Ringtones for dogs coming to Japanese cellphones

After the Mosquitotone, a ringtone heard only by the under 20 crowd, now a Tokyo-based content provider Dwango has announced that it would start selling specialized ringtones which can be heard only by dogs.

It's not clear why this is a good idea. Hmm, Maybe Japanese dogs answer cell phones?

[via engadget:mobile]

Street-smart MP3 Music T-Shirts

Spotted on Popgadget, The MP3 Music T-Shirt by Music and Sons, ingeniously designed for you and your music player.

The Farting (Home) Phone

Fashion Funky has dug up a Farting home Phone.

Equally as refined ringtones have been available for cell phones for ever.

Sarkozy's SMS made into a song

This year's most talked about SMS, purportedly send by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to his ex-wife Cecila eight days before his marriage to singer Carla Bruni saying: "If you come back, I'll cancel everything" - has been made into a song by Jeanne Cherhal and posted on her MySpace page.

So far it's been viewed 66,000 times.

Source: Libération

Silent CD tops charts

A song that is only audible to dogs and inaudible to humans has become a top-selling hit in New Zealand is set to be released worldwide, reports Ananova.

"A Very Silent Night, said to be recorded at a frequency that can be heard only by dogs, was issued as a charity CD by the Royal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

To widespread surprise, it rocketed to the top of the charts.

Some remain unconvinced, however. Since the video appeared on YouTube, several viewers cast doubt on whether there is actually any sound at all.

But another countered: "That's amazing! I cranked my speakers up full volume and played this, and the dog across the road went ballistic!"

Watch on video on YouTube.

"Scoregasm" brings musical climax to movie trailers

Not related to cell phone, just uh, interesting.

Film score producer and mix engineer Alan Meyerson is teaming with Sony/ATV Music Publishing's Extreme Music to produce "Scoregasm," a series of neo-orchestral music designed for use in movie trailers

"Scoregasm" features a 100-piece orchestra and 80-voice choir recorded in Lyndhurst Hall at Beatles producer George Martin's AIR Studios in London.

The first release, "Climactic Euphonic Ecstasy," contains 37 tracks, each featuring a choral and instrumental mix, and is scheduled for release during the first quarter of 2008.

[via Reuters[

Personal locator could make Your Car Moan Like Jenna

Not related to cell phones, just fun. Chevy just invented a device that would help you locate your car in a parking lot, bringing a new level of personalization. You can add your own sound, whatever that may be. "Even Jenna moantones", suggests Auto Moto & Gadgets.

Polly-Phonic

A Huddersfield man says he's had to change his ringtone five times - because his parrot keeps copying them.

Stuart McNae says Billy waits until he leaves the room, then mimics the sound of a call - and laughs when he dashes back to answer.

Every time Stuart, 54, changes his ringtone the cheeky blue-fronted Amazon picks up the new one, reports The Sun via Ananova.

Related:

-- Birds mimic ring tones

-- Mockingbird sings ringtones

-- Dog sings ringtones

Ringboxx for your home phone

Ringboxx hooks up to your home phone so that you can have the same ringtone as your cellphone, or choose from thousands of other songs to accompany an incoming call.

[via Ubergizmo]

Your Mother's voice (ringtone)

From Jeremy Wagstaff for Loose Wire. Precious!

"There has to be a better way for ringtones to be less intrusive and yet audible enough to the user so they actually hear it. My solution is simple. I read somewhere that the US Air Force in the 1950s was experimenting with early versions of synethesized voices delivering cockpit warnings. What they found was that a pilot was much more likely to hear an important instruction if the voice used was the pilot’s mother .

So this is what I propose. When I buy my phone, I hand it over to my mother and have her call out my name at a reasonable volume. That recording becomes my ringtone. Trust me, I’m always going to recognise her voice, across the room, across town, across continents. Mothers’ voices have that kind of quality. "

Illustration left, the cover of My Mother's Voice by Joanne Ryder, Peter Catalanotto - Harpercollins.

Gobble gobble ringtone

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

I'm not sure why anyone would want to, but well it's out there. Turkey Gobble sound tones can be downloaded from The popular NFU turkey website.

[via politics.co.uk]

November 21 is No Music Day

Next Wednesday is No Music Day. Times Online reports.

"Two years ago the maverick pop musician Bill Drummond had a quirky idea. Irritated by the “nonstop soundtrack” of music that invades almost every aspect of our lives, from ringtones to bus shelters. So he decided to set up No Music Day – symbolically on November 21, so it would form a kind of Hallowe’en to November 22, feast-day of Cecilia, music’s patron saint.

