(Art) Phone Booth sells at Auction

This wood and plexiglass phone booth art piece (in two parts), by Sarah Seager, titled Untitled Other, sold at a Philips de Pury & Company Contemporary Art Auction held in New York, November 16 for $5,000.

Auger-Loizeau's Isophone

For blocking out all peripheral sensory distraction while talking on the phone, Auger-Loizeau's Isophone.

[via architectradure]

The Pentaphone Isolation Space

Spotted on Gizmodo, the pentaphone, another isolation from cell phone ideas, this time made of wood, by Austrian designer Robert Stadler.

Life Dress® in TV commercial South-Korea

Ann de Gerse's Life Dress gives its wearer the possibility to instantly create a personal space, in which she/he can seclude her/himself from the chaotic surroundings. Watch commercial o YouTube. [via we-make-money-art.com/del.icio.us.regine]

Japanese skirt to ward off crime

The Age reports on concepts from Japan designed to ward off crime. Unlike the American way which would be to learn self-defense and carry pepper spray, the above skirt serves as a disguise, by converting a person into a vending machine, to elude pursuers.

In a somewhat stretched relationship to this blog's focus, such a skirt could also be considered as another "Isolation from cell phones idea".

But read full article, which mentions other Japanese amazing defense devices:

Take the "manhole bag", a purse that can hide your valuables by unfolding to look like a round sewer cover. Put it on the street with your wallet still inside, and unwitting thieves are supposed to walk right by. (Picture posted on Gizmodo)

There is also a line of knife-proof high school uniforms, and a book with tips for mothers on how to dress even the most modest children like "pseudo-hoodlums" to scare away schoolyard bullies. (Picture posted on Gizmodo)

Interesting, The Age writes that "the frequency of violent crime in Japan is actually low by international standards. But the creators argue that Japan's ideas about crime prevention are the product of deeper cultural differences".

Office Collar

Simon Brewster's Office Collar has been designed in response to the open plan, working environment. The collars act as spatial isolators, narrowing the field of vision, therefore enabling their wearer to focus on the tasks in front of them.

I think it fits in perfectly with other "isolation from cell phone concepts".

[via Core77]

Canadian valley aims to keep cellphone-free quiet

According to Reuters.ca, a group of residents in the valley in southeastern British Columbia have asked telephone company Telus Corp. not to build a planned cellphone tower in New Denver, a one-time mining boomtown that is now home to about 600 people.

"If Telus decides against building the system, the economic development group plans to promote the valley's "cellphone free status" as a unique reason to visit or move to the region", Bill Roberts of the Slocan Valley Economic Development Commission said."

Behind the Wall

Behind the Wall is a two sided piece of furniture designed by Jordi Canudas that is both wall and sofa.

It offers a comfortable sitting area that becomes playful when users interact from both sides of the wall.

It could also work to isolate cell phone conversations.

[via Trends Now]

An Office Collar

Régine is wearing an "Office Collar" designed by Simone Brewster.

They exist in different shapes, there's one open at the bottom to let you drink your coffee, another is open at the top for people who watch upwards when they need to concentrate and think...

In a detoured way, they could also be used as a cellphone isolation concept. Isolating you from your co-workers and manifesting your disaproval of their cell phone chatter.

The Hideaway Trenchcoat

Though the Hideaway Trenchcoat and Hideaway Corporate are not presented specifically as isolation from cell phones' concepts - but as "hideaways for withdrawing in style at a busy office", they work for me. By Rosalie Monod de Froideville.

[via we-make-money-not-art.com]

Talking space

An oversized lampshade to pull over your head for private cell phone conversations. Another wonderful isolation from cell phone concepts, by Yang Shi Wei and Shawn Wein Shin from taiwan. Thanks to Designboom.

In the designers' own words:

People enjoy the feeling at party. We always hear much sound about laugh, games, music or play... It’s good!! Let we relax and excite. Everything is fine. Playing with your friend. But now, your phone is ringing. It maybe tells an important message to you. Can you talk with the other side on noisy place? You need to leave, and try to find another place to close off voice. Going to outside ?! It’s just one of way to solve problems. Have another way?

The lampshade is bigger than normal. In order to create a space to close off voice. And it’s used to be a light in the house. You can pull the lampshade down in a critical moment.

Voice Silencer on Telephone Lets You Talk in Secret

Another isolation from cell phones concept and a blast from the past by Modern Mechanix via we-make-money-not-art.

Your telephone conversation can be made inaudible to others in the same room if the phone is equipped with a new mouthpiece that prevents sound from escaping. It is easily attached to any hand instrument and fits snugly around the speaker’s lips. There is no distortion of the voice. Part of the midget “telephone booth” telescopes to fit the standard cradle phone.

Nokia Silence Booth

At selected festivals across the Netherlands and Belgium, Nokia installed silence booths, offering festival goers a place and a moment of silence while making a phone call.

In the booth, users could use their own phones or try out Nokia 3250.

