Ai Pin’s True Story (Not a Scam, But…) - Krazy Ken’s Tech Talk

[@ComputerClan]

Improve your career by using my code "computerclan" for 30% off on all TripleTen programs! Sign up for a FREE TripleTen career consultation with my link ➡ get.tripleten.com/ComputerClan 👆Thank you, TripleTen, for helping to make this episode possible! Also, subscribe and stay tuned for my next episode in July! 🔔

[@skeetrix5577]

i don't like your sponsor, but you brought up a blast from the past for me! I watched pirates of silicon over 20 years ago, what a great movie! thanks for reminding me of it, I may have to give it another go!

[@DarthAwar]

Company is trying to get brought (Samsung HP Dell Apple Lenovo Google Microsoft Amazon too name a few!) but are deemed over priced a real world price is closer to 15 too 35 million not around a billion dollars

[@sefirotsama]

congratulations for the video, I rarely see nowadays such a honest and deep analysis on a product, tech and company that goes deep into the root causes and business development as well as background story. That's a direct subscribe.

[@barrywilliams991]

Ken, here's a new fairly useless product: Totem Compass I'd love to see you feature this thing. By the way, you'll need a bunch of them but they are $50 each and cheaper by the dozen.

[@zomboss3912]

3.6 not good

[@bdkurnatusmc]

I love the whole, "you dont need to take a phone out of your pocket, install an app, learn how to use it, blah blah blah", when their solution is "buy an entirely new product, set it up, pay monthly fees, learn how to use it" if it actually worked lol

[@Krugis]

You'd be shocked at just how many new products are a solution in search of a problem lol

[@cujoedaman]

@@Krugis As Seen On TV products have been doing that for decades.

[@Krugis]

@@cujoedaman Definitely, but as seen on TV products don't usually get millions in funding and actual venture backing. I guess the only real difference between As Seen On TV products vs modern bunk like Waterseer or AI Pin is that only one attracts idiots with big wallets

[@theblah12]

Always find it funny when people (usually those trying to sell you something) try to act like any of those things are even mildly inconvenient. You take your phone out of your pocket every time you want to use it, and installing apps and learning how to use one is so braindead simple even a child can do it.

[@gluttonousmaximus9048]

Cathode Ray Dude summed it up: they're not profitting by making anything we consumers can buy - they're profitting by making a business that another business can buy.

[@warlockd]

Yea thats a sad reality of alot of these great ideas.

[@theblah12]

The fact is, a lot of startups nowadays have no interest in creating a sustainable business, their only goal is to catch the eye of a big tech company and be acquihired.

[@RikkiSan1]

​@@theblah12Make a product just big enough to sell to a big company then take the money and ride off into the sunset...

[@2handsome398]

Other companies are customers, everyday people are consumers. That's how it all seems to be treated anyway.

[@ShermTank7272]

That's the _real_ scam in this whole thing. Get big, get bought, get bags.

[@philtkaswahl2124]

It's kinda sad that "it's not a scam, it just sucks" actually is pretty much praise given just how many increasingly blatant scams there are in the tech industry.

[@volvo09]

Beginning to get more "normal" today... Release a product, but release it unfinished and overpromised, leaving initial buyers as beta testers.

[@chey8625]

ehhh the advertisting in compare to the price and what it actually can do = it sucks and don't live up to what was promised aka its a scam then (sorry ken first time we disagree here its not as good as advertised and in the UK for example thats against tranding standard laws and is classed as defrauding aka scamming someone)

[@neonufo8039]

dont reward a fish for swimming

[@ThePrufessa]

Your face is a scam

[@OtioseFanatic]

Especially the AI tech industry in particular

[@yunder.]

$25/mo subscription kills it all by itself.

[@dambukarincasi9576]

But it includes the phone plan, but i agree 25 bucks a month is a lot

[@gabadiamond]

bingo

[@weekendrobot]

@@dambukarincasi9576 Everybody already has a phone plan. Nobody wants another one.

