AI
4 stories filed under AI on Spoot: Spotted Early. The newest of them: “Spoot tried Samsung, Warby Parker and Gentle Monster glasses so you don't have to”, “Arrowmax puts a tiny camera in your screwdriver so it can ID the bit for you”, and “Apple HomeView has the hardware for apps but only runs CarPlay”. Samsung, Warby Parker, and Gentle Monster all just handed me a pair of smart glasses to try, and I can feel the collective wince from here. Spoot: Spotted Early New things, caught while they're still new and a little weird. Spoot finds fresh gadgets, clever inventions, crowdfunding campaigns,… The list below is every AI story on Spoot: Spotted Early, newest first.
Spoot tried Samsung, Warby Parker and Gentle Monster glasses so you don't have to
Samsung, Warby Parker, and Gentle Monster all just handed me a pair of smart glasses to try, and I can feel the collective wince from here. Meta has owned this weird little resurgence, but it also earned those glasses the "pervert glasses" nickname, which is a hell of a reputation to work around. So it's a strange moment for three new contenders to show up, all running on Google's Android XR platform with Gemini baked in. Some frames lean retro chic. Others channel full *Matrix* Y2K energy. The AI demos are apparently better than expected, which is the kind of narrow detail that makes me want to poke around the spec sheet for the razor clam.
Arrowmax puts a tiny camera in your screwdriver so it can ID the bit for you
There's a tiny camera living inside Arrowmax's new screwdriver, and it's not there for selfies. It stares at the bit you just clicked in, runs the image through some AI, and tells you exactly what you're holding, size, type, everything. No more squinting at worn markings or swapping five bits until one finally doesn't wobble. That trial-and-error phase is gone, which also means fewer stripped screws and less swearing at a repair that should have been simple. Arrowmax is funding the Arrowspace S1 on Kickstarter, they've done this before, so the risk feels manageable, and a standalone driver runs about $79. It's a clever, almost fussy upgrade to a tool nobody thought needed a brain. Then again, nobody thought a lamp needed to poke its nose into a wood stove either, until Oru made one.
Apple HomeView has the hardware for apps but only runs CarPlay
Apple's HomeView has the guts to run apps, a proper chip, always-on power, a screen that begs for widgets, but it only runs CarPlay. That's weird, right? The Vergecast crew is asking the same thing: why build a home hub with real computing muscle and then refuse to let it be its own app platform? It's a deliberately closed door, and the speculation is that Apple wants control over the experience rather than a free-for-all of third-party interfaces. But it raises the obvious question: if your smart display can't run smart home apps natively, what exactly is it for? Our related piece, *"Apple's HomeView is a chimera of nostalgia, and that's exactly the point"*, digs into the design philosophy behind that choice.
Philips' new toothbrush tracks your brushing and costs less than last year's
The new Philips Sonicare DiamondClean 9900 Prestige costs $379.99, which is fifty bucks less than last year's model, and that's before you factor in the added display and tracking smarts. That's a pleasant surprise in a category where "prestige" usually means a price hike. It doesn't floss for you, sure, but it also isn't the $499 Dyson CameraJet, which some early adopters are already grumbling about. We'll take the boringly reliable brush over the one filming your molars, thanks. The rollout starts in Europe and the US now, with a wider global push in 2027, so most of us are waiting a while. If you want a closer look at the camera-toting competition, our piece "We got our hands on Dyson's camera-toting toothbrush, and we have thoughts" is right there. Stay spooty.