DW Innovations Awards 2005

You Can Hear Me Now

Aliph Jawbone

"Are you on a cell phone?" Aliph's Jawbone may not render that question obsolete, but this $150 cell phone headset can eliminate many of the telltale signs that you're calling from a bustling city street or overcrowded airport lounge. The unit's unique noise-subtraction, echo-cancellation, and audio-enhancement technologies do a startlingly good job of stripping out background noise and amplifying your voice--which should please anyone who's actually trying to hear what you have to say. In this era of wireless Bluetooth headsets, the corded Jawbone feels a tad retro. But it fits comfortably on either ear, doesn't require batteries, and neatly embeds its noise-busting brain in a clip that fastens to your clothing. And its white-and-silver industrial design is cutting-edge: If an IPod were a headset, it would look like this.

Swiss Army Satellite Radio

Delphi MyFi

Where do you like to listen to the radio--in the car, around the house, on the run? Delphi's $350 MyFi is the first satellite radio that lets you do all of the above. This feature-packed Walkman-like device lets you listen to XM Radio's 100-plus channels of music, news, talk, and more through headphones, indoors or out--or you can use the embedded FM transmitter to broadcast via your car audio system or home stereo. Features like TuneSelect--which knows when your favorite artists and songs are on the air--help you get the most out of all that programming, which costs $10 a month. While MyFi takes satellite radio places it has never been before, reception still isn't available everywhere, such as deep in an office building's windowless corridors. But Delphi has built in an inventive workaround: a VCR-like feature that lets you record up to 5 hours of programming for later listening.