Latest news with #Solos
Indian Express
17 hours ago
- Business
- Indian Express
Ally Solos: These smart glasses use AI to help low-vision users see the world around them
Imagine a pair of smart glasses specifically designed for blind and low-vision users, allowing them to perceive the world around them. It's no longer science fiction: it's now a reality, thanks to artificial intelligence. This has been made possible by Envision, a startup founded by Karthik Mahadevan, who serves as the company's CEO, and Karthik Kannan, who serves as the CTO. Both Mahadevan and Kannan studied at the College of Engineering, with Mahadevan later earning a master's degree in Industrial and Product Design from Delft University of Technology. Their company has partnered with eyewear brand Solos to launch a new generation of smart glasses specifically tailored for blind and low-vision users. Dubbed Ally Solos Glasses, they can read text, describe the environment, perform web searches, and even recognize people, signs, and objects—all through audio cues delivered via built-in speakers. These glasses are built using the same frame as the AirGo Vision glasses that Solos launched last December, featuring multimodal AI and a ChatGPT-powered voice assistant. While much of the design remains similar, the Ally Solos glasses use Envision's own AI assistant, 'Ally,' instead of GPT-4o. This assistant is powered by a combination of foundational AI models, including Meta's Llama, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Perplexity, according to the Ally website. The glasses also feature 2K resolution camera sensors on the frames to process visual information and connect via the Ally app on iOS and Android. The glasses have P67 rating for protection from dust and water, and USB-C chargeable ear stems that provide 'up to 16 hours of active use' on a single charge. It takes around 90 minutes to fully charge the ear stems, with 15 minutes of fast-charging providing around three hours of battery life. The basic idea behind the glasses is that the built-in cameras 'see for you,' enabling them to read menus, describe the environment, or even recognize people and objects through spoken commands. Although they are marketed primarily to blind and low-vision users, anyone can use these glasses, for example, to access translation features or scan and capture documents using the cameras. The Ally Solos Glasses are available for pre-order at a special launch price of $399, discounted from the regular price of $699. The frames come in two sizes (regular and large) and are available in black, gray, or brown. Shipping for pre-orders is expected to begin in October 2025. In recent years, major tech companies have been focusing on accessibility technology by either launching dedicated products or adding accessible features to mainstream devices. For example, Apple's Live Speech feature allows users to type what they want to say and have it spoken aloud across their Apple products, while Eye Tracking enables people to control their iPhone or iPad using just their eyes. Similarly, Google is using AI to power features like Guided Frame, which helps blind and low-vision Pixel users take well-framed photos through audio and haptic cues, as well as Lookout, which can identify objects and generate detailed image descriptions. Meta's Ray-Ban glasses, for instance, are already helping blind users navigate the world with greater ease.
Phone Arena
4 days ago
- Business
- Phone Arena
Solos' new partnership brings real-world use cases that you need to already excellent smart glasses starting today
Solos — which makes some pretty neat smart glasses to challenge the Meta Ray-Ban — has just partnered with Envision. Through this collaboration, the app 'Ally' is now supported on the Solos AirGo, bringing practical use to the glasses for people whose vision is on the Solos AirGo will enable its users to be able to carry out a lot of tasks with AI-powered assistance backing them up. For example, the glasses can read text from books, mail, menus, and signs for the user. The AirGo will also be able to recognize people and places, so users can simply ask their glasses where they currently are, or who might be approaching them. Furthermore, the Solos AirGo — powered by Ally — can remember context for future conversations, or read you a document. And, of course, the glasses can also answer questions, provide reminders, or carry out other tasks that current AI models are quite good Meta, Google, Samsung, and Apple vie for an emerging industry, it's nice to see a company also keeping other helpful applications of the technology in mind. The Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses were an unprecedented success, and glasses like the Solos AirGo are a bridge between the smartphone of today and the true AR smart glasses of tomorrow. Using Ally on the Solos AirGo smart glasses. | Image credit — Solos Envision's Ally app's compatibility with the Solos AirGo smart glasses begins today, and all tiers of the glasses will get a month-long free trial of Ally Pro. If you find the app helpful with your glasses, then you know that you've just found what will possibly be your best purchase in years. You can order a pair of the Solos AirGo smart glasses here. Solos' smart glasses offer plenty of reasons for consumers to choose them over competitors. For example, shortly after bringing AI-powered features to the glasses, Solos introduced an extra mode of privacy. The Solos AirGo Vision, launched last year, allowed users to swap frames for whenever they didn't want the camera to be able to see their surroundings. Whenever the industry finally moves on to smart glasses with displays, I suspect Solos will follow with some pretty nifty offerings of its own.
