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DoCoMos Finger Phone
A reader writes: "DoCoMo has done it again. This time they have a phone where the speaker is your finger. Put your finger in your ear and listen as you speak into the mic which is integrated into the wristwatch. Also in the wrist watch is some sort of gadget which sends the sound waves up your wrist and
into one of your fingers." Thanks to Cubase de Pilsen for sending me a link to one of the pictures.
This does not seem practical because it must consume too much power. The vibration attenuation through the wrist and knuckles must be tremendous. It must have to dump significant power to the speaker/vibrator(?). That combined with the small watch-sized battery doesn't bode well for prospects. Of course maybe they could use a Proton Polymer Battery.
to stick your fingers in your ears
Lends new meaning to waxy yellow buildup, eh?
--
Chief Frog Inspector
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
"We just have to establish a culture that registers an idea with people that wearing a device is a cool thing."
Not likely, since the only people that would be willing to walk around with their fingers in their ears just to get the bleeding edge of tech are geeks...
Hmmm. I got some good ideas, for anyone wanting to borrow it.
Did you ever wonder why your voice sounds different when you hear it from a recording? The voice you hear while talking has travelled through your head bones. So your bones are well-suited to transmit audio, and I doubt there will be any problems from that.
Put your thumb in your ear. Extend your pinky to your mouth. Talk on your phone.
People around you might do this:
Make an orbital motion of the index finger around their temple while pointing at you.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Anybody know what they're doing on their pages? It seems to be all of their pages that are affected.
"Take your finger out of your ear this instant!"
"But Mooooom! I'm talking to Shannon!"
Even worse...what happens when someone answers the phone and says, "Wait, he's right here...it's for you"?
-- He's fantastic, made of plastic....
First thing I thought when I read it. Went to the comments and searched for "inspector."
-lx
What with people talking out of their asses all the time...
Then a good alternative would be to offer an option for a microphone that can be fitted elsewhere... *firmly*!
I'm no longer fed up with MS Windows: I go rid of them
Some people here point that nobody would want to talk with a finger in their ear. Actually lots of people now talk with the phone in one hand and the other on the other ear, if in a noisy environment. I don't see it a problem.
Where I see a problem is in that with this you absolutely need one hand to talk. No more trying to hold the thing between the shoulder and the head (it's bad for your neck, you know). Now you only have one hand free.
__
__
Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
This guy stole my idea!!! ... well, not exactly ... my idea was the sphincter phone... lets just hope that he doesn't make a move on my butt mouse idea, too!
"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever." - Napoleon Bonaparte
Here is the original paper about Whisper as a PDF file. It was presented at an ACM, Computer Human Interaction conference last year. You may need to register to read it, but anyway, it is quite interesting.
The way you hold your hand looks to others as if you are talking on a really small mobile phone (so small they can't see it :-). So actually you don't look as crazy to others as you do with just a handsfree earpiece. And the sound conduction through your finger bones is very good. So good that it is actually easier to hear in a noisy environment than with a normal phone.
They also found that people didn't shout into their phone when using Whisper, because the finger in the ear gave better feedback to your voice volume.
Regards,
Jody
What if you need to let another person talk? The only thing that will make you look stupider than sticking your finger in your own ear is putting it in someone else's ... I see from the article too that you're supposed to control the phone by making various finger taps. I forsee a sudden rise in gang violence as you inadvertently give a hostile gangsign in the wrong neighborhood ... The picture in the article shows something that looks like it would knock you unscious if you happened to raise your hand to wipe your brow ...
"If I have seen further than other men, it is by stepping on their glasses." - Michael Swaine
DoCoMo
Go Go Gadget FingerPhone!
-atrowe: Card-carrying Mensa member. I have no toleranse for stupidity.
Because you don't have to carry the phone in a "nerd pack" on your belt. That's the whole point of this -- [ordinary] people don't like to wear gadgets. A distinctly non-geek attitude that will be punished once World Domination is complete, but until then...
Just junk food for thought...
I disagree. How many times do you see someone standing in public, holding their cell-phone in one hand, with a finger in their other ear so they can hear.
Why is this so different?
:wq
Already been done.