[@Marynicole830]

@@dambukarincasi9576wait it includes a plan I can use with my phone? Since this device would be handy but a phone would be needed alongside it to use in between events or classes. Or is it a plan for the device only? Because that’s the issue. It needs to be paired with a phone and this thing costs more than my phone. If it were cheaper I would have considered it

[@gluttonousmaximus9048]

It IS technically a phone data plan too but honestly I'd take a smartwatch instead. I mean eventually you'll HAVE to use an existing computer interface to even manage dealing with this subscription.

[@snooganslestat2030]

The owners do strike me as smug & arrogant so finding out their employees were ignored or even fired when raising concerns doesn't shock me.

[@AltimaNEO]

A consequence of working at apple for so long, I suppose.

[@scaper8]

​@@AltimaNEO Right! That's basically the "Steve Jobs special" right there.

[@TheJunnutin]

@@AltimaNEO Or maybe that's why they picked Apple?

[@Crimson_Hawk_01]

For $800 bucks plus $25 per month I will take the extra work to just pull my phone out of my pocket. Working for a company where if you are honest you will be fired it means it’s a bad company.

[@ReallifeBambiDeerattheFarm1]

I agree with you on both accounts.

[@bluedistortions]

You just described all corporate companies though.

[@gluttonousmaximus9048]

A "good" company in this case will have to be NOT a company. It will HAVE to be a flat structure, an anarchist organization on its own scale.

[@gmonkman]

Word!

[@Anon_Spartan]

"I was upset at seeing children glued to smartphones. So instead they'll just be confused just trying to figure this thing out!"

[@alanw737]

2 months from release to make one of Ken’s videos. That’s both an honor and a failure at the same time.

[@kenefdz]

And so was born the forerunner of the communicator badge from Star Trek: The Next Generation. It would take 378 years before it became useful.

[@jimcabezola3051]

So true! Can you imagine using your ST:TNG comm badge in a ship-wide emergency to try and hail a fellow crew person...and the comm interjects, "By the way, there's a special on raktajino in 10-forward for the next 5 minutes. Shall I put in an order for you?"

[@sammoore2242]

The communicator badge is like that exactly because it's in a TV show; the actors can speak aloud what they're doing so the audience hears it. In the real world, the idea of crowds of people where half of them are talking loudly to their chest wristwatches is ridiculous on it's face.

[@jimcabezola3051]

@@sammoore2242 😆🤣 Yes! Imagine all the AI would be needed to throw out all the explosions, shouting and calamity so YOUR darned comm badge could understand and respond to YOU!😆🤣

[@AustynSN]

Though it's probably not canon, I do remember a Star Trek novel (I think it was the Voyager edition of the "Captain's Table" series) having a character (Janeway, I think) actually talking directly to her com badge to get its date of manufacture, etc. And given that the com badges handle not just direct communication, but translation as well (even for those who aren't wearing one), I can see these evolving into the com badge.

[@jimcabezola3051]

@@AustynSN Yes! Probably, AI and circuitry in the 24th century was/would be so advanced that ALL processing cane be/could be done on-chip. Or...would that be NO PROCESSING AT ALL on-chip? Did they/would they strike a good balance? Fascinating!

[@GermanElias-hd6lc]

This speaks volumes, I would've guessed you'd have to wait like 7-10 years to make a video on the AI pin, but no, SAME YEAR IT WAS RELEASED.

[@jochenstacker7448]

This is a textbook example of "the answer to a question nobody asked" or "a solution looking for a problem".

[@deetee5893]

That’s something Steve Job said too.

[@ApolloTheDerg]

I disagree partially, because it is a question being asked by so many these days, people are staring to realize how invasive their phone is in their life. It is certainly not a solution, but their inspiration certainly is part of a very real question and concern.

[@Carnyzzle]

​@@ApolloTheDerg Those people can just get a smartwatch, that's what I did to keep my phone in my pocket more.

