The Tongue Twisting Tooth Microphone

dylanduck writes "New Scientist has found a patent for a microphone that clips on your tooth, meaning you can stay in radio contact even the noisiest situations - like warzones. You use your tongue to flip it on and off. Here is the patent itself. The same article mentions a blimp that launches like a rocket."

Comments

Useful

[Anonymous Coward]

Very handy.. err... toothy..

Re:Useful

[Anonymous Coward]

daeglta, tangasdfo, fosxgtarot. . .

What?

Iba wehrmem a mbrcmphome im mm outh!!

Re:Useful

[jigyasubalak]

A person will have to be a pretty good cunning-linguist
to operate that thing with one's tongue!

Re:Useful

[cerberusss]

A person will have to be a pretty good cunning-linguist to operate that thing with one's tongue!

Don't tell us you've got enough experience to beta-test this thing!!

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

[vena]

interesting. in outtakes for the movie, the band's publicist had this for her cell phone. she would push the tooth with her tongue to answer the call.

Re:Hedwig and the Angry Inch

[heavy snowfall]

That would be a first nowadays: a patent with a working prototype.

--
Use your bluetooth phone as a modem for Linux

Re:Hedwig and the Angry Inch

[The Clockwork Troll]

Per the parent, I presently possess a patent pending pertaining to patents with prior prototypes.

Re:Hedwig and the Angry Inch

[Alex P Keaton in da]

A microphone that turns on with your tongue? I know of women who can get turned on with a tongue....

Re:Hedwig and the Angry Inch

[Anonymous Coward]

you mean you've read about them on the internet.

Re:Hedwig and the Angry Inch

[Jbcarpen]

If so, then WHAT are you doing on slashdot?!?!?!?!?!?

Re:Hedwig and the Angry Inch

[Fleetie]

Nice one! I was just gonna point that out! How funny is that when Phyllis Stein gets her tooth-phone stuck on and she can't turn the damn thing off?!

Re:Hedwig and the Angry Inch

[Kiffer]

you mean you've read about them on the internet. ... no he clearly means what he says, or says what he means which ever makes more sense ... you see he said he knows of women, not he knows women ...

did he learn of them on the net? did some one point one out to him in the street? did he see one in a dirty mag?
all in all it doesn't matter. the important thing is that ... um ... why amn't I working now?

What all of /. is thinking:

[JoeLinux]

That is exactly what the Imperial Stormtroopers used to activate their microphone in Star Wars.

(For those of you who had no life in High School, we learned these things. Then wondered why we had no girlfriends.)

Re:What all of /. is thinking:

[Anonymous Coward]

And then we modded it interesting...

Re:What all of /. is thinking:

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, stormtrooper comms were just in the helmets; though the devices were controlled with the tongue, they don't have anything inside the mouth.

Re:What all of /. is thinking:

[mwilli]

And you are still wondering why you have no girlfriend.

Re:What all of /. is thinking:

[interiot]

Actually, my first thought was what would various foreplay and sexual activities sound like through one of these? But maybe that means I don't belong on Slashdot.

Re:What all of /. is thinking:

[ki4iib]

It would sound a lot like someone making out with their cell phone.

Re:What all of /. is thinking:

[The Evil Couch]

Various Shadowrun novels and John Steakly's Armor, too.

If I remember right, the 2nd edition of the Shadowrun sourcebook had a short story at the beginning where someone used a switch on a tooth to activate a phone or a radio, as well as wired reflexes.

Re:What all of /. is thinking:

[pjp6259]

I believe in star ship troopers the communication was controlled via the tongue also. I can't remember if Heinlein mentioned where the mic was, but I'm pretty sure that soldiers used their tongue to switch between channels.

Re:What all of /. is thinking:

[trurl7]

Heinlein has them biting down a certain number of times on a given side of the mouth.

Lead Inventor's name

[backslashdot]

Anjanappa, Muniswamappa

A person may have a mic in his mouth, but that's not going to help anyone trying to say this guy's name.

Re:Lead Inventor's name

[earwiggie]

Ha Ha, I've always wondered about how bad non-indians are at pronouncing Indian names when compared to the other way round, you guys just don't get it... do you!! (btw, I'm indian)

Re:Lead Inventor's name

[schtum]

I thought you were replying to the Star Wars thread above and read that in a Jabba the Hutt voice: "ANJA-nappa, MUNI-swamappa, CHEW-bacca. Ho, ho, ho."

Re:Lead Inventor's name

[KylePflug]

Haha, that's what I did too.

Re:Lead Inventor's name

[the_wesman]

So I work for a large tech company that has a lot of Indian people on staff (lots of Russians too) and it always cracks me when people (usually stupid Americans) bitch about the Indian people's names being hard to pronounce. So, to you Mr. or Mrs. or Ms. backslashdot, here's a little clue: every language but English is phonetic. No other language has stupid rules where Y is 'sometimes' a vowel - where C is sometimes K - where "tongue" is pronounced "tung"

Don't be afraid of a name that is longer than "Bill Smith." Just because it has *gasp* more than 3 syllables, doesn't mean it's completely out of your league. You're probably just too stupid to try rather than too stupid to actually pronounce it.

So, here's this guy's name as you quoted it:
  Anjanappa, Muniswamappa

Here it is phonetically:
An-Ja-nap-pa, Mu-ni-swa-map-pa

Yes, a bit of familiarity with the languages in question will help you with the emphasis, but, in general, if you just say it one syllable at a time 2 or 3 times, the emphasis will present itself for you.

Good luck you goddamn chucklehead

Re:Lead Inventor's name

[Brightest Light]

you know, i don't know many indian folks, and i had no idea that's how you pronounced indian names. thanks for the info, you've probably saved me from a pretty embarassing situation in the future!

PS: unclench, it'll make you seem more friendly

Re:Lead Inventor's name

[dickrichardv8]

Tahn toe ? Kemo Soby ? Hi Oh Silver!

Re:Lead Inventor's name

[alphafoo]

I remember this fellow from 15 years ago at my alma mater http://www.umbc.edu/. Here's his bio http://www.umbc.edu/engineering/me/appa.htm.

Re:Lead Inventor's name

[evilviper]

Don't be afraid of a name that is longer than "Bill Smith." Just because it has *gasp* more than 3 syllables, doesn't mean it's completely out of your league. You're probably just too stupid to try rather than too stupid to actually pronounce it.

