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Re:Show HN: Subvocal – Talk to your computer without making ... by vessenes on Monday November 02, 2026 @08:51PM (#50346964)
Also I note from your comments here you don’t plan on local inference - that seems like a huge self own, provided the model is less than like 2b params. I’m not saying people won’t in practice prefer your cloud version, but you have this huge uphill battle ahead of you on privacy which can be wiped at the stroke of a pen with “yep it will run on your Mac.”

You can get both markets (ease of use and technical) by allowing it. Also i would bet that you gain almost no product security locking off local inference - the hardware is the hard bit. Once someone has your hardware in hand it will not take them long to reverse and build their own processing layer; you’ll need to fight those people on patents and product quality.

Heck for a v1 just allowing local sensor data would probably be enough for the tech enthusiasts. But please don’t lock this off from the get go - it makes the sale harder and I don’t think it gives you much in return.

Re:Show HN: Subvocal – Talk to your computer without making ... by joshspankit on Monday November 02, 2026 @09:31PM (#50347257)
Agreed.

Cloud processing can be tempting as the primary revenue stream, but it entirely cuts off those users who cannot send arbitrary PII over the internet (regardless of encryption promises).

It also invites the (especially now-LLM-empowered) enthusiasts to reverse engineer it.

Instead, consider selling the glasses with >20% profit, and give local users a cheaper subscription to something else (maybe the model updates?) so they can also help keep the company sustainable.

Re:Show HN: Subvocal – Talk to your computer without making ... by pipe01 on Tuesday November 03, 2026 @04:41AM (#50349923)
They did say they hoped to support local models in the future

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50346346

Re:Show HN: Subvocal – Talk to your computer without making ... by nolroz on Tuesday November 03, 2026 @08:47AM (#50351929)
I will happily pre order once a local option is available at launch