Wapsi Square Forum

That's all well and good, but the loss of an independent headphone jack has some fundamental problems:

Bluetooth headphones need to be recharged, which can be rather inconvenient.
Every set of Bluetooth headphones I've ever used SUCKED. even expensive ones borrowed from other people. The signal craps out, the battery dies, the damned things are heavy and make my ears hurt, and they're heavy and fall out of my ears. The ones with cords that wrap around my neck bug me, because the cord catches on my skin and I have to fidget with it so I can turn my head. The ones with that weird neck ring are even worse in that respect. And, of course, Airpods have no cord, so if I ever use them, I WILL lose one of them. I would end up with a collection of left Airpods or whatever they're called.
Can't charge the phone and listen to music at the same time, which is a big problem
"Cheap" Bluetooth headphones cost more than cheap regular headphones. Hooray, just another thing I'm now prohibited from enjoying because I'm living in poverty.
Lightning plug audio quality is no different than 3.5mm Jack quality.

Instead of completely eliminating a headphone jack, what if they just made a smaller, better one, and didn't charge other third-party companies to use the design? That would be the real innovative, industry-shifting move. Can you imagine having a 5.1 high-fidelity sound system that you can wear like earphones or earbuds? That'd be awesome.

GlytchMeister wrote:...
Instead of completely eliminating a headphone jack, what if they just made a smaller, better one, and didn't charge other third-party companies to use the design? That would be the real innovative, industry-shifting move. Can you imagine having a 5.1 high-fidelity sound system that you can wear like earphones or earbuds? That'd be awesome.

Well said. I'm actually Not an Apple Evangelist, despite my previous post.

What I've noticed is after Apple has implemented something, the Goal Posts get moved and innovation replies with something even better.

I have no problem with the mini-jack headphone port as a standard though, even though my laptop just gave up the Left Channel via headphones, and will likely require a soldering or two...

...you could put the sub woofer into the band that goes over the head. Bone-conduction sounds are usually lower, anyway. That's why your voice sounds deeper to you than it does to everyone else.

Oh man, my brain is already thinking of a head-wearable 5.1 sound system...

I believe the expandable fonts bit was originally Adobe - i recall the hideous bit-mapped fonts Apple was still using into the end of the 80s at least.

Actually I was describing it badly; I mean you could add more fonts to the system, you weren't 'stuck' with a single type.
Growth of self-produced Desktop Publishing was a really big deal for a little while.

I don't think buying McLaren is a wise investment for Apple, personally. But then again I still use my multi-CD player in my car.

As to 5.1 min-spec body-wear, there should prob be a different standard, but yet & still-

Does anybody remember the Bone Fone?


http://www.retrothing.com/2006/01/the_bone_fone_r.html

That is almost definitely before my time, but it reminds me of the KOR-FX haptic gaming vest. Basically, it allows you to feel those chest-thumping bass thuds and, apparently, in-game hits.

There are already people going around with surgically-implanted speakers and microphones, working by means of vibrating parts of your skeleton. Which seems like a really silly idea: not only are there the medical complications associated with surgery and implants, but then there's the discomfort involved in what happens when technology marches on and your hardware is no longer compatible. And good luck if some sort of electromagnetic field or something starts making it do unpleasant things.

Good luck at the airport, too...

lake_wrangler wrote:Good luck at the airport, too...

Oh, what does Doubt know, anyways?

Catawampus wrote:There are already people going around with surgically-implanted speakers and microphones, working by means of vibrating parts of your skeleton. Which seems like a really silly idea: not only are there the medical complications associated with surgery and implants, but then there's the discomfort involved in what happens when technology marches on and your hardware is no longer compatible. And good luck if some sort of electromagnetic field or something starts making it do unpleasant things.

I'm pretty sure that those are for hearing loss issues, if memory serves.

jwhouk wrote:

lake_wrangler wrote:Good luck at the airport, too...

Oh, what does Doubt know, anyways?

Wouldn't you like to know...

jwhouk wrote:

Catawampus wrote:There are already people going around with surgically-implanted speakers and microphones, working by means of vibrating parts of your skeleton. Which seems like a really silly idea: not only are there the medical complications associated with surgery and implants, but then there's the discomfort involved in what happens when technology marches on and your hardware is no longer compatible. And good luck if some sort of electromagnetic field or something starts making it do unpleasant things.

I'm pretty sure that those are for hearing loss issues, if memory serves.

The miniaturised communicator implanted into the mastoid bone is an old and honoured SF tradition.

TazManiac wrote:As to 5.1 min-spec body-wear, there should prob be a different standard, but yet & still-

Does anybody remember the Bone Fone?


http://www.retrothing.com/2006/01/the_bone_fone_r.html

No, but I remember Fonebone...

AnotherFairportfan wrote:

jwhouk wrote:

Catawampus wrote:There are already people going around with surgically-implanted speakers and microphones, working by means of vibrating parts of your skeleton. Which seems like a really silly idea: not only are there the medical complications associated with surgery and implants, but then there's the discomfort involved in what happens when technology marches on and your hardware is no longer compatible. And good luck if some sort of electromagnetic field or something starts making it do unpleasant things.

I'm pretty sure that those are for hearing loss issues, if memory serves.

The miniaturised communicator implanted into the mastoid bone is an old and honoured SF tradition.

1967... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_President's_Analyst

TazManiac wrote:

AnotherFairportfan wrote: The miniaturised communicator implanted into the mastoid bone is an old and honoured SF tradition.

1967... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_President's_Analyst

It goes back before that in written SF, though i don't have any specific examples. (Some may be external, actually, glued to the skin over the bone.)

AnotherFairportfan wrote:

TazManiac wrote:

AnotherFairportfan wrote: The miniaturised communicator implanted into the mastoid bone is an old and honoured SF tradition.

1967... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_President's_Analyst

It goes back before that in written SF, though i don't have any specific examples. (Some may be external, actually, glued to the skin over the bone.)

Goes back to Heinlein, in Starship Troopers. IIRC the viewpoint character had one which connected up with his suit's commo gear.
I believe they were also present in the Lensman series by e.e. "Doc" Smith back in the 1930's and '40's.

ShneekeyTheLost wrote:I believe they were also present in the Lensman series by e.e. "Doc" Smith back in the 1930's and '40's.

Some of of the "Service Special" comm equipment that Conway Costigan used in Smith's "Triplanetary" (retconned into the Lensman series) was of that sort. If I recall correctly, it would operate properly if it were in contact with the body in pretty much any fashion (even swallowed)... exact mechanism of operation wasn't ever specified.

i do remember a story in Analog (i think), back in the '60s or '70s, in which a government investigator was looking into strange behavior by employees of a high-tech company. They appeared to be winning bids and doing trading in ways which required access to information that they shouldn't have had. It looked for a while as if they were telepaths. Turned out that they were, in a high-tech way - the company had developed neural implant technology and had built their own telepathy-by-radio system.

When the investigator revealed that he knew their trick, they tried to strong-arm him... and he flipped a switch on a device in his pocket and they all collapsed to the floor. He left them a letter complementing them on their discoveries, pointing out that they'd taken completely inadequate measures to proof their radio-comm channels against interference, and suggesting that they stop trying to game the government's bidding procedures and "come clean' about their inventions.

Don't remember the author, but it was a decent read.

That's the risk about implanted technology - you can't just take it off. Security measures and a really reliable on/off switch become pretty important.

Dave wrote:Don't remember the author, but it was a decent read.

It really sounds like Christopher Anvil (don't think it was) or Mack Reynolds.