Flying Jetpack.

Kiwi ingenuity is alive and well and flying a Jetpack 5000 feet above sea level.

No longer the stuff of comic stories, the Martin Jetpack is soaring to incredible heights, and could go even higher, according to its inventor Glenn Martin.

The Jetpack, which relies on two powerful fans to get airborne, is attracting international interest, including from the US military, but its potential uses are wider.

Japanese authorities dealing with the earthquake-damaged Fukushima nuclear power station even looked into using it to take test samples above the plant.

The flight near Ashburton on the Canterbury plains in New Zealand was piloted by remote control, with a crash-test dummy in the pilot's position. The machine flew to 5000 feet, then down to about 2000 feet before firing a rocket-propelled parachute. From there it sailed safely to the ground without damage.

A dummy was flown first for safety reasons and a real person will be second.

The jetpack can go places where helicopters can't, such as the sides of cliffs and between trees and buildings.

The next step would be to develop a parachute similar to those used on jet pilot ejector seats which opened faster than the rocket-propelled type.

To develop the jetpack to this point had cost $12 million in savings and venture capital and 30 years of Martin's life. And the intention was to float the company on the sharemarket, to raise capital to get the jet pack into mass production. Early estimates were that one might retail for about $60,000.

New Scooter Tech... The Winglet.

Toyota has developed a motorized, stand-up-and-ride scooter similar to the Segway, It is designed to help people move about in public places. Toyota came up with this only a year after taking control of Sony's robotics business but they have no plans to turn it into a commercial product just yet. Toyota will start testing the Winglet later in the year at a few Japanese airports and a resort complex, And next year at shopping malls in and around Japan which is to get user feedback. Overseas tests are undecided at this stage.

However, the Winglet is probably not up to the same standard as the American made Segway in speed or ruggedness. The Winglet goes up to 6 km/h, about the same speed as pedestrians and far slower than the U.S.made Segway which can travel up to 20 km/h.

Toyota officials say that anyone can ride it with some practice, including the elderly, Which is its major target buyer.

Toyota envisions a future in which the Winglet will be packed with wireless technology so it can relay shopping information at shops, even move on its own to recharge the batteries, or even collect the owner when summoned.

The machine is designed to respond almost intuitively, It will move forward when you lean to the front and turning when you sway to the right or left. One of the three models shown comes with a handle that can be grabbed and used the same as you would use a steering wheel. It stops easily with little pressure, pivots full-circles and travels smoothly over bumps on roads.
Winglet, which runs on electricity, goes about 5 kilometres on one charge.

The smallest version of Winglet weighs only 9.9 kilograms and can be folded up to be carried on buses, trains or packed in car trunks, Not much use to the elderly then really is it? Ok for the quick trip to the supermarket but otherwise the elderly are probably better off with the good old mobility scooter.

Do they really know whats best.

LCD televisions are being promoted by store salespeople over the plasma television, So when your shopping for a flat panel television, What do you get? LCD or plasma, I did a post a few months back entitled LCD VS Plasma TVs, It states all the pros and cons to each, And the truth is most of the salespeople don't actually have any idea of the differences but still have a ready answer: buy LCD, The reason for this is they are more expensive and over a third of salesmen are still under the impression that "burn-in" is still a problem with plasmas, That was the case several years ago but no longer and the longevity of plasma displays is now on par with LCDs.

Three times out of four, salespeople steer customers to a liquid-crystal display television sets rather than a plasma screen, And even though they have a preferance for the LCD they still dont mention some of the differences between the two, The LCD is lighter, and they consume a lot less power than a plasma, but by how much? They just dont make a comparrason.

Plasma televisions were the first mainstream flat-panel display technology, but LCDs have gained ground. Sony Corporation have stopped making plasma TVs now and are focusing on LCDs. Samsung Electronic Co. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. which is the parent company of Panasonic, still make both LCDs and plasmas. Pioneer is the premier name in high-end plasma sets and have announced that it will stop manufacturing the displays, and will buy them from Matsushita instead.

Recommendations from salespeople carry so much importance when buying larger ticket items like this, But don't always believe everything they say. My advice is to do your own homework before making that purchase. My opinion is LCD's as the pros outweigh the cons, It depends what your using your television predominantly for, IE: Gaming, Sports viewing, Movies etc.

