Need a Friend? Got $99? It’s NOT What You Think

Alexa will be so jealous when she hears about this . . . over the weekend, this promotional video for a new product called “Friend” blew up on social media. It’s a virtual companion you wear like a necklace. The pendant has a built-in microphone that listens and responds to whatever you say. People are mostly mocking it for being kind of creepy, weird, and a little too “Big Brotherish”. The good news is, it can’t totally replace real friends yet, because it doesn’t talk. It only responds via text. BUT one way it IS like a “real” human friend . . . It can DIE. Their website says “Your friend and their memories are attached to the physical device. If you lose or damage your friend, there is no recovery plan.” You can pre-order them for $99 at Friend.com, but they don’t ship until early next year. The current version only works with iPhones, but they say they’ll expand to Android if there’s enough demand.