Why Smartphones Remain Number One

Hello and welcome to the Birgcast F flagship podcast of S single Day Battery life. I'm your friend David Peerce, and today on the show, we're talking about AI gadgets. Not really any particular AI gadget, but really the shapes and sizes of AI gadgets. We have a lot of different products out there all attempting to be the next idea about the kind of gadget that you might have Maybe it's a necklace that you wear, Maybe it's a pin. Maybe it's a thing that goes in your pocket that isn't your phone but looks kind of like your phone So what we're going to do in the show is we're gonna to put all of those in a pot And we're going to rank them to see what is the best idea about AI gadgets, notot the best AI gadget The best idea about AI gadgets But first, here's everything else happening on the verge today This is ninety seconds onn the verge for Monday, july thirteenth, twenty twenty six. Apple's public beta has just dropped, which means you can now go test all of the various OS twenty seven s for your many Apple devices. Public betas are usually stable enough to not, you completely destroy your device, but they are still betas, so proceed with caution until things actually ship this fall. But more than most years, I would give it a whirl Siri AI is a huge improvement and I like a bunch of the changes to liquid glass and all of the other UI stuff too. And maybe most importantly, they fixed the corner radii on the Mac. Our long national nightmare is finally over Meanwhile, it's been a complicated few days at OpenAI. First, the CEO of App's Figgie Simo left the company for health reasons, and then Apple sued OpenAI over what it called, quote, a pattern of theft of Apple's trade secrets by O openenAI employees who were formerly at Apple Yes The case names IO, which is Johnny I's hardare startu that OpenI bought and a couple of OpAI executives. Apparently, more than four hundred ex Apple people now work at OpenAI, and Apple's allegation is that OpenAI basically built a system for those people to bring confidential information with some This is a big accusation and presumably just the beginning of a very long legal process But these companies were very close. Chat GPT was part of Siri. It's now very hard to imagine that happening And finally, the Virg' Victoria Song reviewed the new Aura Ring five and it's good, but it's complicated. The ring is good, it's smaller, big deal, it has the same sensors, but it still requires a subscription, It's still expensive, and you can get all the features on the old one Really just depends on how that ring feels on your finger. You can read more about all this at the Vverge dot com dot That is ninety seconds from the Verge for Monday, july thirteenth. This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome, that's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, likeike restoring a vintage motorcycle from a fifty page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online makes sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responssees set upp required compatibility and availability varies eighteen plus This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, using automation, analytics, and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most Learn more at Acenture d. com slash sppotify Let's talk AI gadgets. Joining me now, my rank friends. I think of you as my rank friends. The verge is Allison Johnson. Hi Allison. Hello and the versges V song, H V. Hi We're here to get yell out by the interternet again. This is what we do from time to time. We put things in order and then everyone gets mad at us about the order in which we put those things Listen, the iPad does not f lot I'm glad that Allison is leading the charge because I ask some heat for starting that that take and You're welcome to take that heat, Alison. I still get emails about this and I still feel incredibly vindicated by the audience response to where the iPad belongs in the Apple rankings But what we're going to do today is we're going to rank AI gadgets. And I don't mean specific individual gadgets because by and large, most of them are not very good But I think what has happened is that we've seen kind of a full run of a bunch of ideas about what shape an AI gadget might take. Like what is the main thing through which you are going to interface with some AI tool or another And so we've seen a bunch of shapes. And essentially what I want tona do is I want to rank shapes today. Here are the eight that we're going to do in no particular order. We're going to rank these from one to eight I have pendants, which are you know, thing on a string that you wear around your neck Um I have pins which I define relatively broadly as just like a thing you stick somewhere on your body, right? The human AI pin is the most common example, but You could you could put it anywhere It is a thing you stick on too you in some way U glasses, Obviously, rectangles, specifically like the Rabbit R one is probably the best known rectangle, but is it is a thing that is sort of the