@mcc Have you ever experienced a Dr Beat metronome? I have ... fond? ... memories of hearing it through a portable loudspeaker during marching band practice.
@mcc the internet of things aspect keeps my away but I’m so curious about those metronome watches that vibrate instead of making a noise for this exact reason
@clarity The "taptic feedback" in the apple watch is such a good idea and I really wish I could get it in a non-apple product but it's probably patented
@mcc@clarity It’s ultimately just a high-impulse linear actuator. The general form of the actuator isn’t patented, though Apple’s specific implementation might have patented quirks. The quality of Apple’s implementation is mostly down to size. Most companies don’t put as much value on the physicality of a product as Apple does, so Apple tends to devote more of their volume and mass budgets to actuators than their competitors do. In the watches especially, they use HUGE actuators. Like half the size of the battery.
Valve’s Steam Controller used linear actuators for haptic feedback. As far as I can tell, they also used the actuators instead of speakers to make the controller’s power on tones and so forth. I have a few, but haven’t taken them apart to look for a speaker or piezo buzzer.
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