Humane Debuts $700 AI Pin With 'Laser Ink Display'
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Powerbooky
macrumors demi-god
One has to try something first to find out if it works or needs change.
Would think the same, but then again I see so many people these days, young and old, walking around with their call out loud on speaker.
Personally, I wouldn’t do that even if the whole world was. I’d still think it’s inconsiderate, but just as importantly I’m very much about privacy.
macduke
macrumors G5
This is what they unveiled? THIS?? After all of the hype for years that has more recently saturated my tech feeds and podcasts?
People don't like talking to their devices in public. It's just rude and privacy-invasive. A "'Personic Speaker' that creates a bubble of sound around the wearer" is just a joke or a lie or both. That's not a thing. You can't make a bubble of sound. This is going to annoy everyone around you, or be so quiet that it's difficult to use in public. There is no middle ground if it's not worn on your head.
It straight up looks like the iPhone 5, if you cut a corner off of it:
And instead of the dark chamfered edges, they used the steel band from the iPhone 4S.
Come to think of it, these former Apple designers probably worked on those projects. They haven't moved on much. I remember hearing about them hyping up how amazing this design is going to be so much, and it looks outdated already.
It's nice to think outside of the box a bit, but the fact that it needs a companion website to view notes and photos makes it a fail immediately. Nobody wants that. I mean, you can't even frame up the photos. You just like touch it and tell it to take a photo? How do you know everyone is in frame? How do you know you're not cutting off the top of your subject? Is everything just super wide angle or does the AI tell you to wiggle around until everyone is in frame? You fail when you need something else to use it.
The future is in phones for quite some time. There will be various forms, such as when Apple makes an iPhone that unfolds into an iPad mini with no crease and also somehow water proof, but touch is where it's at for mobile. And I still think Macs are where it's at for work. This outdated M2 powered chunky head thing with 2hrs of battery but costs about as much as the higher spec 14" M3 Max MacBook Pro I just ordered is not going to cut it.
I think someday we'll have something that looks closer to normal eyeglasses that can do what Vision Pro can do. But it's a very long way off. There are going to be a ton of tradeoffs too for things like processing power and battery life. For that reason I don't see iPhones or Macs being displaced for the rest of this decade, and probably not even until mid-2030s at the very earliest. We would need some absolutely wild breakthroughs in tech to enable that. Maybe AI could help accelerate those advances? Too early to tell.
But even so, look at the iPad. It has been around for almost 14 years and you would be hard pressed to find more than 1 in 10 people who use it as their daily computer to get all of their work done. I love my iPad Pro but I hate when I'm traveling and an emergency crops up and I have to do some kind of work on it. Mouse and keyboard helps but that just makes it more like a Mac and I don't often have that and it's an extra $350 accessory. But I love using it for some creative work and for consuming content. But it's not replacing the Mac anytime soon. Not until it can also run macOS, at least. And at that point, it becomes something new.
What it comes down to is that there are just too many limitations here. My phone can do all of this AI stuff too. I have the apps and pay the subscription. And my phone can do 100x more things, and they start at roughly the same price if you get a standard iPhone. People are super visual and this thing is not that. The Star Trek communicator was a gimmick to make the writer's job's easier. So I'm calling it now at launch: FLOP.
People don't like talking to their devices in public. It's just rude and privacy-invasive. A "'Personic Speaker' that creates a bubble of sound around the wearer" is just a joke or a lie or both. That's not a thing. You can't make a bubble of sound. This is going to annoy everyone around you, or be so quiet that it's difficult to use in public. There is no middle ground if it's not worn on your head.
It straight up looks like the iPhone 5, if you cut a corner off of it:
And instead of the dark chamfered edges, they used the steel band from the iPhone 4S.
Come to think of it, these former Apple designers probably worked on those projects. They haven't moved on much. I remember hearing about them hyping up how amazing this design is going to be so much, and it looks outdated already.
It's nice to think outside of the box a bit, but the fact that it needs a companion website to view notes and photos makes it a fail immediately. Nobody wants that. I mean, you can't even frame up the photos. You just like touch it and tell it to take a photo? How do you know everyone is in frame? How do you know you're not cutting off the top of your subject? Is everything just super wide angle or does the AI tell you to wiggle around until everyone is in frame? You fail when you need something else to use it.