shape of a phone, but is very deliberately not a smartphone. It is not intended to replace your smartphone. It does not do lots of things that smartphones do But it is fundamentally a rectangle with a screen on it and We have headphones We have rings We have smartphones And we have watches Those are the eight I don't think I've missed any. And I think I think pIins we can define a little more broadly to include a couple of other like wacky wearable types that we've seen out there, but I think this is actually pretty much the run of the whole series of AI gadgets that we've seen so far So let's start at the bottom, as we always do. I found the bottom of this list much easier to make than the top of this list, which I thought was very interesting. Allison, you go first. what did you have number eight on the list? Um, I'm gonna Go with pin. I just I can't get behind a pin. You know, it's it's a vibe. like I don't think I'm ever going to be a pin person Like I don't wear brooches U it just feels like the amount of stuff you have to put into it, like a battery and like a wireless antenna and a camera,'s so heavy. And I think the humane AI pin proved out that none of that works So I'm going with pin. It does feel like arguably in a weird way out of all of these the most ostentatious thing you could do is like just stick something right over, you know, right right where you would put a name tag and just declare to the world that I am recording you from my chest. like It's a it's a tough sell Yeah. D you have this here too It's in the bottom for sure. Like the if we're talking like a humane AI pin pin, oh yeah, super, super throw that down there. That's a bottom as AI gadget But if you're talking about something more like the plot pin which is a much more sleek device, that's a pin or if we're talking about like the B tracker, which could be worn as a pin, it's a lot less intusive and it's not like doing something that it's pretty discreet You're not wearing it all the time and it's kind of useful, but Yeah. I mean it's not a I could see it being eight just because it's not a particularly useful You know clothing item, It's easy to lose. You're one hundred percent gonna to stick it in the wash by accident Brooches are making a comeback at Fashion Week and on the red carpet But I think the average person, a brooch is not an everyday. you're gonna wear this a lot of the time. Doesn't really go with my like athleisure, you know, leggings everyday kind of look. It's also just a lot of work Right? Like I think the thing that I'm coming around to V, even for the stuff that you just described is like I actually don't want to maintain an accessory ecosystem for a device like this. And I think way back to, do you remember that phase where Fitbit was trying to be the sort of innocuous thing that you're describing and they made all these different cases and you could clip it and you could put it lots of different places. And it turns out actually what people want to do is put it on and never ever ever think about it again. Yeah. To me, I think pINs even in the best case violate the I just want this thing to be simple and kind of out of my way most of the time. by the fact that they're right here on you all of the time Yeah they're on you and it's like if you put it on outerwear and you take your jacket off, like It's just a logistical nightmare, if you think about it. Yeah. That said, I didn't have this last. I had pendants last because I think I think AI necklaces are just a bad idea and everybody should stop doing it now. Um, like I just don't, I don't get it. Like you look at the friends of the world and the Omies and all of these other things, lots of people have had this idea of What if you wear this giant blocky necklace around your neck that just dangles in front of you and records your meetings. And like, A never going to happen in a business context B Looks. bad just like straightforwardly bad and C, I think is actually a way more limiting form factor than a lot of the stuff that even a pin can do So it's like these these are the two that I think are clearly the bottom two to me and Ppeendant is worse because it is actually like it can do less stuff just because it it's a weird thing around your neck. It also depends on the look. So I think a lot of the AI pendants have that have come out are not designed by people who are very fashionable or stylish. Sure. So I actually hosted a wearable panel recently and I saw an AI pendant that just looked like a piece of jewelry. and like a very nice piece of jewelry. and that I was like, o. that's interesting. Yeah. T turns out if you have women Think about jewelry sometimes on your design team. You might get something that doesn't look like an airtag that glows and is stuck on a shoelace. we've done this a million times, right? Remember when all the watchmakers were making Android wear watches and it turns out that actually if you buy a really expensive necklace, you'd rather not have to upgrade the firmwar in three months. L Yes. I these ideas seem like they are