Here is an idea for a new business. I, like many other people my age, have only a cell phone. There simply is no reason for me to have a land line, so a cell phone with unlimited long distance covers all of my needs.
Here is the problem- I lose my cell phone in my apartment/car. Frequently.
I would pay cash money for a company that I could visit on the internet, pay them two bucks or some small fee via credit card, and input my cell phone number so they can call me and I can find the damned phone.
There you go, innovators. I just gave you a million dollar idea.
*** Update ***
Already been done. That will be all.
BFR
Try using Skype. It’s not very expensive and would serve the same purpose.
babieca
They have one. It’s called skype.
Sarah
get Skype, its free and you can call from your computer. I use it for overseas long distance calls, but more importantly, for this exact purpose: finding cell phone.
Blurkee
Just use Skypeout. Call from your computer. Simple.
Fencedude
Or you could not lose your cellphone.
/smart alec
Winston Smith
I can log into my cell provider’s web site and send myself a text message. That sets off an audible tone that keeps going (periodically) until I check the message.
It’s Buzz Lightyear saying, “Sensors detect an incoming signal! It must be Star Command with our next mission!” It’s intensely annoying.
More Tunch pictures.
Ked
Keep a prepaid in your glove compartment. Not really a good deal, but as long as you remember to burn your unused minutes, it won’t be a big hit.
ploeg
My old cell phone company used to do that for free.
Jal Hastings
ip-relay.com will also do it for free, although that’s not what it’s intended for
bago
Sign up for a wakeup call service. They keep calling till you answer
Jon H
Figure out how to send a message to your phone via email.
Peter J
Email/IM someone and tell them to call your phone.
demkat620
I have to do this for my husband all the time. He loses his cellphone at least once a week.
JenJen
I just go online and text myself (that sounds dirty) when I lose my phone. Which isn’t that often anymore; my crackberry is quite literally tethered to my car keys right now.
John Cole
I’m constantly losing the damned thing. I would estimate I misplace it and lose it briefly (hour or so) at least five times a week and major lose it (6-12 hours) once a week. I just hate having things attached to me or clinging to me or weighing down my pockets (I don’t even wear a watch because it irritates me so much) that I am always just putting my phone or keys somewhere to get rid of them and forgetting where I put them.
big woo
I’ve always had the most unusual luck regarding errant cell phones.
Umbrellas, gloves and absurdly expensive sunglasses—not nearly as much.
Krista
That all works great as long as your phone is fully charged. :) It’d be nice if they somehow set it up so that there is a tiny reserve battery, so that even if your battery is dead, you could dial (or text) your cell via some other method, punch in a special code, and it would ring at maximum volume, even if you had the phone set to vibrate or silence.
Krista
John, maybe you just need a different kind of phone.
JGabriel
@John Cole:
I’m the same way, especially about watches. They make me feel handcuffed to time – which I suppose we all are, but who needs the constant reminder?
.
laxel
“I am always just putting my phone or keys somewhere to get rid of them and forgetting where I put them”
Me and my little brother, after a night of drinking, came up with a solution that we joked we’d sell late night for 19.99 on the teevee. Remember those key chains where you could whistle and it’d beep? Same idea, only a slim credit card sensor for the wallet, a sensor on the keychain, and an unobtrusive one for the cell phone. Press the button on any of the three, the others would beep.
Now if we could only get the Sham Wow guy to hawk it…
John H. Farr
“Cash money”… I thought that was a West Texas-ism from my youth, but apparently the expression has broader roots than that.
omen
we need cell phone implants built into our skulls.
that or maxwell smart’s shoe phone.
Jon H
@Krista: “It’d be nice if they somehow set it up so that there is a tiny reserve battery, so that even if your battery is dead, you could dial (or text) your cell via some other method, punch in a special code, and it would ring at maximum volume, even if you had the phone set to vibrate or silence.”
My razr starts beeping annoyingly and loudly when it gets close to empty.
