Gizmodo Australia » telephones

FTC Bans Marketing Robocalls Except For Politicians, Their Friends

Jesus Diaz — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:30:00 +0000

The Federal Trade Commission, that good old shoplifting whore, has finally decided to make automated marketing robocalls illegal starting next week. After September 1, violators may get fines of up to $US16,000 per call, except for the usual suspects.

Who these may be, you ask? Who? Yes, you guessed it: politicians asking for money would still be able to do it. And their friends the banks too. And charities and churches. And, let’s not forget, those providing with the whole infrastructure to keep bugging you with stupid automated marketing calls: the lovely telephone companies.

What makes the whole thing ironic are FTC’s Chairman Jon Leibowitz words after the ban was approved:

Starting September 1, this bombardment of prerecorded pitches, senseless solicitations, and malicious marketing will be illegal. If consumers think they’re being harassed by robocallers, they need to let us know, and we will go after them.

So, Mr. Leibowitz, could you please explain to us why politicians, banks, charities and telephone companies making “prerecorded pitches, senseless solicitations, and malicious marketing” won’t be as illegal as the rest of the annoying morons calling with the same “prerecorded pitches, senseless solicitations, and malicious marketing” messages? Please leave your answer in the comments. [Ars Technica]

TrueCall Acts Like Spam Filter For Your Landline

Gizmodo US Edition — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 03:15:00 +0000

In case registering on the national Do Not Call list didn’t really do anything, two ex-telemarketers in the U.K. have invented a blocking device that acts like a receptionist for your landline. The TrueCall intercepts all your calls before they reach you, letting them through if the number is recognised as a family member or friend, and replying with an automated message if the number belongs to a telemarketer.

If TrueCall doesn’t recognise the number, it asks for the caller’s name and number and then puts them on hold, ringing you with the information to see if you’d like to take the call. If you don’t, add it to your block list and never hear from the number again. The cost for blocking cold calls and telemarketers is roughly $US162 from the maker’s website. Hey, that’s cheaper than hiring someone. [TrueCall via BBC]

A Skyscraper So Tall Builders Can’t Use Walkie-Talkies

Jesus Diaz — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:10:00 +0000

If you want to build a skyscraper 2,275 feet (693 metres) tall, you will face engineering challenges comparable to those of the Space Shuttle just because its sheer size. One of them is communications. When the unbelievable Burj Dubai started to get really high, the construction workers discovered one problem that seems obvious now: their walkie-talkies stopped working as they climbed the structure.

The reason was simple: distance. At the beginning of the construction they used walkie-talkies–which are light, durable, and have a long battery life–across the site. However, these stopped working after some time, as the tower kept raising over the desert. With unreliable communications, Samsung Corporation–the main contractor–had to turn to a different kind of link between workers to avoid misunderstandings that may have jeopardized the safety of workers (even more, because plenty of people have had fatal accidents in the tower) and delayed the project.

Fortunately for them, they turned to mesh networks, which are similar to the ones used in mobiles, but local. For that they used a company called Firetide, using several Wi-Fi-enabled VoIP phones over a HotPort wireless mesh, which also serves as the transport for the security video in the site.