parasitic
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Parasitic device adds baud modem tones to your wireless router
For those who are lucky enough to have only known the internet care of broadband, you might be a bit unfamiliar with the pings and screeches of days past, but for those all too familiar with dialing up in an attempt to hop on the world wide web, you could probably hum it back on command. In yet another instance of DIY creativity being used in a completely unnecessary (albeit very retro) manner, Jonah Brucker-Cohen is developing the Forward Compatible, which is a "parasitic object" that utilizes a light sensor in order to sense when a modern day modem / router is transmitting data, and subsequently belts out tones from a 2,400 baud modem from yesteryear. The FC is also designed to simply strap onto any internet-connected device without internal modifications, making it completely portable and universal in nature. So if you're interested in adding a dash of vintage to your otherwise fresh device, grab yourself an audio recording circuit, a photo-transistor, and tag the read link for a bit of old fashioned fun.[Via MAKE]
Motorola patents parasitic cellphone to text battery alerts
While those lusting for love may be enthralled about Motorola's newfound method of extended your chances on ProxiDate, the researchers behind the parasitic cellphone patent probably had more critical scenarios in mind. In cases where your battery life is running flat, situational demands may leave you wondering how you're going to contact your laundry list of emergency contacts with such little juice. The patent spells out an automatic shutdown feature that disables all non-essential functions (including accepting incoming calls), which allows the Bluetooth transceiver to search for "compatible proxy phones" nearby. The sputtering device can then use the proxy cellphone to "send a warning text message to everyone on your pre-arranged emergency list," alerting them of your predicament and that you can only receive SMS messages (for a limited time). Of course, this brilliant plan will only work if indifferent strangers leave their mobiles open for Bluetooth syncs (not likely), and then don't mind you racking up their monthly bill with costly text messages (even less likely).[Via NewScientistTech]
