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Message Digest
Volume 28 : Issue 221 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
Re: How fast is your cellphone moving?
Re: Cellphones and driving
Breakfast Can Wait. The Day's First Stop Is Online.
Re: How fast is your cellphone moving?
Re: 'Take Back the Beep' Campaign
Bank Will Allow Customers to Deposit Checks by iPhone
Re: Cellphones and driving
Re: Is Google Voice a Threat to AT&T?
Re: Is Google Voice a Threat to AT&T?
Re: How fast is your cellphone moving?
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Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2009 22:16:42 -0500 (CDT)
From: John Mayson <john@mayson.us>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: How fast is your cellphone moving?
Message-ID: <alpine.OSX.2.00.0908102215300.4826@Calculus.local>
On Mon, 10 Aug 2009, AES wrote:
> Seems as if lots of cars have GPS units these days. Could they trigger
> a cellphone disabler above some speed? Or, just have the speedometer do
> it?
What about passengers or need for a cell phone during a bonafide
emergency?
--
John Mayson <john@mayson.us>
Austin, Texas, USA
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:23:23 -0500
From: Dave Garland <dave.garland@wizinfo.com>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Cellphones and driving
Message-ID: <EsadnQ3tAryUbx3XnZ2dnUVZ_hOdnZ2d@posted.visi>
Lee Choquette wrote:
> If my phone rings while I'm driving, I just take it out of my shirt
> pocket and hand it to my wife without looking at it. She takes the call
> for me. If I happen to be in the middle of merging or something
> requiring great concentration, I let it ring, but then hand it to her a
> minute later so she can find out who called, and call back while I
> continue to drive.
>
> You need to either explain why I shouldn't be able to do that, or
> explain how your solution will allow me to continue to do that.
Most of us don't always have our spouse in the car.
But even for those rare souls who do, you need to explain how to get
the other 95% of drivers to exercise such exemplary responsibility.
If you've observed at all, you know that most drivers do not. Some of
them even wave their hands as they talk :(
Dave
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:32:05 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Breakfast Can Wait. The Day's First Stop Is Online.
Message-ID: <p06240809c6a6a43f4de5@[10.0.1.3]>
Breakfast Can Wait. The Day's First Stop Is Online.
By BRAD STONE
August 10, 2009
Karl and Dorsey Gude of East Lansing, Mich., can remember simpler
mornings, not too long ago. They sat together and chatted as they ate
breakfast. They read the newspaper and competed only with the
television for the attention of their two teenage sons.
That was so last century. Today, Mr. Gude wakes at around 6 a.m. to
check his work e-mail and his Facebook and Twitter accounts. The two
boys, Cole and Erik, start each morning with text messages, video
games and Facebook.
The new routine quickly became a source of conflict in the family,
with Ms. Gude complaining that technology was eating into family
time. But ultimately even she partially succumbed, cracking open her
laptop after breakfast.
"Things that I thought were unacceptable a few years ago are now
commonplace in my house," she said, "like all four of us starting the
day on four computers in four separate rooms."
Technology has shaken up plenty of life's routines, but for many
people it has completely altered the once predictable rituals at the
start of the day.
This is morning in America in the Internet age. After six to eight
hours of network deprivation - also known as sleep - people are
increasingly waking up and lunging for cellphones and laptops,
sometimes even before swinging their legs to the floor and tending to
more biologically urgent activities.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/10/technology/10morning.html
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:53:20 -0700
From: Thad Floryan <thad@thadlabs.com>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: How fast is your cellphone moving?
Message-ID: <4A813F90.6090501@thadlabs.com>
On 8/10/2009 8:10 PM, AES wrote:
> Are cellphone GPS capabilities good enough for the phone itself, or the
> cellphone company, to know how fast it's moving -- say, in a car, on a
> highway?
>
> Could they be?
>
> Seems as if lots of cars have GPS units these days. Could they trigger
> a cellphone disabler above some speed? Or, just have the speedometer do
> it?
>
> ["Disable" could mean the cellphone will still receive and signal that a
> "page" has been received, indicating that someone has left a voice-mail
> or text-mail on the cellphone system; but the ability to read, listen
> to, or respond to that communication will remain disabled until the
> phone has been at a halt for 5 minutes.]
