New chip curbs misplaced cellphone syndrome

Those who are contemplating some type of bizarre surgery to ensure your dear cellphone stays permanently attached to your person should probably hold off, as a couple of companies are teaming up to curb the oh-so-typical problem of misplacing one's handset. New Japan Radio Co. and Superwave Corporation have reportedly joined forces to "develop a chip that uses weak radio waves to communicate with mobile phones, paving the way for devices that tell users when a handset is misplaced." Supposedly, the chip would communicate with one's phone "every few seconds," and if you bolted from the subway sans your cellphone, a sound or vibration would apparently be there to alert you of your mistake. Hold tight folks, the firms have plans to distribute samples to manufacturers this October. [Warning: Read link requires subscription]

[Image courtesy of GLIRC]

[kalleboo Posted Jul 27th 2007 2:14AM]

Or just get a Sony Ericsson Bluetooth watch and get some functionality at the same time...

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 27th 2007 8:06AM]

this is so cool - it makes a market for someone to come up with chips that vibrate if you forget your chip that vibrates to alert you of the missing phone.