/ 7 September 2012

Thing of beauty: Articulate yourself in cool retro style

Retro cool: The Tiki Blue microphone cuts out unwanted background noise.
Retro cool: The Tiki Blue microphone cuts out unwanted background noise.

Built-in microphones on laptop computers suck. It is a universal truth that does not vary, irrespective of how much or how little you spend on the device.

So what do you do if you need to use the mike on your computer for more than the occasional Skype call? You invest in an external one.

Sadly, most of the external microphones on the market look as though they have been designed by the same group of taste-deficient designers.

If you demand that your computer microphone looks and performs better than the average ones on the market, the company you need to look to is Blue Microphones.

The company is part of a burgeoning movement that believes technology should work the way you want it to, look extremely cool and also have funky names: the mikes Blue has put out have monikers such as Snowball, Yeti and Tiki.

The Tiki, Blue’s latest baby, is smaller than its previous models, but it offers more functionality and ­portability.

The Tiki fits into a USB port and, with its retro styling and blue light, it looks more like a device that belongs in a 1960s recording studio than jutting out of the side of your laptop.

Apart from looking pretty, the Tiki has a few tricks up its sleeve, including cutting out unwanted background noise and going into mute mode when it senses this is needed — perfect for keeping unwanted ­interruptions to a minimum and making you sound like a real pro.

You may not be using the Tiki to record the next award-winning song, but it will beef up the quality of your voice — and anyone else’s that you choose to record — as well as do much good for your street cred.

You can get the Tiki on special import through takealot.com for R780, shipping included