Imran Chowdharyformer Apple designer and founder of Humanepreviewed his groundbreaking in a TED Talk screenless device that projects information onto nearby surfaces: the smartphone screen becomes your hand. The device – which should also be called Humane – yes controls with voice and gestures and can do several things. How to translate different languages, answer calls and show notifications.
Humane, a device that projects images onto the hand
A smartphone without a screen. This is the great challenge of Imran Chaudhri, the founder of Humane and former Apple designer, who showed the Humane device to the public for the first time during a TED Talk event. The device is a screenless wearable that uses artificial intelligence to interact with voice and gestures user and project information onto any nearby surface. Including your hand.
The full video of the TED Talk will be available on April 22, but in the meantime some images and a short silent video have emerged online showing Humane in action thanks to the work of the journalist Zarif Aliwhich obtained the images directly from Humane.
Smartphones without a screen
According to Axios, Humane does not need a smartphone to work, but it is a standalone device. Which can translate user’s voice into other languages, answer calls and control other devices.
During the event TED, Chaudhri ha used the palm of his hand as a “screen” onto which a green light thought to be a laser was projected. Also in Humane’s patents the hand is used as an example of the surface on which the device can display information.
By Rajat Bhardwaj – https://www.flickr.com/photos/rajatb/39096760180/in/dateposted-public/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid =67755615
The wearable was in the Chaudhr’s jacket pocketi, and Axios says the former Apple designer who was part of the team that has created the iPhone interfacedemonstrated Humane’s ability to translate his voice into French. He also answered one call from his wife using the palm of the hand as a screen. Then she announced that they will come in the coming months more details about Humane revealed.
A new way to stay online
In December last year Chaudhri anticipated that Humane would be presented in the spring of 2023, but it’s not clear if he was referring to this TED Talk event or one more in-depth official presentation.
Chaudhri had also explained the concept behind Humane in December, saying that a AR (Augmented Reality) device is too invasivecreate a barrier between the person and the environment. And above all, many people don’t want to wear a device that makes them look weird. Humane instead wants to create “products that bring us back in touch with ourselves, with others and with the world around us”.
This solution at the moment seems above all an idea: it is unlikely that a product will arrive on the market soon. But given that the founder promises news in the coming months, perhaps soon we will all be able to put it in our pocket. It remains to be seen whether users will really intend to do this – or will prefer to continue looking at their smartphone.