Engadget
4 days ago
- Business
- Engadget
Solos is equipping its smart glasses with an AI for the blind and low-vision community
Solos is teaming up with Envision, a company that makes assistive technology for the blind and low-vision community, to add an AI called Ally to its AirGo smart glasses platform. This chatbot was designed for those with vision issues. The companies say this integration creates a "first-of-its-kind, hands-free, voice-activated wearable." Solos says the specs can perform a number of tasks that should make life easier for the low-vision community, including recognizing and reading text in real time, describing scenes, recognizing faces and more. Just by speaking, users can ask the glasses to scan documents or photos for context, answer questions, check calendars and converse naturally about just about anything. The companies say that Ally remembers context across conversations. Solos says that the innovative nature of the glasses should make them useful for lots of folks, low-vision or not. This includes the elderly, people with cognitive disabilities and "anyone overwhelmed by modern devices but curious about what AI can do." The Ally-equipped AirGo glasses support prescription lenses, which is great, and include a directional speaker system. These smart glasses also include a modular component, as users can swap out different frame fronts to change up the look. Preorders are open right now, with shipments beginning in October. Prices start at $399. All purchases come with a free trial for Ally Pro , which adds more customization and functionality to the AI.
The Verge
4 days ago
- Business
- The Verge
These smart glasses use AI to help low-vision users
Accessibility-focused tech provider Envision has partnered with eyewear company Solos to launch new smart glasses specifically designed for blind and low-vision users. Envision says the camera-equipped Ally Solos Glasses can read and translate text, describe surroundings, search the web, and recognize people, objects, and signs, feeding information to the user via open-ear speakers built into the ear stems. The Ally Solos Glasses are available to pre-order today for $399, which Envision says is a 'special launch pricing' that's discounted from $699. The frames come in two sizes — regular or large — and a choice of black, gray, and brown color options. Shipping for pre-orders is expected sometime in October 2025. They're built on the existing AirGo Vision glasses that Solos launched in December, which provide their own vision recognition features via OpenAI's GPT-4o AI model. Envision's version replaces GPT-4o with Envision's 'Ally' AI assistant, which is powered by a combination of foundation AI models, including Meta's Llama, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Perplexity, according to the Ally website. The AI features work by connecting to the Ally iOS or Android app via Bluetooth. The glasses themselves have a strong IP67 rating for protection from dust and water, and USB-C chargeable ear stems that provide 'up to 16 hours of active use' on a single charge, according to the pre-order listing. It takes around 90 minutes to fully charge the ear stems, with 15 minutes of fast-charging providing around three hours of battery life. Accessibility features are already an established benefit on other smart glasses. Envision has previously released assistive eyewear built on the now-defunct Google Glass hardware, for example, and AI vision interpretation features provided by the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have already been embraced by the low-vision community. It's unclear how the Ally Solos Glasses' capabilities will compare to more affordable rivals, given $699 is considerably pricier than the $299 AirGo Vision and Ray-Ban Meta. Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Jess Weatherbed Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All AI Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Gadgets Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All News Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Tech Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Wearable
Travel Weekly
18-07-2025
- Business
- Travel Weekly
Solos introduces women-only tours
Tour operator Solos has launched women-only itineraries this week with plans to unveil more tours soon. The itineraries will be led by women and include experiences with women-focused nonprofits, advocacy groups, businesses and artists. Solo said it created the itineraries after seeing a demand for solo travel from women ages 50 and up. The tours will not have a single supplement fee. The tours follow a trend toward women-only or women-focused tours, especially those with a solo component. The "Women-only India- The Golden Triangle & Rajasthan" itinerary will explore India's Golden Triangle, Jodhpur and Udaipur on a 12-night tour. It includes sunrise yoga at the Taj Mahal, a safari to the Bishnoi Villages and a visit to Sheroes Hangout, an initiative operated by women who have survived acid attacks. Participants will also ride through Jaipur in a rickshaw through Access Development Services, which trains low-income women to become drivers. Travelers on the 12-night "Women-only Morocco: Medinas, Mountains & Coast" itinerary will visit Casablanca, Rabat, Fes, Marrakesh and Essaouira. They will meet with women entrepreneurs in Fes and artisans in Essaouira, and they will visit with Berber women in the Atlas Mountains. They will also visit a rural women's cooperative that produces embroidery, pottery and argan oil. The 10-night "Women-only Greece: Ancient Wonders & Island Hopping" itinerary will take travelers to the archaeological highlights of Athens, the Cycladic islands and historic sites like Mycenae, Epidaurus and Olympia. Travelers will take a pottery class led by a woman at her Paros studio. "These unique experiences allow travelers to interact directly with women's groups in destinations across the globe and to give back to local women's initiatives," said Kendra Guild, the vice president of North America for Solos.