-atrowe: Card-carrying Mensa member. I have no toleranse for stupidity.
Thanks to a page at joedietzel.com for a print version of one of my favorite jokes.
(oneliner)Go go gadget phone.(/oneliner)
In response to your question, I'd much prefer wearing a band on my arm then a headset, especally if just tooling around town. Besides, I would think secret service agents have the "hand at ear" move down pat (at least the actors who play secret service agents do).
Is this post not nifty? Sluggy Freelance. Worshi
Can we place it on the middle finger and give the caller an electric shock when they say something stupid? (touch-sensitive technology. Just point middle finger out, lift vertically...)
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
I know I won't be asking to borrow your phone if you have one of these...
Nope, the third line has a few s's thrown in:
ha hahsa hsahs ashas ah hsha hhha h aha hha hhaaha hahahahahaha ah a ahahahahahahahah ahahahah ahah
Photo of the device on a cute chick here: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/p/ap/20001003/en/jap
========================== pipe(13) -- can you figure it out?
Nice to see akamai involved, should help prevent slashdotting.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
From the article:
The heck? What about all of us who have two pagers and a cell phone on our belts? (Well, I dropped pager #1, but I have to keep the other because of work--text messaging and all.) As if those aren't "wearable gadgets". I wouldn't want something clunky per se, but if you give me a watch that tells time, serves as a cell phone, and isn't the size of Montana, I'd probably wear it.
--
-- Geof F. Morris
I guess that's the difference between Americans and Japanese that the inventor cited in the article.
Americans see that as crazy.
Japanese see it as neeto-keen.
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
This is going to move phone sex in a whole new direction.
to "pull my finger".
Stupid lameness filters. How are we supposed to do one-liners?
...and you open up some interesting possibilities, that is, assuming the phone can recognize some hand movements. For instance, flicking my middle finger might speed-dial 911 (or whatever the local police number is).
Too bad they can't just transmit all the way up the skeleton, though. Maybe a phone-collar, with mike and speaker attached to one's skull...
"What are you doing?"
I've got a fax coming through...
When I were your age, all round here were fields...
what will they come up with next? And when do we get to see cool stuff like this? And why wasn't that 'Ask Slashdot' about cool toys in Japan not on the front page?
--
Peace,
Lord Omlette
ICQ# 77863057
[o]_O
Titter.
--Giving to trolls for the benefit of us all
Hey, buddy, I got a call for ya -- right here!
Just junk food for thought...
The vibrations will range from 100Hz and higher for voices I would think.
I don't know, but how much vibrations can your bones stand before it starts to become a (medical) problem?
Is this another fast way to get RSI?
Onet
--
Chief Frog Inspector
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
What if you are disabled?
Would you rather not use headphones or a standard hands-free kit?
In which way is this an advance? Sounds like a pretty stupid idea to me. I`m sure if this system had been invented first, the creation of a way of NOT using your finger would be seen as an advance!
"No more filthy fingers! Keep both hands free while you talk!"
Why don't they try to put common communication devices (namely, telephones) in ballpoint pens?
A friend of mine used to work at a convenience store, and one of the regular patrons often would be engaged in conversation with my friend and then suddenly interrupt, "hang on, I've got a call coming in". My friend would grin and say, "Okay, Hank." He'd then step back, click the top of his ballpoint pen, and begin muttering and arguing with it, for lengths of up to 5 minutes. He claimed that his boss contacted him regularly through his ballpoint pen.
Might be scarcely believable if the guy didn't spend his spare time collecting aluminum cans fromt the dumpsters outside. *grins*
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
I only post comments when someone on the internet is wrong.
So when all those people were giving me the finger, what they were really meaning to say was "Someone wants to speak to you!"
So in the UK could they put it on two fingers(middle and index) just to make it look derogatory?
If you ever wanted to play "Secret Service Agent", now's your chance.
Was that out loud?
Apparently you don't recall the introduction of the Sony Walkman, when Sony hired attractive actors to walk around wearing headphones in order to get people accustomed to the idea that wearing them was stylish and not geeky as hell. It's testimony to their strategies that today we don't think twice about it. Still think they can't rearrange our values and ideas? Welcome to the power of mass marketing, my friend. Just wait until they start convincing us that VR goggles are the height of chic.
