
Amazon Echo Buds - Zaheer
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F6VM1S3/ref=ods_gw_fnn_xpl_dt_atf_shov_pt_en_0925?pf_rd_p=d1850fba-bf7a-4b5c-8952-f505fad79e33&pf_rd_r=CE25W7EX405HCV5BKXA5
======
sudosteph
Does anyone here actually use voice control commands in public (at a coffee
shop, on the sidewalk) like the ads for this are suggesting? If so, does it
feel awkward?

Expecting people to speak their commands in public just seems intrusive and I
don't understand companies trying to pretend it's a norm to sell their
products. I really don't want to know what song the person next to me is
listening to. That's the point of headphones.

People with visual disabilities often already have better tools to interact
with their phones with privacy, and nobody minds people using voice for people
with physical disabilities either (and these tools exist already too).

Related: it's about to be even more weird for everyone in the world named
"Alexa".

~~~
oceliker
Not exactly a public setting -- but in the lab, I use raise-to-activate Siri
on Apple Watch for setting timers and doing basic arithmetic (e.g. "what's 3%
of 42 ml?"). It's been really helpful, since I have to have gloves on at all
times.

~~~
sdan
With others around or alone? I feel like talking to an inanimate object is
weird when others are around (sometimes even alone).

~~~
oceliker
Both. The watch doesn't require a normal speaking level voice, so it's less
awkward than speaking to Siri on my phone. It still feels a little weird, but
people in the lab are used to it at this point.

The most awkward time is when the raise-to-activate doesn't work for whatever
reason and I have to say the same thing again.

~~~
blub
This only shows that you have a high tolerance for awkwardness. We also need
to interview your colleagues to see if they consider you a weirdo.

Only with these two pieces of info we can decide whether it's feasible to use
voice assistants in a lab setting.

~~~
oceliker
Ha, that's fair. I actually think I have a very low tolerance for awkwardness.

I think people quickly grasp the reason why I'm doing it -- we all wear
gloves, so the benefits are obvious to my fellow labmates.

------
crazygringo
Wait a minute -- this actually seems too good to be true.

It offers "Bose Active Noise Reduction Technology" in wireless earbuds, when
even _Bose_ doesn't offer noise cancellation in wireless earbuds -- or anybody
else as far as I can tell.

(AirPods, Bose SoundSport, Jabra Elite -- none do noise cancellation. Bose
offers the larger QuietControl 30 buds [1], but the tech is still in a bulky
"headband" connected by short wires.)

So... is "noise reduction" different from, or weaker than, the "noise
cancelling" which Bose products already provide?

Or is Amazon actually somehow producing/licensing a product better than
anything Bose itself sells, and for only half the price?

Something isn't adding up here... but I want it to be true, because I've been
wanting a pair of genuine wireless noise-cancelling earbuds for _so long now_!

[1]
[https://www.bose.com/en_us/products/headphones/earphones/qui...](https://www.bose.com/en_us/products/headphones/earphones/quietcontrol-30.html)

~~~
sikhnerd
The Sony WF-1000XM3 sounds like what you're looking for.

~~~
nash
I have a set, and they are amazing for noise cancelling. Can highly recommend.

------
dawg-
I have been teetering on the edge of full blown luddism ever since the first
iPhone came out. Then social media took over . I have never used social media,
and only just recently used a smartphone. Even though I hate the form it has
taken on in this particular decade, I'm still open to the possibility that
smartphones and social media could one day be ethical and healthy ways to
communicate with other people.

That being said, the colonization of the human body is a step too far for me.
I will use a smartphone, I might even use Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat one day
if they ever embraced more human-centered ethical design. But I will never,
ever, ever allow a company to intervene between my physical senses and the
physical world. That's the line I personally choose to draw, hopefully many
others will draw it with me.

~~~
badger_bravo
> But I will never, ever, ever allow a company to intervene between my
> physical senses and the physical world

So no headphones in general? what about vision-correcting glasses? I'm very
confused by this line you're drawing.

~~~
frenchyatwork
I admire your pedantry, but there's a clear distinction between these things
and what dawg- referred too. One is a product with a behaviour that is clearly
understood, and not proprietary (for the most part). More importantly, it's
behaviour is not under the control of anyone else.

I can see why you might think this line is a little restrictive and arbitrary.
Collectively we've already gotten used to running so much software that we
have little to no oversight over, so this seems like such a small thing.

~~~
Agathos
Maybe one day we'll have software-controlled corrective lenses, and then they
can take over-the-air updates to subtly enlarge and sharpen certain logos...