That's not good. Suppose there's a medical emergency for which 911 needs to
be called. Waiting 5 minutes could be lethal.
What we have here with cell phones and distracted drivers is a people problem,
not a cell phone problem.
By people problem I mean it's the idiots driving around eating, preening,
texting, using a cell phone, etc.
Here's what I'd like to see happen though I doubt it ever will:
Station humongous cranes every 100 feet alongside all roads. Each crane carries
a humongous electromagnet. Using the latest AI tech from MIT, CMU and CalTech
embodied in roadside kiosks with video cameras, signal the nearest crane when
a driver is spotted texting or using a cell phone, lift the vehicle 20 feet off
the roadway, swing it to the side of the road, and continue suspending it until
a police officer, after finishing his donuts and coffee, can get around to the
suspended vehicle and cite the operator for distracted driving which will carry
a $100,000 fine and 200 points on the license (which in most states also means
loss of driving privileges, auto insurance, and probably the vehicle, too).
We can dream! :-)
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:18:03 -0500
From: Dave Garland <dave.garland@wizinfo.com>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: 'Take Back the Beep' Campaign
Message-ID: <8YudnW4sFahVbR3XnZ2dnUVZ_gli4p2d@posted.visi>
Joseph Singer wrote:
> Mon, 3 Aug 2009 19:51:27 EDT Wesrock@aol.com wrote:
>
>> If you call your mailbox from another number, including a landline,
>> you are still charged on your cell bill for the minutes you spend
>> listening to your msssages. My carrier is AT&T.
>
> AT&T (formerly cingular) is the only company that does this.
>
My recollection (I don't have ATT anymore) is that the prepay accounts
did not charge for this.
Dave
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:35:37 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Bank Will Allow Customers to Deposit Checks by iPhone
Message-ID: <p0624080ac6a6a55c90c4@[10.0.1.3]>
Bank Will Allow Customers to Deposit Checks by iPhone
By SUSAN STELLIN
August 10, 2009
The Internet has taken a lot of the paperwork out of banking, but
there is no avoiding paper when someone gives you a check. Now one
bank wants to let customers deposit checks immediately - through
their phones.
USAA, a privately held bank and insurance company, plans to update
its iPhone application this week to introduce the check deposit
feature, which requires a customer to photograph both sides of the
check with the phone's camera.
"We're essentially taking an image of the check, and once you hit the
send button, that image is going into our deposit-taking system as
any other check would," said Wayne Peacock, a USAA executive vice
president.
Customers will not have to mail the check to the bank later; the
deposit will be handled entirely electronically, and the bank
suggests voiding the check and filing or discarding it. But to reduce
the potential for fraud, only customers who are eligible for credit
and have some type of insurance through USAA will be permitted to use
the deposit feature. Mr. Peacock said that about 60 percent of the
bank's customers qualify.
USAA may seem like an unlikely innovator in mobile banking. It ranks
in size just below the top 20 banks in the United States, and serves
mostly military personnel, though many of its products are available
to anyone.
But with just one branch, in San Antonio, and customers deployed all
over the world, the company has been aggressively developing an
anytime, anywhere banking strategy. Three years ago, it introduced
the option of depositing a check from home using a scanner. That laid
the groundwork for the phone deposit feature, which USAA plans to
offer on other phones this year.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/10/technology/10check.html
***** Moderator's Note *****
You heard it here first: X.509 is going to make a big comeback. With
everything from financial instruments to marriage proposals flitting
across the cellular networks, there will be a demand for the X.509
feature that few pay attention to: Non-repudiation.
Bill Horne
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:43:57 -0700
From: jmeissen@aracnet.com
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Cellphones and driving
Message-ID: <200908111743.n7BHhvxK006758@server.meissen.org>
In article <h5q8la$qdc$1@news.xmission.com>
Lee Choquette <leec@xmission.com> wrote:
> In article <siegman-8FF277.13575710082009@news.stanford.edu>,
> AES <siegman@stanford.edu> wrote:
> >Actually, we don't need to. There are a lot of things in life that are
> >sufficiently hazardous when done by the great majority of people that we
> >make them illegal for everyone and anyone, at least on public property,
> >even if some very small minority of people are capable of doing them
> >without causing hazard to others.
