Australia's Geekiest Man 256
An anonymous reader writes "Why have a key to open your front door when you can have an RFID tag implanted in your arm that will do the trick? Computerworld has a story up about the outgoing Linux Australia group president's hacked home, in which just about anything from watering the lawn, to opening his blinds, or checking the mail can be controlled through a software environment. Jonathan Oxer is an electronics and coding whiz who apparently has an RIFD tag implanted in his arm that opens his front door, and his front gate is hooked up with gigabit Ethernet — able to tell him when someone enters the property or send him a virtual email or sms to say he has real mail. Apparently the iPod Touch has just inspired him to begin linking all his little hardware hacks together into the one single, software controlled handheld touch device. I wonder if Steve Jobs ever thought the Touch would end up being used this way?"
RFID? (Score:2, Funny)
Virtual email? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Pretty damn cool (Score:5, Funny)
Re:RFID? (Score:5, Funny)
very touching (Score:0, Funny)
Then again (Score:5, Funny)
What sort of emergency do you have in mind? No home security will deter a determined malicious threat from entering, but a gadgetted up house you could fully control with a device that fits in your pocket, could create enough of a distraction to escape.
Answering the question posed (Score:5, Funny)
I can think of a number of reasons.
1. You can give your key to a trusted associate, for example to housesit or run an errand for you. Giving your arm to a trusted associate is computationally intensive, destructive, and irreversible.
2. You can, for the cost of less than one hour's salary, revoke the key tied to a compromised lock, and then issue a new key. If unforseen circumstances should cause the RFID lock to require revoking, well, bad news bears...
3. Key/lock devices are well understood, hardly ever fail due to them having few moving parts which are almost never in operation, and are robust against almost all unforseen environmental conditions (i.e. power outage). Arm/RFID reader interfaces are poorly understood, by necessity have to be polling constantly, and are dependent on several fragile systems to maintain the key requirements that you be let into your house promptly any time you desire and that unauthorized users be rejected 100% of the time.
4. You have designs of ever having a romantic relationship. ("Honey, I know preparations for the wedding have been a bit busy, but we'll have to schedule your surgery sometime this week...")
5. A diligent attacker attempting to compromise your lock/key interface has no reason to attempt to compromise your shoulder/arm interface with a hacksaw.
Re:Then again (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah perhaps I didn't think that one through completely, but I'm just not comfortable with security measures being implemented or disengaged simply by proximity.
Speaking of your distraction scenario, and clearly because I read too much /., I had a vision of all TVs and computer screens splashing goatse on the would-be evildoer. Something tells me that would at least confuse most anybody's plans.
Re:Does Slashdot only hire Aussies now? (Score:2, Funny)
Fire away wise guys (Score:5, Funny)
Just pause for a moment and admit to yourself that you were thinking what language *you* would be scripting the curtains with.
Shows commitment (Score:3, Funny)
Got an implant.... now that shows you're into it.... or at least it's into you!
Re:Answering the question posed (Score:3, Funny)
If I recall correctly they used a big arsed needle to implant the microchips in my dogs and that was 8 years ago.
Hey honey, bend over! This will only take a minute!
Oops silly me, that was meant to go in your arm. I read the instructions wrong. Hey your options are that you can put your arse against the door to open it or we can do this again in your arm. Which do you pick?
Re:Virtual email? (Score:5, Funny)
Hmmmmm..... (Score:3, Funny)
Jobs Shmobs (Score:3, Funny)
OT (Score:3, Funny)
I for one am well past the "take the cheque and fuck off" stage, I've survived the "working single dad" stage and the "middle age disco heart attack" stage. I think the "indifferent old fart" stage is next, I'd ask dad but he's in the "surprised to be alive" stage and mostly just grins like a child.
Go away, I don't have a lawn!
Re:Cancerous Police state much? (Score:5, Funny)
I'm not uber-rich yet, but when I get there, I want my minions to have RFID tags as well as silver lycra bodysuits.
It's a style thing.
Re:Why the iPod touch? (Score:2, Funny)
(Sniff, sniff) "OK, who's cooking the pork roast?" (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Research much? Scare easily? (Score:5, Funny)
You can mock all you like, but how many times has a building that they were occupying had an aircraft crash into it since the implantation?
gigabit Ethernet (Score:2, Funny)
Does that help the gate open/close faster?
Re:Bah! (Score:5, Funny)
Your mother
Re:Never say never? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Excessive? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Excessive? (Score:2, Funny)
Yes.
Re:Pretty damn cool (Score:5, Funny)
Why indeed (Score:5, Funny)
Because you'd like to attract women at some point?
Not to rain on anyone's parade (Score:5, Funny)
And gravity.
Re:Excessive? (Score:3, Funny)
On a worringly frequent basis, often without clothing, with inexplicable knife wounds or covered in leaves.
Finally... (Score:2, Funny)
I am not Australia's geekiest man!
Re:Then again - careful what you wish for (Score:4, Funny)
Shhhhh! Do you really want to give the movie studios any ideas and then have to sit through "Home Alone Version 4.0"?
Re:Then again (Score:3, Funny)