You can't *just* pronounce names in a language you don't understand.

One of the very important things about knowing a language is knowing the syllable border. Let's use the word 'understand' as a simple example. If you don't know the language, you would be hard-pressed to realize that it is made-up of just two syllables. If you try to pronounce it as 1, 3, 7, etc. sounds, it will be completely unintelligable.

Do you unde rsta nd my point here?

I can hear a foreign name, and phonetically spell it out, and usually get very close. Going from a long string of letters on paper to the appropriate sounds is much more difficult.

And since I'm on the subject anyhow, I've always thought it extremely strange that proper country names are (sort-of) translated between languages, while names are not. And they aren't even translated to a useful degree... They aren't translated so that the name's meaning comes across (with the notable exceptions of the USA and CCCP). You can call your country "The Land of Milk and Honey", but every other language is just going to end up calling it "Uzbekistan" or whatever other moderately-pronouncable but completely meaninless set of syllables somebody comes up with.

If you translate the proper names of places, why not completely translate the names of individuals as well? If you're not going to translate people's names, why not pronounce country names as they are supposed to be, as well?

Re:Lead Inventor's name

[pyrrhonist]

Ha Ha, I've always wondered about how bad non-indians are at pronouncing Indian names

That's easy! It's because...

• It isn't apparent from the English spelling whether the vowels are short or long (e.g. Arush).
• It isn't apparent from the English spelling that there is supposed to be a tongue flap (e.g. Arush), because English doesn't have them.
• There are some sounds in many Indian dialects that native English speakers cannot pronounce, and will never be able to pronounce no matter how much training and practice the speaker receives (e.g. there is a sound in Hindi, which to a native English speaker sounds like it's between a hard "t" and a thorn, but which is not really pronounced that way).

when compared to the other way round,

Actually, most Indian people don't pronounce my name correctly either, because of the aforementioned "t" sound.

you guys just don't get it... do you!!

No we don't, actually. Even if we did, it's completely impossible for us to pronounce some names, simply because we can't make some of the sounds.

Re:Lead Inventor's name

[elgatozorbas]

every language but English is phonetic. No other language has stupid rules where Y is 'sometimes' a vowel - where C is sometimes K - where "tongue" is pronounced "tung"

This is completely not true. In Dutch for instance, 'c' can mean either 's' or 'k'. And I know in French an Spanish letters also have a different pronunciation, depending on what other letters they are surrounded by. Admittedly, English has a lot of oddities, but it is far from the only language to do so.

Also: what you call 'phonetic' is no phonetic, just the original word split into syllables. In a language completely unknown to you, I don't think this will get you anywhere near the correct pronunciation.

Re:Lead Inventor's name

[adorai]

Your gap in logic here is astounding. "Anjanappa" is not necessarily phoenetically spelled, it's just that you are looking at an ENGLISH PHOENIC TRANSCRIPTION of a language with a totally different alphabet. The transcription was created to be pronounced just as it's spelled, so observing that "Hey! It's pronounced just like it's spelled" isn't that profound. That being said, some languages, like Italian, do maintain close-to-phoenetic spelling in their native alphabet. But comparing English to phoenetic transcriptions of foreign languages is just crazy.

Re:Lead Inventor's name

[mdarksbane]

Biggest problem with this is that all of these names have been butchered into English when you read them. Indian ones maybe aren't so bad, but Chinese? I have a friend named Hsieh - pronounced "Shay." How the heck did they decide on that spelling when they translated it? Or some of the Russian names whose Anglicization obeys entirely different rules from every native English word.

If we're going to translate something into English, it really should be just phonetic, but unfortunately it often isn't.

Re:Lead Inventor's name

[Lord Dimwit Flathead]

Same thing with Vietnamese names. How the hell would anybody know how to pronounce Ngoc, Nguyen or Ng just from looking at the English translation?

Re:Lead Inventor's name

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

Here it is phonetically: An-Ja-nap-pa, Mu-ni-swa-map-pa

You're right, very simple. Just one question: Would that be "Ahn Jah Nahp pah" or "An jay nape ah"? "Moo-nee-swah-mahp-pah" or "Mew-nih-swah-map-puh"?

Re:Lead Inventor's name

[bradbeattie]

My last name is Beattie (pronounced BEE-tee) and it isn't uncommon according to the phone book. Yet every time Oracle phone-spams me, the guy on the other end of the phone (sounds Indian) pronounces it bee-AH-tee. Simple name, but he misprounounces it.

It's not the number of syllables; It's how familiar you are with the language and culture's names.

ps. Self-righteous arrogance is just bad style.

Re:Lead Inventor's name

[lowrydr310]

If only it were so easy! Let me give you a little example. A common word in Tagalog (one of the main languages in the Philippines next to English) is "ng" which translates to the english word "of".

So, by your advice one would just pronounce it as it appears - which many non-Tagalogs would think "ing" which is not even close. It's a very difficult word to pronounce for non-native Tagalog speakers. The closet thing is the sound "na" but that's not even correct.

Re:Lead Inventor's name

[lowrydr310]

The city of Bombay in India recently changed to Mumbai, but the reason for the change isn't what you would think. The country is still India though I wonder what's India is called in it's native language or if it's even called the same thing in every dialect.

Another recent name change that stands out is the island of Chuuk, formerly called Truk.

Yes, the website for the Federated States of Micronesia really is "http://www.fm/" - I've never seen anything formatted like that.

Re:Lead Inventor's name

[Anonymous Coward]

I worked with a guy named Long Dong and dreaded having to work with him face to face. Call me immature, but I felt like Beavis & Butthead when they were in sex ed class and weren't allowed to laugh.

Re:Lead Inventor's name

[Thomas Miconi]

here's a little clue: every language but English is phonetic.

Especially Chinese. :D

Thomas-

Re:Lead Inventor's name

[gstoddart]

There are some sounds in many Indian dialects that native English speakers cannot pronounce, and will never be able to pronounce no matter how much training and practice the speaker receives (e.g. there is a sound in Hindi, which to a native English speaker sounds like it's between a hard "t" and a thorn, but which is not really pronounced that way).