The idea has caught on. Last year thousands attempted to avoid music on November 21. This year the whole of BBC Radio Scotland will be a music-free zone."

Spock-style ears hear (cell phone) music better

File under fun. A Dr. Lajos Nagy claims that his cosmetic surgery technique of pointing ears Spock-style can actually "improve the experience of listening to music."

[via boingboing]

Courtroom interrupted by 'orgasmic' ringtone

The sombre atmosphere of a packed courtroom was shattered when an embarrassing ringtone of a woman moaning "Oh, yeah ... yeah ... oh, yeah ... do it to me" sounded out. Metro reports.

"Lawyers and people in the public gallery struggled to contain their laughter as the voice of a woman experiencing heightened sexual pleasure rang for up to 20 seconds.

The owner of the mobile phone was lucky not to find himself facing contempt charges as the gallery had been asked to turn off their cell phones while in court.

Related links:

-- Moan Tones

-- Orgasm Tones

Ford in ‘Sync’ with wired world

No longer the domain of expensive cars, new technology is working its way into the vehicles everyone could soon be driving -- transforming vehicles into "offices on wheels."

Nowhere was that innovation more evident than at the 2007 North American International Auto Show, where automakers yesterday unveiled such advances as the ability to receive text messages through the speakers of a car, as well as voice-activated access to MP3s.

Partnering with Microsoft, Ford announced that starting this fall, it is making available on many of its models a factory-installed "Sync" system, a voice-activated in-car communications and entertainment system for cellphones, digital music players such as the iPod, and other media-storage devices.

Sync will give drivers the ability to make hands-free calls, receive and reply to messages, use advanced calling features such as caller ID, select their favourite music -- by genre, album, artist or song title -- simply by saying it out loud, or by using the vehicle's steering wheel or radio controls.

Names and numbers in a cellphone's address book can be wirelessly transferred to the vehicle. Ringtones can be selected. Incoming messages will play over the car's speakers and the system will even recognize commonly used text-messaging expressions as LOL, cyberspeak for "laughing out loud."

... Sync will be available in 12 Ford models beginning this year, starting with the new Focus, unveiled yesterday at the show, now in its 100th year."

[via Driving.ca]

YouNeverCall offers $100 for the first Crazy Frog ring call from the moon

File under fun. YouNeverCall, the popular online cell phone superstore, today announced a $10,000 prize award for the first cell phone call placed from the moon.

This announcement follows on the coattails of Google's announcement of $20M in prize money for landing a craft on the moon by Dec. 31, 2014.

... In order to claim the $10,000 prize a cell phone call must be placed by a device or person present on the Moon's surface. This call must pass through a commercially available cellular phone to YouNeverCall's corporate headquarters in Los Angeles, CA.

Furthermore, the company is offering a $100 bounty to the first party who receives a cell phone call on the Moon that rings using the infamous Crazy Frog Ringtone.

[Press release via SMS Text News]

Crazy Frog Racer Video Game

Crazy Frog gets a videogame and as always, some bad press: "Yet another cash-in on this unreasonably popular marketing icon and much like the Annoying Thing himself, Crazy Frog Racer is a stupid and shallow racer that is never entertaining and not worth your time."

[via Thunderbolt Games]

Stephen Colbert Gives Away Free Ringtone

Stephen Colbert is offering free ringtones. Well, sort of of. Watch segment on mocoblog or full show on Comedy Central.

Customize ringtones on the iPhone

The #iphone-dev IRC channel gang, with reported access to the iPhone's filesystem, have created custom ringtones. Watch the video demo of Jack Bauer's CTU ringtone on TUAW.

What your ring tone says about you

Jim Farber, writer for The New York Daily News plays the "you are your ringtone" game with some innovative categories.

"In analyzing the nation's most popular ringtones, I found that the overwhelming majority fall into rigidly focused categories that, taken together, convey a stunningly narrow message.

While the overarching message conveyed by these tones is that of a, shall we say, healthy ego, the specific identities implied by the ringtones can be broken down into six focused categories:

-- 'I'M SEXY!'

-- 'I LIKE TO GET HIGH

-- 'I'M HORNY!'

-- 'I'M STUCK IN THE PAST AND PROUD OF IT'

-- 'I'M BAD AND/OR COOL'

-- 'I'M A ROCK STAR'

Related "you are your ringtone" articles:

-- Cellphone Psychology: You Are Your Ring Tone

-- On ringtones, What melody did you pick?

