Pipped to the post.
The thing that finally tipped me off wasa review in the Verge of the new AI pin from Humane.
The idea is so brilliant and zany - a computer that you snap onto your clothes or your face!
- that I dearly want it to work.
And I suspect it will one day.
My hearing aid is a life-changer, and I barely know I’m wearing it anymore.
Again, it changes everything for them.
They’re cheap, they’re almost invisible, and they do what they’re meant to.
I’ve played theFallout gamesa bit and the Pip-Boy is actually sort of useful in the game.
Amongst other things, it’s the menu system.
But I now realise it’s more than useful, it’s richly thematic.
The USGamer article also addresses some of the more thematic intentions at work.
“The Pip-Boy’s bulkiness also served a secondary purpose,” it says.
“It’s symbolic of an irreparable world torn apart by war and conflict.
“Whereas if you had sleek technology, it will feel very functional, or to be without problems.
And this is something you see very clearly in the Fallout TV series.
Pip-Boys add an instant feeling of comedy - or is it social horror?
- to every scene in which they appear.
And it’s far from a benign presence.
Again, I think this stuff will work one day.
(Yes, part of me does want an ear trumpet.)
But it is a reminder of how sharp Fallout’s designers have been with the Pip-Boy over the years.
