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Very simple. When you get on the train, this phone service lets you choose your destination station from a list. It then sounds an alarm that wakes you up 5 minutes before you get there. It uses cell-location (or GPS if your phone has it).
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You might want flesh this out a little. |
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I recall hearing about bibs or hats marketed to the Japanese which implored their fellow travellers to wake them a such-and-such station. |
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If I'm selecting a destination, you imply some sort of interface. How does the interface know my cell phone number? Is this a cell phone service? What are the odds of my sleeping through a train ride, but waking to my cell phone? |
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Depends how often you use your cell phone. (People who rely heavily on their cell phone are probably more likely to be woken by it) |
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Something that I have used in the past: a hairnet. I set my wristwatch alarm for a short time before the scheduled "reach the station" time, and stuff it inside the hairnet right over my ear where it won't fail to wake me. How far in advance of your stop depends on how reliable your train system is. |
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[lurch] Do people look at you on the train? |
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do you care if you are asleep? I bet people take pictures :) |
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OK, [lurch]. _You're_ the strange man on the train with a hair net on and a watch in his ear that my kids are afraid of... |
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No need for a hairnet just put your wrist watch hand through a headband. Plus it has the advantage of looking as if you have fingers growing out of the side of your head. |
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If you have a Bluetooth earpiece it could bleep discretely to wake you up withoud disturbing fellow snoozers. |
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However I think a bluetooth-enabled train is a bit beyond the capabilities of UK rail companies, who are still wrestling with the concept that if you don't maintain the track, the trains fall over and this is Very Bad. |
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Couldn't you ask a fellow passenger to wake you up before they go go. |
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Because you're not planning on playing solo (which is a card game as I understand). |
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This is a practical, simple, well explained idea. I don't understand the annos. GPS has alerts for reaching a waypoint so this would just be public information for people that have one. For other phones it should be pretty easy for a phone company to implement once they sort out the whole privacy thing (which is apparently not a problem in the country I'm in, you sometimes walk into a shopping mall and receive a text message for an outlet). |
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Texting the train service you are on to the alarm number would be enough. Each train would have a tracking system on it and when your train is approaching your stop they give you a ding-a-ling. Simple. Bunnage [+] |
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Must be nice to live in places with train service. I'm still waiting for my auto-drive car. |
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// I'm still waiting for my auto-drive car // |
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Perhaps being a little pedantic, can i point out that "auto" is the prefix meaning "self" and so by inference, you are waiting for a "self-driving car" - or do you mean a "self-driven car" - in which case, if you have a car which you drive yourself, you already posess that itemn for which you claim to be waiting. ..... |
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I thought of the same thing for buses. What I had in mind was more like something you'd select at your seat. A bright light would flash on the seat in front of you when your destination is reached. Doing this on the Lynx buses in Orlando shouldn't be all that hard since there is already an electronic recorded message when a destination is reached. |
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// A bright light would flash on the seat in front of you when your destination is reached // |
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Have you considered (a) epileptics, or (b) those with a visual impairment ? |
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or (c) Those who are asleep. |
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I think this is a great idea. I used to work in NYC and frequently fell asleep on the train home.
[marklar] where are you that you get text messages when you go into stores? That is really cool. |
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//where are you that you get text messages when you go into stores?// |
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I've seen it done here in the UK, using bluetooth. My mate has it at his computer shop and yes, I do think it's damn annoying. |
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Here in the UK trains already have GPS-controlled announcements and many have 802.11 wireless networks so adding bluetooth to this and getting it to send a reminder would not be an issue. Or you could browse to a website and it would allow you to select your destination and it would then later call/text you when you were almost there. |
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I'm in Dubai. They are SMS messages not Bluetooth. |
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