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156 points Sean-Der | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source

Alt link: https://mrchristmas.com/products/santas-magical-telephone

Video demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z7QJxZWFQg

The first time I talked with AI santa and it responded with a joke I was HOOKED. The fun/nonsense doesn't click until you try it yourself. What's even more exciting is you can build it yourself:

libpeer: https://github.com/sepfy/libpeer

pion: https://github.com/pion/webrtc

Then go do all your fun logic in your Pion server. Connect to any Voice AI provider, or roll your own via Open Source. Anything is possible.

If you have questions or hit any roadblocks I would love to help you. I have lots of hardware snippets on my GitHub: https://github.com/sean-der.

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SlackingOff123 ◴[] No.45576701[source]
Moral implications of LLM aside, this is an always-online, subscription-based toy that will eventually turn into a brick (unless the parent is an HN-er). I find it really sad that this kind of toy is sold in stores.
replies(5): >>45579802 #>>45582260 #>>45583768 #>>45587422 #>>45588246 #
1. flippy_flops ◴[] No.45587422[source]
Why?
replies(1): >>45587655 #
2. bigyabai ◴[] No.45587655[source]
This is up there with "Easy-Bake Oven" among plastic doodads that will be used for ~40 minutes and then added to a pile of plastic garbage many adults keep in their basement.

I don't oppose to the open backend of the device (it should be table-stakes for this kinda thing), but the concept seems really zero-sum and disposable. It relies on a form-factor that most kids don't use and depends on the novelty of AI which will wear off pretty fast. As much as I hate to say it, this should have been an app or a website.