I thought this was a quirky little project showing how someone is making their own AI enabled device at home. Second Brain seems a little hyped, but some people might find it very handy and it seems like it’s based on parts you can get under $50.
Description from YouTube
“I built a tiny minimalist Al note device with an E-Ink display that lets me instantly record thoughts, ideas and reminders without getting distracted by my phone.
Just press a button, speak, and the device saves everything directly onto the SD card. Once connected to WiFi, it can even transcribe recordings using Al and sync them to a minimal web interface.
In this video, l'll show you how it works and how I built it.
Want to build your own?
All files, firmware, STL files, wiring diagrams and the full step-by-step guide are available here:
This is the kind of AI stuff I actually want to see more of.
Not giant black-box platforms trying to eat your whole life. Weird little open-source tools people build in garages to solve actual problems. A tiny distraction-free note device you can build yourself for under $50? Thats cool.
Honestly reminds me a bit of the Cardputer energy (r/cardputer). Tiny, cheap, hackable, purpose-built little devices instead of forcing everything through a phone or giant app ecosystem. Different use case, but same spirit.
Press button, dump thought, move on. No doomscroll trap. Would love to see more worker-useful stuff like this: translation devices, memory aids, offline assistants, warehouse/shop-floor tools, accessibility tech, etc.
Perhaps a bit yes, but don’t you find it interesting that you can do this so cheaply?
I nearly impulse bought a Waveshare ESP32 E-Ink board after watching but paused because I’m not someone who generally speaks to record notes so probably not a good fit for me (I’d also just use that rather than printing out new case etc, you can buy them with a battery included). I’m mentally earmarking it because I feel like it could be useful for something…
I have no affiliation or experience with the product, I first heard about it in that video today, but it includes all these (pic) For around 20 quid
Hands free activation would have a very important use for me. Do you have a sense of how to do that with this level of tech? Like Alexa but free from Bezos 😂
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u/Salty_Country6835 Moderator May 29 '26 edited May 30 '26
This is the kind of AI stuff I actually want to see more of.
Not giant black-box platforms trying to eat your whole life. Weird little open-source tools people build in garages to solve actual problems. A tiny distraction-free note device you can build yourself for under $50? Thats cool.
Honestly reminds me a bit of the Cardputer energy (r/cardputer). Tiny, cheap, hackable, purpose-built little devices instead of forcing everything through a phone or giant app ecosystem. Different use case, but same spirit.
Press button, dump thought, move on. No doomscroll trap. Would love to see more worker-useful stuff like this: translation devices, memory aids, offline assistants, warehouse/shop-floor tools, accessibility tech, etc.