The Pin and Vision

The Pin

I just watched The Verge review of the Humaine AI Pin.

David Pierce compares the size and weight of the device to and AirPods case, talks about how he likes using it as much as a "handheld device" almost more than he likes wearing it, and then goes on to make a pretty convincing case for a device like this, though not necessarily this device.

Mostly that made me very excited for a future version of AirPods Pro where the case has a microphone, a camera1 ,and can act more-or-less like a handheld version of the Humaine Ai pin so long as you have an iPhone or a  Watch+Cellular on your person. 

Please make it happen, Tim.

Vision

Side note: I just relized it's April which means...checks notes...I'm published. 🥳

I've been reading commentary and using Apple Vision Pro since its launch in February. There is a lot of criticism and speculation about it being a buggy / v1.0 device, an over-engineered devkit, and more. I personally think people are putting iPhone expectations on something Apple knows is more Lisa than Macintosh, but this is a different discussion for a different day.

While Vision Pro is not perfect, some things I have yet to experience:

  • Overheating
  • Complete failure of passthrough (Such as the passthrough video lagging or failing in such a way to completely break the illustion that you are looking through the headset, rather than at a pair of cutting edge displays) 
  • Dumping code from the back end into the user experience.

I'll close with this zinger of a quote from the David Pierce Verge review of The Pin:

Me: “Play ‘Texas Hold ’Em’ by Beyoncé.”

The AI Pin: “Songs not found for request: Play Texas Hold ’Em by Beyonc\u00e9. Try again using your actions find a relevant track, album, artist, or playlist; Create a new PlayMusic action with at least one of the slots filled in. If you find a relevant track or album play it, avoid asking for clarification or what they want to hear.”

 

 

  1. Not having a camera is the the only thing I regularly miss when I dare leave my iPhone at home, opting only  Watch+Cellular. 
  2. In writing this post, and I've already forgotten what led me down this path, I found myself skimming through the 2013 WWDC keynote to see if there was any mention of the disasterous 2012 launch of Maps. There wasn't, but there was A LOT else going on in 2013's releases. Mavericks was the first OS X named after a location in California rather than a cat, it brought notification center, finder tabs,  iCloud Keychain, and Keynote for Web. Many remember iOS 7 for the introduction of a flat user interface. I had forgotten that iOS 7 also brought background app updates, notification center, the share sheet, and a new feature "iOS in the Car," a predecessor to the CarPlay experience we know now. iOS in the Car was shown on a 2013 Chevy Spark head unit. 10 years after being the launch "face" of CarPlay, General Motors would announce end of life for CarPlay support. Incredible.