Yay privacy out of the window...
AI wants to see and hear everything with access the Internet.
Otherwise its hell of an interesting concept!
Reminds me of the Robot Assistant in "flubber"
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.
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...
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?
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?
Are you using it daily?
Have you changed your habits?
..or so they say
I often have to deal with communicating with people in other languages this would save me so much time.