Mosquito ringtone for teen cell phones?!?

[Nikita]

This is something that is new to me as of today. I apologise if this is stale toast, but i felt like sharing. A freind sent me the link a few moments ago. Is this bonzai kitty or for real?? Anyone experience this? my inital google produced several other articles seeming to prove it's validity since november 2005. However new to me, and i want one. regardless, the article...sneaky revenge, clever heads on those kids.....
Mosquito + Cell phone?

[noid]

Having met the founder of bonzai kitty at Defcon 7, I would say that not only are you behind the times but that the site itself is a joke. However its nice to see that it still generates interest (and probably plenty of hatemail).

[Nikita]

Having met the founder of bonzai kitty at Defcon 7, I would say that not only are you behind the times but that the site itself is a joke. However its nice to see that it still generates interest (and probably plenty of hatemail).

Bonzai kitty is a joke? Noooooooo. Kidding, That i have known for a very long time. A very very funny site. For the mosquito thing, that i am behind the times on... i was trying to reference it, to show mosquitos likeness of bonzai kitty in its sophistry.

[Samurai Drifter]

Highly amusing. Were it true, though, ringing phones would finally be accorded a sound that accurately represents how annoying they truly are. I mean really, have you ever stopped to consider the concept? Whoever's calling is basically saying "hello! I'm more important than whatever you're doing, and even if you don't want to talk to me I am able to continue to interrupt you until you give in and answer!"

Thank god cell phones have a silent feature.

[Twigman]

Yeah surely you would be better putting your phone on silent in your pocket and having it on vibrate?

[skroo]

Whoever's calling is basically saying "hello! I'm more important than whatever you're doing, and even if you don't want to talk to me I am able to continue to interrupt you until you give in and answer!"

That makes no sense whatsoever. The call comes in. If you want to take it, answer the phone. If you don't, send it to voicemail and deal with it later.

People seem to have no problem with considering landlines, email, and instant messaging to be utterly invaluable communication tools - yet cellphones are still seen as being the 'electronic leash'. It makes no sense to me.

[TheCotMan]

People seem to have no problem with considering landlines, email, and instant messaging to be utterly invaluable communication tools - yet cellphones are still seen as being the 'electronic leash'. It makes no sense to me.

Making a guess on the metaphor:
Like dogs, the leash only applies when you leave home?

To me, the leash metaphor came from a social application of cell phones and pagers: keeping track of your Sig-O. Later, it expanded to keeping track of kids, as the generation that used them to track their Sig-O's grew up to have kids and cell phones became cheaper.

Parents call kids. Kids don't answer or let the call go to voice mail. Kids go home.
"Why didn't you have your cell phone? You agreed to take it with you when you went to Judy's house."
A) The battery went dead (Nope. The last time I tried that line, they called my phone and it rang.)
B) I was roaming (Nope. Judy's house is not roaming.)
C) I left it in the car (Nope. Last time I said I left it behind, they threatened to stop paying my cell phone bill.)
D) I was on the phone with someone else. (Yea! This one will work.)
"I was on the phone with someone else."
"We got you call waiting."
(Doh!)

I can see the "leash" metaphor applied to kids and to Sig-O, but not to work.
With work, I think a better metaphor would be, "lifeline."

[Samurai Drifter]

That makes no sense whatsoever. The call comes in. If you want to take it, answer the phone. If you don't, send it to voicemail and deal with it later.

People seem to have no problem with considering landlines, email, and instant messaging to be utterly invaluable communication tools - yet cellphones are still seen as being the 'electronic leash'. It makes no sense to me.

But the cellphone makes a loud annoying noise even when you don't want to answer it. E-mail and instant messaging are not considered electronic leashes because you have to be at a computer to use them. Even with a laptop, the variety of areas where you can be reached is much more limited.

Ultimately the phone can be turned off, but then people get mad and hassle you. Phone calls are a lot harder to avoid than emails.

[Nikita]

Ah yes...all that said may be true... but has anyone seen one of these devices?

