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Due to debut later this year with their upcoming Google Glass (augmented reality eyewear)? Google’s brand new technologically advanced headphones… that aren’t really headphones.
According to Business Insider, the headphones will be featured as part of the Google Glass package (which you can get through registering with Google for $1500) and enable users to listen to their songs and podcasts via ‘bone conduction.’
In other words, you’ll be able to hear sounds (and maybe even songs you’ve downloaded) via a series of vibrations provided to the human skull. Sort of like PlayStation’s DualShock controllers — only to the head and not the hands. Google unveiled a sneak peek at the new technology alongside their Google Glass demo at this year’s CES show.
While news of this new device continues to elicit its share of feedback, Google has also hinted that there’s a couple of health and safety concerns this might also help alleviate. For one, the Google Glass ‘vibrations’ will enable users/listeners to hear what’s going on in the environment around them, unlike earbuds and regular headphones which can block out earholes, sometimes to that user’s detriment. Health and safety reports also point to earbuds as possible causes of hearing impairment (this article even likened them to sticking your head next to a jet engine)– so maybe there’s some merit to it all.
That’s not to say there won’t be some competition: Panasonic was also at the CES, and someone who also presented their own version of the Glasses/vibration technique.
Then again, part of what made earbuds kind of convenient was that they helped avoid contact and communication with others, especially when some preferred to be left alone. So much for anonymity (provided this takes off). Pity the poor fool whose ‘friend’ turns his Google Glass volume up to 11, causing his head to explode Scanners-style.
Jeff Nau – who has written 1264 posts on The Jace Hall Show.
Jeff Nau is a main contributor to the Jace Hall Show covering pop culture and music trends in the nerd community. He has contributed to San Diego City Beat, 944, and Ill Literature, amongst others, and spends his spare time working as an artist and photographer.

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