Paper Phones

Fuzzy_Damnit! writes: "Whoa! Paper phone!" One of our shorter story write-ups... Anyway, since the reporter said he had a working prototype, it looks like the paper phone is not just paperware after all.

Comments

Re:A worrying turn of phrase...

[ConceptJunkie]

She can't control how her product is used.

Should Napster be responsible for whether or not its clients use the service to trade copyrighted material?

Better yet, should AOL be responsible for allowing a child molester in a kiddy chat room?

Should the phone company be responsible for carrying your insider trading calls?

Should Einstein be held responsible for the development of the A-bomb?

As with any technology, the respsonsibility for its misuse lies solely with the person who misuses it. Of course, this includes the inventor, but only in relation to him- or herself.

Re:Yes

[PhatKat]

Call the vending machine restocker.

Oh wait...

I can see it now....

[vex24]

AOL gives away free disposable phones! Only catch - they call you twice a day to try to get you to subscribe to AOL, and of course, the phones are hard-coded to dial only 800 numbers.

(Hack available at sourceforge :P )

Yes!

[Nidhogg]

Just what I need. A whole new way to hang up on people.

"Hold on just a second. I have to get something from my pocket."
*flick* *flick*
*crackle*
"Burn baby burn!"

Yes

[fm6]

Pay phones will be replaced by phone vending machines.

Hey, is it recyclable?

__________________

Re:Hemp fiber paper

[Ian Wolf]

Now you too can have an all new Smokia 2000! The phone that makes you feel just fine.

A worrying turn of phrase...

[Gingko]

One quote disturbs me philosphically:

"I can't change what society is. We are a disposable society. Life is what it is."

I was reading one of Feynamann's "Meaning of It All" Lectures last night (specifically Uncertainty in Science). There, he talks about what, if any, the responsibility of the scientist (engineer, whatever) is to society in bringing to bear the applications of an idea. He said that each scientific idea presented the "keys to the gates of heaven, and of hell" (paraphrasing). While it would be foolish to pass up the opportunites of a key to heaven, it would be unwise to not consider the possibility of hell.

While of course, heaven and hell are exaggerations here, the principle holds. I sincerely hope this woman has not passed the buck of responsibility for potential wastefulness to society as a whole. As the sole person responsible for bringing this product to society (and only that - it seems a team of engineers were responsible for design and implementation), she has a responsibility (as clearly society does) to make sure her invention is used in a proper manner.

Henry

Ingenious...

[cribcage]

What a fantastic way to combine two of Americans' favorite driving activities: talking on cellphones, and littering.

It's about time we gave morons something besides their cigarette butts to throw out the window.

crib

How small is usable?

[edgrale]

You all have probably seen a Nokia 8850, 3310 or a 6110 (might have different names in the US). Now my question is, how small is usable? Or rather, how thin? As we all know there are people with bad eyesight, "fat" fingers and not to mention old people. I don't mean to troll now, so please don't flame me, I'm just trying to point out that we ought to stop for a minute, and think how small we should make them. Old people are bound to have problems if (cell) phones are going to be too thin/small. Some even say that the 3310 is too small for them.

Not to mention that they are easy to missplace...
But on the other hand, small can be good also :)

Just my 2 cents

Secret Service

[deran9ed]

This amazing piece of technology, which I tested while huddled against the elements at a train station in New Jersey, is made largely of paper.

Secret Service officials have asked to see this phone recently, I think the article was on Cryptome.org or something similar. Odd that such high ranking government officials would want to see this. See way I figure, if its used in the commission of a crime, there's no trace back to the cellular, nor is there a way for them to monitor a conversation. So expect some sort of fallout between government and the inventor.

As a result, it's incredibly cheap. You'll be able to buy one for maybe 10 bucks, and it will come with 60 minutes of air time. When that time runs out, you can throw it away, or just punch a button to add another 60 minutes of time.

It is a nifty idea by all means, but again law enforcement will see this as a problem as they may not be able to use ECHELON based programs to monitor whats going on, thereby leaving another means of circumvention of laws by criminals.

Basically, this is a calling card with a telephone built in. And the technological advances it's based on--22 patents have been awarded to its developers--are going to have a dramatic impact on many things we take for granted.

? I disagree with this, how is taking a cellular phone for granted, its not a neccessity in life, and although we use it in every day life, we've been fine without it in the past, so I see this statement as overkill.

The phone, conceived by Randice-Lisa Altschul, relies on a technique that allows a standard electronic circuit to be literally printed on material using magnetic ink.

So a binary reader may be able to gain information on the innards of this phone, giving people the ability to tinker with it some. Well leave it up to the next Defcon, or other Con where someone will figure out the workings on this, then we can guess government won't like this idea too much.

she's already got worldwide orders for 100 million of the devices and three factories standing by as soon as she receives approval for the device from the Federal Communications Commission. It's a fairly routine assessment guaranteeing things such as the device won't unduly interfere with other technology.

I think she has more to worry about than the FCC when its concerning this type of product, again I wish I could find that article, so people can see what I mean.

For instance, these phones are pretty much untraceable, like a call from a pay phone. That's great if you're concerned about privacy but bad if you're worried that bad guys will use stuff such as this to make it harder for law enforcement to catch them.

Well there's small mention of law enforcement here, but again I will search for the prior article on the Secret Service's concern over these phones, and its not like its the FBI or something, these guys (Secret Service) don't normally get involved with these issues, which made me think about, what exactly is going to happen when these phones (if these phones) are released.

Patent Pending

Re:Who's their targetted audience?

[NMerriam]

So anyone who doesn't already own a cellphone because of the expense isn't going to be able to afford this any better. So, they'll have to be selling to people based on its convenience. That means tourists and criminals, and I'm not sure which one is worse

or people like me. I don't have a cel phone because its way too much money for the amount of time I spend on the phone, and the devices are way too big for the low frequency I would use it. If you told me I could buy a phone to put in my wallet and forget about until I needed it, as long as it wasn't ridiculously expensive I'd buy it.

As it is if you want a small phone to carry with you you'll have to spend a couple hundred bucks to get something tiny enough to be convenient, and then pay monthly charges (with a contract!) for the privlege. The current disposable/no-contract plans don't have phones that are at all convenient in size.

And there are plenty of times when i would have liked to have a phone for say, a week. For ten bucks, this is perfect for many of the people on earth who DON'T feel compelled to be available 24 hours a day, but would stil like the occassional convenience.

The biggest probelem cel companies have right now is that everyone who is obsessively on the phone already has one -- they have to make it much more convenient for the REST of us if they want to grow their customer base at all...

---------------------------------------------

end of pay phones?!?

[mattdm]

The reporter claims that this will "probably mean the end of pay phones". Yeesh, I hope not -- pay phones are wonderful for when you forget to bring your phone. Unless these things come with magic pills for ending absent-mindedness, I hope the good old quarter-eating things stay around for a good long time.

--

Useless

[Aggrazel]

Who wants a paper phone anyway?

Now a shoe phone... thats a useful thing that I've yet to be able to buy.

Please some slashdot user point me to where I can buy a shoe phone, I really want one. Just so I can do this one:

"Would you please hold? I have a call on my other shoe." - Maxwell Smart

I liked the inventor's rationale...

[sulli]

Altschul, talking on her cell phone, lost her connection and became so angry that she wanted to heave the device out the window. She didn't because the phone was too expensive.

Can we have paper laptops for the same, um, killer app?

For More Info...

[DetritusX]

There's an interesting (and simple) explanation of the technology behind this at HowStuffWorks.com:
http://www.howstuffworks.com/disposable-cell-phone .htm