William Gallagher
The mysterious Humane firm, founded by ex-Apple executives in 2018, has shown off its first-ever product, a wearable phone that projects call details into the user's hand.
This was even more secretive than Apple. The only thing Humane, founded by former Apple director of software engineering Bethany Bongiorno and former Apple designer Imran Chaudhri, announced in five years was more funding investment.
However, Humane has reportedly today delivered a TED Talk in which it unveiled the company's first product.
I obtained a video of @Humane 's AI-powered wearable projector in action (clipped from a video @zarifali9 sent me of the #TED2023 by @imranchaudhri)
— Ray Wong (@raywongy) April 21, 2023
This looks insaneee! pic.twitter.com/DDOfTMCxH5
That video excerpt — there's no sound — from the presentation, shows what a wearer sees when they have Humane's device, and they get a call.
The actual device looks remarkably like a narrow but chunky "Star Trek" communicator badge. It's even a wearable that appears to be worn roughly over the heart.
The communicator, presumably, has a microphone and speaker at the top, but it definitely has a laser projector in the bottom.
Toronto journalist Zarif Ali, was also at the presentation and tweeted that the full TED Talk would be released on April 22, 2023.
"Been following Humane since 2018, and even with the patents and speculation, this demo genuinely felt like the ones Steve Jobs would do back in the 2000s," Zarif went on to say. "Truly a special moment in tech and AI."
Humane's Chaudhri worked with Steve Jobs at Apple, and has recounted teasing him over continually saying NeXT computers were better than the Mac.
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
12 Comments
I guess we won't fully know whether this really is a "special moment in tech and AI" until we see a full demo, but the snippet shown doesn't seem all that special - I mean other than the feat of miniaturization. And I can't, for the life of me, see why someone would want to read a notification from their hand vs., say, a smartwatch. The latter would be much more readable and just as little work, if not less so, than trying to position your hand into the spot the laser projector is pointing to. Again, this is just a little video with no sound - maybe the final product will project a holographic assistant with whom you can have a conversation? That, I'd agree would qualify as the "special moment in tech and AI" being bandied about.
Coolness factor 100%+
Practicality <0%
Will reserve judgement till I see how it really works but right now, I don't want to be talking on speaker in public, how would this work while driving, what's the battery life and I don't want anything attached to my shirt.
I can see those who wear BT headsets all day, every day adopting it. For me, I'd rather leave my phone in my pocket and mange calls using my headphones.
Meh. Better on phone screen or inyour shades/reading glasses.
Looks really cool, buuut, an apple watch is more practical fir taking calls. Even for translations.
Soooo… if you are in the shopping line and you forget to bring your hand up when this thing alters you, it will project directly into some little old lady’s head? Or someone’s face? Or shirt? Or on the bread aisle?