I vehemently disagree with both of these statements.
For one, as far as I can tell every single hardware feature on the Rabbit (sans rotary encoder) has been present on every phone I've owned since 2011. Forward and rear-facing camera - check, nice bright touchscreen - check, speaker and mic - check... it's all there. Rabbit's "ecosystem" excuse is just as hollow as when literally any other company does it. They're trying to project a halo-effect, and too many people fell for it. Are there any software features that are exclusively enabled by Rabbit's form factor?
For two, waiting to ship it probably wouldn't have solved it either. Humane got absolutely humiliated last week with their own offering, it was a now-or-never opportunity to stage them up or let them set the tone forever. I don't think interest in AI or AI-focused hardware is liable to skyrocket any more than cryptocurrency-focused hardware was. Both of these things are software solutions; using it to sell you physical hardware is a 100% pure marketing gimmeck.
Now, if we're talking about the OEMs building Rabbit-like features into their phones then that I agree with, and I hope (and assume) that's what will happen now. Rabbit has already shown some features that our smartphones should be able to do quite easily, such as sending a selected photo by text or email. My hope is that Rabbit pushes Apple and Google to build some of the low hanging fruit into their phones/operating systems soon.
It's literally just another smartphone, that you only control with your voice which is the worst way to control a smart phone, and it'll offer suggestions I guess? And I guess if you don't want the suggestions you need to have a whole fuckin conversation with it.
Like, we've already been down this road. It's tremendously easy as a customer to just be presented a list of things to buy, pick what you want, and swipe your credit card. Rabbit is a regression to ordering things with a phone, except instead of talking to a person, you're talking to a robot. But that's not an improvement, and in fact in many ways, it's a step back.
I just, I cannot fathom who wants this.
> I just, I cannot fathom who wants this.
If that doesn't make a difference to you, you're not the target market. It truely doesn't for some, but for others, it does!
https://www.forbes.com/sites/briannawiest/2019/11/04/millenn...
https://www.quora.com/Why-dont-millennials-like-speaking-on-...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/26/whatsa...
https://www.euruni.edu/blog/the-mute-generation-why-millenni...
https://jeffjbutler.com/2019/04/02/why-millennials-dont-like...
https://www.inc.com/john-brandon/why-millennials-dont-like-t...
And even if I did want to talk to a robot, I'd rather just use the gadget that I already have for talking into, not yet another thing to lug around, keep charged etc.
It really is completely pointless.
Instead, the idea is they will be able to do these things for you, similar to a human assistant. Currently only rich people can afford assistants to manage their lives for them. This could be about to change.
And, even going for their big example: why would you want to outsource the planning of an overseas trip?! Planning a trip is the FUN part for goodness sakes! Choosing your destinations and building an itinerary. The only way I could see this is if you're so drowned in money and so utterly dead inside from years of casual overseas vacations that you just don't give a shit where you go anymore, and like, fair enough but a virtual assistant is not going to solve the yawning chasm of meaninglessness in your soul. You should probably see a therapist about that.
All of these things feel like faint imitations of something like JARVIS from the Iron Man movies, and look, if it worked like that as just a disembodied voice built into my home, and my cars, and my armored battle suit and my cell phones, hell yeah I'd have that. But the only way I would accept any technology that invasive is if I was running it on my own hardware, I will never, ever, in a thousand years give over that much hardware and privileged access to another pop-up company from silicon valley.
You're projecting so hard you might hurt yourself.
> in no world would anyone prefer to tell an assistant, robot or otherwise, to order them a pizza.
Sure they would, I'm one of them, I know many more.
> It's such a trivial task that outsourcing it to another entity, irrespective of what kind, is just less efficient, full stop.
Perhaps for you. As someone with a spinal cord injury whom at many times can not work a keyboard or a phone, a far simpler ability to get things done with my voice is something i've been looking forward too for some time and I hope continues to progress, especially as I age and things become more difficult.
> Planning a trip is the FUN part for goodness sakes!
What you enjoy and others enjoy is not the same. Your view of the world and what does and does not constitute a good time is not the benchmark or standard for anyone other than yourself. Again, you're projecting.
> I will never, ever, in a thousand years give over that much hardware and privileged access to another pop-up company from silicon valley.
How delightful for you.
(I'm not defending Rabbit R1 and I think it's useless).
Sometimes the thing that defines something is not what it has, but what it lacks.
But a web app doesn’t get you the hype, VC funding and Galaxy brained Twitter tech bro adoration.
The product is definitely not super appealing to me yet in the current state.