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Magnetic Induction Technology Headset Reviewed
Semi-Anonymous Coward writes "The first review of a wireless headset using Magnetic Induction technolgy has been posted at mobile technology website MobileBurn. The reviewer mentions that the technology provides almost 'crystal clear' phone conversations, which is better than most Bluetooth headsets he has used. The magnetic induction technology creates a 'bubble' around the user which increases the security of their communications. Is this the replacement for Bluetooth in Audio applications? It certainly looks like it..."
The magnetic induction technology creates a 'bubble' around the user which increases the security of their communications
Olde news, Maxwell Smart had this back in the 60's.
Trolling is a art,
Especially since the Earth's magnetic field is weakening and preparing to flip from N-S to S-N.
Save your money.
...or is anyone else a little apprehensive about pairing the phrases "magnetic induction" and "headset"?
666-607: 6th floor apartment of the beast
Unlikely
Magnetic induction has been used for years for two things - brain scans (which don't (I hope) cause cancer), and hearing aid loops.
Exercise your right not to vote. thinkoutside.org
... which I can see being great for the phone. Does it interfere with the WiFi network as well ? If A interferes with B, shouldn't you expect (B) to interfere with A...
"Excuse me Mr. Jones, could you move to the other side of the room please, you're corrupting the network"...
Simon.
Physicists get Hadrons!
while wearing your tinfoil hat?
Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
Now when i stand up from my computer I wont step on the chord, yank my neck, and break my headphones everytime.
Well, look at it this way. If prolonged heavy usage is dangerous, the only people that are going to be realistically affected are telemarketers and tech support drones. This may well be a blessing in disguise.
I thought the company name was "MobileBum". Damn sans-serif fonts.
The next Cmdr Taco duplicate will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
No phone uses magnets and induction?
I can think of a device in a phone that does.
The idea is that a coil of wire (known as an "inductor") creates a magnetic field due to an electric current that varies in strength (this is known as an "electromagnet"), which then attracts and repels it, along with a cone designed to move sound, from a permanent magnet. In other words, the movement of the electromagnet moves the cone, which moves the air to create sound. Clever isn't it? Modern, perhaps? The whole mechanism is currently known as a "speaker."
I'm sure that this is neat and modern, but the naming scheme leaves something to be desired. What does "magnetic induction" mean in this case?
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
I always wondered why this effect wasnt exploited more often for short range comm. So easy in the lab to take your poorly designed digital circuit and just put an oscilliscope near and and walla, theres the data on your circuit, no modulation or other assorted rubish.
---------
No matter how thin you slice it, its still baloney.
The manufacturer's web site seems to be claiming that this gives some privacy due to the use of near field magnetic induction. However, magnetic field antennas (i.e. AM broadcast band ferrite loop stick antennas) are used commonly to receive signals. It seems that all one need do is make a loop antenna sensitive to the 13.5 MHz frequency used and you could listen in with a shortwave receiver. Unless, of course, they encrypted the signal.
Lets face it, even if someone to come up with a cure of cancer, there will be some one to sue him for whatever reason.
for the last time people, I am "frodo from middle eaRTH", not "middle eaST".
The big question is security. Magnetic induction technology is in widespread use already - post-office counters, public address systems and ticket booths are often fitted with inductive loops for the benefit of hearing-aid users, who can pick up the sound from them directly by switching their aids to a special setting.
:-)
The article doesn't say, but one hopes that the manufacturers have built some reasonably sophisticated security into their system - if not, then eavesdropping devices for them are already in widespread use.
Apparently the range from the base is only 4-6 feet. So we're not talking portable phone quality or anything (although my POS phone only really does about 10 feet from the base without cutting out anyway).
deaf people have been known to wear their hearing aides every waking moment.
i would think if magnetic induction were inherently hazardous to your health, deaf people would have been dropping like flies from brain cancer by now.
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
I'm not sure I really want a magnetic field around my head. I recall an episode of "Scientific American Frontiers" (no energy to find link, Alan Alda, PBS, etc) with a physiologist investigating the brains ability to adapt and allocate bored portions of the brain for other tasks. They blinfolded a volunteer and showed how her optical cortex began processing tactile rather than visual inputs.
...Likes! brain!"
THEN, they used a magnetic field (applied via wand to the back of her head) to essentially erase/shut off/disable this new function. They were quite casual about it, and it was pretty obvious that the erasure was well established.
So, count me out!
[Kent Brockman] "...ahem....Little girl
Most phones are already fitted with an induction coil in the handset - these are there to work with hearing aids (I wear one myself). In older phones, and certain new-ish payphones these induction coils work extremely well - good clear sound, and they couple with the hearing aid well. But the vast majority of modern phones - including those labelled "hearing aid compatible" have induction coils that barely work at all. It's impossible to find a phone that works with a PABX system that has an adequate induction coil that works with a hearing aid. I looked far and wide and tried a few devices, but in the end I had to give up - there is literally no such thing as a phone or device that works with a PABX system that approaches the effectiveness of my home phone, in terms of being able to hear it. There is a third-party handset sold for this purpose (IIRC, the brand is "Walker"), but its induction coil is very weak too -- all they did was to to put a very cheap and nasty amplifier in the handset - and we all know exactly how much THAT benefits the sound quality. It would make my life a lot easier to be able to find a phone for the office that I can use. I wonder if this new gizmo could be adapted somehow...
...did you even click the link, or did you just look sternly at it and decide to make an angry post?
Mobile Burn is a site that reviews cell phones and accessories.
Auracomm is the company that makes the product in question.
An idiot is a person of profound mental retardation having a mental age below three years unable to learn connected speech, such as the nice , pretty complete sentences used in the news item above.
Go away now.
Yes. I need more crap. I need a selection of 50,000 different headsets because damnit, a telephone is just *too* heavy to pick up with my hand. I need to buy some overpriced plastic crap because I'm just that lazy. Really. Sell me some more shit, /. I'm also looking for a device that'll hold my dick while I pee, because I really can't be bothered with that much effort.
magnetic induction is not the best thing to have around such things as creditcards, computer chips, and compasses ..
So ... how safe is it for the above devices??
tkjtkj
"There are 11 kinds of people: those who know binary, those who don't, and those who could not care less!"
This is a lot more interesting than you might think. H (near) field communication is really unexplored in the commercial world. It is rather limited in range (meter or two) and for the most part it is rather ignored in EMC testing (Electro-Magnetic Compatability [read FCC testing]). If you want to see a cool example of H field interference dig up two 10 year old 20" monitors and put them side by side and watch the wicked interferance. Even if you wrap the monitors in a grounded wire mesh you will still see interferance because the problem is a magnetic H field not an E field (RF) signal. To kill the interferance you need to use a Mu Metal shield (or one heck of a lot of iron). Of course, one application's interferance is another signal. If you are really carefull about building your H field and not generate much E field it would be rather secure from evesdropping outside of 4 or 5 meters.
when the world ends before the conclusion of xmas shopping season.
It would suck to be tossed into the void without having made or spent a grip of cash in the throws of exuberant merchandising.