tooth

One Direction music toothbrush: Boy band insanity in your mouth

I have lived my life blissfully unscathed by boy band phenomenon One Direction. Until now. Arm & Hammer has released two new Tooth Tunes musical toothbrushes featuring two-minute clips of the chart-topping songs "What Makes You Beautiful" and "One Thing."

The $9.99 toothbrush runs on AAA batteries. The "Music in Your Mouth" technology is described as working by streaming sound vibrations through the brush's bristles into the teeth, making it one of the more bizarre applications of bone-conduction music delivery.… Read more

SuperTooth touts in-car call quality with HD Voice

LAS VEGAS--Almost every new car comes with a Bluetooth hands-free phone system, but SuperTooth believes there is still room for a Bluetooth speakerphone car kit, as evidenced by its launch of the HD Voice at CES 2013. And with the HD Voice's advanced features, SuperTooth may be right.

A spokesperson for SuperTooth suggested the call quality was so good, the HD Voice would be preferable to use in cars over the native hands-free phone system. A bold claim, but the HD Voice does come with two microphones and two speakers, hardware that will not only enhance call quality, but … Read more

SuperTooth readies two budget portable Bluetooth speakers for CES

I gave high marks to the original SuperTooth Disco bookshelf speaker when it dropped into stores last year, but I took issue with its inability to travel and of course, the lack of true stereo sound.

This year, the company will take to CES again to announce a portable listening solution called the Disco Twin that includes two separate speakers, giving you option to perch them wherever you like.

Wireless Bluetooth channels stream music to each device powered by 16 watts of audio juice, and the company's legacy "bass reflex system" in the back keeps the low … Read more

Crave Ep. 104: Bluetooth toilet humor

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On this week's show, we check out Tailly, a wearable robotic tail that wags when you get excited. If that gets you wagging, then you'll definitely want to have a look at the Satis Bluetooth toilet that can flush with your smartphone. And in honor of winter, we look at how a snowflake is born. It's the last show of 2012, and we bid you farewell until the new year. The show returns on January 18. … Read more

Which of these Bluetooth speakerphones sounds the best? (comparison)

Most phones sold these days have a speakerphone mode. This setting is usually good enough for an impromptu hands-free call in a quiet office. However, when you get on the road in a noisy car, the phone's flaws are made apparent. For example, the built-in microphone can be less than ideal for canceling the levels of road and wind noise present in a car at highway speed, which leads to poor quality on the receiving end of your calls. I'm sure that you dislike repeating yourself to callers as much as I do, so let's look at how to improve call quality.

Visor-mounted Bluetooth speakerphones feature more sophisticated microphones with noise and echo-cancellation technology located closer to your head, which can dramatically improve sound quality. How much of an improvement should you expect? I've recorded outbound calls from five speakerphones (and my test phone's internal microphone) to demonstrate. … Read more

Wireless tooth tattoo can detect bad bacteria

Some tech just sounds too good to be true. A removable, wireless sensor that adheres to dental enamel and can detect trace amounts of harmful bacteria just might fall into the too-much-information category for the squeamish among us.

But the silk, gold, and graphene-based sensor that looks a bit like a temporary tattoo could play a key role in detecting and treating various diseases and conditions, the developers at Princeton University say.

"This is a real-time, wireless response from a sensor that can be directly interfaced with a variety of biomaterials," principal investigator Michael McAlpine, an assistant professor … Read more

BTServer may cause CPU spikes for some iOS developers

If you develop applications for Apple's iPhone or iPad, you may run into an issue where the Mac you're working on may start lagging or even lock up. If this happens, checking Activity Monitor may show the process BTServer running in the background.

For some people experiencing this problem, their Macs start running slower with the fans blaring at high speed, but for others the system crawls to a halt, requiring a forced reset of the system.

In order to properly test iOS applications, Apple includes an iOS simulator in its XCode package that is regularly used to … Read more

The 404 924: Where we open the pod bay doors (podcast)

iOS 5 reviews are coming in from around the Web, but the Siri voice control application is grabbing everyone's attention with a clever answer to nearly any question you throw at it.

Apparently it'll tell you everything from where to hide a body to how to secure paid company for the night, and explain the meaning of life. Strangely, it seems the only thing it won't do is call the police. Siri needs to get her priorities straight!

Today's 404 features CNET's Scott Stein and Bridget Carey; read on for the news highlights.… Read more

This Day in Tech: Facebook blocks contact-exporting tool, Twitter buys BackType

Too busy to keep up with today's tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET for Tuesday, July 5.

Facebook blocks contact-exporting tool Social network hobbles a Chrome extension that moves friends' contact info to Google+, but a programmer is working on a way around the restriction. More

Twitter buys influence with BackType acquisition The next battleground in social networking is measuring influence, not just winning users. Twitter's acquisition of social-media analysis company BackType illustrates that trend. More

iPhone 5 order: 15 million for Sept. launch, report says Apple has put in an order … Read more

How to automate Foursquare check-ins with your Android device

Foursquare can be fun--but it can also start to feel like work. If you're the Mayor of your favorite coffee shop, holding onto that title can turn into a chore. The hundredth time you drag out your phone, pop open the Foursquare app, wait for it to figure out where you are, and then finally check in, the novelty may have faded a tiny bit. Fortunately, there's a sweet, free Android app called ToothTag that can automatically check you in at your favorite places, as long as they've got Wi-Fi or Bluetooth signals you can recognize. Here'… Read more