Sunday, February 20, 2005

Shut The Cell Up

From N.Y. Post Shut the cell up.

Unsuspecting cellphone users may find themselves saying that more often now that cellphone jammers — illegal gizmos that interfere with signals and cut off reception — are selling like hotcakes on the streets of New York.

I use it on the bus all the time. I always zap the idiots who discuss what they want from the Chinese restaurant so that everyone can hear them. Why is that necessary?"

He added, "I can't throw the phones out the window, so this is the next best thing."

Online jammer seller Victor McCormack said he's made "hundreds of sales" to New Yorkers.

"The interest has gone insane in the last few years. I get all sorts of people buying them, from priests to police officers."
Jammers come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from portable handhelds that look like cellphones to larger, fixed models as big as suitcases.

Their sole goal is to zip inconsiderate lips. The smaller gadgets emit radio frequencies that block signals anywhere from a 50- to 200-foot radius. They range in price from $250 to $2,000.

But don't expect to find jammers at the local Radio Shack — they're against Federal Communications Commission regulations because they interfere with emergency calls and the public airwaves. They are illegal to buy, sell, use, import or advertise.

Another reason why I think text messaging will become more popular in the States. It is considered rude and almost socially unaccepatable in Japan to talk on your cell phone in public. Texting has become a way of life there.

Texting can be a personal conversation in a crowd and nobody has to know.

Personally I think these Jammers are great if people use them for specific cases. Like somebody at the checkout line that feels their time is more important than yours.

Maybe all the auto manufacturers can get together and install in every car, so when the engine is running the cell phone cant be used.

I have to laugh at who seems to be the biggest offender of this self centered behavior, it's NEVER the people that have anything valuable to say anyway...so JAM THEM.

I also wonder what kind of implications this will have on the next generation stuff, like RFID tag readers. Could these eventually be used at retail stores to throw on scanning RFID tags?

Could retail stores install these so people couldnt compare prices in the store?

There will be a happy medium to all of this. Maybe people will become more conscious of others now when using a mobile...or maybe not.

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