There are sounds in many languages which English speakers stand little chance of making. I knew someone who spoke passing Arabic, but obviously as a non-native speaker (well, to people who spoke Arabic, not to me). Arabic has some sounds that English people never learned to make, and probably never learn correctly. The language of the Kalahari bushmen, for example, doesn't sound like something I could ever pull off.

Many asian languages (Vietnamese, Chinese, probably more) have four different tones -- a word like "Ha" could have four different intonations (ascending, descending, and two more I never grokked). To me, even with a slow example, I just don't have the ear to differentiate between the sounds -- each intonation is a full on different word, but to my unpracticed English ears, it's the same sounds

Probably the classic example is the r's and l's of languages like Japanese -- they're different to those speakers, and it may not be easy for speakers of those languages to always clearly say those words. Simply because they don't have a direct analog to that sound.

Let's face it, language is complex and has been show to have a very large impact on our brains and the way we hear/learn other languages.

Having been lucky enough to have friends over the years from several different cultures, I've actually found I can identify common patterns in grammar construct that show up in non-native speakers -- and I can correct for them without needing to be consciously aware of it. Shockingly, if people took the time to meet people of other cultures more, they wouldn't be as lost when they meet a new accent.

And, as a friend is fond of saying "Let's see how well you speak Vietnamese!".

Having had to explain the nuances of some of these things to bemused friends, English is mostly phonetic and straightforward if you have the benefit of having seen most of the exceptions and just knowing them. But one also gets to see the really arcane "just because" things we have in English.

Deal with it people, it's a big world full of a lot of people. They don't all sound like you. However, I'll take a few moments of trying to work out what someone said in exchange for all of the yummy foods which come from these places. =)

Re:Lead Inventor's name

[Anonymous Coward]

Blame a french priest for that one. He made up a phonetic alphabet to anglicize the language.

English speakers also make things harder than they should be. How many people relaize Peking and Beijing are pronounced the same way. Stupid standard changes.

Re:Lead Inventor's name

[martian265]

As a linguist (meaning someone that speaks or studies multiple languages. I speak 4 very different languages, read another 3 and I have studied at various times over a dozen others), I couldn't help but laugh at your comments. Your comments are not only intentionally insulting, but incredibly misinformed. They obviously come from quite a bit of inexperience and a lot of anger towards native-english speakers.

"it always cracks me when people (usually stupid Americans) bitch about the Indian people's names being hard to pronounce"

Most of the time that people "bitch" about anyone's name being hard to pronounce comes from 2 reasons: first, the sounds are foreign and don't mesh into the languages that the person speaks, being mad at someone for this is asinine; second, the owner of the name says their name too fast for the other person to catch it all. When you introduce yourself, try saying your name intentionally slower than you think you need to, all of the sudden you will stop hearing people making small jokes about your name or creating nicknames for you. My last name is a very uncommon Irish surname and if I say it quickly, everyone mishears it as the name of a country (and yes, this includes every single Indian that I introduce myself to, and btw, I know a lot of Indian people).

"every language but English is phonetic"

This is not only untrue, but the reality is just the opposite. Most languages are not written phonetically and the very few that are usually transliterated from another alphabet or a written language did not exist previously. This is of course the case here with the name in question, it is Hindi transliterated to English, so of course it's spelled phonetically, however as many people pointed out you still have to know where to syllables are. Also, as somebody else pointed out, English is pretty phonetical with some exceptions.

"No other language has stupid rules where Y is 'sometimes' a vowel - where C is sometimes K - where "tongue" is pronounced "tung""

Wrong again. Almost every language has stupid rules like this. If you were to objectively look back at Hindi, I believe that there are a few stupid rules also (a good friend of mine mentioned a few to me once, but they escape me at the moment. As I never quite got to a conversational level in Hindustani, a dialect of Hindi spoken in Fiji by about a third of the people there, I wouldn't be able to point things like that out myself). This point again shows that you have a very limited understanding of other languages and linguistics itself.

"You're probably just too stupid to try rather than too stupid to actually pronounce it."

First and foremost, speaking multiple languages has absolutely nothing to do with intelligence. Many of the smartest people in the world only speak one language (and no, I'm not including only English speakers in this statement). And there are many people that are barely smart enough to exist above a handicapped state that speak more than 1 language. Also, not attempting to pronounce a word/name has nothing to do with intelligence. It can have something to do with fear or as is the case most often, embarrasment or simply not wanting to insult someone by mispronouncing their name. Just as an aside, pointing out someone else's lack of intelligence usually is an attempt to hide one's own lack of intelligence, this is a well understood and documented physicological effect.

"but, in general, if you just say it one syllable at a time 2 or 3 times, the emphasis will present itself for you."

Actually, this is not the case here. Since the syllables that you broke down don't fit into English or most of the so called indo-european languages. The only way that a European/American would come up with this pronounciation is if they had some experience with other Indian names. BTW, it's incredibly stupid to take offense that someone from another country cannot pronounce your name the same way that you can (notice how I didn't call you stupid, I implied that the action itself

Re:Lead Inventor's name

[Anonymous Coward]

uhhhhhg... It took me quite a while to learn how to pronounce Nguyen and Ng. I work with a guy named Thone. Its pronounced like "tawn" or "ton"(rhymes with don)tho most people call him Thawn

Muppet blimp.

[Anonymous Coward]

"The same article mentions a blimp that launches like a rocket.""

Blimps in spaaaacccee!

One of these days...

[Anonymous Coward]

I should patent a stupid idea that sounds innovative.

Re:One of these days...

[commodoresloat]

Someone already beat you to it.

Re:One of these days...

[Anonymous Coward]

I remember seeing the patent for the `laser for cat entertainment` a long while back and thought it was utterly ridiculous that something like that could get through.
I still feel that way. The Patent office and whatever processes they use to establish a Patent are nothing but a big joke; A big joke indeed.
It's hard to have respect for a a Gov entity that lets crap like that get through.
Just can't take the whole thing seriously anymore. /That's just my opinion, anyway.

Re:One of these days...

[commodoresloat]

Some patents are much more useful, however. ;)

Re:One of these days...

[DrLex]

So, last time when I made cats run around by shining a laser pointer on the floor, I actally ought to have credited the inventor of this 'patent'?

I missed out

[VATechTigger]

now all those idiots with toungue peircings can go to job interviews and say that they are just antenae for their cell phones for the competitive edge.....

