Squishy Cellphones Add a Buzz to Calls
Vibrating rubber cellphone could be the next big thing in mobile communications. They allow people to communicate by squishing the phone to transmit vibrations along with their spoken words. According to a research team at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge. Massachusetts, the idea will make phoning more fun.
Many mobile phones can already be made to vibrate instead of ring when you do not want people to know you are getting a call. But these vibrations, caused by a motor spinning an eccentric weight inside the device, are too crude for subtle communication, says Angela Chang of the lab's Tangible Media Group. "They're either on or off," she says.
But when you grip Chang's prototype latex cellphone, your fingers and thumb wrap around five tiny speakers. They vibrate against your skin around 250 times per second. Beneath these speakers sit pressure sensors, so you can transmit vibration as well as receiving it. When you squeeze with a finger, a vibration signal is transmitted to you caller's corresponding finger. Its strength depends on how hard you squeeze.
She says that within a few minutes of being given the phones, students were using the vibration feature to add emphasis to what they were saying or to interrupt the other speaker. Over time, people even began to transmit their own kind of ad hoe "Morse code", which they would repeat back to show they were following what the other person was saying. "It was pretty easy to communicate, though we didn't specifically prearrange codes," says David Milovich, one of the students who tried out the device.
Chang thinks "vibralanguages" could take off for the same reason as texting: sometimes people want to communicate something without everyone nearby knowing what they're saying. "And imagine actually being able to shake someone's hand when you close a business deal," he says.
可按壓手機給通話
增添了震動
振動橡膠手機將是移動通訊的下一個重要的事物。它們使人們能夠通過按壓電話機來隨著他們的話傳遞震動的方式通訊。據(jù)馬薩諸塞州劍橋市的麻省理工媒體實驗室的研究小組說，這個主意可以使打電話更有趣。
許多手機已經(jīng)可以在你不希望別人知道你有電話來時震動而不響鈴了。但是實驗室的可觸摸媒體組的Angela Chang說，這種在手機內(nèi)由發(fā)動機使重心離心旋轉(zhuǎn)而產(chǎn)生的振動對敏感的通訊來說太粗糙了。她說：“它們不是開著就是關著。”
但是當你握著Chang的橡膠手機模型時，你的手指和拇指包著五個小喇叭。它們以每秒鐘250次的頻率振動，撞擊著你的皮膚。在這些小喇叭下面是壓力感應器，因此你就可以傳遞震動和接收震動了。當你下壓一個手指時，一個振動信號就會傳到你的呼叫者的相應的手指上。振動的力度取決于你擠壓的力量多大。
她說在拿到這種手機后幾分鐘，學生們就可以用振動功能強調(diào)他們所說的話，或打斷別的說話人了。隨著時間的延長，人們開始傳遞他們自己的特別“莫爾斯電碼”，他們可以重復這些電碼以表明他們聽懂了對方說的話。試用這種手機的學生之一David Milovich說：“用它來通訊很簡單，盡管我們沒有特別提前制定密碼。”
Chang認為“振動語言”可以以同樣的道理取代文字：有時人們想交流一些事情而不愿周圍的人知道他們在說什么。她說：“想像一下當你完成一筆交易時還可和別人握手。
Vibrating rubber cellphone could be the next big thing in mobile communications. They allow people to communicate by squishing the phone to transmit vibrations along with their spoken words. According to a research team at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge. Massachusetts, the idea will make phoning more fun.
Many mobile phones can already be made to vibrate instead of ring when you do not want people to know you are getting a call. But these vibrations, caused by a motor spinning an eccentric weight inside the device, are too crude for subtle communication, says Angela Chang of the lab's Tangible Media Group. "They're either on or off," she says.
But when you grip Chang's prototype latex cellphone, your fingers and thumb wrap around five tiny speakers. They vibrate against your skin around 250 times per second. Beneath these speakers sit pressure sensors, so you can transmit vibration as well as receiving it. When you squeeze with a finger, a vibration signal is transmitted to you caller's corresponding finger. Its strength depends on how hard you squeeze.
She says that within a few minutes of being given the phones, students were using the vibration feature to add emphasis to what they were saying or to interrupt the other speaker. Over time, people even began to transmit their own kind of ad hoe "Morse code", which they would repeat back to show they were following what the other person was saying. "It was pretty easy to communicate, though we didn't specifically prearrange codes," says David Milovich, one of the students who tried out the device.
Chang thinks "vibralanguages" could take off for the same reason as texting: sometimes people want to communicate something without everyone nearby knowing what they're saying. "And imagine actually being able to shake someone's hand when you close a business deal," he says.
可按壓手機給通話
增添了震動
振動橡膠手機將是移動通訊的下一個重要的事物。它們使人們能夠通過按壓電話機來隨著他們的話傳遞震動的方式通訊。據(jù)馬薩諸塞州劍橋市的麻省理工媒體實驗室的研究小組說，這個主意可以使打電話更有趣。
許多手機已經(jīng)可以在你不希望別人知道你有電話來時震動而不響鈴了。但是實驗室的可觸摸媒體組的Angela Chang說，這種在手機內(nèi)由發(fā)動機使重心離心旋轉(zhuǎn)而產(chǎn)生的振動對敏感的通訊來說太粗糙了。她說：“它們不是開著就是關著。”
但是當你握著Chang的橡膠手機模型時，你的手指和拇指包著五個小喇叭。它們以每秒鐘250次的頻率振動，撞擊著你的皮膚。在這些小喇叭下面是壓力感應器，因此你就可以傳遞震動和接收震動了。當你下壓一個手指時，一個振動信號就會傳到你的呼叫者的相應的手指上。振動的力度取決于你擠壓的力量多大。
她說在拿到這種手機后幾分鐘，學生們就可以用振動功能強調(diào)他們所說的話，或打斷別的說話人了。隨著時間的延長，人們開始傳遞他們自己的特別“莫爾斯電碼”，他們可以重復這些電碼以表明他們聽懂了對方說的話。試用這種手機的學生之一David Milovich說：“用它來通訊很簡單，盡管我們沒有特別提前制定密碼。”
Chang認為“振動語言”可以以同樣的道理取代文字：有時人們想交流一些事情而不愿周圍的人知道他們在說什么。她說：“想像一下當你完成一筆交易時還可和別人握手。