[TheCotMan]

Ah yes...all that said may be true... but has anyone seen one of these devices?

Devices that scare kids away with High frequency sound? Nope. I've not seen cell phones that generated this either. Do cell phones have frequency generators or DSP and speakers capable of generating the 16kHz-20kHz ranges with enough power to drive the dB needed for it to be heard? Don't know. I don't have one. The last cell phone I used had one of those cheesey Piezo Speakers with limited frequency range.

I've seen application of classical music outside stores used to drive kids away, however.

[Added:]
This page claims the ringtone runs at 14.4 kHz while the mosquito devices run at ~17kHz.
This page claims to have a link to a downloadable mp3-- probably not the same as the 14.4kHz mp3 "teen buzz.mp3" cited previosly.
It made it to boing boing.

I found a torrent of the 480798 byte file, but since there was mention of the creator of the mosquito (on one site) considering litigation over the use, I'm not going to link to the torrent from here.
However: file name "Teen Buzz.mp3", file size: 480798 bytes, file md5sum: 934314f78502102b0aa98d39f5a1a20d

Good luck with your searches.

According to some simple exams of the mp3 file (Teen Buzz.mp3) with "reZound" it looks like some low amplitude "noise" in or around 14kHz and 16kHz, with a primary tone at around 17-18kHz and more noise at around 20kHz. The recorded volume of what was recorded at 17-18kHz is very high.

So the file appears to include the frequency. The next question is, can cell phone speakers drive that frequency, and to how many dB?

[TheCotMan]

After playing "Teen Buzz.mp3" on my desktop machine with headphones, I could not hear it. However, after playing this on a laptop, I did hear it, and it was annoying. It was kind of screechy, and even after it stopped playing, my ears were ringing.

So, now I am wondering about the effectiveness of this to really not be heard by people over age 20. I am also wondering if the differences between my headphones and my laptop speaker are also found in different cell phones. Perhaps some cell phones can't play this, or may limit the max frequency to some level on playback.

Since my laptop was able to play this noise, it seems more likely that cell phones (with similar small speakers) would be able to play it too.

Has anyone here confirmed:
1) It could play on their cell phone?
2) It could not be heard by people over age 20
3) It could be heard by people under age 20?

[Nikita]

Has anyone here confirmed:
1) It could play on their cell phone?
2) It could not be heard by people over age 20
3) It could be heard by people under age 20?

I will test it this weekend and let you know. I am really looking forward to this. I may also have some advantage on the cell phones, as i have an assortment of cell phones.

*side note...I am 25 though*

[TheCotMan]

I will test it this weekend and let you know. I am really looking forward to this. I may also have some advantage on the cell phones, as i have an assortment of cell phones.

*side note...I am 25 though*

I'm older than you , and I heard it from my laptop speaker. I'm interested in your results.

Bring it to a "local DCG" meeting and see if others can hear the tones.
(Getting people to be truthful about their age might be tricky though.)

[KeLviN]

i read a story about the brittish teen repelant sound in either wired or NY times.... (it was my AvantGo, so i dont remember) it had a brief interview with the shop owner that swore it was awsome. so a ring tone idea is an interesting concept...

[Deviant Ollam]

i tried the files at the links posted above, as well as some of the advice being passed around on this page. i tended to be able to hear all of the tones if i pushed my speakers up to a somewhat significant volume, but at regular volume levels things became rather difficult to detect. someone in the comments section of the above link stated 18000 Hz was a "youth ears only" type tone. i could hear tones all the way up to where my tone generator software topped out (just past 21000) and i'm 28, which is the age when (in my experience) you significantly start to not be young anymore... you tend to head towards the bed without grabbing one last can out of the cooler for the road, you find yourself openly questioning why music has to be so fucking loud when all you want is to maintain a conversation for a few minutes, you can't fuck more than three or four times in a single night if you have work the next day, and you start waiting for police to make it back to their squad car before you start swearing.