08-19-2005, 11:00 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Get An SMS From Your Light Bulb When It Burns Out?
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000433054880/
Apparently some company is working on a light bulb that will send you an SMS message telling you when it burns out. I would think the dark room would be a pretty good indicator, but I guess for those of you that might find yourself sitting in the dark wondering why you can't see anything, an SMS message like this can be enlightening.
Personally, I'd rather have my refrigerator SMS me when the last can of Mountain Dew is gone, or my pantry SMS me when the popcorn supply is critically low. And who could be more appreciative if your toilet paper holder pinged you before it ran out of paper? It would have to know when to SMS you though to be beneficial. Pulling off that last square is bad enough. You don't need your phone mocking you at that point telling you there is a problem.
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08-19-2005, 11:33 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 459
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Well, that's just silly :roll: . However, the notion does have more realistic applications: Just as I was getting out of chemical plant engineering maintenance 4 years ago, instruments were being developed which could and did send an SMS or an email to specified addresses when they went into fault condition. Personally, I had had enough of plant operators calling me at 3am to say they had a problem without the plant being able to do it all by itself. And my plant which, although large, was relatively unsophisticated in control and instrumentation terms, had only a couple of hundred instruments which would be likely to call me. Colleagues had plants with literally thousands of such 8O . Brrr, doesn't bear thinking about...
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08-20-2005, 12:07 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 108
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I use SMS to communicate a lot, especially when I'm working overseas. Access is everywhere and it's so cheap. And with a PDA for text input it's damn fast, too. Do you think there'll ever be an integrated freebie SMS app in Windows Mobile (say, WM5?) like in the Palm OS? SimpleSMS does the job for me, but gee whiz US$30...
..would be helpful when the lightbulbs are blowing, too. :?
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08-20-2005, 12:25 AM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 593
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That's true with a plant, there are usually people there to notice that thing. Nevertheless, how abut an SMS message when your fire alarm goes off, or a sensor detects a natural gas leak, carbon monoxide, etc. A light bulb is too banal for an alert, a plant is too redundant, but home sensor is just about right.
As an example (the above post about int'l travel reminded me of this), a teacher was on a cruise over spring break, when he got home his basement was flooded. It could have been helpful to receive a text message.
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08-20-2005, 01:33 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 131
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Actually it's pretty worthwhile. ie. Save money on sending people to check on burnt out lights in large department stores, instead send them/or him/her only when needed. Also on highways, burnt out lights can be discovered and replaced faster rather than waiting for driver complaints or sending someone to check.
This is very smart and cost effective though it may also depend on the cost of the technology.
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08-20-2005, 02:22 AM
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5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,616
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With this technology, if someone asks you if your fridge is running, you can just get it to send them a SMS with it's status (and location, speed, calories used, distance covered, date of the next marathon, etc  )
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08-20-2005, 04:33 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 90
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by ctmagnus
With this technology, if someone asks you if your fridge is running, you can just get it to send them a SMS with it's status ( and location, speed, calories used, distance covered, date of the next marathon, etc ) |
 :roll:
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08-20-2005, 04:41 AM
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Theorist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 263
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Hmm, :idea: got it!!! An auto-answer feature with a message template:
"Please Mr. Bulb, could you stand a little longer till it's work time? Thanks in advance."
__________________
MacBook Pro 2.53-250-4. iPhone 3G-8
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08-20-2005, 06:45 AM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 7
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here in india earth quake warning systems with sms are in place.
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08-20-2005, 01:34 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 147
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Re: Get An SMS From Your Light Bulb When It Burns Out?
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ed Hansberry
Personally, I'd rather have my refrigerator SMS me
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"When are you coming home? I'm...cold..."
Spooky.
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