Apple unveiled some speedy new Macs this week. But many of us were distracted by current events. Note to Tim Cook and other leaders: you won’t be selling many computers during a general strike. Or a civil war. Speak out.
The Plain View
A lot of people have asked Phil Libin why the name for his new product is so ridiculous. So much so that he’s made up a list of five fake facts to explain why he burdened his innovative virtual conferencing enhancement with a name like Mmhmm. (First fake fact: He likes palindromes. Second: It saves money on vowels.) The real reason, he admits, is that it’s part of a design philosophy based on drawing attention. “So maybe it’s a great name, maybe it’s a terrible name,” says Libin, whose previous startup, Evernote, had a more conventional moniker. “Actually, it’s probably a little bit of both, but is definitely not a boring name.”
Name aside, it’s not a boring product. Mmhmm (even my spell checker hates the name!) is a wonderful enhancement to the dull video meeting products that we’ve been chained to since the Working From Home era began in March. “Eight months ago, what percentage of every school, club, or company had to do important stuff over video?” he says “Less than 1 percent! But now and in the future, close to 100 percent of every organization is going to have to do something on a regular basis over video.”
Libin’s solution is to transform the computer camera into a virtual television studio. It runs on top of Zoom, Google Meetings, and other video conferencing apps. Instead of giving presentations by turning your screen over to your PowerPoint deck, Mmhmm puts you at a virtual anchor’s desk, with the slides over your shoulder, like Saturday Night Live or Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Or you can put your slides in the background with your video image in the foreground, like a weather person in front of a green screen. When we watch television, we see actors and athletes and musicians use pro tools to great effect. “We can give those same superpowers to everyone else, who doesn’t have a production team and an editing studio,” says Libin.
This came at a timely moment for me, as I had committed to doing a series of talks organized by the JBC (Jewish Book Council) Network, which sends authors to community centers across the country. Or used to—in the Covid era, the talks are virtual. Seeking to avoid the ordeal of lecturing to my screen for 30 minutes, I tried a beta version of Libin’s whaddyacallit and had fun with colorful backgrounds, over-the-shoulder slides that aspired to Daily Show wit, and a green screen trick that let me continue my talk in the fourth square of the recent Brady Bunch–style congressional testimony feed of Zuckerberg, Pichai, and Bezos. I knew I’d won when the rabbi hosting the event asked where he could get a copy of that software. (Starting this week, anyone can get it—it’s out of beta and costs $10 a month or $100 a year, or you can use a limited free version. Students and educators get the full version, no charge.)
Libin’s vision goes beyond video meetings. Long a believer in augmented reality, he sees the altered state that we present ourselves in with Mmhmm as a way to alter our personae. The first step is something he calls Big Hands—the software recognizes when you move your real digits to signal, say, thumbs up for approval or a peace sign—and displays a cartoonish giant hand like the foam “We’re number one!” extremities worn by college football fans. But you can envision other, maybe edgier, ways for Mmhmm to alter reality, like using filters to make people look younger or more hirsute when they present. Libin thinks we’ll get hooked on this. “Once we all emerge from our basements, blinking into the sun, we’re not going to want to give up the augmented experiences, because they’re better,” he says.
In other words, what at first glance appears to be a cool Covid hack is really a harbinger of a new era, where the crazy reality we see in digitally enhanced movies is about to affect our everyday perceptions. Libin is keeping a close watch on the next major class of computer hardware: augmented reality eyeglasses that will pluck tricky stuff like Mmhmm off the desktop and into the world at large. When these devices find their way in front of our faces, he’ll be among the pioneers with a software product to run on them.
I hope he gives that product a better name.
Time Travel
Whether it’s print or video production, the story of digital technology is largely providing pro capabilities to the masses. In my history of the Macintosh, Insanely Great, I wrote about how the Mac gave rise to what was called “desktop publishing,” which is now just called “publishing”:
Paul Brainerd had once been a newspaper editor, but more recently had been an executive for Atex, the company that made terminals for newspapers and magazines that had “gone computer.” He prided himself on being familiar with both editorial and technological aspects of publishing. He saw the field itself as a crossroads. The wave of the future seemed to be high-end machines designed to produce and lay out display ads for newspapers. “You would install eight of these at around fifty or sixty thousand dollars per workstation,” Brainerd later recalled. “They were designed for expert use only—there was a minimum thirty-day training course. They were not very intuitive.” Brainerd knew enough about technology to realize something the bigger companies did not—that all the benefits offered by those expensive workstations soon could be provided by low-cost personal computers. Brainerd began thinking about how a software application could duplicate the work of those deluxe machines—and more. “The concept required getting a number of things right,” he said. “Lowering the cost, yes, but also lowering the barriers that made them hard to use.”
Ask Me One Thing
Regina asks, “Can Trump preemptively pardon his family prior to leaving office, although they have not yet been convicted of a crime?”
Regina, I am flattered. You certainly are aware that I am neither a lawyer nor a historian. But I do offer readers an opportunity to ask me anything, and you have seized the moment to slip this in, trusting that I will verve out of my professional lane and answer this question. And I will! Yes, Regina, Trump can issue pardons for crimes not yet cited but already committed. That includes his family. However, he can’t issue Get Out of Jail Free cards for new criminal acts that might occur after his presidency ends (which better happen on January 20, 2021). Also, he can’t pardon people for infractions under the law of individual states. Something that the New York State attorney general is well aware of.
You can submit questions to [email protected]. Write ASK LEVY in the subject line.
End Times Chronicle
The Four Seasons will never be the same. That’s my Philly!
Last but Not Least
Mmhmm isn’t the only app taking advantage of Covid. How about a parole agent in your pocket?
The ultimate in prepper cool is going off the electrical grid. This writer tried it.
Feeling optimistic about recent vaccine news? Time to worry about who should get it first. The answer will surprise you, and maybe infuriate you.
Wear a mask. Wash your hands. And buy a humidifier. See you next week!
Don’t miss future subscriber-only editions of this column. Subscribe to WIRED (50% off for Plaintext readers) today.
More Great WIRED Stories
- 📩 Want the latest on tech, science, and more? Sign up for our newsletters!
- @Team_Trump45 and the hazards of online sleuthing
- Why so many esports pros come from South Korea
- A new way to plug a human brain into a computer: via veins
- How 30 lines of code blew up a 27-ton generator
- Tips to build a vintage audio system that will last forever
- 🎮 WIRED Games: Get the latest tips, reviews, and more
- 🎧 Things not sounding right? Check out our favorite wireless headphones, soundbars, and Bluetooth speakers
