Things that Robert is thinking about that keep him from accomplishing anything.

 
Look Ma, No Hands!
I just saw an article on USAToday about California mandating hands-free or headset cell phone use. I'm less interested in a debate about whether this is good policy or not and more interested in what happened to the original car phone.

It's fun to look back at Wall Street and see Michael Douglas on the beach with a phone the size of a toaster oven to his ear. Car phones weren't any less bulky. What I wonder though is why some cell phone company hasn't partnered with an auto manufacturer to place a console in the dash (or arm rest or ceiling or car door) to insert your phone for two purposes: 1. recharging, and 2. hooking into a speaker system (not the stereo speakers). You could still plug your headset to the phone, it'd just be on this base unit.

I guess the problems are that so much is designed for the cigarette lighter--which was on its way to becoming the appendix of the car as people stopped smoking--and having a base that could accommodate all types of cell phones. But, these would seem to be surmountable barriers. I mean, they put DVD video players in cars now for god's sake! Heck, replace the cigarette lighter and ashtray space with a slot to insert your cell phone.

Of course, I'll have to be dragged kicking and screaming to the cellular world, so I don't give a damn.
posted by RSaunders at 10:16 AM ⇒