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Sokei
ok so this might be a massively dead horse but i just got done with an extremely funny conversation about cellphones in SR. So heres my question , how does one dial an earplug cellphone? do they pull it out and punch in the numbers (completely absurd but funny, JudgeIto was miming this while we debated) or do the earplug phones dial on voice command?
Tarantula
I'd say either/or.
Sokei
My take was that voice dial would be the only way with it being so damn small, and the earplug is near your jaw so voice commands would work decently.
Arethusa
Since an in ear phone never states any sort of visual display, I'd say that's not really supported, but tack on 25 or 50¥ and a new model name and call it a feature. That's not really something to go to rules for; strictly atmosphere, and the sort of thing, as a GM, you want to keep as seamless as possible.
Edward
I don’t know where I got the idea but I thought voice recognition tech was working well in SR, this would allow the phone to respond to your telling it the number to dial (or the name of the previously entered contact). You would need to give some unlikely command to it to know your not just telling somebody a phone number ”phone 123456789 dial” wood make a workable command or you may have to tap your ear twice to activate it.

Edward
Sokei
yeah I posted this more as question of how others see these types of things and less of a mechanics questions, but yeah your right making these generic things that lack a lot of detail into things that are a little self explanatory and seamless is the best way to go. i like the tapping to activate idea btw smile.gif
Rieal82
my take on them is that its "voice" dialing. i use "" because there are head sets out now for bluetooth phones that pick up your voice by the vibrating in the bones right behind your ears. you still have to take in a normal voice for people to hear you.(really funny with me ive got hair covering my ears so people just think im REALLY crazy when im on my cell)
Veracusse
Well seeing that most Natural Language Processing is moving away from command line operators and more to natural langauge, I don't think you would have to say something like "earphone 12345467 dial". Rather I think that it would be more natural like talking to a discourse partner. In other words, a user would say, or maybe think to himself (if the ear cell-phone were to be DNI), I want to talk with Jimmy, and the cell would dial the number of Jimmy, if it were in its number library. If the phone did not know the number then it would ask what number it should dial. Basically, the ear cell-phone (and really any cellphone) would operate like another member of the conversation, although definitely as a subservient member of the conversation.

Also since all cellphones in SR send there signals through the Matrix, cell phones would act more like MSM messenger or something. People would walk around with cellphones in their ears and always be connected to each other.

All of this technology is being worked on today. In fact this is the basic premise of what I do for research (not cell phones but the NLP aplication of cognitive architectures), and voicee recognition is a big part of it. This is an interesting subject to think about. read.gif

Veracusse
Edward
To use your example I go an knock on jimmy’s door, his wife answers and I say “I would like to talk to jimmy” and then jimys phone rings.

The problem isn’t that the phone cant work out what I want when I am talking its that it cant work out when I am talking to it or when I am talking to somebody else. The solution is to ether make its command structure non conversational. “phone jimmy call” or to have some command that will tell the phone your about to talk to it (tap your ear).

Edward
hahnsoo
It would probably be a conversational interface.
*sultry female voice* "Yes, can I... help you?"
"Get me Alex's phone number?"
"Certainly, Alex Martin or Alex Hunter?"
"No, I want to do a phone number search for Alex Trebek"
"Dialing now..."
Veracusse
I think hahnsoo has clarified my idea of how it would be, more like talking to an operator with a sultry feamle voice than to a computer. At least it would be more natural than talking to machine interfaces today.

Nikoli
Or it has a bluetooth like device for entering numbers.
GrinderTheTroll
QUOTE (hahnsoo)
It would probably be a conversational interface.
*sultry female voice* "Yes, can I... help you?"
"Get me Alex's phone number?"
"Certainly, Alex Martin or Alex Hunter?"
"No, I want to do a phone number search for Alex Trebek"
"Dialing now..."

I like this idea.

I haven't read the text on and ear-phone, but I'd imagine there would be some type of datajack interface as well.
Crimsondude 2.0
No, they don't have them.

