More Good Article Tools

I continue to love article tools. We've evolved beyond simple "Email this Article" and "Printer Friendly Version" to article tools that change the way we read, share, and manage articles. I ran across this nice little Article Tool bar on the Chicago Tribune's site. It's not visible in my image, but the "Share" link actually includes Digg, Del.icio.us, Furl, MyYahoo, and other bookmark sharing tools (the little animation just stopped on Digg when I screen captured it). When you click on it the link expands to show all the bookmark sites. Very nice.

"Single Page View" hides the side columns while the "Print" view strips the page down to one of the more bare bones printer views I've seen. I'm a little disappointed with the "Reprints" link though. I expected to take me to a form for ordering reprints of that specific article, but instead it took me to a generic form and FAQ about reprints. Something to work on there I guess.

Defense Against Butt Dialing

This morning I "butt dialed" my parents' house 20 times on my walk into work. I imagine they were crazy with rage by the time I realized it. I got to thinking why don't mobile phones have a built in "Butt Dial Defense System?" (BDDS). Sure, I could have turned off the phone or locked the screen before I threw it in my pocket, but that requires some action on my part.

Why can't a phone be programmed to recognize when it's dialing a number accidentally. If the same number is dialed more than 3 times in the span of a minute and there is no direct voice input on the caller's end how about the screen locks with a message saying "Accidental Call Suspected" or something to that effect?

Also, I wonder how much cell phone companies make each year on butt dialed calls. Someone should do a study.