Re:I missed out

[Anonymous Coward]

"now all those idiots with toungue peircings can go to job interviews and say that they are just antenae for their cell phones for the competitive edge....."

If people with tounge piercings are so stupid, how could they figure out all of that?

Re:I missed out

[dark-br]

I have a piercing on my tong, you insensitive clod!

Re:I missed out

[FLEB]

Just what I want. Some idiot surreptitiously talking on the cell phone all the while he should be working.

Not really a compelling argument.

Re:I missed out

[LordEd]

tong
tr.v. tonged, tonging, tongs

        To seize, hold, or manipulate with tongs. ...Or does your piercing render you unable to say or type the word tongue?

------
Waiting for the 'I cant spel, you insencitive cold!'

I think this is a first

[saskboy]

This is the first time anyone's wanted a "bug" in their mouth.

Thank you - I'm here all night!

Geeeth's with bwaceees rejoice!

[Nova Express]

Now rugged, he-men, special forces guys will lisp when they talk as well!

Re:Geeeth's with bwaceees rejoice!

[Anonymous Coward]

Ever since the "don't ask, dont tell" policy went into effect,

We can be fairly certain some already lisp when they talk.

Re:Geeeth's with bwaceees rejoice!

[Anonymous Coward]

Everyone talks about how their ass is in danger with gays in the military...

The way I see it, my ass is probably a lot safer when the guy protecting my ass thinks my ass is pretty cute.

"Oh no! They shot the guy with the cute butt! You bastards!" *goes on killing spree*

War zone?

[heavy snowfall]

I'll keep that in mind the next time I enter a war-zone. Like Henrico County, VA.

On a more serious note, this looks really interesting for diving. But it's just a patent, so I don't have too much faith in a product being released.

--
Use your bluetooth phone as a modem for Linux

Re:War zone?

[pin_gween]

this looks really interesting for diving.

Not really, it is very hard to create the proper pronunciation of words with a regulator in your mouth. You clamp down on the mouthpiece with your teeth and it blocks your tongue.

If you have a full face mask on, it would be easier to use a radio that is integrated with the mask.

Shock anyone much?

[ghstomahawks]

I can just see it, I want to talk to somebody so I flick my tooth on (wth?) and suddenly I feel a ginormous electric shock throughout my head. My cover is blown when everyone sees my hair immediately stand on end :-

at least thats what happens if I don't let truth get in my way ;)

This is basic Science Fiction made real.

[flogger]

John Steakly's book, Armor is the first book I read with this "technology". I love it when Life imitates Art.

Re:This is basic Science Fiction made real.

[ZachPruckowski]

That's what SciFi is for: helping us imagine what we want. How else would we get some of these crazy ideas, like tooth-microphones, or instentaneous global communication? On the downside, it gave Big Brother all the inspiration it needs.

Re:This is basic Science Fiction made real.

[maxbang]

Something similar is mentioned in Starship Troopers. Biting down opens different commlinks based on which side of your mouth you use. Or something like that, I can't remember exactly how that worked.

tooths? whut do you mean?!?

[Anonymous Coward]

Tooths?! In Texas we ain't got no tooths! Why, demthere microephones are gon hafta clip on ta my hat or somepin! Shoot! We could use dem microephones too! We go huntin dem jackrabbits it'd be real nice to be able to talk to each udder. Shoot!

during sex?

[chris_mahan]

So what happens with this little device during various sex acts?

I know, this is slashdot. The only sex acts involve, what... Wives? eheh

Re:during sex?

[Anonymous Coward]

The only sex acts involve, what... Wives?

Well ... at least not your own.

Re:during sex?

[chris_mahan]

You mean...

Nawww...

Really?

Dang!!!

Did I just reply to an AC?

Re:during sex?

[No Salvation]

So what happens with this little device during various sex acts?

What, are you afraid of feedback? I can just imagine it, the lights are down low, the mood is just right, your lips touch, then... WWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

Re:during sex?

[pin_gween]

I know, this is slashdot. The only sex acts involve, what...

Hands?

Re:during sex?

[codewritinfool]

So you and your wife both have one of these - do you get enormous screetching feedback when you kiss?

Re:during sex?

[bedroll]

So what happens with this little device during various sex acts?

I was just thinking, if this has decent pick-up then it would take the porn industry by storm. Potentially clean sound without dubbing.

I know, this is slashdot. The only sex acts involve, what... Wives?

Well, now that I realize that I saw this and thought of porn before my wife I feel kinda bad... shucks.

Re:during sex?

[Anonymous Coward]

So what happens with this little device during various sex acts?

Phone sex?

Thank you, thank you. I'm here all week.

Re:during sex?

[Alkind]

Before, during and after sex: the next patent is for a tooth speaker. Brand name: Cyrano. Advertised on Slashdot. With the first millions made it will be marketed for wider use: political party audiences, life sitcoms, board meetings, fake choirs.

As they say on Fark...

[hey]

... what could possibly go wrong?

Re:As they say on Fark...

[Omnieiunium]

alas, still no cure for cancer. Oh yah, Duke Sucks. /slashy //bad attempt at being funny ///not fark

Now to combine different tooth technology

[Anonymous Coward]

Crap! Which tooth was the radio and which tooth was the cyanide again?

Re:Now to combine different tooth technology

[FLEB]

Simple solution:

Try calling Emergency Services on both teeth. Same basic outcome both ways.

This is old news

[TummyX]

It's been around for a while.

Re:This is old news

[Frogbert]

Longer then you might think

The BlueTooth Tooth

[TinyManCan]

I wonder if this device is going to bring a new meaning to BlueTooth.

Re:The BlueTooth Tooth

[AndroidCat]

Only if you use it to voice-command through pr0n sites. (I guess that would be the Blue BlueTooth Tooth.)

I saw it being used

[RNLockwood]

I saw it being used downtown on Monday, the guy didn't appear affluent enough for one but there he was, all by himself, carrying on a animated conversation with no cell phone or ear piece visible, drinking something in a paper sack.

Nate

Re:I saw it being used

[Anonymous Coward]

Funniest post in weeks. Good job.

Obligatory Real Genius....

[ToddML]

Mitch: "And Kent, one more thing..."

Kent: "Yes?"

Mitch: "Stop masturbating!"

Kent, looking up: "It really is God!"