compatible. and I feel like over and over and over, the tech industry discovers that actually fashion and technology do not want to be the same thing. It's just very hard because when you're making something at scale and you have to account for everyone's different fashion senses. like a lot andll get we'll get into it when we talk about glasses, you end up cwing to the most versatile AKA bland and boring design that you can to fit the most amount of people. So like style is very personalized and you know, a necklace that Like there is a world where I think a peendant would make sense, but You know, the pin, the humane pin would just like weigh down that guy's shirt every single time he wore it. And I was just like, oh my God, that's ridiculous . Like I have a pendant right now and it's very small and it's very tiny and I don't think about it and it's light and it's easy. You're never going to get a device to look like that. It's always going to be kind of a statement piece And it's always going to be a niche. I think I'm going to agree and say pendant is last over a pin being last because at least with the pin You could have a reason to wear it and it could be unobattrusive and easy to remove or whatnot. But like a pendant, if the style isn't something that you like or isn't something that's going to go with the outfit You're just not going to wear it. It's such it's an even bigger niche than a pin would be Are these the two that you had as the bottom two, V also? Did we all have these as the bottom two? I did. I did have these two. Okay as my bottom two Right. So I think in that case We're close enough. We'll just let majority rule here. We'll go pend and eight Pin seven U I had no trouble making that decision that be aboutom too U V, you go next. What did you have number six had rectangle at number six. just because like They don't do much and it's another gadget that you have to carry that's at least somewhat sizable in your' Like I think about this like little fanny packs that I carry around when I'm just running about and doing stuff. I can fit a phone in there. I can fit a pair of headphones in there easily and then Wherearables in general tend to be pretty small or things you wear, so it's not taking up space in a little bag I have to carry. A rectangle takes up space. And my phone is the main rectangle in my life and it does a lot of stuff. Yeah. So it feels like a little bit of a luxury and I would put Kindles in there too. L I love my Kindle and whatnot. but a lot of times if I'm having to go out, I'll just use the Kindle app on my phone progress on and like, you know, I'm not carrying a big bag. I will just be like, Ohh, you are a secondary device. You're a device that if I'm gonna to be on a plane or having a work bag with me, you're not coming in my a light and easy travel, tiny little fanny pack. I'm just going about and living my best life on the go bag So just from like a usage standpoint, am I going to carry this with me everywhere standpoint? I was like rectangle is the least functional to me. Yeah There's really one rectangle. Yeah. ye. And it spoken for. Yeah. it's spoken for. We can't have any more rectangles in the little fanny packs I agree with this. I put rectangle here and it's like I like the idea of a second gadget that you can use. like when the Rabbit R one came out, we were all dazzled by, you know the gadgetiness of it. It just wasn't very useful, which was a real bummer I like I could see this moving up the ranks if it got more useful, if there was like U if it could be the voice recorder that I bring to a meeting and it has the advantage of like it's not stuck on your person. U so I can see it be a little more you know, almost like socially acceptable to be like, I'm going to use this for X, Y, Z purpose and then put it away U, but that depends on it being useful I also had rectangle here, but the only case I had for rectangle is exactly what you just said that I actually think There are real upsides to a thing that is not your phone We encounter this all the time at work, right? Like it is different to be in a meeting and put a voice recorder down on the table than it is to put your phone down on the table recording a voice memo. L it's just a different thing because the first thing is your phone. and There's also like every time you get a phone call, the voice memo stops and everything falls apart. L There's just a lot of baggage that comes with your phone. and I both mean like literal and emotional baggage that comes with your phone that it is really nice to have a subset of things that I can do that are not with my phone And so I can sort of close my eyes and imagine a world in which peopleeople feel the same way about AI devices that they feel about like digital cameras, where it's nice to have a thing for this purpose. But I agree with you that we certainly have not seen anything that clears that bar. Yes. So I'm not I'm not like ruling out rectangle forever. Yeah, But Allison, you've been bearish on this for like two years now, and I think history is proving you much