No replacement for real exercise

Lately ive read many posts stating the benefits of the Nintendo Wii and how people are using it to get active and fit, Parents are encouraging inactive children to get active using the Wii, But its not exactly doing what you think it is. Nothing can replace being active on the field or the swimming pool etc.

Interactive games such as the Nintendo Wii are far better for children than conventional computer games like the Xbox or Playstation but they do not tackle the obesity problem in children.

A study has shown that playing virtual sports such as boxing, tennis, bowling and aerobics on the Nintendo Wii burned around 50% more energy than playing computer games where you remain motionless. Real boxing burns over twice as much energy as Wii boxing, Real tennis is 77% more demanding than the electronic version, and conventional tenpin bowling uses more 15% more calories than virtual tenpin bowling.

A child who plays Wii sports will use about 2% more energy than a child playing Xbox or Playstation and the activity isn't enough to be counted as recommended daily physical activity. However these games can play a role in weight management and are preferred over Xbox and Playstation.

Disappointing iPhone pricing plans.

With the release of the iPhone 3G which is due to go on sale this Friday here in New Zealand, Vodafone have released the prices, much to the disappointment of many people. The prices when compared to the iPhone around the rest of the world is just ridiculous. There is even an online petition asking Vodafone to have them available as a pre-pay and to review the pricing structure.


Vodafone New Zealand is selling Apple's 8 gigabyte iPhone 3G from $199, but only on a 24-month contract and charging $250 per month. The plan includes voice calls, SMS and 1GB of data per month. A two year total of $6000.

In Australia the 8GB iPhone wont cost anything on a 24-month plan from Optus, And only charges A$79 (NZ$105) per month for 700MB of data. A two year total of $A1896 (NZ$2520).

In the UK, O2 sells the 8GB iPhone for £99 (approx NZ$250), on a 18-month plan, £30 per month contract. This plan has unlimited data and runs at £819 (NZ$2137) over a two year period.

In Canada, you can get the 8GB iPhone for C$199. However this is on a three year contract but still works out to C$1639 or (approximately$NZ2100) over two years.

Vodafone New Zealand wont sell the iPhone on pre-pay, however people can purchase the iPhone outright without a data plan and no contract to use only for voice and SMS on vodafones origional plans, Which doesnt make sense to me, You may aswell just stick to your origional phone, But anyway for those that just want an iPhone to look the part you will be able to buy the 8GB model starting from NZ$979 and the 16GB model for NZ$1129, PLUS the monthly cost of the plan, and it can't be used on the net nor can you download emails unless you buy a separate data plan. Australian company Optus will sell the iPhone on pre-pay, The 8GB model will cost A$729 (NZ$926), And the 16GB model A$849 (NZ$1080).

I haven't come across any price plans from Asia but would definitely be interested to know.

Earthrace shatters world record.

On the 18th of June, I posted about Earthrace, A powerboat that runs on Bio-Fuel and skippered by a New Zealander by the name of Peter Bethune, Ive just recently found out that they have smashed the round the world speed record, The 24,000km circumnavigation took only 60 days, 23 hours and 49 minutes which broke the previous record by 13 days, 21 hours and 9 minutes.

The boat and its crew set off from Spain on April 27 in an attempt to challenge the world record that had remained unbroken since 1998, when it was set by the British boat, Cable and Wireless Adventurer.

The boat crossed the finish line in Sagunto, Spain, at 2.24pm on Friday June 27, and completed the journey using 100 percent biofuel to demonstrate and draw global attention to the potential for alternative fuel sources.

Congratulations to the team.

Are you in control of your speed?

The NSW Center for Road Safety will install 100 cars with GPS devices that will not only notify the driver of the speed limit but also warn them when they are going to fast. The technology will be trialled in Illawarra, (New South Wales), Victoria and Western Australia next month and run for one and a half years.

The system warns the driver of the speed limit aswell as the speed they are travelling, If the driver doesn't react and slow down, other technology will kick in to limit the supply of fuel to the engine, Which will reduce the speed to the limit.

This technology is said to cost over one million Australian dollars for the 18 month trial, And if the trials are successful it will make the system available to the public at an estimated cost of installing the devices at between A$700 and A$800 per car. aswell as adopting this technology to all cars during manufacture in future.

Up until now its only been an annoying beep that tells you your going to fast, And that was easy to disconnect. I wonder if this piece of annoying technology will stop when you turn the GPS off.

