New Keyboard Accessory Shocks Users When They Try To Go On Facebook 125
cartechboy writes "Two Ph.D. students from MIT have created a keyboard accessory, the Pavlov Poke, that shocks you every time you go onto Facebook. The project comes as a result of the students finding the waste over 50 hours a week combined on the social network (instead of working on their dissertations) So the pair created an Arduino-based keyboard hand-rest that shocks computer users who spend too much time checking the social network. The hack is 'intended to generate discussion' — not actually turn into a business." Inventor Robert Morris describes it as "something of a joke," but I'm sure there's a market out there.
The real market (Score:3, Funny)
The real market is for sado-masochists that are addicted to farmville (or is that redundant). If you just want to stop wasting your life, give up or moderate your FB (and slashdot) usage.
Re:The real market (Score:4, Insightful)
The real market is for overly controlling bosses who would love to install these on their employees' desktops.
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Sorry boss, I didn't mean to link that up to your keylogger software, honest!
Re:The real market (Score:5, Funny)
Now, commenting on Slashdot on the company dime, on the other hand...
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Says someone who is almost certainly posting that from work. :p
Re: (Score:1, Interesting)
2 things.
A) Privilege of owning the business, I get to decide whats acceptable and whats not.
B) My employees don't read Facebook at work, slashdot is not the same thing is it? Having a bunch of geeks spend 5 minutes a day on slashdot isn't really a bad thing, the gains far outweigh the 5 minutes of cost. You can't waste that much time on slashdot, its not that kind of site.
Facebook on the other hand offers no benefits to my business and can certainly become a massive time sink for those with no self contr
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Having a bunch of geeks spend 5 minutes a day on slashdot isn't really a bad thing, the gains far outweigh the 5 minutes of cost. You can't waste that much time on slashdot, its not that kind of site.
Baaaahahahahahhahahahahhahahahahhahahahhahahah
No, but seriously
hahahahahahahhahahahahhahah
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Having a bunch of geeks spend 5 minutes a day on slashdot isn't really a bad thing...
5 minutes a day? Yes... Of course...
Re:The real market (Score:5, Insightful)
I do not ban Facebook however, it makes my life much easier. You get hired, if during your first 90 days I see Facebook opened on your machine, you get released on the spot.
So, what you're saying is that you DO ban Facebook, you just don't tell your employees that you do, until you fire them for it.
While it's certainly your right as an employer to act like a complete asshat, I feel sorry for your employees.
Do you put them on double secret probation as well?
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Am always amazed at how some desk jockies feel the computer provided by the employer for work is their personal toy to do with as they please.
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I've always been amazed that employers would fire employees for violating secret policies.
Have whatever acceptable use policy you want. It's your business, and your right.
Keeping that policy secret, and firing people for violating it is the asshattery that I was referring to.
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Guess it goes hand in hand with the way our lovely government tends to do things now days.
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lol.
Let's rewrite the PR a bit there. I don't know what the actual situation is so I am going to just talk as much BS as the original guy, but the other way round.
Let's begin:
--
I have such an easy solution for FB: Tyranny.
Primarily because of years of union hating and political apathy by the middle class, workers right are so shite in this country I can just fire people on the spot for having the wrong website open even once when I happen by. (Ed's note: Seriously america...WTF?!) This makes me feel like "a
Re: (Score:2)
It also seems you have no idea about the various scammy face book hooks scattered all over the internet. You can often end up on facebook with no desire to go there and the only reason it happened is you haven't blocked the various facebook scripts with a tool like http://noscript.net/ [noscript.net]. So a little bit knee jerk there depending upon how you have set up your company machines and the base software running upon startup of the machine and startup of particular applications.
Re: The real market (Score:3)
I don't believe this is legal, while you do have the right to terminate an employment relationship in a employment at will relationship, you're exposing yourself to a tort claim for misrepresenting the terms of employment. You could end up paying for the damages that result from unemployment. At the very least, your actions are unquestionably unethical and a jury would find contempt in your admission.
State clearly in writing what behavoir is acceptable and what is not in an employer handbook and have the em
Manager at Chotchkie's? (Score:2)
We need to talk about your flair.