more right than it's proving me so far. I think it is We're can't stick it in a pocket Women's pockets very small This is Listen, I do appreciate the number of episodes of the Virgecast that come back to litigating the number and size of women's pockets. And I think that is the correct thing for us to harp on. Like if webers can just solve women's pockets, we will have done society a great service. I really' Support for this show comes from Keper Security Your data is everything, and it's on you to protect it Luckily, there's keeper security Keeeper is a password manager that creates strong, unique passwords for all your accounts, stores them securely in one place, and logs you in automatically across all your devices. So you never have to remember, guess or worry about your logggin credentials again What people really notice is how simple it feels. 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Bobby and Connie are official.. We were just warming each other up. Oh good God. Wh's hit Animated series is back for a brand new season of big changes. Our communication skills could be a little better. Peggy, it's against Glf etiquette. What does golf etiquet say about jamming this club into your mouth Frowned upon The new season of the Hulu Original King of the Hill, premiing july twentieth on Hulu and Hulu on Disney pllus for bundle subscribers. Terms apply Is Kamala Harris running for president again Listen, I might I m. But does anybody want that Yeah. Yeah I. Well, I don't see why not. Absolutely. I think Kamala Harris should run for president again. I don't think there'll never be a woman president in the United States. Now why walk away? you can't just walk away on that. Tell us why. I know it's still early to talk about twenty twenty eight, but as we build to our post Trump future, it seems to be a big question about the Democratic Party. Kamala Harris leads all of the presidential polling Does this mean that the person who let the ticket in twenty twenty four is going to lead the party again in twenty twenty eight Campaign needs to be called bye bye Bye. It's just a tainted brand Do you think from a donor community largely that there's any appetite for a Harris return? 't I'm Estad Herarnon, and this is America Actually. Catch us every Saturday on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast So Pendant pin rectangle. It's the bottom three I think that's about right This actually now kind of immediately starts to get complicated for me. Alison, what did you have at number five Yeah, this is tricky. I think I think I put ring at five because in I cave this because the rings are very popular. like I was just traveling with my family and like everywhere across this country, people are like wearing their aura rings. But again, this is AI gadget. This is not we're not doing a wellness debate here. This is as an AI gadget. Yeah. so I think the it's just so limited. I think and V, can you can correct me on the state of the art rings How much of a battery can you fit into that thing? and like The most compelling one was when you had where you like and talk to it Um, But then is that is that even an AI gadget? It's like an AI transcription gadget. So I actually think it's much better than the pins and the pends because I was like, I am God with this ring. I am journalism, interview, recording God because like Not only could I take notes at I went to the Ehanced games and I had this voci ring on and I was like taking notes while I was at the event being like This is strange. Not for later. And it's very discreet, It's great. And there was like a little button on it that I could press and it would highlight parts of the transcript so that when I would go back to the transcript, I could pull the quotes out much more easily because the thing I hate most is going back to a transcript and just reading back all the us and uhs I've said and my stupid questions having to face that while like picking out the good quotes. So that just made it really easy. It was super convenient. and other journalists noticed I was doing it and they were like, o my God, what is that product? And they were taking pictures and they wanted it. That was actually pretty cool But again, the limitations there, as you mentioned are going to be one, your ring size If you're swelling in the summer and battery because I got maybe like two or three hour long interviews before I had to stick it back into a case. And then I would also forget to charge it because it would just be on my finger as a ring Some people are not super into rings as a form factor. You also just describe the entire use case. L there is no other ceiling past what you just said as what you can do on your smart ring, right? And I think to a large extent, that's fine, right? Like the I am perpetually fascinated by the Pbble index. which is basically just a little ring with a button that you bring up to your mouth like a spy and you say like remember to call Allison on Monday. And it just dumps a thing into reminders that reminds you to call Allison on Monday. That