Squishy Cellphones Add a Buzz to Calls
　　Vibrating rubber cellphone could be the next big thing in mobile communications. They allow people to communicate by squishing the phone to transmit vibrations along with their spoken words. According to a research team at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge. Massachusetts, the idea will make phoning more fun.
　　Many mobile phones can already be made to vibrate instead of ring when you do not want people to know you are getting a call. But these vibrations, caused by a motor spinning an eccentric weight inside the device, are too crude for subtle communication, says Angela Chang of the lab's Tangible Media Group. "They're either on or off," she says.
　　But when you grip Chang's prototype latex cellphone, your fingers and thumb wrap around five tiny speakers. They vibrate against your skin around 250 times per second. Beneath these speakers sit pressure sensors, so you can transmit vibration as well as receiving it. When you squeeze with a finger, a vibration signal is transmitted to you caller's corresponding finger. Its strength depends on how hard you squeeze.
　　She says that within a few minutes of being given the phones, students were using the vibration feature to add emphasis to what they were saying or to interrupt the other speaker. Over time, people even began to transmit their own kind of ad hoe "Morse code", which they would repeat back to show they were following what the other person was saying. "It was pretty easy to communicate, though we didn't specifically prearrange codes," says David Milovich, one of the students who tried out the device.
　　Chang thinks "vibralanguages" could take off for the same reason as texting: sometimes people want to communicate something without everyone nearby knowing what they're saying. "And imagine actually being able to shake someone's hand when you close a business deal," he says. [理工类C]
　　可按压手机给通话增添了震动
　　振动橡胶手机将是移动通讯的下一个重要的事物。它们使人们能够通过按压电话机来随着他们的话传递震动的方式通讯。据马萨诸塞州剑桥市的麻省理工媒体实验室的研究小组说，这个主意可以使打电话更有趣。
　　许多手机已经可以在你不希望别人知道你有电话来时震动而不响铃了。但是实验室的可触摸媒体组的Angela Chang说，这种在手机内由发动机使重心离心旋转而产生的振动对敏感的通讯来说太粗糙了。她说：“它们不是开着就是关着。”
　　但是当你握着Chang的橡胶手机模型时，你的手指和拇指包着五个小喇叭。它们以每秒钟250次的频率振动，撞击着你的皮肤。在这些小喇叭下面是压力感应器，因此你就可以传递震动和接收震动了。当你下压一个手指时，一个振动信号就会传到你的呼叫者的相应的手指上。振动的力度取决于你挤压的力量多大。
　　她说在拿到这种手机后几分钟，学生们就可以用振动功能强调他们所说的话，或打断别的说话人了。随着时间的延长，人们开始传递他们自己的特别“莫尔斯电码”，他们可以重复这些电码以表明他们听懂了对方说的话。试用这种手机的学生之一David Milovich说：“用它来通讯很简单，尽管我们没有特别提前制定密码。”
　　Chang认为“振动语言”可以以同样的道理取代文字：有时人们想交流一些事情而不愿周围的人知道他们在说什么。她说：“想像一下当你完成一笔交易时还可和别人握手。[理工类C]