A Hong Kong-based toymaker has designed a plastic bracelet that doubles as a wireless handset - and he hopes that fears of cancer links to mobile phones will help it catch on.
The Stretch Earzee uses Bluetooth technology to connect to a mobile phone wirelessly. Part of the bracelet vibrates to indicate an incoming call, and to answer it, you press a button and wrap the stretchable cord around your fingers to position the microphone over your mouth and speaker over your ear.
'I'm expecting a rush on these ... it's going to take off and we need to be ready to supply hundreds of thousands of them, not tens of thousands,' designer Peter Fish said .
The 62-year-old recently retired from his toy company, Fish Toys, which he founded in Sydney 35 years ago. Now he hopes to make it big with his latest design. 'I'm playing with the big boys now,' he said. 'Toys are nice and very easy but I think this game might be a bit vicious.'
As will many inventions, Fish's idea grew out of another problem. 'I wanted to develop a Bluetooth device, but nearly all of them are worn in the ear. In terms of radiation, it's only one-tenth of what your phone gives out, but it's still there in your ear, going through your brain.
'Your wrist, on the other hand, can absorb a lot more radiation. There's no soft tissue, no organs.'
Last week, the World Health Organisation released a report linking mobile phone use with an increased risk of brain tumours.