When we think about unified communications we think about messages and devices. But why stop there? Why not carry on that unification to the signal?

That's what the curiously-named Per Vices – it's pronounced pir-veessiss – company is up to with its new Phi card, a transciever that captures all wireless signals from the air and demodulates and processes them, according to a post today by Broadcast Engineering's Michael Grotticelli  has a good  today about Per Vices.  Certainly one application that's screaming to be deployed is  true "any content, anywhere, any screen" – as opposed to "anything the carrier chooses to give you, on any device they let you have it on, and anywhere they let you get it."

On the other hand, I can see some shortcomings in this. For example, what happens when you have a house-ful of connected appliances? While it may be convenient to start the washing machine from your Kindle while you're sitting by the pool, what happens when you answer your mobile phone and inadvertently turn on the oven? 

Anyway, priced at $700, I don't expect Phi is ready for the mass market just yet. The company is offering it currently to developers, hoping to foster some industry-disrupting innovation. There's also an Phi overview video on YouTube.