Inventions Wanted

[barking_iguana]

1. a phone that periodically checks to see whether I have a stutter dial tone or a solid tone, so I can use voice mail instead of an answering machine, and still tell whether I have messages without remembering to pick up the phone
2. a single, multi-channel receiver on my computer to establish communications with however many wireless peripherals I might have
   
   At first, it would have to be somebody like Logitech making the external receiver and peripherals that would talk the appropriate protocols. Later, it would probably be built in by computer manufacturers as a new standard.

Comments

[avram]

a single, multi-channel receiver on my computer to establish communications with however many wireless peripherals I might have

Is the combination of WiFi and Bluetooth not adequate?

[barking-iguana.livejournal.com]

That wan't my impression of what Bluetooth does, but I've never used it. It will let my wireless thumbball talk work without plugging in its receiver-part to a USB port? Right now, that wouldn't buy me anything, because the thumbball is the only peripheral I'd use it for. But if I had the system, I might get a keyboard, and maybe figure out if some of my other electronics can talk to my computer. (I don't have a PDA.)

[avram]

I've no idea how your thumbball works, so I don't know.

When I was idly looking for Bluetooth trackballs a while back, it turned out that there weren't any, that all wireless trackballs were using some proprietary system for some unfathomable reason, requiring a plug-in to a USB port. I'm guessing that's what you've got.

But if it was Bluetooth, and you have a Bluetooth receiver in your computer, it'd let you connect without a plug.

[blackmonkeymage.livejournal.com]

Your cell phone doesn't do (1.) already?

[barking-iguana.livejournal.com]

My cellphone gets a specific message, even without being off the hook, that a message is waiting. My landline gets no such message, except for the stutter tone when I lift the handset.

[frisky070802.livejournal.com]

I have had a landline for over a decade with a red light on it. It's red if there are incoming calls in the caller-ID log, and flashing red if I have verizon messages waiting. I have another newer phone with a similar feature. You just need to buy the right kind of phone....

[barking-iguana.livejournal.com]

Thanks.