Was that out loud?
Actually, I want a phone that sits unobtrusively in my ear. I have a Jabra earpiece for my cellphone now, but it's a little big and the wire dangling down is awkward. I'm thinking something more like an in- or around-the-ear hearing aid. Not sure what to do about the wire, though...
The big reason why I don't wear the Jabra all the time is that it makes me look like a doofus. I wouldn't mind it if it was a socially acceptable thing to do. Yes, I think changing society's perceptions so that being wired is cool is a good thing!
And while we're at it, I also want a head-up display superimposed directly on my optic nerve. Just so long as I get to pick what's on the display, and I can turn both it and the phone off at my own discretion!
I've attended a couple trade shows this past month. I've noticed that the big flat plasma displays are really popular amongst exhibitors! Almost all the booths use them now. I'm hoping this means that the prices will drop into the consumer range soon.
Chelloveck
I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.
Reminds me of one of my old managers when she bought one of those vibrating pagers. For about a week, she went around saying 'Page me...Please! Page me! '
A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
What happens if you're a girl geek and have long fingernails? Ouch!
And what happens when all those cops who *don't* know about new technologies see people wandering around city streets talking to themselves with their fingers in their ears? Will the "white coats" be sent after them?
Why is this so different?
because everyone knows they're on a cell phone and cell phones are "cool."
Vote for freedom!
---
Advantage: nobody wants to lend your telephone and have your finger sticking in their ear.
Mark
I understand the cocnept of bone conduction, its been used for a long time for ear-piece only mic/earphone sets and unobtrusive (collarbone placed) mics.
But who is honestly going to buy a product where you have to walk around with your finger in your ear to use it? Was marketing on an offsite when engineering came up with thsi idea?
DoCoMo is the wireless arm of NTT, Nippon Telephone, the largest telephone company in Japan. In fact, I think DoCoMo is the largest wireless company in the world. Don't be surprised if you start seeing them more in the US. I know they have started advertising in Newsweek, but I don't know if they are selling anything in the US yet. DoCoMo's wireless phones in Japan are very popular and much more featureful than anything you can find in the US.
Bonus points to anyone who can explain what the abbreviation DoCoMo stands for.
Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
Don't put that finger in your ear!! You don't know where that finger's been!
Smells finger suspiciously....
Put your finger in your ear and listen as you speak into the mic which is integrated into the wristwatch.
No, no, no. You stick your finger in your ear and say ting-a-ling-a-loo!
"The cost of freedom is eternal vigilance." -Thomas Jefferson
who will buy this crap?
- A.P.
--
* CmdrTaco is an idiot.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
"Are you using your cell phone?"
"No, I'm just an idiot -- easy mistake."
"Hello, chief? You're where?"
AirSupply: go ahead, cut me off.
What with people talking out of their asses all the time, I think you're overconcerned.
Stefan.
It takes a lot of brains to enjoy satire, humor and wit-
The truth shall make you fret. (Ankh-Morpork tImes motto)
I'm not crazy! Not me! Here let me stick my thumb in your ear to prove it! You can talk to my hand friend too. It's OK, I swear.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
there is a great book called "101 Usless Japanese Inventions".
It's great. My favorite one is a mouth guard type thing that you can put over your teeth while you eat, so you don't have to brush them.
-sam
Eww. Sorry, but the idea of having one of these phones and picking your nose is just too horrible. I've got this mental image of accidentally dialling someone who picks up the phone to the sound of me picking my nose...
;)
Actually, what I'm currently finding more worrying is that, of the three kind (if misguided, see below) moderators who modded me up, two gave me a funny. I can see it's mildly amusing, but it's not a windup or a joke. I'm being credited with writing a joke _I_ don't get
Even more worrying, though, is that the post hit 5. It's OK, but not one of my best ever - yet it got a 5. The only things I can see which are different are that
1) It's early - #17 or something
2) It's short
Neither of which should really help it. It's a serious post, not karma whoring before I get moaned at, but not _that_ good. Come on guys... For the second time, I genuinely want to mod one of my own comments as overrated.
