UK mother voted top inventor
p2pnet.net News:- An English mother who came up with a device to keep her daughter out of trouble in chat rooms was voted top female inventor at Inpex, the world’s largest invention trade show in Pittsburgh, USA.
Paula Ward was worried about what might happen to her 11-year-old in online chat rooms, says an Online Telegraph story here.
So she set about learning the rudiments of telecom engineering and eventually recruited a local electronics firm to build a prototype of her device to block unwanted phone numbers.
The results was the Phone & Net Guard.
Ward tried approaching Commtel UK and, “unable to secure an appointment by phone, she turned up at the company’s offices in Corby, Northants, with the device and two of her children,” says a BBC story here, which also quotes her as saying:
“I got the impression they thought they were dealing with an idiot.”
Her £29.95 (about $55) device which as well as preventing calls, can also block broadband signals without affecting the normal phone line, is slated to go on the shelves in August.
Thus encouraged, Ward is now apparently working on other ideas.
June 1st, 2004 at 12:52 am
I don’t believe that she invented anything- it’s just a prolefeed ‘news’ story to promote the ‘advancement’ of women’s ‘liberation’.
June 1st, 2004 at 11:44 am
No its true she did invent the device…..how do I know..Im her brother….Cheers, Gary Ward
June 1st, 2004 at 4:35 pm
You tell him Gary (Gareth Dupre – PR contractor for Paula Ward.)
June 1st, 2004 at 5:42 pm
“…a prolefeed ‘news’ story to promote the ‘advancement’ of women’s ‘liberation’.”
Are you kidding? “Prolefeed”? ‘Interesting’ ‘use’ of ‘apostrophes’ as well…
On a more uh, practical note, what does this box actually block? Incoming calls? Outgoing calls? Broadband content? I don’t get it. Guess I won’t be inventor of the year anytime soon…
June 1st, 2004 at 7:36 pm
nice to see she’s just a ‘mother’ here, if you don’t know what i mean, go to some of the other reports.
June 2nd, 2004 at 1:57 pm
There is already an Internet lock available at http://www.modemlock.com. This locking device attaches between the computer and Internet connection. With a simple turn of the key, it locks out Internet access.
June 7th, 2004 at 11:37 am
The device sits over the incoming phone line (no, it cannot be easily removed) and enables the controller (parent) to block outgoing calls to specified numbers. This can be done in situ or remotely. It can also turn off always-on broadband – one of the reasons Paula has won international awards not only for invention, but also engineering.
June 7th, 2004 at 11:39 am
Excellent device I agree. However, Paula’s device can be accessed remotely by the parent, who can turn on and off access to the relevant numbers (be it an ISP tel no or any other) at will.
February 16th, 2005 at 10:01 pm
Dont get it !!!!!!!!!!!! . whatever this errrruummmmmthing does,can already be achieved by a lot of other products on the market .Dont completely know its capabilities ,so can someone please explain its true benefits . Good luck anyway .
April 22nd, 2005 at 7:11 pm
Its in the shops – “Internet & Phone Guard” go and see for yourself
November 9th, 2005 at 2:39 pm
Please can someone tell me where I can buy this phone & net guard. I went to homebase who used to stock it but no longer do, please help!
April 15th, 2007 at 1:07 am
HOW DOES IT WORK? Does it block chatrooms? or ISP addresses? I dont quite get the machine and how it operates… on telephones does it block unknown numbers?
whats a 10 year old doing on chatrooms anyway?
June 3rd, 2007 at 11:12 am
My phone number blocker device is a much better one than hers.