is better than digging out my phone to do it. It's innocuous, it's simple. like As a Pure form factor I really love the ring. actuallyctually, I have the ring higher here. I had the ring at three in part just because If all I'm doing is talking to something, this of like having my hand up to my mouth is about as natural an AI interaction as you're going to find anywhere just there's nothing else you can do with these things. And like we're not getting cameras into rings. We're not getting speakers into rings. We're not getting screens into rings. There's just there's no ceiling on it And so for a certain kind of AI gadget, I'm like very into these But as a sort of overall form factor, this is, I think, pretty clearly not It's just battery life and processing power, right? Be there's always like this issue. some people are doing interesting things where they're having the case be how you upload and kind of like as like a little hub to help with battery life as well as You know, just like the the fact that it's now it's rectangle. Now it's rectangle. Yeah, exactly.'s rectanglease case fits in woman's pocket. No, I'm sorry' my ring If I have to bring a charging case for my ring For it to work, it's eight on this list. Im like absolutely not. because doesnt too many devices. You don't have to. It's for when you're charging at home that it can also help with the processing and the uploading. You don't have to bring. Sure. Okay. That's different. I also had the ring higher, but also just because there are some if you could fix the battery issue, which is a pretty challenging engineering issue You can like kind of do some two in one interestingness there. like the Evan Reality's G two glasses has a smart ring that you Not only does it track fitness and whatnot, but you use it as a gesture control to control your classes So that's like an interesting use case. Did it work well really. but when it did work, It's an idea. It's an idea. I had it at four was where I had it. Okay. what did you have at five Be? I had glasses at five. Wow Do you make the case Well, glasses are just different right now in their most useful form. they are really great. headphon for when you don't want to get run over by your local range roover from the suburban mom with Road rage. You have brought up that exact example so many times on the show Be it keeps happening to me. What happened? We just need to tell this story? There is this one woman in my neighborhood in this Range rover And she is aggressive. And you know in suburban America, sidewalks are sometimes there and they're sometimes not So it became when I moved to New Jersey from New York, New York, you always have sidewalks. This is not an issue But here I was like, oh, no, I really need the open ear headphones when I'm going on my runs and my walks because otherwise this woman is gonna to pancake me. It was a close call a couple of times. So yeah They're great as open ear headphones The AI is . Yeah, notot that great a lot of the times. if they have a display That That stuff hurts my eyes a lot and you look kind of goofy doing it. But really really the issue is not only is the battery life not great enough on most of these for all day wear You're risking getting punched in the face by someone who thinks you're a psy op You know, N ideal. Not ideal. And then if you're someone like me, I'm wearing a pair of myar glasses right now that happen to accommodate my really garbage prescription, loveove that for me. neegative ten in the side, negative eight point seven five in the other Like, that's great, but that's not the case for a lot of people, just in terms of your face fit The fact that you can't replace the batteries on this. Eone's like face size is different. Everyone's nose bridge is different and everyone's vision is also different. There's so many obstacles into making a nice looking pair of glasses that fits everyone that has battery life that lasts a long time Like I am increasingly skeptical that this is the AI gadget of the moment, even though, you know, let's be real, the executives at Meta really, really, really are hammering that home And big tech can't get over glasses. It's just it's such a challenging thing to get right and the societal Clash against it has me putting it here because to sell it You really have to litigate the camera And right now that that conversation is not going well for Big Lack. if you look online at least so yeah. But can I defend flipping ring and glasses here? Be I feel like I a hundred percent agree with all this stuff about glasses and like getting punched in the face but there're anti getting punched in the face to don't love being on the show. We are anti punching or being punched in the face. Yeah, we're just looking out. But the ring, the ring feels like an input device for something else that's doing the AI. And it feels like I don't I don't see how it could do more than that. in the glasses like could and kind of are like able to do a little more with the AI and like having the display and you can talk to the AI assistant. Maybe