If you’re a speaker, singer, or musician – and if you own an iPad or similar device with Bluetooth capabilities – then you should probably check out the prototype AirTurn BT-105 Bluetooth page turner.
The device – which was announced by the company late last week – is simple in concept: appearing like a guitar pedal, the page turner exists for a single reason: for transmitting a foot-tap to a connected Bluetooth-equipped device.
The idea is to enable anyone who needs to scroll through pages of content while their hands are busy – musicians reading sheet music, public speakers orating from a script, singers reading lyric sheets, and so forth – to manually advance to the next page of information without having to stop what they’re doing – just tap your foot and the page turns, as the name suggests. Two switches are included – one for advancing, and one for returning to previous pages.
While not specifically designed for Apple’s iPad per se, it’s certainly the sort of device which is clearly of most use when coupled with a slate: the promotional images released by the company show an early prototype being used to switch between pages of sheet music on an iPad sat quite happily in a traditional music stand while a musician plays the flute.
Although the current version of the gadget is a trifle bulky, AirTurn promises that the final release “will be miniaturized” for ease of transportation – after all, it’s no good digitizing all of your sheet music if you have to carry around a bulky box containing your foot pedal.
There are other possibilities for the device, too: anyone who has used one of the many recipe applications for the iPad will be familiar with the issue of scrolling the instructions while covered in flour and other substances you’d rather not sully the screen with. Using the AirTurn allows manual advancing – far more useful than a time-based automatic system which doesn’t accommodate delays in the process – without getting your shiny new slate all mucky.
AirTurn has released a video of the prototype in action, and claims that finalized version should be shipping some time towards the end of the year – just in time for the holiday season. Sadly, the company is a little more reticent when it comes to offering expecting pricing information – but as a fairly niche accessory to a luxury product, expect to be digging deep for this one.
