&w=3840&q=100)
Nothing to launch premium over-ear headphones this year: What to expect
Nothing is going to launch its first over-the-ear headphones this summer and it plans to deliver similar audio quality to Apple AirPods Max and Sony WH-1000XM6 but at a lower price. Nothing posted a video on its YouTube channel that showed its design team having a behind-the-scenes discussion about the upcoming headphone and sharing key details of what we can expect from the London-based brand.
Notably, Nothing CEO Carl Pei, back in 2022, shared some fan-made concept images of the 'Crazy Cool Nothing Head (1).' Now, after more than two and a half years, the London-based consumer electronics brand has finally confirmed that it indeed has been working on over-the-ear headphones and is set to launch it this year.
Nothing Over-the-ear headphones: What to expect
In the video, Nothing designers were quite vocal about their dissatisfaction with the kind of choices that exist today in the headphone market. They expressed that they don't like the design of the headphones in the present times and some of the headphones like Apple AirPods Max carry a hefty price tag which makes its accessibility tough for the masses. Apparently, they have taken care of this aspect as they aim to release a product at a lower price.
The upcoming headphones are expected to feature simplified and distinct buttons. The reasoning behind this is to make the wearer aware of what control they are touching on the headphones while having them on. Additionally, the team also said that the upcoming headphones will be unique as it will 'say something about you.'
The designers said that after making five generations of audio wearables, namely- Nothing Ear, Nothing Ear (1), Nothing Ear (2), Nothing Ear (a), and Nothing Ear (Stick), the company has developed a fair expertise in the segment. They will be putting this expertise to good use by delivering premium quality audio in the upcoming over-the-ear headphones. They have stated that the sound quality is their top-most priority. A team member went on to say: 'I think they are better than AirPods Max."
To know whether this is a market fit or not, the company plans to engage with its community for feedback to refine the final product before launch.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
21 minutes ago
- Time of India
New York Stock Exchange latest update: Stablecoin issuer Circle is now live on NYSE. Check symbol, share price
Stablecoins are a fast-growing corner of the cryptocurrency industry that offer a buffer against volatility because they are pegged to real-world assets, like U.S. dollars or gold. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads FAQs Circle Internet Group on Thursday made debut on US Stock Market. Circle Internet Group issues USDC, a stablecoin that can be traded at a one-to-one ratio for U.S. dollars, and EURC, which can similarly be traded for euros. Interest in Circle's initial public offering is high. The company's underwriters priced the offering at $31 per share Wednesday, up from an expected price of $27 to $28. The number of shares being sold was raised to 34 million from 32 million. Circle will trade on the NYSE under the symbol 'CRCL.'Stablecoins are a fast-growing corner of the cryptocurrency industry that offer a buffer against volatility because they are pegged to real-world assets, like U.S. dollars or gold. That makes them a much more reliable means of conducting commercial transactions than other forms of dominant player in the stablecoin field is El Salvador-based Tether, which has the stablecoin known as USDT that currently has about $150 billion in circulation. USDC is the second most popular stablecoin market cap, with about $60 billion in said in a regulatory filing that USDC has been used for more than '$25 trillion in onchain transactions' since its launch in the company has seen tremendous growth, going from just $15 million in 2020 to $1.7 billion in issuers make profits by collecting the interest on the assets they hold in reserve to back their stablecoins. Circle said USDC is backed by 'cash, short-dated US Treasuries and overnight US Treasury repurchase agreements with leading global banks.'Circle's IPO comes amid a push by the Trump administration and the crypto industry to pass legislation that would regulate how stablecoin issuers operate in the U.S. A Senate bill advanced last month with bipartisan is also growing competition in the stablecoin field. A crypto enterprise partly owned by the Trump family just launched its own stablecoin, said its long track record and values – the company says its mission statement is 'to raise global economic prosperity through the frictionless exchange of value' – will help it stand apart in the field.A1. Circle Internet Group issues Stablecoin.A2. USDC is a stablecoin that can be traded at a one-to-one ratio for U.S. dollars, and EURC, which can similarly be traded for euros.