Adverse effects?

[strcmp]

So what are the side effects of having a transmitter in your mouth?

Re:Adverse effects?

[NerdJock]

There should not be any different from having a bluetooth headset on your ear. Actually, it should be less risky, since it will be further from your brain. And the risk from a head set is minimal at worst, since bt is a short range technology, and therefor use a very limited effect.

Re:Adverse effects?

[mikkom]

there is a big difference, bluetooth transmitter on your ear has skull between it and the brain. When you have the transmitter in your mouth the skull does not protect your brain from radiation.

Cell Phone

[anotherone]

How is this powered? I imagine it would be a good application for RFID. The microphone itself could be powered by an RF transciever worn externally.

Can't wait for a bluetooth (lol) version of this.

Re:Cell Phone

[Anonymous Coward]

Can't wait for a bluetooth (lol) version of this.

Bah. It won't have anywhere near the bandwidth of my Ultra320 tooth phone.

A new combat injury

[Stephen Samuel]

I can see a lot of special forces soldiers suddenly biting their tongue in battle. Preventing that injury is probably going to be the subject of yet another patent.

Re:A new combat injury

[rtaylor]

Mouse geastures work for browsers, so how about tongue gestures? Have a small sensor that detects motion and require moving the tongue in some pattern to activate and deactivate.

Re:A new combat injury

[Anti_Climax]

You could just leave it in the on position and use VOX...

Re:A new combat injury

[Anonymous Writer]

Time to patent the clickwheel retainer.

Mr. Microphone for the 21st Century!

[MattR83]

"Hey there good lookin', we'll be back to pick you up later!" Works everytime

THEY HID THE MICROPHONE IN MY TEETH.

[mcc]

The Freemasons. That's where they put the tracking device. In my teeth. My dentist betrayed me. He was just part of the network. They do it to keep tabs on you-- know where you are, hear everything by secret frequency. At first it was just the ones they'd sent back from the future, but after Tager broke the secret they had to move on to the general public, to ensure the truth didn't spread. Once they got a taste of power they wanted more. The operations expanded. 10,000 Americans every year. Now everything is in preparation for the Colonization. They hear everything. They know where to attack, when. They know where we're weak. It will begin soon.

Shit, have to go, I think I see helicopters. If I do not post on this site again you will know what happened.

Re:THEY HID THE MICROPHONE IN MY TEETH.

[MyLongNickName]

If I do not post on this site again you will know what happened.

Can I have your UID?

Re:THEY HID THE MICROPHONE IN MY TEETH.

[mcc]

No.

Re:THEY HID THE MICROPHONE IN MY TEETH.

[Soul-Burn666]

Just... just in case.
In case I'm not crazy...
That's how they find us.
By our teeth.
I don't want them to find me. Ever.
I don't want to go back.

Re:THEY HID THE MICROPHONE IN MY TEETH.

[MyLongNickName]

Is this really mcc... or is it one of the Masons?

Not that I have anything against the Masons; I for one WELCOME our stone-working secret society overlords.

Re:THEY HID THE MICROPHONE IN MY TEETH.

[karmaflux]

Because I have dibs.

Re:THEY HID THE MICROPHONE IN MY TEETH.

[rdoger6424]

Aha! It's the gravel conspiracy! They're using the masons for a decoy for their master plan (which is a decoy for several smaller plans), to create a decoy military base and then distract the world while they take over the world's businesses!

Re:THEY HID THE MICROPHONE IN MY TEETH.

[evilviper]

If I do not post on this site again you will know what happened.

Right! 503 errors... :-(

Good for musicians...

[Anonymous Coward]

...when they just want to record a few quick licks.

Patent Filed 4-6-05 however public domain prior

[Brigadier]

Now one would think if this was put in a movie prior to the filing of the patent thus placing it in the public domain. This patent should not have been issued no ?? thoughts ? anyone anyone ......

Re:Patent Filed 4-6-05 however public domain prior

[FLEB]

It wasn't real. It was a movie.

Re:Patent Filed 4-6-05 however public domain prior

[Brigadier]

shouldn't matter I don't think. It was a specific concept that was introduced prior to the patent. The only way I could se it fly is if the inventor in question was patenting the mechanism as opposed to the concept. but IANAL

Re:Patent Filed 4-6-05 however public domain prior

[Anonymous Coward]

Hedwig is scheduled to play at the Bilgewater's across from the US Patent office this Sunday evening. Please attend, she needs all the support that she can come upon.

Re:Patent Filed 4-6-05 however public domain prior

[craXORjack]

How about when Gilligan got hit in the mouth accidently and his filling became a radio and the Professor tried to turn it into a transmitter to get them off the island?

Re:Patent Filed 4-6-05 however public domain prior

[Tim Browse]

Isn't that how it works though? You have to patent a device or mechanism. You can't just say "I have invented anti-gravity! And it will be controlled by a button on my belt. I 0wn j00!"

Er, or something.

Re:Patent Filed 4-6-05 however public domain prior

[umbra_dweller]

IANAL either, but don't people patent mechanisms, not concepts? (at least with physical inventions, software and intangibles not necessarily included) If everything shown in movies was considered an invention then it seems to me that the sci-fi genre would negate any patents that could be introduced for the next century.

Patent agent: "Well, Mr. Smith, this perpetual motion machine you've created is quite an achievment, but I'm afraid Lisa Simpson beat you to it - prior art and all- better luck next time."

Re:Patent Filed 4-6-05 however public domain prior

[mcrbids]

Now one would think if this was put in a movie prior to the filing of the patent thus placing it in the public domain. This patent should not have been issued no ?? thoughts ? anyone anyone ......

You have a year from the time of public disclosure of an idea to file a patent. If public disclosure happens prior to filing the patent, disclosure of that fact must be on the patent application, and you better have some notes or something pretty substantial to prove that you were the one to come up with the idea.

PS: IANAL.

Re:Patent Filed 4-6-05 however public domain prior

[FLEB]

There was no implementation.

It's like trying to patent the concept of a "flying car" using nothing but a CG graphic. You file a patent on the method, not the result.

Re:Patent Filed 4-6-05 however public domain prior

[oliverthered]

Movies are real, but they do portray fictional or reinacted events.