Jon H
You could always get a Prince Albert and hang the phone from there.
omen
@laxel:
you should patent that.
reminded me of clap on/clap off, clap on/clap off/ – the clapper.
Mr. Stuck
Maybe they could invent something like they have for car alarm systems. A little button on your keychain that when pressed, would make a noise. In your case maybe a “I’m over here moran”
**edit. If you lose your keys too, then it’s SOL.
Mr. Stuck
Scratch that . laxel was first, and I’m the Moran.
Ninerdave
send it an email it’s free.
JGabriel
Speaking of business, the front page advertising currently includes ads for: VirtualGirlHD, Free Newt!, and Free Ann Coulter!
Which makes me wonder, what exactly have we, your readers, done that would make those advertisers think we were the perfect target audience?
It’s kind of humiliating.
.
JC
God you are an old man, huh?
Never even heard of Skype, huh?
The first George Bush is a man you respect?
What a useless old man you are.
Useless as tits on a bull.
Ninerdave
Of course that would be used up by some telemarketer calling your cell phone number.
Pooh
See, my idea is even better. A two way device you put on your key chain – you press the button, it calls your phone. Our, if you can’t find your keys, you call the number and it causes the keychain to beep.
sparky
or you can get an iphone in which case the two of you will become inseparable :P
Pooh
No, I misplace my Iphone all the time.
YellowJournalism
Ugh. I would hate having my cellphone on me 24/7. Then you wouldn’t be able to say that you didn’t get the call because you couldn’t find the phone.
Or, if you did, it would be the same thing as saying you’d lost your mind.
laxel
“you should patent that.”
I’d only jump through all the hoops of the patent process if I could be guaranteed to achieve my lifelong dream of directing late night infomercials. Otherwise, what’s the point?
magisterludi
I had a cell phone years ago and gave it up because I either forgot to charge it, forgot where I put it, or just forgot it altogether. After enduring endless ridicule, even from my aged mother, I tried again, with the same result.
Besides, the only time anyone called me was when I was driving and I drive stick shift and am not ambidextrous in the least. Blood-curdling near misses ensued.
kvenlander
Just send your phone an email (set the message notification to some obnoxious sound). Your email address is 1112223333@something. For ATT, the something is @txt.att.net.
If you buy skype credits, you have to pay for $10, and they will expire if unused.
Woodrow "asim" Jarvis Hill
@John H. Farr: “Cash Money” was a phrase used in a good bit of hip-hop round the late 80’s/early 90’s, if I recall alright. Teh Google reminds me there’s even a pretty big record label named Cash Money Records.
gbear
1. Get a string and run it up one shirt sleeve, across your back and down the other shirt sleeve.
2. Tie your cell phone to one end and your car/house keys to the other.
3. Problem solved!
This solution has been keeping mitten pairs intact in the heartland for generations.
eemom
OT, but apropos of the thread the other day about old TV shows…….RIP, Beatrice Arthur.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/04/25/arts/AP-US-Obit-Arthur.html?hp
Mac from Oregon
Two words. Super Glue.
Litlebritdifrnt
I have a sort of land line (through my internet/cable company) so when I pull up in the driveway of my home in the evening the cell phone is turned off and stays off until the next morning (or Monday morning in the case of the weekend). If someone wants to call me they can call me on the house phone and then they probably won’t get me cause I will be out in the garden. I HATE being “reachable” 24/7.
John O
You’re going to regret not having a land line in the event of nuclear winter!
In other news, I picked a really bad weekend to take my relationship with my pet pig to the next level.
Mr. Stuck
@Litlebritdifrnt:
So do I. I don’t even have a landline, just a dedicated DSL and a prepaid cell phone that mostly stays off, unless I’m expecting a call. If people want to talk they can send me an email, or snail mail, and I’ll think about it.
Mr. Stuck
If there’s a nuclear winter, I don’t think there would be much to talk about.
