Does this ever happen to you? You're in a meeting and you hear, from outside the meeting someone's cell phone ring. You think "God damn inconsiderate bastard." And then you think "Shit! Thank god it wasn't MY phone." So, you reach into your pocket (those of you who always have your hands in your pockets, you can just skip to the next step) and grab your cell phone and turn off the ringer. Phew. Disaster averted.
Then, the next morning you go to put your cell phone in your pocket and you notice you have missed a call and have a voicemail. Then it dawns on you. You never turned the ringer back on.
Someone should invent a ring-tone timer, so that way you can just turn off the ring-tone for like 2 hours, then it automatically turns itself back on. That way you can't forget. Simple, easy to do. Quite frankly, not really sure why it hasn't already been done.
But let's take it a step further. Movie theaters have been threatening to jam cellphones for years. It sucks when a phone rings in the middle of a movie and some jackass doesn't realize it's their phone. But jamming the phone is not the solution. I've been to movies with Dr. Aveh when he's received important calls during a movie (of course, he should actually leave the theater to answer the phone, but that's another admonishment for another day). And, I'm sure, parents would want to receive a call from the babysitter.
But, what if there was a signal that could be sent to the phone that would set the phone in silent (vibrate) mode while the movie was playing? That way the call can come through, but the phone doesn't ring out loud.
There is one complication. This idea would be contingent on all the cell carriers adopting a ring-tone trigger standard, which will never happen because each of them would want THEIR OWN trigger standard to be adopted. So then the companies would have to get lobbyists in Washington to try to get a "ring tone trigger standard" legislation passed. Inevitably some silly consumer rights group would argue that turning off the ringer remotely would be invasion of their right to leave the ringer on whenever they god-damned felt like. So then you'd have a counter-ring-tone-trigger organization to tie up the legislation. Ultimately nothing would get done, but our cell phone rates would increase to pay for the lobbyists who didn't actually accomplish anything.
So, maybe I'm just better off remembering to turn my phone back on.
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OK, here's an idea: if you're expecting an important phone call, DON'T GO TO THE DAMN MOVIES! If you are a parent, and worried about your kids or whatever, turn the phone off, but check it half way through the movie. OK, this won't work if theyr'e jamming the phone, but really, that won't happen. I mean, the congressmen want their blackberries to work, even in a theater, so the shit won't get jammed. So, take control of your life. "Vibrate" has a function people, and it doesn't just have to do with B-dog's pleasure centers.
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