5 ms·
If this is not a scam, then they must be betting heavily on going beyond class 2 for the laser so it will be usable outdoors. 1mW is very low, and my back of th
by planede 2y ago
If this is not a scam, then they must be betting heavily on going beyond class 2 for the laser so it will be usable outdoors. 1mW is very low, and my back of the envelope calculation says that it's equivalent to a display to around 120 nits, with the generous assumptions of
1. It's a green laser (it isn't)
2. It's projected onto a white surface, (again, it isn't)
3. 9cm^2 of projected surface area (3cm x 3cm)
Maybe they can modulate the brightness by the amount of stuff present on the projected screen, and maybe even have an outdoor mode, where they use light fonts, that are displayed on a higher brightness, so the overall energy emitted still classifies the device to be class 2. Still, 1mW must be very very limiting here, a 120 nits display is nowhere near usable outdoors, let alone a 120 nits display that reflects the outdoor light just as well as the projector's.
Why on earth they aren't using a green laser if they are limited to class 2 is beyond me though.
- sbarre 2y agoThere are hands-on reviews out there of this thing (The Verge and others) and they all say the projector is next to useless in outdoor light.
- refulgentis 2y agoI don't understand, isn't the laser green in demos and reviews?
- planede 2y agoMaybe. In the article the photoshopped images look like as if it was green, but the screenshots from the demo videos look blue to me. The article says that it's cyan. Of course white balance could be way off in any of those pictures.
- ActionHank 2y agoIt may not be a scam in that they delivered more or less what they promised. That said, like most AI startups right now it is a cash grab that might pan out as a longer term product, but likely not.
- planede 2y agoWell, on their website they say that it's 720p right now, and you can order it. If that info is false, then it's just straight up scam. Granted, they indeed don't write anything about brightness, apart from the class 2 classification, which they could very well meet. Just not bright enough to be very usable.
- hbn 2y agoDo we even know if Humane developed their own laser technology and it's not just an off-the-shelf, or custom-ordered part from another company? The one thing Humane seems to have done good is make a nice piece of hardware with a sleek, Apple-like industrial design. It's functionally a paperweight that can read some LLM hallucinations to you from the convenience of your sagging shirt lapel, but it IS nice-looking and reviewers have said it feels sturdily-made. Aside from that, it seems like the main things that might have made this thing seem impressive or stand out aren't even developed by them. I haven't seen any indication the laser is anything revolutionary they made themselves, and as much as they'd like to pretend they've developed some crazy AI, it seems to be OpenAI doing all the heavy lifting and everyone and their grandma has been using this technology for over a year now.
- Ductapemaster 2y agoA former colleague of mine works at Humane as an engineer, and the laser tech is apparently closely guarded. They were reluctant to even give a demo when we ran into each other, stating that the laser tech was particularly sensitive topic. I got the sense it was very custom.
- rasz 2y agoYou know who eles secretly guarded demos of magical display tech that turned out to be garbage? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Leap https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Leap
- hbn 2y agoAlso the RED Hydrogen One if anyone remembers that
- TiredOfLife 2y agoThe tech used for investors was different to what ended up in the product. There are some videos of Oculus/Meta VR labs that show what a room filled with mirrors, lasers and cameras can demonstrate.
- 2y ago