------
jezhou
Is there an advantage of keeping the port micro-usb? I am very surprised that
in 2019 Amazon is still making devices that don't have usb-c. It's become a
huge selling point for me personally.

~~~
okbake
It could be a matter of size, but it's since the charging port isn't on the
earbuds itself it might not matter.

usb-c connectors are (8.4mm x 2.6mm) whereas micro-a is (6.85mm x 1.8mm) and
micro-b is (6.85mm x 1.8mm)

It might just be a matter of simplicity, since USB-C seems to have a larger
surface area for the spec, but I don't really know if that's the case.

------
joaomoreno
If I were a retailer I'd _love_ to know what my potential customers are
talking about in their day-to-day so I can give them a great deal on exactly
that.

~~~
cheschire
This comment needs to be higher.

Some topics here talk about paranoia about government spying before and after
the Snowden revelations. Some talk about privacy issues and there are people
decrying companies for emphasizing ad revenue and ignoring privacy.

And yet after all that some people seem motivated to virtually sprint into an
ecosystem where a company that doesn't care about you as anything more than a
revenue stream is trying to sell you an always-on microphone.

~~~
linuxftw
People absolutely have to part of the in-group. Television advertisements
work.

I know several people with listening devices in their home. Each time it's
been demonstrated to me, you know what they do? They ask it to tell me the
weather.

That said, the headphones do make sense. Seems everyone is trying to avoid any
sense of being around other humans as often as possible. Better to isolate
yourself from the outside world when you're forced to go about whatever rat-
race life you live than be forced to interact with society.

------
Hasz
It's like somebody dared amazon to put a mic into every new item they sell.

The TV remote has a mic. The outlet has a mic. The earbuds have mic(s).

and so on.

I mean, I get it, they want me to talk to Alexa, so it can figure out how to
sell me more junk.

But seriously, I do not understand the desire to be listened to 24/7\. I do
not want a live mic in my home, nor in my pocket when I run, nor anywhere else
it's not necessary.

~~~
prepend
It actually seems really useful when running. “What’s my pace per mile?” “How
far have I gone?” “Reply to my spouse and say yes I’ll get the milk.”

It’s hard to get my phone out while running. Not impossible but an annoyance.
This removes an annoyance so that’s a nice option.

------
binarysolo
Looks like this is basically a Bose product with Amazon branding so it should
be pretty good.

That being said, as an owner of both the Bose QC35 and the Apple Airpods, I'm
curious to see how this fits a use case. The over-ear Bose headphones have
just enough comfort for its noise-canceling that I can use it for work and
flights, and the Airpods I use for workouts - and intentionally don't want it
to block out too much noise so when I'm running/biking I can be situationally
aware. Am curious what upsides and downsides of these two niches it'll hit.

~~~
cj
> Airpods I use for workouts

I just bought airpods yesterday, and tried running with them for the first
time today. I couldn't run more than 30 seconds without them falling out of my
ear. (Kind of disappointing after spending $200)

I also have a Bose over the ear headphone. Too clunky for running.

These Amazon buds actually look like they could be better than Airpods for
running. Looks like they have the "suction cup" type of design, which usually
do a much better job staying in the ear when moving around.

~~~
mikestew
I'm in between you and the other person that replied to you. I can wear
Airpods running no problem, but no way if anything like a helmet strap is
touching them (knocks them out). I'd never get a motorcycle helmet on without
knocking them out.

With that said, try some Powerbeats Pros. They're the Beats version of
Airpods, and frankly, I like them better. At $250, they're pricey as hell, but
they sound better and they stay in better. With ear hooks and a collection of
different sized buds, it eliminates trying to make a "one size fits most". If
you don't have "Airpods ears", the Powerbeats are probably quicker to insert
once you know the "trick" to getting them in. I always to have to fiddle with
Airpods a bit to get them to sit right. Powerbeats: stick 'em in with that
little twist of the wrist, sorted. And the Powerbeats have physical volume
buttons, the lack of such being my one annoyance with Airpods.

~~~
cj
Thanks for the recommendation!

------
emdowling
I want to, but the online requirement for seemingly basic commands like “next
track” renders the feature useless when I need it the most: the London Tube. I
often have no hands free when travelling in peak hour and connectivity at
stations is patchy at best.

Looking forward to TfL finally rolling out cell coverage from 2020 though.
Long time coming.

------
PascLeRasc
Amazon needs a different look for their own products' pages. Something about
an item with zero reviews, the same style of photos as the off-brands they
sell, and a wall of plain text phrases like "immersive sound" makes them seem
really cheap.

~~~
nyolfen
seriously, my immediate impression was that they're visually indistinguishable
from $30 rebadged aliexpress crap

------
mh-
These seem interesting. The biggest downside I see is that you have to use the
Alexa app, which is hands-down the worst iOS app I have the displeasure of
interacting with regularly.

 _[..] including the ability to mute the mics with the Alexa app._

------
tony
I think one reason some may protest is these just aren't hacker-friendly to
most IMO. They're consumption devices, and aren't tweakable enough, a la:

\- Homebrew

\- Custom firmware

\- API's / SDK's

\- Custom services / frameworks to orchestrate in-out-around vendors ecosystem
(IFTTT?)

