Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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swiss army phone

electronic... not just tooth pick and knife
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This swiss army phone would have an cordless electric shaver, garage door opener, PDA, flashlight, and stun gun to ward off attackers.
gbrandt, Nov 08 2003

Gun/phone http://www.theregis..._like_mobile_phone/
The future is approaching - here's a gun which looks like a mobile phone [hippo, Mar 30 2016]

Stun gun iPhone case http://www.engadget...th-you-and-your-ph/
There was a gun disguised as a phone several years ago too, which is what I was looking for but couldn't find. I think it might have actually worked as a phone too. [notexactly, Mar 30 2016]

[link]






       This sounds like a great idea, I sure would buy one!
JoeLounsbury, Nov 08 2003
  

       Good luck taking it on an airplane.
krelnik, Nov 08 2003
  

       Throw out the shaver (ugh, moving parts) and this is doable. And I'd buy one. Have a tasty pastry.   

       With the convergence of phone/PDA/media player devices, we're almost there. And how many times have I used the screen backlight on my phone as a torch when nothing else was available? Add a programmable IR remote for your home entertainment system, which should encompass opening some garage doors.   

       How about a single button that charges the stun gun, sounds a loud alarm and dials 911 (000 for Australians)? And fires off the camera every five seconds, if fitted, mailing the snaps to some predefined address?
BunsenHoneydew, Nov 09 2003
  

       Why not have it also play the trumpet?   

       (Thanks for the line, SmartyPants. I believe it perfectly illustrates what's wrong with GM ideas, but it also works well to show the shortcomings of combo ideas like these. Not really interesting or inventive.)
waugsqueke, Nov 09 2003
  

       Because, [waugs] I think the idea of the OP is to combine functions that one normally uses in a day, with the bonus safety feature that one would rarely use, but would like to have on hand just in case. Thus saving carting around a half-baker's dozen of individually useful gadgets.   

       The convergence of phones and PDAs being the most obvious example of this trend. Adding a high-brightness LED and an IR remote would cost pennies.   

       The stun gun thing would cost more, but you're already carting around a battery, so you'd just need to add a capacitor, charge/discharge circuit and terminals. Whether a mobile phone battery is up to this kind of abuse is another issue. And it might be nice if you had enough juice left over to call an ambulance.   

       The additions I suggested are the kind of things I personally would like to have happen automatically if I were ever in a situation that required the use of a stun gun. IE the police are called, a loud alarm is sounded, and photographs of the scene are taken. That's your all-in-one mugging deterrent right there.   

       Shaver aside, there's nothing inherently ludicrous (ie trumpet like) about the OP. If you have some kind of problem with halfbaked ideas, what are you doing on the halfbakery?   

       And who is SmartyPants and what has he been GMing?
BunsenHoneydew, Nov 09 2003
  

       // If you have some kind of problem with halfbaked ideas, what are you doing on the halfbakery? //   

       Funny, I always get shit like this. I don't get it. There seems to be some train of thought out there that bakery participants should just shut up and play along. Only be nice, no negative comments. Sorry, that ain't me. If I like an idea, I'll say so. If I think it's dumb, I say that too.   

       I don't have a problem with halfbaked ideas. I don't really consider "take A, B, C, D and E and combine them into one object" to be exactly thrilling and genius, that's all. Any moron can pick a handful of things and combine 'em. 'Convergence' may indeed be a trend, as you say, but that doesn't make it very interesting or innovative.   

       And as near as I can tell, one of the functions of the annotation system is it permits me to make that observation. Why do people give me shit for that? I'm sure there are others who agree with me, and many who don't. Big fucking deal.   

       Interestingly, these sorts of occasions often coincide with a run of dickheads fishboning all my ideas, which I notice happened earlier today. That's nice and mature - so much effort and time wasted. Hope you felt better afterwards. It certainly helps invalidate the entire voting process, which was already getting pretty pointless anyway.   

       The SmartyPants reference comes from the Flying Trees idea, which proposed to make trees do all sorts of funky things by genetically modifying them, and where SmartyPants said the line, "Why not have it also play the trumpet?" It summed things up perfectly, I thought.
waugsqueke, Nov 09 2003
  

       Well, this actually sounds like a pretty good idea, although it has to be pretty portable, I used to have an IPAQ which had lashings of things on it, like TV remote control software, but I got rid of it because is was huge and weighed a Ton. So a phone/pda thing, as long as its not the same size as the IPAQ sounds pretty cool, an important addition would be the corkscrew attachment (Motor driven of course) and something else really cool that I can't quite think of.
Micky Dread, Nov 09 2003
  

       I have to agree with [waugsqueke]. In general, taking two or more currently existing devices and combining them does not ordinarily strike me as an overwhelmingly fantastic idea. It's only useful when:
1) You're carrying around, or using, one of the objects all the time anyway, and
2) While carrying/using the object, a problem often comes up that would be solved by the addition of a second object.
  

       I mean, combining a phone and a shaver, while space saving, doesn't exactly solve any problems. I don't often walk around and suddenly find that I am in despirate need of an immediate shave. When I want to shave, I head to the bathroom. This usually occurs about every 2-3 days.   

       On the other hand, combining a phone and a flashlight is actually a useful idea. I always have my phone on me, and there have been many occasions where a flashlight would have been useful for me to have. I could also see the use in adding a defensive weapon, such as a stun gun, to a cell phone.   

       But combining as many objects as you can into one object is simply not a clever idea. I don't need a pencil/laser pointer/cheese grater/Vandegraaff generator, nor would I tolerate one suggested on the 1/2b. There has to be a method to your madness, other than WIBNI [wouldn't-it-be-nice-if].
Overpanic, Nov 10 2003
  

       Whats all this "Stun gun" stuff everyone seems to be so passionate about, are you guys paranoid or something?
Micky Dread, Nov 10 2003
  

       Well, I haven't read Flying Trees, nor have I fishboned anything lately.
BunsenHoneydew, Nov 13 2003
  

       Add a nuclear power cell to jump start your car and power the rest of the stuff and I will take one.
DeusExMachina, Nov 13 2003
  
      
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