TechCrunch
With 45,000 Units Shipped, Valkee's Light-Emitting ‘Medical iPod' Gets A Sleeker Look
After closing a $9.7 million round this summer, Finnish startup Valkee – which makes a light-emitting pair of earbuds designed to counteract seasonal affective disorder — has put some of that cash towards a product refresh. The second generation of its product, Valkee 2, has been given a sleeker look and a variety of user-friendly tweaks.
The device, which Valkee’s co-founder Juuso Nissillä describes as a “medical iPod”, draws on scientific research that suggests bright light stimulates brain activity. The LED earbuds are designed to leverage that effect by allowing users to give themselves a daily dose of light directly into their ear canals — where the photosensitive areas of the human brain can be exposed to it.
The main change with Valkee 2 is remodelled LED earbuds, aiming for a more ergonomic, in-ear fit. There’s also a new smaller, all-aluminium casing (that looks very 2nd generation iPod nano-ish) from which the micro USB headphone cord can now be detached so that multiple users (i.e. who each have their own LEDSet) can share a single Valkee 2.
The product’s interface has also been updated to add on-device control — rather than having to change settings via Valkee’s website or a PC. Other tweaks include a longer headphone cord and internal memory in the earbuds so that settings can be retained when the headset is unplugged from the control unit.
Valkee launched its first commercial prototype in Finland in winter 2010, using off-the-shelf products. A global version, made from proprietary plastic parts, followed in winter 2011. That version retailed for €185. The startup said today it has shipped 45,000 of its bright light headsets to more than 20 countries around the world over the past three years. Satisfaction rates are apparently very high: 87% of users would recommend the product to others, it claims.
The Valkee 2 is available for pre-order – costing €199, in a choice of either black or silver – from the company’s website. It’s due to ship next month.
64% Of Organizations Have Invested In Or Plan To Invest In Big Data Tech, But Only 8% Have Started Using It, Says Gartner
Businesses are eager to spend money on big data, but few have a clear cut plan for what they plan to do with the technology, according to a new Gartner report. 64% of organizations surveyed have already purchased or are planning to invest in big data solutions in 2013, compared with 58% in 2012. Of that 64%, 30% have already invested in big data tech, 19% plan to invest within the next year and another 15% plan to invest within two years. Less than 8% of Gartner’s 720 respondents, however, have actually deployed big data technology.
Big data is expected to drive $34 billion of IT spending in 2013, but though organizations are intrigued by the promises of big data solutions, most are still trying to figure out how the technology fits into their strategy.
“For big data, 2013 is the year of experimentation and early deployment. Adoption is still at the early stages with less than 8% of all respondents indicating their organization has deployed big data solutions. 20% are piloting and experimenting, 18% are developing a strategy, 19% are knowledge gathering, while the remainder have no plans or don’t know,” said Gartner research vice president Frank Buytendijk in a statement.
Though many organizations are still unclear about which big data solutions they will invest in or how much they will spend, Gartner spotted trends in how they plan to use the technology. 49% want to increase their company’s efficiency by using big data to reduce costs or identify risks earlier, while 55% hope it will help them improve customer service. 42% of organizations want to develop new products and business models using insight gleaned from big data, while 23% want to monetize information directly.
Every vertical industry surveyed by Gartner had companies that are planning to or have already invested in big data solutions. Media and communications, banking, and services firms are the most enthusiastic big data adopters. 39% of media and communication organizations surveyed said they have already invested in big data, followed by 34% of banking organizations and 32% of services firms. The industries with the most planned investments over the next two years are transportation, with 50% planning to invest in big data technology, followed by healthcare at 41% and insurance companies at 40%. Most of these organizations are located in North America, where 38% of organizations surveyed said they had already invested in big data technology. 45% of organizations surveyed in the Asia-Pacific region said they plan to invest.
While most organizations are laying out their big data investment strategy, 15% of Gartner’s respondents are still trying to figure out what big data actually means, which is not shocking considering how broad and complex the term is.
“Perhaps unsurprisingly, this concern came mainly from respondents with no plans to invest. Organizations should be sure they are educated about big data opportunities in their industry to ensure they are not missing the boat,” said Gartner research director Nick Huedecker in a statement.
FaceTime Audio Is Apple's Biggest Little Feature Addition In iOS 7
Quietly, gradually, but clearly Apple is building platform lock-in into its iOS products, with some features that are deeper than just a rich third-party software ecosystem. FaceTime Audio is the latest of these, VoIP calling built on the back of its FaceTime video chat service, which is tightly integrated to the phone app to make placing free international calls almost a pleasant surprise for those looking to connect with far-flung loved ones.
FaceTime Audio joins iMessage as another reason to sign on with the Apple camp and get an iPhone or iPad device, and then never to depart again. It’s a little odd to see it arrive so much later than FaceTime’s video calling feature, but the reversal of feature rollout makes a lot of sense ; audio-only calls are uncomfortably close to standard phone calls, which is still one of the sole remaining areas that carriers control.
Apple delivering FaceTime Audio later, as an update to its original FaceTime service probably allowed it more time to mollify carrier partners, and the climate has changed around mobile software and services, too. There’s a new emphasis on data, and OEMs helping carriers drive sales of their own data products, so in that context Apple’s VoIP ambitions are less of a land grab and more of a helpful addition that furthers everyone’s goals.
For many users, FaceTime Audio is going to be nothing short of a revelation. Already, it’s my most-used new feature in iOS 7 with the exception maybe of Control Center. It helps that I’m currently in a different country than most of my friends and family, but it’s not like mine is an isolated case. And unlike in the U.S., carriers in other countries like Canada charge long distance for calling outside of your town or city, let alone for those calls across international borders.
Critics will say that services like Google’s Gmail calling and Skype have offered free international or long-distance calling for years, but Apple’s service is integrated directly into a user’s Phone, Contacts, Messages and FaceTime apps, which they’re already comfortable using, and doesn’t require having a separate account or third-party app open. That makes an immense difference in terms of barriers to usage for people who may not be all that technologically savvy. My less expert family members are already extremely comfortable with FaceTime Audio and how it works, not even a week into the feature’s launch, even if they’d never managed to make a habit of using Skype in the past.
Like BBM once was for BlackBerry, iMessage provides a considerable amount of incentive for users to stay, especially if they have a lot of friends and family also using iOS devices. FaceTime Audio serves the same purpose, and finally destabilizes some of the more draconian practices of carriers charging for so-called “long distance” calls that in actual fact look no different to their infrastructure or back-end, but are sold as “premium” services. It’s a small change, but an amazing one, and represents Apple seeding its users with features that take root and endear them to the platform for a long time to come.
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