Earlier this year, Microsoft added a new key to Windows keyboards for the first time since 1994. Before the news dropped, your mind might’ve raced with the possibilities and potential usefulness of a new addition. However, the button ended up being a Copilot launcher button that doesn’t even work in an innovative way.
Logitech announced a new mouse last week. I was disappointed to learn that the most distinct feature of the Logitech Signature AI Edition M750 is a button located south of the scroll wheel. This button is preprogrammed to launch the ChatGPT prompt builder, which Logitech recently added to its peripherals configuration app Options+.
Similarly to Logitech, Nothing is trying to give its customers access to ChatGPT quickly. In this case, access occurs by pinching the device. This month, Nothing announced that it "integrated Nothing earbuds and Nothing OS with ChatGPT to offer users instant access to knowledge directly from the devices they use most, earbuds and smartphones."
In the gaming world, for example, MSI announced this year a monitor with a built-in NPU and the ability to quickly show League of Legends players when an enemy from outside of their field of view is arriving.
Another example is AI Shark's vague claims. This year, it announced technology that brands could license in order to make an "AI keyboard," "AI mouse," "AI game controller" or "AI headphones." The products claim to use some unspecified AI tech to learn gaming patterns and adjust accordingly.
Despite my pessimism about the droves of AI marketing hype, if not AI washing, likely to barrage the next couple of years of tech announcements, I have hope that consumer interest and common sense will yield skepticism that stops some of the worst so-called AI gadgets from getting popular or misleading people.
To tech Companies and their product engineers: whatever you do, please please please let me rebind the special button to do literally anything other than whatever buzzword you're forced to push.
You'll benefit too, every year just slap a new label on the button depending on what's the hot topic. Personal assistant? ChatGPT? Virtual Reality? Whatever gets your investors' hearts racing you can rebrand that button to. Just let it be customizable, for the love of the silicon gods.
Product engineers can't do shit about this. This is all direction from product and upper management because they always have to follow the trends and release something "new and improved".
Darn we missed the blockchain train. I want a button that mines a bitcoin when I press it.
For some reason this made me imagine a game that is a cross between minecraft and super mario, where whenever you mine or hit a certain kind of block, a little coin pops up and you get a bitcoin from it. Real bitcoin mining!