ICYMI: Hyper directional sound guides runners
Visually impaired athletes can use the system on indoor tracks.
Today on In Case You Missed It: Malaysian sportswear company Ash Be Nimble has expanded their product line to include the Handbag Dyetonator, a fob-style accessory that will expel ink and smoke onto anyone who walks (or runs, or scoots) away with your bag. The Dyetonator attaches to a purse similar to a keychain and can be deployed via SMS message (so hopefully your phone wasn't in that bag...) to mark a thief for easy identification. It also contains a GPS tracker, should the culprit succeed in getting away with your pocketbook. It's still in early testing phases, and certainly isn't foolproof, but the idea of a dye pack exploding on a thief is a satisfying thought, so hopefully this will eventually make it to market. Meanwhile, a Swedish sound design company has come up with an inventive way to assist sight-impaired runners: Sound, or rather, "hyper directional sound.". The company, Lexter, spent two years creating what is essentially an auditory flashlight which projects a narrow-band beam of sound to guide runners along a path. Should runners stray from their lane, the tones can guide them back into place. The system uses a pair of speakers to emit the tones, and given that some special olympic athletes have expressed interest, might be available on indoor tracks sooner rather than later. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @Dameright.
