Earlier this month Bragi commenced a Kickstarter campaign that aims to deliver The Dash, an in ear headphone accessory that combines a traditional stereo Bluetooth headset with an exercise tracker and body sensors (heart rate and temperature). Yesterday, the campaign posted a stretch goal that, if met, will add Windows Phone support for the accessory, in the form of a dedicated app for Windows Phone 8 devices.

As an accessory The Dash is made up of two pieces, one for each ear. One side will be used to control the headphone and headset functionality and one side will be used to control the exercise / workout tracking functionality. The two pieces are connected to each other (and to a companion phone) via a Bluetooth connection.

The project originally aimed to raise $260,000, but the new stretch goal extended that to $2,500,000, of which $2,026617 has been raised at the time of writing, with an additional 40 days left to raise the remaining amount. With the track record of fund raising so far the stretch goal would appear to be well within reach.

The Dash is described as the first smart wireless headphone. The smart element comes by converging other technologies and accessories into the standard headphone form factor. This includes the relatively standard Bluetooth headset functionality, via the addition of an ear bone microphone, but also includes a music player, via the addition of 4GB of internal memory, and body sensors, via the addition of accelerometer, thermometer, optical and capacitive senors. 

It's the body sensors that really give The Dash its hardware smarts, opening up a range of possible use cases including exercise tracking (steps, cadence, pace, rotation) and body sensing (heart rate, body temperature, oxygen saturation).

The smarts also come from the software side of the accessory, which is both in the accessory itself and in a companion smartphone app. One example of this is the way that the companion app will include enhanced exercise tracking functionality by combing sensor input from the phone (GPS) with that from The Dash.

There are a number of other stand out features too, with smart controls aiming to make the most out of the devices functionality. For example, it will be possible to switch the device's noise isolation feature on and off, and activate what is described as a transparent audio feature (ambient sound passed through), either within the app or via an on-accessory gesture (swipe).

More information about The Dash is available on the Kickstarter campaign page.