Your Trekkie Communicator is Here
A company in Cupertino, CA, has invented the first communications badge that works very much like those on Star Trek, although they aren't nearly as spiffy-looking.
I don't care. I want one. But only if you get one, too. After all, if I had the only cell phone in the world, it wouldn't be much use, would it?
Two-thirds of the users are in hospitals, which could eliminate one of my favorite things in hospitals (the list of my favorite things in hospitals isn't very long): the loud paging announcements. These usually go something like this:
"Paging Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard."
"Would the real Dr. Williams PLEASE report to neurosurgery IMMEDIATELY."
"Dr. Frankfurter please report to Urology."
"Maintenance to elevator Bank G, code LOPE. Repeat, emergency, code LOPE." (Large Overweight Patient Extraction)
And so on. Rather similar to the untelligible announcements in bus stations.
"Bus 45 now leaving for Anwar Sadat City, Tucson, Rambling Rose, Sprin[sktzasszzz], Brownsville and Cucamonga!" (They always end with Cucamonga, I think because Bugs Bunny always did.)
Nope, no more paging Dr. Strange and Dr. Love, simply slap your Vocera badge, say the name of the person you want and there go you, you are in communication! Never mind if Dr. Chronic is performing delicate eye surgery where the slightest sound might startle him into poking the laser right into someone's brain. Just go ahead and slap that communicator! He won't mind!
If this spreads, just think, no more straining to hear your name over the fuzzy airport paging service. We won't be walking down endless, cold corridors dragging those huge rolling suitcases (and stopping every few feet to set them upright again) listening to, "Mr. Badnidnoff, Mr. Badninoff, your party has given you up for dead." That's because Mr. Badninoff has slapped his Vocera badge and gotten the news of his own demise directly from the airport operator.
Just think, I could put one of these on my dog's collar and if she ran away I could call her back without raising my voice! Of course she wouldn't talk back, unlike teenagers, who would lose their Vocera badges at the first opportunity, no doubt. After all, no Caller ID, so you couldn't tell when it was The Parents calling. And no text messaging, no games, no cool tunes and so on. On the other hand, the potential for cheating during tests is large, especially if the badge could be disguised.
I've had a calculator watch for years. I'm on my fifth, I believe. It looks like a Dick Tracy communicator watch, and folks eye it closely sometimes just to see if there is a little talking head on the screen. I wish there was. I want one of those, too. But only if you get one.