The future is in phones for quite some time. There will be various forms, such as when Apple makes an iPhone that unfolds into an iPad mini with no crease and also somehow water proof, but touch is where it's at for mobile. And I still think Macs are where it's at for work. This outdated M2 powered chunky head thing with 2hrs of battery but costs about as much as the higher spec 14" M3 Max MacBook Pro I just ordered is not going to cut it.
I think someday we'll have something that looks closer to normal eyeglasses that can do what Vision Pro can do. But it's a very long way off. There are going to be a ton of tradeoffs too for things like processing power and battery life. For that reason I don't see iPhones or Macs being displaced for the rest of this decade, and probably not even until mid-2030s at the very earliest. We would need some absolutely wild breakthroughs in tech to enable that. Maybe AI could help accelerate those advances? Too early to tell.
But even so, look at the iPad. It has been around for almost 14 years and you would be hard pressed to find more than 1 in 10 people who use it as their daily computer to get all of their work done. I love my iPad Pro but I hate when I'm traveling and an emergency crops up and I have to do some kind of work on it. Mouse and keyboard helps but that just makes it more like a Mac and I don't often have that and it's an extra $350 accessory. But I love using it for some creative work and for consuming content. But it's not replacing the Mac anytime soon. Not until it can also run macOS, at least. And at that point, it becomes something new.
What it comes down to is that there are just too many limitations here. My phone can do all of this AI stuff too. I have the apps and pay the subscription. And my phone can do 100x more things, and they start at roughly the same price if you get a standard iPhone. People are super visual and this thing is not that. The Star Trek communicator was a gimmick to make the writer's job's easier. So I'm calling it now at launch: FLOP.
rafark
macrumors 68000
It’s more sad than funny
Will Co
macrumors 6502a
Yeah, despite everyone poking fun it probably does have some use cases. But they are very specific and not going to lead to volume sales. Even with their ridiculous pricing and subscription it’s never going to be a a commercial success.
Why would any regular customer purchase this if they have a phone, or a much cheaper watch which is safely strapped to one’s wrist and cannot be ripped off?
If it was half the price without the stupidly high subscription I think they would still struggle.
Some nice tech. Clever integration. Awful pricing and product.
Manzanito
macrumors 65816
With all due respect, the description of the device is even weirder than the device itself. Two paragraphs stating it was built using AI, how it attaches to clothing and the swappable battery, then a list of things the device can do.
It’s as if describing a car you start saying “it’s built in a factory, swipers can clean sections of the thing, it has lights”.
It’s as if describing a car you start saying “it’s built in a factory, swipers can clean sections of the thing, it has lights”.
Will Co
macrumors 6502a
When the day comes that humans skip college education and instead rely on what an AI tells us we’re doomed.
sunapple
macrumors 68040
This concept will either work 10 years from now or not at all, but I don't see them making enough money to get there. They came up with so many try-hard examples that sounded nice, but actually looked like a hassle.. "Normal people" will keep using their smartphones, they must know that right?
At least probs for not coming up with a glass rectangle smartphone BUT with a translucent back with LED lights or something else as generic.
At least probs for not coming up with a glass rectangle smartphone BUT with a translucent back with LED lights or something else as generic.
ZZ9pluralZalpha
macrumors 6502
The form factor and interface ideas are interesting, if not unique, but I'm dubious that they actually work anywhere near as well as described, and there's no assuagement to be had from the red flags like the photoshopped laser interface pic (unless that person's hand is really flat!) and evasiveness on battery life. Definitely a "wait for the reviews" scenario.
Wanted797
macrumors 68000
This just makes me think of Steve announcing the iPad and saying that netbooks didn’t do anything better than a laptop or phone. They were a comprised experience.
If you want to make a new product or category it has to do what it’s made to do BETTER than existing technology.
If you want to make a new product or category it has to do what it’s made to do BETTER than existing technology.
xxFoxtail
macrumors 65816
Other than the AI stuff, what can this do that my Apple Watch can't? With Apple rumored to be adding more AI features to its devices next year, I could see this product dead in the water once an iPhone and Watch can do this stuff. Especially with that expensive price. I see the potential value, but the people in that showcase video just seemed to hate the product. By the end of the video, I just saw this as another Pebble Smartwatch. It'll sell for a year or two before something comes along and just kills it.
