Forced to tune out the world with some headphones while you ride? Tunebug hears ya, even if you don’t hear them.
Personally, I don’t know how some folk ride with two earbuds in. Besides freaking me out, I think it affects my balance. Don’t worry, I’m not hear, er, here to judge (I’ll save the criticism for your music selections) but Tunebug has a solution.
Their Shake sound generator uses their patented SurfaceSound Technology to send sound waves through any surface it’s resting on, effectively turning the object into the equivalent of a flat panel speaker. The result? An aura of surround sound floating about you as you pedal along…and better situational awareness so you don’t get whacked by a car, passed by your buddy or stomped by a bear.
The Shake comes with both the strap-on mount shown above for typical cycling helmets and their Gecko mount for smoother skate/snowboard/ski/BMX/dirt jump helmets (shown after the break). The unit weighs just 2.4oz (68g) and is less than 1″ tall. The built-in rechargeable LiPoly battery is good for 5 hours of play and recharges via USB. You can connect it wirelessly with Bluetooth or with an old skool headphone cable.
More pics, video and details after the break…
Tunebug’s Shake uses NXT’s technology, which is widely used in cars and small, portable speaker systems and things like flat screen TVs, cell phones, laptops, etc., and provides a fairly natural, neutral sound.
The Gecko Mount attaches via three velcro attachments on the end of the ‘tripod’ mount for use on skate, snowboard and urban/dirt jump type helmets.
The Shake is water resistant and has a rubber molded grippy exterior. Volume and on/off adjustments are made via the touch sensitive exterior. It’ll start shipping around the end of February for $119.95.
Wanna see how it works? Check out this CNET video from CES 2010:
Tunebug also offers the Vibe (below), a slightly larger non-wireless version that’s more suited to indoor use, for $69.95. Sssshh, don’t tell anyone, but they’re cheaper on Amazon.com.
From the looks of this photo, they’re using it as a speaker phone (with the iPhone’s mic as the input, we guess).
