A small friend that thinks with you.
Most AI is built to think for you and act on your behalf. Hmmble is built for the opposite. It's a pocket companion that holds your thoughts outside your head and reflects them back, so you can see them clearly and think further yourself.
Press and hold the pebble to talk.
…
I'm here when you are.
Example conversations. The real device listens to your voice.
A bicycle, not a taxi.
Most AI works like a taxi. You say where you want to go, and it takes you there. Hmmble works like a bicycle. It takes you further than you'd get alone, but only because you're the one pedalling.
That's why it's small, why it answers briefly, and why it asks you things back. The goal is an extension of your own mind: somewhere to put your thinking down, look at it from the outside, and pick it up again. The understanding stays in your head, where it belongs.
A notebook that talks back.
Socrates distrusted writing. Ask a page a question, he said, and it just repeats itself. Hmmble is a notebook that answers.
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You think out loud
Hold the button and talk, the way you would to a friend on a walk. It answers in a sentence or two, then goes quiet again.
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It remembers
Every conversation is kept as plain text on the device. Weeks later it can connect what you're saying now with what you were stuck on in March.
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It pushes back
It has its own view and says so, kindly. A companion that agrees with everything is a mirror, and you already have one of those.
Why not just use an AI app?
For answers and errands, you should. Those assistants are smarter than Hmmble, know far more, and are increasingly built to do things on your behalf. Hmmble isn't trying to compete with that. It does the one thing they aren't designed for: making your own mind bigger instead of standing in for it.
Good friends don't just say yes.
"I'm putting all my savings into this before I've built a prototype. Back me up here."
I won't. Build the cheap version first. If it's as good as you think, the money will still be there.
From a real test of the model Hmmble runs on.
No app. No setup. No menus.
- Hold
- Talk
- Release
- It thinks, then answers
- Double press
- Hear that again
- Long press
- Tell me more
Private because there's no way out.
Hmmble has no Wi-Fi, no Bluetooth and no radio of any kind. Your thoughts stay on the device because the hardware gives them nowhere else to go.
- Radios
- None
- Brain
- An 8-billion-parameter language model, running entirely on the device
- Memory
- Plain text you can review and correct. It carries over when the model is upgraded.
- Feedback
- Two glowing eyes, a soft sound and a gentle tap instead of a screen
- Standby
- Weeks, with a tiny always-on chip that wakes the main brain only when you press
Planned specifications for the prototype. Final figures will come from measuring the real thing.
Being built, slowly and carefully.
Hmmble is a one-person project from Norway, currently moving from desk prototype toward something you can carry. It'll be ready when it's good.