Customizable bicycle bell

Photo from Mybell Inc.

In my last post I wrote about the Engadget website. In the next few posts I will highlight the top five finalists of the Engadget Insert Coin Competition: "The best of crowd-funded hardware projects."

This link as a video (11:27) of highights of the event:
http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/12/engadget-show-47

One of the five finalists is MYBELL, a "digital noisemaker" that is mounted on the handlebars of a bike, and plays customized sound or music (you can upload any MP3 file) at up to 96 dB (loud!). It also has LEDs for nighttime visibility, for which different LED patterns can be chosen.

This article describes the gadget further:
http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/08/mybell-hands-on/

The product is said to increase safety for the rider and to "improve the relationship between bikers and drivers" since the sounds chosen can be less obnoxious than air horns.

This 42-second video clip shows how it works:
http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/08/mybell-hands-on/

I wasn't sure why this gadget was chosen as a finalist in this competition, since it didn't seem so important to me. But my students thought it was "cool" and liked the idea for their own bicycles. They said the device is simple, inexpensive and effective. So what's wrong with that?

In my next post I will look at another finalist in this competition.