Biofuel powerboat

As many people may already be aware, The fastest eco boat on the planet is attempting to break the round the world speed record using Bio fuel, and with a net zero carbon-footprint. Pete Bethune from New Zealand is the skipper of Earthrace, Bethune and his wife mortgaged their house and sold everything they own to help make this project happen, while continuing to seek support from sponsors. Demonstrating further commitment to the cause, Bethune underwent liposuction and donated enough to produce 100ml of biofuel, while two other, larger volunteers also had the procedure, making a total of 10 liters of human fat, This in turn produced seven liters of biofuel, which could help the boat travel about 15km.

Earthrace is a 78 foot alternative fuel powered wave-piercing trimaran, it can carry 3,000 gallons of fuel, and weighs 23 tonnes when fully fueled, Earthrace is powered by twin Cummins QSC 540 diesel engines with propellers pitched for the record attempt. The boat reaches speeds at around 25 knots. At more sedate passage making speeds in the order of 15 knots, the boat will have sufficient range for large stretches of open ocean involving up to 2500 nautical miles between refueling stops - the slender central hull and tuned sponsons offering excellent fuel efficiency.

Circumnavigating the globe represents the pinnacle of powerboat challenges, and more than 24,000 nautical miles is the world's longest speed challenge.
The current record holder is British boat Cable and Wireless Adventurer which took 75 days in 1998.

The boat is designed to cut through waves rather than sail over which enables the boat to go faster through big seas compared to conventional craft.

At the moment the world record attempt has slowed dramatically as it battles rugged weather on the leg from India to the Arabian Peninsula.

Earthrace refuelled at the weekend in Kochi, on the west coast of India, but managed just 414km in her first 24 hours, and is now travelling at only 20km/h.

It is travelling 2600km to Salalah in the sultanate of Oman, where it is expected to arrive late on Wednesday or early Thursday, then on to Port Said in Suez.

New Zealand skipper Pete Bethune said on his website that he was trying to avoid hull damage in confused and lumpy seas and deteriorating conditions.

Billboard barcodes.

The prospect of flashing a mobile phone at a movie poster to get screening times and buy tickets or aiming a handset at a business card to spare the hassle of manually entering the details might seem a bit fancy and futuristic to most, But this Technology does exist and has done for quite some time, Up until now its only been available in Japan.

Known as Quick Response Codes, the square bar codes on flyer's, newspapers or T-shirts provide a direct link to a web page. When mobile phones with internet capability are swiped over the top, the user is taken directly to a related web page. The process allows people to easily obtain restaurant locations, book a taxi, find nutritional information, listen to music, enter competitions and sign up for giveaways.

This technology was pioneered in Japan. Advertisers started placing the codes on billboards, magazines and shopfronts back in 2000. In Japan, mobile phone users only have to position the code inside a square viewfinder on their screen to be taken directly to a corresponding website. Since then, it has been embraced by almost every retail industry and adopted by consumers to encode personal details on business cards, Mc Donalds in Japan have even put codes on hamburger rappers and Supermarkets put them on meat and egg packaging to provide information about the farms that produced them.

They can be scanned and read by software provided in almost every one of Japan's 100 million handsets. However, Special phone software is needed to read the codes. In some cases this can be downloaded from the internet, but Quick Response Code-compatible phones will be available in the future.

According to a survey in Japan, 73 per cent of consumers have used Quick Response Codes, And among teenagers the figure rises to 90 per cent.

Passport control, New Technology

If you've ever come off a long flight and had to stand tired and crumpled in a queue for passport control, you'll appreciate the logic behind Smartgate, the latest attempt at airport automation.

It's a system that lets arriving passengers with biometric-enabled passports (ePassports) check themselves through immigration and customs at computer kiosks. It has been trialled at Brisbane airport and will get a test run at Wellington (NZ) airport in the coming months.

It works like this: when you get off the plane instead of joining a queue at passport control you go to an ePassport terminal and swipe your passport through it.

The computer uploads a digital photo of your face, asks you the types of standard questions immigration and customs officers are likely to and prints a ticket for you. As you progress through the airport you come to another kiosk where you enter your ticket.

Three cameras simultaneously scan your face and, using facial-recognition software that measures the structure of your facial features and the space between them, decides whether you are the person the computer thinks you are. If there's a match, you're on your way.

There were a few hiccups last year in getting the technology working properly, mainly due to integrating the ePassport system with different kiosks and readers around airports.

