Well, the bone-conducting audio technology is nothing new; as a matter of fact, it started many years ago and has made quite some significant progress. Now, it really looks like this progress went in the technology direction solely, as the design part was completely forgotten. I guess this is why almost all the bone-conducting headphones look like crap and have some of the dumbest designs which makes them almost completely un-wearable.

2008 has brought a new attempt in the field of bone-conduction audio in the body of Zelco's Outi headset, allegedly "the next generation earphones". If it was up to me to complete the phrase I'd have added with no hesitation the "with a ridiculous design" part. I mean, look at the attached pictures: the product itself looks quite techy and even cool, especially the "iPod-esque" amplifier.

The ear pieces themselves are pretty cool and have a really neat design, with carefully trimmed shape. But that's where the "cute" ends: look at the second pic and see the way they were made to be worn; dangling like some oversized dumb ear rings, being a total catastrophe to almost any dressing code and seemingly, looking dumb even when naked.

As far as their performance is concerned, the amplifier needs 90 minutes to get fully recharged and this is a very neat time, especially as it will work for 6 to 8 hours. The ear pieces will vibrate and transmit the resonance through your ear's cartilage to the auditory nerve, seriously damping pretty much anything coming from around you in terms of discussions and ambient noise; it remains to be seen how loud will they play outside your ear and how much discomfort will such a thing create for those in your proximity.

From what the overall description lets us find out, such a headset could get pretty loud and it's possible that the use of the ear cartilage for sound transmission could translate in the breaking of the nose cartilage, after a neighbor in a plane, upon 10 minutes of unsuccessful attempts to communicate with you, will beat you senseless. Ah, you can get this privilege for $110, in a limited quantity.

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