Posted by
Hemos
on from the transformers-more-than-meets-the-eye dept.
James writes "At CeBIT, Olympia has been showing off its Soundbug - a gadget that can turn almost any flat surface into a soundboard. It's only gonna cost £29.99 (around $45, i guess), but it sounds like there's some seriously cool science behind it."
Only moderately cool
by
SanLouBlues
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
I have a similar device. It's a guitar. Just touch the headstock to anything and play. Or cut the big magnet in a speaker out of the cone, and tape it to a table. The real test will be the fidelity of the sound. Although the thought of stereo from two connectors on a single surface sounds acceptably super-cool.
For more information
by
Wind_Walker
·
· Score: 3, Informative
You should see this Slashdot article from nearly a year ago. It describes Korean scientists doing this exact same thing, but as a "proof-of-concept" type of thing.
Apparently, some things that Slashbots debunk as vaporware are made practical:-)
Conference Calls?
by
dthable
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
So the article talks about using the technology to improve the conference phone that so many businesses have placed. But if everyone is seated and taking notes, won't their contact with the table stop the vibrations? Same with the desk. If I have a lot of crap on it, does the soundbug quality reduce because the desk can't vibrate?
Your wife moves the furniture? You lucky bastard! My wife makes me move ours.
--
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Remember the vogons...
by
Natanleod
·
· Score: 3, Funny
Next thing we know is that Vogons will announce us, turning every table into a a speaker, that our planet is to be destroyed to make way for an hyperspace bypass...
Soundbug is made by Newlands Scientific, a company based in Hull (UK), and comes in a variety of colours, some of which (pink and purple) are pretty disgusting, some of which (grey and blue) aren't...
Their website has plenty more glossy pictures, and a bit more info about "smart materials", which are used to make the wall/glass/whatever vibrate. They seem to be similar to piezo-electric materials, though better (at least, that's what the company would have you believe).
Look up Tesla oscillators. Tesla did some stuff in Manhattan that oscillated at Earth's natural resonant frequency that made the earth shake for blocks. Same basic principle - vibrate stuff.
RIAA
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 5, Funny
I wonder if now the RIAA will insist that all tables be sold with software to prevent people from using them to play copyrighted materials.
Mod parent up! [a] by Anonymous Coward (Score:5) Thurs, June 31, @13:37
Practical joke ability
by
Erich
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
This has great potential in the realm of practical jokes.
Imagine sucking this to the underside of someone's desk way back in the knee well. Then attach it to a radio and a timer device that will randomly turn on the radio for a few seconds every few hours.
Imagine attaching this to the door of the person who was making loud, annoying noises with a POTAS whilst you were trying to sleep, and waking them up when you have to go to your 8:00 class!
The possibilities for this device are truely limitless.
--
-- Erich
Slashdot reader since 1997
Seen it, loved it, want one!
by
deepstephen
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
The Soundbug is very very cool indeed. My flatmate is doing some work for Newlands Scientific (the people who developed this stuff) and I've seen the Soundbug in action. I want one!
Even better, IMHO, is the 'conference call' product they alluded to in the article. I think they're referring to the Soundbubble, which will create a 'bubble' within which you can *only* hear the sound source you want (e.g. the phone call). If you're outside the bubble, you won't be able to hear the phone conversation.
It's absolutely amazing, and the possibilities are endless. Imagine being able to walk into a crowded, noisy bar and be able to have a whispered conversation with the person standing next to you. Neither of you would be able to hear the rest of the bar, and the rest of the bar would be unable to hear you.
It really is like something out of a sci-fi novel. Those of you who have read any Iain M Banks novels will know this works much the same way as his sound fields.
--
-- Karma: Chameleon (you come and go)
Official Site
by
theCURE
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Check out this link for the official site of the product. Includes pictures.
>>The Soundbug transmits the sound to the flat >>surface by way of a small piece of Terfenol, >>which is a mixture of rare earth metals and >>iron. This substance is placed within an >>aluminium case, around which is wrapped a coil.
