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Is this an early April Fool's joke? The video showing people interacting with the ring does not remotely look appealing or cool. I'm surprised this went through

Is this an early April Fool's joke? The video showing people interacting with the ring does not remotely look appealing or cool. I'm surprised this went through all the way to actual production.

ssully 7y ago
Heh, I didn't notice the video until you mentioned it. Every interaction looks like the person is holding an invisible smart phone.
dariusj18 7y ago
Yeah, it didn't respond to the first guy's question correctly and then assumed the woman meant dollars, when she did not specify.
reaperducer 7y ago
Is this an early April Fool's joke? It's yet another SV bubble "innovation" that's only useful on the west coast. It's not going to work in half the world for half of the year. Winter. Pockets. Gloves. See also: Apple EarPods, with the cords that get brittle in cold weather and become useless tangles that fly up in your face. See also: Every iPhone I've ever owned which has gone into emergency thermal shutdown just because I dared to use it in Arizona or Nevada.
- dmix 7y ago
  I've lived in places that were cold for a decent period each year and I wasn't wearing gloves all the time. Even 2-3% of my time would be a stretch. Even in cold countries we spend ~90% of our time inside and much of the ~10% outside in decent weather. The average American spends 7% of their day outside with some obvious outliers push that upwards. The world average is 87% inside. [1] Plenty of products are only used a few times a day. I don't think the downtime spent walking around outside shopping or commuting is the killer. The question is are there enough of those uses to justify wearing it all the time. Not if it works in 100% of situations. 1. https://www.creditdonkey.com/time-spent-outdoors-statistics.html https://www.creditdonkey.com/time-spent-outdoors-statistics....
- scarejunba 7y ago
  I feel like perhaps using the most popular personal device ever as an example of a "bubble innovation" does not make your point.
- aeternum 7y ago
  Why build any electronic device that cannot withstand scorching temperatures, extreme cold, function in the deep ocean? There is clearly no market unless it does those things. /s
- gamblor956 7y ago
  50 million people live on the West Coast... That's more than 2/3 the population of France, 3/5 the population of Germany, and 1/6 the population of the US. Apple earbuds may not work great around the world but it's decent product for those 50 million people, and based on social media appears to work well for other people in similarly temperate climates, like southern Europe, Australia, etc.
- slowhand09 7y ago
  Relevant ancient prophesy... https://www.javaworld.com/article/2076641/an-introduction-to-the-java-ring.html https://www.javaworld.com/article/2076641/an-introduction-to...
meowface 7y ago
I would honestly probably use this if it were something like a tiny, unobtrusive, nearly-flat adhesive which I could stick to my hand or arm. Tie it in with some subtle bone-conduction headphones and I'd probably use it while outdoors. For example, it'd be awesome if it could do, say, or play certain things based on a sequence of taps which I can configure, like with Alexa Routines; saying "Alexa, resume podcast" out loud in public is a no-go. Make it thought-controlled and I'd use it without a doubt. I suspect this is just a kludgy initial version of some future thing that could eventually become really popular.
sieabahlpark 7y ago
This takes "talk to the hand" to a whole new level.
noncoml 7y ago
Seeing the earbuds, eyeglasses and now this, this was exactly my thought! Jeff Bezos must be trolling us.
joecot 7y ago
I've been watching all of today's Echo announcement threads wondering the same thing. If any of these products -- with /maybe/ the exception of the earbuds -- were posted on April Fools, we'd have chuckled and moved on without a thought.
diffeomorphism 7y ago
> The video showing people interacting with the ring does not remotely look appealing or cool. Why does it have to look cool? I want an assistant/gadget whatever that goes out of the way and that I don't have to think about. Ideally it would be invisible, weightless and require no maintenance or charging.
slowhand09 7y ago
Precursor to the Amazon C0ckRing.

Is this an early April Fool's joke? The video showing people interacting with the ring does not remotely look appealing or cool. I'm surprised this went through all the way to actual production.

ssully 7y ago

Heh, I didn't notice the video until you mentioned it. Every interaction looks like the person is holding an invisible smart phone.

dariusj18 7y ago

Yeah, it didn't respond to the first guy's question correctly and then assumed the woman meant dollars, when she did not specify.

reaperducer 7y ago

Is this an early April Fool's joke? It's yet another SV bubble "innovation" that's only useful on the west coast. It's not going to work in half the world for half of the year. Winter. Pockets. Gloves. See also: Apple EarPods, with the cords that get brittle in cold weather and become useless tangles that fly up in your face. See also: Every iPhone I've ever owned which has gone into emergency thermal shutdown just because I dared to use it in Arizona or Nevada.

dmix 7y ago
I've lived in places that were cold for a decent period each year and I wasn't wearing gloves all the time. Even 2-3% of my time would be a stretch. Even in cold countries we spend ~90% of our time inside and much of the ~10% outside in decent weather. The average American spends 7% of their day outside with some obvious outliers push that upwards. The world average is 87% inside. [1] Plenty of products are only used a few times a day. I don't think the downtime spent walking around outside shopping or commuting is the killer. The question is are there enough of those uses to justify wearing it all the time. Not if it works in 100% of situations. 1. https://www.creditdonkey.com/time-spent-outdoors-statistics.html https://www.creditdonkey.com/time-spent-outdoors-statistics....
scarejunba 7y ago
I feel like perhaps using the most popular personal device ever as an example of a "bubble innovation" does not make your point.
aeternum 7y ago
Why build any electronic device that cannot withstand scorching temperatures, extreme cold, function in the deep ocean? There is clearly no market unless it does those things. /s
gamblor956 7y ago
50 million people live on the West Coast... That's more than 2/3 the population of France, 3/5 the population of Germany, and 1/6 the population of the US. Apple earbuds may not work great around the world but it's decent product for those 50 million people, and based on social media appears to work well for other people in similarly temperate climates, like southern Europe, Australia, etc.
slowhand09 7y ago
Relevant ancient prophesy... https://www.javaworld.com/article/2076641/an-introduction-to-the-java-ring.html https://www.javaworld.com/article/2076641/an-introduction-to...

meowface 7y ago

I would honestly probably use this if it were something like a tiny, unobtrusive, nearly-flat adhesive which I could stick to my hand or arm. Tie it in with some subtle bone-conduction headphones and I'd probably use it while outdoors. For example, it'd be awesome if it could do, say, or play certain things based on a sequence of taps which I can configure, like with Alexa Routines; saying "Alexa, resume podcast" out loud in public is a no-go. Make it thought-controlled and I'd use it without a doubt. I suspect this is just a kludgy initial version of some future thing that could eventually become really popular.

sieabahlpark 7y ago

This takes "talk to the hand" to a whole new level.

noncoml 7y ago

Seeing the earbuds, eyeglasses and now this, this was exactly my thought! Jeff Bezos must be trolling us.

joecot 7y ago

I've been watching all of today's Echo announcement threads wondering the same thing. If any of these products -- with /maybe/ the exception of the earbuds -- were posted on April Fools, we'd have chuckled and moved on without a thought.

diffeomorphism 7y ago

> The video showing people interacting with the ring does not remotely look appealing or cool. Why does it have to look cool? I want an assistant/gadget whatever that goes out of the way and that I don't have to think about. Ideally it would be invisible, weightless and require no maintenance or charging.

slowhand09 7y ago

Precursor to the Amazon C0ckRing.