Muse Gadgets
gadgets.muse.ai
gadgets.muse.ai
why build here? why should we grow our gardens in this factory farm?
if this muse gadget seems so cool, why not make your own?
don’t outsource your curiosity to people like this, they do not care about you, your family, or your livelihood. they want to control you; this is their toy that they made for you to become fascinated by
The software world is spoiled in that making something new is just text in a file, we’ve proliferated open source freeware, and with AI we can readily clone entire products in a weekend.
Sometimes though, people like to use commercial products for various reasons (reliability, cost, network effect, etc). If you like to tinker, this seems like a neat way for some without yak shaving an AI assistant along the way. We don’t need to reinvent every wheel for everything.
I personally think “embodied” assistants are a really fun idea, and this is just an API and SDK to build on and it’s super accessible to basically everyone in the world. If you were inclined to use Muse already, why not tinker with this. I’m sure the hardware would be easy enough to point to an API running on your own server later if you wanted.
After all, React is a Graphical Abuser Interface Toolkit, so it would be on brand. React is the Virtual DOM, and you're the Actual SUB.
The firmware is Apache 2.0, so yes, you can point it at your own server. But read the token terms before you plant anything: "not a supported product and not a developer platform... may change, stop working, or be withdrawn at any time, with or without notice," and you "may not enable functionality that Meta has disabled." Max 50 devices, none sold or advertised.
That's not a platform, it's a petting zoo with a revocable leash. You're not a hacker, you're a sharecropper. Meta's word for it is "gadgets." The honest word is "tenants."
I was a bit shocked last week to see Zuckerberg announce the Muse Charm keychain as that's what I suggested and blogged about in August -- portable Ai speakers are best suited on keychains.
https://ryanspahn.substack.com/p/openais-rumored-speaker-bel...
Red meaning "I'm working on something important. Disturb only if emergency"
Green being, "I'm scattershot, come hang"
This is the perfect platform for stuff like this.
Note that most of the staff absolutely hated it.
What's perfect about this platform for it?
So now they are actively distributing SDKs and to let people "hack" custom hardware integrations to their already risky AI agents unleashed on the general public. Giving agents abilty to control things in the physical world - what could possibly go wrong?
But here we are: so far the story is pretty much 100% "fortune favors the bold", and Meta is leaning into it.
Now they're trying a new thing. I don't know if it's so much "being bold" as flailing around for some new thing. They really desperately want to own a "platform" like Microsoft, Apple, or Google.
Those take a huge level of competence and skill; I don't think the argument is "Meta can't do anything", but I also don't think it addresses "Meta can't invent anything new".
When the initial Muse launch happened, my first reaction was "wow this sounds familiar."
Now the HW side of things is announced.
To be fair, this is all obvious stuff that should be done. The key is who can pull it off. It has been pointed out many types that technically Muse is nothing new, some combination of Gemini products can already do it. The counterpoint being that packaging and branding make a product.
I am kind of sad that desktop computer use ended up being the way to go instead of hooking into mobile phones. Mobile phones allow for a lot more potential integrations with day to day life, plenty of services now days are (sadly) only available through a mobile app.
Modularity, connection, and true ownership.
Been thinking about this lately when I saw some mathematicians talking about more AI regulation after the millennial prize thing.
Move fast break things, fortune favors the bold, breaking rules doesn't matter if you win, etc silicon valley ideologies to me seem to be domination ideologies. Uber may toy with playing nice with taxi law until it's too annoying, then they shift to getting as many people as possible to have their commute, convenience, or livelihood to depend on it, then they can turn around to regulators with their finger on their chin and say "oopsies, I guess everyone needs us now, better consider that in your regulatory efforts!"
It's the brunch equivalent of changing the restaurant the night before to one you prefer by DMing everyone in the group chat with "we decided to change to antipodean because dave had a breakup with one of the waiters at french twist," and then when everyone arrives and Dave says "I've never dated a waiter in my life," you say "well we're all already here so..."
Anyway, it seems pointless to try to regulate this culture out of these kinds of companies or really this entire scene. Any law is now just an obstacle, and besides, various government actors seem to be angling for industry retirement positions, so passing useful regulation seems basically impossible.
Imo two can play at this game. When law fails to serve the interests of the people or is even weaponized by the interests of Capital against us, what's the point of it? I'm interested in things like LLM distillation and open weight models that take the winds of profit out of the sails of these "disruptors" to make their activities have no payoff. Wonder what other things we can do that would make someone ask "why would I send all my data to Facebook when I could instead just..." Pirating, free culture, leaks, hell outright theft, if we're going to disrupt things, why not DISRUPT things?
But you're handcuffed.
He wants to own the future for the sake of money, not because he wants to improve lives or entertain folks.
I love microcontrollers and DIY IoT as a hobby, a huge fan of ESP32s (so affordable and perfectly packaged in ready-to-use boards), and I can see how such easy, vibe-coded projects can inspire more people and show them how easy it is to get started with them today. (I remember my first experiments with microcontrollers and DSPs at college in 00s - the nightmare of even just flashing those devices, not to mention the almost-prohibitive cost to get them and the sometimes required JTAG programmers I faced in Poland... My BSc thesis project was reduced in scope a few times because my professor couldn't get some purchases and shipments approved on time)
A toy with not much value? Sure. But who cares, it's fun and inspiring! They even recommend vibe-building so that the user doesn't need to download or configure SDKs. Awesome stuff for complete beginners to this area.
Over a decade ago, I could see Google releasing such a whimsy, hackersy fun toy project. Sadly, not anymore... (Saying this as a former Google employee in 2017-2022, witnessing in person the sad, gradual change from hacker culture to corporate culture)
That Muse firestick clone they've got at bottom is interesting though...wonder if it'll be jailbreakable
> Gadgets you build with the Muse Gadget SDK need a token. Add it to your SDK configuration so your gadgets can pair with the Muse app.
> Each token can be used by a limited number of devices.
> The Muse Gadget SDK is intended for personal tinkering and is not a supported product or developer platform. The SDK can change, break, or stop functioning without warning.
Doesn't really feel like it's my own.
(I joke, but not really…)
Here are some fun things I've worked on for the S3: https://rillsound.com
As for AI, I would only use it for work and as a substitute for google search and don’t want it to do anything else in my personal life
This looks like a really smart way for Meta to bootstrap a hardware ecosystem around Muse.
No thanks.
Claim your Muse Home Link
Free with an active Muse subscriptionhttps://gadgets.muse.ai/home-link "Muse Home Link itself only runs official firmware and can’t be reflashed"