Filed under: Hardware, Peripherals, Bluetooth, iPhone
Jawbone: Get ticketed, get a discount
Who says crime doesn't pay?Aliph, makers of the ultra-cool noise-reducing Jawbone Bluetooth headset, have come up with a great marketing scheme. If you live in California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, New York, or Washington -- all states with laws requiring hands-free use of mobile phones -- and receive a ticket for yapping with your iPhone plastered to your ear, Jawbone will deduct $20 off the purchase price of one of their headsets.
You can't get a discount on the Silver Tongue model, but the prices for the Goldy Lips and Blah Blah Black versions end up at $129.99 and $109.99 respectively. All you need to do is go to the Jawbone website, look for the Hands Free Ticket Processor, and enter your state and ticket number. $20 is taken off the original purchase price, and you're ready to go.
This is one case where I wish I did live in a nanny state that was forcing me to use a hands-free kit!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Tony Arnold said 9:14AM on 8-03-2008
"Nanny state"? Do you think it's safe to drive with a phone stuck to your ear, one of your hands out of action and your concentration elsewhere? By my thinking, this should be law everywhere.
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abooth202 said 9:19AM on 8-03-2008
Exactly what I was thinking. This has been the law in the UK for quite a few years now, with almost all drivers following the rule. For someone to be seen driving whilst on the phone is seen as plain dangerous and stupid over here.
The US are behind if you ask me.
Desides said 9:57AM on 8-03-2008
Regardless of the motivation or reasoning, any "protect you from yourself" law is a step towards the nanny state. The term is correct, regardless whether you think the law is justified or not.
john said 10:13AM on 8-03-2008
It's not protecting you from yourself, it's protecting me from you. It's no different than drunk driving laws. Anything that impedes your ability to drive a car endangers others around you.
ZeroCorpse said 10:29AM on 8-03-2008
Yeah. I don't give a damn about protecting you from yourself. If you want to drive around on a closed track at 70mph while gabbing on the phone, then more power to you. Kill yourself for all I care. It's your life to waste. Hell, if you ask really nicely, I'll even pull the plug for you when you're convalescing in hospital after you have your major accident.
If you want to do it on the same streets I'm on, then we've got a problem. Now you're threatening MY life, and the lives of other people who try not to be idiots when driving, riding bikes, or walking.
Don't be a jerk. There's NOTHING you have to say on your phone that's more important than my life, or the lives of other people. When you consider that 75% of the time people are just having pointless conversations (not business, not conveying useful information, just small talk) when they're driving and mobile-phoning, and that cheapens life even more.
I do NOT want to die or end up crippled because you just HAD to talk about "American Idol" or what Jenny said to Todd yesterday at work. If you can't wait 10 minutes before getting home to talk on the phone, you're a pathetic beast, indeed.
If it's important (financial, court, business, etc.) then use a hands-free, or DON'T START DRIVING until the conversation is done.
There's almost no phone call important enough to be worth a human life. If you DO routinely get calls that important, you should probably have a chauffeur.
Nick said 10:54AM on 8-03-2008
Desides: This isn't simply a "protect you from yourself" law. Having been rear-ended by a driver who was too busy talking on his phone to notice that I stopped for a stop sign ... well, if he had hit a tree I couldn't have cared less, but these laws protect others the same way (if not to the same extent) DUI laws protect others.
marcipano said 2:55PM on 8-03-2008
All European countries are forced to this law.
mentalsticks said 4:13PM on 8-03-2008
my nanny country tells me I can't drink and drive -- how ridiculous is that?
There is a reason for outlawing non-handsfree calling while driving, you know.
Steven Sande said 4:21PM on 8-03-2008
OK, for all of you who are giving me crap for having used the term "nanny state" in the post, first let it be known that I NEVER talk on the phone while driving unless I'm using a hands-free kit (I use my Garmin nuvi navigator). In fact, most of the time I don't even answer the phone when I'm driving, and I never dial while I'm driving.
My point is that we don't need laws to tell people to do this. What we DO need are people who take personal responsibility for their actions.
