Be all Captain Kirk with Siemens' wearable communication badge

Now you, too, can look like an idiot talking to your lapel in your own home, thanks to Siemens' new wearable communications device. It hooks into a central home communications server (server not included…) via Bluetooth to send voice commands that get translated by software into controls for the integrated systems of your house. The speech recognition technology developed by Siemens does appear to be an improvement over some earlier systems we've seen in that it doesn't need to be "trained" to recognize the user's voice, but can understand 30,000 words, as well as predefined commands, right out of the box. But Siemens wants you to don this outrageous brooch to handle functions like controlling the house intercom system, instructing the master lock system to open the door (when did electronic master lock systems take off?), and of course to handle typical phone duties without the need for a headset. We'll keep our Jabra for now and come back to this next time we're shopping for geeky jewelry.