mobile-phones 13

I love that I get uninterrupted 4-16 hours on flights, which I mostly use to write future prompts and read past AI responses. I do miss AI on flights. But after installing Google Edge Gallery with Gemma-4-E2B-it (2.5GB) that runs on my mobile, I’ve solved a few practical problems. For example: I took a picture of a dish they served and asked: “Is this vegetarian?” (It was.) I asked, “Comics have text in panels, often written at the top in a box. Not the speech bubbles. It’s like a narrator or voice over. What are they called?” (Caption boxes.) “Summarize The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Why is it famous?” (Thoughtful, well-written novel on the choice vs commitment tradeoff.) It’s not a very smart model. It’s a bit slow. Transcription is average. It doesn’t run in the background. Only one chat at a time. No internet search, etc. ...

My monthly postpaid mobile bills have been in the Rs 2,000 – Rs 3,000 range for some time now, and I spent a few hours dissecting them yesterday. Page 3 had the good stuff. It’s a little hard to figure out, but what the last 2 columns say is that most of my spend is offset by discounts. What’s not getting offset are outgoing roaming calls. Followed by calls to local landlines. For all practical purposes, that’s the only thing that counts in this bill. Everything else is close enough to zero. ...

The Economist on Business Continuity Planning. The effect on Ericsson, a Swedish mobile-phone company, of a fire in a New Mexico chipmaking plant belonging to the Dutch firm Philips, has become a legend. The fire, in March 2000, started by a bolt of lightning, lasted less than 10 minutes, but it caused havoc to the super-clean environment that chipmaking requires. Ericsson, unable to find an alternative source of supply, went on to report a loss of over $2 billion in its mobile-phone division that year, a loss that left it as an also-ran in an industry where it had once been a leader. ...

MoSoSos: Mobile Social Software services. I checked in to dodgeball, she said, and “I got an alert that ‘so-and-so has a crush on you, and he is at X bar, go and say hi.’” she said. So McGunigle went to the bar, and by coincidence, it was the same guy she’d just seen on the subway. Like her, he’d been too shy to make an approach, but not to send a text message. ...

Haptic technology lets you “touch and feel data”. Surgical-simulation devices are currently the bread and butter of many haptics companies. Recently, haptics have also been finding their way into consumer products. Many video-game controllers, such as force-feedback steering wheels and joysticks, already contain simple haptic devices to enable virtual rally drivers and pilots to feel the bumps of artificial roads or the rumble of machine guns. Mobile phones are next. Just as existing phones can be programmed to play different ring tones depending on the caller, VibeTone allows for different vibrations. Without reaching into your pocket, you will be able to tell whether it is your boss, spouse, or babysitter who is calling. ...

The Economist talks about how mobile phones are used for deception. SounderCover allows certain Nokia handsets to play pre-recorded bursts of traffic noise, airport announcements or other sounds in the background during a conversation. Two services offered by American operators, Cingular’s Escape-A-Date and Virgin Mobile’s Rescue Ring, allow customers to prearrange a call at a given time, to enable them to get out of a disastrous dinner date or boring meeting. ...

A new use for mobile phones.

This is a smart one. Sony Ericsson makes these mobile phones with cameras. To promote them, they’ve hired young couples, who’ll go to bars, etc and ask people to take a snap of them. If I were asked, I’d fiddle with the camera/phone a bit.

Several ways of receiving mail on a mobile phone.

Nokia codes (works on my 3310) *#war0anty# Warranty details *3370# Better sound, drains battery #3370# Deactivates above *#0000# Software version *#06# IMEI number *#sim0clock# Allow simclock stoppage *3001#12345# Enables field test mode, other options *#92702689# System menu BPL Mobile Call Divert options **67*700# If number is busy **62*700# If number is unreachable **61*700nn# If no reply for nn seconds **21*700# All calls ##002# Cancel all call diverts

Mobile phones may not affect planes after all. But they sure affect thumbs. (Note: I always used my thumb for pointing.)

The deaf use mobile phones through SMS. Good idea.

A note from my friend Ashish: “To check your Mobile phone’s serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 # A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Should your phone get stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset. So even if the thief changes the SIM card your phone will be totally useless. If everybody did this, there would be no point in stealing mobile phones.” ...