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Technology

Bose Ultra Open Earbuds x Kith collab are fashion conscious pair of clip-on-buds that are glasses friendly

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Open-fit earbuds have tickled the fancy of music listeners who don’t want those intrusive in-ear buds shoved in their ear canals all day long. The likes of Shokz OpenFit, 1More Fit S50, Soundpeats RunFree and Sony LinkBuds are good options for people who want a fashion-first, active lifestyle without any ear itches. Bose was the first major brand to release the Sport Open wireless earbuds back in 2021 but phased them out in just one year due to a lack of popularity.

While Bose has a good stronghold on the market with the Quite Comfort earbuds when it comes to ANC performance, they still want to take another chance with the rising trend of open earbuds. We saw a glimpse of that in the shape of Ultra Open earbuds (something like the Huawei FreeClip earbuds) spotted at CES 2024 and now the audio accessory is official.

Designer: Bose and Kith

They’ve launched the buds in collaboration with Kith, a fashion and lifestyle brand founded by Ronnie Fieg. Bose also created a version of the QuietComfort Earbuds II in close quarters with singer Normani, but this collaborative effort goes much deeper. It’s the start of a loṇg stint with Ronnie who’ll now be the creative consultant for integrating fashion, culture and sound to develop interesting audio products.


The open-style pair of buds have a very distinct design with a clip-on configuration that’s not at all intrusive if you wear glasses or want to sport sunglasses on a sunbaked day. The cuff-shaped buds hook onto the outer ear for all-day-long comfort wear and beam audio into the ear canal without disturbing others in your vicinity or compromising environment awareness in busy streets. The two sections of the earbuds – speaker on the inside and battery on the outside – are joined together by a flexible joint for easy on-and-off fit for active individuals.

The earbuds are being pitched as a “breakthrough audio wearable” for enjoying music while “still hearing the world around you.” The technical specifications are scanty at this time and all that is known is that they have 7.5 hours of playback time, Bose Immersive Audio and water resistance. As you can see they have a very prominent Kith branding on each of the buds and charging case as well, with the font done in Bose styling.

Kith edition Bose Ultra Open Earbuds will be available to buy in the US and Europe starting 22 January for a price of $300. These buds will come in limited numbers and it’ll be interesting to see if Bose releases a more mainstream version in the coming months.

Technology

Ray-Ban Meta are a cool pair of AI-embedded smart glasses you’d want to wear often

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Meta in partnership with Ray-Ban has launched the second generation of their smart glasses today. A refreshing take on their 2021 Stories smart glasses, these are named more attractively as the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses. The company is refraining from calling them the successors to the first ones, since they were not fancied by the tech community in general.

That said, the new version also comes with built-in speakers and five microphones to attend calls or seamlessly use the voice assistant. Meta is positioning them as a daily wearable to click photos and videos from your eye’s point of view. Pretty interesting isn’t it?

Designer: Meta

They were released during the Connect event and the hardware alone has a significant bump up compared to the Stories smart glasses. There’s a 12MP wide-angle camera capable of recording videos at 1080p/60fps and 32GB on-board storage. The photos and videos are much crisper now, enough for you to stay in the social media limelight. If you want, the recorded videos can be live-streamed to Facebook or Instagram via a nearby paired device. However, in this option, the quality can deteriorate if your internet connectivity is slow.

According to Meta the new open-back speakers are 50 percent louder and leak less noise, so you can keep your conversations incognito. The bass has a thump and the vocals are much clearer which in combination with the spatial audio elevates the listening experience. The design has also got a bump up, as the glasses have thinner arms and the larger touchpad is very easy to use. Tap and swipe gestures for controlling the volume levels and recording videos, make these smart glasses intuitive.

Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses with 36 hours of battery life in the accompanying case look better than most of the other major competitors in the market. They no longer feel like a concept rushed into the production stage and solve the intended purpose.

The glasses are up for pre-order in the US, Canada, Europe and Australia right away for a price tag starting at $299. You can opt for the polarized version costing $329 or the transition lenses for $379. The official sale for the smart glasses available in cool color options will commence on October 17.