[Fists] Reinventing the code?

[Jeff Davis]

Friends:

Pardon the bandwidth, but I thought you all might get a kick out of this
short news item. Note how these cellphone users have created their own type
of "Morse code" and they it is a "big advantage to be able to communicate
without words"....is this back to the future or what?

I guess now we can say that we were communicating without words before it
was cool?  :-)

Vy 73 de Jeff, N9AVG
FISTS #6641

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=581&e=2&cid=581&u=/nm/20020
424/tc_nm/technology_telephones_dc_2

LONDON (Reuters) - Squeezable mobile phones could soon be adding new meaning
to keeping in touch.

Researchers at MIT's Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts have developed a
new vibrating rubber cellphone that can transmit vibrations along with
words.

Unlike other cellphones that vibrate instead of ringing, the MIT latex
prototype has five tiny speakers that you wrap your fingers around and which
vibrate against the skin at around 250 times per second.

"Beneath these speakers sit pressure sensors, so you can transmit vibration
as well as receiving it," New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday.

"When you squeeze with a finger, a vibration signal is transmitted to your
caller's corresponding finger, its strength is dependent on how hard you
squeeze."

Students who tested the vibrating cellphones used them to add emphasis to
their conversations and even developed their own type of Morse code,
according to researcher Angela Chang.

She believes the new cellphone has a big advantage over mobile phones
because you can communicate without anyone knowing what you are saying.

"And imagine actually being able to shake someone's hand when you close a
business deal," she said.