Sony Mobile Introduces Bold New Open-ear Wired and True Wireless Earphones
At the Barcelona, 2018 Mobile World Congress, Sony Mobile announced its Xperia Ear Duo truly wireless concept, which should be reaching the market in Spring 2018. According to Sony, the Xperia Ear Duo was built to reimagine the wireless headset with a bold new Spatial Acoustic Conductor open-ear design, featuring notifications and environmental awareness, with Google Assistant or Siri support. A similar design is available on the Open-ear Stereo Headset STH40D wired model.
Sescom Attenuating Line to Mic Level Cables for 2-Volt Audio Signals
Sescom, a manufacturer of professional audio transformers and interface technology from Mount Marion, N.Y., introduced a new range of attenuating line to mic level cables that provide properly matched mic level signals to popular video-recording DSLR cameras and other devices accepting mic level audio only. Available in two models, with RCA male plugs or with XLR female plugs, both models are also terminated with a 3.5mm stereo plug.
STMicroelectronics and USound Demonstrate MEMS Speaker Headphones at MWC 2018
Expanding on the first presentation of USound’s technology at Mobile World Congress a year ago, in 2018 STMicroelectronics hosted a working product demonstration of a in-earphone using only one single MEMS speaker driver per side, as well as a spatial audio demo using 14 drivers on over-ear headphones, proving the technology’s full potential. MEMS speakers developed by USound and manufactured by STMicroelectronics combine minuscule size, low profile, and high efficiency, enabling multiple wearable form factors.
Huawei Enters Patent License Agreement for Fraunhofer IIS MPEG-4 Audio Patent Portfolio
Global communications equipment provider Huawei has entered into a worldwide patent license agreement with the renowned developer of audio and media technologies, Fraunhofer IIS, for Fraunhofer’s MPEG-4 Audio patent portfolio. The license agreement addresses past and future use of Fraunhofer’s MPEG-4 Audio patent portfolio in Huawei’s products. The patents cover compression formats for perceptual coding of audio signals, including some variations of Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), and other audio/speech coding formats and tools.
TDK Acquires Ultrasonic MEMS Sensing Solutions Developer Chirp Microsystems
TDK Corporation announced that it has reached an agreement with Chirp Microsystems, a pioneer in high-performance ultrasonic sensing, headquartered in Berkeley, California. With the acquisition, Chirp becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of TDK, enhancing its existing technology in fingerprint sensors, MEMS sensors, and Piezoelectric transducer product lines. “TDK aims to be the leader in the ultrasonic MEMS sensors and solutions market,” says Shigenao Ishiguro, TDK’s President and CEO.
Social Music Platform BandLab Technologies Buys What's Left of Cakewalk
In the middle of all the turmoil around the rumors of the collapse of Gibson Brands, there's some sort of good news for musicians and many home and project studios. Following the hard-to-understand news, back in November 2017, that Gibson was closing Cakewalk - the first clear sign that the group was facing serious financial troubles - there is now a confirmation that not everything is lost for users of Cakewalk's products. Singapore-based BandLab Technologies confirmed the acquisition of Cakewalk Inc. remaining assets.
CEVA Extends its IP Platforms for Bluetooth 5 and Wi-Fi Applications with RISC-V
Audio and voice signal processing specialists CEVA announced that the complete RivieraWaves suite of Bluetooth 5 (low energy and dual mode) and Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax intellectual property (IP) platforms are now offered with an optional integrated open-source RISC-V MCU. These integration-ready system solutions are ideal for those manufacturers seeking freedom from standard 3rd party processor architectures.
QuickLogic Collaborates with Shenzhen Horn Audio Company to Develop Bluetooth Headset Reference Design with Alexa Support
QuickLogic Corporation announced it has partnered with Shenzhen Horn Audio Co., Ltd. to deliver a Bluetooth-enabled headset reference design supporting Amazon Alexa Voice Services (AVS) for both Apple and Android smartphones and tablets. Based on QuickLogic's EOS S3 Voice and Sensor Processing Platform, the new reference design features advanced always-on and always-listening voice processing capabilities with the industry's lowest power consumption.
Bragi Introduces Bragi Intelligent Edge Software Suite featuring Bragi nanoAI
After 4 years of development, Bragi has made a breakthrough in ultra-efficient artificial intelligence and says it is ready to deliver the first edge computing AI suite. During Mobile World Congress 2018, in Barcelona, Bragi, the company behind The Dash hearable, now the world’s first intelligent Edge Headphone, announced a B2B offer of Bragi nanoAI as a software solution, which the company says helps to overcome major challenges of the current IoT architecture.
THX Announces End-To-End MPEG-H Positional Audio Solution
THX Ltd., announced the THX Spatial Audio Platform using MPEG-H and jointly demonstrated by Qualcomm Technologies and THX for the first time at Mobile World Congress 2018. The THX Spatial Audio Platform is an end-to-end universal positional audio solution built with the flexibility to support emerging immersive content formats (object-based and ambisonics) and open standards, as well as legacy content, across mobile, PC and consumer electronic devices.