Image: Boing Boing

The Comu Action Pro is a surprisingly capable little recorder; the hoops Apple makes these developers jump through are dopey.

I was excited to try the Comu TN20 Pro, as I wanted an AI transcription device. Recording oral stories and getting a quick transcription is something I'd wanted for a while, and I kept forgetting my iPhone should just do it for me. The TN20 Pro has a solid set of six microphones that beam the recording back to your iPhone, where you can either finish most of the work or send it to Comu's cloud to process.

The $179 device includes unlimited basic transcription. Premium and elite subscription plans start to include translation services, or the device agentically pulling items out of conversations, creating to-dos, and scheduling events. Apple's App Store economics make this hardware-plus-service model easier to understand.…