[@ApolloTheDerg]

@@Carnyzzle maybe someday I’ll join yall in the smartwatch world, somehow I have avoided even getting one to this day.

[@nargalda773]

i like that "kill stupid owner" feature, when you ask for HL3

[@klausstock8020]

Gabe Newell said that HL 2 switched to the "episisode modem" so "no fan will have to wait six years for the next release". With HL 6 being released this year (or has it been released already?), I'm now looking forward to HL 7. I hope this one will be gold. In other news, I strongly believe that talking industrial-strength bullshit should be punishable by law.

[@bobbob465]

Your wife "interrupting" your product tease TED Talk has to be the trifecta of insufferable tackiness.

[@jena.mw48]

Or it was a way to demonstrate an IRL situation where youre in the middle of doing something.

[@nr12345]

Doesnt matter how much money your throw at polishing a turd, it still remains a turd.

[@SuchtFaktorHoch10]

But it's so shiny 😁

[@zebo-the-fat]

You could roll it in glitter instead!

[@97nelsn]

Back in April, I saw someone on the subway with a Humane AI Pin and to this day, that guy was the only person I saw with that AI spec garbage on his chest. I wanted to laugh but I kept it to myself.

[@riseabove3082]

he was likely a YT reviewer reviewing the product rather than a consumer.

[@DOSdaze]

How in the world was this idea pitched and accepted? "It's like a smart phone, but worse in literally every way possible." Truly baffling people threw millions of dollars at this thing. What an unfortunate waste of raw materials that will just end up in peoples bottom drawers or landfills.

[@Tahngarthor]

the idea wasn't to be "better than a smartphone," at least not in terms of functionality- the idea was to give you many of the benefits of technology without taking you out of your environment- i.e. walking around with your head down looking at your smartphone screen.

[@ZanathKariashi]

@@Tahngarthor there's apps for that already work with the smart phone.

[@gutwallst6645]

They said, "want to lower your yearly taxable income"

[@lasskinn474]

if you talked with sales people level normies when they announced it, you would know the idea. they sold it as a device that would do whatever your imagination would want it to do. just have it on and you don't have to remember anything from the meetings, then get notes of them through the power of AI. it will remind you of your relevant meetings through power of ai and work as your personal assistant sending invites etc. like thinking that it would do any of that is really dumb if you have any technical aptitude, but if you don't have then why wouldn't it be able to do all that with all that funding, it's the year of the aaaiiiiiii after all. and people thought that it would do that stuff, they didn't stop to think that if they had that technology why would they limit it to a device etc. it's not for anyone who thinks.

[@chrisbaker8533]

I'm just imagining how many of these things are gonna wind up in the washer. Honestly, i really can't fathom any practical use for this thing.

[@kameljoe21]

I doubt they sell more than 10k units.

[@JamesR624]

"Before I go through the bad things...." _Pulls out stack of paper._ "Let me go over the good things." _Pulls out single sticky note._ XD

[@lordofhyphens]

It's a scam on investors, not consumers.

[@beepster991]

Even if flawed, the product was made and partially delivered. I don't really feel sympathy for investors who seriously believed there was a demand for this. A real scam are things like "Theranos", where product and technology never existed.

[@MichaelMarquez-m3b]

The product reminds me of watching an old scifi movie where they show something that was futuristic when the movie was made but looks dated now.

[@miciso666]

Star trek....

[@rhkips]

It's absolutely not a scam, it's just a shit product that warrants nothing more than an As Seen On TV infomercial and a

[@ConceptCentral]

Great episode. You should do the Rabbit r1 next since it's an actual scam lol

[@notanetcher]

how is that a scam

[@dagger341]

I like the concept of the pin, in the sense that having a device that can use a laser to display simple things like time, or incoming calls. Paired with a Bluetooth headset, and that alone could be a neat replacement for much of what I use my phone for. The form factor is a novelty, and that novelty is the main edge over something like the lite phone. As for ideas to help it be better in the future, a second camera, to create a stereoscopic image would help the laser self focus on your hand, and the added depth perception would make identification a bit easier. It would also make the device even more expensive, so.... Probably not the best option.