Ramalamadingdong
I lost mine for a month. It was set on vibrate with a low battery. Calling it didn’t help. I went to price a replacement and nearly died. If you don’t purchase the phone with the plan you are screwed. Finally found it under the lamp table. I don’t use vibrate any more.
Zuzu's Petals
@John Cole:
My daughter-in-law told me one of their biggest “nonessential” expenses is replacing my son’s lost/broken cell phones several times a year. New iPhone? Left in bathroom in Singapore airport.
By the way, Skype is great. I don’t use it much yet but everyone loves it.
I would forego a land line if I didn’t need one for my house alarm. (Assuming I can get Internet and TiVo some other way.)
JL
@Ramalamadingdong:
Although I use ATT, I haven’t signed a contract in years. I purchase my cell phones at the place where I volunteer or else have friends give me their hand me downs. All I do is change out the sim card.
Zuzu's Petals
@magisterludi:
In California it’s now hands-free only while driving.
I finally broke down and got a Bluetooth thingy, but not sure I really get it … you have to set the phone, turn on the earpiece, and keep it in your ear, just on the chance someone will call you. Then you still have to answer the phone by hand anyway (though I could just be ignorant on that last count).
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
OMG. You MUST see this video. All the animation is done in camera, and this explains how.
Simply brilliant.
JL
The Sox beat the Yankees again. For those yankee haters among us, this is good news. My son went to Yankee stadium to watch them play against the Sox a few years back. He had his tickets sent to my house since he travels. You can imagine my surprise when the Yankee organization sent a Christmas catalog to my house. You can imagine my son’s reaction when I called him screaming that it was his responsibility to have them stop mailing subversive material to my address. I really hate the Yankees.
JK
@JL: It was beautiful. I’m watching the post-game wrap-up on the YES network right now. These post-game wrap-ups are real fun to watch after the Yankees suffer a heartbreaking loss.
eemom
@JL:
My father, rest his soul, hated the Yankees, but that was because he was an old Brooklyn Dodgers fan. That makes sense, I am told.
JK
@eemom: Unfortunately, the clip appears to have been removed from Youtube, but someone had previously posted the episode in which Maude launches a draft Henry Fonda for president campaign. Fonda made a very memorable cameo appearance in the episode.
Original Lee
I have Skype, but my cell phone is way more portable than my laptop, so I am like John in that I need a good way to find my cell phone when I misplace it in the house. I also deliberately have text messaging turned off on my account, because I hate having random teenagers sending me lols that I have to pay for, despite the fact that I have no clue who they are. (Yes, I’m a curmudgeon that way. So?)
I think Pooh has the best idea so far.
Zuzu's Petals
@Pooh:
Ah, you mean like this?
My brother requested a set for Christmas one year. I’ll have to ask how he liked it.
gizmo
I often wonder why the automotive industry and the cell phone companies haven’t gotten together and worked it out so that every vehicle comes with a slot in the dashboard or console where you simply insert your cell phone and it is thus plugged into the radio/CD system. It would make for hands-free driving, and the phone could be charging at the same time. I realize that there are specific auto brands that have something like this– but I can’t understand why the concept isn’t universal. Different brands of phones have differing plug-in configurations, but that could easily be solved by a sleeve that accepts your particular phone jack, but slides into a universal receptacle in the car. This seems like a no-brainer to me…..
Bob Munck
Attack the problem at the source: stop carrying it all around your apartment making and receiving calls. There are cordless phone units that connect to a cellphone by Bluetooth, and let you use one or more cordless handsets to make calls through the cell. Put a charger and the cordless base unit by the front door, then train yourself to put the cell in the charger every time you come in, like it’s a mezuzah.
I don’t know what you can do about losing the phone in your car. Do you drive a large, furnished Hummer? Do you roam around inside it? How lost can a phone be inside a car?
garyb50
Vibrate is a bitch. I totally panic when I’ve left my cell in pants or wherever & can’t find it.
different church-lady
Here’s the other problem: the people you talk to on your cell phone only hear ever other syllable you say but they’re too polite to mention it.
