These smart earbuds are volume knobs for the real world

Your choices for filtering the sounds around you are typically quite limited: you either have to drown it out (such as through earplugs or headphones) or let all the annoyances in. Doppler Labs might soon have a way to be more selective, though. Its crowdfunded Here Active Listening earbuds are meant solely to control what you hear in the real world. You not only decide how much gets through, but how it gets through. There’s an equalizer if you want to tweak certain sound frequencies (toning down the bass at a badly-mixed concert, for example), and there are preset filters designed to tune out common noises or add effects. Want to silence the background hum of your office without completely shutting out your coworkers? You probably can.

This kind of control won’t come cheap or quickly. Doppler is asking for at least a $179 pledge (normally $199) to get a pair of Here buds, and you’ll have to wait until December to wear it. And don’t forget that these earbuds aren’t meant for your own music — you’ll need to switch to more conventional audio gear if you’re up for some private listening. If you’ve ever had to endure a screaming baby on a long-haul flight, however, that potential for peace and quiet might justify the cost.

Filed under: Wearables

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Source: Kickstarter

Next for Qualcomm: faster Wi-Fi and a gateway to cheap tablets

Computex is the perfect sort of tech convention for a chip giant like Qualcomm. It’s all about companies showing off their wares so that other companies will actually want to buy them. And this year, Qualcomm made two major announcements that should intrigue plenty of potential customers: Advancements in MU-MIMO (multi-user multiple input/multiple output) technology, which aims to make our 802.11ac Wi-Fi speeds more efficient and ultimately faster, as well as a partnership with AllWinner, a Chinese firm that designs low-cost mobile chips.

MU-MIMO and you

As much as we all rely on Wi-Fi these days, even fairly modern wireless tech can be absurdly inefficient, especially when you’ve got multiple devices using a single access point. That’s something the wireless industry aims to solve with MU-MIMO, an upgraded version of the MIMO standard (which brought us faster Wi-Fi speeds years ago). As we move towards bandwidth-heavy applications like 4K video streaming, it’ll be particularly important to make sure your network is making the most of its bandwidth.

Qualcomm was the first company to launch products using MU-MIMO over a year ago, but those were mainly focused on commercial access points. Now the company is broadening support for consumer routers with its new QCA9984 chip, as well as enterprise access points with the QCA9994. Both offer four simultaneous wireless streams (think of them as adding more lanes to your router’s highway of Wi-Fi traffic), up from just three streams from last year’s parts. They can also hop between wireless channels to take advantage of all the wireless spectrum in your home, and they support wider 160MHz 802.11ac channels (even if they’re not right next to each other).

If you don’t care about the nitty gritty of how MU-MIMO works, you just need to understand this: Your Wi-Fi is about to get a lot better – and just in the knick of time. Qualcomm’s been seeding the technology in its Wi-Fi chips for the past year. If you’ve got a new Android phone or PC running a Qualcomm chipset, you’ll be ready to take advantage of all MU-MIMO has to offer when you upgrade to an 802.11ac router using Qualcomm’s tech. The company expects to have customers using its new MU-MIMO chips in products by the end of the year.

“We’re now in a kind of ramp-up place, we’ve delivered and are shipping [MU-MIMO] products,” Todd Antes, vice president of product management at Qualcomm Atheros, told us. “Now we’re in the phase of seeing OEMS launch products. We’re hoping by 2016 this becomes a standard feature in 802.11ac clients and access points.”

AllWinner for the win

You’ve probably never heard of AllWinner, but it’s quickly earned a name for itself in China with its inexpensive chip designs, which helped to kick off the rush of white-label tablets. Those are tablets that get licensed by other companies and sold for cheap all over the world (you can find a few Walmart). But while they’re not the sexiest devices around, the white-label tablet market is growing fast and it likely won’t slow down anytime soon. So it makes perfect sense for Qualcomm to team up with AllWinner and take advantage of their access with that market.

“I think both of us bring a very unique capability to the partnership,” said Seshu Madhavapeddy, vice president of mobile product management at Qualcomm. “You can basically credit [AllWinner] for creating the white-label tablet market in China, and we bring capability in connected chipsets, whether it’s 3G or 4G. We brainstormed with AllWinner and figured the best way to bring our technology to bear in that market is to partner with them.”

The partnership will see AllWinner offer Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 410 and 210 chip designs to customers building LTE-enabled tablets. While AllWinner has chip designs of its own, it doesn’t have any that integrate LTE radios, which is basically Qualcomm’s specialty. Qualcomm was quick to point out it’s not investing in AllWinner, rather the two companies will simply benefit from each other’s strengths. The partnership is similar to the one Intel recently struck with RockChip to get into China’s cheap tablet market. So, in a sense, Qualcomm also had to find a partner or risk losing out.

One potential problem for Qualcomm is that the white-label tablet market isn’t exactly known for well-made wares. But the company thinks it can help fix that. “I think that the white-label market in China is making huge strides in improving quality, as well as in their engineering innovation capability,” Madhavapeddy said. “So what might have been true last year is not going to be true this year. And we think as Qualcomm we’ll bring a high level of innovation to this market.”

Filed under: Tablets, Wireless, Mobile

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Deal: Pick up a pair of MMOVE Bluetooth Stereo Earbuds for a massive 78% off

Going for a run? Commuting to work? Don’t let troublesome headphone cables slow you down. If you’d like to listen to your music worry-free while you’re on the go, you may want to try the MMOVE Bluetooth Stereo Earbuds – currently 78% off in the AA Deals Store.

Since these are Bluetooth-enabled, you no longer have to worry about accidentally pulling your earbuds out of your ears while you’re being active. But just because they’re Bluetooth headphones, doesn’t mean you’re skimping out on quality, either. They feature isolated sound with CVC 6.0 Noise Reduction for distraction-free listening, and you can even listen for up to 6 hours at a time on a single charge. They also have a durable, sweat proof design that allows you to control volume and song choice, take or reject calls and more with the convenient on-ear controls. The earbuds also come with three different sized eartips, comfort fit earhooks, and active fit earhooks, so you won’t have any problems fitting them in your ears.

Right now, the Android Authority Deals Store is offering these earbuds for just $31.99, which is a massive 78% off the suggested retail price. Don’t miss out on this awesome deal! Head to the link below if you’re interested.

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