-- What Does Your Ringtone Say About You?

-- Are ringtones an extension of your negative side?

-- What kind of person sets their phone solely on vibrate mode?

-- What your ringtone says about you

-- Ringtones can reveal more about yourself that you might think

-- Ringtones: The new currency of cool

Songs and Ringtones for ice cream trucks

Ears weary of "Pop Goes the Weasel" and the Mister Softee theme during these hot summer months now have an alternative: Michael Hearst's album "Songs for Ice Cream Trucks." Reuters reports.

"The Brooklyn-based songwriter set out to change the musical landscape for mobile frozen treat purveyors with new tunes -- and ringtones -- like "Ice Cream Yo!" and "Where Do Ice Cream Trucks Go in the Winter?"

Independent ice cream vendors across the country are already taking notice. Before it hits stores Tuesday (June 12), the Bar None album has been available for purchase through Hearst's Web site songsforicecreamtrucks.com and iTunes."

Magic Ringtone for your home phone

The Magic Ringtone MP3 ringer gives you the ability to use any MP3 file as your incoming ring on your home phone.

Load your favorite song and you’ll hear it every time someone calls. The songs can be loaded from your computer using the supplied USB cable; so you can change the song as often as you like! Any MP3 file will work, so you can use sound bites from movies, recordings of your kids or anything else you can imagine.

[via The Red Ferret]

Push Ringer Lets Caller Override Your Ringtone

Los Angeles based Emotive Communications, lets cell phone callers override the ringtones of the people they call with one of their own choosing. The Raw Feed reports.

Called a "push ringer," the ringtone can include both audio and video, which the person being called can buy with a click of a button -- it makes ringtones viral.

... According to Mobile Tech News, "the product has already gained significant traction with consumers. Since its launch on Skype's VOIP network in 2006, Push Ringer (known to Skype users as "Ringjacker") has been installed more than 800,000 times and is demonstrating significant peer to peer pass-along rates. "

Related article with link to press release in Voxilla.

Alarm Clock Downloads Music From Cell Phone

This alarm clock by Citizen, communicates with any Japanese cell phone via IR to download songs purchased on the mobile site mupass. It can store up to 5 songs.

[via Tokyomango]

Join the Lily Allen mobile club

Lily Allen’s rocking the mobile frontier, with her very own WAP site, writes Pocket Picks.

"The Lily Allen Mobile Club has news, tour dates, and a photodiary, which will all make you, ahem, Smile.

Better still, there’s a Downloads section offering realtones, ringtones, full tracks, wallpapers and screensavers... To access the WAP site, text LILY CLUB to 84477."

Not related to ringtones, but alot of fun, Lily Allen Sims-Language Song Contest where contestants can record and upload their own "Simlish" version of Lily Allen's "Smile," sung in the Simlish language featured in its "The Sims" game franchise. [via DMWmedia].

The winner will receive the chance to record a song in Simlish for possible inclusion in a future Sims video game."

Watch Lily Allen: "Smile" Video.

Mozart ringtones to relieve hayfever and stiff shoulders

muPass has just launched another range of therapeutic ringtones for their standard ringtone service, reports Wireless World Japan.

"This time they’ve teamed up with Dr Wago, a professor from Saitama Medical University, who has released two CDs of Mozart music called"The Mozart Therapy: Dr Wago’s music therapy".

muPass has selected 10 pieces from the CDs which they are releasing as ringtones, including "Hayfever” and "Stiff shoulders” - to help relieve anyone with those symptoms.

Other ringtones launched before with a purpose:

-- Therapeutic ringtones -muPass ringtone has eveloped in collaboration with the Japan Acoustic Lab and the Japan Ringtone Lab, ringtones with a calming effect.

-- Pherotones are ringtones with names like Testeroni or El Cuddlero that claim to make you irresistible to the opposite sex.

-- Samsung launched Phone which generated alpha waves that are supposed to enhance memory and concentration.

-- A member of the Aum Shinrikyo cult launched (very successfully) a ringtone which claimed tomake a women's breasts grow larger - just by listening to it

Whooptones

Whooptones, which lets you inject sounds into your conversations, simply by pressing keys on your phone, has now launched a new feature called "Scenes".

Scenes are looping background sounds that let users create the illusion that they are anywhere they want to be during their phone calls, such as:

- at the airport about to board a flight,
- stuck on a busy highway with a flat,
- at the office, busier than ever, or
- schmoozing with friends at a party.

