I used to have a work colleague who would annoyingly eavesdrop on private conversations. There wasn’t much you could do about it short of taking calls outside or whispering down the phone (which he used to do funnily enough). So I read with interest, about a technology solution to the problem, the Babble.

The babble works by detecting when you are on the phone and transmitting mumbled recordings of your voice. To other people in the office this will just sound like background noise and they shouldn’t be able to make out specific words in the babble that is masking your actual conversation.

It’s a neat idea and is aimed at improving privacy and the concentration of your earwigging colleagues. I’m not sure how well it would work with our Technical Support “Consultant” as I’m not even convinced he needs a phone with the fog horn voice he’s got :).

You can find more info on the Babble on the manufacturers site Sonar Technologies (found via New Launches and blog.scifi).