The Rabbit R1 is the second major gadget to launch this year as basically a portable device for interacting with cloud-based AI features. Unlike the Humane Ai Pin, the Rabbit R1 has a display that provides visual information. And with a $200 price tag, it’s a lot easier for forgive its shortcomings than the $699 Ai Pin (which also requires a $24 per month subscription to actually do anything.
But one criticism both devices have faced is that they could have just been smartphone apps. Now there’s evidence that the software running on the Rabbit R1Â is basically just an Android app. That doesn’t mean much, because the app is really just a way for interacting with Rabbit’s cloud-based services, and the underlying operating system isn’t particularly important. But it still makes for a kind of funny headline.
Here’s a roundup of recent tech news from around the web.
Rabbit R1, a thing that should just be an app, actually is just an Android app [Android Authority]
So here’s the thing: the Rabbit R1 is a physical device that needs an operating system to do anything at all. In this case, that operating system is based on Android Open Source Project code and includes “lower level firmware modifications.” So while it is possible to extract the Rabbit R1 app and run it on other Android devices, it won’t actually function properly.Â
Still, it shows that Rabbit (or Humane, or any other company pushing hardware that leans heavily on cloud-based AI features) could probably pivot from hardware to software at any time. All Rabbit would need to do is make its Android app available for third-party Android devices.Â
Meanwhile, the device still can’t actually do very much yet. Rabbit has made some pretty big promises about what it will be able to do eventually thanks to its “Large Action Model” AI which can be trained to interact with third-party apps on your behalf, even if there’s no API for them to tap into. But right now, it sometimes answers questions correctly and allows you to tap into exactly four apps: Spotify, Uber, Doordash, and Midjourney. At least it’s cheaper than the Ai Pin…
Meteor Lake ASRock iBOX [FanlessTech]
The new ASRock iBOX-125U and iBOX-155U are small, fanless PCs with Intel Meteor Lake chips. Meant for industrial applications, they probably won’t be cheap, but offer plenty of ports and support up to 96GB RAM and 3 storage devices.
Tuxedo Pulse 14 Linux Laptop with AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS [Tuxedo Computers]
Tuxedo Pulse 14 Linux laptop gets a spec bump: The 4th-gen model has a Ryzen 7 8845HS processor, a 14 inch, 2880 x 1800px 120 Hz display, 32GB LPDDR5x-6400 memory and up to two M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 SSDs. Operating system options include Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, and the Ubuntu-based Tuxedo OS. Prices start at 1249 Euros.
Mint and Ultra: Welcome to the T-Mobile Family! [T-Mobile]
T-Mobile completes its acquisition of Mint Mobile (and its parent company Ka’ena Corporation), while committing to continue offering plans for as low as $15/month (when you pay for 3 months at a time), while adding new features including “scam likely” alerts and free roaming in Canada (or Mexico for Ultra customers).
LastPass goes independent over a year after serious breaches [The Verge]
LastPass, the password management app that was bought buy GoTo a few years back (and which has suffered several major security breaches in recent years) has now spun off as a standalone company again.
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“Tuxedo Pulse 14 Linux Laptop… 1,249 Euros = $1,337 USD”
Typical. Add Linux, then JACK UP THE PRICE!
iBox 96GB RAM is interesting.
Some people have actually jailbroken Rabbit R1 units and installed various apps, although all the links I can find on respectable sites go to deleted posts and privated videos. But they existed, I swear.
The Rabbit trinket is not worth 1 cent. If they shipped it to my door for free I probably might open the box after 6-12 months. That is about how useless and stupid tech has become.
Ironically, some of the circles that had been more critical about it started expressing interest in it as a weird emulator device or media player after seeing videos like this one here. Like, oh, you don’t actually need to trust their VM/AI service to do stuff with it?
Of course, they never would have gotten the free advertising they needed to make the sales if they hadn’t said “it’s AI powered” and just sold it as a cheap little phone.
I’m not sure what appeal it has as a phone, there are cheaper phones that are better and usable right out of the box.
Well, I meant in the hypothetical case that Rabbit had released the device with the ability to install Android apps in the first place. In that situation the appeal is mainly the size of the thing, although it would only appeal to a niche which isn’t very big.
It’s nice to think that niche would be bigger than the “I want to do everything though chatgpt” niche, but honestly, it’s probably not even true.