audio gadgetware
Here is a product to generate fake background noise for cell phones, as an excuse for terminating the call. A lower-tech device addresses the same need, and works with any phone. This web site features several sound clips for ending calls, grouped by category.
Magnetic pulses recorded by NASA’s Voyager are converted to audio, including a cyclone on Saturn and geysers on Europa. This inspires us to update WaveSong to allow users to import audio.
Cell phone ringtones of mooing cows are used to lure leopards away from human dwellings in Gujarat, India. “The moos of a cow, bleating of a goat from the phone has proved effective to trap leopards,” said D. Vasani, a senior forest official in Gujarat. “This trick works.” CNN and Reuters
One restaurant has a novel use for ambient nature sounds, reports the Manchester Evening News: Customers at a top British restaurant will listen to iPods while tucking into their food. Chef Heston Blumenthal says the Apple music players will help heighten the flavour of a new dish called Sound of the Sea. (Kudos Gizmodo.)