[linux-elitists] Silence! Re: google phones
Ruben Safir
ruben@mrbrklyn.com
Wed Nov 7 16:03:21 PST 2007
On Wed, Nov 07, 2007 at 03:17:04AM -0500, Ruben Safir wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 06, 2007 at 03:52:30PM -0800, Karsten M. Self wrote:
> > on Mon, Nov 05, 2007 at 12:41:10AM -0500, Ruben Safir (ruben@mrbrklyn.com) wrote:
> > > By Leslie Cauley, USA TODAY
> > > Breaking news E-mail alerts
> > > NEW YORK Google (GOOG) today plans to announce the formation of an
> > > "open phone" coalition, with the goal of developing an operating
> > > system for the so-called Google Phone.
> >
> > In a not-very-linux-or-elitist followup: a friend found themselves, once
> > again, woken up last night at 1:30 and again at 4:30 am by an
> > unidentified caller dialing an iPhone. This has happened a few times.
> >
> > Let me clarify: pretty damned near every night. For a month.
> >
OK - try this
in order
http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/resources/landers0.wav
http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/resources/landers1.wav
http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/resources/landers2.wav
http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/resources/landers3.wav
This is a story with a happy ending. I will also say that mutliple
calls had been made since her cellphone didn't seem to work that well,
but that's life.
Ruben
> >
> > Apparently neither the joy-happy-fun-love folks at Apple, nor our
> > Monopolistic Overlords at PacBell^W Cingular^W SBC^W AT&T have thought
> > to implement a pretty bloody obvious feature for a phone, in a world of
> > increasingly low-cost connectivity: specified blocklisting (specified
> > numbers or unidentified numbers), or specified whitelisting (specified
> > numbers), in particular, one which might be enabled/disabled readily by
> > the user at various times of the day.
> >
> > I might, for example, be willing to be awakened at 4 in the morning by
> > my parents, girlfriend, or children, in the event of a dire emergency,
> > but not by Joe (or Rajnish or Mei or Ivan) Random Fax Teledialer. I
> > might be willing to accept calls from known numbers much of the rest of
> > the day, and even allow interruptions from unknown numbers for an hour
> > or so. Why isn't this functionality available?
> >
> > Calling AT&T it appears that there is no feature in place to block
>
>
> With regard to this, I've had an interesting interaction this past week with
> my kids. I noticed a phone call to Tenesse for 3 hours at midnight. So
> I do a search for the number and I'd found that nearly once a week for
> several months someone has been making such a call to such a number, sometimes
> even at 2AM. So I'm working the overnight and I call the number and I get
> some kid without much information. The next day my ex-wife calls and tries to
> identify the person, calls them and asks who they are.
>
> So the kids parents get all upset and leave me several ***interesting*** voice
> mails which when I have a chance I'll let you listen to since they are wave
> files. They are a textbook case of parental misinformation, distrust,
> discovery and what happens when you give your kids cell phones in the internet
> age.
>
> Ruben
>
>
> > specific calls nor are their plans to implement one. Calling 611 (after
> > scanning the AT&T website for other ways to deal with this matter)
> > elicited the suggestion that we visit the website to file a feature
> > request. I suggested that the CSR earn her pay by taking the request
> > over the phone. And that AT&T get off its fat ass and address this
> > problem. We've been dealing with spam in email contexts for nearly two
> > decades, is it really so hard to realize it's going to hit phones, and
> > badly, and soon?
> >
> > There are some other hacks:
> >
> > - The iPhone supports "Airplane mode" which apparently disables all
> > wireless services, while allowing local phone functionality.
> > http://www.theapplepress.com/?p=258
> >
> > - Some phones allow selection of custom ringtones for specific numbers
> > or classes of numbers (e.g.: restricted/unidentified numbers).
> > Create a silent ringtone and set the "unidentified caller" ringtone
> > to this. Or set the silent tone as your default and change known
> > numbers to something slightly more ... noticeable.
> >
> > Apparently I'm not the first person to think of this, though the
> > referenced silent ringtone link no longer works:
> > http://www.textually.org/ringtonia/archives/2003/12/002461.htm
> >
> > If your phone can handle MP3 ringtones, I offer the following 0.5
> > second (fair use) clip from John Cage's seminal work:
> >
> > http://linuxmafia.com/~karsten/silent.mp3
> >
> > It's sort of the anti-Steven Colbert of ringtones.
> >
> > LMK if that works as I haven't actually tried this yet.
> >
> > For details on creating your own ringtone (Linux and Audacity
> > elitism utilized):
> > http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/commentary/listeningpost/2006/02/70150:w
> >
> >
> > - Turn your phone off and buy an alarm clock.
> >
> >
> > It would be very slick if a combination of open platform OS + system,
> > and hardware devices, were made available which could address
> > deficiencies such as this. I've seen the iPhone (don't use it myself)
> > and admire its UI advances (many must a matter of thinking about the
> > user and usbility), but still can't help seeing the device as largely
> > envisioned as a channel for cramming "content" and costs down the throat
> > (or up another orifice) of "the user".
> >
> > Google phone might be part of that solution, anything else there that's
> > a good base? And what's the hardware side look like these days? That
> > slick handheld touch-screen thingie that got Best of Show at LWESF last
> > summer looks like a good start.
> >
> >
> > Peace.
> >
> > --
> > Karsten M. Self <karsten@linuxmafia.com> http://linuxmafia.com/~karsten
> > Ceterum censeo, Caldera delenda est.
>
>
>
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>
>
> --
> http://www.mrbrklyn.com - Interesting Stuff
> http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software
>
> So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
>
> http://fairuse.nylxs.com DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
>
> "Yeah - I write Free Software...so SUE ME"
>
> "The tremendous problem we face is that we are becoming sharecroppers to our own cultural heritage -- we need the ability to participate in our own society."
>
> "> I'm an engineer. I choose the best tool for the job, politics be damned.<
> You must be a stupid engineer then, because politcs and technology have been attached at the hip since the 1st dynasty in Ancient Egypt. I guess you missed that one."
>
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--
http://www.mrbrklyn.com - Interesting Stuff
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
http://fairuse.nylxs.com DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
"Yeah - I write Free Software...so SUE ME"
"The tremendous problem we face is that we are becoming sharecroppers to our own cultural heritage -- we need the ability to participate in our own society."
"> I'm an engineer. I choose the best tool for the job, politics be damned.<
You must be a stupid engineer then, because politcs and technology have been attached at the hip since the 1st dynasty in Ancient Egypt. I guess you missed that one."
© Copyright for the Digital Millennium
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