Squishy Cellphones Add a Buzz to Calls
    Vibrating rubber cellphone could be the next big thing in mobile communications. They allow people to communicate by squishing the phone to transmit vibrations along with their spoken words. According to a research team at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge. Massachusetts, the idea will make phoning more fun.
    Many mobile phones can already be made to vibrate instead of ring when you do not want people to know you are getting a call. But these vibrations, caused by a motor spinning an eccentric weight inside the device, are too crude for subtle communication, says Angela Chang of the lab's Tangible Media Group. "They're either on or off," she says.
    But when you grip Chang's prototype latex cellphone, your fingers and thumb wrap around five tiny speakers. They vibrate against your skin around 250 times per second. Beneath these speakers sit pressure sensors, so you can transmit vibration as well as receiving it. When you squeeze with a finger, a vibration signal is transmitted to you caller's corresponding finger. Its strength depends on how hard you squeeze.
    She says that within a few minutes of being given the phones, students were using the vibration feature to add emphasis to what they were saying or to interrupt the other speaker. Over time, people even began to transmit their own kind of ad hoe "Morse code", which they would repeat back to show they were following what the other person was saying. "It was pretty easy to communicate, though we didn't specifically prearrange codes," says David Milovich, one of the students who tried out the device.
    Chang thinks "vibralanguages" could take off for the same reason as texting: sometimes people want to communicate something without everyone nearby knowing what they're saying. "And imagine actually being able to shake someone's hand when you close a business deal," he says.
    可按壓手機(jī)給通話
    增添了震動(dòng)
    振動(dòng)橡膠手機(jī)將是移動(dòng)通訊的下一個(gè)重要的事物。它們使人們能夠通過(guò)按壓電話機(jī)來(lái)隨著他們的話傳遞震動(dòng)的方式通訊。據(jù)馬薩諸塞州劍橋市的麻省理工媒體實(shí)驗(yàn)室的研究小組說(shuō)，這個(gè)主意可以使打電話更有趣。
    許多手機(jī)已經(jīng)可以在你不希望別人知道你有電話來(lái)時(shí)震動(dòng)而不響鈴了。但是實(shí)驗(yàn)室的可觸摸媒體組的Angela Chang說(shuō)，這種在手機(jī)內(nèi)由發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)使重心離心旋轉(zhuǎn)而產(chǎn)生的振動(dòng)對(duì)敏感的通訊來(lái)說(shuō)太粗糙了。她說(shuō)：“它們不是開(kāi)著就是關(guān)著?！?BR>    但是當(dāng)你握著Chang的橡膠手機(jī)模型時(shí)，你的手指和拇指包著五個(gè)小喇叭。它們以每秒鐘250次的頻率振動(dòng)，撞擊著你的皮膚。在這些小喇叭下面是壓力感應(yīng)器，因此你就可以傳遞震動(dòng)和接收震動(dòng)了。當(dāng)你下壓一個(gè)手指時(shí)，一個(gè)振動(dòng)信號(hào)就會(huì)傳到你的呼叫者的相應(yīng)的手指上。振動(dòng)的力度取決于你擠壓的力量多大。
    她說(shuō)在拿到這種手機(jī)后幾分鐘，學(xué)生們就可以用振動(dòng)功能強(qiáng)調(diào)他們所說(shuō)的話，或打斷別的說(shuō)話人了。隨著時(shí)間的延長(zhǎng)，人們開(kāi)始傳遞他們自己的特別“莫爾斯電碼”，他們可以重復(fù)這些電碼以表明他們聽(tīng)懂了對(duì)方說(shuō)的話。試用這種手機(jī)的學(xué)生之一David Milovich說(shuō)：“用它來(lái)通訊很簡(jiǎn)單，盡管我們沒(méi)有特別提前制定密碼?！?BR>    Chang認(rèn)為“振動(dòng)語(yǔ)言”可以以同樣的道理取代文字：有時(shí)人們想交流一些事情而不愿周?chē)娜酥浪麄冊(cè)谡f(shuō)什么。她說(shuō)：“想像一下當(dāng)你完成一筆交易時(shí)還可和別人握手。