[@bondgabebond4907]

It's the battery, the short life of the battery that kills this product. It does too much from that cute bell sound to laser projector. All take power and this thing is small, too small.

[@Minty1337]

in my area where it can get to 120F at the peak of the summer, that would mean there's like a month or two out of the year where this thing is completely unusable since it'd be overheating on idle.

[@bluedistortions]

To be fair, all modern electronics fail under similar circumstances. They're all built super small with minimal cooling and minimal space between heat generating components.

[@Minty1337]

@@bluedistortions my thinkpad, though not happy, will at least continue trying to function in those conditions, and my phone is similar. like i dont expect it to run as fast or work perfectly, but it shouldn't be completely be shutting down...

[@xcoder1122]

As for this particular device... this device cannot do anything that a smartphone cannot already do as well, just better. And yes, I understand the concept. A smartphone must be pulled out of the pocket, it is not fully voice controllable, etc. But that's something which can be fixed. There is no need to create a new standalone device. This device could as well have been a smartphone accessory. A mic, a speaker, a camera, a touch pad - all of this can already be connected to smartphones via Bluetooth. And by not having to take care of the network connection and most the data processing, the device also will require way less power, so it can last way longer on a battery charge. And as for software services, just write an app. This device is not really a competitor to an iPhone but rather a competitor to an Apple Watch.

[@kameljoe21]

It might have been better as a speaker, mic, camera and so on device. The fact that you could wear it all the time as a sort of body camera would be pretty cool too. I already have a smart watch. They make smart rings too. A smart glasses type device would also work along with smart headphones/earbuds. Sooner or later we will get implants for mic, speaker, camera so that we do not need all of these devices. I seen something where a wearable contact prototypes are in the works now.

[@kaelananderson9237]

14:20 Love the reimagining of Gamers Nexus's "Thanks Steve"

[@knikeo]

15:39 List of good things "reads post-it note" freaking hilarious haha

[@AyStar]

I'm still getting unavoidable Twitter ads featuring stills from your channel with that trash ass desktop swamp cooler now that it's summer.

[@samsheffer]

great video ken! that guy sam you mentioned looks SO familiar, just can't put my finger on it. have you installed and tried 1.1.4? a lot of the issues you / reviewers / early customers were having have been addressed. would love to hear your thoughts!

[@ComputerClan]

Thanks for watching! I want to try it. I'm just waiting for "overnight" to happen because I guess it only updates overnight while on the Charge Pad. 😅

[@wsippel]

One core issue with both the AI Pin and Rabbit was that those hawks jumped in when the core technology was still in its infancy, and nobody had any idea where things were going. Just a couple months after they failed, what Humane promised might be possible. Hell, the agent system Rabbit promised and never delivered on? Somebody in the open source AI community actually built it. It's not a clone because there was nothing to clone - he just looked at Rabbits promise, thought "that's a cool idea", and built something similar. Except the thing he built works, while Rabbit doesn't.

[@ArifGhostwriter]

Jumping in & investing early is their eyes-wide-open strategy - you gotta bet on every dumb thing - lest one of those dumb things turns into the next big thing. I learnt this from a KZbin channel on tech. These outfits' very business model is to tolerate the 'losses' from the mickey mouse projects - in order to be right there for the big wins. It's not a 'loss' for them - but a valid expenditure on R&D - it's just that they never know which of the bets will pay off.