Indian Express
22 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Niti Aayog asks if think-tanks should work on new data as MoSPI says alternative data can be used in official stats
Even as the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) presses ahead with the use of alternative sources of data in India's official statistics, the NITI Aayog has asked if the ministry should even be engaging with such data sets. Speaking on Thursday at the start of a two-day workshop on 'Using Alternate Data Sources and Frontier Technologies for Policy Making', NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Suman Bery questioned if these new areas should be a priority for MoSPI and cautioned that they should 'not become an all-consuming task or preoccupation', although he added that using new data sources and technologies is 'very powerful' as it helps give a sense about the direction in which the economy is headed in a fast-moving world for real-time interventions. 'I would also make the point that to some extent the issue of whether all of this should be going on in MoSPI and in the statistical infrastructure or whether it should be going on in our rich network of think tanks is, I think, an appropriate issue. For example, NCAER… has a centre for data analytics,' Bery said. New Delhi-based think-tank National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) set up a National Data Innovation Centre in 2017 to serve as a 'laboratory for experiments in data collection', among other objectives. Meanwhile, speaking at the same workshop, MoSPI Secretary Saurabh Garg said alternate data sources and frontier technology have 'reached a stage that we can actually use it for official statistics' and that this augured well for the future of data analysis. In an interview to The Indian Express, published on Thursday, Garg had said the Statistics Ministry is looking to use data from sources such as online booking platforms for air and rail fares and over-the-top (OTT) streaming services, among others, for the new Consumer Price Index (CPI) series that will be released in early 2026. 'For the new CPI series, MoSPI is expanding its approach by exploring alternative data sources, such as online platforms for airfare, rail fare, OTT platforms and administrative records for price data of petrol, diesel and LPG. Discussions are ongoing with IRCTC, under the Ministry of Railways, and the PPAC under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for direct transfer of data for integration in CPI,' Garg said. MoSPI is in the process of revising its key macroeconomic indicators — CPI, the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), and Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Apart from updating the base years to 2022-23 for GDP and IIP, and 2024 for CPI, the revision exercise will also see changes in methodology used to compute the indicators. In addition, the updated CPI series will be based on a new basket of goods and services as per the findings of MoSPI's recent Household Consumption Expenditure Survey. This could result in near-obsolete items such as audio casettes being removed from the CPI basket, with prices of more contemporary goods like treadmills being used in the measurement of retail inflation. 'Intelligent integration' Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran, also speaking at the workshop, pushed for the use of alternative data in official statistics. While surveys, administrative, and national accounts data remain indispensable as inputs in making decisions, the pace, complexity, and granularity required by modern policymaking and the challenges attached to them 'have exposed limitations in both the periodicity and dimensionality of such data,' he said. According to Nageswaran, alternative data such as satellite-based night-time luminosity — used as a proxy for economic activity in areas with delayed or weak statistical reporting — and other satellite data can help policymakers monitor industrial activity, road connectivity, and cropping patterns, among others. 'These insights can inform timely decisions on input provisioning, crop insurance payouts, and regional procurement strategies,' he said. These new types of data capture emergent behaviour, respond faster to shocks, and reflect the 'lived experience of economic agents in ways that conventional aggregates sometimes cannot,' he added. However, the government's top economist warned that while alternative data can help policymakers move from 'retrospective diagnostics to proactive intervention', they could not replace official statistics and warranted 'intelligent integration'. 'Therefore, the mature approach is not to choose between official and alternative data but to design systems where each informs and validates the other, especially in environments where timely action is crucial,' Nageswaran said, adding that enthusiasm must be tempered with prudence as official data still carried a 'certain higher sense of authenticity and reliability and accuracy given the years of usage and in-built checks and balances'. With reference to frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence, Nageswaran said the 'black box nature of certain algorithms, the potential for bias embedded in training data, and risks to individual privacy must be actively mitigated through robust governance frameworks'. Further, these technologies should be deployed in a way that they are tailored to institutional absorption capacity. 'A well-designed algorithm is only as effective as the human systems interpreting and acting upon its output,' the chief economic adviser said. Aanchal Magazine is Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express and reports on the macro economy and fiscal policy, with a special focus on economic science, labour trends, taxation and revenue metrics. With over 13 years of newsroom experience, she has also reported in detail on macroeconomic data such as trends and policy actions related to inflation, GDP growth and fiscal arithmetic. Interested in the history of her homeland, Kashmir, she likes to read about its culture and tradition in her spare time, along with trying to map the journeys of displacement from there. ... Read More
