How many times has this happened to you? You're innocently watching a YouTube video featuring a robot that humps various stationary devices, or perhaps reading up on the scientific community's recent insights into male post urination trembling (a.k.a. the mysterious pee shiver) and then, out of the mists of an endless sea of cubicles, your boss suddenly materializes at your desk.
If you're quick (or paranoid), occasionally you can minimize your browser screen before the damage is done. But more often than not, you're caught; caught doing something that you not only shouldn't be, but also doing something that provides strange and uncomfortable insights into your character and personal tastes.
What follows usually pretty standard. There's that awkward pause where your boss pretends not to have just witnessed a robot named Hector vigorously rubbing up against a lamp, a bicycle wheel, and a microwave. Your boss then tries to bring up the official business at hand but abruptly loses track of what he or she was trying to say. More awkward silence. All the while, you get to sit there, blank-faced, staring at your superior knowing that you will now be linked to image of gyrating robots.
But all that can thankfully be avoided thanks to a line of clothing from designerJoe Malia. In 2004, Malia set about creating cloths and other objects for people who happen to be obsessed with things like computers, mobile phone texting...and privacy. One of those pieces included something called the computer hood--basically a hoodie you can stretch over the computer monitor. The "completely soundproof" clothing item (surely a joke given the fact that it appears to be made out of cotton) features a retractable USB cable that can be pulled from the front and plugged into the computer allowing sound to travel to speakers embedded in the hood. Also, there's a voice-activated microphone embedded in the back of the head that can record audio from the outside world and saves it as mp3 files in a folder on the desktop. Talk about wonderful isolation!
So go ahead and enjoy the wonders of the Internet, guilt and embarrassment free. The computer hood's got you covered.
Post by Bryan Gardiner
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April 12, 2007 9:17 PM
You know, I think it might be a different kind of embarrassment that might be in store for the type of person who winds up wearing this. It might not be so much about what they're looking at, but what they're wearing...and naturally anyone that obsessed with privacy will be assumed to be obsessed with...well...all those things that you usually shouldn't be looking at in public. ;)
Even so, I hadn't seen that video of Hector before - something tells me THAT'LL make Wierd Gear in the next Gearlog podcast....