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> Humane is trying to realize the promise of “ambient computing” — an artificial intelligence-driven computing experience that’s personal and contextual — by bu

by bko 3y ago

> Humane is trying to realize the promise of “ambient computing” — an artificial intelligence-driven computing experience that’s personal and contextual — by building a software platform and hardware line that doesn’t rely on screens. Sorry, I think that's too many buzz words for me to comprehend and I can't take it seriously. Phones provide us some utility. If you can make some other interface that helps me ask for GPS directions or check my emails, sure. But if you're lumping in all this other crap, I know you're just selling vaporware. > Based on Chaudhri’s explanation, Humane’s chosen path lies in artificial intelligence. Building experiences around interactions with AI that fit around someone's normal life instead of forcing them to shape theirs around another screen. In Humane’s words, the company is helping to build the “Intelligence Age,” a new paradigm of computing based on journalist Walt Mossberg’s idea of the “disappearing computer.” What does this mean? I'm bored for the 40 seconds it takes me to catch and take an elevator. So I look at social media. Or I'm riding a bus or train. Or I just want to take a break from work, or get GPS instructions. How does Humane solve my problem (is there a problem)? By showing me a social media feed on my wrist instead of a screen? Sounds like a privacy nightmare to try to use AI and constant feed to estimate my fiber intake and predict when I'm going to need to entertain myself for ten minutes for it to preload my social media feed.

