Biking or walking in urban environments with headphones on or earplugs in can be dangerous, while open speaker systems drain batteries and lack sound quality, making these hybrid bone conduction headphones better than the best of both worlds.

The AfterShokz’s Bluez 2S bypasses your eardrum, delivering sound to your inner ear through bone vibrations. Lightweight and worn around rather than over your ears, they provide a distraction-free way to listen to audio while moving through busy city streets.

Designed to be robust and resist the effects of dust, sweat, heat and cold, they are made to be a year-round solution for audiophiles who need music or podcasts to keep them company through daily commutes. They also have soft, cheek-friendly pads to keep from becoming irritating over long walks or rides. As they are not headphones, they also skirt laws in some cities which prohibit ear-occupying devices for reasons of public and personal safety.

Author Jon Turi provides some feedback on the differences in sound to be expected from this alternative audio delivery mechanism: “So how do they sound? First, you need to understand that this is an entirely different experience than regular headphones, with its own set of trade-offs. Music will sound a bit different with this type of technology. The overall sound may be a bit duller compared to your standard cans, but you’ll also get a pleasantly spacious head-feel when listening, which is hard to convey. Speech comes across clearly, but the low-end will be lacking in comparison. I frequently have the volume near maximum when I’m hustling on bustling city streets and feeling the music. In quieter environments, however, there’s more headroom in volume flexibility. The claim is that PremiumPitch+ helps increase bass, while dampening vibration and reducing sound leakage. The Bluez 2S may not be the loudest pair I’ve listened too — Damson’s Headbones still hold that title — but they provide plenty of kick without going overboard on the vibration.”

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Turning gravity-fed freshwater pipes into passive energy generators, this turbine system deployed in Portland, Oregon, takes water power in a new direction, tapping into urban flows beyond conventional rivers and oceans.

The LucidPipe Power System from Lucid Energy has minimal impacts on water flow rates, even helping slow down flows that run too fast, and their turbine-equipped pipes slot right into existing systems.

The larger boon here is the potential to turn all kinds of urban water supplies into power-generating pieces of infrastructure, from water pipes in this case to rainwater turbines also in development. Given that cities tend to be where power is needed most, this could prove an essential underground technology for the future of urban energy generation, working right under our feet. Also, subterranean and other urban systems don’t have the same environmental impact on migratory species or ecosystems in general.

Per Gizmag, “Once up and running, it’s expected to generate an average of 1,100 megawatt hours of energy per year, which is enough to power approximately 150 homes. Over the next 20 years, it should also generate about US$2 million in energy sales to Portland General Electric, which Harbourton plans on sharing with the City of Portland and the Portland Water Bureau in order to offset operational costs. At the end of that period, the Portland Water Bureau will have the right to purchase the system outright, along with all the energy it produces.”

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Solving the ‘last mile’ problem for daily commutes and short urban trips, the Bolt skateboard boasts a combination of features as well as its status as the world’s smallest, lightest and easiest-to-carry electric vehicle.

From the designers: “Walking is too slow and time consuming. Most of the time taking the car is cumbersome  and useless because you need to find space for parking. The bicycle must always be locked and made safe otherwise can be stolen. Even if you use  public transport, you still need a last mile solution small enough to be carried with you everywhere.”

With speeds up to 13 miles per hour, it may not compete with a car but is comparable to a bike while being a lot less bulky and something you don’t need to lock up between uses. At 24 by 10 inches (4 thick), it is small enough to fit onto the back of a pack. As a bonus, you can use the board’s charge to power your mobile electronic devices as needed, too.

More on its origin from its maker, a robotic engineering student named Lorenzo Cella: “Every day I take the train to go to university. From home I have to walk to the station, take the train and once there I have to walk to class. I have to do the reverse path back home every noon. I’ve counted that I spend 1 hour and 30 minutes walking everyday, 7km (4.5 miles) . I noticed that covering this distance by foot every day, in addition to waste my time, makes me get home tired and with little desire to do anything else.”

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A lovely design from concept to execution, these silent-running wind power generators are designed to look like abstract trees, combining elements of sculptural art and sustainable energy creation.

With the rustling of leaves in mind, New Wind has been developing this design to work with low-cost materials and modular parts that can be packed into boxes then shipped to and assembled on sites around the world.

For now, prototypes have gone up in Paris to gauge public reaction but so far opinions are positive: these don’t exhibit the same tacky fakery found in semi-camouflaged cell towers, managing to look nice while remaining clearly artificial. Additionally, the distribution of power generation (described below) makes the entire system run quietly so as not to add to urban noise.

Aesthetics aside, the technology is quite ingenious: tiny blades turn inside each ‘leaf’, in turn feeding power back into the branches, trunk and ultimately nearby lights, wifi stations and/or other things needing electric power (much in the same way a leaf in nature generates energy and feeds it back into the rest of a plant.

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Navigating an urban landscape is difficult enough, but doing it without the benefit of sight is confusing and can be dangerous. Microsoft teamed up with research group Future Cities Catapult to create a headset that creates a multi-layered soundscape to help those with visual impairments get around. The Cities Unlocked project uses a smartphone and bone conduction sound to provide information about the wearer’s surroundings.

The behind-the-head headset features two small nodes that fit just in front of each ear to transmit sound through the wearer’s bones. This type of sound delivery is more efficient than sounds that travel through the air, and the technology allows the wearer to hear both the headset’s cues and the ambient noises around them.

Each headset is custom made using Microsoft’s Kinect camera. The camera scans the wearer’s head to determine the precise location of the wearer’s ear canals. The nodes are designed to fit in front of the ear canals to bypass the eardrums altogether. This precise positioning allows the headset to create noises that seem to come from a certain direction. If a wearer is headed in the wrong direction, the headset can create a sound coming from the correct direction which cues the wearer to turn that way.

The headset can name nearby landmarks, buildings, and businesses to help the wearer keep their bearings. It is connected to a smartphone via Bluetooth and relies on information from location and navigation services. Before setting out, a wearer can program in a route and the headset will guide them to the location using verbal directions and sound cues.

Part of the project’s vision is to place information beacons in strategic locations throughout urban areas. These beacons would provide valuable information about transportation schedules and other helpful mobility tips.

The initiative is aimed not only at people who are commuting to and from work; it is meant to help tourists and those who are new to a city. Getting around a new city with sight loss is a huge and scary undertaking, but the help provided by the Cities Unlocked project could help visually impaired people attain a whole new level of confidence and independence.

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