it's not much more than like, you know relaying to the A on your phone, which is actually the ultimate AI device spoiler alert. Don't ruin it. But I don't know Do do I have this wrong? L No, I think you're right, but I think I actually think you're you're both actually sort of aligned in a funny way, which is the great challenge of these devices, right? which is that They are so by default outward facing that they can do a lot of new exciting different things. They are going to have lots more power than lots of other kinds of devices with every single increase in functionality All of the social mess is going to get harder and all of the like All of the battery life issues are going get worse. and all like every bit of functionality you add into a pair of glasses makes all of the other things about them. worse And so I think This is the thing, I struggled with this one more than any other because I actually think you could make a case that glasses could be as high as like number one on the list in terms of like raw potential for AI utility M for me, I'm struck by like going through these, I found myself downranking all of the ones that are sort of fundamentally pointing at other people all the time and upranking the ones that are sort of fundamentally private And I think The glasses to me are like the most other people facing ones in the sense that they are like the most noticeable version of the thing So like even though pins and pends are pointing at other people, like They're called glass holes. You know what I mean? It' like is this is just the thing that we're doing because it is eye level. It is how we look at each other. And I think That is just such a hurdle to overcome pulled it down on the list. Even though all the utility stuff, you're absolutely right. I mean, V has tested a bunch of these things. like they can do more than all these other devices. and it's not like that's also why I put it at five because it was actually fairly easy for me to do six hundred seven eight. and then I was like, e glasses goes down there. And not because I'm a hater and not because I think that They' not some of the most useful AI gadgets that we have at the moment for certain communities. They're extremely useful. It's just the challenges with glasses, I think are higher than any other gadget on this list for so many different reasons. L in its simplest form, glasses are a medical device They are a medical device. I need them to see When you get like conversations about like Philadelphia courts banning smart glasses, what happens if you show up for jury duty and they're like, well, actually, your glasses, they have a smart recording capability. you're going to have to put it with your Kindle and not have it. Well, you're boned. That's really bad. And so then do I have to carry backup? Glasses in theseese are actual thoughts that I've had as I wear these and as I put them out into go out into the world with these smart glasses. So there are different utilities and functions that you can have with the glasses that I think are really great. There are glasses that are double as hearing aids. There are glasses that help blind people, there are you a lot of cool things it can do It's just the camera. It's really litigating the camera for them to reach Maximum potential, they must have a camera. You must have the multim modal AI and I just don't think. think that society is having an easy time grappling with. So until I'm shown otherwise the hurdles for glasses are the highest of any gadget on this list I think I agree. Okay. so I think in the interest of moving on I think and I are going to overrule you here, Alison. Did you have glasses like way higher No, I'm fine with this. I can look at it. And I think ring we're going to leave it four because we had it at three, four and five, so we'll just stick it right in the middle on which brings us so so far Just to recap, we have pendant at eight Pin at seven, rectangle at six. Glasses at five, ring at four I think five and four we could we could sit here and flip back and forth all day, but we can just leave them where they are for right now This brings us to our top three Allison, what did you have at three This is tough, but I put headphones at three. So did I. Okay. Yeah. tellell me why. It feels like there is a lot of potential. as a means of like talking to the AI that's on your phone or whatever, getting the the input and you know language translation s it's very socially acceptable to be wearing earPods all the time. But I think the the societal, you know, permission to be like talking with ir like airPods in, I hate it. I feel like a jerk, you know, whenever I go, I'm like I will always take them out. even if I have that like the pass through mode on where it's like going to dim the, you know, make the music quieter. yeah, I feel like you look like a jerk when you talk to people with airPods in and that would have to change before I would rank them. And I feel like I feel like that fight is lost. I don't think By and large, people agree with you anymore. No