Excited to see the Rabbit R1. Only $199! Not sure who is going to crack this AI device category, but it’s going to happen. Nice line from the keynote: “Our smartphone has become the best device to kill time, instead of saving it.”

@manton Do people really dislike their smartphones?

@manton I don't know what it's like to use, but that's a really cute device in a PlayDate sort of way.

@manton Super interesting. Exciting to see some new form factors and experimentation in mobile hardware.

@collin Just in case it's not clear, also designed by Teenage Engineering.

@michaelgemar Sort of a love/hate relationship with their phone, yes. 🙂 I don't want to replace my phone completely, but I do like the idea of sometimes talking to a device and not needing my phone.

@manton But wouldn’t it be better if your phone could be talked to, instead of needing a separate device that doesn’t have access to everything on your phone? I can see this as add-on capabilities to an existing phone/OS. But I don’t see it succeeding as a standalone, siloed device.

@manton I saw that after I responded. That explains a lot :)

@manton I’m glad you linked to this. I had missed it. A compelling presentation. You’re right, all of these are definitely version 1 of something much bigger.

@manton this is interesting, definitely something that competes against the AIPin - but then again, another cloud? No subscription? Looks unsustainable to me.

@manton thanks totally missed that (preordered for work). Interesting stuff for sure. Much more interesting than the ai pin thing. Shipping Easter 🐣

@manton I see this is mostly about the software rather than the device. I wrote more of my thoughts here: frankmcpherson.blog/2024/01/1...

@frankm Good post. Yeah, maybe an exit is what they're going for. Apple, Google, or Amazon wouldn't have a problem scaling up the "action model" backend.

@frankm yeah, I said something similar-I see the product as more marketing for the software. The RPA space is growing and I could see a smaller player, someone like UI Path, try to acquire them early.

@humdrum Or Zapier or IFTTT... so far all we have is a produced demo, it's going to depend on whether the functionality is reliable in the real world. Regardless it's a step toward making AI more functional.

@manton what I am concerned about is it might be a bait-and-switch play - when those 20K users get hooked, Rabbit will pivot and charge monthly to cover cloud expenses, at first. Privacy is still a major concern for me - they have no track record and no detailed mention HOW they are making sure that credentials and personal data are kept secure and private.