Bose SoundWear Companion speaker

HANDS-FREE, EARS-FREE TUNES.

tinyurl.com/tla71-bose Bose markets this peculiar device as “better sound you can wear”. No, not on your head. This isn’t a pair of headphones, rather it’s a travel-pillow-like speaker that allows you to listen to music without blocking out all external noises. Now while, yes, there are pairs of selective noise-cancelling headphones that attempt to filter out unwanted noise but allow necessary sounds through, like car horns and sirens, the SoundWear is aimed at those people who don’t want anything messing up their hair, and also want the whole world to hear what they’re listening to. It also allows you to take calls and talk to Siri — we suspect she’ll be the only one who wants to talk back once you’re seen wearing this thing, however... In a world full of smart watches, smart phones and smart speakers, this wearable brings nothing new, except perhaps a slightly warmer neck in winter. Plus, at US$299.95, that’s a really expensive scarf.