If they make a ton of these, what's that going to mean for our supply of Terfenol? I'm not an environmentalist or anything, but I'm sure people won't be happy.
Here is a cool article and picture on Terfenol. Looks like its main purpose is for damping and energy absorption. Kind of looks like gold!
Better version already available
by
IainHere
·
· Score: 5, Informative
DERA the British "defence" research agency developed a much better version years ago (technologically, if not financially), where the panel itself was made to vibrate using electronic impulses. More info here.
Interestingly, they were looking for ways to reduce background noise (using anti-noise) when they stumbled across it.
They've been available commercially for years.
Official Soundbug site
by
deepstephen
·
· Score: 4, Informative
The official Soundbug site is here. You can enter yourself into a prize draw to win one...
--
-- Karma: Chameleon (you come and go)
Re:Fun for all the family
by
marcop
·
· Score: 3, Funny
Or strap it to a desk as its intended purpose, turn up the bass, then convince your SO to have sex on the desk. In the middle of the action turn the unit on and enjoy how your SO exclaims, "you really make the world shake!"
Invisible Stereo
by
mframe
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
The first thing I thought of when I saw this were some units from a company called Invisible Stereo.
Same deal, just put them behind your drywall, and your entire wall turns into a speaker. Different thicknesses, different frequency responses.
I never heard them in person, but they always intruiged me. Anybody ever use/hear these?
Couple comments about this technology. First, devices that did this are fairly old. I remember about 20 or 30 years ago a wall system was announced (I forget by whom) that would turn your entire wall into a speaker. I also remember that school buses had a similar system for announcing for awhile - where a transducer turned the roof of the bus into a speaker system.
But that aside... this reminds me also of something I saw the Musician Laurie Anderson do... I visited her traveling museum (stocked full of VERY COOL things she had invented). One of her inventions was a large wood dinner table. At the point where each person sat was two small indentations in the table - exactly where you would rest your elbows with your hands on your face (as so many of us do while eating).
The cool thing was she had transducers in the holes... you could hear absolutly nothing until you put your elbows in the holes and leaned your head on your hands... then instantly you heard MUSIC in your ears! This was accomplished by bone induction (e.g., the music traveling through your elbow and into your arm bone and out your hand into your head). The quality was astonishing!
The other neat thing was it was fully stereo (unless you were a one-armed-man) and each person at the table got a totally different soundtrack.
Re:floors?
by
madfgurtbn
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
See www.invisiblestereo.com They sell a large version of something similar where you attach the coil to the back side of drywall, or under your floor, turning your wall or floor into a speaker. It sounds pretty good, and its fun to have people try to find the speakers in your house. I know a guy who has 40 of them all over his home.
-- Send lawyers, guns, and money. Dad, get me out of this.
Sounds like the cone of silence
by
dar
·
· Score: 3, Funny
Oh wait. You're probably all too young to remember that.
dar
-- My other Slashdot ID is much lower.
Re:Sounds like the cone of silence
by
BCoates
·
· Score: 5, Funny
The drone of violence? I can't hear you, Chief, you'll have to speak up...
Even better, IMHO, is the 'conference call' product they alluded to in the article. I think they're referring to the Soundbubble, which will create a 'bubble' within which you can *only* hear the sound source you want (e.g. the phone call). If you're outside the bubble, you won't be able to hear the phone conversation.
I hope they do not intend on getting a patent for "the cone of silence" as pioneered on the American TV show "Get Smart!"
Reverse the technology
by
Tazzy531
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
I'm sure the CIA has thought of this, but if you can transmit sound through stuff like desks, why can't you also build a device that will listen to the vibrations and record sound from the room. It would be the ultimate listening device (aka bug).
--
_______________________________
"I'm not Conceited...I'm just a realist..."
Re:Reverse the technology
by
fishebulb
·
· Score: 3, Funny
actually the CIA wouldnt have thought of this. They would have had the NSA think about it for them. THIS kind of thing is the NSA's purpose. and running all of the US spy sattelites
Re:Flat panel speakers
by
Zathrus
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
No, flat panel speakers aren't really similar to this. Flat panel speakers vibrate a thin film layer to create the sound. One of the advantages of this is that you don't create a point source like you do with tweeters, instead you create an eliptical wave. You have to be rather careful about interference though, since the sound eminates from both the front and the back of the panel. This does help with things like off-axis response, and doesn't hurt imaging if done right.
