Speakable items=Coolest thing ever

spiffsterspiffster
Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
Me and my dad were playing with the speakable items tonight. This has got to be the coolest thing I've ever done on my mac. There's only one thing I can't figure out, can you have a voice activated password on the login screen? I've heard about it being do-able in OS 9, but will it work in OS X?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    asaphasaph Posts: 176member
    Why would you want a speakable password? I mean, every time you start up the comp. (or in my case get out of the screensaver) you would have to announce your password to your computer and any interested listeners in the area... Just seems like a bad idea to me. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
  • Reply 2 of 10
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    The "my voice is my password" feature of OS9 is not present in OSX.



    This feature was inherently VERY insecure. As Asaph said, everyone will know your pass if they hear you say it. Beyond that, the analysis mechanism was very easy to fool. As I recall, it didn't really intelligently examine the inflections of your voice but rather just looked at key spikes and sags to match the original waveform. This made it very easy to fool. I could access my father's login and he could access mine. It also created problems for whenever the user has a cold or the voice is otherwise affected.



    Voice password just screamed gimmick all over. Pun intended. I suspect if it ever returns to OSX it will be in the form of a third-party plugin.
  • Reply 3 of 10
    noseynosey Posts: 307member
    Speakable items is really neat.



    I remember I had mine set up to mimik the computer in Demolition man.



    Whenever you swore near the computer, it would play a recording I made from the movie:



    "Brang rang.. You have been fined one credit for the violation of ..."



    Of course, my freinds found out at a party I was giving, and it was kinda awkward having ten people huddled around my computer swearing.



    I waited a full three minutes before telling them I had deactivated it the day before... I was laughing so hard...
  • Reply 4 of 10
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    hahahaha how did you do that?! <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
  • Reply 5 of 10
    trevormtrevorm Posts: 841member
    [quote]Originally posted by nosey:

    <strong>Speakable items is really neat.



    I remember I had mine set up to mimik the computer in Demolition man.



    Whenever you swore near the computer, it would play a recording I made from the movie:



    "Brang rang.. You have been fined one credit for the violation of ..."



    Of course, my freinds found out at a party I was giving, and it was kinda awkward having ten people huddled around my computer swearing.



    I waited a full three minutes before telling them I had deactivated it the day before... I was laughing so hard...</strong><hr></blockquote>



    <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> Cool party trick!
  • Reply 6 of 10
    noseynosey Posts: 307member
    [quote] hahahaha how did you do that?! <hr></blockquote>



    well, lets see... it has been a while...



    First I needed the swear words... Use whatever you think your freinds will use. I tried my sisters name for the same effect, but I was using Megaphone at the time (an old telephony thing on the Performa series) and she had the audacity to phone.



    Interesting conversation, that...



    "Hi Sue (BRang rang...) how are you?" hurried fiddling trying to turn the computer down without hanging up...



    "Not bad, Yourself?"



    "Fine, Thanks..." Sounds of something dropping " Damn" Brang rang "Shut up you stupid piece of..." Brang rang.. "Dammit" Brang rang...



    "Look, can I call you back?"



    "Fine, you have no time for your sister Sue "Brang rang &gt;click&lt;



    Ahem. Anyways, the swear words (Of your choice) go in the speakable items folder. I have no idea if that exists in OSX, because, well... I learned my lesson (My sister makes great cookies. I just have to stay on her good side)



    For each of the speakable items (As I recall) you can set a program that they can run. You want a simple, easy to start no-frills program to play the sound. And then, of ourse, the sound, which I had pulled from the movie.



    Of course, I had to edit and fudge the ending (It has some swearing at the end, and I had no idea if the mac would be able to hear itself and play and endless recursive loop)



    Now, I might still have that sound here somewhere... where is it &gt;crash&lt; dammit... Brang rang...
  • Reply 7 of 10
    spiffsterspiffster Posts: 327member
    Well, the computer is a home machine, so I wasn't really to worried about security. it would make it easier though, for my computer illerate mother and sibling.
  • Reply 8 of 10
    randumbthinkingrandumbthinking Posts: 2member


    Its pretty easy. Go to Applications>Utilities>Apple Script Editor


     


    Enter in the script


     


     


    set myPassword to "Enter Your Password Here" & return


    tell application "System Events"


    keystroke myPassword


    end tell


     


    and Save As "Enter My Password" or what ever command you want to say to the computer


    and save that file in Speakable Items folder. Now when ever you tell the computer "Enter My Password" it will automatic enter in the text field.

  • Reply 9 of 10
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Well, that might be a record. Necroed a thread eight months shy of a decade old. 


     


    At least the information was relevant. image

  • Reply 10 of 10
    myapplelovemyapplelove Posts: 1,515member
    Fantastic. The op probably has kids of his own right now!
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