friend_and_foe 3y ago
I think they're trying to play on the user experience revolution that capacitive touch and the iPhone brought to the world, hence framing themselves as "ex iPhone talent", and sell the idea that they can once again revolutionize UX into something more ephemeral. I remember when the first iPhone came out, people were like "a phone with one button? What the fuck am I gonna do with that?" And then we saw what can be done with that. I think there are still novel approaches to using computers in your personal life, but they're not readily apparent; truly novel things are never readily apparent. But if the stagnation and devolution of UX as it exists today is any indicator, I highly doubt they can pull it off. They'll either give us overpriced glasses and fake holograms for the flash factor or they'll deliver something none of us can envision, it's probably going to be the former.
nico 3y ago
It’s right under the title: > Humane, founded by ex-Apple talent, might be working on a laser projection system to that replaces our phones and tablets Laser projection system So either a projection on a surface, or maybe directly into the eye Either way, they probably end up displaying the same info as a screen
- jstarfish 3y ago
  > maybe directly into the eye We still haven't solved the problem of screen burn-in, so the outcome of that is going to be hilarious. My money's on cyberpunk-style HUD visors. Not Oculus, not Google Glass, a transparent, wraparound screen on your face.
JohnBrookz 3y ago
I read a few paragraphs and still didn’t know what the hell it was about. It read like a buzzword bingo.
dcow 3y ago
You know that feeling when something is trying just a little too hard? That's hu.ma.ne. I mean look at the domain alone. It's nonsense. Compare it to the place they left: apple.com. Then there's the TED talk. What relevant anything debuted via TED? Most things that get the TED treatment end up being vaporware. I think there's potential in the technology they're developing as a different type of watch-like device. But all this other cult-like nonsense is way overkill and if I'd have to wager I'd probably pass.
ToValueFunfetti 3y ago
>Humane is trying to realize the promise of “ambient computing” — an artificial intelligence-driven computing experience that’s personal and contextual — by building a software platform and hardware line that doesn’t rely on screens. This reads to me as along the lines of, "I speak aloud to an AI and it replies, rather than taking something out of my pocket", but 'ambient', 'artifical intelligence', and 'doesn't rely on screens' are carrying the weight there. The rest seem like features of such a system.
- bko 3y ago
  So airpods with a better assistant? Or Google Glass? Just be up front and don't bs me
  - figassis 3y ago
    I’m thinking they’re still figuring it out, but what comes to mind is AI enabled AirPods, car navigation/entertainment/communication, home automation, etc. so they plan on creating multiple things that interact via the same AI. Maybe Jarvis?
CharlesW 3y ago
> Sorry, I think that's too many buzz words for me to comprehend and I can't take it seriously. This seems pretty straightforward to me. "Ambient computing" and "no screens" imply a voice interface (think: earbuds, watch, Trek-like communicator), potentially leveraging augmented reality (think: glasses, windshield) if/when available. "Personal" and "contextual" suggest that interactions leverage all available signals instead of requiring that you explicitly share all necessary background info as a preamble, and also suggest a level of proactiveness (vs. today's mostly reactive user experiences). Maybe in that 40 seconds the device could remind you that you wanted to get pasta and suggest the most convenient place to pick it up, update you on recent headlines, ask if it should book your flu shot, or whatever. These seem like nice alternatives to doomscrolling.
- 15457345234 3y ago
  > "Personal" and "contextual" suggest that interactions leverage all available signals instead of requiring that you explicitly share all necessary background info as a preamble, and also suggest a level of proactiveness (vs. today's mostly reactive user experiences). Could you please elaborate
  - CharlesW 3y ago
    > Could you please elaborate Sure, here's an example for "contextual": If I'm in my office and say, "Alexa turn on the light", it has no idea what I'm talking about. A contextually-aware device would use some mix of signals — what Bluetooth devices are nearby, when my voice reached the mic compared to other devices within earshot, the sound of typing, etc. — to determine where I am and do the right thing. Similarly, an example for "proactive": My family has used Alexa for years, and it hasn't noticed a single routine. I haven't bothered to manually program routines because I've decided I no longer want to invest time in anything that locks me into the platform. But a proactive device would eventually figure out that humans tend to need light in dark rooms.
- usrusr 3y ago
  Anything smaller than a phone implies even more cloud bound. It might be "ambient", it might be "contextual", but it sure won't be "personal". As in my device, my data, my decisions. "Personalized", sure, but that's merely a distraction from the fact that you are operating a thin client with zero control. A browser allows you to scroll through offerings, a voice interface will send you right to the highest bidder.
m463 3y ago
"Press or say 1 if you want directions" "Press or say 2 if you want to make a phone call" "Press 9 to repeat the menu"
PumpkinSpice 3y ago
> If you can make some other interface that helps me ask for GPS directions or check my emails, sure. But if you're lumping in all this other crap, I know you're just selling vaporware. Not that I want to defend this particular startup, but if I described the functions of a modern-day smartphone to you back in the 1980s, you'd probably have the same reaction, right? A lot of random, unrelated crap lumped together! Most of the time, it goes nowhere. But just because somebody is trying to combine a bunch of hitherto-unrelated use cases doesn't mean that the idea is dumb.
- bko 3y ago
  Jobs did a great job showing off the first iPhone. iPod + phone + Internet. And of course iPod was 1000 songs in your pocket. This is what made it successful. Not bs. We think about jobs as very head in the clouds and saying things like computer is really like a bicycle, but he was very practical and clear https://youtu.be/x7qPAY9JqE4?si=2OZiIU95haYTyiHn https://youtu.be/x7qPAY9JqE4?si=2OZiIU95haYTyiHn
- maronato 3y ago
  I don’t think that’s an apt comparison. The smartphones of today allow us to do things unimaginable to people in the 80s. This startup doesn’t seem to be creating any new use for the technology in your phone, just changing the way you interact with it from a glass screen to a projected screen on your hand or countertop.
  - PumpkinSpice 3y ago
    Nothing our phones do today was unimaginable in the 1980s. Pick up any pop-sci journal from the era and they had the predictions pretty much nailed down. The stuff just wasn't feasible to do with the technology they had at the time, and they didn't consider that phones, and not some other fashion accessory, would end up as the hubs of our digital lives. Wristwatches, household appliances (e.g., TVs), or calculators seemed like a better bet.
secretsatan 3y ago
It's needlessly and suspiciously vague. The diagrams suggest it's going to use projection mapping from some portable projector. Nothing exists currently (as far as I'm aware) that can work bright enough in such a small package to do anything that doesn't work outside of a dark room. These have come up before I think, and are soon exposed to be vaporware.
- eternityforest 3y ago
  I think vector laser projection could probably be done small enough, but not for direct sunlight readability.
- Prickle 3y ago
  I seem to remember a product like this that turned out to be mostly vapour ware. It was a watch that would project onto your arm. https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/4/27/17289572/lumiwatch-projector-smartwatch-arm-touch-screen https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/4/27/17289572/l... Edit: Huh, I think this is their product actually: https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/30/humanes-ai-pin-debuts-on-the-paris-runway/ https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/30/humanes-ai-pin-debuts-on-t... So it's a pin on your chest that will project into your hand. This sounds almost identical to what the watch tried to do... except exponentially more difficult. 1. It needs to be significantly lighter weight 2. It needs to project significantly further away. 3. It needs to identify the hand only when it is "ready" to be projected on, then aim at it. This alone would present major issues I think.
AStrangeMorrow 3y ago
I remember about this being posted about 3 month ago (the product, not the link. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36573437 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36573437). Outside of a few marketing and hype terms, the website was so dry it was actually really hard to even get a simple idea of what the product was.

