Hearables – smart headphones you can wear The word hearables is a combination of “wearables” and “headphones”. One thing that differentiates them from “normal” headphones is how you use them. What, in turn, makes them smart are the smart features they posses. Some of these features are (biometric) tracking and selective ambient noise control. Another thing that differentiates them is how you Wireless, self-sustained, touch, gestures and charging cases Hearables are usually wireless and have built-in storage and different sensors. With that built-in storage and sensors you can use hearables independently from any end device. In that case their functionality is, of course, limited. For instance, you cannot take any calls. In order to do so you have to connect them to a Bluetooth-enabled end device (like a smartphone or table). Regardless of how you use them they have have built in controls for operating them. Depending on the model you have either touch controls or buttons. The Dash by Bragi, for example, also supports head gestures like nodding. Due to their size and features the battery life is rather short (some have usage time of about three hours) they usually come with a charging case. Samsung Gear Icon X in its charging case (Source) These built-in sensors can
Month: November 2016
List of already available hearables
As of now four hearables from four different companies are available. A whole lot more is, announced, you can find a list of tose here. The once you can already buy you can already by are listed below. The Dash by Bragi The German company Bragi has actually two hearables in tis portfolio; The Dash and The Headphone. (The Headphone is not yet available, so you can information on it in the “soon to be available list” here.) The Dash by Bragi (Source) The Dash has a battery life of 3 hours which can be expanded through the included charging case, 4GB internal storage and touch controls. These hearables have a nice set of features that makes them interesting for sports: They are waterproof, have biometric sensors for things such as heart rate, steps and duration. If you are not doing any sports you can mute environmental noise and handle phone calls through the earpiece. They also support head gesture control such as nodding. I have talked about my personal experience with the Dash here. You can by it for about $300 in white or black. Gear Icon X by Samsung The Gear Icon X by Samsung (Source) The Icon X is similar to Bragi’s The Dash;
Peter Drucker's five deadly sins in 2016
(Peter Drucker) In 1993 Peter Drucker published a column titled The Five Deadly Business Sins, a copy for download is available here. Here, I want to shortly summarize them and see how they relate to what is going on in our current business world. 1. Premium pricing and high profit margins Drucker criticizes that companies falsely assume that high profit margins equal maximum profits. The profit equation of course suggests otherwise: Total profit equals profit margin multiplied by amount of goods or services sold. Additionally he argues that premium pricing always creates a market for lower-end competitors. He gave two example for this sin: Xerox and GM. Xerox, over-engineered its copier and, therefore, raised its prices into the premium segment creating high profit margins for Xerox. However, as consumers only needed a basic version, Xerox lost significant market share to Canon who entered the market which such a basic copier. Further, Drucker argues that the U.S. automobile industry (including GM) lost market share due to its fixation on „big cars“ as opposed to Volkswagen and Japanese competitors with their small, fuel-efficient cars. U.S. competitors followed their competitors, but not soon enough, due to the low per car profit margins. This
Peter Drucker’s five deadly sins in 2016
(Peter Drucker) In 1993 Peter Drucker published a column titled The Five Deadly Business Sins, a copy for download is available here. Here, I want to shortly summarize them and see how they relate to what is going on in our current business world. 1. Premium pricing and high profit margins Drucker criticizes that companies falsely assume that high profit margins equal maximum profits. The profit equation of course suggests otherwise: Total profit equals profit margin multiplied by amount of goods or services sold. Additionally he argues that premium pricing always creates a market for lower-end competitors. He gave two example for this sin: Xerox and GM. Xerox, over-engineered its copier and, therefore, raised its prices into the premium segment creating high profit margins for Xerox. However, as consumers only needed a basic version, Xerox lost significant market share to Canon who entered the market which such a basic copier. Further, Drucker argues that the U.S. automobile industry (including GM) lost market share due to its fixation on „big cars“ as opposed to Volkswagen and Japanese competitors with their small, fuel-efficient cars. U.S. competitors followed their competitors, but not soon enough, due to the low per car profit margins. This
[Updated] List of announced hearables
Human by Human Human headphones (Source) The “human” hearables are one of the most unique or rather “human” looking hearables that I have seen so far. Their design is inspired by the human ear, should sell at $400 and be available in July 2017. On indiegogo the company collected $518,525 with an intended goal of $150.000. In regards to software features they have a audio sharing (share the music you are listing on your phone with others wearing the “Human”), ambient noise control, live language translation and bio-metric monitoring. What makes them stand out (besides their design) is that they can also server as loudspeakers when attached to each other and their sleep-feature which will “lull” you into sleeping, track you sleep cycles and awaken you. Also, they claim to have a 12+ hour battery life. Air by Crazybaby The Air by Crazybaby in the charging pod (Source) The Air hearables are still founding on indiegogo and have surpassed its goal of $50,000 by quite a bit, standing currently at $1,495,152 with 12 days left. They are supposed to launch in January 2017 for $159. What makes them unique is that they are the world’s first carbon nanotube hearables. Besides that, they come with a charing pod, are water
Smart earphones (hearables) are the new smart watches
I have had my Bragi The Dash headphones for about one week now. Although I think that the The Dash is rather a product with much room for improvement, smart, wireless headphones, in general, however, are going to play a big role in the future of wearables. Connected home systems like Alexa, Google Home or even Siri and the fact that that 20% of Google’s queries are voice-based show which role audio is going to play in our lives. Smart earphones with a built-in microphone can be used to activate Siri, Google Now, Cortana (or whatever else mobile assistant you have), answer phone calls, search the web etc. Further, there is no limitation to screen size or even the need to pause and use the rather small display of a smartwatch. Through motion sensors and direct “integration” into one’s body the dash enables a far more natural usage of gestures. Smart earphones like, for example, the Dash can recognize (at least in theory) when you nod your head and use it as a confirmation, a “yes” that you would else have to press on your smartphones. Firstly, this is far more natural the pressing a button and secondly, undoubtedly, easier. Sources of header images: