Why Would I Buy This Useless, Evil Thing? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Would I Buy This Useless, Evil Thing?

#61

Post by dartos » Thu, Jan 11, 2024, 3:32 PM UTC

spanktheuser wrote: post #49

For those of you who argue that a device like this is useless I urge you to visit someone with Parkisons, essential tremors, ALS, rheumatoid arthritis, limb injuries etc as well as very low vision and observe the difficulty they have interacting with the vision + multi-touch interface of their phones.

IPhones have similar voice activated functionality.

And where it doesn’t, an app can add these exact features to devices people already own, since the LLM isn’t running on device on the rabbit (it’s far too small)

Also this product definitely isn’t being positioned as an accessibility device.

Re: Why Would I Buy This Useless, Evil Thing?

#62

Post by ilikehurdles » Thu, Jan 11, 2024, 3:33 PM UTC

gnfargbl wrote: post #57

> (Takes picture of the contents of his fridge.) This is what I have in the fridge, can you make me a nice dish that’s low in calories? (It then pulls up a recipe without citing its source.) That sounds like... something that would make my life slightly better, in a non-essential but desirable way. Can my phone do this already? When will it be able to do it?

Yes. Take a picture with ChatGPT and ask it the same question.

Re: Why Would I Buy This Useless, Evil Thing?

#63

Post by idkyall » Thu, Jan 11, 2024, 3:34 PM UTC

i80and wrote: post #41

zecg wrote: post #4

I don't even think it's properly monetizable, it needs a lot of juice in the backend.

That's what I don't get here that worries me. It feels either like a ticking time-bomb to deprecation, and/or a privacy nightmare if they're somehow selling data they mine from their users.

It'd be neat if the software was opensource and you could point this device at your own LLM, then at least you'd have some assurance it won't be e-waste if the company shuts down.

But I don't see a world where you can feasibly support the required infra of providing LLMs for your users with only hardware sales as a revenue stream. Their website specifically calls out that there is no subscription fee, so either they'll introduce one later or something else will need to be the other source of revenue.

Re: Why Would I Buy This Useless, Evil Thing?

#64

Post by karaterobot » Thu, Jan 11, 2024, 3:36 PM UTC

spanktheuser wrote: post #49

For those of you who argue that a device like this is useless I urge you to visit someone with Parkisons, essential tremors, ALS, rheumatoid arthritis, limb injuries etc as well as very low vision and observe the difficulty they have interacting with the vision + multi-touch interface of their phones.

Nice, you pulled out the "but think about disabled people" tactic, that's usually a conversation ender. Unfortunately, that's not who they are selling this $1000 device that mimics the existing capabilities of a phone to, based on their marketing.

Re: Why Would I Buy This Useless, Evil Thing?

#65

Post by daeros » Thu, Jan 11, 2024, 3:36 PM UTC

I myself have stated I feel bringing tech to the tech illiterate is usually a mistake because those people are largely a security hazard to any large IT enterprise. Teaching dumbasses to use tech is how exactly how even a DECADE after The iloveu bug emailing malware to huge corporations members and spear phishing them with chained malware was how most companies got hit because its next to impossible to teach John over there in marketing not to at least ask his fellow workers if they really sent that email before downloading every attachment and executing it as well as every Excel spreadsheet that demanded you enable macros and enabling them. For OVER A DECADE, phishing emails with chained malware were how companies got hit because the tech illiterates refused to learn.

Like, when you let the morons in, they become a Security Hazard.

But if this device, can keep tech illiterates, from using and interfacing with the tech we need to secure, All the better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8s9uzPIqQ4

Yuki did nothing wrong.

Re: Why Would I Buy This Useless, Evil Thing?

#66

Post by bruce511 » Thu, Jan 11, 2024, 3:36 PM UTC

jkestner wrote: post #24

thinkingemote wrote: post #5

Teenage Engineering does interesting and good work. Similar to Kano, they have very good modern design ideas and they produce actual devices. That's the best thing about this useless evil thing. It exists in the world and can provide inspiration for others to work on. Another positive-ish thing to say would be is that this device is likely going to increase in value. Not because its popular but because it is going to…

Hope they can inspire someone to make a left-handed version. I admire your dedication to finding positive things, but if this particular cloud-dependent chunk of plastic appreciates in value I’ll eat my Audrey.

The author seems to be on the fence regarding this device, although there are some subtle clues in there that he may be _leaning_ towards not liking it. They're hard to spot though.

It does beg the question of why it's implemented in hardware though, and not just an app on your phone.

Re: Why Would I Buy This Useless, Evil Thing?

#67

Post by Xelynega » Thu, Jan 11, 2024, 3:37 PM UTC

spanktheuser wrote: post #49

For those of you who argue that a device like this is useless I urge you to visit someone with Parkisons, essential tremors, ALS, rheumatoid arthritis, limb injuries etc as well as very low vision and observe the difficulty they have interacting with the vision + multi-touch interface of their phones.

That's the neat thing about phones. You can program them to interact with you via touch and voice(and even camera in apps like Google lens) without having to purchase a new piece of hardware dedicate to accessibility.

Re: Why Would I Buy This Useless, Evil Thing?

#68

Post by ilikehurdles » Thu, Jan 11, 2024, 3:38 PM UTC

i80and wrote: post #11

I'm actually pretty interested in the hardware and form factor, and absolutely un -interested in the corpo backend services. I wonder if it's possible to homebrew this odd little square.

I bet. Small Pi enclosure with a mic, battery, wifi, speaker, and a basic OpenAI API client and you’re golden. It’s a matter of time.

Re: Why Would I Buy This Useless, Evil Thing?

#69

Post by Xelynega » Thu, Jan 11, 2024, 3:42 PM UTC

gnfargbl wrote: post #57

> (Takes picture of the contents of his fridge.) This is what I have in the fridge, can you make me a nice dish that’s low in calories? (It then pulls up a recipe without citing its source.) That sounds like... something that would make my life slightly better, in a non-essential but desirable way. Can my phone do this already? When will it be able to do it?

Without a "large recipe model" to be able to vet these recipes that it's likely generating, I'd be worried about the accuracy and palatability of generated recipes.

There are websites that have databases of recipes you can sort by ingredient, which is a much better approach to this problem.

Re: Why Would I Buy This Useless, Evil Thing?

#70

Post by 127361 » Thu, Jan 11, 2024, 3:44 PM UTC

mlekoszek wrote: post #9

I'm not so aligned with this article. I think this product shows a great deal of vision and creative risk. Even if it ends up as a failed experiment, I think it's still a worthwhile effort, and I'll be happy to see where they go with it.

The market will decide. If nobody likes it then it will flop. If it takes off, then well done to them.

Good to see some form of innovation. Maybe they will create a new category of device, as dozens of Chinese imitators come up with clones? Either way this is all positive.

A device like this with the battery capacity and processing power for running local AI would be very good for privacy.

I could see some people buying it, if someone advertised it as totally private, with no logs or sensitive data stored on even the device itself (i.e. in RAM and gone on power off). So you can ask it anything, it will answer, and there is no trace at all once it's switched off.