I tend to get a lot of crazy ideas, and I find a lot of crazy products that way. This morning I started thinking about uses for joaomgcd’s new AutoVoice app, and I started thinking about the communicator badge from Star Trek. For those who haven’t seen that (part of the) series, the idea is that you have a wearable badge that also works as a communicator. Tap it, and you can talk to other people or the computer.
With today’s Bluetooth technology, I thought that perhaps someone had already made a viable Bluetooth speakerphone version of the Star Trek badge, so I did a Google search, and found CommBadge. While it’s not shaped as a Star Trek badge, the functionality is spot on, and it cleverly markets itself as something more than just a Star trek “toy”. It’s essentially a wearable speaker phone, where tapping it enables voice control on iOS and Android devices. It also has vibration, sound, and LED alert functionality, and to top it all off, there are versions that will hold an ID badge.
I think this is a great idea, and best of all this is something that works out of the box with both iOS and many Android devices. The video shows it being used with Siri, but Google Now is also an option, and I’m hoping that it will be relatively easy to use this with other apps, such as AutoVoice.
I have to say that the idea of a real life commbadge intrigues me, if only to cater to the Trekker in me. It will be available this summer, starting at $89, and I fear that come fall, I’ll be running around tapping my chest and yelling “computer, lights.”