QUOTE (SR3 @ 287)

Portable phones range from the common wrist models, with or without flip-up view screen, to handset units, to audio-only earplug models with lightweight boom microphones.


That is all it says about earplug phones.

"Audio-only" infers voice-dialing.
GrinderTheTroll
QUOTE (Crimsondude 2.0)
No, they don't have them.

QUOTE (SR3 @ 287)

Portable phones range from the common wrist models, with or without flip-up view screen, to handset units, to audio-only earplug models with lightweight boom microphones.


That is all it says about earplug phones.

"Audio-only" infers voice-dialing.

Considering even the pervasiveness of data interfaces in today's electronics, I'd still imagine most every SR device would have something. I seem to recall reading that somewhere.

I am not sure how having a Datajack would "break" this device for balance purposes, but manually uploading and downloading phone numbers would be pain. Alternatively, I'm sure there is some "Matrix Account Interface" that would let a user do just that.
Crimsondude 2.0
Could be, but it's not in that book.
Veracusse
Actually all devices can be modified so that they are DNI enabled. That means that any electronic/computer device can be used with a datajack. This is in Matrix, but I can't remember what page and I am at work.

So it would make sense that an ear cellphone could be DNI, and used through a datajack. Also if the person happens to have a Transducer that is connected to the datajack via a router or one of the datajacks open ports, and the DNI enabled cellphone is connected via datajack, a user then could command the phone and communicate through thought. Get some descent broadcast encryption and now you can communicate with the world at your ease and pleasure, all within your mind too.

But if you are going to go this far, you might as well get an internal cyberware version of a cellphone and have it routed to a transducer for the same benefits. The only problem with this however is that internal headware cyberware only have a flux of 0, which is IIRC is ~350m. If you have an external cellphone, even the earphone, you have a flux 2 which is about ~2km. So you would need an area with descent coverage to use the cyber version. Just some thoughts on cell phones and communication in the 6th world.

Veracusse
GrinderTheTroll
QUOTE (Crimsondude 2.0)
Could be, but it's not in that book.

Although there is nothing in the Cellphone text that directly says "does or doesn't" have datajack access, the description of Telecoms does mention that advanced models can have them. (SR3.287)

If one of my players wanted datjack access, I'd let it happen.
Crimsondude 2.0
Indeed. I never said they [couldn't, just that it's not integral. They could get a DNI or datajack interface (which may or may not be the same thing), but they would also have to pay extra for it regardless.

QUOTE (Veracusse)
But if you are going to go this far, you might as well get an internal cyberware version of a cellphone and have it routed to a transducer for the same benefits.  The only problem with this however is that internal headware cyberware only have a flux of 0, which is IIRC is ~350m.  If you  have an external cellphone, even the earphone, you have a flux 2 which is about ~2km.  So you would need an area with descent coverage to use the cyber version.  Just some thoughts on cell phones and communication in the 6th world.

Well, you could always get an external antenna or something.

But that's one of the many reasons why I'd just install the interface cyber, and not the actual communications cyber.
GrinderTheTroll
QUOTE (Crimsondude 2.0)
Indeed. I never said they couldn't, just that it's not integral. They could get a DNI or datajack interface (which may or may not be the same thing), but they would also have to pay extra for it regardless.

No mention of it being or not being integral is my point. Although DNI is probably the right (and only) option.
Veracusse
QUOTE

Well, you could always get an external antenna or something.


But then you have an antenae comming out of your head, and that would look kind of silly. Unless of course your character was a martian. silly.gif

I think inconspicuos with and induction datajack in the temple right next to the ear would be cool. The cellphone would have a small antenae, about the size that normal cellphones have, a mic and it would just clip onto the side of your head near the temple. Now that would be cool.

I would even allow players to combine this with a radio/transciever so they could have the benefit of both while on the run.

Veracusse
Crimsondude 2.0
QUOTE (Veracusse)
QUOTE

Well, you could always get an external antenna or something.


But then you have an antenae comming out of your head, and that would look kind of silly.

Considering my opinion of the cyber versions of phones and radios, my only response is this:

The antenna should be sticking out of their asses.
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