Gizmag reports that a new company called Horntones could bring a new form of audible entertainment to our streets and highways. It may also cause a great deal of confusion. Horntones allow cars to play different sound files.
Horntones is a Californian company which will begin selling its US$150 car horn customisation tool in April. Basically, it enables your car horn to play any sound file - music, voices, rude sounds, sirens ... anything. You'll also need to pony up the readies for an amplifier and the sounds are loaded to the unit via a USB flash drive. The Horntones unit can be installed in or sit atop the dash and holds eight sounds - more than enough to offend almost everybody, with the constabulary included no doubt. While we think that customising your car horn is kinda cool, we also think it's kinda scarey that such tools can be sold to people without them undergoing an IQ test first - this device has the potential to cause uncertainty on the roads, or worse.
We are worried this is going to be popular. There could be cars making lion roars, fart noises or sounds from video games and science fiction films. It could make things very strange on the roads. Common sense should prevent most people from choosing the worst possible noises but you do have to concerned about what teenagers would do with this horn altering technology.