[@manfromthesky91]

This feels like a product ahead of its time. It's not going to live up to everything the devs wanted it to be, but I would not be surprised if, in a few years, we start to see products like this take off in a more polished form. Screens are always going to be useful, but there are definitely tasks that would be better suited to this. Personally I'd love to see a device like this used for real-time audio translation to help bridge language barriers. I work in customer service, and I would legit use a device that could translate conversations out loud multiple times a day. Yes, there are apps for it and they work ok, but I think something like this could be a faster and more intuitive solution

[@burntjuggalas]

Last August, my phone fell out of my zipper pocket (I messed up and I guess I forgot to zip the pocket) while riding copperhead strike at carrowinds around 1pm. That was a feeling that SUCKED... But it didn't even cross my mind for a second to jump the fence to get it... I waited until close and the crew found it. Surprisingly only the case was slightly damaged.

[@cammando2363]

You broke the algorithm with that last question!

[@Zminator1986]

I feel like if Humane got a license deal with Viacom/CBS, they probably would made a killing if the pin was designed like the Starfleet logo as seen on The Next Generation.

[@1000huzzahs]

"Tech companies treating paying customers like beta testers" sums up what's wrong with so much of tech right now

[@AndrewJamison79]

That half life 3 bit at the end was hilarious

[@draconicruns]

The early adopter base is gonna be small, the type of person to try out interesting tech is often also the type of person to not leave their house too often, and if you're already sitting at a computer it quickly becomes pointless

[@NeonVisual]

Working at Apple has obviously messed with their common sense. The owner thought he was the next Steve Jobs, he was more Steve Carell as no one could stop laughing at the product.

[@Tech101yt]

Man it’s so good to see this channel finally blow up, been watching since the hildron days

[@Former_Texan]

I've heard of the AI pin but I always skipped paying attention. Watching the marketing you replayed I'm suddenly intrigued. While it may suck, I really like the "in the moment" idea. I really hope they can recover and execute the vision. I think it would work a lot better as a phone accessory (no new number, better battery life) than a standalone product.

[@GDRS_Marc]

Notice that the Good bar is minuscule to the Bad bar on the title bar.

[@rockpie.iso.tar.bz2]

Where?

[@GDRS_Marc]

@@rockpie.iso.tar.bz2Look at the progress bar.

[@ApolloTheDerg]

You made me change my mind about this, I was in the “just a crummy AI startup shoving junk out the door for a quick buck” crowd until watching this. You added a lot of company context and timeline that I think makes it kind of cool actually. They have a noble goal, but it’s way underbaked and brings up some tough challenges. I think their mission is great, and I can only hope things get figured out. I think it should be less of a find a technology then apply it, but rather start at the fundamentals of the issue, we all are glued to our phones, you want to be in the moment, what UI and types of motions can be intuitive and reduce the use of our glowing rectangles. This is not a great product, but it’s refreshing to see people attempt to try different things at least.

[@cujoedaman]

As other reviews pointed out, the subscription is the downfall of this device. I get why they needed it, but there should have been an option for it to work like a smart watch, just being an extension of your phone so it can stay in your pocket. The instant you cut your sub or they decide to abandon the service, you have yourself an $800 paperweight.

[@tomwagner9980]

Love your channel. Congrats on so many awards. You deserve a minimum of at least a. million subs.

[@dobbaphoenix3243]

When someone says "This is NOT a scam", that's an immediate red flag that it IS INDEED a scam.

[@BlazeMakesGames]

I do seriously think that a lot of the problems with this thing, as well as the other similar products of its ilk, are because they don't want you to remember you have a phone. Like several of its biggest issues could be solved by making it interact with an app on your phone. The Phone could handle some of the local processing and make its battery more efficient. It wouldn't need its own phone number or anything because it could piggyback off of your current carrier, which would also reduce the price by not requiring a monthly subscription to use it. And so on. But the problem is that it's trying to replace your phone not work in tandem with it. And I honestly feel like that is more of a decision made out of necessity than desire. Because ultimately if you have your phone on you when you're using this device, you instantly can see how just using your phone is a million times more convenient than whatever this garbage is. Not to mention that it's a lot more private and practical to use when in a public space. If I'm on a crowded subway I'm not about to try and shout over everyone else so that I can verbally ask my pin for directions to a place when it can't even visually show me those directions. I mean hell can this thing even download and let you listen to podcasts and music and such? People use their phones for more than booking appointments and ordering pizza. Even if this has entertainment features, they're still going to be way more limited and more annoying to navigate without a physical screen to touch. And you're limited to basically just audio media. Ultimately it is quite literally trying to solve a problem that not only doesn't exist, but literally everything it can do can already be done faster and more easily with your phone.

