smartearbuds
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Surface Earbuds are Microsoft's voice-focused true wireless option
As was rumored earlier this year, Microsoft has been working on smart earbuds -- it unveiled the Surface Earbuds Wednesday. They're touch and voice-enabled with omnisonic sound, and boast a pair of mics in each bud. They come with a charging case and boast a battery life of up to 24 hours. The Surface Earbuds will start at $249, and they'll ship during the holiday season.
Smart earbud maker Doppler Labs shuts down
Doppler Labs unveiled its Here earbud line in 2015 with dreams of being at the vanguard of smart audio: you could control how much you heard of the outside world, and there were plans for translation and other voice-guided features. Unfortunately, that vision of the future isn't coming to pass. Doppler is shutting down after struggling to raise funds for its next project (an "alternative to traditional hearing aids") and otherwise keep the lights on. Support will keep running until December 1st, and the company will release a rough version of its next-generation Here One iOS app as a going-away present, but there won't be more than that.
Doppler's smart earbuds coming to sports events and museums
Dopper Labs is partnering with the Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Philharmonic and San Francisco fine arts museums on new experiences for its Here One earbuds. They use "smart" active listening tech to intelligently block outside sounds or blend them with music. For instance, you can listen to tunes while walking, but still hear cars; or hear live on-field action with reduced crowd noise, all while streaming stats and play-by-play.
Oakley and Intel's sunglasses put a personal trainer in your ears
Running can be a pretty lonely sport, but you may soon get a companion that's always ready to go. Oakley and Intel have teamed up to create a sunglasses-smart-earbuds hybrid that will tell you how you're doing during your run or bike ride. The Oakley Radar Pace will be available Oct. 1st for $449. I tried out a preview unit and, even though I'm not a serious runner, I'm actually really excited about what the device can do.
A closer look at Intel's smart earbuds, which match songs to your heart rate
OK, it's not as groundbreaking as that internet-connected baby onesie, but Intel's smart earbud concept is still one of the neater items you'll find inside the company's CES booth. In brief, it's a pair of headphones with sensors inside the earpiece that can monitor your heart rate. The headphones themselves are powered through the headphone jack, which means you'll never have to worry about running out of juice mid-workout. But anyway, you don't care how it charges; you want to know what it does. Using that biometric data, the earbuds work with a companion app, where you can set a target heart rate for your workouts, and automatically select appropriate music tracks (fast, slow, et cetera). According to Indira Negi, who invented the earbuds, the built-in music coach won't change songs too abruptly, even if your heart rate does fluctuate a bit. Rather, you'd get a warning and then, if you still weren't reaching your target heart rate, the app would switch to slower-tempo songs. For now, Negi can't say when this will ship or how much it will cost; just that Intel is working with partners to potentially bring it to market. Until then, we've included some hands-on photos below, just in case you quantified-self nerds out there want to see how the app works.
