Monday, August 21, 2006

Knock Knock..... Who's there?

Apart from Asterisk I dont use Linux persay (even though I've downloaded and installed various Unbuntu linux iso's to try it out from time to time) I've pretty much been a windows user my whole life and happy with all the neat software and functionality that this gives me.......until today.

Now I love geeks, I love the neat things that they can come up with that you wouldn't have thought of, and linux geeks especially so.

But this takes the cake.

The new ibm laptops have something called "Hard Drive Active Protection System" (HDAPS) built into their hard drives.....basically in english it means, your laptop knows when it is bumped or falling so that it can prepare to 'brace' itself for the knock.

Or thats what it was designed for.

So these geeks went out and wrote some code called knockAge.pl script. This is a Perl program that allows you to create knock sequences as well as listen for specific knock sequences and run commands.

http://www.ibm.com/Knock-Knock

Yep, you read that right, the hard drive can measure you knocking on your laptop and know when it is you versus someone who looked over your shoulder as you typed in your password last week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f_eU3huEG0

Want unlock your screen saver with a certain code.... no probs,

Want to log into your secure files ....whats the code :)

I know this is only going to appeal to a very small very unique audience but count me in for one - is it enough for me to swap to linux, no not really but it's certainly something to be envious of.


Cheers,
Dean

P.S. if you are still reading this far you're a geek and will love this video as well http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbh_JGbPoJU&NR totally useless but uses HDAPS to move your active window around the display.

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