Humane
Changing everything, again.
How Humane’s First Products will Usher in a New Era of Computing
“Captivating” may not even be the right word for it; how do you define the feeling of intense astonishment—to know what you witnessed will change everything? Well, it’s fitting that Humane’s first teaser film entitled ‘‘Change Everything’’ gives us a glimpse at the company’s vision to change how we interact with our devices. Greatly alluding to Apple’s 1984 Superbowl ad, we follow a protagonist surrounded by people—enslaved by their phones, smartwatches, and VR headsets.
She is seemingly the only one truly aware of her immediate surroundings, looking upward towards the sky instead of looking down at a screen. She is captivated by this emerging light of the eclipse, ultimately leading her to a lush green forest and then an opening, where the eclipse passes and forms the Humane logo. She reaches out towards the light—turning her hand towards herself, now with the logo projected onto the palm of her hand.
This is the Future of
Computing
“The ultimate interface with computing is one that completely disappears into the background; then we turn back to our humanity, where everything starts to get resolved. ”
After watching this initial teaser and spending excessive amounts of time going through all the company’s patents, I think it’s safe to say the product ecosystem Humane is building is nothing short of revolutionary.
I’ve followed Imran and Bethany’s journey of building Humane since their initial tweet back in 2018. In the past six months, I’ve extensively researched both the company and the technologies surrounding the development of Humane’s first products, and after reading Tony Fadell’s new book, BUILD—more than the product itself—it’s the people at Humane that made it clear to me that this is an environment I want to be a part of.
Chances are, if you’re reading this, you already work at Humane. This page compiles my vision of how the multimedia device with laser projection can help deliver experiences to enrich our presence within the world around us. I hope more than anything, this page captures my enthusiasm for this company and the incredible individuals working on these projects.
The Intelligence Age
Today, we live in the Information Age, a period in human history characterized by the shift from industrial production to one based on information and computerization. The golden era of the Information Age occurred between the late 1990s and the late 2000s; this era introduced the iMac and subsequently the iPhone, which democratized our ability to get information within seconds.
For the first time, we could consume the vast libraries of human knowledge and share our own to a capacity unreachable before. The Information Age amplified our ability to engage and build complex systems of ideas with each other—in part due to the ingenious innovations of our devices. But these devices, originally designed to help aid our navigation of information, are now a medium for distraction.
Growing up in this environment, I know how impactful yet limiting these devices can be. As a species, multitasking and storing large amounts of data is a demanding cognitive task. The reality of having such capable multi-functional devices is we have become less deliberate and focused on our work simply because we have too much information at our disposal. What does this mean? We are less creative, less open to opposing perspectives, and less emotionally invested in our pursuits of genuine fulfillment.
I believe that with an ecosystem of products made intrinsically with these pitfalls of our current ways in mind, we can be more present with one another, ultimately allowing us to share experiences that deliver deeper fulfillment.
With the Intelligence Age, I think we can achieve this. A computing interface that truly fades into the background, only used within the context of our needs and emotions, not our impulses. Truly intentional computing; that's the dream.
Ambient computing is the future—and no, it doesn't live on your face.
Conceptually, it’s hard to tangibly talk about ambient computing because it’s the most rudimentary form of computing you can achieve. As Walt Mossberg puts it, “[the interface] may entirely disappear, waiting to be activated by voice command, a person entering the room, a change in blood chemistry, a shift in temperature, a motion. Maybe even just a thought.”
And that raises the question: why doesn't AR/MR headsets or glasses work? As of now, aside from the technical hurdle of taping a transparent screen to your face, conceptually, I think AR/MR can perpetuate or amplify the issues and consequences we already face with today’s phones and wearables.
With MR/AR headsets, I can’t help but feel all those cumulative notifications are now directly overloading you with abundant information, ultimately distracting you more than your phone ever did. It’s just not natural nor intuitive.
Another reason is because of our own nature; we are sensory creatures and don’t reciprocate well with a lack of sensory input. Part of the original iPhone’s major controversy of switching over to a digital keyboard was because it was unnatural to type on nothing. Apple overcame this hurdle with the iconic tap sounds and eventually the vibration motors that gave way to a tactile experience. For these headsets to deliver these experiences effectively (and naturally) is a task for the industry in the long term, and hasn’t been properly addressed thus far.
Augmented Reality is a part of the future. It’s almost a cornerstone of making the computer more ambient; in this form factor, however, its use cases are too limiting to provide an effective solution to consumers.
This is why Humane’s multimedia device is the most effective evolution of the computer. A projection-based computer that can augment your physical reality, while delivering a tactile experience, is what makes it the most natural way of computing we can currently achieve. Even so, this isn’t exclusively why I believe in Humane.
Why will Humane succeed?
Humane is in a unique position to change the world, not because it has a proven track record within its product development team or its growing portfolio of talented individuals—many companies before it had access to the same—if not better resources—have tried and failed. Humane will succeed because its principles are distinct.
One of my favourite authors, Simon Sinek, once gave a TED Talk entitled, "How great leaders inspire action." Sinek outlined the Golden Circle, codifying how influential leaders—whether they're people or organizations inspire action.
This Golden Circle concept explains the differentiating factor between a leader and everyone else.
The Golden Circle diagram
Every organization on the planet knows WHAT they do. These are the products they sell or the services.
Some organizations know HOW they do it. These are the things that make them special or set them apart from the competition.
