Privacy is becoming an increasing concern for even users who aren’t so tech-savvy. The sales of smart speakers and smartphones have increased over the past few years, and with that, privacy has been impacted. Pozio has two new products launching on Kickstarter that they claim can bring back your privacy even if you’re using a smart speaker or smartphone.
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The Pozio Cradle and Shield work by blocking the mic arrays on your smart devices and only turning them on when you want to use them. These docks and cradles block unwanted listening by using patented digital signal processing to prevent these always-listening microphones in smart devices from hearing your private conversations.
“Smart speakers and smartphone assistants provide users with an incredible amount of convenience, but that convenience costs us our privacy,” David Nickel, CEO at Pozio. “Our smart devices are always listening and sometimes recording and storing what we say around them. While concerning, this can open us up to cyberthreats and unwanted sharing of sensitive information, as has been well documented by the media. ”
Pozio does its blocking discreetly without disturbing anyone else, until you give them permission to listen again. Using embedded wake word recognition1, users can say, “Pozio Stop,” to turn off the sound blocking technology for 30 seconds, allowing them to then access, summon and speak commands to their smart assistants as they normally would. Because Pozio values user privacy, Pozio devices aren’t connected to the internet and don’t have a hard drive so they don’t record or store any data.
“We’re here to provide smart speakers and smartphone owners peace of mind by giving them control of when these devices can and can’t hear them, without impacting the convenience of a voice-only experience,” Nickel continued.
Not only are Pozio devices secure and private, they are equipped with highly desirable features. Pozio Cradle products for example all come equipped with a wireless smartphone charging pad. Available in three configurations, Cradle Block blocks listening when the phone is charging/resting in it, Cradle Block & Talk takes things a step further by adding voice control, and Cradle Block, Talk & Rock amplifies things further by adding voice control and an integrated Bluetooth speaker.
Pozio
The two products are called Cradle and Shield, and you can support the Kickstarter here once it goes live.
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