after the predictable failure of the Rabbit R1, it feels like we’ve heard relatively nothing about the Humane AI Pin, which released first but was rapidly overshadowed by the R1’s shittiness. as it turns out, the reason why we haven’t heard much about the Humane AI pin is because it’s fucked:
Between May and August, more AI Pins were returned than purchased, according to internal sales data obtained by The Verge. By June, only around 8,000 units hadn’t been returned, a source with direct knowledge of sales and return data told me. As of today, the number of units still in customer hands had fallen closer to 7,000, a source with direct knowledge said.
it’s fucked in ways you might not have seen coming, but Humane should have:
Once a Humane Pin is returned, the company has no way to refurbish it, sources with knowledge of the return process confirmed. The Pin becomes e-waste, and Humane doesn’t have the opportunity to reclaim the revenue by selling it again. The core issue is that there is a T-Mobile limitation that makes it impossible (for now) for Humane to reassign a Pin to a new user once it’s been assigned to someone.
I haven’t read into it at all so treat this as pure speculation, but from context: the t-mo thing sounds/smells like MNO lock on the SIM service. a lot of operators offer subset-services type products (e.g. SIMs with only data services, SIMs that only work within a specific localized network, etc etc), and I could see this maybe having been launched with something like that
I’m unfortunately not current enough on the technical implementation of eSIM (especially wrt issuance and HLR interaction) to make a guess as to how this would impact if it were eSIM vs hard SIM
this includes “It’s a standalone device with its own SIM card” but it doesn’t make clear whether eSIM or hard-sim
also, that’s a snip quote. the full quote is:
just amazing
I scrubbed through this video to see if it included handling/inserting a SIM card, it didn’t. gonna presume eSIM. probably the deal guess - they signed some kind of special-APN deal with t-mo to get it live, didn’t think they’d need to port (or let t-mo have preferential timeframe, or somesuch), and just never implemented it
also, in this video at about 13:10, some hilarious footage: trying to show the shitty projection, entirely out of focus, in a room already-dark to try capture the contrast… because it has that little luminance on the project (which is duh, because battery device)
many, many lols