Think Google Glass Invades Your Privacy? Here’s a Wristband that Records Audio 24 Hours a Day

Audio-recording device, Kapture, will go live on Kickstarter next month.

So you heard a great joke at the pub last night but don’t remember the punchline. Was it was a priest or a lumberjack who walked into a bar with a three-legged okapi? Fret no more, because a Cincinnati-based company wants to produce a solution to the problem of lousy memories. No, it’s not a notebook. It’s an always-on audio-recording wristband called Kapture, and it will go live on Kickstarter next month.

Here’s how it works: The device is always on but stores no more than the last 60 seconds of sound, in much the same way that many CCTV cameras overwrite their recordings after a set period. The point is not to have an exhaustive record of every sound ever encountered (which if you live in urban areas would consist largely of traffic and sirens) but to preserve something immediately after the fact.

What might such a device be used for, other than bar humor? Kapture’s founders suggest several occasions on which it might come in handy:

  • The reaction of a child experiencing something for the first time
  • The unexpected interactions of daily life
  • A humorous anecdote from your family reunion
  • The birth of an inside joke with friends
  • A solitary epiphany during your drive home

Read more at Quartz