Mycroft Mark II: World's first privacy-driven open-source smart display that works WITHOUT an internet connection

It took four years but it's finally here.

From the website:

Mycroft AI, creators of the world's first privacy-driven, open-source technology platform, announced it has begun shipping its much anticipated Mark II smart speaker. 

The Mark II is a completely customizable, open-source, programmable IoT device that is privacy-driven, works offline, and is compatible with Home Assistant for home automation right out of the box.

With the Mark II, all personal data stays private, which means Mycroft does not collect information unless users opt-in.

It can go head-to-head with other high-end smart speakers without capturing and storing personal conversations and behaviors used to serve targeted ads, build ongoing profiles, and other invasive data collection practices.

In other words, the Mark II doesn't mine or store your data, sell you products, or try to own your online identity.

It can even run without an internet connection (experimental feature to be standardized by year-end). 

All units ship with a Mark II custom version of Mycroft Core, dubbed Dinkum, and users can customize their updates.

Upcoming features can be previewed by selecting the Beta channel, the LTS channel selected for only critical fixes; automatic updates can be disabled altogether, giving users total control.

Developers, makers, and hackers will soon have another option: download the Debian Bullseye-based image and install whatever version of Mycroft is desired.

And for those who really want to get down to bare metal, Mycroft provides the drivers and HAL for the Mark II's custom hardware.

$349 until November 30, after which the price will be $499.