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Low-Tech Cell Phone Blocking

Posted by timothy on from the best-kind-of-sandwich dept.

nigelc writes: "This BBC story reports on Japanese work to come up with a low-tech solution to cell phones in cinemas! Hey, if it can stop the person next to me from going 'Hey, dude, guess where I am?,' I'm all in favor of it."

14 of 548 comments (clear)

  1. Sounds great for the movies... by ChanxOT5 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    But what if someone can't call 911 because of the blocker?

    I would fear installing these things because of liabilities. What's annoyance compared to the safety value of being able to use a phone anywhere.

    1. Re:Sounds great for the movies... by GoatPigSheep · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Most theatres have pay phones. 911 is free.

      --
      GoatPigSheep, the 3 most important food groups
    2. Re:Sounds great for the movies... by Banner · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This response is Extremely Lame.

      What are you going to do when someone shots you because you answered your phone in the middle of a movie? I've seen people beaten for answering their phone in a movie theater, and have read news stories about worse things.

      You can find out if your GF has been hurt in the course of due time like most people. Finding out sooner ISN'T going to change the world.

      And personally I DON'T CARE about your GF, and my being bothered by you so you can find out is very low on my list of priorities. My world (in fact 'THE' world) doesn't revolve around you. Maybe you shouldn't go to movies, in case something should happen while you are in there.

    3. Re:Sounds great for the movies... by ceejayoz · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If he's on call, he should do one of the following things:

      a) not go to a 2 hour movie, wait until he gets off call
      b) leave his pager at the front desk and ask them to get him if it goes off

      Simple enough. People apparently survived when we didn't have cell phones, so saying that blocking them in movie theaters is going to result in the downfall of Western civilization and whatnot is a bit extreme.

      p.s. in my experience, pagers seem to get better reception than phones do - this might not block them anyways.

    4. Re:Sounds great for the movies... by EvanED · · Score: 2, Insightful

      >>Payphone have actually been coming *OUT* of malls because of the explosion of cell phone use

      Not only that, but with shielding, they'll have people with cell phones coming *OUT* of malls to talk, disrupting traffic, etc.

      Also, there's the other problem with your (i.e., the author of the mall thread, not the author of this post's parent) analogy: malls are made for SHOPPING. Theatres (Concert Halls are another place that I suspect will be even more inclined to embrace this technology) are made for people to have the experience of WATCHING A MOVIE -- now that we're post 1920s, this includes sound. Ideally, from the theatres' and patrons' point of view, sound that is uncontaminated by people yakking away on cell phones.

  2. HELL NO! by SkyLeach · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm sorry, but like most of the /. posters I keep my cell phone on vibrate ALL THE TIME. I'm not going to be rude and talk in the theater, but I HAVE TO GET MY TEXT MESSAGES.

    "Dude, the servers are down" is the most important message I can get from mon!!!! If I can't get to one or the other data center things start going to shit fast.

    Note to owners: This is a great way to get me to stay way the fsck away from your theater if you install it.

    --
    My $0.02 will always be worth more than your â0.02, so :-p
  3. 802.11b network security by happyclam · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So if I read this right, this paneling also blocks 97% of Wi-Fi (802.11b) signal strength? So if I want to secure my wireless network, I panel the outside walls of my building with this type of paneling, making it so that the warchalkers of the world can't get the signal? And any time I need to go building-to-building, I wire it.

    (Yes, I realize this only works if you don't need access outside the building, but many applications wouldn't anyway.)

    --
    He looked at me and said, "Kid, we don't like your kind, and we're gonna send your fingerprints off to Washington."
  4. Active Jamming... by MADCOWbeserk · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It seems to me that active jamming would be much easier than having to repanel the entire room in this stuff. I think the real use could be for shielding RF sensitive equipment, acting like a low cost Faraday cage.

    Of course having magnetic wall around your sensitive equipment might not be a good idea either.

  5. Won't happen in the US. by surfcow · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Japan has one lawyer for every 10,000 people. The US has one lawyer for every 300 people.

    "I didn't see the sign saying the theater was blocked and I missed my big interview / wife in labor / server going down / mother dying / stockmarket crashing / etc."

    US lawyers would have a field day. "Was the sign displayed properly? What font was it in? Was it also written in Swahili? What about the literacy impared?"

    I just can't see it.