Nik
A lot of cell phone service providers also offer a location service already. It is primarily marketed to parents who give their kids cell phones.
The way it works is that if your phone is turned on and in range, the cell phone company knows exactly where the phone is because it can triangulate it based on the measured signal strength on all the nearby cell towers that are aware of the phone.
That way, you can check to make sure your kid is where they say they’re going to be…
This is the only way I think you’d find your phone if you dropped it or forgot it somewhere like a store or restaurant or movie theater, etc. Or if you suspect your phone was stolen (provided the thief didn’t turn it off).
Common Sense
My idea is microadvertising for radio.
Offer free satellite car radios. Convince major companies to subsidize the startup cost. Why would they do this? Because they are able to hit exactly the demo they desire with a satellite radio.
As an example Coke pays for part of the radios. Now, whenever Coca Cola buys ad time on the radio, they can target the ad towards the listener. If the car owner is elderly, Minute Maid ads come on. If they’re black, Sprite. If they’re Hispanic, the ad is in Spanish.
Have people sign up with company sponsors for ads they want to hear. For instance sign up with Barnes & Noble and get a short interview or reading with authors in whatever genre you like. Sign up with a music label and get an “ad” with songs or artist interviews.
Then there is the advantage of local advertising. Because you can target your ads down to the zip code, you can sell ads to the tiniest mom and pop businesses in town. A dry cleaner could advertise on a suburban mom’s radio while she is driving to work 30 miles from home. Simultaneously hubby gets an ad for a tuneup shop next door in his car. Meanwhile their coworkers hear ads from whatever small businesses are in their neighborhood. Stations should love it because even if the individual buys are smaller they are able to sell the same spot dozens of times all over town.
Chuck
I have an app on my gphone so I can text it and it will turn on GPS (G1 phones have real satellite GPS) and email me its exact position.
It also purports to trigger automatically if a new SIM card is put in the phone. Which I don’t quite understand, since as far as I know, all Android apps run off the SIM card in the first place.
Of course that’s not much help if I lose it in the apartment since it’ll just tell me it’s in my apartment … but at least I’ll know whether I left it at work or not.
Roger the Cabin Boy
Get a Treo, damn thing’s so big it’s like trying to lose my car, although that hasn’t stopped Mrs. CB from losing hers twice (found it both times tho).
Cyrus
I’ve had a modern cell phone for wow, four months now, and I’m still getting used to it. In 2003 I got a cell phone which was only average even when it was new. There was no camera, a black-and-white screen, Atari-caliber games, and the same keypad as you’d find on a phone with a cord.
It worked fine for how I used it, but by late 2008 it was physically falling apart. I upgraded to something with bell and whistles, and I thought I was splurging and being extravagant, and it’s still not enough. It sucks to read blogs on, the camera apparently has no zoom, the QWERTY keypad was more than I needed for how I used my old phone but two weeks later my roommate got an iPhone with a touch screen and now I want one…
As for losing it, though, that hasn’t been a problem. Sometimes I clip it to my belt. I used to do that a lot more with the previous phone; that would stick out like a sore thumb at my current, relatively formal office. So instead, I just keep it in my pocket. Simple enough.
LanceThruster
“American Dad” upped the usefulness on this where they said it should have the capability to ring the phone even when set on silent/vibrate.
perdurabo
On a side note, not having a land line can be potentially dangerous in home emergencies. If you call 911 on a cell phone, and you cannot speak, the 911 operator will not know where to send fire & EMS, the show “24” does not exists IRL, and phones can only be traced to a tower in the neighborhood. GPS can be borked by LOS issues, and to be honest, even if there is no LOS error in the signal, GPS error can be +/- 60ft, which is fine if you are in the middle of a field, but if you are in a multi-story apt complex, it could take away vital time from the response. Always have a land-line phone, preferably an old-school radial dial jobby that doesnt need electricity to use.