Motion Sensing on Vostro

Is there any sort of motion sensing on the Vostro (like that on the Macs)?

Talking about installing something like iAlertU etc.

 

I dont believe so. But if you have blue tooth, you could tape a wii controller to it, and write a program with the .net wii controller library. Although my idea is viable its probably not the answer you where looking for =p

 

definitely not the answer I was looking for a viable solution nonetheless. Beautiful creative thinking.

Any one else care to answer this question?

 

Yes there is. I got my 1500 with the integrated webcam and it comes along software already setup to do this.

 

Whoa!! makes me wish I got a webcam! =p thats actually sorta cool!

 

do you want to turn the screen ON when motion is detected frm the webcam?? u can write a program for that in .Net urself....

 

woah! i wish i got the webcam now too. im gonna see if i can get this program to work with my creative webcam...

 

I think the OP is asking for built in physical motion detection (ie the laptop moves or something) not movement seen by the cam...

In the MAC it's called a tilt sensor and you can see it here controlling a roomba in a similar way to how the PS3 sixaxis controller would work.

http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/10/roomba-obeys-macbook-tilt-sensor-commands/

If you look at videos of ialertu you can see that movement in front of the camera does not trigger it, but physically moving the macbook does. As far as I know, no such feature exists for Vostros or any other laptop outside the Macs.

Most webcams support motion sensing via their included software packs and if not just get something like "Orb! Secure" which can do motion tracking and can save pictures or video clips for you to see of what happened.

 

The picture of the screen specifially says that it detects motion, "whether it is your cat...". It doesn't say if someone picks up the laptop. What, are you guys blind?

 

Did you check out iAlertU? Did you see how it works? It uses the Macs internal tilt sensor to detect if the notebook itself is moved. You could walk in front of the camera all day long with nothing, but move the laptop and it triggers iAlertU.

The motion detection referred to in the picture is using the webcam to check if anything moves in it's field of vision. The two things are not at all the same.

Since the OP specifically asks about detection "like on the macs" and the tilt sensor is more or less unique to Macs I would think that's what he was asking about... which I believe is not what the vostro screenshot is referring to.

Here is another example of the motion sensing available in the macboook pro http://video.google.com/videoplay?d...l=4&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1

That is not the same as the camera motion detection built into the Dell software pack.

Here is a video of iAlertU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkAtRfA1UXc

There is a significant difference.

Did you see how the OP specifically states like the Mac and specifically states iAlertU? I would think so... unless your blind

 

That's awesome, now I feel like bumping my head in the wall for not getting the webcam


I suppose the camera motion detector is better than the 'tilt detector', since it doesn't add that much extra weight, plus you could set it up so an alarm sounds if someone approaches the laptop, while with the mac you have to wait until that someone picks it up..

 

Yes Vostro feature seems better than the iMac. It alerts you when somone moves in front of it and I assume if someone picks it will think camera should also alert you anyways as there should be movement captured by it.

Plus is you will know who got your laptop if you happen to get the shot and it was emailed to you : )

 

My bad, I thought he was talking about the camera sensing something moving, not the laptop being moved.

 

It's one half dozen or the other. Tilt sensors an accelerometers weigh almost nothing (wii controllers have both built in I believe) and are probably about on par with the camera in that respect.

While it might seem better to sense someone coming near the laptop versus picking it up, if you think about it motion sensing from the camera would likely get annoying pretty quickly. Anytime anyone walks or moves in front of it, a light source changes or shadow shifts, it will set it off. That means if you set the alarm in a coffee shop, library or basically anywhere public you would want to be able to look away from your laptop and know if someone was trying to make off with it, it would probably go off all the time due to movement around it. Also that means that it would go off every time you walk up to disable the alarm.

I personally think the tilt feature is much better in terms of the iAlerU use. I don't care if you get near my laptop, walk in front of it, stop to admire it or whatnot, but the second you actually move it to try and make off with it, I want to know and I want everyone around to know.

Yes the camera based version would go off if the laptop was taken also but it would give false positives in almost every situation I could think you would want to use it as a security system. I mean where would you want to use this feature? Obviously somewhere that

A: someone might try to take your laptop
B: It's public and people are around to hear the alarm go off

In every instance I can think of where those apply motion detection offers the best option while visual detection would end up being a pain due to false positives. As I said almost any current webcam will come with motion sensing software and it doesn't just go download ORB and use it's built in security feature, you will quickly realize the pain in the butt motion sensing video technology can be.

Either way, the answer seems to be, no it's not in the Vostros.

 

Nobody said it wasn't better than the camera option.
( actually I did, and I stand by it )

The thing is, maybe you like leaving your laptop on a table in starbucks while taking a break in the restroom, I don't - and not because I don't have any of those features - if I wanted to leave my laptop on a table I would have bought a lock or something, and btw, being a EE student I do know how much they weight - basically nothing, but hey, they won't work on a computer without a circuit board, hence the final product will look something like this:



Maybe the OP is dissapointed because his computer does not have a tilt sensor, but what is he going to do about it? Buy a Thinkpad(That's the only other brand that I know offers the sensor), or a Mac?
Obviously not.

Does it do any good to tell him about the camera motion sensor? Yes, depending on what he does, it might be useful.

Does it do any good to tell him that the camera sensor is not the same as the tilt sensor? Not at all - he probably figured that out by himslef.

 

So where do you think the iAlertU (the example pointed out in the OP) function should be used other than leaving your laptop temporarily unattended in a public place? I mean the obvious use of it is to audibly alert people that the laptop is being moved... are you saying you would want to use it where no one is around to be alerted? And while it's an interesting novelty to think of the camera as snapping a shot of the person who steals your notebook, I would venture that the vast majority of notebook snatches occur from behind or to the side of the notebook (if for no other reason than that those account for 3 of 4 possible sides to snatch it from) and if you have ever seen results from automated motion detection programs using built in webcams.. the results are less than astounding especially for fast action and out of frame subjects (both of which your thief is likely to be).

And those cable locks are a pretty big joke... I have seen them broken in just a few seconds. Until it becomes as common place as car alarms, I think tilt sensors with loud audible alarms will be much more effective in protecting your equipment... cameras with loud alarms will simply serve to piss people off a lot when they go off because of the 99% of movement that isn't related to stealing your laptop.

So the first one is a yes because you assume something you have no way of knowing, but the second one is a no not at all because you assume something else you can't possibly know? Solid logic...

 

Ok, let's suppose we are on a public place, where people do walk in front of the laptop all the time, couldn't we leave the screen half closed so the camera doesn't see the people moving(viewing angles are horrible on laptop cameras)? Chances are that a thief will try to fully close the screen before taking it. The camera will sense that motion.

BTW, I didn't say anything about taking a picture of the guy...

We humans provide answers, and generate thoughts, and ideas based on assumptions. Just picture this:

James is blind
I give James a banana
James eats the banana
I give James a yellow object that doesn't feel like the banana

Again, would it do good to tell him he is holding a yellow object? Probably, he may be able to do something useful with that information..
Would it do good to tell him not to eat it because although the object is yellow, it's not a banana? No.

You may not like the logic, but that's how things work in this world.