    =brian

  6. HELL YES!!! by fmaxwell · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm sorry, but like most of the /. posters I keep my cell phone on vibrate ALL THE TIME. I'm not going to be rude and talk in the theater, but I HAVE TO GET MY TEXT MESSAGES.

    If you can't be without your cell phone long enough to see a movie, then wait until the movie shows up at Blockbuster, rent it, and watch it at home. I do not buy movie tickets so that I can listen to your cell phone doing the vibrate/buzz thing. Neither do I want to see your glaring backlit display while you read your text messages. I don't want you tripping over my feet or my girlfriend's while you stumble out of the theatre because of your oh-so-important message. Your job does not concern me in the slightest. I would sooner see you fired than have you interrupt a movie that I paid to see.

    Clue: Important people don't have to carry cell phones into movie theatres. Schmucks that work for important people are the ones on call 24/7.

    P.S. Who told you that most /. posters don't keep their cell phones on vibrate "ALL THE TIME"? I don't. I normally leave mine in the car when I go in a public place.

    1. Re:HELL YES!!! by fmaxwell · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And yes, when they were on call in the days before pagers, they were woken with a phone call.

      So they were not sitting in a movie theatre while they were on call? I didn't think so.

      I will personally beat you into the anal-retentive ball of slime you deserve to be .

      I'm sorry that your son has RMS, but that gives you no right to threaten me. Besides, unless you are a LOT bigger and stronger than average, you are damned lucky that you said that while hiding behind your CRT. Here's a hint for you: Ever been mistaken for an NFL football player? I was -- by a member of the Raiders.

      I am delighted that you are so easily replaced.

      I'm not easily replaced. But neither am I so vain as to think that the entire company I work for would grind to a halt if I was unavailable by phone for a few hours. They recognize that they are lucky to have me and, while I'm sure that they would like to me to carry a cell phone so that they could reach me 24/7, they don't want to risk losing me by suggesting something that preposterous.

      Going out to see a movie is a luxury -- and one that many people have not had in years. If you have taken the kind of job where you have to be on call 24/7, then you can watch videos at home rather than annoying people in theaters.

      This reminds me of the parents that have infants that they insist on bringing into movie theaters and nice restaurants. When you make choices in your life, whether to be a new parent or a system administrator, you need to adjust your lifestyle accordingly and not act like the world owes you something.

    2. Re:HELL YES!!! by fmaxwell · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And therefore, these people should not get to watch movies.

      That's why Blockbuster exists. If your presence is likely to be an annoyance to others, whether because you have a chronic cough or you because you have to be on call 24/7, rent a movie and watch it at home.

  7. What about those with children and babysitters? by pm · · Score: 2, Insightful

    My wife and I always go to the movies (and dinner dates, and theaters, and concerts) with our cellphone set to vibrate simply so that if things go horribly wrong at home with the baby sitter and our children, we can be reached. Just because my wife and I are having a date out doesn't mean that everyone back at home (children and/or babysitter) need to have a miserable evening.

    Only once did the babysitter call during the theater. I got up, walked out, and took the call and told the babysitter that my daughter's teddy bear was probably under the couch (it was) and waited until they found it. Without a cell phone our daughter who was two and half would have been miserable. And there's no reason when we are a mere cellphone call away to help.

    Honestly, if they blocked our cellphone we wouldn't go there. We'd find something else to do on our rare dates and wait until it came out on video. I'm sensitive to the noise issue during public performances, and I would no more take a call during a movie than I would talk loudly to my wife during the same movie. But we need the phone if only to have the peace of mind that everything is ok at home.

  8. Re:Not worth the risk by Random+Feature · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And as many others have pointed out - LEAVE A NUMBER where you can be reached.

    Guess what - that's what millions of people do today and what most of us GREW UP WITH. And we're still here.

    If you are that concerned about your child's safety/health/well-being or you don't trust your babysitter then STAY HOME or take the child with you - IF the kid has manners.

    &lt side rant &gt
    If the kid doesn't have manners, both of you stay home. I'm so tired of ill-mannered, disgusting, rude children in public I could slap them and their parents silly. It's as bad as cell phones, only worse because it propagates.

    I'm not a child hater - I have 3 and they are always complimented on their manners. Not because they're perfect but because most people's children are so horrifying.

    &lt /side rant &gt

    --
    I don't have a solution, but I certainly admire the problem.