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killmoms

macrumors 68040
Jun 23, 2003
3,754
55
Durham, NC
More like "not a hole at all." Here's the attack vector:

1) Turn on voice commands (not on by default)
2) Be at the computer (voice commands deactivate when the screensaver comes on/screen is asleep/computer is asleep)
3) Have your speakers turned up
4) Have your mic close enough to your speakers
5) Turn off Vista's echo-cancellation (on by default)
6) Issue commands

AKA... not a hole at all. People who think this is a "hole" might have a hole in their head. :rolleyes:
 

whooleytoo

macrumors 604
Aug 2, 2002
6,607
716
Cork, Ireland.
Surely a similar 'exploit' could be performed with Mac speech recognition.

Bloody Microsoft, playing catch-up again...

jx

Too true! :p

My Mac & TV even started a conversation a few times, until I figured out what was going on.

(Every now and then I'd hear some noise coming from the Mac, but never managed to catch what it was. But once it happened with the sound turned up - in this case someone from TV said "We don't have the time!" and the Mac replied "It's seven thirty".

Ok..ok.. it's not the most rivetting conversation ever, but...)
 

Gosh

macrumors 6502
Aug 14, 2006
349
0
Call me Mr Cynical!

Mr Cynical from Cynical Towers, Cynicville, Cynicshire but...

it's the one leading edge feature that Vista has - don't you think maybe it's a ploy to draw attention to it? Then they can say fixed it!?!
 

killmoms

macrumors 68040
Jun 23, 2003
3,754
55
Durham, NC
(Every now and then I'd hear some noise coming from the Mac, but never managed to catch what it was. But once it happened with the sound turned up - in this case someone from TV said "We don't have the time!" and the Mac replied "It's seven thirty".

Ok..ok.. it's not the most rivetting conversation ever, but...)

Bwaha, that's awesome. :D
 

akadmon

Suspended
Aug 30, 2006
2,006
2
New England
Surely a similar 'exploit' could be performed with Mac speech recognition.

jx

You're kidding, right? I think speech recognition in OS X is a complete joke. Even a simple request such as "What time ist it?" takes several attempts to be recognized by OS X! And you think that "Open Folder X, move file Y to Trash" would work?
 

janitorC7

macrumors 6502a
Feb 10, 2006
640
20
California
Can we please get off of Voice Recognition in this world. It's not going to work with consmer tech, and there does not seem to be a need for it. Mabye in like 40 years, When I'm talking to my second generation iHOME and telling it to adjust the lights. But for rite now I dont see it as a big deal
 

princealfie

macrumors 68030
Mar 7, 2006
2,517
1
Salt Lake City UT
Can we please get off of Voice Recognition in this world. It's not going to work with consmer tech, and there does not seem to be a need for it. Mabye in like 40 years, When I'm talking to my second generation iHOME and telling it to adjust the lights. But for rite now I dont see it as a big deal

Wow, not a visionary eh, buddy? :D
 

killmoms

macrumors 68040
Jun 23, 2003
3,754
55
Durham, NC
My sister's blind father-in-law would disagree...Seriously, if we can make it easier for people to interact with a computer or device, then I say lets do it.

I guess janitorC7's visionary plan for consumers is "**** the blind." :rolleyes:

However, I agree with the assessment that the overall goal of voice recognition (make it possible to interact with a computer largely via sound instead of visuals) has not been reached yet and still has some significant hurdles to overcome. At the moment, voice interaction is focused on creating a "window" into a primarily visual-driven system. Blind people still have to deal with concepts of windows and pages and dialogues and other systems designed to be primarily visual. I think the real accomplishment will be creating devices that are focused SOLELY on voice as their input, and output information to the user in a fashion that is beneficial for that goal.

It's hard to explain, and obviously this is a layman's view (since I am neither blind nor involved in designing UIs), but I feel like it's at least semi-educated conjecture. Or at least my opinion, which is mine. ;)
 
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