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The internal microphones on modern smartphones aren't ideal for this situation. They are positioned in a way that makes filtering background difficult, and any attempt at raising the volume would likely have horribly detrimental effects due to the environment too.

Not all bluetooth headsets are created equal but there are many that have excellent background noise filtering. I don't have experience with very many but through my work I use a Platronics Voyager 5200 https://www.plantronics.com/us... and that is already leaps and bounds in audible quality improvement over normal phone users. Some headsets have audio normalisation in them as well.

This kind of solution will be a tradeoff, the best results would be with a headset that has an unwieldy long boom that actually reaches the person's mouth.

Plantronics P590

yes I knows of a few.

1. GN Netcom 9120with a handset lifter

2. Plantronics 510S with a HL10 lifter

3.Plantronics CS60 with a HL10 Lifter

Sometimes in this age of high technology the best tool is a rock

yes I knows of a few.

1. GN Netcom 9120with a handset lifter

2. Plantronics 510S with a HL10 lifter

3.Plantronics CS60 with a HL10 Lifter

Sometimes in this age of high technology the best tool is a rock

Unless you need Bluetooth specifically (as in, you want to use it with a mobile phone in addition to the base station) then I'd tend to recommend forgetting about Bluetooth and using a traditional encrypted digital wireless headset. They generally have longer range, better battery life, and aren't susceptible to Bluetooth's security issues (as mentioned in the early comments to this story). They also usually have handset lifters, as you mentioned.

For example, the Plantronics CS-50

Don't buy it directly from Plantronics, though. It's far less expensive to get it from a separate store, like Buy.com or somewhere.
(Strangely enough, at the moment at buy.com, buying the CS50 + the handset lifter separately is $10 less than the two bundled together.)

I haven't used the PSTN version or handset lifter, but I've had a CS50 USB, the USB-connection version of this same model, for about a year now and been very happy with it for VOIP.

Plantronics certainly isn't the only manufacturer for headsets like this, though, so you may want to Google around for a bit and see what looks good.

Seriously! They are uncomfortable, 'noise'y and it blows having to recharge batteries. If using with Wintel, the drivers suck: I hated having *all* the sound channel through the ear piece! That means that games would channel all its sound into my right ear with the person I'm talking to. meh!

It looks flimsy, but it isn't. It's lightweight, comfortable, and has volume / mute control in the cord. I love the idea of wireless, but sometimes you just can't let go of wires.

Many countries already have offences such as Driving without Due Care and Attention. This is fairly non-specific and can be used against any driver who endangers others by performing a non-driving activity (such as having their groin scalded by superheated coffee) whilst nominally in control of a moving vehicle.

The same problem is had by those who fiddle with their GPS while driving, or even the entertainment system. Must we introduce specific legislation for each device?

It should be noted that I do agree with the clampdown which is already in place in much of Europe. Handsfree units are convenient and quite comfortable to wear now, especially the lightweight BT varieties such as the Plantronics 640 which even my wife wears without problems.

If you don't like the cost of BT, there are still wired headsets which often ship for free now or are a very low cost extra.

And did they record it using a Plantronics microphone?

Plantronics is only marketing this as Mac compatible, but it has a USB adapter. Has anyone used this with Windows? It looks a lot like their $80 DSP-400. Plantronics' "Find my headset" page doesn't list the .Audio 85 for either OS but it was released in June.
http://www.plantronics.com/north_america/en_US/pre ss/releases/index.jhtml?id=pr_20050606_1910_en_US

,dave

Everyone on here seems to be thinking inside the box. Let's leap outside, and see what we can do. Bluetooth headsets for audio are available now (monaural, at least). I wear glasses anyway, so I'd like a Bluetooth video monitor with eye tracking. With fast eye tracking, a small monitor resolution can provide a large visual space.

Then, add a Bluetooth inertial sensor on a finger or several to replace keyboard and mouse, especially if the sensor system provides tactile feedback.

Now the processing system can remain "comfortably" and safely in a pocket, bag, or briefcase, or even strapped on the arm like the "Predator". Shape and other parameters can be freed from the handheld form factor constraints. (It might even include a flexible heatpipe to an external radiator, for hi-pro versions, though that does seem excessive for most users.)

Gratuitous geekjokes:
"Is that a banana in your pocket, or are you just surfing Slashdot?"
"Geeks are like bikers - they both have hot metal between their legs."

[Old SF story, from the 40's or 50's concerned how the very first portable wire-recorder, called Poo-Bah (Gilbert and Sullivan) start out as the first audio note-taker and gradually expanded in capability and power, providing expert advice and eventually getting wired right into the user's brain - and then, via radio links, sharing data and becoming the "Evil Computer Network That Takes Over The World - BWAHAHAHAHA!!" Interesting, this story included all the major concepts of modern mobile tech, some 50 years ago - before magnetic tape. Talk about prior art!!]

