THE CRUNCH

Amazon has unveiled two AI wearables from Bee, the startup it acquired last year in a deal reported to be worth $300 million. Bee Frontier is worn like a watch or fitness tracker, while Bee Eclipse is a credit-card-sized device that attaches magnetically to the back of your phone. Both listen to your conversations and turn details you might forget into summaries, to-dos and reminders.

Each device has a single button and a visible indicator that lights up when it is listening and summarising. Summaries can be reviewed in a Bee mobile app on iPhone or Android over Bluetooth, or a new desktop app, with templates for things like lectures and a view of recent memories. The devices also spot recurring themes and suggest personalised goals and actions.

Bee has now gained the ability to connect to Amazon's Alexa+ assistant and Amazon.com, so you can ask Alexa for a meeting summary or receive shopping recommendations based on what the wearable has overheard. Amazon says the products respect privacy: audio is processed into insights in real time and not stored, while transcripts are encrypted and accessible only to the user.

On specs, Bee Frontier claims IP67 water resistance, up to seven days of battery life and USB-C charging. Bee Eclipse also charges over USB-C and is said to last more than 21 days per charge. Bee Frontier is available now for $74.99; Bee Eclipse is due shortly for $99.99.