>
> What!?! I would imagine it's the other way around: it's a small minority
> of drivers who would cause a hazard to others if they attempt to hand a
> ringing phone to somebody else in the car.
>
> What if to appease you the driver were to hand the phone to another
> passenger before leaving the driveway, in case it rings while the car is
> in motion? Do you think that the vast majority of drivers would somehow
> cause a hazard to others if a passenger answers the phone while the car
> is in motion?
>
> Given your logic, we should take radios out of police cars and taxi
> cabs, since we can't allow the minority to do something that's hazardous
> for the majority to do. (I would settle for making driving tests more
> thorough, including testing whether the driver can deal with
> distraction.)
>
[That's] distorting the context to create an irrelevant strawman argument.
The discussion was about the ability to deal with cell phone calls while
driving, not whether it's safe to hand your phone to someone else. You
have a solution which apparently works for you (although unless the
phone is already out of your pocket I would still claim it's not safe).
The universe does not revolve around you (or me). There are many
instances where we must suffer such inconveniences because while you or
I may be capable of doing something safely, they had to enact laws to
protect us from the other 99.99% of the population that can't.
john-
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:23:07 -0400
From: jwillis <jwillis@remove.drlogick.com>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Is Google Voice a Threat to AT&T?
Message-ID: <c927f99033d0ee2d93ee63a8f84ebcaf@192.168.222.4>
I read the post by Monty in Telecom Digest Volume 28 : Issue 204
RE: Google Voice - Pogue's Posts - The Latest in Technology From David
Pogue "Updates to Google Voice"
Being Deaf I was looking forward to using the 'transcription' feature
of Google Voice.
It seems that even though I got an invivation to use Google
Voice. When I try to use the invitation I get an error
"Google Voice is not available in your country. Thanks for visiting
Google Voice. We're not yet open for users outside the US, but are
planning to expand our service to additional countries in the future."
Canada is in the same cost zone for VOIP and LD. Google has lots of
resources available in Canada including news.google.ca www.google.ca
etc.
GrandCentral, the company that Google Voice bought, used to work from
Canada.
Anyone on the list know what is going on with Google Voice?
Jim
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:16:56 +0000 (UTC)
From: David Lesher <wb8foz@panix.com>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Is Google Voice a Threat to AT&T?
Message-ID: <h5su58$b20$1@reader1.panix.com>
jwillis <jwillis@remove.drlogick.com> writes:
>"Google Voice is not available in your country. Thanks for visiting
>Google Voice. We're not yet open for users outside the US, but are
>planning to expand our service to additional countries in the future."
>Canada is in the same cost zone for VOIP and LD. Google has lots of
>resources available in Canada including news.google.ca www.google.ca
>etc.
GV is NOT a VOIP application; a reporter {and several have..} saying
so suffers from lack of clue. GV routes calls over PSTN and [depending
on the call] may reroute same.
>GrandCentral, the company that Google Voice bought, used to work from
>Canada.
They have chosen to not sign up new Canadian customers. AFAIK, they
are allowing existing GC customers to migrate over.
--
A host is a host from coast to coast.................wb8foz@nrk.com
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:34:01 -0500
From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi)
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: How fast is your cellphone moving?
Message-ID: <foKdncxlFelEbBzXnZ2dnUVZ_hCdnZ2d@posted.nuvoxcommunications>
In article <E1Mahgv-0006rm-7O@telecom.csail.mit.edu>,
AES <siegman@stanford.edu> wrote:
> Are cellphone GPS capabilities good enough for the phone itself, or the
> cellphone company, to know how fast it's moving -- say, in a car, on a
> highway?
yup.
> Could they be?
I dunno. see above. :)
> Seems as if lots of cars have GPS units these days. Could they trigger
> a cellphone disabler above some speed?
"Could?" Sure. JASMOP (Just A Simple Matter of Programming) applies.
_Should it?_ That's a *very* different question.
Lots of possible down-side risk if you do.
> Or, just have the speedometer do it?
That could be hard on the speedo cable, or the phone itself, if somebody tries
to exit the vehicle while still 'tethered' to the speedo. :)
_next_ bright idea?
------------------------------
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