The $699 'AI pin' that launched less than a year ago is going to stop working at the end of February

pcgamer.com:

Back in November 2023, we wrote about an "AI pin" made by a company called Humane that owners would wear like a little Star Trek badge. The device could, in theory at least, provide AI-powered information on various topics, translate languages on fly, take photos, play music, and even work as a phone if you signed up for T-Mobile's monthly subscription package. But there's bad news for anyone who shelled out the $699 (eventually reduced to $499) price tag for one of these things: At the end of February, they're going to stop working.

Humane (via Kotaku) has announced that sales of the AI pin have been halted, and worse, after 12 pm PT on February 28—just over a week from today—the units will no longer be able to connect to Humane's servers. This means, in short, that AI pin features «will no longer include calling, messaging, AI queries/responses, or cloud access.»

Some functionality will remain available, but it doesn't sound like much: Humane said the AI pin «will still allow for offline features like battery level, etc.» Frankly, if you're leading with «it'll tell you how much battery life you have left,» I strongly suspect you don't have much else to offer.

So, how did it end up like this? Humane said it's «winding down the Ai pin as we are moving onto new endeavors,» but given that the AI pin didn't actually go into release until April 2024—less than a year ago—I don't think anyone would call this a job well done and finished. The reality of the matter is probably more closely tied to the fact that the AI pin did not impress. A few reviews:

Making matters worse, the charging case included with the device was a literal fire risk, and before long, according to The Verge, returns were outpacing sales. By May 2024, Humane was reportedly looking for a buyer, and early this month it found one: HP, which snapped up the company for $116 million, a fraction of Humane's reported self-valuation of $750 million to $1 billion. In any event, HP apparently held the same