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Jeff Bezos Wants To Put an Airbag In Your iPhone
theodp writes "Don't want to pay Apple $199 to repair the cracked screen of the $199 iPhone you dropped? Neither, apparently, does Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. A patent application made public Thursday lists Bezos as an inventor of 'a system and method for protecting devices from impact damage,' which proposes using airbags, springs, and even a jet propulsion system to keep your iPhones, iPads, and other portable devices safe and out of the clutches of the Genius Bar. Let's hope there's an API — those gas cartridges could be a game-changer for fart apps!"
Put an airbag in your airbag, so that when your airbag is protecting your iPhone, it's being protected.
Wow a nice protective case is not enough?
And the rest is fantasy too. Glad someone's got a patent out of it though. Gotta keep the economy going with innovation, right?
Great. So if I toss my phone to someone it'll react like it's going to hit the ground. And, in the unlikely event that it just deploys spontaneously I don't want an airbag up against my ear.
They won't give iPhone or iPad users an SD slot or the ability to replace the battery without completely dismantling the phone, but will give us a gas cartridge?
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
TFA, and TF Linked Patent Application, don't contain the words "Apple," "iPhone" or "iPad" at all. The headline of TFA says, "Smartphone."
Did Slashdot substitute that with "iPhone" just to get the nerds all riled up? Wouldn't be the first time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6PsnCs07aw
How about a bug that causes the springs to deploy when your face is close to the screen while using Facetime. How about setting off the airbag in someone's pants both getting a good guffaw over the obvious fart-joke implication while simultaneously sterilizing the target. What about getting springs lodged in your leg while dancing or tripping down stairs. Oh yeah, nothing can pos-i-blie go wrong.
If you really want to minimize damage, how about just making devices more impact resistant instead? The concept of using complicated active-protection just ads more weight, complexity, and cost. Impact resistant materials would make for a better solution.
Life is not for the lazy.
....easy field-stripping and parts replacement?
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
like the ability of the phone company and the government from spying on people
If the phone senses it is falling, it will automatically dial your mother in law. Airbag deployed - phone saved. You're welcome. ;)
I believe the Acme mail order company shipped a similar set of springs to Wile E. Coyote back in the late 60s or early 70s for prior art. Coyote put them on his feet to try and catch Road Runner, but they didn't work. (I wonder what Acme's return policy was like?)
Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.
Those who forget the past are doomed
That's true. If you loose your iPhone mid-contract, you're going to have to replace it, which would run you about $650.
http://bash.org/?4281
I have already patented it...
Rollercoaster.
The phone can at most, when dropped (as opposed to "be thrown"), accelerate at 1G, no? You can exceed that in a car. Or taking off in a plane. Rollercoasters can get upward of 4. Nothing like this thing exploding in your pocket when the light turns green.
And the directional stuff I've seen on most are pretty laggy. Is there really time for it to wake up, determine which way is down, that it's heading there, that it's not a whale or bowl of petunias, and deploy an airbag?
Another word: GLOVES.
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
"pay Apple $199 to repair the cracked screen of the $199 iPhone you dropped?" is utterly wrong. A new iPhone with no new contract attached to it costs much more than $199 -- $649 to be precise.
Paying $199 to have it replaced if totally destroyed is not that bad actually.
"Is that an iPhone in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"
...it's called phone insurance. You know, that lone option that 95% of people feel is a complete ripoff and don't buy it...You know, the same people who are more than willing to bend over and spend $200 on the latest iHipsterGadget, along with paying $80/month for the service.
Given Amazon's recent forays into Android space, I would assume Mr. Bezos carries an Android phone. If his phone is an iPhone, it would destroy the credibility of Amazon's Android market - in a lot of people's eyes, anyway.
#DeleteChrome
But why don't we just make the phones more rugged.
It can be done. We had some nearly impossible to destroy ones back when i was doing construction. (we tried to destroy them)
Just half of that effort would work for most average consumer accidents with their phones.
Like many others have said, a case would be fine. Or even tether it to your pants if you're really paranoid about dropping or losing it. This invention would likely cost more than the alternatives. It would add to the weight and bulk of your phone. It's also likely that it would not be allowed on airplanes as airliners understandably have policies that disallow pressurized items from being on a plane (particularly in a carry-on, but the TSAs might get suspicious if they scan it in your baggage as well).
If you said to a group of Freshman Mechanical Engineers, "Come up with a couple ideas to protect a device from impact," don't you think EVERY SINGLE ONE would propose this crap? How is this even close to being non-obvious. I can't think of a solution that is LESS obvious.
So you could buy a newer one.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
There are ruggedized phones. Apple just doesn't make one.
For what they charge, the screen should be sapphire, not glass. Sapphire sheet is neither rare nor expensive. Supermarket checkout scanners (and, especially, Home Depot) usually use sapphire windows. You can drag metal cans and tools across those for years without scratching them.
Then there's the whole silliness of needing a case to protect an iPhone. If the thing was designed right, you wouldn't need a case to protect it. There are phones that work fine after being run over by a car. There are rugged smartphones.
But none of them are made by Hon Hai, a/k/a Foxconn, a/k/a Apple.
...than 20 bucks on amazon.com. It comes with the tools and instructions on how to change it. Nothing else more to say.
If he's applying for a patent, I guess that means he's got a prototype, right?!
Thank you thank you, I'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip the waitress!
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
Not a good idea using any kind of compressed air charge next to ones privates...
But I do want that going off in a phone thief's trousers!
Can we get the "iED" option added to Find My iPhone?
(FYI: airbag cartridges are an "are you fscking kidding me" item for carry-on or checked baggage.)
CAPTCHA: blister. Yeah, I bet it would.
That's true. If you loose your iPhone mid-contract, you're going to have to replace it, which would run you about $650.
Not necessarily- if it comes "loose" as you say, it might fall and get broken (in which case you can fix it), or you might get lucky and nothing would happen.
If one was to lose their iPhone, that would be a more definite problem, though.
One problem I see with this is that once the airbag has deployed you will have to take it to a service centre for replacement.
There might be a cost reduction compared to some components, but I bet by the time you've paid someone to fit it, you will be looking at $100 for replacement airbags. And you will have to wait to get it back.
Cheaper than a touchscreen, or whole new device. But still less than ideal.
Irregardless that's defiantly something I wouldn't want too happen to there phone.
I guess he misunderstood the "information superhighway" metaphor.
Good one. I have a since of humor...
Just exactly how this is going to be allowed on planes.
mite b coo- err, DANGEROUS.
try to buy a cheaper phone and don't worry ..
Guess that little side project of his is starting to produce patents for him.
I doubt Jeff Bezos has done any research, produced any prototypes or even knows exactly how 'his' invention might be implemented - but by patenting it now he can rake off a share of the profits if and when someone else does all the real work.
That's one of the many problem with patents.
https://twitter.com/#!/dschleifer/status/16990052284
"Who wants a case? #iPhone4 needs airbags that deploy when the accelerometer determines it has been dropped." - June, 2010
-Dan
Your phone is now the perfect platform for an improvised bomb.
like cars, phones are designed for high maintenance costs. you don't really think apple because the richest company in the world because it sells quality products do you?