Widget Watch: Trekkies Rejoice with the Com-Badge
This is not your everyday fashion button with a Dukes of Hazzard picture and a catchy phrase. This device is much more practical and much less likely to fall into the chasm of useless (and potentially embarrassing) rubbish. Trekkies rejoice! Siemens has in development a Star Trek-like personalized “Com-Badge,” a wearable home control gadget that uses voice commands to operate electronic devices in your house, enabling you to close the garage door, turn on the lights, activate your home alarm, and even answer the phone, all from the office, the supermarket, the kids’ soccer game, any remote location. Using voice-recognition software that recognizes 30,000 words, your commands are transmitted using Bluetooth technology connected to a central server within the house. For the fashion conscious, Com-Badges will also be available that can be worn like jewelry…perhaps a stylish brooch with which to answer the front door?
So just press to activate the badge and speak your command, “Wash dishes.” Oh wait, for the lazy-at-heart, it can’t quite do your chores for you or walk your dog…stay tuned for that technological marvel.