New Accessory Will Control Your iPod In The Blink Of An Eye
Posted March 4, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
If you own an iPod, keep your eyes on Japan – literally. Leave it to the gadget crazy country to invent the latest innovation to a product that’s already become synonymous with MP3 players.
A local university has come up with what could be the next big ‘must have’ accessory for the ubiquitous device – a sensor that’s capable of operating the machine when you blink. It’s called the “Temple Switch” and it emanates from Osaka University’s Graduate School of Engineering Science, which you might think would have better things to do with its researchers’ time.
The add-on clips to your glasses or headphones and uses an infra-red sensor to watch your eye movements. If you want to go back on your iPod, you wink strongly for one second using one eye. Want to skip to the next tune without ever touching your player? Use your other orb to make it happen. Close both eyes to get the remote to play or pause – although that’s not recommended if you’re listening while driving your car.
And now for the obvious question: doesn’t the remote trigger itself when you’re simply blinking unconsciously in the normal course of events? “It doesn’t happen at all. This system doesn’t malfunction even if the user eats, talks, walks and runs,” insists spokesman Kazuhiro Taniguchi. He claims the device has built-in safeguards that allow it to tell the difference between a deliberate wink and an accidental blink. “The computer can judge the difference of those signals,” he concludes.
It sounds like the ultimate gift for the extremely lazy. But this idea is also eyeing some practical applications. The developer claims his device can be adapted to work on TVs, stereos, lights, cell phones and even air conditioners and wheelchairs.
So when can you buy one? Not yet. The inventors hope to perfect and have this amazing technology on the market within the next two to three years. And Taniguchi isn’t done yet. He’s also working on a similar system that allows for devices to be controlled when you simply clench your teeth.
All of which gives a brand new meaning to that old Biblical aphorism, ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’
Photo credit: Cate Gillon/Getty Images
