Paint your wagon,cinema,theatre, and concert hall
A company in Rochester in New York State in the US has brought the wrath of Americas big mobile operators down on itself by developing a paint that can either completely block or let through mobile signals.
One of the real banes of modern existence is the increasing inability ever to get away from mobile phone calls. Restaurants, cinemas and theatres ask people to turn them off during the show, but these requests are routinely ignored by many people who seemingly cannot bear to be out of contact with whoever it might be even for a couple of hours.
This sort of anti-social behaviour is commonplace in the Far East (a trip to the cinema in Hong Kong is an incredible experience as half the audience takes and makes calls all through the film) and the US and now its is becoming ever more prevalent in Europe. Recently a production by the Royal Shakespeare Company in London was stopped mid-way through when the cast finally lost patience with the sound of mobiles ringing in the auditorium, and people engaged in loud and lengthy phone calls. In this case the leading actor walked offstage and down into the audience to shame a man who was making call after call into turning off his handset. The Shakespearian thesp, to a round of mighty applause, said, ''Ill sit here until you have finished your call. Just let us know when we can restart the play. Nice.
Michael Reidlinger, the president of Natural Nano, the company behind the new emulsion says, ''Our paint uses nanotechnology. We insert particles of copper are inserted into nanotubes, ultra tint tubes that occur naturally in the halloysite clay that is mined in Utah. Combined with a radio-wave filtering device that collects cell phone signals from outside a shielded space, certain transmissions can be allowed to proceed while others can be blocked.
Mr. Reidlinger continues, ''You could use the solution in a concert hall or movie house allowing mobiles to work before and after a show and during the interval but not during the performance itself.
This sounds like a splendid idea but the US cellular industry is getting its knickers in a right twist over it. Joe Farren, spokesman for the US Wireless Association says, ''We absolutely oppose any kind of blocking technology. What about young parents whose baby-sitter is trying to call them, or the brain-surgeon who needs notification of emergency surgery. These calls need to get through.
No they dont. Not in a cinema or theatre they dont anyway. This is a spurious argument. Whats wrong with SMS and silent call mode? The message gets through just the same without disturbing others. And how many times have you ever been at a show when the manager goes on stage to ask, ''Is there a brain surgeon in the house? Exactly.
I hope the paint arrives soon in the UK. A couple of coats of it applied liberally to the ''mobile free railway coaches (what bad joke that is) on the South West Trains I use daily to commute to the City would make life a lot better for those of us who like the occasional hour or so without having to answer the phone. Bring it on. Ill take a ten-gallon drum, in vomit yellow.
16.04.06
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