I first saw these on The Cool Hunter. I wish I could find a better picture of how they are used, but let me try to explain. You basically clip these doo-dads right below the ear plug you might use on an ipod or some other portable device. A cell phone too comes to mind.

They are called emotibuds and are made by Futuronomie. Notice how they look like little emoticons that you see people use all the time in emails?

Clever. Cute. Maybe need some sparkles attached though.

Here's the emotibud story: The first emotibuds were discovered in a retired train car in Sunnyside Yard, New York City. Scientists suspect that an unwitting commuter spawned these expressive little creatures with the intensity of her emotions as she shuffled through the music collection on her iPod. The result has now been reproduced in top research labs all around the world, and new emotibuds are created every day.