Nokia's anti-lightning phone

(Credit: Tech Shout)

This is one of those products that really makes us wonder if some companies have too many employees--a situation that inevitably leads to solutions in search of a problem. Nokia may be suffering this workforce malady if its latest brainchild is any indication: a mobile phone that warns of approaching lightning. Yes, you read that right.

We thought we'd dispensed with this misguided idea in an item a month ago that cited (and mocked appropriately) a "personal lightning detector." But nay, apparently one of the largest phone makers in the world thinks this is a valuable feature, for it reportedly has filed for a U.S. patent on its own lightning-be-gone software.

Tech Shout says it could be an "indispensible safety device" for such outdoor activities as golfing and jogging. Yet we must ask, as we did with the "StrikeAlert" detector before it, is it so difficult to stay indoors in a thunderstorm?