[HN Gopher] Zoom Escaper: self-sabotage audio, making your prese...
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       Zoom Escaper: self-sabotage audio, making your presence unbearable
       to others
        
       Author : DyslexicAtheist
       Score  : 99 points
       Date   : 2021-03-15 21:36 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (zoomescaper.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (zoomescaper.com)
        
       | hobs wrote:
       | the most powerful version of this I see in a contractor I talk
       | to; its just an incredibly high frequency whine - you know they
       | are not doing it on purpose but at the same time you are
       | desperate to end the discussion as fast as possible.
        
         | leephillips wrote:
         | How do you know it's not on purpose? Seems to have what might
         | be a desired effect.
        
       | cbanek wrote:
       | This is great. I have someone in my meetings to has the bad
       | connection problem all the time. When trying that one out though,
       | if I disabled it, it would only sometimes disable itself (and re-
       | enable audio)?
        
       | danaliv wrote:
       | _" Sorry, this browser isn't compatible with Zoom Escaper. Please
       | try Chrome on desktop."_
       | 
       | How many times will we have to learn the lessons of the late
       | '90s/'00s?
        
         | gfodor wrote:
         | The lesson of those times was to not rely upon proprietary APIs
         | in browsers. (Like ActiveX or other IE-only extensions which
         | were often used.)
         | 
         | When you see this warning nowadays, it's not usually about
         | that, but about Firefox or Safari being behind in supporting
         | already-specced APIs.
        
           | [deleted]
        
         | _Microft wrote:
         | I agree. Every webdev should know by now that you also need to
         | tell visitors the screen resolution that a webpage is best
         | viewed with.
        
           | codetrotter wrote:
           | 420x6969. Ultra portrait aspect ratio.
        
         | motoboi wrote:
         | Yeah, safari is the new internet explorer.
        
         | saaaam wrote:
         | Creator of the Zoom Escaper here... Sadly it relies on a web
         | audio feature that's chrome only. Also too bad because I use
         | firefox as my primary browser.
        
           | permalac wrote:
           | Well done.
           | 
           | If someone wants to use this they should have no problem
           | running in chrome.
        
           | fireattack wrote:
           | Could you elaborate a little bit? Just curious about the
           | technical side of creating this cool application.
        
       | chrisma0 wrote:
       | "Man Weeping" or "Urination" are clearly the effects you want to
       | get out of that meeting! "James, we'll have to drop you out of
       | the call unfortunately, your crying is way too loud! Goodbye."
        
         | nickthemagicman wrote:
         | I can create the urination effect without an app.
        
           | LilBytes wrote:
           | Awww, I get the down votes. But I laughed. I laughed a lot.
        
           | slt2021 wrote:
           | good ole low tech analog solution
        
       | boredpandas777 wrote:
       | The most annoying and least suspicious thing for me personally
       | would be the person on the other end playing back my own audio
       | with a delay, just like the echo of your own voice that you get
       | sometimes on a bad phone connection.
       | 
       | This way I would blame it on my connection, not the other person,
       | who is actually causing it. In a team setting, it goes like "Oh,
       | so we're all hearing our own echoes. We should quit and try
       | again" If there is one person acting as reflector with the right
       | delay (echo generator) for everyone else, that could work, in
       | theory.
        
         | brokencode wrote:
         | I'd attribute that to the other person playing the audio out of
         | their computer speakers while using a mic that is not
         | directional enough to filter it out.
        
           | ghayes wrote:
           | I generally consider it rude to not use headphones in a
           | meeting. The primary issue is you can't have simultaneous
           | talking when someone isn't using headphones, since most
           | applications auto-cancel audio input when they detect
           | feedback. You then have to switch to turn-taking which isn't
           | always suited for certain conversations.
        
         | tgsovlerkhgsel wrote:
         | Most meeting software I've seen shows talkers, making it very
         | obvious who's causing the echo.
         | 
         | I've _never_ seen local echo on a video conference nor do I
         | really see a realistic path that could reasonably cause this.
         | Regular echo, on the other hand, is common.
        
         | Minor49er wrote:
         | Most modern voice applications give a pretty clear visual
         | indicator about who is making noise. I think in your scenario,
         | the person echoing the audio would be quickly identified and
         | told to mute themselves. If they were the only ones playing
         | your audio back after a delay, people would suspect that they
         | are the ones with the connection issue.
         | 
         | However, this _was_ pretty common for a prank, especially 10-15
         | years ago on services like Ventrilo which resulted in the then-
         | popular Ventrilo Harassment series. Most of the people who got
         | pranked in those didn 't get a visual indicator of who was
         | playing sound. The situation you describe can be seen in this
         | video titled "Ventertainment - Nerd Confusion 3: The Ring":
         | 
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5AkIfgioA4
        
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       (page generated 2021-03-15 23:00 UTC)