by bko 3y ago

friend_and_foe 3y ago

I think they're trying to play on the user experience revolution that capacitive touch and the iPhone brought to the world, hence framing themselves as "ex iPhone talent", and sell the idea that they can once again revolutionize UX into something more ephemeral. I remember when the first iPhone came out, people were like "a phone with one button? What the fuck am I gonna do with that?" And then we saw what can be done with that. I think there are still novel approaches to using computers in your personal life, but they're not readily apparent; truly novel things are never readily apparent. But if the stagnation and devolution of UX as it exists today is any indicator, I highly doubt they can pull it off. They'll either give us overpriced glasses and fake holograms for the flash factor or they'll deliver something none of us can envision, it's probably going to be the former.

nico 3y ago

It’s right under the title: > Humane, founded by ex-Apple talent, might be working on a laser projection system to that replaces our phones and tablets Laser projection system So either a projection on a surface, or maybe directly into the eye Either way, they probably end up displaying the same info as a screen

jstarfish 3y ago
> maybe directly into the eye We still haven't solved the problem of screen burn-in, so the outcome of that is going to be hilarious. My money's on cyberpunk-style HUD visors. Not Oculus, not Google Glass, a transparent, wraparound screen on your face.

JohnBrookz 3y ago

I read a few paragraphs and still didn’t know what the hell it was about. It read like a buzzword bingo.

dcow 3y ago

You know that feeling when something is trying just a little too hard? That's hu.ma.ne. I mean look at the domain alone. It's nonsense. Compare it to the place they left: apple.com. Then there's the TED talk. What relevant anything debuted via TED? Most things that get the TED treatment end up being vaporware. I think there's potential in the technology they're developing as a different type of watch-like device. But all this other cult-like nonsense is way overkill and if I'd have to wager I'd probably pass.

ToValueFunfetti 3y ago

>Humane is trying to realize the promise of “ambient computing” — an artificial intelligence-driven computing experience that’s personal and contextual — by building a software platform and hardware line that doesn’t rely on screens. This reads to me as along the lines of, "I speak aloud to an AI and it replies, rather than taking something out of my pocket", but 'ambient', 'artifical intelligence', and 'doesn't rely on screens' are carrying the weight there. The rest seem like features of such a system.

bko 3y ago
So airpods with a better assistant? Or Google Glass? Just be up front and don't bs me
- figassis 3y ago
  I’m thinking they’re still figuring it out, but what comes to mind is AI enabled AirPods, car navigation/entertainment/communication, home automation, etc. so they plan on creating multiple things that interact via the same AI. Maybe Jarvis?

CharlesW 3y ago

> Sorry, I think that's too many buzz words for me to comprehend and I can't take it seriously. This seems pretty straightforward to me. "Ambient computing" and "no screens" imply a voice interface (think: earbuds, watch, Trek-like communicator), potentially leveraging augmented reality (think: glasses, windshield) if/when available. "Personal" and "contextual" suggest that interactions leverage all available signals instead of requiring that you explicitly share all necessary background info as a preamble, and also suggest a level of proactiveness (vs. today's mostly reactive user experiences). Maybe in that 40 seconds the device could remind you that you wanted to get pasta and suggest the most convenient place to pick it up, update you on recent headlines, ask if it should book your flu shot, or whatever. These seem like nice alternatives to doomscrolling.

