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Dave and the team discuss Jack Dorsey stepping down as Twitter CEO, Cyber Monday sales down from 2020, CES skipping the LVCC South Hall, and more.
Steve in Kenosha, Wisconsin listens to the free Podcasts and asked: “My mother-in-law is getting older and my wife goes to call her and she doesn’t answer her cell phone. She’s either left it in another room, doesn’t hear it, or has fallen asleep. Is there something I can connect in her apartment that will ring or flash, and tell her the cell phone’s ringing? I thought about like a Fitbit but of course, she’ll take it off and we’ll be in the same problem we’re in now.”
Steve, there used to be some phone holders that would ring loudly and flash lights if the phone was ringing. You can find it by the name of multi-phone ringer and flasher which should tell you something about how generic the device is.
The catch is that the phone needs to be on it for it to work, which will almost certainly land you in the same situation that youre in now.
The reason those devices arent more popular these days is because modern cell phones include the flashing feature as part of their accessibility tools. Theyll just turn the flash on and off in distinct patterns for texts and calls. Her phone must have the feature and it will likely be under Settings and Accessibility.
Obviously if she leaves her phone with the flash towards a table that method wont work either.
If ringing loudly is enough and the lights are less important, then a smart speaker may help. They can act as basically a landline, but their lights are not intense enough to get much attention on their own.
If she does have a landline you can still buy old fashioned strobe lights that flash when the phone rings, but those need to be attached to a physical phone line.
Jeff in Rockwell City, Iowa listens to the podcasts and called in with an app suggestion: InPixio PhotoStudio
Thank you, Jeff!
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