Olympia Soundbug Turns Any Hard Surface Into a Sounding Board for Music or Voice.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers NOTE TO MEDIA: Photo is available in a Smart News Release(TM) on Business Wire's Home Page at www.businesswire.com and at www.newstream.com PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 3, 2002 Underwater Sonar Technology Developed by U.S. Military Exclusively Patented for New Consumer Electronics Device Wave Industries Ltd., today announces the availability of the Olympia Soundbug, an innovative audio device that turns any hard, smooth surface -- such as a tabletop, door or window -- into a sounding board for music or voice. About the size of a small mobile phone, Soundbug is a portable alternative to headphones Head-mounted speakers. Headphones have a strap that rests on top of the head, positioning a pair of speakers over both ears. For listening to music or monitoring live performances and audio tracks, both left and right channels are required. or loudspeakers for use with products such as portable CD, MP3, Minidisc A compact digital audio disc from Sony that comes in read-only and rewritable versions. Introduced in late 1993, the MiniDisc has been most popular in Japan. The read-only 2.5" disc stores 140MB compared to 650MB on a CD, but holds the same 74 minutes worth of music due to Sony's Adaptive and cassette players, hand-held game consoles, camcorders and laptop computers. Soundbug is available via the Web at www.soundbug-us.com for $49.95. Soundbug, from Wave Industries, is the first in a series of consumer products the company plans to market under the Olympia brand name. A single Soundbug generates sound loud enough for a group of people to enjoy music together. Two Soundbug devices can be linked together to generate stereo sound (from a stereo source) to significantly increase sound output. Soundbug plugs into the standard 3.5mm headphone See headphones. socket of any device. A suction cup suction cup n. A cup-shaped device, usually of plastic or rubber, designed to adhere to a flat surface by means of suction. Noun 1. push ring attaches Soundbug firmly to any smooth, hard surface. The device features a three-position switch -- off, soft and loud -- as well as a power sleep circuit to save battery power when no audio source is detected. Magnetostriction Magnetostriction The change of length of a ferromagnetic substance when it is magnetized. More generally, magnetostriction is the phenomenon that the state of strain of a ferromagnetic sample depends on the direction and extent of magnetization. : The Technology Behind Soundbug For the Soundbug to work, it must be suctioned onto a flat, smooth surface. Then, revolutionary technology takes over to produce sound. Soundbug uses magnetostriction or magnetoelasticity, licensed exclusively for use in consumer products from Olympia and Wave, and a rare material called Terfenol-D, originally developed by the U.S. military for underwater sonar applications. Terfenol-D is a combination of iron and rare earth metals rare earth metal Any of a large class of chemical elements including scandium (atomic number 21), yttrium (39), and the 15 elements from 57 (lanthanum) to 71 (see lanthanides). grown into crystals and harvested in only two places worldwide -- China and Iowa. Unlike traditional speakers that rely on a metal coil and a speaker cone Speaker Cones or loudspeaker cones can be manufactured from various materials depending on driver implementaion ( i.e. box design), desired frequency response for each driver, and cost. moving rapidly like a piston to vibrate the air in front of the speaker to create sound waves, each Soundbug includes a sliver sliver in wool processing a continuous band of carded and combed wool which has not yet been twisted into yarn. of magnetostrictive material -- Terfenol-D. When activated by a magnetic field, the Terfenol-D expands and contracts at very high frequency and with dramatic force. Soundbug's unique actuator A mechanism that causes a device to be turned on or off, adjusted or moved. The motor and mechanism that moves the head assembly on a disk drive or an arm of a robot is called an actuator. See access arm. harnesses this force and transfers it to the surface to which Soundbug is attached, creating vibrations and effectively turning that surface into a sounding board.
Soundbug Technical Specifications
Volume 75 dbm (peak)
Battery Life 4 hour continuous play
Frequency Response 8000 Hz
Input Impedance 2.7K ohms
Interface Input 3.5mm stereo jack
Output 3.5mm stereo socket
Power Consumption 3 AAA alkaline batteries
Cable Length 6 feet
Weight 8 ounces/180g
including batteries
Dimensions 4.1in x 1.9in x 1.5in
105 mm x 50mm x 40mm
Pricing & Availability Soundbug is available immediately from www.soundbug-us.com for $49.95 (includes three AAA batteries). About Wave Industries Ltd. Wave Industries Ltd. develops, markets and distributes innovative consumer telecommunications and audio products under the Olympia brand name. Wave Industries Ltd., based in Portland, Oregon, is a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. of Elite Industrial Holdings Ltd. Note: A Photo is available at URL URL in full Uniform Resource Locator Address of a resource on the Internet. The resource can be any type of file stored on a server, such as a Web page, a text file, a graphics file, or an application program. : http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/photo.cgi?pw.060302/bb11 |
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