I sometimes wonder why people just do not utilize the features available in their mobile phones appropriately. Some folks do not have the gumption to keep their mobile phones neither on a silent mode nor on a vibrator mode even while they are watching a movie in a cinema theatre or attending an important business meeting. They just cannot get over this annoying habit that their phones even ring while they are attending an interview.

Some of the American scientists from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh have developed a device that will help silence any mobile phones, which contain accelerometer just by giving a whack on it while it rings at the wrong time. The scientists developed a simple vocabulary of “whack gestures”, which is especially designed to communicate rapidly with simple commands like silencing the phone.

Interestingly, this study is actually based on research carried out by cellphone maker Nokia in 2007. In this earlier study, the users could interact with devices by tapping on them to control the volume of music playback. I simply find this ridiculous. Come on folks, use you hands to operate your cellphones. I would have so liked this feature if only the mobile phones did not have the features to keep them on silent or vibrator. Some people will just not grow.

Via: Rediff