07.26.07
Application Idea: Random Ringtones
If you’re like me, you like a little variety in your life. Sure ringtones are supposed to be the same so you can tell who’s calling, but I like the surprise to hear what new tune pops out (and I have a lot of great ringtones).
So this idea is random ringtones. And this time I even have a suggestion on how I’d implement it — named pipes. Remember those old programs that generate random signatures in UNIX? Well on the iPhone we should be able to do the same thing:
http://www.deez.info/sengelha/code/sigrandd/doc/
One more idea for random ringtones — groups. If you use all the ringtones I’m sure you’ll get a built-in one you don’t like. For instance, wouldn’t it be great if you could use a random ominous ringtone for anyone from work?
Have fun with this one — I’m looking forward to seeing it soon!
Updated: The users on #iphone-dev came up with an alternative way of implementing this which might be easier to implement (and safer than pipes) — just use a crontab to change the file every so often. Sure it doesn’t guarantee you get a new ringtone every call if the calls come in within the same minute but it certainly comes close!