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Re: The real market (Score:2)
Re:The real market (Score:5, Insightful)
better yet, fire people who don't get their work done and not worry about the details of "Why"
I don't care if you're running a nail salon and a tattoo parlor from your smartphone while you're at work as long as you're getting quality work done on time for me. The idea that an employer can monitor and badger a bad employee into a good one is one of the oldest, most idiotic myths I've ever heard. Enough already.
Re:The real market (Score:4, Insightful)
Are you hiring ?? That kind of enlightened attitude intrigues me.
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do ettttttt
if only for the lolz that the personal injury trial will generate.
the possibilities are endless! (Score:2)
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Over-controlling bosses as in "I pay you to work, not spend your day surfing and looking at cat videos and chatting up your friends"? Those kinds of bosses? Yeah, I hate those guys,those over-controlling douche-bags.
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shut up and take my money! (Score:5, Funny)
And I need a second one for my sister!
so... (Score:3)
the rivalry continues! so harvard, how do you respond?!
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the rivalry continues! so harvard, how do you respond?!
Not sure if serious.
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First the came for Facebook... (Score:5, Funny)
Seriously, I only see this sort of thing being useful for a) folks who want to discipline themselves or b) sadistic overlords who think users need to not just be blocked, but punished for succumbing to their weaknesses.
In short, the target market is your average Megachurch.
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I'm baffled as to who spends so much time on facebook that this matters. I mean, seriously, is watching your idiot "friends" make idiot updates really that fucking fascinating?
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Facebook says: (Score:1)
Wonderful idea! (Score:2)
I'll just ignore the fact that everyone has smartphones and tablets, which all have FB on them, shall I?
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Um, actually, I don't use FB on my iPhone. Removed it.
I think you'll find tab navigation works as well, depending on your OS.
Thank Heavens (Score:5, Funny)
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If you have a raging pr0n addiction, this'll save you from the friction burns elsewhere.
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If you're getting friction burns from pr0n, you're missing some of the necessary additional equipment (e.g. a lube of some sort).
Not just Facebook (Score:3)
This could be extended to sites like Slashdot. And be used as a sort of aversion therapy for people who read posts by timo....[Ouch!]
MIT? (Score:1)
Last I heard Facebook was only open to Harvard students.
Instructions unclear... (Score:4, Funny)
Best use for Mechanical Turk... (Score:2)
BlockSite (for Firefox) worked for me (Score:3)
I realised I was wasting far too much time on Facebook a couple of years ago, along with other forums, and found it hard not to browse there - often, I found that I was just typing the URL without thinking about it, and loading the site without giving it any thought. A friend recommended BlockSite [mozilla.org] to me, and, whilst I felt a bit stupid at needing this crutch, I took it, and managed to get things back under control.
Just add in the URLs of the site in question, and it blocks access to the pages (and elements at those URLs from loading as part of other pages). Editing a hosts file is probably just as suitable, but this worked for me...
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it's only as useful as one's willingness to hold to the restrictions you set for yourself. But it definitely cuts down on the incidental, half-conscious drift onto such sites.
I made one too! (Score:5, Funny)
It shocks me whenever I waste time on Slashdaaarrrrgh
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It shocks me whenever I waste time on Slashdaaarrrrgh
What?
"It shocks me whenever I waste time on Slashdaaarrrrgh."
What is that?
He must have died while carving it.
-Come on!
-That's what it says.
Look, if he was dying,
he wouldn't bother to carve "Slashdaaarrrrgh."
-He'd just say it.
-That's what's carved in the rock.
-Perhaps he was dictating it.
-Shut up!
-Does it say anything else?
-No!
Just "Slashdaaarrrrgh."
Slashdaaarrrrgh.
Do you suppose he meant the Camargue?
-Where's that?
-ln France, I think.
-lsn't there a St. Slashdaaarrrrgh's in
Mod Parent Up!!!! (Score:2)
That's the exact thought I had while reading GP.
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Why stop there? (Score:1)
Facebook is only one.
Just silly (Score:2)
Let them fail in school. If they can't control their addictions to Facebook, what kind of focus will they have once they hit the job market. Like a friend of mine said the other day: "Darwinism is dead". If they are too dumb to realize what they are doing, let them fail. Self elimination.
