Stealth Devices: Technology to Make Your Life Better

Technology can be a wonderful thing. But my favorite technological device is the one that makes my life better in ways that most people wouldn't even notice. For instance, what if you could silence the noisy lady in the movie theater who is chatting on her cell phone? Or if you could eliminate the car next to you's bass - the loud music that is shaking your whole car and giving you a migraine?

Read on. There are devices, real and rumored, to take care of this and more.

Cell phone blockers (illegal in the US)

You sit down in the theater, and just as the lights go down, the guy in front of you flips his cell phone open and starts muttering to someone on the other end. Sure, he's trying to keep it quiet - but it's impossible to ignore the lights or the occasional rise in his voice as he tries to communicate with the dude on the other end in a quiet tone.

What a creep. But what if you could pull out a little device, switch it on, and jam cell phone frequencies in your immediate vicinity?

You can - if you don't mind breaking the law. Even in businesses where cell phones are a no-no, cell phone blockers are illegal in the United States (though you can buy them in Asia and the European Union.) These little gadgets work by blocking access of phones in the area from their networks. Their phone gets a "Network Unavailable" message. You get to watch your $10 movie in peace and quiet.

Bass speaker blower

The guy in the tricked-out car pulls up next to you, his speakers on full-loud. You can, and do, roll up your windows. But he has a bass booster loud enough to destroy his hearing within a few months - and you feel that damn migraine setting in.

This happens to me regularly. But I've been trying to get hold of the plans for another gadget I've heard of - the bass speaker blower. It works by identifying a frequency the bass is playing at, then broadcasting feedback to overload the speaker. When it works right, the speaker breaks - no more shaking car.

You can't find these commercially. But they exist, if you want to go out and find them.

Personal Television Remote Controls

You walk into the bar, and they have Mexican soccer on. In Spanish. Gooaaallll!

Problem is, you don't care for soccer. You ask the bartender, Diego, to switch the channel. He pretends he doesn't understand you. But all around you, six heads nod agreement with your request.

No problem. You can go to Sharper Image and ask for these - a television remote control that attaches to your keyring. It looks like an electronic key, but when you activate it and point it - discreetly - at a television, it scans for the remote code and then flips channels for you. You have the power to turn on the big game anytime you want with this baby.

The Real Vagina Dentata: Rapex, The Condom With Teeth

A real worry for most women: rape. Even if you know the guy you're with, even if he seems sweet, you never know.

There's an easy way to keep him away from that spot you've labeled no-access: Rapex. This is a female condom developed by a South African female inventor who got tired of counseling rape victim after rape victim. You insert it with an applicator. It fits snugly, and when things go where they don't belong, little teeth in the condom grip tightly to it. It's at the very least uncomfortable, and usually painful, and it won't come back off without a special tool that hospitals throughout South Africa have had distributed to them.

If you had these here in America, however, the rapist might have more difficulty getting a Rapex off. But hey, you takes your chances. Rapex cost around a buck apiece, but you can only buy them right now in South Africa; they may soon be available online.

How About A Cloak of Invisibility?

Researchers are working hard on this one. In 2006, physicists worked out the math, and today teams in Asia and America are working on ways to use fiberoptics to reflect light rays around a cloaked body, for virtual invisibility.

It's not perfect yet. The prototype that has been developed can refract only one wavelength, which means you're just going to subtract a single color from it right now. But that's enough for some military purposes; night vision goggles only see one wavelength, which means the cloak can render certain items invisible to this tool.

Researchers hope to develop a more comprehensive cloak sometime in the near future.