vuvuzela

Web campaign vows to blast BP with vuvuzelas

Dissatisfied with what he sees as tepid effort on behalf of oil giant BP to stop the flow of petroleum from an exploded well in the Gulf of Mexico, a New York-based video producer named Adam Quirk has started raising money for a stunt designed to irritate its executives to no end with vuvuzelas--those buzzing horns that have been everywhere at the World Cup soccer confab in South Africa (and, by proxy, the Internet) this summer.

"In order to put a bit of public pressure on them, we plan to buy 100 vuvuzelas and hire 100 vuvuzela players off … Read more

Vuvuzela sim: Goooooaaaalllll, bzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Vuvuzela 2010 is a free vuvuzela simulator--an iPhone and iPad app for reproducing the droning buzz of the globally infamous stadium horn heard in every World Cup 2010 soccer match.

Vuvuzela 2010 has a simple interface: a long vuvuzela fills your screen lengthwise, and you just tap it (or, even better, shake your device) to produce a loud, realistic "vuvu" drone, which sounds even better on speakers or headphones.

You can tap (or shake) it repeatedly to create a looping--and potentially even more irritating--sound, and you can customize the horn's color by tapping one of 10 jerseys … Read more

Great, now vuvuzelas are tweeting too

I'll admit it: I have World Cup fever [BZZZZZZZZZZZZZ]. I can't help it. I have some friends who are very into socc--er, futbol--and it's dominated their conversations the last week or so [BZZZZZZZZZZZZZ] so I sort of had to take it up. But one thing I was ignorant about until I started watching is the vuvuzela.

For those lucky few who haven't [BZZZZZZZZZZZZZ] watched a World Cup game match yet, the vuvuzela is a long plastic horn that the fans blow continuously during play. It doesn't let up, and it's driving some people crazy, … Read more

Geeks join crusade to kill grating vuvuzela

Poor vuvuzelas. It seems like everyone's trying to kill them.

First, the fans and TV viewers complained about the noisy plastic horns responsible for the mosquito-like soundtrack during World Cup matches (and, possibly, flus, hearing loss, stray pets). Special ear plugs were deployed at stadiums in South Africa.

Then sportswriters got testy and called for their demise.

Now tech nerds have come up with a way to silence the omnipresent buzz.

Lifehacker is offering a video primer on how to filter the din during soccer broadcasts. Basically it involves adjusting your equalizer to muffle the vuvuzela frequencies. "If … Read more

The 404 604: Where oh no, I've said too much (podcast)

Unfortunately, Natali Del Conte is still posted up in the West coast covering E3 2010, but the three of us are still in New York and today we're talking about a New York assemblyman whose mission is to ban the iPhone 4's FaceTime videochat application from the road.

New York State Democratic assemblyman Felix Ortiz wants to make it illegal for drivers to use FaceTime in the car based on the principle that "any object which distracts a driver's attention while they are driving should be banned regardless of whether it is a cell phone or … Read more

The 404 603: Where we cram it up your vuvuzela (podcast)

Jeff's skipped out on yesterday's show to cover the press conferences at E3, but he's back today and excited about the Nintendo 3DS, the first portable 3D gaming system on the scene. It might look like a DSi, but the 3DS actually has major graphical enhancements that allow for 3D gameplay, including dual lenses on the outside of the clamshell for 3D photos and a depth slider that lets you adjust the effect to your personal preference.

And, of course, a console is only as good as the games you can play on it, and an impressive … Read more

Vuvuzelas blamed for flus, hearing loss, stray pets

Just as the World Cup was getting underway last week, the Associated Press ran a story about vuvuzela horns that probably didn't register with most people outside of South Africa.

It does now.

These tuneless plastic horns are found to emit a sound--make that noise--equivalent to 127 decibels, according to a study issued by the hearing aid manufacturer Phonak. (If you want to hear a sound sample, click here. For the sake of comparison, Phonak noted that the sound from a drum was 122 decibels, while that of a referee's whistle came in at 121.8 decibels.

According … Read more

Annoying World Cup horn comes to iPhone

You know that annoying plastic horn that makes the World Cup almost unbearable to listen to? Yep, there's an app for that.

Like millions of people around the world, I've spent the past few days developing a loathing of a plastic horn known as a vuvuzela. One vuvuzela sounds kind of like a loud kazoo, but get a few thousand of them in one crowded soccer stadium and they sound like the most annoying swarm of bees you've ever heard.

But, amid the growing headache, I had one clear thought. I wonder if someone has thought to … Read more