Wearable tech, fitness and entertainment all converge in "The Dash," a pair of wireless headphones that track the progress of your workout with fitness sensors. The Dash started out as a Kickstarter project from Munich, Germany and quickly picked up tons of funding from supporters around the world.
Nobody likes wires, especially when they are exercising. It's such a drag to get your headphones all tangled up during a run or even a simple warm up like jumping jacks. The Dash headphones connect to your smartphone wirelessly via Bluetooth. The headphones are very small and inconspicuous ear buds. Once they're inside your ears, you won't even notice that they are there.
If you don't want to lug your smartphone around anymore during your workouts, you don't have to. The Dash have 4 GB of storage onboard, which is more than enough for dozens of workout playlists. The Dash also feature noise cancellation technology via an ear bone mic. The ear bone mic doubles as the fitness tracker complete with heart rate monitor, oxygen saturation sensor and energy-expenditure recorder.
The Dash lets you turn off noise cancellation for when you need to be aware of background noises and you can control what song is playing via touch sensors on the headphones. It's quite a lot to pack into such incredibly small headphones, but Dash's creator, a German company called Bragi, seems to have it all figured out. The left ear bud controls the fitness tracker, while the right ear bud controls the music functions.
Although Dash headphones will initially be geared towards fitness buffs with a fondness for music, the company wants to open its project up to other developers to see what alternative uses they can come up with. In the future, Dash could offer wireless communication in emergency situations for first responders or function as a translator for business users and travelers. The sky is the limit, really.
The Dash started out with a fund-raising goal of $260,000, but quickly surpassed that amount. The wireless headphones currently have attracted more than $1 million in donations and the Kickstarter campaign still has 44 days left to raise more. It's simply remarkable, but Bragi will certainly need the money to develop its very high-tech headphones. The Dash headphones are expected to be available in October or November 2014 for $199, which is expensive for an accessory, but quite reasonable for a wearable.
