If you are an iPhone user, you definitely know how annoying iOS notifications can get. Android and BlackBerry users have the luxury of a more refined notification system. Software developers at the University of Glasgow, in the UK, have what they think is the next best thing, AudioFeeds. AudioFeeds is a new software that notifies smartphone users through earthly sounds such as water droplets, bubbles, bird-calls and so on. Users listening to music will be spatially aware of the sounds. The ‘3D’ sound effect is achieved by phasing the sounds and delivering them to your left and right ear. The developers are convinced that their software can be built into apps relatively easily, providing a relaxing, non-intrusive notification system. The developers are due to showcase their software at a multimedia conference next week. Couple this notification system with some futuristic haptics, and consider us sold!
