My new pet

This summer I got a new pet. In reality it's a fairly high-tech gadget but it reminds me more of a pet than the handy productivity tool I expected. I actually ordered it back in February, when it became available to preorder, and I waffled a bit at the time, so by the time I put my order in I was relegated to the “4th batch” which meant that 30,000+ people had already gotten in line ahead of me. Regardless, I was excited to get my hands on what promised to be a revolutionary device with a cool form factor and a reasonable price, even though it wouldn’t ship for several months.

What I bought was the Rabbit r1, a blindingly bright-orange walkie-talkie crossed with a smartphone (that can't actually make phone calls) about the same size as a pack of Post-its. What I thought I was getting was a cutting-edge, voice-controlled, and most importantly AI-powered device that would make my life easier in countless ways. Instead I got a cutesy hand-held toy camera that takes a long time to answer simple questions that I need to recharge every couple of days (whether I use it or not). And then once a week, usually just as I go to actually use it for something, I have to plug it in and let it download and install a required update that takes so long to run that I end up just using my iPhone instead.

After a couple months of this I came to the realization that what I had bought was less like a productivity tool, and much more like a pet. I mentioned this to my partner one evening after plugging it in to recharge again (after not touching it for a few days): “I just realized that having this thing in my life is like having a cute digital pet that I need to take care of. Every few days I need to feed it by recharging it, and once a week I have to clean its cage by letting it update itself.”

At least the camera produces cute images. Not actual photos mind you, but AI-generated pixel art images inspired by whatever it captures when you happened to press the button in camera mode. The images are fun. But you can’t even see them on the device. You have to log into a janky website to see them. They’re a bit like old film photos that way. I take a picture, then at some point in the future when I remember to check I can see them on my laptop. I don’t even want to log into the site on my iPhone because that seems to contradict the purpose of using the r1 in the first place because it was marketed as a device to use instead of a smartphone.

But as a pet. I do like to look at it, and hold it in my hand. Sometimes I take it around the house with me. Other times I put it in my pocket when I go out for walks. I don’t even know why since it doesn’t work without wifi (and I refuse to buy a SIM card for it). I guess it’s grown on me over time.

Cover image made with Midjourney.