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Polite Cell Phones

yEvb0 writes "Researchers at Motorola and Carnegie Mellon University are developing more polite cell phones. Strategies include programming the ringer to turn on and off according to the time of day, monitoring sound light levels to determine if the owner is a movie theater or talking to his boss, and even letting callers decide whether they'd like to interrupt based on this information."

2 of 292 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Pocket Watch by NiteShaed · · Score: 2, Informative

    A number of phones now feature "Airplane Mode", which basically shuts off the transmitter part of the phone, and lets you run everything else. As a bonus, I use this when I'm in an area where I know I won't get cellular reception, but I still want to use the MP3 player or camera. The battery life stretches a lot farther, leaving me plenty of power when I turn the transmitter back on.

    --
    Some bring out the best in others, some the worst. Some bring out far more.
  2. My treo 650 by fasuin · · Score: 2, Informative

    already is a polite phone. It can be automatically turned on and off, e.g., during a meeting, and change the ringer volume based on the lighting condition... Just use brightcam http://treoware.com/