SLASH is being rewritten, right? Any chance of a mod where it only lets you moderate if you're viewing in Newest First (so reducing this problem) and not at all until a thread hits a certain number of comments?
Greg
(Inside a nuclear plant)
Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!
reminds me of the businessman whose ass was a fax machine...
I'm English. And the guy who made the root comment to this thread, for those who aren't concentrating :)
.uk e-mail address and website address, and a request for work in England ;)
Note a
Greg
(Inside a nuclear plant)
Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!
What's the problem? The finger in the ear worked on Mork and Mindy! You too could have the opportunity to "call Orson"!
What's his middle name?
Fukunokia?
-LjM
I'm not sticking my finger in anybody else's ear...
Ewwww
Lean over so I can stick my finger in your ear...
The user can create keyboard events by tap dancing predefined sequences on the floor with the shoe. Mouse clicks and movement is created by sticking the two index fingers up each nostril, and pointing the palm of the right hand at the screen allows for the positioning of the mouse pointer, and wiggling each index finger in the nose simulates mouse clicks.
"This new interface is intuitively easy to use for users that have never used a computer before," said Roozbeh Ghaffari, PHD Atomic Microscope scientist at Xerox PARC. "We are currently exploring ways to simulate the third mouse button, possibly by creating a hoola-hoop motion with the user's behind."
The first time I get a phone call from someone inadvertantly dialling me while masturbating, DoCoMo is going to have a lot to answer for!
--
The gift of death metal does not smile on the good looking.
What if you want to pass the call to someone else to say a few words? You have to stick your finger in their ear! Not likely to be popular with either party, I suspect. :)
http://www.glasswings.com/
Don't they know the speaker goes in the thumb and the microphone in the pinky? That way, you can make the little "call me" wave and have it actually make some sense!
Added Bonus: when you don't like what the person on the other end is saying, just rub your pinky and thumb together: instant feedback!
Because you can't, you won't, and you don't stop...
Four big executives are playing golf together and on the second tee they hear a phone ring, and Michael Eisner reaches into his golf bag and pulls out a cellular phone and talks to his office for awhile. And they play the second hole, and on the third tee there's a little buzz and Warren Buffett puts one finger in his ear and one finger to his mouth and talks, and afterward he explains that he has a tiny microphone installed in one fingernail and a tiny speaker in another, so he can keep in touch with the office. Everyone is impressed. And they play the third hole and on the fourth tee, suddenly Ted Turner starts talking--no phone or anything. And afterward he explains that he has a microphone in a filling in his tooth and a speaker in his ear, so that he can always talk to the office. They are even more impressed and move on. And suddenly they see Bill Gates pull his pants down and squat and reach into his golf bag for a roll of toilet paper, and he looks up and says, "It's okay. I'm expecting a fax."
Not my joke, I take no credit.
I can just see it now...People start filling lawsuits against DoCoMo everytime they get a cramp in their finger.
Either way the microphone would still be on the pinky. Holding it the other way would cause wrist strain.
Public acceptance of this may not be too bad.
:-)
Now, just imagine the disaster that the penis phone might have been.
What with people talking out of their asses all the time, I think you're overconcerned.
Well that would surely explain "Ave Ventura, Pet Detective" movies.
Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earth-bound misfit, I
Learning to fly, Pink Floyd.
First, there was the hands free set, and we were besieged with people wandering along the street having a conversation with thin air.
But this idea is guaranteed to make users look even stupider! I can bet you that if this sees production, you WILL see besuited yuppie scum wandering down the street talking to their wrist with their finger in their ear - just not realising how completly zarking stupid this makes them look!
Hacker: A criminal who breaks into computer systems
"Information wants to be paid"
Am I the only one creeped out by that statement?? Making a cool little device that operates uniquely is one thing (a good thing, even), but to turn around and decide that they're going to re-engineer cultural values so their product is accepted?!? Back up the fucking bus, Masaaki!