If you find the speakers in question "thin" sounding, then it's because they're not very good, or your setup isn't very good. Good flat panels do have a different tone than a box speaker, but they are generally accepted as being just as good as long as you have a top notch subwoofer to cover the bass.
Re-enacting Hitchhiker's Guide
by
devphil
·
· Score: 3, Funny
Or the scene at the beginning of HHGTTG, where the Vogon ships turn every radio and flat surface into a remote-controlled speaker.:-)
-- You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
Other uses, perhaps unintended...
by
gilroy
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
I know of three important technological dualisms:
All electric motors are also electric generators, and all electric generators are electric motors;
All transmitters are receivers, and all receivers are transmitters;
All microphones are loudspeakers, and all loudspeakers are microphones
So, it's probably just my usual paranoid suspicions, but how easily could one of these things -- or, more likely, a more advanced, optimised version -- be turned into a bug that "listens" to the vibrations put on a large flat surface by, say, casual conversation?
Re:floors?
by
bleckywelcky
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
I read several pieces on this technology, but I'm not exactly sure about the logisitics of these types of devices. Sure, we all know that we vibrate surfaces in order to produce sounds waves. But, these vibrations seem to be pretty disastrous to things that don't want to vibrate (i.e. Your House). So, if you hooked one of these things up behind your drywall it would seem as if any amount of use would cause the wall to shake, drywall screws to become loose, plaster over the drywall to crack, base molding to come loose, and paint to chip/crack. How do they aim to create a vibration without causing all sorts of damage? Well, if we moved it to a hardwood floor (or even better, the composite material wood floors that aren't even nailed into the floor, rather they float as an entire surface together), we could end up with better results. The wood is most likely much better able to handle the vibrations and transfer them well too. But, what happens if you walk across the floor? It would seem that the power of this type of equipment wouldn't be large enough that it could vibrate an additional 150 - 200 lb person. So, as you would walk across floors, you would be creating deadspots all over the place and interfering with the workings of the 'speakers'.
Has anyone seen any articles with an in-depth analysis of how this equipment might work. Despite the poster's comment that "it sounds like there's some seriously cool science behind it." the article was very slim on any technical details.
Cool right up until.....
by
CDWert
·
· Score: 3, Informative
I have found something out over the years, the least likey scenario an engineer can imagine , I and others will do routinley.
There is a pressure of 400lbs aexerted by this gadget, it creates frequncy vibrations in a material that make sound, simple enough.
BUT my desk is partile composite with those idiot lags. No vibrsating the hell out of this 300 piece of junk for a long term is going, very simply to make it fall apart.
I have seen it before, vibration causing the particle composite to litteraly crumble when subjected to long term vibration. Glue seperates, and screws losen.
Be real neat righ up until your desk collapses:)
-- Sig went tro...aahemmm.....fishing........
Lower Your Standards.
by
switcha
·
· Score: 3, Funny
Wow, that's a high brow prank. I was thinking more along the lines of putting one under someone's desk and then just transitting desk-rattling farts every so often.
-- You know what?... A little club soda *did* get that out!
bone induction methods must run in the family
by
brer_rabbit
·
· Score: 3, Funny
Another Anderson, Pamela Anderson, is also noted for their work relating to bone induction...
Slashdot Mirror
I have a similar device. It's a guitar. Just touch the headstock to anything and play. Or cut the big magnet in a speaker out of the cone, and tape it to a table. The real test will be the fidelity of the sound. Although the thought of stereo from two connectors on a single surface sounds acceptably super-cool.
Apparently, some things that Slashbots debunk as vaporware are made practical :-)
So the article talks about using the technology to improve the conference phone that so many businesses have placed. But if everyone is seated and taking notes, won't their contact with the table stop the vibrations? Same with the desk. If I have a lot of crap on it, does the soundbug quality reduce because the desk can't vibrate?