Users can use Scenes to back-up their story, set the mood, or simply amuse friends. Scenes works with any fixed or mobile phone.

[Press release]

UK Politician's squawking chicken ringtone

Former environment secretary John Gummer's big speech to a farming conference last week was interrupted by the noise of a squawking chicken, reports The Guardian .

"It wasn't a bird flu protest, but the Tory grandee's ring tone on the mobile phone he had forgotten to turn off. "I like to be reminded of the countryside wherever I am," he said by way of apology. "

Pet Lounge Phototones and Dog Bytes

PetLounge offers pet-themed mobile ringtones such as Feline Exotica, Chihuahua Cha Cha or Horses at the Gate. These are not just sound bytes of animal noises, it's music!

You can sample the ringtones by clicking on the above links.

You can also sign up for Dog Bytes, a daily sms text message service offering the latest and greatest pet lifestyle updates on everything from pet fashion, travel, product reviews, health, training and even pet horoscopes.

Silly or not, this website has great style. I love it.

Press release.

Therapeutic ringtones

Wireless World Japan has the most wonderful post on muPass, a technology that allows you to transfer ringtones from your mobile by bluetooth to compatible everyday devices such as cookers, baby mobiles (the kind that hang over their cots, not phones!) and alarm clocks.

"And now, according to an announcement, they will be releasing new muPass ringtones, developed in collaboration with the Japan Acoustic Lab and the Japan Ringtone Lab, that will have a calming effect: such as “stop the baby crying”, “dolphin therapy” and “wake up feeling great” ringtones. The company claims they are scientifically proven to work.

And more is yet to come in March, including “get motivated” and “suppress that anger” ringtones.

Hey, why not. There have been other ringtones launched before with a purpose (other than annoying the person right next to you) :

-- Pherotones are ringtones with names like Testeroni or El Cuddlero that claim to make you irresistible to the opposite sex.

-- Samsung launched Phone which generated alpha waves that are supposed to enhances memory and concentration.

-- A member of the Aum Shinrikyo cult launched (very successfully) a ringtone which claimed tomake a women's breasts grow larger - just by listening to it

Dog sings ringtones

According to Ananova, a Chinese woman claims her pet dog can 'sing' along with mobile phone ringtones.

Mrs Zhang, of Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, says 14-month-old Dangdang picked up the habit a year ago. "I was in the kitchen and my mobile phone rang in the sitting room. Then I heard Dangdang making a series of strange sounds, which was exactly in the rhythm of the music. "He stopped when I picked up the phone," she told Xi'an Evening Papers.

Sound crazy? In 2001 a German ornithologists claimed that birds had learnt to imitate ring tones as sparrows in his garden were chirping the Nokia classic tone and in 2005, The Houston Chornicle, in an article on our feathered friends, wrote that males birds dance, posture, bluff and sings note from ringtones or doorbells - all part of an elaborate routine to convince females of male prowess.

CallToons

Now that musical ringtones have become commonplace, Time Warner Cartoon Network is planning to use the voices and personalities of its cartoon characters to alert mobile phone users to incoming calls, reports Reuters.

"In addition to ringtones, Cartoon Networks says the CallToons service will have cartoon characters signal everything from new voice mails to low-battery alerts.

... Cartoon Network stressed that B>CallToons could also be used to help educate children on safety.

For example, the imaginary friend Bloo from the children's show "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" could suggest that children hand the phone over to their parents if the incoming number is unknown."

From ringtones to Horntones

Horntones are a mobile audio system that allows you to personalize your car's horn function, using virtually any standard audio file and stores up to eight different honks at once. [via Gizmodo]

The implications are far reaching, as now car honking could be used not only to express your own personal preference in music, but as an activist tool, as occured in the Philippines in 2005, when a popular ringtone , the excerpt of a sound file of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's alleged "Hello Garci" conversation - where the president is allegedly talking with an election official - was turned into a car horn.

Related: - Ring Tones- The New Protest Songs

Ringtones ruin romance

According to new research, released right before Valentine's Day, ringtones are unappealing to the opposite sex. [via TechDigest.tv]

"Women said that they were most turned off by men who had arrogant songs referring to sexual prowess or good looks, closely followed by songs associated with football."

Sprint Super Bowl Commercial highlights "crime deterrent" feature

Check out Sprint's Super Bowl Commercial on YouTube boasting Sprint phone features like live TV, wireless music downloads, email and crime deterrent.

