TuesdayApr062021
Kevin Winter/MTV VMAs 2020/Getty Images for MTVThe Black Eyed Peas' performance at the MTV VMAs last year has now brought us the world's first "smart mask."
As The New York Times reports, the CEO of Salesforce, Marc Benioff, was impressed with the face covering that Peas frontman will.i.am was wearing during that performance, which was a weird gas mask-type thing. When he called will to find out what it was, he told Benioff it was an idea for a high-tech mask he'd been working on since March of 2020.
Benioff then introduced will to the CEO of Honeywell, a company that was making N95 face masks, and presto: the new product, called the Xupermask, will arrive April 8.
According to the Times, the mask, a joint venture between will and Honeywell, is made of silicon and mesh. It has three fans, a Honeywell HEPA filtration system, noise-canceling headphones, LED lights, a rechargeable battery and Bluetooth. Best of all, it even seals over the nose so your glasses won't fog up.
The Times reports that the mask costs $299 and was designed by Jose Fernandez, who created costumes for movies like Black Panther, The Avengers and X-Men 2.
“We are living in sci-fi times,” will.i.am told the Times. Describing the pandemic as being "straight out of a friggin’ movie," he added, "We are wearing masks from yesterday’s movie. So I wanted to make a mask to fit the era that we’re in.”
And he's "gotta feeling" — sorry — that masks are here to stay, despite what happens with COVID-19.
"SARS happened in Japan and Southeast Asia, and they got over it, and they still wear masks,” he pointed out.
By Andrea Dresdale
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