20 pointsby structuredPizza13 hours ago9 comments
  • pedalpetean hour ago
    I'm with the sceptics, but also they don't show it in use. But from the product screenshot of the person hitting the button, it seems not to be wearable, so.....when would I use this? When I'm in a room that has a smart-speaker? So I go to a friends place for dinner and I put this device on the table so that my friends Alexa can't hear me.

    Good thing I wore my tin-foil hat to dinner, but sadly, my friend didn't wear one, and now they can't get a timer for their cooking and the meal is ruined. Brilliant.

  • rhoopr5 hours ago
    Let me tell you about my rock that keeps tigers away…
    • BobbyTables22 hours ago
      I bet it has 100% satisfaction on continents without tigers too!
  • caminante8 hours ago
    This seems like product spam.

    The explanation isn't satisfying

    >What is Spectre I and how does it work?

    Spectre I is a portable audio security device that creates a 2m protection zone around you. It sends out signals that are inaudible to you but can be detected by a microphone. Through customization of the signals to match the human voice, your conversations are "overlayed" when a microphone receives them. It uses local processing to prevent nearby smartphones, smart speakers, and other devices from picking up your voice. Everything happens locally on the device — nothing is sent to the cloud.

    It's unclear whether it performs the task or if it's illegal, similar to a phone jammer.

    • evgen8 hours ago
      Phone jammers are illegal because they are broadcasting into regulated spectrum. There is no such spectrum regulation around audio transmissions. I will not say one way or another if this device actually works as adertised, but particularly if the signal is outside the range normally audible to people there should be nothing illegal about this device.
      • caminante7 hours ago
        You're right about FCC laws, but there are non-FCC laws, too, such as penalties for willful interference with federal/state emergency communications.

        I'm wondering if this device would cause issues for a nearby person's emergency communications. Seems potentially really bad.

        • NetMageSCW5 hours ago
          You seem to be pearl clutching a bit too hard. I am positive there are no legal issues.
          • caminante4 hours ago
            It's not "pearl clutching" when there are enforceable laws like 18 U.S.C. § 1362.[0]

            Were you even aware of this?

            Can you actually cite a legal opinion about the device or similar applications? Otherwise, I'm assuming you are speculating, too.

            [0] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1362

  • frumiousirc7 hours ago
    Assuming this is not a scam, my guess is that it emits sound above the Nyquist frequency of mic'ed devices with the hope that they lack a low-pass filter on the input of their ADC. Such devices would then suffer sample aliasing that would overlay the high frequency that is output by this device with whatever in-band audio that it intends to obscure. A cheap low-pass filter would defeat this and is likely there in any case in most mic'ed devices as the world has high frequency ambient noise.
  • eternityforest5 hours ago
    I can't imagine that mics are going to be affected by anything that doesn't also seriously bother at least some animals, definitely not something I'd use outside of some ultra secure conference room or something.
  • rationalist3 hours ago
    No proof of their claims of it working? Sounds like snake oil.
    • BobbyTables22 hours ago
      It’s even more expensive than snake oil!
  • jerlam7 hours ago
    > Detects nearby microphones, logs them, and provides you with this data.

    How can it detect nearby microphones?

    Also, seems like your voice would easily project farther than 2 meters, the "protection zone" of this device. That's not even the size of a room.

  • vlovich1237 hours ago
    > Detects nearby microphones

    This part seems like BS.

    > creates a 2m protection zone around you. It sends out signals that are inaudible to you but can be detected by a microphone

    Plausible but anything inaudible to you and screwing with the remote is a software or hardware upgrade away. It’s hard to imagine a sw or hw bandpass filter doesn’t stop this. Also hard to imagine smart speakers aren’t doing this already to extract your voice in a noisy environment / personalize responses.

    I’d wait for this to be independently verified and understand how they propose to find microphones. Maybe they’re looking for the Wi-Fi / BT signals the speakers are emitting but something like a local nanny cam there’s no way.

    • NetMageSCW5 hours ago
      Perhaps they could do the audio+EM equivalent of LIDAR - put out a high frequency audio signal and than listen for EMF that matches.
      • vlovich1233 hours ago
        A microphone is using so little electricity / voltage that I’d be surprised if you can detect anything even right beside it. It’s also not going to be tied to any fingerprint you’re trying to transmit.

        And also do be doing positioning requires multiple spatially separated receivers (nothing like LIDAR). And good luck separating out other much larger sources of EM noise.

  • pimlottc7 hours ago
    Please just show me a single clear image of the entire product.