Ten years ago, Susan and I purchased a talking caller ID box. It’s one of the greatest inventions ever, and I’m not sure why they didn’t completely replace normal called ID boxes. When our phone rings, a pleasant female voice speaks the number aloud, area code first.
Whenever a long distance caller is announced, there’s a little game I play. If I’m sitting in my lounge chair near my laptop, I’ll click on Google whenever I hear the phone begin to ring. At the end of the first ring, the box begins to announce the number. “Four, zero, five …” During the second ring I’ll type the phrase “area code 405” (or whatever area code was just announced) into Google. During the phone’s third ring, Google spits back the results. Typically I don’t have to click on any of the links; the information should appear somewhere in the first hit or two. That gives me the fourth ring to determine whether or not I know anybody from that area code, and if I should pick up the phone.
Neo: Do you know how to fly one of these things?
Trinity: Not yet …