15457345234 3y ago
> "Personal" and "contextual" suggest that interactions leverage all available signals instead of requiring that you explicitly share all necessary background info as a preamble, and also suggest a level of proactiveness (vs. today's mostly reactive user experiences). Could you please elaborate
- CharlesW 3y ago
  > Could you please elaborate Sure, here's an example for "contextual": If I'm in my office and say, "Alexa turn on the light", it has no idea what I'm talking about. A contextually-aware device would use some mix of signals — what Bluetooth devices are nearby, when my voice reached the mic compared to other devices within earshot, the sound of typing, etc. — to determine where I am and do the right thing. Similarly, an example for "proactive": My family has used Alexa for years, and it hasn't noticed a single routine. I haven't bothered to manually program routines because I've decided I no longer want to invest time in anything that locks me into the platform. But a proactive device would eventually figure out that humans tend to need light in dark rooms.
usrusr 3y ago
Anything smaller than a phone implies even more cloud bound. It might be "ambient", it might be "contextual", but it sure won't be "personal". As in my device, my data, my decisions. "Personalized", sure, but that's merely a distraction from the fact that you are operating a thin client with zero control. A browser allows you to scroll through offerings, a voice interface will send you right to the highest bidder.

m463 3y ago

"Press or say 1 if you want directions" "Press or say 2 if you want to make a phone call" "Press 9 to repeat the menu"

PumpkinSpice 3y ago

> If you can make some other interface that helps me ask for GPS directions or check my emails, sure. But if you're lumping in all this other crap, I know you're just selling vaporware. Not that I want to defend this particular startup, but if I described the functions of a modern-day smartphone to you back in the 1980s, you'd probably have the same reaction, right? A lot of random, unrelated crap lumped together! Most of the time, it goes nowhere. But just because somebody is trying to combine a bunch of hitherto-unrelated use cases doesn't mean that the idea is dumb.

bko 3y ago
Jobs did a great job showing off the first iPhone. iPod + phone + Internet. And of course iPod was 1000 songs in your pocket. This is what made it successful. Not bs. We think about jobs as very head in the clouds and saying things like computer is really like a bicycle, but he was very practical and clear https://youtu.be/x7qPAY9JqE4?si=2OZiIU95haYTyiHn https://youtu.be/x7qPAY9JqE4?si=2OZiIU95haYTyiHn
maronato 3y ago
I don’t think that’s an apt comparison. The smartphones of today allow us to do things unimaginable to people in the 80s. This startup doesn’t seem to be creating any new use for the technology in your phone, just changing the way you interact with it from a glass screen to a projected screen on your hand or countertop.
- PumpkinSpice 3y ago
  Nothing our phones do today was unimaginable in the 1980s. Pick up any pop-sci journal from the era and they had the predictions pretty much nailed down. The stuff just wasn't feasible to do with the technology they had at the time, and they didn't consider that phones, and not some other fashion accessory, would end up as the hubs of our digital lives. Wristwatches, household appliances (e.g., TVs), or calculators seemed like a better bet.

secretsatan 3y ago

It's needlessly and suspiciously vague. The diagrams suggest it's going to use projection mapping from some portable projector. Nothing exists currently (as far as I'm aware) that can work bright enough in such a small package to do anything that doesn't work outside of a dark room. These have come up before I think, and are soon exposed to be vaporware.

eternityforest 3y ago
I think vector laser projection could probably be done small enough, but not for direct sunlight readability.
Prickle 3y ago
I seem to remember a product like this that turned out to be mostly vapour ware. It was a watch that would project onto your arm. https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/4/27/17289572/lumiwatch-projector-smartwatch-arm-touch-screen https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/4/27/17289572/l... Edit: Huh, I think this is their product actually: https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/30/humanes-ai-pin-debuts-on-the-paris-runway/ https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/30/humanes-ai-pin-debuts-on-t... So it's a pin on your chest that will project into your hand. This sounds almost identical to what the watch tried to do... except exponentially more difficult. 1. It needs to be significantly lighter weight 2. It needs to project significantly further away. 3. It needs to identify the hand only when it is "ready" to be projected on, then aim at it. This alone would present major issues I think.

AStrangeMorrow 3y ago

I remember about this being posted about 3 month ago (the product, not the link. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36573437 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36573437). Outside of a few marketing and hype terms, the website was so dry it was actually really hard to even get a simple idea of what the product was.