2006/05/02
23:32:22

Electronic advertising signs

So apparently someone reprogrammed signs on Toronto's transit system to display undesirable messages about the prime minister. Sorta humorous that someone figured out how to do that, since it was so over the top it's unlikely it changed anyones opinions. At least until I got to the part where it's offline "until password-protected technology is installed to protect them from computer hackers." So they implemented an electronic advertising system across the transit system, apparently networked since it's unlikely the perpetrators visited every sign, and didn't even use passwords?

I seem to remember someone doing something like this on the DMS system here a while back, but I don't think it stayed up very long. I can't find any info on it though - anyone remember anything about it?

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By babada on 2006/05/03 at 09:21:34

Yes, those evil "hackers" with their omniscient ability to know, uh, logins...

It was probably their IT guy who had been warning them for *months* and finally just showed them what he meant. :P

ps) I got the MSN via Jabber working with iChat, thanks. The Jabber server I am using seems to be a little unstable, however. Which do you recommend?

By Jeremy on 2006/05/03 at 14:26:42

I'm thinking you're confusing me with someone else on the jabber thing. I say use google talk's server (hosted if you want under your own domain). It seems quite stable.

By babada on 2006/05/04 at 15:34:19

Well I'll be...

Hazards of anonymous comments were people do not sign them. :) Though you usually do, so that should have been the first hint... :P

Of course, now I am curious... hmm...

As for Google talk's server, I will take a peek. Thanks, :)

By Jeremy on 2006/05/04 at 15:43:12

Huh. That does look sorta like something I'd write. If it wasn't at a sane time I'd say I was just tired and didn't remember it. That method should work, although I don't know anything about iChat, but I know someone who uses it for xmpp. If you only want xmpp for the sake of the msn plugin though, gtalk won't really help. I vote for just recommending that everyone switch to xmpp so everything can be compatible with everything else. :)

By Jeremy on 2006/05/26 at 22:24:01

Interesting article with more detail. Apparently it wasn't centralized, but they were set with a remote (probably IR) brought from car to car. I bet they could just set it next to a track with a more powerful transmitter and it'd change stuff as the trains went by.