To be fair, the current iteration of this is of course bullshit but imagine this in 10 years when raspberry pi sized devices can easily host AIs that outperform or at least match current best models and has been specifically trained to be an emergency assistant.

Kinda reminds me of the public access defibrillators that talk you through an emergency [0]. I can see an AI Assistant be useful during emergencies.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zApKRGDs1sk

“I have chickens and one has stopped laying eggs and become lethargic. What could be the cause?”

These things are great lookup tools, much better than web search, and being “jpegs for knowledge” you can pack a lot of knowledge into a small device. You have to check the results but having some old fashioned books on hand would help with that, as would some common sense.

I agree about a separate device. A durable laptop and a solar panel to charge it would be best.

A lot of special purpose devices are sold as a way to sell software since people won’t buy software. Sell a software and data bundle containing curated data and apps and such and nobody will buy it, but pair it with some e-waste and they will.

Same goes for a lot of digital assistants and other gadgets. They could just be apps but people don’t buy apps so they have to come bundled with e-waste.

Answer is usually: Jellyfin, iTunes (local music), and various PDFs and kiwix.

Surprisingly large amounts of software and even the OS slow to a crawl if they can't contact the Internet (but think they should be able to). Annoying.

Years ago I found a torrent called "The Ark" which is a collection of various other torrents from different sources, and includes all sorts of random data that could be quite useful in a shtf scenario.

At 238GB it's not that large.

Floppy discs are older, but are still complicated beasts. It’s not like you would be able to repair a broken unit with basic tools.

Hard drives or whatever storage tech you can think of are similar, and you should use what is at hand. I would imagine that a flash drive, or an external SSD, remains more appropriate given the absence of mechanical parts.

At the end of the day, information is information, and you’re better off transcribing it onto paper for true 100% reliability.

That's a common misunderstanding:

Our 'installed base' of technology / equipment would not disappear or disintegrate in most types of collapse. Your gadgets would keep working just fine (hardware-wise, that is).

What is susceptible to failure: communications (internet, cell networks, electronic payment systems, etc), power grid, logistics chains (supermarket supply, postal services etc), social structures, law & order (riots, looting), 3rd party-provided services, and probably more.

Also: unless a km+ sized meteor hits, truly large-scale collapse is more likely to happen gradually rather than overnight.

So: think power out, internet cut & riots in the street. With off-grid solar, and software (+data) that works offline, you can enjoy your tech toys just fine.

The tricky thing here is the degree to which daily-used tech requires external services to do anything useful.