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British Pizza Chain To Install Cones of Silence
itwbennett writes "British pizza chain Pizza Express is installing iPod docks and soundproof domes in booths of their new iPizzeria stores. 'The idea is that you can plug in your iPod and play whatever music you like without disturbing other diners,' says blogger Peter Smith. 'But I'm sure it'd work for talking about government secrets and other spy stuff, too.'"
Will it work with other mp3 players too?
*looks at wife*
If you really care about what music you listen too while you eat your pizza, why wouldn't you just take it back to your place and eat it there?
What's wrong with take-out?
Why limit the benefit to customer with iphones and ipods? Why not a 3.5mm and 2.5mm jack (much cheaper to install and replace) so that anyone with any MP3 player or cell phone media player can hook up?
Better tell Max Smart about this!
What?
rewriting history since 2109
Why do people want music while they eat? "Normal" people are so weird.
"WHOOOOOOOOOOSH!"
The sound of the joke flying SO FAR OVER YOUR HEAD, The Space Station is in danger of being hit.
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Yes. Yes, you are.
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Quoth TFA:
Along with listening to music, Pizza Express patrons can use their iPods to activate a light at the table that tells the restaurant staff if they need a bill, drink refill or anything else.
Damned if I know why you'd need an iPod to switch on a light. What's wrong with just pressing a button? Seems to work on planes. I hear they have this sort of thing in Japanese restaurants, just hit the button and summon the waiter instead of hoping you'll catch his eye.
And why did /. decide to destroy my post by interpreting the delete key as a browser 'back' button a few seconds ago?
Drill baby drill - on Mars
Cones of silence in pizza restaurants isn't news for nerds nor stuff that matters. WTF?
How is every word on that list not newsworthy stuff that matters????
It's actually pretty funny. I thought spies liked good pizza. Since you can't get that in the UK, the spies are probably all out for Indian food.
More humorous is the fact that since this is the UK they install each cone with a omnidirectional mic and a colour camera to "prevent a breach of the peace." The neighbouring cone then gets paid a few shillings to monitor the undesirable, free-thinkers who are most likely to cause a disturbance.
This is the NSA, we're gonna geet U h@x0r5! Also, what is a h@x0r5?
...is getting one of his headaches.
This may be hard for some Slashdotters to understand, but some people spend hours at a time outside of their basement. When they are away from home and haven't eaten, they might buy some pizza at a pizzeria and eat it there, even if they don't like the noise. They probably wouldn't even consider bringing it home. Unless they are intending to head home immediately anyway, it is quicker, more convenient, and saves gas to eat at the pizza place.
No offense, but I find it hilarious that anybody would ask why somebody would eat their pizza in a pizzeria.
I can see Obama bin Laudin chatting with his sleeper agents in these!
Damping absorbs vibrations. Dampening is caused by moisture.
I'd be happy to see this just to limit exposure to people who do not have an "inside voice".
A device that allowed you to listen to music without disturbing others. Some kind of very small speakers that you can put very close to your eardrums. Oh well, we'll have to do with freaking cones of silence.
WTF am I doing replying to an AC at 5 A.M on a Friday night?
You're right. It was hard to understand.
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How does it save gas when you have to drive back home anyway?
Actually, at that altitude, it doesn't make a OW! OW! STOP IT!
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And what's even harder for /.'ers is that some of use like to bring out girlfriends/ wife/ spouse on dates. While eating at home is efficient and economical, going out can be fun too. And not just going out for pizza, but catching a movie or a play nearby afterwards.
You know, socializing. Sometimes even meeting and having a good time with strangers. IRC doesn't count.
Knock knock knock.
Garçon!
Knock knock knock,
Garçon!
Knock knock knock .
Garçon!
Knock knock knock ,
Garçon!
Ceci n'est pas un sig.
Clearly they have not seen the research that shows that louder restaurants result in more people buying alcohol.
That wasn't the question, dumbass.
His question was about listening to music. If THAT's what's important to you, then why wouldn't you take home?
He isn't asking why people would eat at a pizzeria.
But you're stupid knee jerk reacting to try and make yourself seem funny and smart made you not actually understand the question. That makes you look stupid.
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1. A high-tech anechoic chamber shaped like a transparent bubble? 2. A plastic deco gimmick? 3. How about a boy scout with a transistor radio and earphones?
You will also be free from hearing all the sarcastic comments being made about "The dork over there in the plastic dome."
You might want a fan in there too if you order garlic and anchovies.
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How about simple headphone cords instead so that everyone can use it? the 30 pin connector on the ipod is not the smartest design idea out of apple....
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
They use hover-cover.
(Now to see if I'm the only person in the universe who still gets that reference.)
------RM
HUH? WHAT DID YOU SAY?
"Lost time is not found again."
your smartphone is located in your shoe?
At least they were smart enough to not make a completely isolated soundproof booth, otherwise people would have tested their soundproofing, but without the iPods.
didn't know they were ipod speakers, nice pizza and cappu though.
While I wouldn't call Pizza Express "good" by any means, it is the closest you can get to edible pizza in the UK as far as I could tell. And once you've been stuck there eating terrible terrible food for a few weeks, you start to believe it's good pizza even though it's not.
For the greater good.
...the greater good...
Make mine a 99!
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
Based off of the headline, did anyone else think this was about a new Warcraft spell?
"Man, AoE silence, that's imba!"
