Kickstarter find – SPLIT: The World’s Only Earbuds with no Strings Attached

split wireless ear bud mp3 player kickstarter greenwing audioThe ironic thing about most “wireless” earbuds is that while they don’t connect to your phone via a wire, they probably connect to EACH OTHER via some kind of wiring. Kinda betrays the concept when cables get caught behind the neck or on things like scarves…

Well, Greenwing Audio is looking to cut the cord, actually ALL the cords with SPLIT. SPLIT is a standalone music player which uses a low power radio signal and internal clocks to time left ear and right ear buds for playback. Greenwing is estimating radically less power consumption and radiation absorbed by the body that traditional Bluetooth wireless headphones.

Form factor is  about as minimal as you can get, pretty much just the size of a traditional earbud driver. This leaves about zero room for controls, but the SPLIT uses accelerometers to detect bite motions from your jaw to skip tracks and control volume. I’m not sure how SPLIT will determine between “control” bites and  say “eating” bites, but it’s a novel solution for keeping the earbuds as small as possible.

Greenwing has 27 days left to fund its project. Pricing looks like it’ll fall around $150 for a 256MB version of SPLIT. Check out the project video below. These things are teenie…


SPLIT on Kickstarter

PSA: Windows 8.1 available for pre-order, but should you buy Windows 8 now instead?

Screenshot (91)For those of you looking to install some live tiles on your desktop or laptop, Windows 8.1 is available for pre-order now. The standard version of Windows 8.1 will retail for $119, and Windows 8.1 Pro will cost $199.

As I mentioned in a previous editorial, Microsoft is finally offering full retail versions for sale with support, but they are getting rid of upgrade options. If you’re currently running a Windows 7 system, and are looking to upgrade, you’re FAR better off buying a Windows 8 upgrade now, and when Windows 8.1 is released you’ll be eligible for a free upgrade.

How much better off will you be? The Windows 8 Pro upgrade can be had for $83. Yup. Windows 8 Pro is cheaper than the Standard version of Windows 8.1.

Fair warning as right now Windows 8 is even cheaper than older licenses for Windows 7. Windows 8.1 retail versions ship October 18, but why not be ahead of the curve?

Flutter acquired by Google. Kinect-like gestures coming to computers soon?

flutter app google acquired gesture controlYou ever go back and watch Minority Report and laugh that Tom Cruise has to wear weird finger gloves thing to control his magic computer screen? Yeah. We’ve already on top of that.

Taking things a step further, Flutter just announced that they’ve been optioned by Google. Flutter uses the webcam built into your computer or laptop to recognize gestures and movement to control various programs installed on your system. It was a quirky little project trying to pull an end-run around products like the LEAP motion controller which requires a special sensor, instead opting for the cameras we already have.

Now with Google’s influx of cash and talent, we could see much more rapid development of this type of control. Now what remain to be seen is what kind of support Goog will continue for Windows and OSX… Could be a killer app for all those Chromebooks out there…

Flutter Blog: We’ve Been Acquired By Google

Is Rockstar Games trying to tell us something about smartphone owners in GTA V?

Just a funny little observation from Reddit user praefectus_praetorio. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about what they might be implying by which character is using which smartphone… I’d like to think the “Psychopath” is using Windows Phone because Nokia phones are pretty much indestructible…

gta v smartphone owners reddit(via Reddit)

 

AT&T partners with The Trevor Project – ‘Love is Changing History’ films to be submitted to Library of Congress

jenny love making history trevor project film att pauley perrettTech as social awareness. I love it.

Love is Changing History” is a new project headed up by AT&T built around sharing personal stories from the LGBTQ community. Two online films co-directed by Lance Bass and Pauley Perrette will be posted online and viewers will be encouraged to share the films, and their own experiences. All of this media will be collected and submitted to the Library of Congress.

We’re at a generational shift, and acceptance of the various gay and bisexual communities has opened the doors for some historic changes in social and political behavior. Now seems like an appropriate time to chronicle the human condition as society evolves.

For every person who shares one of the films, or the “Love is Changing History” website, AT&T will donate $1 to The Trevor Project, up to $100,000, to help fund their series of suicide prevention and crisis outreach centers for LGBTQ youth.

The first film ‘Jenny’ is already live (embedded below), and the next film ‘Two Dads’ is listed as “Coming Soon”.

The project is already tracking AT&T’s donations, and for more info, please check out:  http://www.loveischanginghistory.com/

Blue Microphones now offering Amazon exclusive colors for SnowBall USB Mic

blue microphones snow ball usb mic colors purple amazon somegadgetguyIf what was holding you back from buying a Snowball was the limited number of color options, Blue Microphones might just have the trick for you now.

Available today, the Snowball comes in a variety of colors, now on offer in Black, SIlver, Purple, Green, Pink, White, and Blue. Now while recording your podcasts or voice overs, you’ll have something a little more colorful to look at.

$99.99 out the door for those of you wanting to improve your home recordings, and Blue’s reputation here is pretty much second to none.

Blue Microphones’ Snowball on Amazon

Google Fiber Lights Up Provo This Month

googe fiber provo video broadband comparisonHow excited are people for faster internet access? They’re lit up enough to be producing their own commercials.

No seriously, we could be looking at the beginnings of some real groundswell awareness here. The numbers are so huge, they’re difficult to visualize. Throughout most of California, the fastest service we might have access to is 50Mbps download and 6Mbps uploading, but my sustained data rates are usually lower than that. Right now, people are sharing Google Fiber speed tests which crush the best I can get. It’s not even close. I’m seeing downloads more than 20 times faster, and uploads 180 times faster.

Think about it every time you upload a photo on social media, or a video to YouTube. Would you want a 5Mbps data rate or a 900Mbps data rate? Think about every time you fire up Netflix while everyone else in your house is using their own smartphone or tablet or game console. Would you want “50 megs innernet” or 900 megs to feed all those glowing rectangles?

See those numbers start to get big, so the people of Provo shot this handy little video to help you visualize the differences between the service you spend a lot of money on, and the service Google offers for pretty much the same price.

AT&T announces 1Gbps 100% Fiber internet plans in Austin

att u-verse gigapower austin txGoogle’s experiment in offering fiber to homes looks like it’s starting to rattle some of the other ISP players.

Earlier this year, Google announced that Austin TX would be the follow up city to Kansas City, receiving 1Gbps full duplex (uploading and downloading) 100% fiber optic data directly to consumer homes. Well, AT&T doesn’t want to be left out of the game, and has released some details explaining their own plan to improve home internet access for the citizens of Austin.

Dubbed “U-Verse with GigaPower” AT&T claims the roll out will begin the end of this year with completion by mid-2014. As an incentive, people who sign up for upper-tier 300Mbps plans now will automagically be upgraded to Gigabit when it arrives. Either way this certainly kicks the “50 megs innernet” I currently have access to in the genitals… Like in a bad way…

More info on GigaPower. Full PR after the jump.

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