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|  File Name      : BONEFONE.ASC     |  Online Date     :  10/02/94          |
|  Contributed by : Jerry Decker     |  Dir Category    :  BIOLOGY           |
|  From           : KeelyNet BBS     |  DataLine        :  (214) 324-3501    |
|           KeelyNet * PO BOX 870716 * Mesquite, Texas * USA * 75187         |
|        A FREE Alternative Sciences BBS sponsored by Vanguard Sciences      |
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                This file is from the October 3, Business Week,
                       Developments to Watch, page 121.
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A High-Tech Phone right down to the Phone

When is a telephone handset not a handset?  When the whole thing fits in your
ear.  That's the device Jabra Corp. in San Diego will unveil on October 15.

Called the Jabra 1000 EAR-BUD PHONE, it resembles those tiny in-ear speakers
that let you listen to a Walkman in private - except that Jabra's unit is a
transmitter as well.  It picks up your voice by amplifying sound vibrations in
your bones.  So there's no microphone boom to jut out in front of your face.

Since the bone vibrations must be amplified, a special chip in the part of the
system that connects to the base of your phone uses noise-cancellation
technology to screen out background sounds.

This antinoise chip generates a mirror image of outside noises, and the
colliding sound waves erase each other.  (See NOISECNC.ASC on KeelyNet)

The main electronics package - about the size of a deck of cards - also
monitors the quality of the phone line and automatically raises the volume of
voice transmissions when the connection is weak.  This tech-talk ain't cheap:
The EAR-BUD PHONE will list for $329.00.
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Vanguard Note

  This is a crude version of Pat Flanagan's Neurophone which modulates the
  nervous system DIRECTLY to impart an audio signal.  The use of the noise
  cancelling feature and micro-electronic signal conditioning is most advanced
  compared to what is currently available as telephone technology.  When the
  Neurophone finally gets out as consumer available devices, it will open up
  entirely new areas for learning and communication.

  Much of the biological phenomena associated with how we sense and cognize
  information has yet to be taken advantage of for commercial markets.  An
  example of this is a device called the "Private Eye" based on a Mattel toy
  that was sold in the 1980's.  The Mattel toy was a 'light-stick' consisting
  of basically a line of LED's that lit at a rate that clocked with the human
  eye.

  (from the file SUBLIM1.ASC on KeelyNet)

     Normal movie film  shows 24 frames  per  second,  anything  less  is
     perceived as having a flicker.  Therefore, a single frame would take
     1/24 of a second to flash on the screen.

     Videotape contains 30 frames per second.  When movies  are converted
     to video, every  fourth  frame  of  the movie is repeated which will
     generate the additional 6 frames to make 30 frames per second.

  Digital images are made up of binary (on and off) signals, LEDs that switch
  on and off according to a control pattern.  This creates a two dimensional
  matrix (X,Y) where X is the horizontal axis and Y is the vertical axis.  The
  X axis is thus the line of LEDs in the Mattel Light Stick toy.  The Y axis
  is the scanning frequency of the control pattern as it is swept in the
  vertical axis, this relates with the eye to produce a full blown 2
  dimensional image where, without the Y axis, you would just see a single
  line of flickering LEDs.

  In the Mattel toy, the desired message was typed in on a keypad.  That
  message was then sent out to the LEDs at a rate that would make them all
  flicker.  However, when you swing the stick up and down, the message would
  be 'written' in the air through persistence of vision and the clocking rate
  of the eye.  The larger the swing, the taller and thinner the letters that
  would appear as the message.  So, you would swing the stick until you got
  the optimum height.

  The PRIVATE EYE is a small cylinder about 8" long, about the thickness of a
  pen and having a thin slit that faces the eyes.  When suspended in front of
  the eyes, you can easily see around it.  When you look into the slit, a full
  80 characters wide by 24 lines high video screen magically appears.  The
  principle is the same as the light stick.  The string of LEDs is fixed for
  the X axis and the Y axis is provided by a vibrating crystal known as an
  acousto-optical modulator.

  A normal acoustic optic modulator has two dimensions, X and Y.  However,
  this version uses a crystal on a single pivot only in the Y or vertical
  axis.  Since the X axis is the flashing LEDs, the Y axis provides the trace
  and retrace of a video terminal.  The image thus appears to the eyes because
  the user has focussed into the slit.  When you look past the cylinder, you
  see nothing beyond the slight block of the cylinder.  The beauty of this is
  that no one else can see what you are working on.  I understand these things
  sell for about $600 and can do EGA.  Possibly by now, they can do VGA but
  I've not had any updates on the technology, however it stands to reason that
  color LCD matrices have now been developed using this system.

  This is a perfect example of how you can use a biological property to create
  a commercial device.

  One other interesting device that has recently been introduced is something
  called a Point Mouse.  Years ago, someone developed a film with miraculous
  properties.  This was basically crushed quartz crystals deposited on an X,Y
  matrix.  Since crystals are piezoelectric, they can respond or produce
  either electrical or mechanical phenomena.  That's how the piezo transducers
  work that beep in your computer, a flat crystal with a plate on each side
  that is electrically driven to produce mechanical stress in the crystal that
  in turns pushes and pulls the air at an audio rate.

  This crystal film is called KYNAR and you used to be able to buy a
  developers kit for about $35.  It could detect frequencies from DC all the
  way up into the megahertz ranges in addition to being sensitive to heat and
  mechanical pressure.  The X,Y grid allowed you to use it as a sensing panel
  kind of like a touchscreen.

  Since I hate MICE, several years back while experimenting with the Kynar
  material, it made sense to make a baby touchscreen that would be a miniature
  copy of your video screen.  That way, you could touch your finger on the
  Kynar pad and as your finger moved, so would the cursor/pointer on the
  screen.

  Now, damned if someone hasn't done something with this and produced a
  commercial version of this very idea.  I ordered 3 of them at work for $79
  each but when they came in they were only for the PS/2 interface.  A note
  said the AT interface would be available on September 15th, so we sent them
  back and the new ones are on the way.  I read a review of this in one of the
  PC magazines but it gave no source, just that someone was working on such a
  product.

  Needless to say, I've kept a lookout for this product and ask in computer
  stores whenever I get the chance, but they had never heard of it.  In a
  recent edition of Computer Shopper, I noticed this small section of a two
  page ad from a company called 1st Source, so that is where I ordered them.

  The device is about the size of a deck of cards but thinner.  It has a
  sensitive panel about 4" X 4" and the instructions said you could direct the
  onscreen pointer by moving your finger, for finer sensitivity, you just ROLL
  YOUR FINGER and it will fine adjust.  Anyway, since I like so many others
  hate mice, this is the coolest thing until we get something like a mind or
  eye interface.  I will report in an append to this file when we get the
  devices online, but they really do seem to be the hot thing to use..> Jerry
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