We've all been in a movie theater, business meeting, fancy restaurant or even taking a test in school when someone's cell phone rings... and they answer it! I can't think of anything more frustrating than the ringer of a cell phone or shouting a conversation into a phone in an inopportune moment.

Restaurant owners, movie theaters and even schools are so frustrated with the problem that they buy illegal cell phone jammers for their establishments. Not only are they risking thousands of dollars in fines and a year in jail but they put every person in range of the jammer in danger of not being able to make an emergency call if necessary. The jammers also extend well past their intended area and disrupt emergency service’s communication. As a parent, I would be upset to hear that my child’s school was implementing such a dangerous device to combat the problem.

Soon there will be a safe, legal and elegant alternative: Zone of Silence. Zone of Silence is not a cell phone jammer and does not disrupt the cell phone signals in any way. Instead, it sets up a zone of a configurable size that communicates with software on the phone to limit functionality. A zone can be configured to control one or more of the following:

• Inbound calls
• Outbound calls
• Inbound text
• Outbound text
• Ringer volume
• Maximum screen brightness
• Whether or not the camera can take a picture
• And more!

911 emergency calls are always allowed.

The device can be configured to allow certain cell phone and numbers to not be restricted. Further, it can be configured to allow incoming calls from a certain number to a certain number. For example, a school can put in the student’s cell phone number and link it to their parents’ cell phone numbers so that the parents and students can still call and/or text eachother even if calls and texts are being blocked.

ZoS is safe because it allows 911 calls at any time without any intervention from the owner of the ZoS Device or the cell phone owner. It can also be turned off remotely by ZoS in the event of a natural or other disaster.

ZoS is legal because it doesn’t block or broadcast on regulated frequencies. It communicates with the phones over wi-fi and Bluetooth; both part of an unregulated spectrum.

ZoS is elegant because it allows such granular control of the phone functionalities and allows the ZoS Device owner to designate unrestricted phones. Unlike a cell phone jammer, it notifies the recipient that they have missed a call or text so that they walk outside the zone to return it.

The possible uses of Zone of Silence are endless! Schools can block inbound and outbound calls and text messages for students while allowing the teacher’s phone to be unrestricted. Theaters can block all calls, set the ringer to vibrate mode, allow text messages but set the maximum screen brightness to 50% so that the phone doesn’t annoy the other paying customers. Restaurants can block all calls and all text messages so that the patron will be notified of the missed call or text and they can walk outside the zone to return it. High security buildings can use ZoS Devices to block everything including the camera. Gyms can even install the ZoS Devices inside their locker rooms to stop the camera from taking pictures while still allowing all other features to function normally,

As Zone of Silence says: Own your zone.

Visit Zone of Silence to read more and fill out information on the Contact Us page to stay informed of progress.

AIG is going to pay out $165 million in bonus after 1) taking $170 billion tax payers dollars and 2) losing $61.7 billion in 2008 Q4, the largest in corporate history.  People should be angry about this!  It's appauling for a company to lose money and pay bonuses at the same time.  How do I get a contractual obligation that if my company loses $61.7 billion a quater that I get a bonus?  This is just another example of corporate greed putting themselves before anyone else.

I think the Obama administration should stop payment on the checks and put a retroactive law in place saying that any company talking bailout money is not allowed to pay cash bonuses to their employees or executives until over dollar is paid back.  Since tax payers as a whole own 80% of the company, we should all be allowed to cast a vote for the board and CEO to get rid of these crooks!

It's my birthday so I don't have anything to rant about today.  Cherish drove WAY out of her comfort zone to get me two growlers of the best beer I've ever had, Fire Cheif Red, and she got my a couple really nice presents.  I had a great lunch at the "Belly Buster Deli" and I'm finishing a glass of my beer now.  I figured I would take today to post a picture I took of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.  A couple days ago someone from Puerta Vallarta city hall asked to use the picture in a marketing campaign so I wrote them and said yes, no charge as long as I was credited and got a copy of whatever they did.  I never heard back so I guess our economy is so bad that free is too much (OK, I had to throw in a little rant.  After all, the world isn't made of puppies and unicorns.)

And now for the picture.  Click for a larger version.