Cell phone airbags?

Yup, you read that right. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has just been awarded a patent for a smartphone airbag. Love the fact that the issue of frail cellphones is being addressed and kudos to Mr. Bezos for coming up with any idea that might eventually pan out. Here’s the guts of the patent per the article: “It starts with a safety monitoring system that would use a gyroscope, camera, infrared beam, radar or other sensors to detect such things as motion, orientation and distance from other objects — then determine in a split second if the device is at risk of damage from impact.” Apparently the device could deploy either airbags or springs with an added propulsion system that would guide the phone to a soft landing. Pretty sci-fi if you ask me but hey, the patent office says it’s ok.  I just hope they don’t come with an idiot light.