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The Hy Earbuds could be the future of hearables
If you’re looking for innovation, a good place to start is Kickstarter. Usually you’ll just find another random object turned into Bluetooth speaker, but occasionally you stumble across something that’s really pushing the limits of tech. The Hy wireless earbuds by Third Skin is one such project. Dubbed the “hidden wireless earbuds”, these are truly wireless earbuds that keep most of the components hidden behind the ear and if funded, could change the Bluetooth earbud game.
Besides playing music, the Hy also has all kinds of extra features built-in thanks to the extra space that the behind-ear housing provides. The only part that can be seen from the front is a small cable that’s attached to their custom driver which sits in your ear and uses a combination of bone conduction and air to produce sound. You’ll be able to answer/end phone calls, send or receive messages, and interact with personal assistants like Siri, Google, or Cortana. They also have a few biometric sensors for the fitness focused person looking to track their body temperature and heart rate.
As far as specs go, these promise multi-day use of sensors and voice controls. That said, there’s a shorter battery life if you’re playing music. In that case you’ll get a solid 12 hours of constant playback. Also promised is an infrared sensor for gesture controls, an always-on wakeup word to activate voice controls, and even active noise canceling.
This seems to be a fairly ambitious project and the ship date reflects that. Backers can expect to get their Hy earbuds in February of 2018. If you want to be on the front lines of hearables, you can secure yourself a pair by backing the campaign which is about 50% funded with 17 days remaining at the time of this post.