John Mitty Wednesday, April 3, 2013 |
A Long Island man who invented a phone system which cuts off automated marketing calls before the phone even starts to ring has won an award of $25,000 from the federal government. Aaron Foss’ invention is named “Nomorobo,” and it can not only stop marketing calls from ringing, but also automated calls from political interest groups and others. Foss references the recent slew of automated NRA calls which were sent out to Newtown residents last month as an example. “As those NRA calls came in, it would have immediately blocked them.”
Foss developed his system in response to a competition sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission to block pre-recorded calls from ringing. Since the FTC receives over 200,000 complaints from consumers about calls like these each month, it is in their interest to invest money in a consumer product which would stop not only the calls, but also the complaints. $50,000 in prize money was offered to the winner; Foss ended up slitting the award with another inventor. This is not Foss’ first invention; he is also known as the developer of the WingDipper, which is a specialized container for both chicken wings and dip.
jmitty@longislandyellowpages.com Appears In: Business News
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