Probably, but the system will take years to implement on a global system - New Zealand, for its part, wants the system in place for trans-Tasman travel by the 2011 Rugby World Cup. I look forward to checking out the system at Wellington Airport - once I get an ePassport.

There are also some changes in the air when it comes to in-flight communications. Qantas, by the end of the year, will let passengers on certain Australian domestic routes send and receive SMS messages and emails. In the states however, there's a big push underway to rekindle the market for broadband in the air, with Aircell using its technology on American Airlines and Virgin America flights to offer Wi-Fi access to passengers priced from US$10 for a trip lasting up to three hours.

I like the idea of having email and web-access in the air ever since i first used the in seat entertainment system many years ago. Voice calls from the air are of less interest to me. I'd rather not sit there listening to someone else's mid-air phone call and I'm sure the feeling would be mutual with many passengers.

technology

Modern technology for safer driving.

Many of these products that have been around for a while but have been updated with all the latest Technology.

The latest trend in car gadgets in the United States is to combine multiple functions in one unit. There are the in-car computers that let drivers navigate, email and store MP3s. The Kenwood DNX8120 is a navigation system, complete with Bluetooth, that also works like a radio.

The Alpine EX-10 is an Apple iPod adapter that doubles as a Bluetooth receiver and allows drivers to play their iPods through their car speakers without using a radio transmitter or tape adapter, both of which compromise sound quality.

Even products that have been around for a while are getting substantial updates.
The Escort 9500ci is a radar detector with a built-in navigation system so it can warn drivers of upcoming speed traps and keep track of locations that set off detectors even though no police radar is present.
New satellite-navigation systems issue spoken directions. Text-to-speech technology has become the latest buzzword in the navigation industry because of its emphasis on safety.
Since street names during guidance are spoken, the driver spends more time with their eyes on the road instead of their navigation display.

Most car controls need to be touched in order to operate, which can be another distraction for drivers. But the latest gadgets are changing that.
Voice command is another emerging technology with an emphasis on safety. Instead of manually typing route guidance on a touch-screen display, address information is simply spoken. luxury cars have been offering voice-command functionality for some time but it's now trickling down to the majority.

The Ford Sync system takes advantage of Bluetooth wireless technology to make cell phones and audio systems safer and easier to use.
To use the phone, simply say the word. The stereo knows to turn the volume down so you can hear the person on the other end.

The Viper Responder LE combines a remote starter with an alarm system. And if you're warming up your car before leaving the house, it doesn't leave you to guess when the car is toasty. Lights on the side of the remote will signal that the car interior is at the right temperature for you.

A joystick for mobile phone games.

One of the biggest barriers for wide adoption of mobile games is that a cell phone directional pad is often not suited for gaming. But Zeemote Inc. is trying to solve that with its remote joystick called the Zeemote JS1.

The wireless controller, about the size of two lighters, connects to a phone via bluetooth and offers a user a full thumb joystick and two main buttons. It doesn't matter if you're left or right-handed, the thing works fine in either case.

Zeemote is offering a software developer kit that allows game designers to easily integrate the Zeemote into their games. Sega, Eidos and Fishlabs are among the publishers who have signed on to produce games that work with the Zeemote.

You can play flying or racing games with the joystick and it's apparently very easy to move around. Try doing the same thing on a regular cell phone and its frustrating and not very fulfilling.

The cool thing is you can have two players play one game simultaneously if you like. Fergus McNeill, CEO of Finblade, showed me a mobile tennis game they have that allows two players to compete. Before the Zeemote you could never really do this using just one phone. If you want you can also have one player play with a Zeemote and the other play with the directional pad.

Pricing is still up in the air though Zeemote executives say they will keep it below $US50 for a stand alone purchase. It will launch in June this year and will likely be bundled with a phone and several games.

New Baggage handling technology.

Over the last 15 years Ive done a lot of traveling around the pacific, America and Asia, There has been a couple of occasions where my Luggage has gone to a different destination, Its really a frustrating experience that i wish upon knowbody. All airports around the world are using a relatively outdated form of baggage handling (barcode tracking). But until now thats all that existed. But things are about to change because the Technology is improving.

Emirates Airline have announced it is partnering with London Heathrow, Dubai International and Hong Kong International airports, to trial the latest RFID (radio-frequency identification) technology in baggage handling.