Not really enough to get at the gears of it. Is Alexa, by itself, the kind of
ecosystem a startups would want to devote to? I imagine to make a really good
Alexa product, it tends to be very specialized, and it's risky to be stuck
with just one market.

Not to say Amazon's future isn't looking prosperous, but they control the
APIs, the commission/royalty fees, etc. Whose to say 10 years from now, they
wake up and say, you know, Alexa isn't financially viable anymore, your
hardware has no site to connect to, and Alexa just shows the red loop/line of
doom?

[1] [https://developer.amazon.com/docs/alexa-voice-service/api-
ov...](https://developer.amazon.com/docs/alexa-voice-service/api-
overview.html) I guess there's this.

~~~
mxuribe
> Whose to say 10 years from now, they wake up and say, you know, Alexa isn't
> financially viable anymore, your hardware has no site to connect to...

Oh, you mean, whose to say that they won't pull a "Google", and kill off one
of their products/services? ;-) (BTW, i fully agree with you!)

~~~
xeromal
The number of people that keep headphones for 10 years don't matter to
retailers.

------
markstos
I only need one bud, how about $65 for the left ear bud?

~~~
deweller
I think you might have been joking. But, seriously, can you buy a pair and
split them with a friend? Or do you have to pair both ear buds to the same
device?

~~~
markstos
Not really joking. I would mostly use them to listen to podcasts while
running. I like to keep one ear open to the world and don't need immersive
audio to listen to speech. Old school Bluetooth earpieces work fine for this
and are cheaper anyway.

------
robbrit
Be careful, these are the first step to being turned into a Cyberman.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQs3gVobcfg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQs3gVobcfg)

~~~
ineedasername
Is that an improvement over an Amazon Basics toilet plunger that wants to
exterminate you? [http://tardis.soup.io/post/393507531/1-The-Dalek-Plunger-
Use...](http://tardis.soup.io/post/393507531/1-The-Dalek-Plunger-Used-By-The)

------
kraig911
Now with Alexa in full force I really wish Amazon would try their hand at a
phone again. Phones are just so blah lately. We need someone to shake it up.

~~~
seph-reed
I really wish Amazon would just stop trying to take over every single industry
on Earth and act like responsible adults in capitalist society (ie not in
support of monopolies).

------
tossaouta
Every time something new and exciting comes out from these guys (AMZN, GOOG,
MSFT, etc.), it's like HN (as a whole) forgets about all privacy, etc.

So, Echo spies. We know that. And now we're (the at least 117 upvotes so far)
OK with putting Echo directly into our ears? And barely anyone in the comments
section seems to care either... what is going on in here?

~~~
fragmede
There's some confirmation bias - there were more than a few comments on
Facebook's purchase of CTRL-labs about privacy, Cloudflare's announcement of
WARP going GA had more than a few.

------
a13n
At first glance, the design looks super similar to the Zolo Liberty earbuds,
which I love.
[https://zoloaudio.com/pages/liberty_series](https://zoloaudio.com/pages/liberty_series)

------
miguelmota
The design is quite decent compared to the Apple Airpods which I love how they
function but can't stand the dangly part. I have big ears so also like that
the Echo buds offer different sizes.

------
protomyth
Got: _This item requires special handling and cannot be shipped to your
selected location._ using a street address (not PO Box). Wonder what's up with
that.

~~~
x2f10
I had the same warning. My address is in a big city. Normal street address -
no PO or even an apt.

------
pavelmark
>>Bose Active Noise Reduction Technology Interesting that Bose would license
this out. Seems like Amazon would be a major threat to them.

~~~
throwanem
It's just a white-label version. No IP licensing is necessary, or indeed at
all likely; there'd just be a contract for the branding, and a post-final
assembly step in which the branding is applied.

------
wcpines
Am I the only one here seeing an uncanny resemblance to the Bragi Dash? (RIP)

------
tus88
I am not sure about these. I think I would rather be plugged into my phone
where I can do things like ask to make a phone call or ask for directions,
plus everything Alexa can do too. Unless these can pair with your phone for
that purpose?

~~~
misterdoubt
Yes. In fact, I think it has to be connected to some other device with the
Alexa app.

>Hands-free with Alexa – Echo Buds work with the Alexa app to stream music,
play Audible audiobooks, make calls, or get directions—just ask.

------
not_a_cop75
Great design to optimize for gliomas. Probably not a problem for people in
their 20's but I wouldn't recommend these for anyone past 40.

~~~
cj
Can you elaborate?

