Slashdot Mirror
Mobile Phone Abuse and AbUsers
Doctor Hu writes "The Economist has a story ("Think Before You Talk") describing a new range of mobile phone prototypes designed by Ideo to discourage antisocial usage - devices ringing in concert halls, loud proclamations that the caller is on his way home, etc. The first of the series uses electric shocks to condition the user to talk at a non-intrusive level; the others are similarly ingenious. Not intended to be commercially produced, just to provoke discussion (and provide publicity for Ideo, presumably). Nice comment at the end from one of the designers that for devices like mobile phones, "user-centric" design needs to take the needs of people nearby the user into account as well."
... come with a way to zap anyone with a ringtone of 'Mambo #5'?
"Powers. I have them."
AARGGGHHH! *sizzle*
*cheers*
but in a truly perfect society, all phones would cut out after two minutes of monologue.
If someone is bothering you with their cell phone chatter in a place such as a movie theater... "accidently" spill some of your cola on them. If cell phone users start to have some mild(?) public backlash, maybe they'll get the message. Too bad snacks and pop are so expensive at the movies... :(
Can you hear me now? Good.
Can I have the shocker button?? PLEEEEEASE!!
xxxxx HELLO?!
xxxxx
xxxxx HELLO?!
xxxxx
xxxxx NO, I'M READING SLASHDOT.
xxxxx
xxxxx SLASH... DOT...
xxxxx
xxxxx NO, IT'S RUBBISH.
xxxxx
xxxxx OK... OK...
xxxxx
xxxxx CIAO!
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
Maybe Slashdot should develop a keyboard that zaps people who obviously don't read the article before they post their thoughts.
So, just wait for them to use it, then walk up next to them and scream, yell...whatever!
You: "Hey, Joe!!!!"
Them: "Wha? AAAARRRRGH!"
You're happy, they're dazed, and all is right with the world!
Drink blood - 50 trillion mosquitoes can't be wrong.
My mate was watching Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in the cinema and this guy asnwered his mobile phone. People were throwing popcorn and such at him, and he goes "But it's me Mum!"
He's lucky to have got out alive.
Environmentalism is the new Victorianism. Everyone ties on a green corset and pretends we're virtuous.
*ring*
"Oh no. It's Master. If I answer, I get shocked, but if I don't answer Master will punish me."
*ring*
"here goes nothing"
*ZZZAAAAAAPPPPP*
"Hello, I'm with Capitol One Visa and I'd like to talk to you about..."
The World's Worst Webcomic!
"Sorry for jerking like that, but for some reason I do that whenever a cell phone rings and I have no idea why. For some reason that started after dictating my mail replies to my secretary during The Two Towers. Funny that I can't remember anything before the nurse woke me the next day."
Nice thinkin' there bud. I suppose you'd bring your cell phone into church too?
... No, I can talk now. The pastor is just babbling about some guy that's not as important as me."
[Ring! Ring!] "Hello?
Cause everyone wants a free Xbox360
With me, it's not so much that they're talking, it's that I have to hear what they're saying. And 9 times out of 10 its:
"Hey! Guess where I'm calling from!!!! McDonalds!! No, I'm SERIOUS!!"
I mean what toothless rube is still impressed by this?
Why can't I legally choke these people to death? Whatever happened to survival of the fittest?
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Example: I was with a friend at a large home improvement center, and he phoned home to the wife to check on her color preferences for some mini-blinds. A lady nearby did the big, exaggerated sigh and shook her head.
We're standing in the middle of a noisy, cavernous store big enough to have an independent weather system, and she's upset someone is using a phone. What's the difference between that and him talking to one of the store staff, or talking to me? I mean, the resident birds in this store have evolved into their own sub-species, sparrowus homedepotus. This store is big!
I looked back at the woman and quietly asked, "What do you do when faced with a real problem?" She walked off in a huff, the big fat bitch.
On the flip side, the same friend, who always claims talking on the phone does not distract him from driving called me from the road last week. In the middle of the conversation, the call is cut off. He phones back a minute later and said he had to drop the phone because he turned the wrong way down a one way street. Fortunately the nearest traffic was two blocks away. Doh!
--- Ban humanity.
Calling a doctor to an emergency is worth $1.50, calling little Jimmy to check up with him when he's out on a Friday night usually isn't.
Little Jimmy,
Thanks for the suggestion, but I still think it's a good idea to check up on you.
Mom