[@aurathedraak7909]

Sounds like a scam to me 😂, if its a piece of junk for 700 bucks, no thanks I'll use Gemini which it's not good but at least it's 100,000 times better than this piece of junk😂. The people who make this should be ashamed of themselves and stop making crap like this anymore stop scanning people lol

[@marlonsouza9224]

This was THE BEST ever review of the AI PIN. WOW. GREAT job! It was very honest and thorough! Amazing. And the very last line… about being like a teenager… it was spot on! It might survive all the downs and come back like a crazy good product after all, because the concept is GENIUS and the people behind it (although not great marketeers) seem to be very true to life and down to earth type of folks.

[@rollingmancave4547]

AR Glasses is what I want. It's a shame Google Glasses went away. I would have been a proud Glasshole (it's legal to film in public without consent). Just think what they would have evolved into today.

[@juances]

TBH this is the first time I hear about this angle of "wanting to be in the moment" and disliking the idea of pulling your phone. Why didn't the marketing lean more on that instead of just the AI assistant stuff? I actually think they'd be more successful if they marketed this as a "minimalist phone with less distractions" rather than "AI pin that only half works, half of the time".

[@ayaanpunit]

I’m gonna download this to watch on flight tomorrow

[@purplecat4977]

The problem with these products that purport to 'keep you in the moment' by backing off of screens is that it isn't screens that keep people from being in the moment. They're just a means that people who want to be mentally somewhere else use to be mentally somewhere else. And there's nothing wrong with that.

[@olegvorkunov5400]

I would not wish to any CEO to be successful if they fire a developer for raising a question.

[@Englebert3rd]

This. I don't want them to be successful just for this fact.

[@FusionDeveloper]

Like the rabbit thing, they should just put most of the hardware, data processing and battery use from your smartphone and use the little device to do lightweight processing, like audio and camera, maybe a laser projector or maybe not.

[@PerfectInterview]

Breaking the dependency on using screens is going to be very difficult as our entire cognition system (brain/mind) is optimized for visual input and processing.

[@ehansytaxian]

I love how when ken says "when will half-life 3 come out?" the AI pin absolutely combusts 😂

[@DeetexSeraphine]

Feels like we're just a few short years away from the TNG comBadges! And while I would applaud that normally... seems most of these companies are conviniently forgetting about the skyscraper-sized flying appartment complex holding high orbit overhead... running enough joules to power the whole of earth as it is right now for a fair decade and change...

[@guspaz]

This thing would have made way more sense as a device that connects to a smartphone for all processing. Basically just make it a wireless I/O peripheral for the phone, with all the connectivity and compute happening on the phone, talking to it via BLE (like your smartwatch does). That would have significantly improved battery life, reduced thermal issues, reduced cost, removed the need for cellular connectivity or subscriptions (just use the phone’s), and probably greatly improved reliability. It still would have sucked, just much less.

[@ShinobiDiabolik]

This is EXCACTLY WHY i am a late adopter, and this is EXCACTLY WHY i wait for a product to MATURE before i make buy/no buy decision.

[@jackroyer2038]

new computer in the clan

[@bradye21playsIndieHorror]

Haha the ending caught me by surprise. The only people buying this or any other shenanigans (like "smart" glasses), are the people that are like "ooOoh phone with no screen, futuristic!" Without thinking about how useful that is in practice.

[@GDRS_Marc]

Wow... In-Humane is copying the strategy of releasing unfinished products from AAA game studios.