[via Guerilla Innnovation]

Related: Other Isolation from cell phone concepts

Keep your conversations private

Don't want to be overheard while on the phone? Then check out Sonare Technologies Babble, a sound processing device that allows you to have conversations at your cubicle or other open office, while preventing others from hearing what you’re talking about. The system scrambles your voice and projects the scrambled version over speakers. [via [technabob] via digg]

At the push of a button, you’ve got voice privacy on demand, rather than an emission of white noise. Babble is only on when you need it and can be turned off when you don’t.

Click for video demo

Hush-A-Phone

From Technovelgy, another isolation from cell phones idea and a blast from the past. The Hush-a-Phone. Invented and manufactured by Tom Carter in 1921. The civilized goals of the device are summarized in the ad below:

More Isolation from cell phones' ideas

The Mobile Phone Scarf

Isn't this the greatest "cell phone isolation idea" yet? From WMMNA of course.

By wearing the mobile phone scarf, you can venture into public spaces confident that if the need to compose a private text message were to arise the object could be pulled over the face to create an isolated environment.

From a Private Public Project - A series of objects that highlight the privacy we sacrifice when using mobile technological devices in public spaces.

More Isolation from Cell Phone ideas here.

The CellZone Booth

Spotted on Mobile Magazine, another cell phone booth concept for privacy in public places, from a company called CellZone.

In their own words:

The Cell Zone™ is the first commercial, sound-resistant "cell phone booth" enabling nightclubs, restaurants, libraries, and other entertainment venues to offer people a quiet environment where they can place and receive phone calls without distubing others. (with Patent-pending sound-resistant technology)

You can view all Isolation from Cell Phones Ideas here.

If you only have time for one quick look, Click here for my personal favorite - Another option for people trying to isolate themselves from cell phone disturbances, by Ingrid Hora, "who has focused her attention on mundane eccentricities, such as talking to oneself or listening to other people's conversations".

Plastic Bubble Phone Booth

A blast from the past from Popular Electronics - 12-1958. The phone booth of the future designed by Bell Telephone Laboratories, will have a plastic bubble dome for maximum visibility. It will be installed in an indoor area, such as a railway concourse. [via Modern Mechanix]

The Life Dress

Though there is no mention of isolating onself specifically from cell phone disturbances, the Life dress is perfectly suitable for this purpose.

Ann de Gerse's Life dress gives its wearer the possibility to instantly create a personal space, in which she/he can seclude her/himself from the chaotic surroundings.

To create her own sanctuary, the wearer of the dress pulls up and zips the skirt at any given moment to close. An air cartridge inflates the skirt to form a perfect bubble around the woman. [via WMMNA]

See other "Isolation from Cell Phone" concepts.

The Cell Atlantic CellBooth

The Cell Atlantic CellBooth, by Jenny L Chowdhury (one of the authors of Mobile Assassins), allows the chatty ones to carry a phone booth with them and set it up when they need to converse in private.

The deliberate nature of setting up this portable phone booth and standing in place while one talks enforces the idea that the call is important -not something to do while picking up the kids, working out, or driving.

reBlogged from WMMNA.

See other Isolation from cell phone ideas.

High-tech paint will block cell phone calls

Playing to the backlash against ubiquitous communication, a company called Natural Nano is developing a special high-tech paint that locks out unwanted cell phone signals on demand. Newsday reports.

"NaturalNano has found a way to use nanotechnology to blend particles of copper into paint that can be brushed onto walls and effectively deflect radio signals.

NaturalNano will combine this signal-blocking paint scheme with a radio-filtering device that collects phone signals from outside a shielded space, allowing certain transmissions to proceed while blocking others.

It appears to be legal - jamming devices that emit radio signals to prevent cell phones are not - The radio filter would allow all emergency radio communications to pass through the shield With all other signals, like cell phones, the filter would act like a spigot to block or allow them to pass through—say, only during intermission."

Businesses putting lid on cellphone chatterboxes

Move over, smokers - writes USA Today.

"In a crackdown reminiscent of the campaign against nicotine addicts, a widening array of states and businesses are restricting cellphone use. There are limits not just on planes, trains and automobiles but also in restaurants, gyms, golf courses, churches, banks and post offices. Some restaurants are creating cellphone areas, akin to smoking sections, where people can talk without bothering other diners. "

Here's a roundup of some favorite "isolation from cell phone" concepts:

A cell for cell phone users - Steelcase's "Cell Cell" is a felt cylinder that hangs from the ceiling so you can duck under and make private calls. Only a prototype, there's currently no hope to see them on the market.

The Portable Cellular Phone Booth - The Portable Cellular Phone Booth created by Nick Rodrigues is designed to illustrate how disrespectful people are when they dare call their friends and family in public."

MIT Gizmo defends against cellphone chatter - Another isolation from clel phone chatter idea, this time by Limor Fried a graduate student at the MIT Media Laboratory. "She calls it the "the Wave Bubble" because it creates a cellphone-free bubble of silence 4 meters in diameter. It does so by jamming the phones' radio-frequency bands with a junk signal of a few milliwatts.