Re:Patent Filed 4-6-05 however public domain prior

[FLEB]

Even with intangibles... short of genome patents, which, well, I don't know... you are patenting a specific method of obtaining a result. I may have one patented method of, say, factoring large numbers quickly, which wouldn't infringe on a completely different method to factor the same large numbers (or whatever in mathematics is amazingly difficult these days and patentworthy -- not really my area in the least).

Re:Patent Filed 4-6-05 however public domain prior

[Skreems]

I've seen some patents that were basically "a deviced to do this", and then didn't go into the actual means in even vague detail.

Re:Patent Filed 4-6-05 however public domain prior

[Ahnteis]

Well, that's how patents SHOULD work. They should be for a specific implementation that is a NEW and ORIGINAL implementation.

Then you get the $$ for figuring out whatever it is you figured out.

Sadly, there are far too many general case patents out there now-a-days and that's one of the reasons you see such a large response on may /. patent stories.

Re:Patent Filed 4-6-05 however public domain prior

[Anonymous Coward]

It was on Futurama somewhenever, when Bender and Fry got put into the robot asylum, and there was the other patient that has little satellites for teeth! I think there's definitely prior art!

Re:Patent Filed 4-6-05 however public domain prior

[hamburger lady]

that would depend on whether or not the movie scene was an enabling disclosure.

I for one welcome our dentally implanted overlords

[billstewart]

I, for one, welcome our dentally implanted overlords!

Already spent too much on dental work this summer - sigh... Root canals are really annoying.

Oh the mess....

[Shark]

For soldiers chewing gum.... Or tobaco.

"Sir! We cannot get a status report with all this noise! However, we can clearly hear that Bob may need some more Nicorette soon."

Search TV show realized, almost

[winkydink]

Lockwood? Lockwood!

Actually, I think in that case it was embedded in the tooth and always on.

Heinlen

[harlanbarnes]

This reminds me of the Starship Troopers comm devices (book, not the crappy movie.) They changed channels by clicking their teeth or something like that.

Cool, Reminds me of the Germans

[hobotron]

And their throat microphone that was widely used in their tank formations during World War II.

Re:Cool, Reminds me of the Germans

[CrimeaRiver]

Yeah, and which their enemies didn't have, which accounted in part for Germany's early success.

Re:Cool, Reminds me of the Germans

[martian265]

While the Germans did use the throat microphone in the PxKw III which they stopped using '42, I can't find any reference that mentions any later tanks using this system. I can't find anything indicates if they used them throughout the entire line or if it was limited to just a few models of this tank.

As an interesting note, the Germans didn't start testing their throat microphones until '37, a year after they were invented, in America. I'm not implying that they stole the design, it's very possible that they developed the idea in parrallel. They were originally tested on aircraft by the Germans, but only used in tanks. Whereas the Allies used them in bombers from '42 on.

Sounds Uncomfortable

[TeamAwsom]

Do they make a bejeweled hiphop star version yet?

Patents patents ...

[karvind]

Two other websites about stupid patents:

Patently Silly

Totally Absurd Inventions America's Goofiest Patents!

Reminds me of Freeciv

[physicsphairy]

"New Scientist has found a patent for a microphone that clips on your tooth,"

It's just like an empire game!

"You found scrolls of ancient wisdom!"

"You found patent for modern technology!"

Good point

[Infonaut]

A lot of soldiers, particularly in the combat MOSes, chew tobacco. It's a nasty habit, and not particularly tactical (you can smell tobacco spit fairly easily, depending on the environment).

That said, this could be a real godsend for grunts. Hands-free is definitely where it's at. You need to be able to shoot, move, and communicate at all times. If you have to negate your ability to shoot even for a moment while you're communicating, it makes you vulnerable. The more distributed and essentially "always-on" communications becomes, the better.

Things are moving in the right direction. The concept of an RTO (radio telephone operator) who tags along with an officer, making both of them obvious targets, needs to disappear. The trick, of course, is effective miniaturization. This great, but it needs to be paired with long-range radios that are small enough to be part of a combat leader's load. No doubt the US military is spending a lot of money on just this sort of thing, and I'm sure there are spec ops units running around right now using commo equipment that blows doors on the stuff we had to use even ten years ago.

Re:Good point

[The Evil Couch]

True enough. The ASIPS kicks the crap out of the old SINGCARS radio, being roughly half the size and weight and improved features, and even the ASIPS is getting up in age. I think it's been out for something like 7 years. While miniaturizing radios is always a step in the right direction, something I've always seen Platoon Leaders doing (except the one previous to my current one, worthless cherry) is having two hand-mikes up at a time. While sometimes confusing, having a pair of radio handsets clipped to the helmet is pretty easy and makes communicating on seperate radio nets relatively simple.

Sticking multiple switches in someone's mouth would probably suck.

Getting access to the PL's radios in case he gets hit or completely spazes out under fire and starts giving retarded orders would be a problem if they were connected to his mouth, though.

I mean, I could *say* I was punching the PL in the mouth so I could get access to his radios, but I don't think they'd let me keep my squad afterwards. :p

Design flaws?

[Cave_Monster]

I really wonder how effective this mic would be. How is it affected by food, saliva, smoke, water etc? If it's highly susceptible to damage from these substances then that would require you to continually be taking it in and out of your mouth. What a hassle and highly prone to getting lost. What about if you accidentally swallowed it? Is that dangerous? And can it damage your teeth if, for example, you bit down really hard?

None of these issues really get addressed in the article, not to mention the ease at switching it on and off. Those listening to the transmission could be deeply traumatised by what they hear :)

Yeah.....

[Anonymous Coward]

but does it run Linux?

Sound quality inside your mouth?

[aywwts4]

Seriously though, only a portion of our voices comes from our throat, the articulation is produced at the tounge and the lips, how is this going to sound when it picks up whats inside the mouth as well as what we actualy project And on headsets we sometimes have to worry about the terribly annoying com problem of listening to someone pant at lenght during shows. now do we get to hear him lick the inside of his mouth with sloppy gurgling noises just because he forgot to flip a switch with his tounge? Ick. Maybe for air traffic controllers, but its hard to imagine any use of this microphone outside of the most extreme conditions.

Tooth Microphone Patent in PDF

[Anonymous Coward]

The PDF shows the the figures:

Method and apparatus for tooth bone conduction microphone.
http://pat2pdf.org/patents/pat20050196008.pdf

Thanks to pat2pdf.org.