~~~
not_a_cop75
While not "positively proven" sticking something that generates radio
frequencies for long periods of time so close to your head can have potential
negative effects, especially in those that are more prone to getting cancer.
Oddly, the two groups I would say are most affected are the elderly, with poor
DNA repair and poor immune response, and young people who are still actively
growing (think under 21). At least with the iphone airpods, the damn thing
still has a antennae that is positioned away from your head, but the use of
bluetooth is supposedly several times more radiation over just normal cell
phone use. These radiation levels, as far as I have read have not been studied
for 10-40 years of constant exposure. I love my smart device and technology,
but I generally try to turn my device wireless (and bluetooth) off when not
using it. The convenience is not really worth getting cancer over.

[https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/radiation-
exposu...](https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/radiation-
exposure/cellular-phones.html)

"A recent large study by the US National Toxicology Program (NTP) exposed
large groups of lab rats and mice to RF energy over their entire bodies for
about 9 hours a day, starting before birth and continuing for up to 2 years
(which is the equivalent of about 70 years for humans, according to NTP
scientists). The study found an increased risk of tumors called malignant
schwannomas of the heart in male rats exposed to RF radiation, as well as
possible increased risks of certain types of tumors in the brain and adrenal
glands. But some aspects of this study make it hard to know just how well
these results might be applied to cell phone use in people. For example, there
was no clear increased risk among female rats or among male or female mice in
the study. The doses of RF radiation in the study were also generally higher
than those used in cell phones (ranging from 1.5 W/kg to 6 W/kg in rats, and
2.5 W/kg to 10 W/kg in mice), the animals’ entire bodies were exposed, and the
amount of time they were exposed was longer than most people typically spend
on the phone each day. The male rats in the study exposed to RF waves also
lived longer, on average, than the rats who were not exposed, for unclear
reasons. Because of this, the NTP has noted that the study results cannot be
directly applied to humans. Still, the results add to the evidence that cell
phone signals might potentially impact human health."

And...

"The 13-country INTERPHONE study, the largest case-control study done to date,
looked at cell phone use among more than 5,000 people who developed brain
tumors (gliomas or meningiomas) and a similar group of people without tumors.
Overall, the study found no link between brain tumor risk and the frequency of
calls, longer call time, or cell phone use for 10 or more years. There was a
suggestion of a possible increased risk of glioma, and a smaller suggestion of
an increased risk of meningioma, in the 10% of people who used their cell
phones the most. But this finding was hard to interpret because some people in
the study reported implausibly high cell phone use, as well as other issues.
The researchers noted that the shortcomings of the study prevented them from
drawing any firm conclusions, and that more research was needed."

~~~
krackers
Aren't bluetooth headsets mostly receivers, not transmitters though?

~~~
haivri
I thought so too but my research and experience seem to indicate that one ear
bud transmits to the other. Would love to see something definitive on this
topic about airpods or other brands.

~~~
not_a_cop75
Also, the proximity of the smart phone transmitters to the body isn't doing
you any favors. The fact that so many kids use smart phones and hold them so
close to their heads when not yet fully developed is certainly a cause for
concern.

Not sure if true, but I've read Apple has disclaimers about this for health.

------
smn1234
frequency, impedance, sensitivity? aac or aptx HD codecs? Where are the tech
specs?

------
pastor_elm
Are bluetooth ear buds really worth the cancer risks?

------
whenchamenia
Bose is second only to Beats for sounding terrible yet somehow having a good
brand image. What gives?

------
chinathrow
We're on a slippery slope.

These buds have microphones, obviously.

I do not want my voice captured by random folks on the street without my
consent and sent to Alexa.

How will opt-in looks like for such systems?

~~~
petschge
Same as for google glasses. Shame the person wearing them and refuse to hang
out with them. All the glassholes seemed to get it pretty quickly.

~~~
fortran77
Do you really thing "shaming people" is an appropriate, mature response?

~~~
petschge
In my opinion a lot of societal problems that we have exist because we don't
shame people for bad decisions any more. 100 years ago the idiot in the
village knew they were the idiot. Sure their life sucked. But now all of the
idiots of all villages form their own little filter bubble and convince each
other that they are the smart ones and that the rest of the world got it all
wrong. Sounds like an improvement until you realize that this is the mechanism
behind anti-vaxx, flat-earth, obama-birther, climate-change-denial and so on.
Or in other words a lot of modern stupidit y that actually kills people.

So yes, I think clearly saying "I think you are stupid for wearing google
glasses and I will not have a beer with you as long as you do" is a mature
response. At that point they have to decide if they want to have google
glasses or friends.

~~~
sixstringtheory
> "I think you are stupid for wearing google glasses and I will not have a
> beer with you as long as you do" is a mature response

Disagree. If I had a friend who seriously called me stupid, I'd think they're
an asshole, not mature. I'd say "I don't feel comfortable around that device,
would you mind putting it away while we have a beer?" is mature.

Making something about someone else, or trying to control others' actions, is
not mature. Communicating your needs and concerns is where it's at.