Skinner's spellchecker (Score:1)
I wonder how good it is at improving spelling, grammar and sentence construction? I'd be willing try it out for a laugh.
Of course the real money is always in sleaze so I can see women buying this keyboard to keep their husbands, and sons, off porn.
Use the hosts file (Score:2)
When they graduate they might have learned enough to use the hosts file instead.
SelfControl app (Score:1)
It blocks off certain sites for a specified limit of time, and there's no way around it other than to wait for the timer to finish. Free, and much less painful.
Low Level Shock (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Could be dangerous for people with heart problems...
Not if the shock was the same or less as that produced by a static charge. It is enough to get your attention but not kill you, well at least I have never heard of someone's pace maker quitting due to a static charge.
Electroshock S&M facebook page (Score:1)
Meanwhile... (Score:1)
Pavlov..Interesting... (Score:5, Interesting)
unintended consequences? (Score:3)
Socializing via Facebook is probably a lot faster and more efficient than socializing in the numerous ways that past graduate students used. So I'm not sure that this actually achieves what aims to achieve.
Re: (Score:3)
Jevon's Paradox [wikipedia.org]: greater efficiency leads to greater resource use. Walking across campus to socialize with a friend over coffee: 20 minutes. Only going to do that once a day. Quickly glancing at your Facebook page, and firing off a one-liner response to a comment? Takes just a minute. Done hundreds of times per day...
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It's a proposition, not a law of nature. And, believe me, socializing in grad school didn't used to be limited to 20 minutes a day.
How about... (Score:2)
Just not go on facebook? It seems like there is an entire generation which has developed the inability to focus an anything for more than.... Oh look! shiny...
all ya gotta do (Score:2)
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Hosts file? But then all I have to do is go in and edit the file to let me back in. How do you block yourself from your own computer?
Competitiveness. (Score:2)
Take that, Yale!
Won't that just make the problem worse? (Score:2)
How quaint. (Score:1)
"New Keyboard Accessory Shocks Users When They Try To Go On Facebook" -- Oh look, the humans have finally invented brains.
What's really cute is watching you silly apes marvel at the invention of a global decentralized near instantaneous peer to peer communication system, and just piddle with it, like ameobas happening upon a Rubik's Cube.
The story thus reads something like: "Amoebic Scientists have discovered how to attach their displeasurable waste product to the red squares of the Rainbow Monolith th
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How about one for Slashdot? (Score:2)
I'd say they should make one for Slashdot....
Sounds good (Score:2)
Get back to work! (Score:2)
50 hours combined! So If I understand this correctly, between the two, they each spend about 25 hours on facebook per week. This would average out to just over 3.5 hours per day. Now I use facebook, sparingly, but I usually spend no more than 15-20 minutes when I check it. and that is about 4 or 5 times per week.
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Fun Sadistic Experiments! (Score:2)
Then, any sadistic netadmin can reproduce the Milgram Experiment [simplypsychology.org] for amusement and profit (forget about the danger... think of the fun) .
Porn (Score:1)
Do anything you can to avoid your dissertation (Score:1)
As a fellow PhD student, seems legit!
Hopefully they consulted the handy infographic "Is It Worth the Time?" by Randall Munroe before undertaking the project: http://xkcd.com/1205/ [xkcd.com]
Can I have a modified version please ? (Score:2)
Send it to all NSA operatives; will give them an electric shock when they look at someone's Internet data for whom they do not have a relevant court order.
thats just shocking (Score:1)
Excellent (Score:2)
Should come standard with every computer.
With a slight modification: Shock people every time they try to type up a spam (or marketing) e-mail message
and
Shock people every time they are about to forward a chain letter or post something stupid on a mailing list or online forum
Limited usefulness (Score:1)
In fact, many people (myself included) would be "forced" to use FB mobile, since it is blocked by the corporate firewall.
Maybe someone could write an Android version, which activates the phone's buzzer until the browser is closed.
Pff (Score:2)
Like! (Score:1)
Great keyboard
Like!
Shut up and take my money! (Score:2)
Said nobody ever.
Re: (Score:3)
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Needs to be across the chest. Use plenty of conductive goo.