Headband acts as alternative to wearing ear buds Posted on March 5, 2014 by jeffbausch 1 Called the “VIBSO headphones”, this headband is actually meant to serve as an alternative to ear buds and headphones, even though they don’t actually go in the ear. Designed by Ecole Cantonale d’art de Lausanne student Renaud Defrancesco, the VIBSO is made of transparent acrylic glass and sends music vibrations across its surface to the user’s ears via a vibrating electromagnet. The magnet works, more or less, like a speaker, which has a connecting element that causes a membrane to vibrate and create sounds. In the case of VIBSO, the membrane is the glass, which transmits sound very well, and is also flexible and easy to form. The vibrations move down the membrane and over the surface that covers part of the ears. This allows the user to wear the headband without feeling the actual vibrations running across their noggin. The shape of the VIBSO directs the sound directly inward so that only the wearer hears the music. If need be, the headband can be covered for added comfort. Users can also share the music by letting someone put their ear up against the other side of the band. Personal space issues are up to the individuals. According to Defrancesco, the purpose of the VIBSO headphones is to allow the user to be “bathed in music without being isolated like with normal headphones, which can be dangerous because you don’t hear what’s around you.” Posted in Art/Design, fashion, music, tech news | Tagged Art/Design, audio equipment, Ear Buds, electronics, gadgets, music research, Renaud Defrancesco, science, technology design, VIBSO headphones | 1 Comment
Make jewelry out of sound waves Posted on January 13, 2014 by jeffbausch Reply Website makes it super easy to turn simple audio files into unique emblems As the manufacturers of the world’s best Bluetooth speaker, it goes without saying that, to us at least, all sounds are beautiful. Yes, from birds to chirping to Skrillex scratching, the audio of the world fills our hearts with joy. Now, thanks to bza.biz, all the rest of y’all can actually see the beauty of the sounds we so deeply appreciate. The site is in the business of converting audio files into wearable pieces of jewelry, and they do a damn fine job at it if I do say so myself. What’s more, they make the entire process super-duper easy. All you do is a pick a material and send in an audio file. Complete the financial terms of the order process and WHAM – you got yourself a necklace unlike anything anyone’s ever seen before. There are a ton of materials and sizes to choose from – shapes are made from the arrangement of differently diametered disks lined up next to one another. A bit more specifically, you can get plywood disks in either 1 or 1.5 mm thicknesses, 1.5 mm black plywood, 3 mm acrylic (in black, red, white, and “radiant/rainbow”), and 1 mm blue acrylic. String options are either rubber or leather. Oh, and if necklaces aren’t your thing, you can also request that the bza.biz folk kindly 3D print silver earrings or metal keychains for you too! Posted in Art/Design, fashion | Leave a comment
Woman has heart-shaped twinkle tattooed onto eyeball Posted on November 20, 2013 by jeffbausch Reply Those looking for new ways to express themselves are taking some pretty extreme measures Take a quick look through our eclectic mix of portable speakers and one thing you’ll be able to tell right away is that the folks here at Boombotix are all about self-expression. But this story out of NYC is a bit extreme, even for our liking. It goes like this: Lucy Luckayanko (real name? me thinks not, but hey, we’ll roll with it) has decided she wants to make a statement of self-expression, and she’s going to do this by having a permanent, platinum twinkle tattooed onto her eyeball. Continue reading → Posted in Art/Design, fashion | Tagged eclectic portable speakers, Emil Chynn, extreme tattoos, eye tattoos, Lucy Luckayanko, self-expression, wearable technology | Leave a comment
New wetsuits make surfers invisible to sharks Posted on July 22, 2013 by jeffbausch Reply Two versions available depending on what you’re doing in water There are two things we love here — our surfer audience and mother f’ing science. That’s what makes this story so awesome: A group of ridiculously smart dudes and dudettes, including scientist from the University of Western Australia, researchers at Shark Attack Mitigation Systems, and Ray Smith, the former Quicksilver designer, have created wetsuits that are specifically made to deter shark attacks. Continue reading → Posted in Action Sports, fashion | Tagged australia, new wetsuit, research, sams wetsuit, science, shark wetsuit, surfing | Leave a comment
Do-good headphone maker helping out deaf community Posted on July 19, 2013 by jeffbausch Reply Company sets up donation policy similar to Tom’s Shoes While we don’t necessary like to encourage our audience to check out the competition, the folks over at LSTN are doing too good of a deed to be overlooked. For those unfamiliar with the brand, LSTN sells headphones made of reclaimed wood. The company was started by Bridget Hilton following a trip she took through the Redwood Forest. A guitar / piano player, Hilton felt that wood could enhance the acoustics of a headphone set; aesthetically speaking, she figured the material might look a bit nicer than a majority of products on the market nowadays. By all accounts, this is a pretty straightforward small business story so far. Where it changes is when Hilton partnered up with social enterprise expert Joe Huff. Continue reading → Posted in fashion, tech news | Tagged Beats by Dre, Boombot Rex, charity worth donating to, electronics, funny headphones, LSTNR headphones, music charity, new headphones, tech news, technology | Leave a comment