I'm not living in a hole in the ground - I know that culture is affected everyday by various influences, good, bad, and otherwise. But holy mother of Excrement, what audacity this guy has to figure he can rearrange our values to accept this idea. Doesn't it normally work the OTHER way?? We decide, "Hey Masaaki, your device is cool but I'd never use it" so HE has to go back to the drawing board and either change it so we DO want it, or apply the technology elsewhere. Wouldn't this technology work really well for hearing aids maybe? How about an FM stereo set of sunglasses?
Innovation is good. Cool ideas too. But you have to fucking well admit when your idea isn't viable, and go back to the drawing board. Don't believe that you can make me want what I don't.
Mr. Ska
you won't need to buy those fake phones anymore to look cool, just plug your finger in your ear and yak away into whatever watch you have!
:)
Your defination of cool differs from mine
Finkployd
I have read through all of the comments (just about) and I have yet to find one person who isn't more concerned with how they would look using one of these than the actual practicality of it. I find it hard to believe that a bunch of geeks, who will wear shirts that have lines of perl code, and wear tool belts with leathermen and palmpilots on them actually care about what other people think. Personally, I feel stupid using my cell phone period. I don't use it because I think it looks cool, I use it because its incredibly convinent. A wrist/finger type phone would allow one to be much more discreet, not to mention it would be much nicer to carry around.
Just imagine, you are in class, you feel a vibration on your rist, check the little lcd to see who the incoming call is from, decide you will take it real quick. You tap your fingers together and hold your hand to your ear and tell your girlfriend you will be home in 30 minutes. I will be the first one inline to buy one of these (assuming they aren't too bulky on the rist).
Maybe someone will point and laugh at me because I have a finger in my ear, but I will still have my other hand free to give them the finger with.
---
Remove the -x- from my email address to send.
That's just the handy second meaning - the real meaning is an abbreviation for "Do Communications over the Mobile Network"
Another /. topic today is "Force-Feedback Devices Provide Virtual Texture". put these stories together for a new concept of phone sex.
"Obtuse Anger is that which is greater than Right Anger" - Lewis Carroll
I'm preparing the mid-term exam for my students. As more and more students are cheating nowadays, this device will definitely create a big trouble for the traditional way of examination. You can talk to somebody outside without being really notice.
That's cool. I can have the excuse to set extremely difficult questions in open book examination. Or, the student can choose to walk into examination hall completely naked (and pass the X-ray test for no device implant in body) for normal closed book exam.
A sig is redundant.
How cool would it be if the speaker went on the tip of your thumb, and the microphone went on the tip of your pinky? Make 'em flesh-toned and open the doors to the sanitariums! :-)
---
---
Gort! Klatu Barata Nikto!
Not far out.
Some companies, I recall Sun Microsystems, were experimenting with computer embedded finger rings (Java powered) to replace swipe cards. I suppose you could put a mike in there too.
Well, I had this great idea ages ago, but I had figured out how to produce the sound through the elbow, and just couldn't really market it.
But this is a nice idea. Rivals Get Smart for the shoe phone. Now if only we can get voice input through another finger, we'll be all set to walk down the street looking like complete loonies.
Despite that, I still want one...
===============
-InsaneFolder
My other char is '!'
Line noise.
In one of the Stainless Steel Rat books, Harry Harrison describes a phone where the speaker is on the tip of the thumb while the microphone is on the tip of the little finger. Go on, try it. Then imagine a whole room of people talking on their "pretend" telephones.
X.
"Everything is adjustable, provided you have the right tools"
so now you have to put your thumbs in your ears and stick out your tounge.
-sig-
It means 'anywhere' in Japanese.
It would more normally be romanised as 'dokomo'.
"In Japan or the U.S., people are not willing to wear wearable devices," Fukumoto says. "The only gadget that people allow themselves to wear today is a wristwatch."
And what about the earwax under the fingernail issue... yuck.
Offtopic - Anyone else think Dark Angel had potential but falls flat (or just plain sucks)?
They call me the working man. I guess that's what I am.
This sounds pretty cool. I wouldn't mind having a phone inside of my wristwatch, as long as it didn't turn the thing into a huge bulky piece of hardware like my pal's altimeter watch..
:|
:)
But imagine being on the finger-phone with somebody and they ask to speak to someone else in the room... What are you going to do then? Stick your finger in their ear?