The processor and other components could even scream bloody murder if anything is separated too far from its partner components. The screamer's a good idea, which I should patent - every bluetooth component should include the ability to complain audibly, e.g. a piezoelectric tweeter, to help prevent misplacement or theft. Of course headwear will also have to not be too loud when it's attached to the head... This could also be triggered by a bluetooth signal, so when you do misplace it, you can have it squeal [and/or light up, why not?] so you can find it. If someone else patents this, consider this as prior art. Actual implementation, via vibrator, piezo transducer, trad. speaker, etc. is straightforward. Does Bluetooth include a standard command for this, like "alarm" or "findme"?

I don't know how these work in Linux but Skype's partner, Plantronics, make USB headsets.

If you're a geek willing to put some time into learning VOIP and Asterisk, the options are endless.

How about this? Her work would give her a "desk" with an analog phone. You put an old Linux PC at the "desk" with a Digium FX0 card. You then have another PC at her home with with a VOIP phone jack or a headset with SIP software (like this Windows or this Linux) or run Asterisk on her home Linux box and run IAX between the two.

Reliability would depend on the reliability of the IP connection between home/work. Because of Internet delay (and possibly delay from your VPN encryption), there may be a noticable delay on the connections, so it may feel more like a cell phone conversation than a land line.

If you don't have time to tinker and really care about reliability, just get a $30 nationwide unlimited plan from your local phone company or long distance provider (BellSouth/MCI/AT&T), expense it to work, and be done with it.

MS speach recognition is awful. Try Naturally Speaking Not great but from what I've seen and read it's the best out there.

Do nott forget to use a high quality headset (NOT a standalone microphone) such as one from Plantronics* or Logitech and try to get it posistioned the same way every time.

A short history on Naturally Speaking.
It was originally created by DragonSoft. Infact there was an article on the company and the Husband and Wife who started in in MIT's Technology Review back in the good ol days (around 1998) when you'd count off the weeks until the 1 issue per quarter would arrive.

They were then bought out by Lernout and Hauspie who had their own speach recognition software. Dragon Naturally Speaking was then integrated into L&H's product. If I recall correctly the integrated product didn't work very well.

L&H was then bought out by ScanSoft where Dragon Naturally Speaking lives today.

I'm not sure why I bothered to write all this (and I've probably got some of it wrong) this early in the morning. Oh well

-TMF

I've found you can get the plantronics headsets _much_ cheaper online. For example the Audio .90 which sells at circuit city for $30 can be had for $15

Here's my favorite. This style uses an "ear clip" to essentially dangle an earbud-sized earpiece in front of the ear opening. The wire runs behind the ear (as with the sony headphones mentioned above), and there's something about how the earpiece only rests on the ear that keeps any heat issues down. I like this headset enough that I got an adaptor at Radio Shack to use this headset on my computer.

Here's my favorite. This style uses an "ear clip" to essentially dangle an earbud-sized earpiece in front of the ear opening. The wire runs behind the ear (as with the sony headphones mentioned above), and there's something about how the earpiece only rests on the ear that keeps any heat issues down. I like this headset enough that I got an adaptor at Radio Shack to use this headset on my computer.

I use the Plantronics M1000 ($119 MSRP), and it does just fine. I can even have coherent conversations in a machine shop, with 85 dB in the background. The cost - $51.86 plus shipping. The headsets reviewed here are far too expensive for my taste.

I agree with you on the camera phones thing, but my ideal phone does a little more than yours:

-I want Bluetooth because I hate keying in new numbers. Now I can just punch 'em into my Mac and sync the two. Plus I wanted a wireless headset so I don't have to fumble for the phone when I get a call while driving. The ability of the phone to act as a wireless modem is very nice and has already come in handy once or twice since I got my T68i.
-I wanted e-mail capability so my home automation setup can notify me of anything happening to my house that I should know about. And with the world going the way it is, I like having CNN breaking news alerts hitting my phone as well.

I think the companies would do better to stick with the 'snap-on accessories' concept for cameras and other hardware features that you can't just render useless (and not have to pay for) by your choice of a cheaper calling plan. The T68i will meet my needs for the foreseeable future, but I don't want my next phone to have a bunch of stupid built-in hardware features I don't want but still have to pay for.

That's why I use a Plantronics headset. Good build and good sound at a good price. There others are nice as well. I have one for my cellphone. And yes I'm a satisfied customer.

Like this?
http://www.plantronics.com/products/mx10.html
or this
http://www.dynametric.com/telephone_recording_adap ters.htm

It's Plantronics.
You can get them for desk phones as well as cordless/mobile. I can vouch for the desk models being excellent (bought one from Ebay myself); next move is to get hold of either a cordless I can connect one to, or a second-hand cordless I can hack ;-)

I would recommend finding one with a real slider for each audio channel. The radio shack one has four line level inputs, each with a slider. Some mixers might have like 6 inputs but they share them between 2 sliders. This won't work all that well for what you want.

Most of these have a headphone level output jack, so you can use headphones instead of speakers, or both. I've been thinking about getting one of the plantronics dual-use headsets which let me use the same headset for phone and computer use.

One word of warning - most computer speakers will require a headphone-level output to work. They won't work on the standard line-level output on the back of these mixers. Actually that's not 100% accurate - they will work but might not be able to get all that loud - which might be exactly what you want.