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Google takes a gamble in class action jury trial over cell phone data use
HighlightsGoogle is facing an $800 million lawsuit in Santa Clara County, California, from Android smartphone users who claim the company misappropriates their cellphone data, affecting an estimated 14 million Californians. The plaintiffs allege that Google secretly transmits data over cellular networks even when devices are turned off, which they argue improperly consumes purchased data from mobile carriers without user consent. Despite Google's history of settling class actions, the company is opting for a trial, disputing the plaintiffs' claims that they have a property interest in cellular data allowances and arguing that no actual losses were incurred. Class actions rarely go to trial, which is why a case against Google is proving to be an outlier. The tech giant is defending itself before a jury in Santa Clara County, California, superior court in an $800 million lawsuit by Android smartphone users who say Google misappropriates their cellphone data. A jury of eight women and four men was seated on Tuesday in what lawyers say is expected to be a three-to-four-week trial, with opening statements kicking off on Wednesday. The stakes are high, but the class, which includes an estimated 14 million Californians whose mobile devices use Google's Android operating system, is in some ways just an appetizer. The same plaintiffs lawyers from Korein Tillery; Bartlit Beck and McManis Faulkner are litigating a parallel case in San Jose federal court covering Android users in the other 49 states, with billions of dollars in alleged damages. The plaintiffs in court papers say that even when their phones are turned off, Google causes Android devices to surreptitiously send information over cellular networks "for Google's own purposes," including targeted digital advertising. These transfers improperly eat up data that users purchase from their mobile carriers, the plaintiffs allege. Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said the claims "mischaracterize standard industry practices that help protect users and make phones more reliable," he told me. "We look forward to making our case in court." A unit of Mountain View, California-based Alphabet, Google has a well-used playbook for settling class actions. Earlier this week, for example, the company agreed to pay $500 million to resolve shareholder litigation - a move that comes on the heels of a $50 million deal in May to resolve class-wide allegations of racial bias against Black employees and a $100 million payout in March to a proposed class of advertisers who claimed they were overcharged for clicks on ads. So why is Google taking this case to trial? In court papers, Google's outside counsel from Cooley argue that Android users incurred no actual losses, and that consumers consented to Google's so-called "passive" data transfers via terms of service agreements and device settings. The lawyers also dispute the fundamental premise of the case: that cellular data allowances can be considered "property" under California law and subject to conversion, a civil cause of action that involves taking a person's property without permission. When the "rhetoric and hyperbole are set aside, Plaintiffs' theory is revealed as little more than a (misguided) product design claim - not wrongful conversion," defense counsel wrote. The Cooley team, which includes Whitty Somvichian, Michael Attanasio, Max Bernstein and Carrie Lebel, declined comment. The plaintiffs sued Google in Santa Clara County Superior Court in 2019, asserting that they have a property interest in their cellular plans' data allowances, and that each quantum they pay for has a market value. They don't object to data transmissions when they're actively engaged with Google's apps and properties, like checking email or playing a game. But they say Google never told them it would avail itself of their cellular data when they weren't using their phones to send and receive a range of information on their usage. "The upshot is that these phone users unknowingly subsidize the same Google advertising business that earns over $200 billion a year," plaintiffs lawyer George Zelcs of Korein Tillery said via email. In addition to injunctive relief, the plaintiffs want Google to reimburse them for the value of the cellular data the company consumed. Per person, the amount is modest - 1 to 1.5 megabytes of data each day, the plaintiffs estimate. To put that in context, Americans used just over 100 trillion megabytes of wireless data in 2023, my Reuters colleagues reported. But with a class period dating back to 2016, the totals add up quickly. In court papers, Google lawyers sound almost incredulous at the amount of the claimed nationwide damages, which they say runs in the tens of billions - more than the $7.4 billion Perdue Pharma settlement for the opioid crisis, they note. "Plaintiffs cannot show remotely commensurate harm to the class," they wrote. In denying Google's motion for summary judgment in May, Judge Charles Adams allowed the plaintiffs' claim for conversion to go forward, ruling there are triable issues of material fact for jurors to decide. While Adams said no direct state law precedent exists as to whether cell phone data is property, he pointed to a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year in the parallel federal class action, Taylor v Google. In that case, U.S. Magistrate Judge Virginia DeMarchi in San Jose sided with Google and dismissed the complaint with prejudice in 2022, only to be reversed and remanded on appeal. The appellate panel in an unpublished decision ruled that the plaintiffs plausibly alleged they incurred damages when Google used their cellular data. Adams in a pre-trial order set some limits on what the lawyers will be allowed to argue to the jury. Plaintiffs may not suggest Google engages in "surveillance" of Android users, he wrote, or that the data transfers are a privacy violation. As for Google, Adams said, it "must not present evidence or argument suggesting that this case is 'lawyer driven' or was 'invented' by Plaintiffs' counsel."