Hey, but then giving people the finger wouldn't be such a bad thing!
This puts my comment about the wearable computers to shame.
Now there will be nutcases seemingly communicating with God, who is speaking to them through their fingers, and can hear them if they shout into their watch.
I think I'd better buy shares in a strait-jacket manufacturer or two. It's going to be a busy year for the asylums.
"Do you have a call, or are you just cleaning your ear?"
"Ever since I bought that new CD, my phone bill has been outrageous."
"My cat played with my watch last night, and called Albania."
"Hello, 911? My finger is stuck in my ear!"
"What? Speak up! I can't hear you through my gloves."
"Wow. That looked really stupid. My phone, pager, and PDA all went off at the same time."
"No, I *can't* write something down..."
"You think people looked weird at the wearables convention--you should've seen the cellular expo."
From the article: "Sooner or later, wireless phones will look more like earplugs, and people will wear them," Fukumoto says. "We just have to establish a culture that registers an idea with people that wearing a device is a cool thing."
Does this make anyone else think of the Borg? Sure, just attach this occular implant and you'll be able to browse the Internet while walking around.
Work for Change & GET PAID!
I'll get you next time, Gadget! Next time!!
Heheh...
--
Todd's Law: All things being equal, you lose!
What's going to happen when you want to put someone else on the phone?
Do you stick your finger in their ear? That will look quite silly. Won't "giving people the finger" become a socially accepted way of saying hi?
Geoff
- Conference calling (stick your finger in someone elses ear).
... but despite how rediculous this sort of technology might sound, the related spinoff tech might actually have real applications.
- Maintenance contract (coton buds sent to you once a month).
- Coloured face plates (gloves).
- Handsfree car kit (stick your toe in you ear - only available to drivers of automatic 4x4's and Lexii).
It could only happen in Japan
We already put a finger in the other ear to blot out the surrounding noise when we're on the phone...with this toy, we'll just have a finger in each ear...
Maybe someone will be able to patent a new kind of finger wipe :)
---- Sigs are bad for your health ----
Give a hand, not a hand-out.
"Honest, I'm not picking my nose ...."
He missed something somewhere.... this culture is largely accepting of wearable technology, ranging from the Gerber knife that rides on my belt to the two or three pagers I am forced to carry to my current cell which has a belt clip... the list goes on. Personally, if the thing had a good user interface and was functional as a watch as well, I'd welcome the consolidation so I look a little less like Batman out for a stroll.
I wish there was a choice that said "Factually Wrong -1" when I mod.
Wasn't Ave Ventura one of the songs in the church songbook? "Ave, ave, ave Ventura..."
Left shift 1 for e-mail...
I've been reading the proceedings from ACM's annual CHI confernces for a paper I'm doing. There, the (evolution of the) physical design of this phone is discussed and evaluated.
h i/302979/p112-fukumoto/
You can read the whole paper here:
http://www.acm.org/pubs/citations/proceedings/c
It provides lots more detail than the article cited in the thread.
For example, the way they've allowed you to get sound out of your finger (which goes in the ear), is by attaching an accentuator to it (from the watch).
Go to it!
-
What a weird idea, but cool. My first thought was Slashdot got hacked again.
"A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both, and deserve neither. " Ben Franklin
How can this be more practical than say getting one of those head sets for your cell phone?
Respond to s
Left shift 1 for e-mail...
This has gotta be a joke...
but a good idea, nevertheless.
This had to be a non-US concept of use, I can't see people sticking their fingers in their ear to talk. Then again, with the bozos on HWY 17 yapping away, I think some have mutated a 3rd arm. In that light, it wouldn't seem so strange. :-\
--
Chief Frog Inspector
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I don't think `DoCoMo' is an abbreviation.
In Japanese `doko mo' means `everywhere', which seems an appropriate moniker for a cellular phone company...
-Miles
We live, as we dream -- alone....
On the plus side, you won't need to buy those fake phones anymore to look cool, just plug your finger in your ear and yak away into whatever watch you have!
I really want to see a picture of someone using this thing, I can't imagine how stupid it must look..
Think how much fun it would be to, say, snap your fingers and have your secretary on your, um, finger, instantly.
