Welcome to the home of Noah Brier. I'm the co-founder of Variance and general internet tinkerer. Most of my writing these days is happening over at Why is this interesting?, a daily email full of interesting stuff. This site has been around since 2004. Feel free to get in touch. Good places to get started are my Framework of the Day posts or my favorite books and podcasts. Get in touch.

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Dialtone

This is too good an idea not to share. Sorry if everyone already knows this, because apparently it was reviewed by CNET in 2006, but Samsung’s phone for the elderly called the Jitterbug actually plays a dialtone when the clamshell phone is opened.

Open the phone and you’ll notice the first thing that makes this phone so great for seniors: An actual dial tone. With this simple innovation, you immediately know that the phone is active and ready to go, similar to a landline phone.

It’s a really elegant solution to what I can only imagine is a big usability issue.

October 27, 2009