really? Yeah O not younger people. I still have that same problem, but I see G Z people all the time just. Oh no. I'm an old One of the things that I find the wildest is seeing like walking along holding hands both wearing headphones. People don this is just like what on earth are we doing here? That's sucks. I mean, I agree with you, but I think to me, it's like the coffee shop question is a good one, right? Like what do you do when you walk into the coffee shop to talk to the person at the counter? Um I think at at most society is it take one of your airPods out. And I think a lot of people I know for sure a lot of people just roll in headphones on and talk to the person at the counter Oh goh, whichich is I think a case for why headphones belongs high on this list because that sort of ubiquity in society suggests that you can wear them all the time without people looking at you twice Oh yees which is also why I had them here. Like I think I still remember how exciting it was when the Hay series stuff started working. and I could talk I could set reminders on my phone through my AirPods with my phone in my pocket. And just like that little thing was such a nice little quality of life improvement in using my phone I feel the same way about all of these AI features. likeike just put voice mode into my headphones and I'm good to go for a huge number of things. David, do you take your AirPods out to go order your breakfast sandwich I Either take both out or I take one out like very demonstrably in front of them. Do you know what I mean? Okay where it's like I do the I do the I am listening to you now Jes. I would never just walk up with one in that they that they didn't see. because then and then it's like, I want it to be clear that I amm listening to you. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. But I see people all the time. I saw somebody the other day with like giant sony noise canceling cans No Clearly playing something, essentially walk up to the counter and like yell at the person what that they wanted to bake and egg and cheese. And I just wanted to walk up and just be like, Budy, you can can just take these off. like everybody will be everybody will be insanity V, did you have headphundes here too I had them higher. I had them at two. Really? Okay, what did you have three I had watch at three. Ohsh that's just because Okaykay justust because u It's not a natural thing to just yell at my watch. I've used Gemini on the wrist. I've used Siri on the wrist It's just more natural to use my headphones to do that. like I don't think it's as weird and all the things that I like about using AI and glasses can also be done with a lot of it can be done with headphones. So like the audio element of it just it's simpler. You don't have to litigate the stuff with the camera for most people, although some people Razor Cough cough Project Motoko are trying to stick cameras in over your headphones and do that Dont do J justust don't do that. Don't be that person. person, but yeah, I have yet to see AI integrated into the watch itself in a way that I think is really great. I think the the potential there could be like a health coach situation where you are looking at stuff or I'm curious whenever it is that they roll out Siri for the Apple Watch, the new Siri for the Apple Watch, how it integrates with the phone in terms of like att least you'll be able to see and read a little bit more and like kind of go back and forth. I'm curious. I think the potential is high there Battery life is better than these like pins and pendants marginally I think the potential is big, but if we're talking about like what is useful now as an AI gadget, I think headphones are a little bit more easy to do. The one argument I would have maybe if you wanted to put watch higher is that it's It portable rectangle. It's an actually portable rectangle that takes up no pocket space. and if you were to do translations, you could do it by the rest. It It is like Yeah I think of all these devices, headphones and watches are the ultimate companion for your phone. Together all three is like a pretty great AI gadget ecosystem But I do think headphones is just a bit more natural than a watch for for Oh, hello, Pete. You've joined the Rking squad Pety is with me on watches, I can tell Pety is a number one AI gadget killer. That I believe. So this suggests also that both of you had smartphone at number one. Yeah. Yes Yeah. W that was that a complicated decision for either of you to make? No. No. one and like seven and eight were like super easy You're both wrong The answer is watch. No So my my top three where Watch smartphones, headphones in that order. U V you just made a really good case for headphones except that I think a thing we just fundamentally disagree on is I think This motion of like bringing my wrist up to talk to it is actually very natural in a way that I still find just like shouting to nothing. with my airPods on to be weird. Yeah. same. I actually sort of like the idea of talking to a thing. Yeah. It signals to everyone