Very few organizations know WHY they do what they do. WHY is not about making money. That's a result. WHY is a purpose, cause or belief. It's the very reason your organization exists.
Humane's multimedia device will deliver a computing experience unlike any other, and its differentiating factor will be this unique experience paired with world-class software, but this isn't the reason the company will succeed—and it isn't the reason the company was able to bring over some of the most talented individuals in tech.
I believe Humane will succeed because its principles defy what it means to be a tech company. It's not every day you hear of a company adopting slogans as bold as Best Human Experience Ever.
Even before the launch of a tangible product, Humane’s main selling point is its values. Its intention is to build products that put us back in touch with ourselves, each other, and the world around us. Deliver experiences that are built on trust with interactions that feel magical, and bring joy.
Unlike most other companies, it’s clear Humane knows why it’s doing what it’s doing; its purpose is solidified within the company’s culture and the core of its upcoming projects. The rest of it, the team, and the product itself are simply testaments of these core beliefs.
This is the prime reason I want to work at Humane, and it was the foundational backbone of some of the experiences I want to help deliver at the company.
Check it out below.
Interaction made
Natural
This is
WristUI
When I was going through the patents for the multimedia device with laser projection system, I absolutely loved the idea of having the ability to interact with an interface on almost any surface, including the palm of your hand.
This was also the highlight of the Change Everything teaser, and I assume that it’s a large part of the way one would use the device in the day-to-day.
The patent highlighted some very basic diagrams of how the interface could be utilized, but there are some things that weren’t explicitly addressed in the patent designs.
I had concerns over interface-scaling and usability when the device is projecting onto one’s hands; the main issue being that the palm size of a given person can vary greatly, and that can affect how well a user can interact with the projected interface. This is what led me to consider using the other parts of one’s hands to handle the interaction.
WristUI, much like the compact interfaces of wearables like Apple Watch, uses the palm to be the main “display” area, where the base and upper wrist portion of your arm is your way of interacting with the projected surface.
This means your content or information would be visible at all times, and your main way of interacting with the device would remain out of the way, kind of like how the Digital Crown works on Apple Watch. Let’s take a look at some use cases.
Timer
Timer
This is a concept of how a Timer app would work, and it highlights how WristUI can be utilized to become an interactive area.
The main countdown portion of the timer would be displayed on the palm of your hand, and the way you would set the timer is by sliding through a projected dial around your wrist.
Activities
Activities highlights how this interface can be used to display secondary information.
Within the patent, the multimedia device is said to be equipped with a heartrate sensor and other instruments, so I have no doubt that to some degree a fitness or activity app could be woven into the operating system.
Potentially other devices such as an Oura Ring could also be integrated to give accurate readings.
Regardless, when you do enter a “workout mode,” you likely want to have more than one type of metric at a glance, and shoving them all into the base of your palm can look a bit messy.
Through WristUI, you can have the most important information, like your duration, be front and center, with secondary information like heartrate and pace displayed on your wrist; accessible but out of the way.
Safety
By far my favorite addition is this safety feature, and it’s the one project I would love to be involved with at Humane.
Before we dive into it, here’s some background: I’m currently enrolled in the International Baccalaureate program, and we have a class named Theory of Knowledge, which is a philosophy-based course that combines our science, math, and language streams into one where we critically evaluate why we believe the things we believe.
This class raises plenty of abstract and open-ended questions, and one notable instance of this was when a teacher posed a question to all the girls. She asked, “What would you do if, for 24 hours, all the men in the world disappeared?”
Of course, there were some funny responses to this question, but one response that stood out to me was when one of my classmates replied by saying, “Go for a night walk alone.”
This shocked me because I came to the realization that even though we live in a progressive first-world country, there’s still a huge divide in how limiting it is for a lot of people, and in the case of safety, if someone here doesn’t feel safe to be out by themselves, then that’s a huge societal issue that needs to be addressed in a major way.
With this problem in mind, I looked at how consumer technology was addressing this, and I couldn’t help but feel that it wasn’t as effective as people would like it to be.
The SOS feature on our phones is simply too slow and finicky to offer any genuine peace of mind to the people that use it, but with this new Humane device, it just felt like a natural extension of what this product is made to do.
Let’s paint a scenario. You’re visiting a new city and you decide to go for a night stroll. Naturally, your unfamiliarity makes you less comfortable than you’d like to be, so you activate this safety mode on your Humane device.
Now, what your device will do is check up on you within timed intervals for the duration of your walk, and you have the option of notifying your emergency contacts of your active location should you feel you need to. This is standard, but here’s where the magic of the device comes in.
On the patent, it’s said that the multimedia device can detect changes in your emotional state to capture moments using its camera. In this scenario, I imagine the device could potentially detect your elevated heartbeat as a sign of nervousness or anxiousness, and it can prompt you to check in more frequently.
If at any point the device detects your heartbeat elevate at an increasing pace or if it detects that you’re moving faster (or running), the device could automatically notify your emergency contacts for you, and send over your active location along with video and audio from the device’s onboard camera and microphones.
This safety feature is far more of a natural integration within our daily lives and allows people that are potentially in danger to have peace of mind in their most vulnerable moments.
This wraps it up.
I hope that through this webpage, I was able to capture my intentions and deep enthusiasm for Humane. I really look forward to seeing what this company has in store, and if there was ever an opportunity to help develop these magical experiences with some of the most talented people, I would take it in a heartbeat.
Thank you for taking the time to go through this.