[@robderiche]

Knockoff Apple logo feels scammy, tho, like that “Rollex” watch someone tried to sell me outside Grand Central Station…

[@JimsyDog]

Apple Intelligence literally replaces the pin perfectly

[@LaidBackDeveloper]

No way you just actually just said “apple intelligence” unironically 😂😂😂

[@poble]

@@LaidBackDeveloper uh, that's what the feature is called. what are you on lol

[@gmcnewlook]

@@LaidBackDeveloperbut that’s the thing this and that stupid rabbit thing are solutions looking for problems that don’t exist everything these can do our phones already can…..

[@JimsyDog]

MKBHD made a video discussing this topic, saying that AI should be a feature, not a product.

[@drygnfyre]

Yup, and that was the main issue many people had with this (and Rabbit). Releasing a standalone device that does one thing that can eventually be replicated by software on a multi-functional device will mean sooner or later these devices will be literal paperweights. It reminds me of when someone once released a physical device that could only browse Wikipedia. That was it. In theory, it was supposed to get updates every so often because Wikipedia is always growing and changing, but no one saw any reason to buy a physical device when you could just get Wikipedia's app on your phone.

[@tellucas]

I don’t see where it is today but where it will be tomorrow with good AI. This can be great for the minimalist, disabled or elderly. I could even see ditching the cell phone but pairing it with a tablet for when you need to get more involved with something.

[@AxeGaijin]

Call me old fashioned, but I don't even want a computer that learns about me... To me a computer is a tool, I don't want a learning computer just as much as I don't want a learning hammer.

[@9SMTM6]

A computer is a tool that primarily works with information. A hammer is a tool that is for physically hammering in something. Of course I want my primary information tool to learn about me. I just don't want the drawbacks that come with that, such as others finding out stuff, or it misunderstanding, ...

[@sarahherriott13]

Hey Ken, do you know you haven’t posted a krazy Ken‘s tech mesadventures in a year, so please make a new tech mesadventures episode because I would watch it

[@BakedSalmonNetwork]

Waking up to this is so comforting.

[@johnnls1981]

Kinda like the concept. Perhaps if they pair it with Google glasses and spread the power usage amongst devices it could potentially turn into the new smart phone or AI phone.

[@Krugis]

So they fired anyone who noted the product wasn't finished and require a subscription service for a glorified Siri? Gosh I can't imagine this one failing 😂

[@GottaGeek]

Love the final seem where you added the sparks lol

[@jonpeley]

This device is trying to solve a problem virtually no one has (yet). At least you can see that the team involved has worked for Apple, the logo, the aesthetics... have that Cupertino seal.

[@ztoob8898]

14:44 - 1313 Mockingbird Lane, eh? I wonder how many viewers recognize that address? When I got to the penultimate paragraph in the letter, I was wondering when I'd be seeing lorem ipsum, et voila! 10/10 Ken! Enjoy the pizza.

[@stpworld]

Do I see my powerbook duo in the background of your video?

[@winstonslone2797]

I learned in my 20 years in I.T. that the end user is usually ignorant of how the tech they depend on everyday works. They pretty much take the companies word on the capabilities of said device.

[@thirdwheel1985au]

That last bit was a nice touch

[@geraldabeyawardena5606]

Thank you for a very balanced report on this product. A tribute to your professionalism in looking into multiple aspects for wide coverage of the topic. Keep up the good work!

[@aaf709]

Thank you for doing this. I was intrigued when I saw the ads on Facebook, but didn't like that you were paying for another cell phone that you stuck to your shirt. Plus, I was curious about how the laser display would work in real world conditions.

[@bioLarzen]

Remembering the good old ancient times when TED was not about product promotion...

[@TheOfficialOriginalChad]

I feel the word “scam” gets thrown around so much that people don’t know what it means anymore. If a product isn’t everything you wanted it to be, everything that the manufacturer wanted it to be, you weren’t scammed; you were disappointed.