around you, like I'm doing a thing rather than just like, they don't have to wonder like, are you talking to someone or Exactly. And I think there is something to The fact that there's a lot of watch stuff that is still two handed in a way that is not ideal But especially as you get to more voice control and more of this stuff like This this sort of just bring your wrist up Look at it and talk to it, gesture I love like it is I wore an Apple Watch for so many years for no other reason than to set timers and reminders with my watch which is like an insane thing to spend all of that money on, but it really, really was what I used it for and So to me, it's like the upside of a watch over a phone is I don't have to take it out of my pocket It doesn't come with, like we talked about all the baggage of the phone. It doesn't kill my phone's battery, which is kind of important But it is actually this extremely accessible thing. The downside is, I think a lot of people are going to try to put cameras in watches and I think that is going to go universally terribly and that no one should try that. And that fundamentally a lot of what we need is a camera to do some of the stuff that we want. So like Phone is eventually going to win on just like raw utility. I think there's no question about that But to me, there's just something about I was just thinking about it and I'm like, What is the thing if I had all of these in front of me, what would I naturally gravitate to? And I think for me, it's the watch Wh I get that that's just me? I like, I think it's the I still have it at number two, but I think it's the strongest of the AI gadgets here Um because like you can have that cellular connectivity in it. Like we've solved that. It's So slow. It's so slow to get the answers Exactly. Exactly. why phone is number one because The watch works best if it's the thing you have on you and you have your phone with you. and then it all comes together That is a very fair point. I cannot argue at that point Yeah, like we solved all these problems so long ago. like the battery we can cool them down, you know, the cellular connectivity. you're not going to find a better like cellular modem for your headphones than a than a phone It just it just won. it won ages ago. That's also I got Everyone expects a camera to be in a phone, right? You're not going have this problem that glasses are running into. and like that you put cameras on a watch I'm going to write a four thousand word screed on the Vverge. com about why that's a stupid idea. Like I don't put cameras on your fricaking watch. What Do you want to have the nostril shot at all times with your camera watch? was There was a band that put a camera in the watch band at one point ust nostril socks all day. noody wants that. I have a toddler to take pictures of my nostrils with my phone. He does that very well on his own Okay So I think I think where we're going to land here is that We all have the top three just in slightly different orders, but it seems like a consensus that will work for all of us is we'll put phone number one. That's okay. It's wrong, but it's okay. And then I think How do we feel about watch at two and headphones at three versus headphones at two and watch at three? Do either of you want to make a really impassioned case for one of them to be ahead of the other In my gut, I think headphones is too just because the utility of the AI is immediately there, but versus like judging on a watch's potential to be a really great AI gadget. I think there are a lot of people who would tell you The Apple Watch is the best Siri gadget that currently exists. Yeah Okay, screen, it's the screen because I can see what it thinks I'm saying. in the headphones, I just have to like to God. and then like based on the reaction I get back. Can I just say this is a random tangent, by the way, but I've been using the developer beta of IOS twenty seven And there's a thing that Siri does now, which is ask if it doesn't quite hear you correctly, it will ask, Did you say this or this?? And It is so much better, but it drives me so crazy every time where I'm just like, every time I'm like, how did you not hear me? Like I said Vverge cast, not verge smash. Like of what are you what are we doing? And then I'm like, oh, but the last time it would have just gotten it. For the last fifteen years, it would have just gotten it wrong and moved on So like I I guess we have made pro. It's an improvement. Yeah. ye. I'm okay, like this is weird, but I'm okay with the watch being at two. It feels weird being the wearable lady being like, I'm okay with the watch being at two, but I am okay with it. Okay.. I think I think this is the right place to land So that means in order our ranking is Sone W headphones ring Glasses rectangle Pen and pendant That feels right to me. There's nothing here that feels like a million miles away from where it's supposed to be Yeah, nailed it. And phone still wins. phone win. Boy it's going gonna be a bummer for a lot of companies out there that phone still wins the rankings