New chip curbs misplaced cellphone syndrome
By Darren Murph 
posted Jul 26th 2007 10:24PM
posted Jul 26th 2007 10:24PM
Those who are contemplating some type of bizarre surgery to ensure your dear cellphone stays permanently attached to your person should probably hold off, as a couple of companies are teaming up to curb the oh-so-typical problem of misplacing one's handset. New Japan Radio Co. and Superwave Corporation have reportedly joined forces to "develop a chip that uses weak radio waves to communicate with mobile phones, paving the way for devices that tell users when a handset is misplaced." Supposedly, the chip would communicate with one's phone "every few seconds," and if you bolted from the subway sans your cellphone, a sound or vibration would apparently be there to alert you of your mistake. Hold tight folks, the firms have plans to distribute samples to manufacturers this October. [Warning: Read link requires subscription][Image courtesy of GLIRC]
Let me get this straight, they invented a device you carry with you that will alarm or vibrate when you lose your cell phone. So what will they invent to prevent you from losing the other device?
Put it on a key chain, if you lose your keys then your screwed.
How does it know you're in a Subway versus being at home? If I set my cellphone on my kitchen table and go down stairs, is it going to alert me that I've left it? If you had to disable this feature so you can roam about your home undisturbed by the chiming gadget it defeats the whole purpose because someone will inevitably leave the proximity alarm off.
Most phones actually already have a similiar system. If you misplace it, a tone can be remotely activated in your phone by entering your phone's code into another cell phone. Not only does it let you know you've misplaced it, it lets you locate WHERE you misplaced it (or allow another person in the proximity to find it). The system is named "Call your phone so it rings!"
Scene from next year: "Honey, have you seen my phone finder finder? My phone finder finder finder's battery is dead."