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BloxVox Mutes Cellphone Convos
It's so rude to impose your conversation on everyone else. That's why you need BloxVox, to mute your convos - conversations, that is.
This box mutes your voice so you can make phone calls in public. pic.twitter.com/uwslL0gQUU
— Cheddar (@cheddar) January 21, 2019
(BloxVox mutes your voice calls)
This problem was first contemplated quite early in the history of telephony. Consider the Hush-a-Phone.
I first encountered the Hush-a-Phone in a 1940 novella by Robert Heinlein - The Roads Must Roll. I assumed that he had created the (rather catchy!) name. However, in researching the technovelgy article on the Hush-a-Phone, I found that there was a real-life Hush-a-Phone manufactured in 1921. The civilized goals of the device are summarized in the ad below:
(From Hush-a-Phone Advertisement)
The device itself was simple; it had no electronic components. A larger photo is shown below.
(From Hush-a-Phone Closeup)
More than 100,000 of these devices were sold. In his novel, Heinlein suggested some (1940's style) high-tech solutions; use a rubber mouthpiece for noise suppression on this end, and a bone conduction receiver.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 2/1/2019)
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Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
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