A Korean company U-BEAT has released a speaker system that can be worn around your shoulders and also generates vibration to give the listener an added kick. The company’s home page is written in Korean, but you can read more about it on the Boys Stuff web site.
Analog Devices releases third generation SHARC DSP chips
Analog Device has released its third generation of their SHARC digital signal processors that are designed specifically for sound processing in vehicle and consumer electronics.
Read the press release on the Analog Devices web site.
Optical Microphones
An Israeli company called Phone-Or is making optical microphones. Light is reflected off a vibrating membrane and is used to measure the vibration amplitude. These devices are well suited to environments where there are strong radio or magnetic fields, where conventional microphones will not work.
ICSV11 Conference
The Eleventh International Congress on Sound and Vibration will be held in the Hotel Pribaltiyskaya, in St. Petersburg, Russia, 5-8 July, 2004. Abstracts for the conference should be submitted no later than 31 December, 2003.
Read more on the ICSV11 web site.
ANSYS 2004 Conference
The ANSYS 2004 conference will be held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., between May 24-26, 2004. Technical paper topics address the complete spectrum of engineering applications from biomedical to aerospace with suggested topics that include accuracy in FEA, coupled-field analysis, fluid structure interaction, MEMS simulation, and probabilistic design.
Read more on the ANSYS web site.
Active 2004 Conference
The Active 2004 conference will be held in Williamsburg, Virginia USA, between 20-22 September 2004.
See the announcement on the INCE – USA web site.
Finger phone
A Japanese engineer has invented a wrist watch cell phone called “Whisper”, where the user places her finger in her ear canal to hear, and speaks into a microphone on the wrist band.
Read the journal paper at ACM Digital Library. Read a news release at Indiana University.
Koss noise cancelling headphones
Koss are selling cordless noise cancelling headphones, model QZ50. Detailed technical information is not available from their web site.
See the Koss web site.
iGo noise cancelling headphones
iGo are selling relatively cheap noise cancelling headphones. The technical specifications claim 12dB of noise reduction.
See the iGo web site.
MSC.Patran 2004 Released
MSC Software have released MSC.Patran 2004.
Read more on the MSC Software web site.