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SoundBite dental hearing aid receives European approval
We've already seen the principle of bone conduction be applied to headphones, but Sonitus Medical is taking the idea to a whole new level with its SoundBite dental hearing aid, which has just received the necessary European CE Mark certification (it already has FDA approval). As you can probably surmise, the device is a hearing aid that's placed on your teeth, although it's not actually implanted or attached in any way -- it's simply custom fitted to the person's upper back teeth. The other part of the package is a more standard-type hearing aid unit that's worn behind the ear, which processes and wirelessly transmits to the device in your mouth. That's obviously not intended for cases when a simple hearing aid will do, but Sonitus says the system can help people who are "essentially deaf" in one ear regain their spatial hearing ability.
Samsung's HD DVD / Blu-Ray combo player, just in case
First it was on, then off, and now wouldn't you know it, Samsung's dual-format HD DVD/Blu-ray player might see the light of your home theater after all. Too true, at least according to Digital World Tokyo who caught up with Kim Du-Hyon, the assistant (to the assistant?) manager in Samsung's home-platform product planning division, who said that Sammy is already working on a dual-format, "universal" drive which could launch by the end of the year if HD DVD is as successful as Blu-ray Disc. Hmm, big-ass assumptions aside, it's not really a surprise to find a consumer electronics powerhouse with R&D capital to burn hedging their next-gen, optical disc format bets, especially since Samsung is already in bed with Toshiba (the big mama of HD DVD) on a storage technology joint-venture. And you know Samsung execs are just itchin' for another "world's first" placard. Still, the timing of such a statement couldn't be worse with Samsung's fledgling BD-P1000 Blu-ray Disc player just days away from US launch signaling the first shot across the bow of the already entrenched HD DVD camp. Now someone please get Sim Hong Woo on the horn to teach those Samsung execs middle-managers how to talk some smack and declare war properly on the competition. Sheez. [Via HD Beat]