It's the closest you'll get in any of the chains. You can get truly great pizza if you go to an independent, but it will be Italian style, not American style, so all to many Americans will be wondering where all the dough and fat are.
Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
Why not just get delivery?
No!
They don't make that noise either.
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I Heart Subby so much for the Get Smart reference and photo. Thanks!
Now this is an excellent idea. I went to the movies the other day and saw something I hadn't seen in years - a phone booth. But there was no phone in it. The idea was to use it for privacy when you made a cell phone call. This is the same concept.
that depends on if your driving back home right after or continuing to stay out.
you would add an extra trip out and then back home if you were to drive home with your pizza if home was not your next stop.
Mainstream isn't, unless you mean nerd mainstream.
There is no -1 Disagree.
Seriously. Have you ever been to a (real) Chinese restaurant? It's louder than a rock concert. Diners practically shout at each other across large round tables that I am convinced were arranged in various approximate solutions to the circle-packing problem. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to eat har gow without the sensation that someone is screeching in my ear in Cantonese. Given recent research on the impact of ambient sound levels on the perceived intensity of food flavor, I imagine the experience might not be quite the same.
and they are gimmicky at best. They only have an iPod connector/dock, so other music players can't use them. Should have used a mini/micro USB port instead. Also, the transparent plastic "cone" is over a small, circular booth (only two cones in the shop near me), and you can still hear some sound from the booth if you're outside it. As was mentioned previously, the easiest/cheapest option for private listening is earbuds.
The Cone of Silence always always always made me laugh to tears.
It was the ultimate answer that needed a question.
The over engineered marvel that sounded like everyone needed it.
It did exactly what it said it would do, but worked a little too good.
No one inside it could ever hear anything either, just tons of echo and reverb.
Yet they were always willing to try it again whenever it was needed.
Until the word got out and they would beg Max not to attempt another session with it.
How did I ever get anything done laughing at stuff like that?
The domes have been around for a couple decades I believe. I recall seeing them back in early 90s at some conference. The parabolic dome works really well for playback sound isolation. They have been used in museums, music stores, etc to keep the playback very isoloated -- only those under the dome can hear. Reflecting surfaces like table tops, especially if sloped, might bounce the sound out of the column, but generally they were pretty good. However, they do NOT isolate conversation under the dome. You can still hear and be heard by others outside the sound column... well maybe not hear them as well, since the playback might overwhelm outside sounds.
Rotate the pod, please, HAL... Hm, I don't think he can hear us.
Since you calmly at the pizza at the pizzeria you 1) don't have the buildup of expectation as you drive home with the pizza in the passenger seat (you are obviously alone), and 2) do not have the anxiety of eating alone in the basement, both of which cause elevated gastric and colonic distress, which in turn produce more gas.
Damn, Dude. Anger. Sheesh.
At the risk of dating myself: "Right now a spinning wheel of death is poised to come crashing down on this restaurant!... Would you believe an abnormally large truck tire?... Would you believe a large pie with anchovies and feta?"
It's a penny for your thoughts, but you put in your two cents worth. Somebody, somewhere is making a penny. SteveWright
How is every word on that list not newsworthy stuff that matters????
Or, you don't get the irony. Had it happen to me many times...
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Next thing you know, you're having the RIAA trying to catch pirates in fraganti on pizzerias.
Yeah! That'll learn you!
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I think the point was more to the selfishness of imposing your music on the others in the Pizzeria.
If you were so set on listening to your own music, why no simply buy the pizza and take it some place where you can eat it while listening to your own music without disturbing others. I can understand you not wanting to be cooped up in your basement/apartment with cheap rent, but does that desire override the establishment's desire to play it's own music to set a mood or some one else' desire not to listen to your crap in a public place?
1. Drive to shopping place
2. Go to pizzeria
3. Go to shopping place
4. Drive home.
vs
1. Drive to shopping place
2. Go to pizzeria
3. Drive home
4. Eat pizza.
5. Drive to shopping place
6. Drive home
Because if you are out, say... shopping for the day... or on a longer date, say... going to the movies afterwards... it would be weird to return home to eat, just to head back out. Of course if the only reason you are out is to eat, then certainly you have to return home afterwards (or to her place if things go well haha)... but if there are other things you planned on doing afterwards, it would definitely save time and gas to eat while out.
Unless they are intending to head home immediately anyway, it is quicker, more convenient, and saves gas to eat at the pizza place.
How does it save gas when you have to drive back home anyway?
By not starting the engine twice.
Whoahohoho there, Booger! Did you just say "British pizza"? I think I threw up a little in my mouth.
Now if I need to discuss my actions in retaking Arrakis with Count Fenring, we can have pizza at the same time. Mmmm, spice pizza.
These aren't so much 'sound proof' as they are just small speakers in parabolic dishes to provide tightly focused sound. A number of companies make them:
http://www.soundtube.com/cgi-bin/main.cgi?Speakers=start&series=6&speaker=23
http://www.browninnovations.com/sound_domes.html
That first one I had set up at our office to evaluate and of course, we couldn''t resit calling them cones of silence either, but I just thought I'd post the links just in case people here might be interested in what the article was actually talking about if they hadn't seen them already in various retail stores.
How does it save gas when you have to drive back home anyway?
Not everyone drives, especially in cities.
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As spock would say: "Interesting."
As Stephen would say: "Quite..."
This sounds like a much better idea than that Cone of Tragedy that my local amusement park introduced.