[@rockpie.iso.tar.bz2]

I love -Apple- Artificial Intelligence. Also pls bring back Tech Misadventures

[@kevin10001]

For me it’s like an attempt to actually make the Star Trek next generation on forward communication badge real with a Tricorder feature built in impressive in theory but not well executed

[@worawatli8952]

I think the only idea that will stick from this product is the hand gesture interface. Imagine a smartwatch with a camera on the other side of the strap (palm side) watching your fingers movement, so you can use the watch interface with one hand, which come in handy sometime. And using actual LED's screen on the watch make it visible in daylight.

[@beepster991]

There's already an alternative called the "Rabbit R1" and nobody cares either....

[@bombay2008]

It had potential apart from the subscription that if you didn't pay you just had a dead pin. The price. The tech for be used in other things. Could have been used as a live persons to person translator. Like in UN to replace the humans.

[@UninstallingWindows]

The AI pin is actually a decent idea, but, imo, they fucked up by competing with the smartphone, instead of integrating with one. Just think how much better the AI pin would be, if all it contained was a battery, camera and projector. All the compute would be done on your phone. The Pin would simply be an extension of your phone. You could connect your pin with your phone via bluetooth or via wifi, and then give commands to your phone using the pin. Every note or picture you take with your pin, would automatically be on your phone( where it should be ). The battery life issue would be fixed because the pin itself wouldn't compute much. This would also solve the overheating problem. And, as an added bonus, you could leave your ai pin at home/at work, and use it to talk to someone without even calling them. You could open the pin app on your phone and simply broadcast whatever you have to say...i.e, "hey, kids, feed the cat"

[@schrodingerscat1863]

This is what happens when the people running a company lose objectivity. They just couldn't accept that their new product just wasn't a good idea even going as far as firing those that were pointing this out.

[@Perceivedshift]

That ending POP!

[@97nelsn]

Sam Sheffer has his name attached to this company, a company that had no idea what it was doing and super vague until the AI boom began.

[@nikushim6665]

@3:18 oh come on you know he was coked out when he was taking apart that projector thinking this was a good idea :P

[@giosasso]

The surprising part is how they couldn't see how flawed it was. They would be better off scraping it and going bankrupt then release it. Ideally, they start over with the lessons learned. It's beyond me how people who worked at Apple didn't seem to care about the use case or the usability of the product. It's as if the inmates were running the asylum.

[@MysteryMii]

So when’s the Rabbit R1 video coming?

[@jaimebakulic86]

I can see this working as a headset with a passthrough phone, like what motorcyclists wear. You can still put a laser on it, it would still have a similar view of whatever you see, voice input would be private and hearable and you could even add a wired battery pack if you wanted, like vr headsets users do.

[@justanotheryoutubechannel]

It seems the biggest issue is the immense cost, but it also seems the product needs a ton more work. It’s great to avoid screens and all that but if you need to use a terrible laser interface to turn the damn thing on you may as well just use your phone. It’s absolutely ridiculous that the only way to sign in is to use awkward hand motions to type in a password. That should’ve been the first thing you revealed, since that just killed it instantly for me. I kinda admire the concept, but as you pointed out quite well, this just really sucks, and I can’t believe they thought it would sell for $800.

[@BubbaBearsFriend]

I would postulate that a large proportion of its sales were to tech creators like Ken who create content reviewing it and can recoup some of their money back for purchasing the device. 😲

[@FJRyder]

If it had an external battery pack option, louder speaker and the ability to connect with your existing phone number... I might, MIGHT think about it.

[@RaccoonHenry]

they at least should have made it into a Starfleet badge so it could be a useful prop...

[@greebo7857]

Dunno about those two senior managers, but Imran's "departure" from  has Tom Cook's fingerprints all over it. Guy's a creep.

[@linksbetweendrinks7032]

When wealthy tech people start writing poetry, you know they're about to try to re-invent the wheel.