this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2024
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the Humane AI Pin is fucked (www.theverge.com)
submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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after the predictable failure of the Rabbit R1, it feels like we’ve heard relatively nothing about the Humane AI Pin, which released first but was rapidly overshadowed by the R1’s shittiness. as it turns out, the reason why we haven’t heard much about the Humane AI pin is because it’s fucked:

Between May and August, more AI Pins were returned than purchased, according to internal sales data obtained by The Verge. By June, only around 8,000 units hadn’t been returned, a source with direct knowledge of sales and return data told me. As of today, the number of units still in customer hands had fallen closer to 7,000, a source with direct knowledge said.

it’s fucked in ways you might not have seen coming, but Humane should have:

Once a Humane Pin is returned, the company has no way to refurbish it, sources with knowledge of the return process confirmed. The Pin becomes e-waste, and Humane doesn’t have the opportunity to reclaim the revenue by selling it again. The core issue is that there is a T-Mobile limitation that makes it impossible (for now) for Humane to reassign a Pin to a new user once it’s been assigned to someone.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 4 months ago

L O and I cannot emphasize this enough, L

[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 months ago

and the depressing part is, I’m pretty sure that unlike the R1 this thing won’t have any off-label use cases as a weird hackable gadget or an Android cyberdeck for big Teenage Engineering fans

[–] [email protected] 20 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I've been hoping I can pick one up off the salvage market when they inevitably close doors. I don't give a shit about the AI part of it but I think the form factor could be fun to play with; for like $25 though.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I sometimes dream of having a display shelf of doomed, terrible tech products. A Nexus Q, a Google Glass, an R1, an AI Pin, a CueCat… you get the idea.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

Jibo, Juicero... it is possible to get one's hands on one of Theranos's machines?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

I have a Cuecat! One of my early programming projects.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Don't worry HP is going to buy them for 1 billion, they're expert in wasting money in worthless companies

Being acquired for billions was the plan from the beginning, not shipping a useful product

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

Alternatively Google will buy it and quietly let it die.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago (1 children)

there is a T-Mobile limitation that makes it impossible (for now) for Humane to reassign a Pin to a new user once it’s been assigned to someone. One source said they don’t believe Humane has disposed of the old Pins because “they’re still hopeful they can solve this problem eventually.”

I wonder if the Pins make a beeping sound when they run low on battery. And somewhere there's a vault of dead Pins that echoes with the beep... beep... beeps... that the flawed unwanted devices make to one another. For every one that dies, another two are brought in. And as Executives are forced from their posts, before completing their offboarding, they are forced to sit in that warehouse for an hour.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

i wonder if that means that they don't have a way to flash this thing after it's been assembled

also, i bet that it's completely fine with GDPR too, no issues at all

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I haven't read into it at all so treat this as pure speculation, but from context: the t-mo thing sounds/smells like MNO lock on the SIM service. a lot of operators offer subset-services type products (e.g. SIMs with only data services, SIMs that only work within a specific localized network, etc etc), and I could see this maybe having been launched with something like that

I'm unfortunately not current enough on the technical implementation of eSIM (especially wrt issuance and HLR interaction) to make a guess as to how this would impact if it were eSIM vs hard SIM

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

this includes "It’s a standalone device with its own SIM card" but it doesn't make clear whether eSIM or hard-sim

also, that's a snip quote. the full quote is:

It’s a standalone device with its own SIM card, and there’s no screen — just vibe

just amazing

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

I scrubbed through this video to see if it included handling/inserting a SIM card, it didn't. gonna presume eSIM. probably the deal guess - they signed some kind of special-APN deal with t-mo to get it live, didn't think they'd need to port (or let t-mo have preferential timeframe, or somesuch), and just never implemented it

also, in this video at about 13:10, some hilarious footage: trying to show the shitty projection, entirely out of focus, in a room already-dark to try capture the contrast.... because it has that little luminance on the project (which is duh, because battery device)

many, many lols

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago

the number of units still in customer hands had fallen closer to 7,000

That's still better than the REVOLUTIONARY Cybertruck, they're gonna be fine

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Can others send me 1 hour or more YouTube or podcast takedowns of this thing? So glad I never bought one! @self

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

I’ll see what I can find for longer form stuff! the Marques Brownlee review is of course recommended listening if you haven’t yet — he really tore into the thing in a way they never recovered from. I haven’t given it a listen myself, but it looks like the 404media podcast discussed some of the articles they wrote tearing the AI Pin down, which were quite good