Emirates will be investing close to AED 2 million, to test the effectiveness and benefits of RFID against the existing barcode tracking system. The largest-ever trial of its kind for the airline industry, some half a million bags on Emirates flights will be tagged with RFID chips over the 6-month duration of the trial. This is about embracing the latest technology for the benefit of customers

The Dubai-based airline hopes its investment will help revolutionize the way bags are tracked and monitored, and present innovative solutions to handle the increasing volumes of baggage every year as more people around the world use air travel more frequently.

Previous RFID trials by other parties on a smaller scale have shown that the technology almost eliminates scanner misreads, significantly improving the efficiency of the baggage system and customer experience. We are now applying this on a much larger scale at three major airport hubs, including Emirates Dubai home-base, thus allowing the trials to include most possible baggage handling scenarios, including international transit." With 58 of the double-decked A380 aircraft entering Emirates service, each doubling the number of bags handled per aircraft, the airline is keen to find innovative technologies and new ways to improve baggage handling infrastructure and safeguard the level of trust of its customers.

Emirates will be encouraging airports across its network to embrace this technology. This could become a new industry standard for baggage handling." RFID equipment has been installed at some of Emirates check-in desks at the three participating airports. During the trial, trained staff will apply tags containing RFID chips to bags as part of the normal check-in process. The chips contain stored information including the bag unique ID number and route. In addition to the embedded RFID chips, these tags will also continue to display the traditional bar code.

The chips are read as they pass through the airports baggage system, enabling effective sorting, security screening and delivery to the aircraft. Arriving bags are read on entry to the baggage system and receipted into the system for effective tracking. Essentially, the chips will enable bags to be tracked at every stage of their journey, and minimize the possibilities for mishandling baggage.

In the future, RFID technology could also make it possible for airlines to send a text-message alert to notify passengers the moment that their luggage has arrived on the baggage carousel - meaning customers will have one less thing to worry about as they begin their holiday or business trip. So could this be the end to lost or misplaced baggage in the future? I certainly hope so...

Microfiber fabric makes own electricity

Scientists in America have developed a microfiber fabric that can generate electricity, apparently producing enough current to recharge a cell phone or ensure that a small MP3 music player never runs out of power.
If made into a shirt, the fabric could harness power from its wearer simply walking around or even from a slight breeze.

The generator takes advantage of the semiconductive properties of zinc oxide nanowires - There are tiny wires 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair embedded into the fabric. The wires are formed into pairs of microscopic brush-like structures, shaped like a baby-bottle brush. One of the fibers in each pair is coated with gold and serves as an electrode. As the bristles brush together through a person's body movement, the wires convert the mechanical motion into electricity and can produce up to 80 milliwatts per square meter of this fabric.

There is only one problem with this at the moment, zinc oxide degrades when wet. Im sure the scientists will be working on a solution to this problem.

Slacker - portable media player.

This device joins a crowded market of portable media players.
Finding new music is always one of life's joys and web services like Slacker have helped. But now you can get access to undiscovered tunes on a portable device.
Slacker has released a portable media player which uses a wi-fi connection to help you discover new bands and musicians. It's being touted as the world's first personalized portable radio player.

Unfortunately this service and players are only available in the US, But possibly already in the U.K aswell.
It works by downloading new songs to your player, based on your music listening preferences, each time you enter a wi-fi hotspot or connect the device to your computer.
You can have 40 different "radio stations", holding up to 4,000 songs, on the player, which comes in 500MB, 1.5GB and 4GB.
More viewer feed back on this gadget is welcomed.

Pink Nano for your Valentine.

Whos thought about what to get for their significant other this year for Valentines day. (Personally i try not to think about it).

With Valentines day not far away, Its not a bad idea to start thinking about what your significant other really wants, (If you haven't already) And whats hot for the Valentines day 2008? Gadgets, what else? And that means pink.

Pretty much everything this time of year is colored pink and red and Apple is jumping on the bandwagon with their media player, its brand-new pink 8GB Nano which follows the pink Shuffle that was released in September last year as part of an industry-wide campaign against breast cancer.

I don’t know how long Apple will be leaving the pink iPod nano on the shelves, but I suggest they at least keep it going for a bit after Valentine’s Day so that the guy’s who forget about valentines day will have a chance to bail themselves out with this unique gift.

Magnetic levitation train.

