  We propose a two-terminal method to measure shot noise in mesoscopic systems
based on an instability in the current-voltage characteristic of an on-chip
detector. The microscopic noise drives the instability, which leads to random
switching of the current between two values, the telegraph process. In the
Gaussian regime, the shot noise power driving the instability may be extracted
from the I-V curve, with the noise power as a fitting parameter. In the
threshold regime, the extreme value statistics of the mesoscopic conductor can
be extracted from the switching rates, which reorganize the complete
information about the current statistics in an indirect way, "telegraphing" the
size of a fluctuation. We propose the use of a quantum double dot as a
mesoscopic threshold detector.