"If you look 'round the table and can't tell who the sucker is, it's you." -- Quiz Show
... people tend to think it's rather rude to use a mobile in a lot of public places, or to stick your fingers in your ears, while talking to yourself (which is what you'll appear to be doing until people work out about these things) tends to get you dismissed as mad. As far as I can see, this combines each and every one of those problems with remarkable efficiency.
I'd guess public acceptance will be a huge problem, I'm afraid. This may simply be a leap too far.
Greg
(Inside a nuclear plant)
Aaaarrrggh! Run! The canary has mutated!
Call me when they do a "a string and two cans"
:)
type phone
ONLY then will i be impressed
Failing this, clothing with speakers and a mic suitably placed are probably a better option than sticking your finger in your ear.
Until they have a phone that I can use while having my finger up my nose, I am not impressed....
Of course, Here in trout run, we are still using crank phones and only the rich people (i.e. the ones who flip burgers at mcdonalds) are the ones who have rotary phones. This, like the visor phone, is going to ahve to wait.
The anti-salmon
A device that causes finger vibration has interesting marketing potential.:).
I just have this image in my head of people sitting around a long table with their ears touching the surface of the table. It's a "conference call"! And that guy under the table holding up one finger? Wiretapping...
$finger phone
Login name: phone In real life: ???
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
I'm still waiting for the phone that's nothing more than a small stud earring--it's about the only thing that could get me to pierce my ears.
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
The band houses a tiny microphone, plus a device that converts audio signals into vibrations.
I certainly hope they get a patent on the as-yet-unnamed 'device that converts audio signals into vibrations' before someone tries to copy it. I mean, jeez, they're definately onto something here! This whole time, I thought that audio signals WERE vibrations!
(I love it when journalists pad stories to make them more.. uh.. interesting. Good thing there's no -1 sarcastic (-: )
That's right, you know that Farenheit 451 is about book burning... but did you know that it's about pervasisve media too?
"Sooner or later, wireless phones will look more like earplugs, and people will wear them," Fukumoto says. "We just have to establish a culture that registers an idea with people that wearing a device is a cool thing."
. Remind anyone of "the SeaShell" that Mildred (Montag the fireman's wife) wears in the book? It was acceptable in their culture. How about a FREE ear-cellphone, folks -- all you have to do is accept continuous programming?
Next thing you know, we'll have huge flat screen TVs you can work into your walls....
Libertarianism is rich wolves and poor sheep playing gambler's ruin for dinner.
So, I guess with this product, you can combine Phone Sex wit Digital Sex?!?!?!
And if they added an internet browser, would they finally have browser for Deaf people could use without a keyboard?
Of course, if (when?) they port Linux to it, utilities like "Finger" could take on real, multiple, kinky meanings!
"Is your finger ringing, or are you just happy to see me?"
ttyl
Farrell
CAN-CON 2019 - Ottawa's only book oriented Science Fiction Convention! October 18-20, Sheraton Hotel, Ottawa, Canada h
This guy is going to be very rich soon.
Am I the only one that saw from the start that to share a call you'd simply remove the wristband and pass it to the person who want's to talk - and they'd stick their own finger in their ear? It's kinda disturbing that everyone seems to be going straight for the idea of sticking their fingers in some elses ear....
The first time I get a phone call from someone inadvertantly dialling me while masturbating, DoCoMo is going to have a lot to answer for!
Sure gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "phone sex".
Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earth-bound misfit, I
Learning to fly, Pink Floyd.
I can see how such an invention could appeal to a certain kind of asshole (the same kind who thinks wearable computers are neat), but basically it's a stupid idea.
Damn! is it too late to patent "talk to the hand"?
"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there" - Will Rogers
... cuz that would just be gross.
Sean
Why doesn't anyone ever answer the finger in this house!?!?
--
What happens when you outlaw guns
I know that it is nowhere near April, but I keep getting the feeling that some of the recent posts on Slashdot are April Fool's jokes.
Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
1) "Again"? WhoTF is "DoCoMo"?
2) Why hasn't anyone brought up Inspector Gadget yet? This is EXACTLY how he talked on the phone.
