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Digital Messaging Light Switch Cover the First of 2008's WTF Products
Posted by Addy Dugdale at 10:09 PM on January 2, 2008
Parrot's light switch cover with a built-in speaker to relay the digital message of your choice makes me long for a product Banhammer, a hefty blunt instrument with which I can bludgeon pointless gadgets to death, entertaining myself and sustaining plastic splinters in the process. Record your 20-second message and then flip either light switch to play it back. Costing about $15, the good thing is you get four free screws with it. [WorldStart via OhGizmo!]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
whiskey
Posted 6:46 PM 2/1/08
GLaDOS voice:
The following challenge is unsolvable, please make no attempts to try solving it.
whiskey
Worf
Posted 12:00 PM 2/1/08
So what happens if your house doesn't have the flippy switches anymore but the flat paddle kind?
Worf
jsmjr816
Posted 11:35 AM 2/1/08
Dont worry Addy!
You could put a banhammer on this like engadget did with the palm foleo!
;)
jsmjr816
ECAsh
Posted 11:10 AM 2/1/08
Its a 20 second msg...
And for the $12 extra they are charging you...Why not get a digital recorder that will take HOURS of voice.
This is as bad as writing a long letter and runing out of paper.
ECAsh
thirdgen
Posted 10:46 AM 2/1/08
@oztin: But then don't you have to remember to check the messages every time you leave? Or do you have another message doohickie to remind you to check your messages? And then another to remind you to check the one reminding you to check your message, ad infinitum until all your light switches are thus covered (and then you have to remember in which order they need to be checked!)
thirdgen
John Laur
Posted 10:26 AM 2/1/08
I agree with Oztin; looks to me like a good product. I think it should be obvious that it's not intended simply to play the same thing over and over every time you turn your lights on or off but instead to act like a message board. So maybe it's not for everyone but it's a far better place to stash a voice recorder than some of the ridiculous products I have seen.
John Laur
SnowLeopard
Posted 10:02 AM 2/1/08
A good idea in theory (the stage at which it should have stayed mind).
SnowLeopard
92BuickLeSabre
Posted 10:02 AM 2/1/08
@bms74: Me too. What ever happened to that concept? It seems like once upon a time any house with more than three rooms came with an intercom. Damn I loved that thing.
Much cooler than a voice recorder on the wall (with apologies to oztin.)
92BuickLeSabre
oztin
Posted 9:35 AM 2/1/08
Ok, I hate to be the one to disagree with everybody, but here it goes. I have had one of these for about two years on the kitchen light switch, although I didn't pay nearly that much for it. I use it all the time and it's great. I tend to forget things all the time, especially as I am leaving the house. Things like "put out the trash tonight, or don't forget the cranberry sauce on your way to grandma's house", etc. It's just so much better for me than getting half way to where I am going and then turning around and going back home because I forgot something. If I write it down then I don't read it and it's much easier than setting a reminder on the cellphone.
oztin
mtopper
Posted 9:17 AM 2/1/08
hey man - you know there is no such thing as a free screw. it always costs ya something!!!
mtopper
Jasoncscs
Posted 8:58 AM 2/1/08
It reminds me of the voice recorder that I saw this morning on TV...ostensibly for reminders. Why doesn't everybody just use their cell phone for those things? Why clutter?
Jasoncscs
OMG!!! Ponies!!!
Posted 8:50 AM 2/1/08
@OMG!!! Ponies!!!: *unmaking
OMG!!! Ponies!!!
OMG!!! Ponies!!!
Posted 8:50 AM 2/1/08
A product banhammer does exist, but only as a paradox because it is perpetually being created and then immediately inmaking itself.
Where would Thanko, Brando, and half of all Japanese patent holders be if there was a product banhammer (inventor of the ramen noodle guard - I'm looking at you).
OMG!!! Ponies!!!
bms74
Posted 8:33 AM 2/1/08
This is pointless. I first thought this was a face plate for one of those 1970's intercom systems.
bms74
strider_mt2k
Posted 7:55 AM 2/1/08
I would just put one of those laughing modules in there.
That'll teach 'em to loiter by the light switch.
strider_mt2k
Windhawk
Posted 7:03 AM 2/1/08
Give it the celebrity voice of George Costansa's mother: "Turn off the goddamned lights!"
Windhawk
ECAsh
Posted 6:46 AM 2/1/08
I think it would be better,
to make a LARGE plate to write on that permanent marks WONT be permanent...
Then place a SLOT on the bottom to HOLD a marker, of some sort.
THAT would be cool.
And the 4 FREE screws?? You wont get Screw'd If the battery fails.
ECAsh
noone1569
Posted 8:21 AM 2/1/08
Actually, These are a pretty decent gadget and have been around for a few years at least. I bought a bunch in 2005 for some friends that were deploying to Iraq. They used these to record messages to their kids. How's that for a good use??
noone1569
stlbud
Posted 8:06 AM 2/1/08
These have been around for 10 years or more. It isn't new.
Bill B
stlbud
oztin
Posted 12:18 AM 7/1/08
@thirdgen - OMG, you don't have to leave messages to check messages to check messages. You just put it on a switch you turn on fairly often, like the kitchen. I have to go through the kitchen to get to the laundry room or garage, not to mention the frequent "has some wonderful snack magically appeared in the fridge" checks.
oztin