Tin Can, a 'landline' for kids • Hacker News Board

Re: Tin Can, a 'landline' for kids

#41

Post by apparent » Mon, Mar 23, 2026, 3:54 AM UTC

AnotherGoodName wrote: post #22

>some gen Xers don't say hello.. That's entirely pragmatic in this data collecting age. Being silent and hanging up as soon as you hear the spam won't get you marked as a phone line that has a human on the other end nor do you risk your voice being recorded. If you're silly enough to say your name when answering you'll just end up with text and email that is now personalised with your name (it's much faster to identi…

> You should be telling your kids "never say anything on picking up, let the caller to your phone identify themselves! They could be scammers trying to get your details such as your name".

How does saying "hello" give scammers your details such as your name?

Re: Tin Can, a 'landline' for kids

#42

Post by apparent » Mon, Mar 23, 2026, 3:54 AM UTC

Bender wrote: post #6

bitwize wrote: post #2

This is the ultimate "parents think it's great, kids will think it's lame" product. I mean, I like it. And just the name conjures images of GenXers yelling at clouds on TikTok about how they used to use tin cans or Solo cups connected with string to talk to their friends, so it's clear who they're targeting with the marketing. But if I were 11-13yo and I got this when all my friends got an iPhone? I'd be furious. But…

Even if they play with it for 5 minutes it's a fun little science lesson if the parents bother to explain what is happening.

Backordered until December, apparently.

Re: Tin Can, a 'landline' for kids

#43

Post by mememememememo » Mon, Mar 23, 2026, 3:55 AM UTC

ripplefringe wrote: post #28

A year ago, I got my 8 y/o a landline (we used Ooma). It has been absolutely wonderful. By far the best thing is that he makes his own playdates. I'm not the middleman anymore. He just makes plans and asks me if it's ok. And if his friend doesn't have a landline, I let him call their parent. It surprises them, but when he leaves a message, they love it. He's definitely had more time with friends because of it. Anothe…

Do we think a dumb phone Nokia and calls only SIM is just as good (to avoid all the drilling etc. of installing landlines in each kids room?)

Re: Tin Can, a 'landline' for kids

#44

Post by wlesieutre » Mon, Mar 23, 2026, 3:57 AM UTC

apparent wrote: post #38

> There's also a free plan where Tin Can users can call only other Tin Can users. So you have to pay a monthly subscription for this, in addition to $75 for each phone, if you want to talk with anyone outside of their walled garden?

A monthly fee for a phone service sounds pretty normal to me?

Re: Tin Can, a 'landline' for kids

#45

Post by unleaded » Mon, Mar 23, 2026, 3:57 AM UTC

apparent wrote: post #38

> There's also a free plan where Tin Can users can call only other Tin Can users. So you have to pay a monthly subscription for this, in addition to $75 for each phone, if you want to talk with anyone outside of their walled garden?

i mean you do for any phone line

Re: Tin Can, a 'landline' for kids

#46

Post by jabroni_salad » Mon, Mar 23, 2026, 3:58 AM UTC

mememememememo wrote: post #43

ripplefringe wrote: post #28

A year ago, I got my 8 y/o a landline (we used Ooma). It has been absolutely wonderful. By far the best thing is that he makes his own playdates. I'm not the middleman anymore. He just makes plans and asks me if it's ok. And if his friend doesn't have a landline, I let him call their parent. It surprises them, but when he leaves a message, they love it. He's definitely had more time with friends because of it. Anothe…

Do we think a dumb phone Nokia and calls only SIM is just as good (to avoid all the drilling etc. of installing landlines in each kids room?)

Ooma has a wifi box that you plug your handset into. It's not like a POTS where you need to put a jack in every room.

Re: Tin Can, a 'landline' for kids

#47

Post by galaxyLogic » Mon, Mar 23, 2026, 3:58 AM UTC

Wonderful idea. The kid can call their friend "Let's meet outside". Then they go outside and (must) leave the phone at home. They use the phone to organize no-phone time together. Might be good for adults too.

For instance my boss couldn't call me while I'm out and about. What you expect me to carry my landline with me?

Re: Tin Can, a 'landline' for kids

#48

Post by wlesieutre » Mon, Mar 23, 2026, 4:01 AM UTC

greesil wrote: post #16

I was thinking of doing something like this for text with LoRa. But, having kids I don't have time to do that. This seems really great! I read the previous discussion, oof: S04dKHzrKT wrote Make note of the privacy policy[1]. Some users may not like the data they collect. > Information Collected from Children: As detailed in Section 3.C, we collect voice audio during calls, call log information, and utilize the Paren…

I don’t know when that previous comment is from but the text it quotes is not in the linked privacy policy

Re: Tin Can, a 'landline' for kids

#49

Post by mroche » Mon, Mar 23, 2026, 4:01 AM UTC

SoftTalker wrote: post #8

> Alarmingly, some Gen Zers don't say "hello" when they answer a phone call; they expect the caller to just start talking. I'm an older Gen-X and I've stopped doing this unless I recognize the caller. I'm not going to give a scammer anything to build a voice print on. I also use the stock greeting for voicemail instead of a personal one.

Y-Zer myself and I do the same thing. I never initiate the communication when called unless I am expecting it or I know who the caller is. Otherwise, they'll know when someone picked up because their side will stop ringing, and they'll only get awkward silence until they start talking. Often times it's an automated voice system that will not begin until prompted by the callee, so it hits a timeout and hangs up.

The number of calls I get where it's either dead silence in the other end or clearly a call center based on the noise can only be categorized as "too much".

Re: Tin Can, a 'landline' for kids

#50

Post by Aperocky » Mon, Mar 23, 2026, 4:35 AM UTC

ripplefringe wrote: post #28

A year ago, I got my 8 y/o a landline (we used Ooma). It has been absolutely wonderful. By far the best thing is that he makes his own playdates. I'm not the middleman anymore. He just makes plans and asks me if it's ok. And if his friend doesn't have a landline, I let him call their parent. It surprises them, but when he leaves a message, they love it. He's definitely had more time with friends because of it. Anothe…

Make me really want to build one for my son when he gets to that age.

If I build it, I can control the full feature set and explain to him how it worked and he'll get the 'cool' factor too. With the raspberry pi I have lying around at home, it doesn't sound impossible!