Mexican jumping beans and magnets are the most magical things I can recall from childhood. I’m talking real magic, the fantastical truths contained in biology and physics, not the slick trickery of a Vegas hack. I would study them for hours, mystified in their wonder.
I felt the same sense of awe when Steve Jobs unveiled the MagSafe connector in 2006. But this time it was accompanied by an inaudible “duh” — of course laptop power cables should be connected by magnets as a way of preventing accidents. But not just MacBooks, Microsoft’s Surface would ultimately adopt a magnetic connector. Pebble watches, too, and soon the Apple Watch. But not headphones, even now when much of the world dangles $600 smartphones from a white rubbery thread. Let’s face it: a pair of Bluetooth headphones solves the wire risk but it’s yet another device that requires batteries or charging. Magnetic Pcb Connector
A few have tried (and failed) to bring the magnetic headphone adapter to market. The obstacles are many: intellectual property rights, miniaturization, sound quality, and making sure that audio redirects to the device’s speakers when the magnets release (but the adapter is still in the jack). Now a small company from Akron Ohio says it has the solution, but needs a little help from Kickstarter to make it a reality.
I’m skeptical, but also chronically midwestern in my hope that Magzet can pull it off.
The two-part audio connector works with any standard 3.5mm jack to magnetically attach your headphones to your laptop, MP3 player, or smartphone. One half of the Magzet (the MagJack) fits over the jack on your headphones while the other (the MagKap) plugs directly into the audio port on your devices. These then snap together with magnets, meaning that any sudden movement disconnects the two halves, rather than sending your pricey gadgets crashing to the floor.
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More than a year after an ever-changing group of internet strangers first completed Pokémon Red by pressing random buttons, Twitch Plays Pokémon has finally caught every single one of the 151 collectible creatures in the Game Boy game. After 39 days of play, the final Pokémon — genetically modified cat-thing Mewtwo — was captured today.
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