The sound quality achieved by Soundbug is impressive, especially when the device is attached to a thick piece of a dense material.
Hey, now I can say something good about my roommate!
All they need is a wireless version, and my wife can move the furniture all she wants.
"I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
Next thing we know is that Vogons will announce us, turning every table into a a speaker, that our planet is to be destroyed to make way for an hyperspace bypass...
Their website has plenty more glossy pictures, and a bit more info about "smart materials", which are used to make the wall/glass/whatever vibrate. They seem to be similar to piezo-electric materials, though better (at least, that's what the company would have you believe).
I wonder if now the RIAA will insist that all tables be sold with software to prevent people from using them to play copyrighted materials.
dan.
how flat it your chest?
Must be a geek chick....
Imagine sucking this to the underside of someone's desk way back in the knee well. Then attach it to a radio and a timer device that will randomly turn on the radio for a few seconds every few hours.
Imagine attaching this to the door of the person who was making loud, annoying noises with a POTAS whilst you were trying to sleep, and waking them up when you have to go to your 8:00 class!
The possibilities for this device are truely limitless.
-- Erich
Slashdot reader since 1997
The Soundbug is very very cool indeed. My flatmate is doing some work for Newlands Scientific (the people who developed this stuff) and I've seen the Soundbug in action. I want one!
Even better, IMHO, is the 'conference call' product they alluded to in the article. I think they're referring to the Soundbubble, which will create a 'bubble' within which you can *only* hear the sound source you want (e.g. the phone call). If you're outside the bubble, you won't be able to hear the phone conversation.
It's absolutely amazing, and the possibilities are endless. Imagine being able to walk into a crowded, noisy bar and be able to have a whispered conversation with the person standing next to you. Neither of you would be able to hear the rest of the bar, and the rest of the bar would be unable to hear you.
It really is like something out of a sci-fi novel. Those of you who have read any Iain M Banks novels will know this works much the same way as his sound fields.
--
Karma: Chameleon (you come and go)
Check out this link for the official site of the product. Includes pictures.
"i can never say no to anyone but you"
>>The Soundbug transmits the sound to the flat
>>surface by way of a small piece of Terfenol,
>>which is a mixture of rare earth metals and
>>iron. This substance is placed within an
>>aluminium case, around which is wrapped a coil.
If they make a ton of these, what's that going to mean for our supply of Terfenol? I'm not an environmentalist or anything, but I'm sure people won't be happy.
Here is a cool article and picture on Terfenol. Looks like its main purpose is for damping and energy absorption. Kind of looks like gold!
DERA the British "defence" research agency developed a much better version years ago (technologically, if not financially), where the panel itself was made to vibrate using electronic impulses. More info here.
Interestingly, they were looking for ways to reduce background noise (using anti-noise) when they stumbled across it. They've been available commercially for years.
The official Soundbug site is here. You can enter yourself into a prize draw to win one...
--
Karma: Chameleon (you come and go)
Or strap it to a desk as its intended purpose, turn up the bass, then convince your SO to have sex on the desk. In the middle of the action turn the unit on and enjoy how your SO exclaims, "you really make the world shake!"
The first thing I thought of when I saw this were some units from a company called Invisible Stereo.
Same deal, just put them behind your drywall, and your entire wall turns into a speaker. Different thicknesses, different frequency responses.
I never heard them in person, but they always intruiged me. Anybody ever use/hear these?
But that aside... this reminds me also of something I saw the Musician Laurie Anderson do... I visited her traveling museum (stocked full of VERY COOL things she had invented). One of her inventions was a large wood dinner table. At the point where each person sat was two small indentations in the table - exactly where you would rest your elbows with your hands on your face (as so many of us do while eating).
The cool thing was she had transducers in the holes... you could hear absolutly nothing until you put your elbows in the holes and leaned your head on your hands... then instantly you heard MUSIC in your ears! This was accomplished by bone induction (e.g., the music traveling through your elbow and into your arm bone and out your hand into your head). The quality was astonishing!
