With winter fast approaching on the calendar and the temperatures already starting to drop, it’s not unusual to see people digging out their layering accessories. Scarves, hats and gloves are going to only increase in number as the days get shorter and darker.
Winter gloves have never been very gadget-friendly. Touch screen technology made this problem even more prominent and had people choosing between exposing their hands to the cold, wearing fingerless gloves, or waiting to get inside before making a phone call or changing their mp3 player settings. “Texting gloves” helped solve this dilemma but what if keeping your hands warm is a must or your hands are just plain full?
BEARtek Gloves, (which stands for Bluetooth Enabled Audio Regulation), are the premier product of Maryland-based company, Blue Infusion Technologies. The company is out to step up the accessory game; combining winter warmth, technological convenience and a third useful aspect of practical safety to boot.
A fairly young company started in 2010 by CEO and inventor Willie Blount, Blue Infusion Technologies has covered a lot of ground to get an intricate concept like BEARtek Gloves up and running well enough to file for a Kickstarter campaign in just two years. According to a recent tweet from the company’s official Twitter account, the campaign is due to start November 12. A press release specifies that this first campaign will feature gloves…
specifically designed for use during winter sports like skiing [or] snowboarding, while the company’s second glove collection for motorcyclists is set to premier in the Spring of 2013.
Blount being a motorcyclist, and his business partner Tarik Rodgers (COO), being a skier, each of them brings a real perspective to BEARtek’s product potential and application for the everyday consumer. Even if one takes up neither of these activities, it is comforting to know that those who do might soon be keeping more of their attention on steering rather than changing the music on their device.
The bluetooth heart of BEARtek’s capabilities might sound old hat, but to call them “just another bluetooth device” would be naïve. Their press release alludes to the gloves being manipulated by thumb taps to “one of six touches points strategically embedded along the fingers of the glove.” The wireless core might sound familiar but the flexibility of its minimal hardware and accounting for future change means BEARtek can adapt. As advertised on BEARtek’s website,
…We have the ability to make a new module [for BEARtek Gloves to] do almost anything. Let us know what you want… Adding new features is as simple as removing the old module and inserting a new one. All future modules will be based on the notion that the glove is the controller and the module performs the action.
Knowing that Blount and Rodgers want BEARtek to eventually have extensive multi-purpose use, maybe their modules could eventually allow for the elimination of music player interaction altogether. Perhaps one day we’ll be able to dock our devices in a speaker and simply use the glove to completely control the music we play. Anyone for programmable clap rhythms to bring up your favorite song?
Below is a video demo and detailed explanation of BEARtek Gloves and their development:
Kira is an old school music nerd with a love for all things creative; always searching for music’s common ground. She graduated with an M.A. in Performing Arts Administration from New York University. Drop her a tweet @shadowmelody1
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