could be as simple as walking the perimeter of every room while holding your phone.
- Otto, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Why would you leave the TV on while sleeping? Waste power much?
- Otto, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I want mine to track me, yes. So that my music can follow me from room to room, or lights can come on and go off as I wander around. If I'm watching a TV show in the bedroom and get up to go to the bathroom or living room, the TV show should follow me there. So yeah, tracking where I am in my house is something I do want my computer to do.
- Otto, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Did you turn the computer monitor on/off? Did the monitor go into power save mode or screensaver mode?
You can track activity by more than just what you do... what you don't do can give clues as well. - spyd3rweb, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1apparently people aren't listening to the warnings given to us by people in the past. either that or no one reads books anymore.
- thcobbs, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1What if you like to leave the TV on in the living room, but sleep in your own room with all the lights off?
- sishgupta, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2a light is an appliance.
but i think the point is that it will know that you are in the tv room when you are watching tv, in the bathroom when the jacuzzi is going, in the basement when the treadmill is going, etc - fuckinhell, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0@John370
Correction: Do I want a computer running Windows Vista tracking me. - RyanBlueThunder, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1This begs for a modern remake of The Fall of the House of Usher.
They’re system of oppression / What did it lead to? / Global robots depression. / Robots, robot people / They had so much aggression / That we just had to kill them /Had to shut their systems down. - John370, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Do I want my computer to track me?
- LilSnackPackMan, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Like Bush doesn't have enough ways to track us now...
- br0ck, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1How's the system supposed to turn the lights or TV on for you when it doesn't know you're in that room until you turn on the light or TV?
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Never wonder how old that coffee is you brewed again! WTF is the point
- XisZ, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1Well, think about it- try looking around the house without using electricity.
A Simple task like reading a book may require a light.
Or making dinner will mean you are using a stove, sink, and kitchenware.
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