Sorry if you took offense to my personal opinion about over-regulation of our private lives, people.
TUAWSteve
kleinias said 4:25PM on 8-03-2008
I think that these types of laws are quite indicative of a nanny state. The reasoning always has something to do with either saving the "state" money (forced laws with seat belts and motorcycle helmets etc), saving others from you (bans on smoking etc) or somehow protecting children.
The scary thing is that people seem perfectly alright with this sort of thing and well, I guess I'm used to it as well, as I live in California where this sort of thing is rampant. Folks don't seem to make the distinction between something that we should or shouldn't do, and something that we should make illegal. How about those distracting car-radios, should we enact a ban on those unless they are also hands-free? Though after having just written that, I suppose that the same people that like being told what to do in all these other instances, would probably go along with that as well. The idea generally would be to wait until the person has done something wrong (caused an accident due to talking on the phone, putting on makeup, using the radio etc, and then to punish them accordingly. Freedom generally implies that you are allowed to make choices, those choices then allow you to either make the right or wrong choices.
mentalsticks said 7:55AM on 8-04-2008
@Steven:
WTF? So shouldn't there be any laws about drinking and driving either? Isn't that also a case of personal responsibility? Or, for that matter, emptying a machine gun in a crowded street?
Jeff said 11:55AM on 8-04-2008
i'd say that the term "Nanny State" applies to places that enforce things like Seatbelt laws.
the hands-free laws are all about protecting ME from your unable-to-multitask ass. nothing nanny state about it. seatbelt laws, on the other hand, protect "my from myself" which is really annoying.
deep said 9:21AM on 8-03-2008
Don't forget to also wish for a ticket and a $200 plus fine so you can get your measly $20 discount. Think about it.
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brettt said 9:29AM on 8-03-2008
so, you wish you had a $100 ticket to save $20 on a new headset?
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Brett said 9:30AM on 8-03-2008
so, you wish you had a $100 ticket for a $20 discount?
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Joe said 9:49AM on 8-03-2008
And how much a discount can I get for crashing?
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DistortedLoop said 9:56AM on 8-03-2008
@Tony Arnold and @abooth202 - agreed about the Nanny State remark. While we are moving to the Nanny State mentality in so many areas, this is one where I think we need the nannying. It's amazing to me that 9 out of 10 times I see someone driving like an idiot, they're yacking on the phone held up to their ear. This seems like a good law to have, though many of those people might drive like idiots phone or not. Despite the law, I still see a lot of people holding the phone up to their ear while driving here in Los Angeles. More on my blog at http://thedigitaldive.net/blog/?p=14
@deep and @brett - Here in California, the first offense for a hands free violation is only $20, the amounts you guys are talking about are for multiple offenders, if they ever even get that high. Are your locales that harsh for first offenders ($100/$200)? Even so, a $20 ticket is a ticket on your record, which may impact your insurance rates, right? And why bother with a $20 ticket to get a $20 discount on a headset, save the middle man and go straight to the source.
TUAW, this story is really old news. Several weeks old, where you guys been?
All that said, the Aliph Jawbone 2 is frickin' awesome. It's small, light, and the sound quality exceeds the original's, which was pretty darn good to begin with.
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ChrisM70 said 10:12AM on 8-04-2008
They'll throw in a free wall charger too if you seriously injure someone in a iphone-caused car wreck. Just send them a copy of the ambulance report...
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Ryan said 10:19AM on 8-03-2008
If you look at it - there is no possible way for Aliph to cross check a confidential police record - Just enter in the appropriate number of random digits for the state listed, and you will get the discount. No ticket required!
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Daniel Mueller said 10:22AM on 8-03-2008
I just played with the site, said I was from one of the states and entered a random number in as the ticket number, then it said "please wait while I verify" and then gave me the discount. After that I went back to the store, added the Silver jawbone to the cart, removed the black one, and the discount still applied.
So I guess the ticket discount is for everyone regardless of the fact that you may or may not have received a ticket.
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