I already get anxiety talking to people with my phone in public, let alone through my watch. I can't imagine what people will think about me if they see me talking to my hand.
I already get anxiety talking to people with my phone in public, let alone through my watch. I can't imagine what people will think about me if they see me talking to my hand.
Tip: don’t worry about what other people think.
Rainshadow
macrumors 6502a
I thought this was stupid at first too, but I think in specific situations with technology advancing this could be very interesting.
Consider jobs where you don’t have a screen in front of you but you would like to document interactions but have quickly accessible info. Ex: realtors, insurance adjusters, police officers, repo folks. You could have a “body camera” documenting a client or interaction, with ai capabilities that can provide relevant facts during conversation - or maybe if it ever got color, photographs - without pulling a phone out. Especially if it worked with headphones or an earpiece. During conversations, realtors could be in discussion and get facts about a particular house on the fly - or compare other houses to particular desires of the buyer at hand.
Really, with good enough ai, and discreet ability to get quick info - audio or visual - that could be pretty cool. At least, I could finally see myself using one.
In the current state and price - probably not.
Consider jobs where you don’t have a screen in front of you but you would like to document interactions but have quickly accessible info. Ex: realtors, insurance adjusters, police officers, repo folks. You could have a “body camera” documenting a client or interaction, with ai capabilities that can provide relevant facts during conversation - or maybe if it ever got color, photographs - without pulling a phone out. Especially if it worked with headphones or an earpiece. During conversations, realtors could be in discussion and get facts about a particular house on the fly - or compare other houses to particular desires of the buyer at hand.
Really, with good enough ai, and discreet ability to get quick info - audio or visual - that could be pretty cool. At least, I could finally see myself using one.
In the current state and price - probably not.
typographer
macrumors member
I hope it would not be an idea banned by Cook while they were working for Apple back in the days...
This has many problems. From conceptual and practical point of view.
Conceptually... we consume a lot of content on our smartphones, for which we need a screen. You can't watch photos, videos, write or read privately in a public space, etc. Also, graphic interfaces are much faster than voice ones in most of the cases. Imagine how would you multi-select stuff. In the video, they talked about how "you no longer have to scroll through your messages to find what you're looking for". Well, in practice I think it's much better and probably much quicker to scroll up (search by text if necessary), find your message, check the context based on other messages, and so on.
And from a practical point of view, it seems heavy and not very comfortable (check how the shirt is dragged). You need to keep your hand 20-40 cm away, and the projection doesn't look very okey. Also (but I have to try it) gestures seem really finicky: I have to twist my hand into a weird position, and then the projection is completely distorted...
I thank them for the courage and for the big effort involved in creating a completely new device. But "new" things don't succeed, it's "new AND good" things. I think this one is not good. But of course, if it inspires others to be brave, 1 of the 1000 alternatives will be new and good.
Conceptually... we consume a lot of content on our smartphones, for which we need a screen. You can't watch photos, videos, write or read privately in a public space, etc. Also, graphic interfaces are much faster than voice ones in most of the cases. Imagine how would you multi-select stuff. In the video, they talked about how "you no longer have to scroll through your messages to find what you're looking for". Well, in practice I think it's much better and probably much quicker to scroll up (search by text if necessary), find your message, check the context based on other messages, and so on.
And from a practical point of view, it seems heavy and not very comfortable (check how the shirt is dragged). You need to keep your hand 20-40 cm away, and the projection doesn't look very okey. Also (but I have to try it) gestures seem really finicky: I have to twist my hand into a weird position, and then the projection is completely distorted...
I thank them for the courage and for the big effort involved in creating a completely new device. But "new" things don't succeed, it's "new AND good" things. I think this one is not good. But of course, if it inspires others to be brave, 1 of the 1000 alternatives will be new and good.
I agree. It was the actual announcement itself that struck me as especially amateurish.
This screen capture really captures much of the problem with it. Even the founders seemed bored by it.
As for the product, there are some interesting things about it that might be useful to some people.
But the name is terrible. Was ‘ai pin’ really the best they could come up with.
Feels like the announcement being terrible and the name being awful as though they have a really bad marketing team.
As an aside, the whole bit about where the next eclipse will be… it got it completely wrong. The main functionality of this thing relying on LLMs that regularly get stuff incorrect is a dubious proposition.