Cell Phone Foibles

My Samsung cell phone had a built-in flaw. It would reject a call if either of the ring volume control buttons were touched while the phone was ringing. There was no way to disable the call rejection feature. The exposed ring volume buttons do not require flipping the phone open to reach them, but they are also vulnerable to accidental touches. It is virtually impossible to withdraw the phone from a pocket or phone holster without touching the ultra-sensitive buttons. The genius who designed the feature probably had good intentions, but got poor results.

During the 18 months I had the phone, I became fairly adept at answering it without rejecting a call. But, no one is perfect. I had enough slip-ups, i.e. rejected calls, to make owning the phone something I wanted to end. As soon as I had the phone for the minimum contract time before I was eligible for an "upgrade", I traded it in for a model that hopefully would not have this design flaw. The AT&T agent assured me that the Pantech phone I had chosen would not reject a call when the ring volume controls were touched.

Guess what happened on the first call I received on my new phone. The call wasn't rejected; it was "silenced". I may have touched a damned outside button. I may be caught on a technicality, but the lesson is really a financial one. Make sure when you select a phone that it isn't the cheapest non-Samsung phone you can get.

Combo Tech

The cell phone has morphed into a combo tech tool. It can be a telephone, a camera, a GPS monitor, a music player, a video player, a Web browser, a text message or email typer, and who knows what else. So, how about doing something with the telephone handset? It could be a TV remote, a VHS and DVD player remote (at least for basics), a garage door opener, a ceiling fan remote, and who knows what else. What spawned this idea of mine? Well, this morning at breakfast, I reached under the newspapers for the TV remote, picked up the telephone handset by mistake, and pressed its buttons to no avail. They say necessity is the mother of invention and I say that human frailty is the father of salvation. To err is human, to forgive divine. Help me here and cut down the number of gadgets we have around the house.

Kansas Kristmas Karaoke

No good idea should go unreported, as no good deed should go unpunished. In Kansas business districts, large and small, mixed among the stores and offices are what Kansans politely refer to as ‘watering holes’. These watering holes are in fact beer joints, taverns or bars. In these watering holes are electronic devices called karaoke machines, which mix music and vocal tracts for entertainment. In the same business centers, street light poles bear loudspeakers that are connected to an amplifier in the chamber of commerce office, the library or the city hall, whichever unlucky place happened to be where the business district committee who proposed it decided it should be housed. These two technologies, the karaoke machine and the outdoor loudspeaker, could be combined to provide holiday music for the business district. Can’t you imagine Christmas songs like Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer and Hark the Herald Angels Sing performed by barleycorn celebrants wafting across the roof-tops and sidewalks of the shopper’s paradise? I can foresee Kristmas Karaoke festivals throughout the state with thousands in attendance brightening the fortunes of many a Kansas merchant.