B'luru techies trick Apple's OS, use airpods hack to create hearing aids for grandmothers
Bengaluru: Three young tech enthusiasts from Bengaluru have devised an innovative method to bypass geographical restrictions on Apple’s AirPods Pro 2, enabling a hearing aid feature unavailable in India.
The feature, approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in September and available in over 100 countries, remains blocked in India. When 24-year-old Rithwik Jayasimha purchased AirPods Pro 2 for his grandmother, he discovered the restriction. Determined to find a workaround, he joined forces with his school friends, Arnav Bansal and Rithwik Ribhu, both of whom also had grandmothers dependent on hearing aids.
At a lab in Koramangala, the trio developed a solution using a Faraday Cage made of aluminium foil, copper mesh, a microwave, and an ESP32 chip. The cage blocked Wi-Fi signals, while the chip allowed them to spoof the AirPods' location to San Francisco using an open-source Wi-Fi location database. This geo-spoofing tricked Apple’s operating system into activating the hearing aid feature.
According to Jayasimha, the feature is significantly more user-friendly and advanced compared to traditional hearing aids. "With these AirPods, I could adjust settings like sound loudness and brightness easily, eliminating the need for audiologist visits," he said.
The self-taught innovators have already helped over 30 people enable the feature, sharing their methods online and assisting others at their home-based lab, 'Lagrange Point.'
The trio has previously worked on solutions like water-cooled suits for delivery personnel during heatwaves and adaptive clothing for Parkinson’s patients. Their next project involves developing devices to detect microplastics in food and water.
While Apple has not commented on their initiative, the tech enthusiasts hope the hearing aid feature will soon receive regulatory approval in India.
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Woman mauled to death by leopard near Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Nov 18: A 52-year-old woman was mauled to death by a leopard near here, officials said on Monday.
Kariamma had gone to cut grass at an agricultural field near her home at Kambalu, Gollarahatti, in Nelamangala taluk in Bengaluru Rural district on Sunday evening when the incident happened, they said.
The field, where she was working, was adjacent to a forest which is frequented by leopards, and warnings were also issued to villagers in recent times to not venture into the vicinity. There were instances of leopard killing dogs and other strays, a senior forest officer said.
"The woman, who is into rearing cattle, went to the agricultural field to cut grass and was allegedly dragged by the leopard into the forest area where the big cat mauled her to death and consumed parts of her body from head to chest," he said.
When she did not return, her family members went searching for her and discovered her half-eaten body and reported it to the forest officials, he added.
A 30 member team of leopard task force, 30 staff and 10 officers of the forest department reached the site along with forensic experts to take samples of the hair, blood stains and footprints of the leopard in order to catch the big cat, the officer said.
"Twenty huge cages have also been installed in and around the area in an attempt to catch the leopard involved in the killing," he said.
