Smoke

Faced with increasingly strict regulations on public smoking, Japanese smokers are left with few designated smoking areas where they light one up. In order to help these people locate assigned smoking areas, Katabami Crafts has created a free "Smoking Map" iPhone application. Read More

It might look like a McDonald’s fries packet, but the Firescuba concept is nothing to be laughed at if it keeps you alive until help arrives. Smoke inhalation is the major cause of most fire-related injuries and deaths so if this device with its carbon filter lets you breathe through smoke, it’s probably worth carrying one around with you or keeping one within reach at home. Read More

The quest for ever more realistic sound reproduction seems set to move to a whole new level. Traditional microphones convert sound to electrical signals by measuring the deflections that sound vibrations cause in a diaphragm. But each diaphragm has its own weight, inertia and resistance, which colors the sound that gets recorded. So American digital audio pioneer David Schwartz, who invented the MP3 sound format, has come up with a novel new type of microphone that virtually eliminates the microphone's mechanical interference with the sound. The laser/smoke microphone uses a laser to measure the deflections that sound makes in a steady stream of smoke - which is virtually weightless. Prepare for a new wave of high-fidelity microphone technology. Read More