Patent pictures

[Palal]

For those that don't have quicktime installed:
Pic 1, Pic 2, Pic 3, Pic 4,
Pic 5, Pic 6, Pic 7, Pic 8,
Pic 9, Pic 10, Pic 11, Pic 12,

Re:Patent pictures

[Elminst]

These links no longer work.

2.4 GHZ?

[Palal]

Well, I guess we now know how to provide lots of interference for this mike...just turn on a whole bunch of microwaves, routers and old cordless phones.

But is it...

[TheUnknownCoder]

bluetooth compatible?

Re:But is it...

[mrbill101]

We really don't need this do we. Another funny by??

Re:But is it...

[Anonymous Coward]

Something tells me that 2.4 Ghz in constant contact with your mouth would be more harmful than chewing tobacco. Being that whole O-H bond vibrating frequency and everything...

Re:But is it...

[hapoo]

Sure, just don't brush your teeth anymore.

Been done already?

[zekemacneil]

The same article mentions a blimp that launches like a rocket."

Oh, you mean the Hindenburg?

Re:Been done already?

[mrbill101]

Who cares about Linux?

Re:Been done already?

[kureido]

Oh, you mean the Hindenburg?

Too soon!

Re:I for one welcome our dentally implanted overlo

[Anonymous Coward]

So are rootkits!

Completely impossible...

[idonthack]

Gilligan got hit in the mouth accidently and his filling became a radio

...but the Magic of Television makes it so.
---
"Man, when the day comes, count me in with the robot smashers." - Anonymous Coward
Generated by SlashdotRndSig via GreaseMonkey

Potential Problem

[Anonymous Coward]

Ith Itth puth tho thork then itth going tho be dithicult to thalk anyway witth your thounge ath the thront oth your moutth.

Frank Herbert is saddened by us.

[Amiasian]

I'm surprised there hasn't been a Dune reference yet. Military applications of inter and intra-dental devices, you know. Anyways, wouldn't the inner shape of the mouth, combined with a lot of liquids and the constant need to breathe, plus the clicking of teeth and tongue during certain words, make this impractical?

Tooth phone already invented :)

[Anonymous Coward]

Video of tooth phone (funny):
http://dl.lustich.net/download/73-9-video-7d3de0ff /fax.mpg

Stainless Steel Rat!

[Anonymous Coward]

Harry Harrison wrote about this at least 15 years ago in the Stainless Steel Rat books (swashbuckling sci-fi, but not too terrible). The "speaker" vibrated directly against your jawbone making it impossible not to hear. Might have been in Dune too.

Preposterous!

[The-Trav-Man]

Patenting prior prototype patents? Prepare post-cards protesting!

Was it this?

[Mr. Underbridge]

Old English 800

they had this when my dad was a kid

[fracai]

just bite down on the tin foil

Shades of Starship Troopers

[Wilson_6500]

The book, I mean. The M.I. had tongue- and jaw-actuated radio controls. Of course, there wasn't any bone conduction going on (I don't think), and since this is tooth-mounted, this is actually quite a bit better. Wow--combine today's miniaturization with Heinlein's imagination. You could control your whole damn office building using just your mouth, neck, and eyelids.

Thow letthee how thith ith gonna work...

[HermanAB]

together wirf my noth ring and tongue thtud...

Here's a scenario

[poind3xt3r]

"Mayday mayday, enemy fire comin.. GULP!!!.... uh ohhh!"

Oblig. Simpsons quote

[ton2fig]

        Burns: Now, before we adjourn, gentlemen, I have one last matter of utmost importance. I need to send this parcel with the profit projections to Pete Porter in Pasadena. And it absolutely, positively _has_ to be there overnight.
                        [hands the package to the man to his right]
        Man 1: Pete Porter, pass it on. [hands it on]
        Man 2: Pasadena promptly. [hand it on]
        Man 3: Package to parcel processing, pronto. [hands it to Smithers]
            [Smithers runs into the parcel processing room]
  Smithers: Forgot prende asked for highly pressing package of power plant profit projections for Pete Porter in Pasadena.
Attendant: Priority?
  Smithers: Precisely.

Re:Oblig. Simpsons quote

[Anonymous Coward]

Well don't use DHL then. Bunch of fucking imcompetant wankers.

Imagine...

[simtel]

a beowulf cluster of these!

Bushy bulges

[TaGirl_Keri]

Prez Bush will need one of these. No more unsightly bulges on his back

Shades of The White House.

[Anonymous Coward]

"You could control your whole damn office building using just your mouth, neck, and eyelids."

Monika Lewinsky could do the same thing.

Obligatory Correction

[Robstafarian]

Mitch: "I want you to think about what you've done Kent....and stop playing with yourself."

Kent [looking up]: "It is God."

I've been a movie geek longer than I've been a computer geek, and I'm pedagogic even by UNIX standards.

End of Nag

Lucy

[pipingguy]

Prior art.

DTS ?

[chuby]

If I put 5 of those in my mouth can I Transmit in DTS ?

You Bastard!

[bennomatic]

> here's a little clue: every language but English is phonetic

My French teacher didn't think so. I just failed my midterms because of your "wisdom". Merci beaucoup!

Or as you would have me pronounce it, "Murr-kih bee-yow-cowp"

;-)

Reminds me of a joke I once heard

[viper2110]

This reminds me of a joke I once heard.

Two guys are playing golf -- a Japanese and American. The Japanese man, getting ready to tee off, begins talking into his thumb.

The American says, 'What are you doing?'

The Japanese man says: 'Oh, don't worry. With microtechnology, I have a microphone inserted in my thumb. I was just recording a message.'

The two men go on playing golf. All of a sudden, the American man makes a funny sound that sounds amazingly like a fart.

The Japanese man looks over at him.

'Oh,' says the American. 'Don't worry, I'm just receiving a fax.'

I don't un-der-stand

[AthenianGadfly]

Let's use the word 'understand' as a simple example. If you don't know the language, you would be hard-pressed to realize that it is made-up of just two syllables. If you try to pronounce it as 1, 3, 7, etc. sounds, it will be completely unintelligable.

You know, I speak English, and I'm still hard-pressed to realize that "understand" is made up of two syllables. But then, again it seems to make an awful lot of sense to me as three syllables, so I must just be confused. Or, as they say in Spanish when they want to use two syllables, nocomprend-o.

