Tag Archives: Phones

Steampunk phone uses punchcards

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punkphoneMore Steampunk nonsense, this time from London designer Arthur Schmitt. This concept phone is one you program (i.e., place calls) with punch cards. (A 41, I am old enough to have used the last of these.)

I do like Steampunk’s return-to-tactility ethos, and Unplggd’s suggested term for forward-and-backward oriented design: retro-vation.

We love the creativity and innovation (retro-vation?) that comes from Steampunk modifications to modern technology. Some great ideas come from taking a completely new gadget and making it something that looks like, and in this case sort of works like, something from the 19th century. This steampunk cell phone concept has no display. No 3G. No data plan. No games. It doesn’t even have a dial pad. You make your calls with binary-coded punch cards, steampunk.

via Apartment Therapy Unplugged | Steampunk Cell Phone Takes Tech Backwards

VTech shooting aftermath: Government-controlled flashmobs

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Message received: Emergency text messages can herd people into target areas

The U.S. government, through its sponsored media outlets (see link and excerpt, below), is pushing for a requirement that students carry mobile devices to receive text messages from central authorities.

But as a I report in an upcoming issue of Glenn Beck’s Fusion Magazine, rogue authorities and terrorists themselves may be able to use SMS (for short messaging service) to herd people into traps, where gunmen or explosives may be awaiting them.

Also, as Alan Watt listeners and parallelnormal community members already know, British military authorities have already suggested that so-called flashmobs (which use SMS) are in the process of  being weaponized.

clipped from www.pbs.org

 Virginia Tech: Yet Another Wake-Up Call for Better Emergency Preparedness

[Almost] every cell phone available today is able to send and receive SMS text messages. SMS infrastructure generally holds up better in times of crisis than email, and it automatically appears on your phone’s screen when you receive one.
[I] have no doubt that universities that don’t have mandatory cell phone requirements or SMS alert systems are going to take the idea a lot more seriously now.

Now videocasting: Tech Lab with Mark Baard

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The Boston Globe last week piloted “Tech Lab with Mark Baard,” a weekly video program at Boston.com featuring some of the technologies I cover in my column. We’re starting off in the Tech Graveyard, “where old technology goes to die,” in the Globe’s basement. In the coming weeks, we’ll move into the field, visiting university labs and tech firms.

Let me know what you all think of this thing!