The clip is funny at first, but in truth, throwing a phone at someone's head (even if he tries to steal your wallet)- that's the "crime deterrent feature"), could lead kids watching to set a new trend.

UPDATE Monday I checked out all the Super Bowl commercials courtesy of CBS, who has listed them by quarter, and the above Sprint ad is not included. So it must be a spoof. Well done!.

There were actually two mobile phone related commercials, one entitled "Connectile Dysfunction" by Sprint and the other by T.Mobile entitled "Duane Wade and Charles Barkley", both viewable on CBS or on Moco News.

Brits ashamed of their ringtone

80 percent of Brits are ashamed of their ringtone according to new research released today which confirms that 97% judge a persons personality based on their choice of ringtone. mad4mobilephones reports.

"Most Brits change their ringtone several times per year, the average is 3.4 times and people spend 37.5 minutes making a ringtone decision.

90% of people in the UK have been criticized for having a bad ringtone. Users often feel embarrassed when their phone rings and some are even criticised for having a boring, manufacturer setting, ringtone.

mad4mobilephones lists some common ringtone personality traits; fashion victim, movie buff, uber cool, introvert or too much time on your hands?... Which one are you?

Related "you are your ringtone" articles:

-- What Does Your Ringtone Say About You?

-- Are ringtones an extension of your negative side?

-- What kind of person sets their phone solely on vibrate mode?

-- What your ringtone says about you

-- Ringtones can reveal more about yourself that you might think

-- Ringtones: The new currency of cool

Singing in the rain. Audio umbrella for a rainny day

"Music in the Rain" is a concept for a musical umbrella designed by SDESIGNUNIT.

Open it up and tunes instantly begin to play through the canopy. Spin the umbrella to the left or right and you’ll be able to move between tracks.

You can also put it in the corner of your living room with its cradle, to enjoy the music from speakers.

[Most Wanted via Core77]

Revealed: the worst sounds in the world

London's Metro paper has listed the most offensive sounds to the human ear. They are based on a study by Prof Trevor Cox, of the acoustic research centre at Salford University.

"Vomiting topped a list of 34 horrible sounds voted on by more than 1.1million people in a worldwide online experiment.

It beat microphone feedback (second), violins (sixth), farting (seventh) and soap opera arguments (ninth) as the noises we hate most.

The one sound calculated to have more men than women running for cover was babies crying.

And here at Ringtonia we are totally offended, as ringtones are listed as the 12th most appaling sound, before creaky doors and after coughing.

Phillips cordless phone emits differing ringtones for landline or Skype calls

Philips's new VoIP841 cordless handset can make both land-line and Internet calls via Skype and has a snazzy feature, it's able to emit different ringtones to signal whether a call is coming from a land line or from Skype."

[via PCWorld]

Shanghai metro announcement ringtones

A novel idea for a cell phone ringtone, the PA announcement of a Shangai subway stop. In Chinese and English.

Listen here: Shanghai Railway Station - Announcement.mp3

[via Shangalist]

Rabbit hat for musical enjoyment

A fun project by Tal Drori spotted on we-make-money-not-art.com, the Coniglio Hat ("rabbit hat" in Italian):

When the ears are pointed UP, music turns OFF; manifesting the user's attentiveness and availability to communicate.

When the ears are folded DOWN, the music automatically turns ON and their folded position indicates listening mode.

Components: a hat with a. headphones b.tilt sensors c. music player.

Link to Coniglio Hat

Rapper Chingy Personalizes Ringtones

Chingy, a rapper with EMI Group’s Capitol Records, has “recorded over a 100 versions of his “Dem Jeans” single using a different popular girls’ name each time… (replacing) ‘girl’ in the chorus line. “Damn Girl, How’d You Get In Dem Jeans?” for each version”.

The Chingy music will be offered to Sprint customers. [via Moco News]

Related Personalized Ringtones:

-- Wake-up Tones Call out your Name - Australia.mobilecontentworld.net have launched their range of wake-up name tones. Available in English, French, Germand and Norwegian.

-- Have your phone sing your first name as a ringtone - Spanish Olemovil offers TONO NOMBRES, a very personalized ringtone service, enabling your phone to sing out a little song calling your name, whenever it rings.

-- Sprint PCS gets name ringers - Sprint PCS is offering “name ringers”, a collection of ringtones made just for people with common names. (It only works for common names as they have to make the ringtones, it's not a voice synth).

Nokia's New Year global music event