The Pen

September 20, 2025

What if a computer didn't live in your pocket or on your desk, but rested behind your ear?

The Pen is our attempt to rethink the form factor of personal computing. It doesn't glow, vibrate, or demand your attention. Instead, it sits out of the way, ready when you need it, and invisible when you don't.

First sketch of the pen

We wanted to build something that feels less like a device and more like an accessory. Something you'd wear because it fits your style.

Third sketch of the pen Fourth sketch of the pen

Here are some of the early prototypes:

Image of a small pen-shaped device Image of a man wearing the pen prototype on his ear

Read the paper!

arXiv paper preview
Lessons Learned from Developing a Privacy-Preserving Multimodal Wearable for Local Voice-and-Vision Inference

January 25, 2026

After achieving a functional prototype, we continued to build on top of what we had. We focused on understanding how people experience wearing and using a device like this.

After adding a few more components and making some refinements, we conducted a small study to evaluate user perception and establish interaction design takeaways for the earable form factor. This work led to a follow-on paper exploring episodic cognitive assistance through the ear-worn interface.

Follow-on paper preview
The Pen: Episodic Cognitive Assistance via an Ear-Worn Interface

← Back to Writing