[lachyg]

(i'm an investor in the company.)

this is probably the most privacy-forward hardware device on the market—you have to physically be making contact with the device for it to begin listening (at which point an LED is prominently visible) and it will stop listening as soon as you break contact.

[kkielhofner]

Is this done physically/electrically?

Echo devices, for example, were sold as having a "hardware mute switch" from day one. Sure enough, teardown after teardown[0] has confirmed the hardware mute switch actually physically disables the mic (cuts power to the ADC, mic lines, etc).

If this is implemented in software it's no different than a phone and worse than an Echo.

[0] - https://electronupdate.blogspot.com/2021/01/amazon-echo-flex...

[friend_and_foe]

Physically make contact as in, tap it with your hand TNG style? Or worse, hold contact with your hand? How do you project the laser display and talk without using both hands? Is the hand criss crossing difficult I'm this situation?

An LED comes on... Is it bright? Can you see it direct line of sight from your eye to your shirt without fussing with it? Is the LED just there for others to know the owner isn't recording the conversation?

Can the camera passively watch in hardware with a firmware update? Is the physical contact for audio capture in hardware or software?

[geoffeg]

Honestly, I don't think the concern is this particular product or company, even if they can truly adhere to a privacy-first policy. For me the consideration is a slow erosion of privacy from any company or product. For instance: twenty years ago the idea that someone could quickly take a discreet high-quality video with something in their pocket wasn't possible. Smart phones made that possible, then we see things like Google Glass and now these accessory pendant devices will make it even easier. To be clear, I'm not against things like the Humane and Rewind pendants, I'm just curious about how they will impact society, especially considering how quickly we're moving without putting much thought into their impacts.

[rapjr9]

A lot of people are saying that using this device would require speaking all kinds of private things out loud in public, but people would likely alter their behavior and use of the device in public. The nature of the questions they ask would be different, they would self-censor. In private they'd use it differently. People don't watch porn on their phone in the subway (mostly) and they wouldn't state their credit card info out loud using this on a subway either. If you have to say "take a photo" then the people around you know you are taking a photo. If it can record video it should beep occasionally or something. I still don't have a complete idea of how the UI works though, can the projector project onto a wall instead of your hand? Can you listen to replies via wireless earbuds? Would like to see something more in depth about how to use it and what can be accomplished with it.

[sebastiennight]

Thanks for your reply.

However,

- he's not touching it during the phone call - it's not super clear in the demo when he's saying "your engagement comes through your voice, touch, gesture, or the lasering display"

How do you engage through (a) voice or (b) gesture then?

[abeyer]

Even if that's true, if it sees any success it will both normalize that type of device in public, and very shortly see aliexpress flooded with a bunch of cheap clones from companies with no such beliefs.

[notahacker]

tbf, that precedent went a long time ago when most people got powerful computers with sophisticated voice recording capabilities in their pockets and even on their wrist...

[daavid13]

That might be nice, but this simply refers to the information capture window, how about the bigger problem being all your data being beamed to OAI servers ?

[busssard]

privacy forward hardware for the sensors. But i am assuming all input to the model can be used for training? Just as it is current standard for any AI assistant? So my conversations, my calendar every thing will be open to one entity. Otherwise it would not be able to condense them into a summary. i dont have privacy anymore if the entity reads everything. Even if my friends do not consent to their texts being fed into the AI as input. This is a privacy issue for me, regardless of me allowing it to activate camera or microphone. Nothing stops a hacker with access to query the entity to spit out all users that have a depressed sentiment analysis of their texting history etc...

[verdverm]

Have you tried the device?

Are you using it daily?

Have you changed your habits?

[gizajob]

*everyone else’s privacy

[ginko]

>it will stop listening as soon as you break contact

..or so they say

[uxhacker]

Do you know when it will launch in Poland or Europe? I want one.

I often have to deal with communicating with people in other languages this would save me so much time.