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Atari Is Beta Testing a Speakerhat
Atari combined speakers, a hat, and Bluetooth to create the Speakerhat!
byMatthew Humphries Jul 20, 2017
While everyone waits patiently to find out what exactly the Ataribox is, Atari is continuing to come up with new and innovative products to try and sell us. The latest? Speakers embedded in a hat. Such a novel product requires a memorable name, with Atari opting to get right to the point by choosing "Speakerhat." There's absolutely no way you couldn't know what this is from the name!
Very little is known about the Speakerhat right now (not that it's hard to guess). According to The Verge, it's a Bluetooth-connected hat with speakers embedded into the brim and power provided by a built-in battery. It therefore allows you to wirelessly link up your music player or smartphone and have everyone around you also listen to your music and phone calls.
The Speakerhat isn't available to buy just yet, but Atari needs beta testers. You can enter a contest to become one of 10 lucky testers, and if successful you'll receive a Speakerhat, an Atari t-shirt, Atari Flashback game collection on PS4 or Xbox One, and of course the honor of being a beta tester.
The approximate value of the above is $300 according to Atari. If we deduct $15 for the t-shirt and $20 for the game collection, we can discern that Atari believes the Speakerhat is worth $265. Would you pay that much for a hat with speakers in it?
Registration for becoming a potential beta tester closes on August 5. So I'd guess at the earliest we'll see the Speakerhat go on sale in September or maybe October. Of course, it may never appear depending on how the beta testing goes.
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About Matthew Humphries
I've been working at PCMag since November 2016, covering all areas of technology and video game news. Before that I spent nearly 15 years working at Geek.com as a writer and editor. I also spent the first six years after leaving university as a professional game designer working with Disney, Games Workshop, 20th Century Fox, and Vivendi.
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