Knowing Who You're Not Talking To Reaches New Heights
Tired of not knowing exactly who you're not talking to? Wired News has an interesting read on the latest way to ignore people on purpose: Caller ID everywhere.
Today, with his elseed TiVo hack, Gardner can keep staring at the screen when the phone rings. The program ensures that caller ID information shows up on the TV.
"You don't have to even get up to see if it's worth pausing the TiVo to answer the phone or not," said Gardner, a software engineer, acknowledging that in the four years since introducing the hack, he's been criticized for promoting laziness. Gardner counters that the program "reduces stress and makes you more in control of your hectic life."
Whatever the motive, applications that put caller-ID information on other devices are popping up in more places. Incoming call readouts are now available not just on phones and TVs, but on screens of shower radios, rearview mirrors and wristwatches.
Very smart people are at work all day long, figuring out ways to allow us to think in real time:
Drop dead! I'm busy... Whoops! I meant: I can't come to the phone right now...
