? Post-smartphone device on sale next week

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Screenshot: Humane Buzzy AI hardware startup Humane announced it'll start taking orders next week for its $699 Ai Pin communicator. The device will start shipping until early next year. Why it matters: The Ai Pin could help usher in a new wave of mobile hardware that uses human language commands, rather than apps, as its primary interface, Axios chief tech correspondent Ina Fried reports. The magnetically attached, lapel-based device is designed to work separately from a smartphone and requires a $24 monthly subscription. Users interact with the pin by touching its face, talking to it or using gestures. The pin communicates with users by voice or by projecting a monochrome display onto the user's hand. Humane executives yesterday showed the Pin in action — playing music, retrieving information from the web and even responding to a texted query. Imager: Humane Backstory — a time capsule of our era: A Buddhist monk named Brother Spirit led Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno, Humane's husband-and-wife founders, to the device, the N.Y. Times reports (subscription? "Mr. Chaudhri and Ms. Bongiorno had developed concepts for two A.I. products: a women's health device and the pin. Brother Spirit, whom they met through their acupuncturist, recommended that they share the ideas with his friend, Marc Benioff, the founder of Salesforce. "Sitting beneath a palm tree on a cliff above the ocean at Mr. Benioff's Hawaiian home in 2018, they explained both devices. 'This one,' Mr. Benioff said, pointing at the Ai Pin, as dolphins breached the surf below, 'is huge ... It's going to be a massive company.'" Go deeper: Read the announcement ...