
Programmer from Finland has lost finger replaced with USB drive - rglovejoy
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5005118/Computer-programmer-from-Finland-has-lost-finger-replaced-with-USB-drive.html
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markessien
What he should do is install a USB security device on his door. So to get in,
he sticks his finger in, and then a voice says: "Welcome home, Dave", and the
door swings open.

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dkokelley
That would be cool, but I would be afraid of people trying to take my finger
(maybe even the wrong one!). I'd rather just have someone take my keys like
everyone else.

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derefr
If I ever rigged up a biometric scanner, it would scan my entire body,
including checking for heart-rate and EEG readings. In order to get in, I'd
have to be present in full, alive, and not stressed out by an act of duress
(calibrated to my normal level of stress during the pre scan, obviously.)

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dkokelley
Aren't there situations where this could backfire? What if you just finished
running around the block and need to get inside? What if you just finished
running around the block away from rabid dogs and need to get inside FAST?

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derefr
Perhaps this wouldn't be a good choice for a front door to a regular home.
Perhaps the entrance to a secure facility, though, where time would never be
an issue (with a keycard and a vocalized passphrase as well, for additional
factors.) Not a nuclear launch silo, but perhaps a top-secret research
facility.

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axod
I wonder what sort of impact losing part of a finger like that has on typing.
I guess you'd probably adapt pretty quickly (I was wondering if the prosthetic
was useful for things like typing, or a hinderance).

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graywh
But if the USB drive is plugged-in, he can't use it for typing. I'd be curious
to know if he types with or without the prosthetic.

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anc2020
Probably only plugs it in while copying files, so no Linux distro. Would also
lose its novelty factor pretty quickly with me because my desk means I have to
have my PC on the right side!

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kilowatt
Does this make anyone else think of that old Are You Afraid of the Dark
episode with the midget playing the computer virus, and how the kid gets a
serial port in his palm?

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henning
It made me think of the little switch/port Data on Star Trek: The Next
Generation has on his hand which he accesses flipping a fingernail upward.

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Edinburger
He should get together with the 'Beautiful Prosthetics' guy:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=518860>. Functional + Beautiful = Win.

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Edinburger
Why the downvote? I think this is a great hack and I'm definitely not
disrespecting his work - it's awesome. However, imagine the potential of great
ideas like this combined with amazing looking prosthetics as discussed in the
other article. If that's not a startup idea I don't know what is!

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dmh2000
>after crashing his one week old Ducati Monster 696 motorbike.

doh!

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modoc
People need to learn that the first bike you get should be <50 hp, and cheap
enough you don't care when you drop it. Do not start with a Ducati.

That said, the 696 isn't THAT fast...

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vinutheraj
Was it mentioned that this was his _first_ bike ?!

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chengmi
Did anyone else read the title as "Programmer from Finland has lost (finger
replaced with USB drive)"? I have a tendency to lose USB keys...

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bouncingsoul
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_path_sentence>

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chengmi
I don't think this qualifies as a garden path sentence because the reader
doesn't "build an incorrect structure because the next word doesn't fit into
that structure".

This is more an example of syntactic ambiguity where a sentence may be
"reasonably interpreted in more than one way":
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntactic_ambiguity>

Interesting link, though. I didn't know the formal term for these types of
sentences.

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felideon
He should make it into a Live Finger so he can boot Linux wherever he goes!

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pierrefar
But because of the GPL he'll have to Open Source his brain.

</sarcasm>

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biohacker42
I don't recall where I red the story of people implanting tiny magnets under
the skin of a finger tip. But I did find it interesting that they quickly
developed a sense for magnetic fields, like from live wires. And if I were an
electrician I'd get one of those.

But a USB drive?

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harpastum
The story is from Wired.com:

"People who have rare earth magnets implanted in their fingers...a finger that
feels electromagnetic fields along with the normal sense of touch."

"Appliance cords in the United States give off a 60-Hz field, a sensation with
which Huffman has become intimately familiar. "It is a light, rapid buzz," he
says."

Sounds really interesting, although the obvious health risks keep me from
considering it myself.

<http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mods/news/2006/06/71087>

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LogicHoleFlaw
A more interesting (to me) and less dangerous was a belt with an array of
motors and an internal compass such that there was always a light buzz from
the North. Apparently after wearing it for a few weeks you develop an uncanny
sense of direction.

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redcap
I've heard about this story alllll week - so why this is on the front page of
HN now is a bit strange.

Forgive me for being a curmudgeon, but I would likely be voting this story
down given the chance.

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redhex
He should get a laser pointer. Much cooler than a USB drive.

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elv
he should carefully check the electrical design of every motherboard he puts
his "finger" into :>

and what if the USB port is UNDER THE DESK? hihihi

