Portable music devices and cellular phones have becomes commonplace in our lives as sources of both entertainment and vital communication tools. They are however, both such similar devices in the way that they interface with their users, that they often are combined into convergence devices like iPhones, pocket pcs, and music playing cell phones. What is so common about them beyond having integrated circuits and batteries?

The two types of devices are truly similar in the way that they interface with their human via headphones and microphones. Do you listen to your iPod, and take out an ear bud when you want to answer your cell phone? Do you have an ugly bluetooth headset that picks up as much ambient noise as it does your voice? How many have fallen apart on you thanks to their toy like build quality?

Here is my proposed solution, lets take a page from military technology, a page from wireless technology, and a page from wearable computing technology, and make something new.

I want somebody to make me a high quality, bluetooth throat microphone / stereo headphone convergence device. The use of throat microphones go back to World War II era tank commanders and aircraft crews, because they allow them to communicate in loud environments without ambient noise interfering with the clarity. The microphones pick up noise directly from the throat, which means that only your voice is heard.

Here is John Mclean rocking a military grade one.

The advantage of a throat microphone goes far beyond ambient noise however, because it can secured via a comfortable textile strap on your neck, meaning that it will not fall off accidentally. Again, because this system is not rigid, but is instead flexible, you would be hard pressed to physically break the system as well.

I think we could take this concept to the next level, by providing the user with headphones as well as a microphone. A manufacturer could mount headphones on either side of the neck belt that pull out and retract back into the neck band when not in use. Include series a of flat batteries in the rest of the open space on the system, and bluetooth chip with hands free and stereo bluetooth compatibility, and bam!, you have a device that you can wear all day and use to listen to your music, and talk to other people on, without it breaking, falling off, picking up annoying ambient noise, or generally pissing the user off.

No more of this crappy plastic headset crap. I want a device made out of quality textile material, maybe kevlar or canvas, and a durable metal or composite material. I want to be able to talk to people, and listen to music, when I want, where I want, without having to switch between components or worry about things breaking.

Yay for plastic crap! You think you look cool wearing this? Maybe if you were a Lego man…

No, of course this is not for everyone. I have no problem wearing a sexy collar like device whenever I want to do my communicating or listening, but I know that many people might feel that they are unattractive or uncomfortable to wear if they are unaccustomed to “choker” like neck wear. However, I could see a large market for such devices.

First, there are people like me who are more worried about functionality and durability than style. Second, there are people like me who think it would actually be stylish in a cyberpunk sort of way. Or, there could be a large market for consumers who want this sort of functionality in adverse environments. These would be people like motorcyclists, owners of convertibles, speedboat owners, nightclub employees, people who drive loud cars (me!), joggers, athletes, skateboarders, bikers, anyone who wears a helmet, construction workers… the list goes on.

So here is my wish list for features.

1. Replaceable Designer neckbands to suit various aesthetic tastes
2. High quality materials
3. Dual pickup microphones
4. Velcro to put it on and take it off quickly and easily
5. Retractable stereo headphones
6. Competitive cost
7. Quality audio drivers

There are similar products out there for 2 way radios, but no no, I want it for stereo music, and a cellular phone. There are one or two cell phone models, but they are fully plastic, and look like they are going to snap in half by looking at them. Check it out, this one is sold by bikeintercom

Maybe I should just make myself one of these when I get back to the USA and have a workspace… hmm… there is an idea.

Feel free to steal my idea, just please give me a free model and credit!

- The Digital Kitty

Okay okay, I know you may be getting sick of me always talking about user experience and quality, well get used to it, because I believe that they are the most important ingredients in a tech product. While sometimes features can make up for a lack of build quality and design ingenuity, there is one field where no amount of features can make up for a shoddily built interface devices.

I have had a few non-standard peripherals in the past for game consoles. When I was younger, I actually played console games, and I loved racing games, so it only made sense to me to try to find a better solution to driving on a console. I was given a plastic racing wheel, which promptly blew chunks. It did not have enough rotation, flopped all over the place, and generally was unpleasant to use.

Later I had a pair of original Playstation dual sticks, which were pretty darned awesome and had some metal construction in them, but few games supported them. A shame, because they really were quite good.

I also had the original Time Crisis game, with the “guncon” light gun, fun, accurate, and good enough. It really could have used some more heft to it and would have been spectacular had it been given an internal pancake solenoid to give a bit more tactile feedback, but oh well, you cant have it all.

There were a few other driving wheels and joysticks, but one thing is common, they were all constructed out of plastic and felt like toys. This may have been acceptable back when video games were considered a children’s toys, but its time to up the game. I am not only talking about game peripherals, computer input devices really need an update too. Have you seen the new Apple keyboard with the brushed aluminum? That’s how its done boys and girls.

So lets talk quality. Check out the Logitech G25 racing wheel. Lets get out of the way the fact that it costs 300 bones. Yeah, that’s right, 300. Yes its a lot, yes its too much for anyone who doesn’t play racing games often, and yes most people don’t need a racing wheel, but stay with me on this. We are talking about quality. I think that monitors and input devices should be seen as investments that will outlive many generations of your other hardware. If you are looking to buy a wheel, this is one of the only ones worth buying, and here is why.

1. Metal
2. Leather
3. 900 degree rotation
4. Actual H pattern 6 gear shifting
5. Weighted controls
6. Strong force feedback

Oh wait… whats that? Do we hear quality? Do we hear TACTILE?! Your damned right we do, and that’s how we roll up in this bitch. Take notes builders.

Here is a video

Consumers will not tolerate cheap toy like construction in their automobile interior… so why should they tolerate it in the construction of their computers where they spend far more of their time?

-The Digital Kitty