this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2025
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[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 hours ago

i wonder how the rabbit is doing?

[–] [email protected] 46 points 15 hours ago

If you bought this e-junk in the first place you're kind of a moron.

[–] [email protected] 130 points 21 hours ago (3 children)

This is a product that didn’t need to be built. Since it has, I’m at least pleased there are efforts to keep them from being relegated to landfills.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

I feel like there should be a law to release the bits we need to support these efforts.

Too many times a product will die or a company will fold along with all its documentation.

Maybe release a final firmware opening up a product. Or at the very least a git repo with api documentation.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 hours ago

You're presuming they they had documentation

[–] [email protected] 2 points 14 hours ago

This is also the attitude taken by Ross Scott.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Agreed. At least there are efforts to salvage it.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (3 children)

There should be efforts to ensure it never happens again. All companies who abandon products or services should be forced to open source all associated code.

Why should greedy narcissists be allowed to waste humanities finite resources on their limp dick get-rich-quick schemes and failures?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

because humans with resources (money) should be allowed to use it how they please, be it on tungsten cubes or pointless devices

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 hours ago

because humans with resources (money) should be allowed to use it how they please, be it on tungsten cubes or pointless devices

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 hours ago

Philosophically agree with you, and would love to see it okay out exactly as you say.

The problem with incorporating a business is that all humans therein pretty much escape liability.

The only value is the assets and intellectual property that can be sold off to another organization. Releasing all the proprietary data brings that value down to zero.

As usual, our addiction to market capitalism means the world is pay-to-play, and the risks will always remain higher than you or I would like or need.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 20 hours ago

Imagine having a thing like that but with a touch screen. Like, a rectangular assistant you can always carry with you! Oh, wait...

[–] [email protected] 13 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

Why would anyone want to revive this piece of sluggish useless piece of crap?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 hours ago

if someone has ideas, I say let them cook. Open sourcing this can't be bad for anyone imo.

Though I agree in a way, I don't understand what anyone found potentially useful with this thing in the first place.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

Maybe because it's got a CPU and memory, and because ewaste harms us all?

I'm all in favor of upcycling.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 hours ago

There are small language models out there that can run fluently on smartphones. I'm fond of StableCode as a coding tutor. My dream is to be able to speak to the tutor and see its code instructions without having to dig my phone out.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 18 hours ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 34 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

This is the question that should've been asked before it was built and shipped.

Now that it has been, though, any effort to keep it out of landfill and find a use for the hardware is good.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

No, it's useless. Put your energy somewhere else like Linux phones.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 hours ago

Right, you're the boss.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 14 hours ago

I vaguely wonder what the actual overlap between the sort of people who would buy something like that and people who’d be willing to do this actually is, especially since they didn’t sell a lot in the first place.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I’m all for things that can extend its life one more time. Honestly if the hardware was capable of performing on various levels, I’d really like to replace my phone. But again I’m torn between getting a dumb phone or just go back pen pals to whom ever I need to write to/back

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

a cellular smartwatch might be an option for you, maybe alongside an e-reader.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 hours ago

how many smartwatches existed that can be used without a phone?

[–] [email protected] 26 points 21 hours ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 18 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

It sounds like they're trying to do whatever they can to replicate the previous functionality, but without the company who made it getting in the way, the hardware itself is kind of interesting. I hear the battery life sucks and nothing on it is exactly novel, but I'd be interested to see what people could do with it's fancy display options combined with everything else.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

The hardware itself had a glaring flaw and that was that it would overheat every 5 minutes and even be uncomfortably warm on it's wearer.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 hours ago

might be unoptimized software issue

[–] [email protected] 5 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I'm curious, what's interesting about the hardware?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

Small and easy to wear form factor, monochrome laser projector are the two most uncommon. Also a camera, microphone, a lot other sensors, packed in a tight case. If you build something DIY usually you can't make it this small.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 20 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 14 points 20 hours ago

Why would anyone need to run Doom on medical equipment?

[–] [email protected] 18 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

i thought this thing has serious production issues... like battery problems that might not be solved by open source software

[–] [email protected] 11 points 20 hours ago

HP shut it down, so it's effectively a paperweight or trash otherwise. Judging by the image of it sitting on a desk in a 3D printed enclosure, I'd say they're probably not using it for its original purpose anyway. Pretty easy to solder in a bigger battery if you're not trying to walk around with it.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

The only catch? You’ll need an interposer to set up an Ai Pin for use with OpenPin. You can either buy one or make your own.

Even more junk for landfill, to salvage a device that is inherently quite useless. It's good to keep the original hardware running but it's a shame this requires more hardware.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

The pin runs some android based software as the website mentions adb. You can build your own interposer, and they are selling the current official one on Etsy, in a 3d printed case. ~~It doesn't sound like something made in a factory. I guess it uses some off the shelf usb to jtag chip or similar.~~

The interposer files are in this repo: https://github.com/MaxMaeder/OpenPin

From the bom it seems it's just a micro usb to pogo pin converter, no chip mentioned, so the pin has an usb port, but pogo pin form...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

And just like that i went from being absolutely uninterested since inception into kinda wanting one.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 19 hours ago

For those too lazy to click through to the article and don't know what an Ai Pin is;

The Humane Ai Pin is a wearable, internet-connected AI device designed to offer a phone-free way to interact with an AI assistant from anywhere.