Scientists teach a seal to sing Star Wars theme, plus other hits

Taking into account even the most horrendous of shower-time singers, the vocal prowess of humans goes mostly unmatched in the animal kingdom. But scientists in Scotland have now found success training grey seals to mimic the human voice and e… Continue reading Scientists teach a seal to sing Star Wars theme, plus other hits

This Cardboard Box Can Tell You What It Sees

It wasn’t that long ago that talking to computers was the preserve of movies and science fiction. Slowly, voice recognition improved, and these days it’s getting to be pretty usable. The technology has moved beyond basic keywords, and can now parse sentences in natural language. [Liz Meyers] has been working …read more

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Manhole Covers Hide Antennas

5G is gearing up to be the most extensive implementation of mesh networking ever, and that could mean antennas will not need to broadcast for miles, just far enough to reach some devices. That unsightly cell infrastructure stuck on water towers and church steeples could soon be hidden under low-profile hunks of metal we are already used to seeing; manhole covers. This makes sense because 5G’s millimeter radio waves are more or less line-of-sight, and cell users probably wouldn’t want to lose connectivity every time they walk behind a building.

At the moment, Vodafone in the UK is testing similar …read more

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Pindrop raises $90M to bring its voice-fraud prevention to IoT devices and Europe

When it comes to how humans communicate with each other or with machines, voice is a major interface, with growth in the latter fuelled by the rise of artificial intelligence, faster computing technology and an explosion of new devices — some of which only, or primarily, work with voice commands. But the supreme reign of voice has […] Continue reading Pindrop raises $90M to bring its voice-fraud prevention to IoT devices and Europe

Midterm Election Security, Gait Recognition Surveillance Technology, Caller ID Authentication – WB42

This is your Shared Security Weekly Blaze for November 12, 2018 with your host, Tom Eston. In this week’s episode: Midterm Election Security, Gait Recognition Surveillance Technology and Caller ID Authentication Silent Pocket is a proud sponsor o… Continue reading Midterm Election Security, Gait Recognition Surveillance Technology, Caller ID Authentication – WB42

Add Nest Functionality to your Thermostat for $5

The Nest Thermostat revolutionized the way that people control the climate in their homes. It has features more features than even the best programmable thermostats. But, all of the premium features also come at a premium price. On the other hand, for only $5, a little coding, and the realization that thermostats are glorified switches, you can easily have your own thermostat that can do everything a Nest can do.

[Mat’s] solution uses a Sonoff WiFi switch that he ties directly into the thermostat’s control wiring. That’s really the easy part, since most thermostats have a ground or common wire, …read more

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Alexa, Attack Intruders

If our doom at the hands of our robot overlords is coming, I for one welcome the chance to get a preview of how they might go about it. That’s the idea behind Project Icarus, an Alexa-enabled face-tracking Nerf turret. Designed by [Nick Engmann],  this impressive (or terrifying) project is built around a Nerf Vulcan, a foam dart firing machine gun mounted on a panning turret that is hidden behind a drop-down cabinet door. This is connected to a Pi Zero equipped with a Pi camera. The Zero is running OpenCV and Google Firebase, which connects it with Amazon’s Alexa …read more

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Next Generation Alerts Generally Available in Azure

This post will explain the improvements that Microsoft has made by making the next-generation alert system of Azure generally available.

The post Next Generation Alerts Generally Available in Azure appeared first on Petri.

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Alexa Controls This Projector Thanks to ESP8266

[jfessard] doesn’t have extra-sensory perception, but does have an ESP8266. The little board seems to pop up in every hack these days. Inspired by not wanting to get up from the bean-bag chair or leave the electronics-housing cabinet wide open to use an HDMI switcher, [jfessard] hacked together an Alexa-compatible projector control via the ESP8266!

The core functionality here is the ability to turn the projector on and off, and to switch the HDMI source. [jfessard] connected the Panasonic PT-AE3000U projector to a Monoprice HDX-401TA 4×1 HDMI switcher. Tucked away in the cabinet below the projector, it is controlled using …read more

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