The other neat thing was it was fully stereo (unless you were a one-armed-man) and each person at the table got a totally different soundtrack.
See www.invisiblestereo.com They sell a large version of something similar where you attach the coil to the back side of drywall, or under your floor, turning your wall or floor into a speaker. It sounds pretty good, and its fun to have people try to find the speakers in your house. I know a guy who has 40 of them all over his home.
Send lawyers, guns, and money. Dad, get me out of this.
dar
My other Slashdot ID is much lower.
Even better, IMHO, is the 'conference call' product they alluded to in the article. I think they're referring to the Soundbubble, which will create a 'bubble' within which you can *only* hear the sound source you want (e.g. the phone call). If you're outside the bubble, you won't be able to hear the phone conversation.
I hope they do not intend on getting a patent for "the cone of silence" as pioneered on the American TV show "Get Smart!"
What's next? Attaching these things to GSM shoes?
Eve Fairbanks says I drive a hybrid!LOL
I'm sure the CIA has thought of this, but if you can transmit sound through stuff like desks, why can't you also build a device that will listen to the vibrations and record sound from the room. It would be the ultimate listening device (aka bug).
_______________________________
"I'm not Conceited...I'm just a realist..."
No, flat panel speakers aren't really similar to this. Flat panel speakers vibrate a thin film layer to create the sound. One of the advantages of this is that you don't create a point source like you do with tweeters, instead you create an eliptical wave. You have to be rather careful about interference though, since the sound eminates from both the front and the back of the panel. This does help with things like off-axis response, and doesn't hurt imaging if done right.
If you find the speakers in question "thin" sounding, then it's because they're not very good, or your setup isn't very good. Good flat panels do have a different tone than a box speaker, but they are generally accepted as being just as good as long as you have a top notch subwoofer to cover the bass.
Or the scene at the beginning of HHGTTG, where the Vogon ships turn every radio and flat surface into a remote-controlled speaker.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
So, it's probably just my usual paranoid suspicions, but how easily could one of these things -- or, more likely, a more advanced, optimised version -- be turned into a bug that "listens" to the vibrations put on a large flat surface by, say, casual conversation?
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
I read several pieces on this technology, but I'm not exactly sure about the logisitics of these types of devices. Sure, we all know that we vibrate surfaces in order to produce sounds waves. But, these vibrations seem to be pretty disastrous to things that don't want to vibrate (i.e. Your House). So, if you hooked one of these things up behind your drywall it would seem as if any amount of use would cause the wall to shake, drywall screws to become loose, plaster over the drywall to crack, base molding to come loose, and paint to chip/crack. How do they aim to create a vibration without causing all sorts of damage? Well, if we moved it to a hardwood floor (or even better, the composite material wood floors that aren't even nailed into the floor, rather they float as an entire surface together), we could end up with better results. The wood is most likely much better able to handle the vibrations and transfer them well too. But, what happens if you walk across the floor? It would seem that the power of this type of equipment wouldn't be large enough that it could vibrate an additional 150 - 200 lb person. So, as you would walk across floors, you would be creating deadspots all over the place and interfering with the workings of the 'speakers'.
Has anyone seen any articles with an in-depth analysis of how this equipment might work. Despite the poster's comment that "it sounds like there's some seriously cool science behind it." the article was very slim on any technical details.
I have found something out over the years, the least likey scenario an engineer can imagine , I and others will do routinley.
:)
There is a pressure of 400lbs aexerted by this gadget, it creates frequncy vibrations in a material that make sound, simple enough.
BUT my desk is partile composite with those idiot lags. No vibrsating the hell out of this 300 piece of junk for a long term is going, very simply to make it fall apart.
I have seen it before, vibration causing the particle composite to litteraly crumble when subjected to long term vibration. Glue seperates, and screws losen.
Be real neat righ up until your desk collapses
Sig went tro...aahemmm.....fishing........
Wow, that's a high brow prank. I was thinking more along the lines of putting one under someone's desk and then just transitting desk-rattling farts every so often.
You know what?
Another Anderson, Pamela Anderson, is also noted for their work relating to bone induction...