Amazon granted Patent for Noice-Cancelling Headphones That Turn Off Upon Hearing Your Name
Amazon has dipped its feet into many lucrative pools: music and video streaming, 2-hour grocery delivery, smart home technology integration, and, now, wearable technology. Amazon has been granted a patent for a pair of noise-cancelling headphones that turn off when they pick-up specific sounds or keywords from the wearer’s surrounding environment, theoretically making the user less vulnerable when wearing them on the street or any other place of potential threat. The headphones have a number of microphones built into the ear pads to allow the user to hear a siren coming, a cyclist coming up the trail, and even his/her own name. The product is, in a way, a marriage between the technology of Amazon’s Echo voice-command speaker and already existing earbuds by Doppler Labs that turns off its noise-cancelling feature when it detects the sound of sirens, but is unequipped for voice prompts. The patent doesn’t promise any product will make it to market, but in a world where wearable and voice-activated technology is so en vogue, we may not have to cross our fingers too hard.
MTV Classics Celebrates 35th Birthday with New MTV Classic Channel
MTV celebrated its 35th birthday yesterday, and to mark the occasion, they launched a new channel. Well, they rebranded VH1 Classic, which now ceases to exist. MTV Classic is focused heavily on the network’s ‘90s and ‘00s eras, with plenty of throwback to the ‘80s, especially music videos. The channel’s schedule includes original shows like Daria, Beavis and Butt-Head, Cribs, and Pimp My Ride; a heavy helping of original documentaries with subjects ranging from A Tribe called Quest to David Bowie to the evolution of early and heavy metal; throwback episodes of VH1 shows like Behind the Music and Pop-Up Video; and hours of music videos.
-Taylor Wallace
