Can Your ATM Play Beethoven? 657
bpiltz writes "A funk band in Harrisonburg, VA, called Midnight Spaghetti, has posted a story with photos about a newly installed Diebold Opteva 520 ATM at Carnegie Mellon University that crashed, then rebooted. The Windows XP operating system initialized without the actual ATM software. The result was a public desktop computer, with only a touch screen interface, left wide open for the amusement of the students at the most wired university in the U.S. Interestingly, Diebold is one of the leading manufacturers of e-voting machines."
Clippy! (Score:5, Funny)
I see you're trying to extract free cash from a bolloxored ATM cum jukebox. May I help you?
minesweeper... (Score:5, Funny)
Sweet! (Score:1, Funny)
Obligatory play on words (Score:5, Funny)
And this surprises you (Score:4, Funny)
A) It's based off of Windows
B) It was made by Diebold.
Adding A + B != C where C equals something that works correctly.
Election Day... (Score:4, Funny)
Bush 15%
Kerry 15%
Nader 70%
Jim set's all Bush and Kerry votes to go to Nader.
Jim runs the voting system front end. Sets it to full screen.
Jim leaves.
Nader wins
Re:Not just a desktop computer (Score:3, Funny)
Its not just Midnight Spaghetti (Score:0, Funny)
<homer-voice>chocolate g-strings.. argaaaahhhh</homer-voice>
DIEBOLD Election Machine (Score:3, Funny)
Welcome to the 2004 Presidential Elections
Brought to you by DIEBOLD
Please select your new president:
George W. Bush [x] (recomended)
John Kerry [ ]
Ralph Nader [ ]
Submit [mithuro.com] Reset [mithuro.com]
If you are an official, and if you would like to adjust the vote manually, click here [mithuro.com]
Re:Insecurity and Paranoia (Score:5, Funny)
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Same in airport (Score:4, Funny)
similar story: in-flight entertainment system (Score:5, Funny)
I got to the desktop for about 5 seconds before their entertainment app autostarted again. I then spent a fun hour or two re-crashing the blasted thing and trying to defeat the autostart. Never managed it though - that's the only time I recall that I wished I knew more about Windows.
Eventually I had to stop because it turned out that poor old Pentium wasn't my in-seat client but actually the server for the entire cabin, and a lynch mob was starting to form... 8-O
Re:Boy, times sure change (Score:2, Funny)
As philosophers go, it's a technical department. But that doesn't mean they want to hear a loop of Beethoven and Talking Heads all day long. It's not really in the job description.
Re:"Progress"? (Score:2, Funny)
Hey I remember those old ATMs, here in Australia (And I'm only 23...)
Of course you remember those. Isn't Australia where the UK sends all it's unwanted junk. You know, old computers, ATMs, prisoners, etc..
Re:Video of the ATM in action (Score:1, Funny)
And the last two options (Score:3, Funny)
Bush Voter (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Mirror? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:similar story: in-flight entertainment system (Score:5, Funny)
Pilot: "The flight control app is not responding! Quick, try to kill it!"
Copilot: "The mouse is frozen... must... use... three-fingered salute..."
Pilot: "Still no response... okay, I'm gonna power-cycle the bastard."
Plane: (plummets 20'000 ft while they wait out the boot sequence)
Computer: All Your Boot Are Belong To Us.
Pilots: "Somebody has sent us up the virus! Aiiieeeee!"
Plane: *crash*
Re:"Progress"? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:ATMs (Score:2, Funny)
"ATM Machine".
Re:ATMs (Score:4, Funny)
"ATM Machine".
But of course...
Where else would you use your PIN Number...
Re:"Progress"? (Score:3, Funny)
Darn, sure wish my ATM gave me "cash, and viola," then we could play Beethoven together.
Re:"Progress"? (Score:2, Funny)
So I've been cutting off fingers for nothing? That's great, what am I gonna do with all these things?
Re:"Progress"? slightly OT (Score:4, Funny)
Re:"Progress"? (Score:5, Funny)
Even better, let's say you doused a $20 bill in poison and deposited it in the bank. You know, they don't burn all the cash that's deposited, they reuse it and hand it back out, without even cleaning it first (due to short-sighted laws against laundering money). Shocking, isn't it?
And I daresay paper currency will absorb your poison better than plastic credit card, too. Where it will mix with the cocaine residue, the gasoline contamination from people who've just filled their car, and the bacteria from people who didn't wash their hands after scratching that hemorrhoid itch, forming a lethal brew.
Your best bet for survival is to only accept coins, and to carry a blowtorch to sterilize them with before handling them.
Re:"Progress"? (Score:2, Funny)
2) Repackage them as chicken fingers
3) Mugger Supply Depot
Re:OT: Department of Redundancy Department (Score:2, Funny)