--
An abstained vote is a vote for Bush and Gore.
Non-meta-modded "Overrated" mods are killing Slashdot
(Hey Ryan! Here's your proof!)
If only I could hear through my nose ...
"Science is about ego as much as it is about discovery and truth " - I said it, so sue me.
---
He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an after life. He then realized there was a contradiction there, and simply hoped there wasn't an afterlife -Douglas Adams
/.'s 10 Millionth
That's the problem with most of these "inventions" these things remind me of that episode of the simpsons where Homer creates these odd ball inventions that while they might potentially have uses are in fact pretty much impractical.
Respond to s
And when I was growing up they kept on telling me that the only thing you should put in your ear was your elbow...
I can just see all the emergency rooms all over the US already. You go to hang up after an hour long call and realize that your index finger is firmly wedged to the second knuckle in your ear canal.
And for the humor impared... This was funny!
-- Never make a general statement.
implant! borg! giveme! giveme! i what kewl, implants like that 7or9 chick! yes, implants must have!
nmarshall
The law is that which it boldly asserted and plausibly maintained..
nmarshall
The law is that which it boldly asserted and plausibly maintained..
--Colonel Burr 1783
> ...plus a device that converts audio signals into vibrations
Wow. We can call this new device...
a speaker.
The opinions stated herein do not necessarily represent those of anybody at all. Deal with it.
"Gadget!"
"Yes Chief?"
"MAD agents have kidnapped Penny and Brain while you were down at the station. We think they've taken them to claw's castle!"
"Wowsers! I'll get right on it Chief!"
Gadget pushes the antenna back into his thumb and runs off, directly into the nearest brick wall.
Gfunk
Send lawyers, guns, and money!
"...plus a device that converts audio signals into vibrations."
So some form of loudspeaker, then...
Since there's no buttons on it, how do you dial?
.sigs are useless; it doesn't protect you from imposters.
NewTechUser: Yeah
---Pause---
NewTechUser: Yeh!
---Pause---
NewTechUser: Yeh Yeh!
---Pause---
NewTechUser: Yeh, yeh, yeh!
Dude! Shut the f^%$# up! Do you have *ANY* idea what I look like? Call me back in twenty minutes...
AT HOME!
For f*&^$%'s sake don't call me on this number again!
Ahh - My eye!
The doctor said I'm not supposed to get Slashdot in it!
Instruction manual:
Step 1. Stick finger in ear.
Step 2. Twist arm around so microphone is aimed at mouth.
Step 3. Dial by wiggling thumb.
I just tried it, it looks like I am shooting myself in the head with a "hand" gun.
Do you have to stick your finger in your friends ear if the call is for them?
Anyways, I dont' have much to add, just that it isn't just you.
Stick it in your ear! Stick it! Stick it! Just goes to show that people will stick anything in their ears, and you thought two year olds were bad! :)
BMaximus
I think the last bit of the article hits the nail on the head. Wearable computers aren't cool.
No teenage kid, college kid, soccer mom, or business man is going to stand in public with a finger in his ear, talking to his wrist.
This sounds like really really cool technology, but it's not going to be the "cool" thing to wear to the mall anytime soon.
wish
Vote for freedom!
---
You're going to look some smart walking down the street with a finger in your ear (hopefully yours, your not borrowing your buddies phone).
Imagine this.... An artist paints a picture of a NY city street. Lovely people walking using their finger phones. 2000 years pass. People of the future find this painting.... Is this really an image we want to leave behind?
Just a thought
www.slightlycrewed.com - Because aren't we all?
human://billy.j.mabray/
human://billy.j.mabray/
"Every good system has a backup." -- Dale Hanchey
There is an interesting article at http://www.acm.org/sigchi/bu lle tin/1997.4/bass.html which is on a workshop on the topic of Wearable computing. If you notice, at the bottom of the page you notice that Masaaki Fukumoto participated in this. I wonder to what extent this played in his "finger phone."
2 -fukumoto/
For an article that he (Fukumoto) wrote on a wristwatch style wearable handset you can chek out http://w ww. acm.org/pubs/citations/proceedings/chi/302979/p11