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Microsoft Patents Whacking Your Phone To Silence It
another random user writes with news of a patent application from Microsoft that details a method for silencing your phone by giving it a whack. "There are a variety of circumstances under which it may be desirable to quickly control a device without having to interact with a traditional user interface. For example, often mobile device users forget to set their mobile devices in a silent or vibrate mode and the device rings or makes sounds at an inopportune moment." And yes, 'whack' is the technical term used in the patent (20120231838): "receiving information indicative of acceleration of the mobile communications device; determining correlation between the information indicative of acceleration of the mobile communications device and exemplar whack event data; and based at least on the correlation, controlling an audio signal of the mobile communications device." This method is not recommended for controlling the audio output of animals or children.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Smartphone
The mafia has been whacking people for decades to silence them.
-=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
1. The three stooges "Shut up you numbskull" patent
2. The whack dat nois - e boid patent
3. The void-your-manufacturer-warranty inoportune phonecall patent
Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
Much better title - Microsoft patents whacking off..
I dunno, but I think it deserves the name Whack Off...
Never happened. True story.
Not me, I actually like the Microsoft patent.
It just gives me one more excuse to whack some people on the side of their head while they're on their phone.
So your zune squirts and your WP8 device whacks off.
Microsoft. What will they think of next?
Rubbing a phone's little pink silicone nub to turn it on?
Thank you, Edward Snowden.
"Arguments from authority are worthless." —Carl Sagan