In 2017 Google launched a camera called ‘Google Clips’ that was designed to be worn almost like a pendant and then used to record all types of videos instantly. Debates soon arose about the impact it could have as a device to invade privacy, and finally the device, which did not come to fruition, It was canceled in 2019.
That was just one example of a long series of devices whose purpose seemed very positive but whose implications—as happened with Snapchat’s Spectacles—were not so positive.
Since then we have experienced debates such as how much our smart speakers “spy” on us, but that has not prevented products of this type from continuing to appear. Products that have the same good intentions but that they generate the same doubts regarding a potential invasion of privacy.
Avalanche of pendants that hear everything
We have an example in the Rewind Pendant that was introduced in October 2023. The product ended up being redesigned to adopt both the format of a pendant like a clip that attaches to a piece of clothing. It theoretically allows you to record everything you say and hear throughout the day, and from there it transcribes it and stores it locally on your mobile.
The Friend pendant.
The product will launch in the first quarter of 2025 at a price of $99 and without associated subscriptions. It is undoubtedly striking and is interesting because of its ability to record everything we say, but what about what others tell us? Do they know that we are recording them?
Even knowing this, it does not seem likely that many would want to be recorded even if they are saying things of no apparent importance. And although those responsible ensure that all data is encrypted and protected in a “confidential cloud” and will never be sold, It’s hard to bet right off the bat for a proposal of this type.
Even so, similar proposals have not stopped appearing for some time now. In July 2024 we met Friend, a pendant that, in addition to listening to us speak, then allows us to chat with it, although its responses appear on the screen of our smartphone. He presentation video It was, among other things, disturbing.
Friend and Rewind Pendant have had many rivals. We have seen it at the CES in Las Vegas where, as they point out in Wiredthose responsible for Omi, Bee AI and HumanPods They pursue the same goal. Which is none other than offering us various types of wearables that record everything we say and are heard around us throughout the day so we can then process it.
Omi’s proposal is very similar to Rewind’s, but with one difference: it is also possible literally use it “stuck” to the side of our forehead so that an electrode inside detects that we are talking to it and not to any of the people who may surround us. The operation in that section It’s fragilebut voice assistants already do the same thing thanks to the microphone and simple voice activation with the typical “OK, Google” or “Hey, Siri.”
In reality, this Omi option is experimental and its true function is to record everything you hear—it has a three-day autonomy—and then act on that content. We can also use it as a personal assistant by asking things, and even as a conversation partner who can also adopt different personalities and ways of being thanks to the so-called “Persons” that we can configure in their use. If it seems to you that he does the same thing as Friend, it’s because it is like that: Omi’s founder, Nik Shevchenko, has been at war with Friend’s founder, Avi Schiffmann, whom he accused of having stolen his idea. with a sarcastic rap that he shared on X.
The clip in Bee AI bracelet format.
In second place in this deployment of solutions of this type is Bee AI, a startup that has created a small clip that can be worn attached to a bracelet on the wrist but it can also be placed on a t-shirt, for example. It has an “Action” button in the center to activate the microphones, and we can hold it down to process the current conversation and ask about it. The responses appear synthesized by voice on the mobile speaker. At the moment everything is processed in the cloud—doing it locally would limit the battery even more, its creators say—and that once again raises certain reservations about the privacy of our data.
The HumanPods headphones from Natura Umana.
The last of these proposals is that of the company Natura Umana, which has created headphones called HumanPods that have microphones. They are designed to be worn all day, although the battery does not last that long. Again, this continuous recording is combined here, which then allows us to recover conversations or summarize them with the other function: that of talking to a virtual avatar generated by AI. There is one called Athena designed to help you exercise, and another called Hector that acts as something similar to a therapist. The cost of the headphones, which will go on sale in the first quarter of 2025, will be around $100, and they will have a subscription associated with them.
Do these products make sense? They may be interesting for certain scenarios, without a doubt, but many of these functions are already available on our mobile phones or at least it is possible to use them in those ways without too much difficulty. Here companies try to propose a somewhat more independent and focused alternative specific to this type of use, but the fact that not only our data is handled here, but also that of people around us, raises moral and ethical dilemmas. Some of these proposals “warn” that they are recording, but do people act the same if they know that you are recording what they say?
That is probably one of the great current challenges of wearables that want to record everything. That as long as we use them individually, there may not be so much of a problem. Things change if other people and scenarios enter the equation.. Even so, it seems inevitable that little by little more and more wearables like smart glasses will offer these recording options. It’s even possible that we’ll end up with wearables like the one Joaquin Phoenix used in ‘Her’ and talk to virtual avatars of all kinds. GPT-4o already showed us that this future was closer than it seemed, and these wearables presented at CES precisely seem to pursue that same idea. Whether they will succeed, that is, is unknown.
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