Brilliant Weekend Edition

e-Ink AR glasses; flame-throwing robot dogs; ex simulators, brilliantly good ideas and more!

Jun 25, 2023

Finally: e-ink virtual reality!

The Sol Reader is an e-ink VR headset for reading books. Built by a company called Sol, the idea is to block all distractions so that you can’t see anything but the words. A wireless remote turns the pages. The Sol Reader has a battery life of 25 hours, and it costs one-tenth the price of Apple’s Vision Pro: $350.

This robot dog carries a flame-thrower, for some reason

Thermonator is probably the first and hopefully the last flamethrower-wielding robot dog. It walks like a dog, but brandishes an ARC Flamethrower to “deliver on-demand fire anywhere”! What could go wrong? (This is a real product that ships in Q3, 2023.)

Now you can talk to a chatbot trained to chat like your ex

Did your partner dump you because you enjoy creepy and pathetic applications of artificial intelligence? If so, this product’s for you. Called Talk To Your Ex, the cloud app lets you train AI on the history of text messages sent to you by your former significant other. It then learns your ex’s particular tone of irritation and disgust, then interacts with you in that style, so you can continue your toxic relationship without making another person suffer.

Mike’s List of Brilliantly Good Ideas

Uncrop may be the most stunning AI thing I’ve ever seen. This free website lets you upload a picture, then expand beyond the photo. AI will fill in the edges with shocking believability. You have to try this.
Montaigne is a website that turns an Apple Notes document into a website, blog or portfolio.

Mike’s List of Shameless Self Promotions

No, digital nomads aren’t pricing locals out of their homes
How do some companies get compromised again and again?
Merging DevOps and SecOps is a great idea: Get started now!
Read ELGAN.COM for more!

Mike’s Location: Provence, France

(Why Mike is always traveling.)