Individual Isolation from Cell Phones - Another option for people trying to isolate themselves from cell phone disturbances, by Ingrid Hora, "who has focused her attention on mundane eccentricities, such as talking to oneself or listening to other people's conversations".

silenceplease.com - And our suggestion, for the personnel of no-cell-phoning policy establishments. Have your staff wear a constant reminder.

A cell for cell phone users

Steelcase's "Cell Cell" is a felt cylinder that hangs from the ceiling so you can duck under and make private calls.

Only a prototype, there's currently no hope to see them on the market.

[via Core77]

Booths Silence Cell-Phone Boors

Stepping into one of Dennis Raney's narrow, handmade phone booths may feel like a return to simpler times, but a quick look around reveals the key element is missing -- the telephone. Wired reports.

"In the age of BYOP (that's "bring your own phone"), Raney is capitalizing on what he sees as a growing demand for private spaces in which people can talk on their cell phonesB> He started a cell-phone booth company, C.P. Booth, in early 2005, and has sold about a dozen booths to customers across the United States.

... So far, booths have mostly been installed in restaurants, like Manhattan's Biltmore Room and Chicago's Boka. However, the University of Maryland has one in its Thurgood Marshall Law Library."

Click here for more Isolation from Cell Phones ideas

Restaurant says go ahead and phone

You can leave your Portable Cellular Phone Booth behind, if you plan to dine in an upscale restaurant in Chicago, which is giving cell phone users a special room to handle those important calls.

An alcove off the main dining room at Landmark has been designated cell phone friendly. The nook, which accommodates a maximum of three people, features walls padded in fake leather and snakeskin and a leather banquette, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Monday, via New Kerala.

The owners said they may put battery chargers in the room for several makes of cellular phones.

"In this day and age, I don't know one person that doesn't have a cell phone," said Rob Katz, a co-owner. "And we live in a city where the weather is crazy. Why should people have to run outside to talk on the phone?" Nice!

Click here for more Isolation from Cell Phone Ideas

No Privacy in Your Cubicle? Try "Babble"

Maxwell Smart's "cone of silence" is finally a reality, according to The New York Times.

The cone of silence, called Babble, is actually a device composed of a sound processor and several speakers that multiply and scramble voices that come within its range. About the size of a clock radio, the first model is designed for a person using a phone, but other models will work in open office space."

Peek-a-boo chair

Another isolation from cell phones idea, the Peek-a-boo chair, designed by Stefan Borselius. [via Sensory Impact]. See also nnf.

Other isolating chairs, booths:

-- «La Complice» A chair to host your mobile phone

-- Silence Chair

-- The Portable Cellular Phone Booth

-- Silence Booths

-- Phones booths with phones, for cell phone privacy

Other isolation from cell phone concepts:

-- Click here

MIT Gizmo defends against cellphone chatter

Another isolation from clel phone chatter idea, this time by Limor Fried a graduate student at the MIT Media Laboratory. [via IEEE Spectrum via mobile|blog.it].

"She calls it the "the Wave Bubble" because it creates a cellphone-free bubble of silence 4 meters in diameter. It does so by jamming the phones' radio-frequency bands with a junk signal of a few milliwatts.

Fried made the Wave Bubble for her master's thesis, "Social Defense Mechanisms: Tools for Reclaiming Our Personal Space," which argues that electronic devices increasingly distract and annoy people and that the electronics industry has had little incentive to address the problem. She concludes that citizens must therefore explore methods of self-defense.

Fried says she isn't sure that the FCC rules forbid her from building her own jammer. In any case, she says, the rules say nothing against documenting in detail how to make one, as she has done, at http://www.mit.edu/~ladyada/thesis.pdf (13.6 mb download).

Golf Rules leave fans pining for phones

At a golf tournament, silence is not only golden, it is mandatory. Cell phones are just as taboo at Quail Hollow Club (Charlotte, NC) this week as guns and coolers, reports The Charlotte Observer.

"But tournament officials aren't expecting spectators to go cold turkey. It is a business town, after all, and half the tournament falls on workdays.

So they've set up a few tents around the course where fans can borrow a Nextel phone for free to make a few calls. When the line gets deep, they're limited to five minutes.

Rosa Mallette, who also works at one of the Nextel tents, notices the difference when she walks around the course. "It's kind of nice, not hearing 100 conversations at once," she said."

Related article:

-- Call for Cameraphone ban on Golf Tournaments - Ernie Els - The world's No.3 golfer - called on golf chiefs to ban cameras and mobile phones at all major tournaments

silenceplease.com

You can wear your feelings about the right for silence on your sleeve, so to speak, if that's the way you feel about a cellphone free environment, by ordering a t-shirt from silenceplease.com.

They sell stickers too as well but mostly cell phone jamming devices, called the mobile phone silencer which looks just like any other cell phone. It blocks all mobile signals within a range of 15 to 30 meters.

Just as a reminder, mobile jammers may be illegal to use in some countries.

[via mobile|blog.it]