In order for China to have the —biggest and best— They are notching one super achievement after another (biggest dam, highest hotel, etc.). In an effort to climb the industrial food chain, meanwhile, it is also acquiring technology from anyone willing to share it. So, in 2001, with Germany's Transrapid International seeking a place to demonstrate its magnetic levitation train—and apparently willing to give the technology away in the process—China killed two birds with one stone. Shanghai's maglev began full operation in March, 2004, covering the 20 miles from Pudong to the outskirts of the city in a very quick 7 minutes and 20 seconds, or around an hour shorter than by taxi. Thanks to its electromagnetic levitation system, the train hovers a half-inch above the track, When it arrives at a station it has a surprisingly blunt nose emitting a marvelous, rumbling growl.

Inside the car, you'd expect to see seat belts and shoulder harnesses (for all the good they would do in a derailment or collision at one-third the speed of sound), but, instead, find only normal seats. The doors shut, and the train accelerates like a skyscraper elevator, silently, smoothly, and rapidly, and by the time the last car leaves the station you already seem to be going 50 miles per hour. Four minutes of gravity-simulator-style acceleration later, in which the taxis on the parallel highway lose ground slowly, then quickly, then disappear as fast as if they were parked and you were whipping by at 220 miles per hour, you reach the peak speed of 270 miles per hour for the tiny 20-mile run.

Transrapid claims that the maglev is quiet and glassy smooth, but, on the contrary, when the speedometer at the end of the cabin reaches its apex, you are distinctly aware that you are speeding. The car jerks from side-to-side like a jet in turbulence, the air outside whistles in protest, and the growl beneath the floor becomes a full-bodied roar. Just after the speedometer tops out, there is a pop and blur as the maglev headed in the other direction blasts past at an aggregate speed of 534 miles per hour, approaching that of a 747 at 35,000 feet. Then, with about seven miles to go, it's time to hit the brakes, and a few miles later, when you've slowed to a mere 150 miles an hour, you feel as though you are strolling.

But it's China so the investment may prove worth it. There is much to be said for the branding impact of cool technology.

Will flying cars ever take off?

Are we on the brink of the flying car?
Many of us spend hours stuck in traffic every week.
The growing population is partly to blame for our congested roads, but the main problem is that we are not expanding our transportation systems fast enough to meet ever increasing demands. One solution is to create a new type of transportation that doesn't rely on roads, which could one day make traffic jams a thing of the past. To do this, we must look to the sky.
For 50 years, science fiction has been tantalizing us with visions of airborne roadways and quickly maneuvering, sports-car-like flying cars.

The Moller M400 skycar (pictured here) is designed to take off and land vertically. It can reach speeds of 400 mph (644 kph), but will cruise at around 350 mph (563 kph), and it has a range of 900 miles (1449 km). Gasoline, diesel, alcohol, kerosene and propane can be used to fuel the Skycar, and its fuel mileage will be comparable to that of a medium-sized car, getting 20 miles (32.2 km) to the gallon. To make the Skycar safe and available to the general public, it will be completely controlled by computers using Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites, which Moller calls a fly-by-wire system. In case of an accident, the vehicle will release a parachute and airbags, internally and externally, to cushion the impact of the crash. The four-seat Skycar is powered by eight rotary engines that are housed inside four metal housings on the side of the vehicle. The engines lift the craft with 720 horsepower, and then thrust the craft forward.

But what about the worlds fuel shortage? Could this prevent flying cars from ever taking off?

Bose Headphones

I work in a workshop where there are 4 staff, One of them likes oldies music, another likes classical music, and the third likes quiet. I also have to put up with an air compressor aswell as high pressure sprayers running for most of the day, Aswell as a manager with a loud mouth.

I enjoy classic rock so I’ve decided to buy some headphones that cancel out background noise that will allow me to enjoy my preferrred music. Ive looked at many brands but decided to buy Bose headphones because they are known to be the best in terms of quality and ability to block distractions and noises.

I was told by a Bose agent that there are three basic types of headphones that can provide isolation from outside sound: Bose in ear headphones, closed-back (sealed) headphones, and noise-canceling headsets. Noise-canceling headphones use a tiny built-in microphone housed inside the earpieces to pick up external noises and then produce an electronic sound-canceling signal at the ear to block out ambient sounds. These "active-electronics" noise-cancelling designs typically provide around 10dB of isolation over a quite limited frequency spectrum.