Batband Earless Headphones
/batband-earless-headphones-19131.jpg "Batband Earless Headphones")
Batband is a headband that transmits sound through your skull bones. Think that sounds weird? And that the earless headphones look even weirder? Agreed, but...a few points:
- Bone conduction technology isn't new, not even to the world of personal listening devices. They've been using it for a while--at least since July 19, 2014 when I wrote about it--to support underwater MP3 players.
- Everyone was weirded out by Bluetooth headsets, and especially their talking-to-the-air wearers, when they first came out too. Now the devices are as commonplace as the smartphones they connect to. Some are even slick, fashionable accessories.
- Batband is a Studio Banana Things invention. Studio Banana Things also makes the Ostrich Pillow. "Weird" is kind of their thing.
In addition to getting their jollies out of designing a product that vibrates your bones with sound and looks like something we'd see on Star Trek, Studio Banana Things created Batband to enable people to listen to a "private soundscape" without blocking out the rest of the world. Seems counterintuitive, given that most people wear headphones to escape the rest of the world, but for cyclists, runners, even walking commuters who want to listen to music/audiobooks or take calls, keeping their ears free to hear horns, sirens, or people yelling that they dropped their granola bar could be pretty useful, and a good safety precaution.
To transmit sound, Batband incorporates three transducers, two that touch the temporal bones on the sides of your head, and one on the occipital bone at the back. Content you receive while wearing the device comes in clear but is virtually inaudible to others. The device itself is made of a spring steel outer frame for grip with an inner padded lining for comfort and sound insulation. Batband includes a microphone for taking calls and basic Play/Pause, Forward/Back controls on the side. It is USB-rechargeable.
The Batband earless headphones seek Kickstarter funding through October 27, 2015.
/soundcore-sleep-a20-62361.jpg?mode=crop "soundcore Sleep A20 - Bluetooth Sleep Earbuds")
soundcore Sleep A20 - Bluetooth Sleep Earbuds
Does your wife make you fall asleep with the TV off and no sound on whatsoever because the bedroom isn't a place for the TV, making you want to divorce her? Fret not, comrade in the silent nights, for there is a new gadget...
/stylophone-theremin-62304.jpg?mode=crop "Stylophone Theremin")
Stylophone Theremin
Get ready to wave your hands in the air like you just don't care = and actually make music while doing it! Dubreq, the maestro behind the Stylophone, has conjured up its own version of the theremin, and it's set to make...
/ladobi-erotic-film-earphones-14681.jpg "Ladobi Erotic Film Earphones")
Ladobi Erotic Film Earphones
If you're going to spend a fine Wednesday evening listening to people F softly, screw gently, hump sweetly, ball discreetly, and then F'ing bone completely, wouldn't you prefer that they not sound like Jack Black scraping...
/the-eviltron-31178.jpg?mode=crop "The Eviltron")
The Eviltron
Combining the ethos that nothing is scarier than one's own imagination with the ethos that creeping someone out to the cusp of a complete mental breakdown is great fun, we have...The Eviltron. That strange scratching...
/touchme-midi-controller-62318.jpg?mode=crop "TouchMe - MIDI Controller")
TouchMe - MIDI Controller
Hey music lovers and gadget geeks, get ready to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary with the Playtronica TouchMe. This nifty little device transforms touch into sound, making music creation a literal hands-on experience...
/earin-worlds-smallest-13066.jpg "Earin - World's Smallest Headphones")
Earin - World's Smallest Headphones
I wasn't aware there was a competition to create the World's Smallest Headphones, but apparently Earin has been proclaimed--or proclaimed itself--the winner. The Swedish company says their wireless earbuds are the absolute...
/eulers-disk-of-infinite-spin-56895.jpg?mode=crop "Euler's Disk of Infinite Spin & Sound")
Euler's Disk of Infinite Spin & Sound
I'm not saying the Euler's Disk isn't fascinating and rad and a commendable utilization of the laws of physics, but watching and listening to it creates a great deal of anxiety in my heart. It's like the foreboding music...
/helmfon-noise-cancelling-28018.jpg?mode=crop "Helmfon Noise-Cancelling Helmet")
Helmfon Noise-Cancelling Helmet
Looks like Helmfon Jr. is playing with Daddy's noise-cancelling helmet again. Don't worry, kiddo, you'll grow into Darth Helmfon's sound absorber and privacy sphere soon enough. And then all the power of the Audibly Dark...
Cat Ear Headphones
Know what a Berkeley education gets you? The ability to mastermind genius ideas like cat ear headphones. And also the impeccable taste to select an incredibly hot Asian girl to model them. UC Berkeley alumni Wenqing Yan...
/sonic-assault-electronic-21863.jpg "Sonic Assault Electronic Disruption Device")
Sonic Assault Electronic Disruption Device
File it under "Prank." "Leg Up." "TCB." Or "Revenge." Shomer-Tec's Sonic Assault Electronic Disruption Device looks like no more than a nondescript gray box--a useless one, perhaps. You can even flip its switch and nothing...
/octopus-headphone-wall-hanger-61562.jpg?mode=crop "Octopus Headphone Wall Hanger")
Octopus Headphone Wall Hanger
Guess how many pairs of headphones you can hang from the Octopus Headphone Wall Hanger. ... Wrong! Not eight, but nine. Nine over-ear headsets will fit on M3is3D's rockin' octo, because the pink 'pus is an audiophile...
DUBS Advanced Tech Earplugs
I always wear earplugs when I go out at night. Not only do they protect what little hearing I have left, but if someone ugly comes up and tries to talk to me they also give me an easy out: I just point at my ears, conjure...