Re:I don't un-der-stand

[CoreyG]

This had me confused as well until I realized that maybe he meant words instead of syllables.

Pot, meet kettle

[Atario]

(usually stupid Americans) bitch about the Indian people's names being hard to pronounce. So, to you Mr. or Mrs. or Ms. backslashdot, here's a little clue: every language but English is phonetic. No other language has stupid rules where Y is 'sometimes' a vowel - where C is sometimes K - where "tongue" is pronounced "tung"

English is just as phonetic as all those others -- mainly because its spellings and pronunciations are derived from all those others. Your confusion arises because you don't know how (that?) different words in English come from different languages, and you need to treat each word with the rules of the language it came from for it to make sense.

Furthermore, your "{Americans|The English Language} sucks" argument is pretty much based on the very stupidity you claim to decry -- ignorance of pronunciation rules in different languages.

In short, educate yourself before you tell people you're smarter than them.

Re:Pot, meet kettle

[k98sven]

You're countering an exaggerated and wrong post with a just as exaggerated opposite.

English is just as phonetic as all those others -- mainly because its spellings and pronunciations are derived from all those others.

That's the point. Different languages have different proununciations and spellings. And they have different amount of consistency between spelling and pronunciation. Is that hard to understand?

Russian is an excellent example of a language where spelling and pronunciation are very consistent. This is due to the the Russian-cyrillic alphabet being constructed specifically for the russian language. So common russian phonemes such as "zh" and "tch" have their own letters - and those letters represent that sound and only that sound. Moreover, since foreign words need to be translitterated into cyrillic, they do so with the letters closest to the way they prounounce it. E.g. the English name "Johnny" becomes "Dzhonni". It would be inconsistent to write it as "Johnny" because the russian "j" sound is not the same as the English one.

English, on the other hand, and as you point out yourself, loves to borrow words from foreign languages and keep the spelling. They don't keep the pronunciation though. No language does that. You prounounce the word with the closest approximation with the phonemes of your own language. (I.e. what a foreign accent is).

you need to treat each word with the rules of the language it came from for it to make sense.

English doesn't do that though. For instance, the word "queue" or "cue" are prounounced like the letter "q". They are not prounounced "keuh" (which would be an english approximation of the french prounciation). By comparison the same word was borrowed into Swedish, the spelling changed to "kö". The pronounciation is much closer to the original.

The grandparent poster is wrong in saying english is the only inconsistent language here. All languages have inconsistency. But English is certainly widely known as one of the least, if not the least consistent of all. This is reflected in how easily foreigners and english-speakers themselves pick up the proununcation of new words. It's also reflected in how many spelling errors people make on average.

Now, give me a someone learning Swedish and show them the word "kö" and someone learning English and show them the word "queue". Which one do you think will get the proununcation correct? I'd wager quite a lot on the former.

Re:Pot, meet kettle

[hankwang]

By comparison the same word was borrowed into Swedish, the spelling changed to "kö". The pronounciation is much closer to the original.

Actually, the pronunciation of kö is irregular, because the Swedish pronunciation rules would predict the pronunciation [tjö] (k followed soft vowel). Bad example. :-)

Re:Pot, meet kettle

[k98sven]

Ah, yeah, you got me there. It's true. Although, on the other hand, the pronounciation is also somewhat irregular. - like how most prounounce "kex" with a hard 'k', but some (Göteborgare) prounounce it with a soft one.

But I guess it's one of the deficiencies of Swedish spelling that you can't mark hard vs. soft vowels, and thus there's no way to distinguish "kör" (choir) and "kör" (driving). Another one is the lack of information about intonation (accents or such) and no way to distingush "banan" (banana) and "banan" (the track).

Don't Bite the Microphone...

[Mehtuus]

Bluetooth? Tongue Flipper? Well, just don't forget to brush your microphone before you go to bed...

Risks: Tooth transmitter vs headset

[NerdJock]

True. Though, I'm not sure about how good protection skeletal matter is against radio waves as it is a porous non-conductive material. I still think that the difference in distance outweighs the protection given by the skull. One thing to remember is that radio through muscle tissue has much lower risk level than through the brain. There are at least some indications that the later have risks. So I'm ignoring transmission through the jaw etc.

Re: Phonetic languages?

[VanessaDannenberg]

So, to you Mr. or Mrs. or Ms. backslashdot, here's a little clue: every language but English is phonetic. No other language has stupid rules where Y is 'sometimes' a vowel - where C is sometimes K - where "tongue" is pronounced "tung"

While this statement, and my reply here, is off-topic, I have to point something out - there is at least one other language that fits this category: Hebrew.

I'm not a scholar, just learning some of it as part of my conversion to Judaism. Here are the facts:

Alef: Assumes any long or short vowel sound, depending on the word.
Bet/Vet: B or V (local dialect, usually B these days)
Vav: V, long U, or long O depending on the word and/or it's position in the word.
Yud: Y or I
Kaf/Chaf: K or gutteral cH/kH (as in Channukah)
Ayin: Same function as Alef.
Sin/Shin: S or Sh
Sav/Tav: S or T (usually T these days)

Each of these uses one glyph for all of their variants (hence, eight glyphs and a total of 19 distinct sounds). Modern Hebrew says to use a standardised set of diacritic marks on these characters, but this isn't always the case.

Most of these can have one or two additional diacritics below them to add a vowel sound and/or a split-second glottal stop.

Clear as mud?

Is that what you call it?

[CrimeaRiver]

You named your computer "Wives"?

Prior to Marvel Comics?

[el_benito]

Color me the Comic Book Guy, but didn't Iron Man have one of these too?

It flickers

[Chemisor]

On... Off... On... Off... ... On...

Teeth?

[Beek]

I'm from the south, you insensitive clod!

English Pronunciation

[SeanDuggan]

Try looking at these English pronunciation rules. They will cover about an 85% solution with the rest of the words largely being ones we borrowed from other languages and kept their pronunciation. Admittedly, 56 rules may seem a bit excessive but if you read through it, most don't actually apply for a particular word. *wry grin* At that, dialect will change things greatly. Technically speaking, "bother," "father," and "caught" should all have distinct pronunciations in the US. In actuality, they seldom are.