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DuinoMiteMegaAn Senior Member Joined: 17/11/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 231
Posted: 03:38am 06 Jul 2012
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Bizarre Internet KickStarter products of 2012
KickStarter is an online threshold pledge system for funding creative projects.
This pledge system is producing many unique micro controlled Internet connected products. I did a very close inspection and reviewed three of the most popular KickStarter Internet connected products in 2012. Please Note: This is ONLY my humble opinion(s) (IMHO)
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Pebble Internet Smart Watch
Backers 68929
Goal $100,000 USD
Pledge $10,266,845 USD <------- Amazing - Smart Internet watches are in short supply!
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Pros:
Its a cool watch to impress your friends.
It is a great idea to show a micro controller generated LCD watch face with the time and other Internet data.
Cons:
$150 $USD for this watch. ( I threw away my watch years ago when mobile phones already have the precise time on them)
Needs recharged every seven days. (Uses Bluetooth 4)
Needs a Android / IOS (Apple) device nearby for Bluetooth data transmission. (extra cost)
My question is "Why not check your "local" Android / IOS device for the time and other data?"
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SuperMechanical "Twine" - A battery powered WiFi base module with optional sensors.
Backers: 3966
Goal: $35,000 USD
Pledge: $556,541 USD
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Pros: Remote Home Sensor Network is possible with this device.
Also, the Twine could transmit to the Pebble Smart Watch.
Cons:
Wifi is a "battery hog" and is much worse than Bluetooth. Sensor usage would determine how fast you change your batteries. A lot of batteries, over time, does cost money!
Each Twine product has optional expensive sensors attached to this main Twine base unit.
If you need another sensor, in your home at a different place, you would need to buy another Twine base unit with sensors. Total cost increases dramatically with each new Twine / sensor addition.
Vendor supplied "Cloud Server" is required for this product.
Having multiple Twines, on your WifI gateway router, could cause a maintenance nightmare problems for your other working WiFi devices on your network!
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Ninja Blocks <--- A local Australian company LittleBirdElectronics but US based for KickStarter
Backers: 578
Goal: $24,000 USD
Pledge: $102,935 USD
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Pros: Cool remote Home Sensor Network is possible with the Ninja Blocks
Cons:
Vendor supplied "Cloud Server" is required for this product.
Ninja Block sensors are very expensive
Simple basic sensor "system" (with several sensors) cost $255.00 $USD
For a distributed home sensor system you would probably need several BeagleBone base units in different rooms. This raises the total cost of ownership to the sky.
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KickStarter gotchas to ponder on with the new KickStarter Internet connected devices
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Product design specifics are unusually hard to obtain in the "KickStarter pledge funding process" Its varies because the product design team is trying to "fund" their unique product ideas from the public. No positive funding raised from the public = no product.
If the KickStarter project does NOT come to "final fruition" - the "pledge buyer" loses.
Don't pledge initial upfront money in KickStarter - just wait until the final product is produced and only then buy the product after other reviews are positive on the product! You are, in no hurry, to buy a KickStarter prototype product!
The product is probably cheaper in the "KickStarter pledge funding process"
but if it has any design flaws then there is no customer product recourse. What you bought is WYSIWYG!
Cloud Servers are not secure - your data is at risk and others might/could use your data.
Initial Cloud Server Service. for an Internet product. is "FREE" but the Cloud Server owners could charge monthly fees for the Cloud Service at anytime and at a later date. This would add to the total product cost of ownership.
When "their" Cloud Server goes down, your internet controlled product is useless!.
Internet connected connected devices needs 10's of hundreds of milliamps of power due to the Ethernet / Wifi power requirements. Battery powered Internet devices can be used but they need a deep sleep mode for battery conservation.
Having a special laser engraved product enclosure would look nice but whats inside this enclosure is what counts! I see that two vendors (above) spent days on their product enclosure and this should have been time spent on the software and hardware.
Simple "addition" math is all that is needed to figure the total cost of a Internet product but you need be very precise in your calculation of the total cost of ownership for these Internet controlled products. It is probably far more than you think it would be! For instance, a Pebble watch, a Twine Wifi base unit with one sensor would set you back over $300 USD Don't even think about having extra Twine base units and sensors unless you see your banker. If the total cost is unreasonable just buy an alternative product or make your own Internet connected device.
KickStarter design team members are extremely helpful during their "KickStarter pledge funding process" but after raising their seed money, they seem to turn into arrogant kids in a candy store without marketing sense. I have asked these same KickStarter product vendors pointed questions and, in most cases, they defer the pointed questions and say "look at the amount of money we raised and the product WILL do this and that but don't worry about the product specifications" To me, having no product specification, I will NOT purchase their product - ever!
djuqa Guru Joined: 23/11/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 447
Posted: 12:50pm 06 Jul 2012
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Sounds are little like Raspberry Pi
But Kickstarter is a good idea in itself, but some (all) of the projects seem to be POORLY researched for usability and market need.VK4MU MicroController Units
elproducts Senior Member Joined: 19/06/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 282
Posted: 01:49am 07 Jul 2012
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Your logical breakdown of these kickstarter projects makes a lot of sense and there are many more examples including the Gameduino Arduino Shield with 426 backers and $38,297 or PRINTRBOT 3D printer at 1,808 backers and $830,827. But you cannot deny the fact that there are many people, with money, who are not so logical and willing to fund a seemingly great technical idea. And this is where our technical thinking tends to hinder us. We cannot understand why enough people would do this to the tune of over $10 million dollars so we don't even try.
"look at the amount of money we raised" is the key phrase. In each of these examples they presented an idea and pre-sold it in large quantities. They proved they had a market to sell to without ever producing a final product.
Now reconsider the $10 million dollar watch. With that project they can probably leverage it by going to a venture capital firm and show them what they have. A pre-sold product with great demand. They can leverage that $10 million into a larger sum and then have the funding to hire a team of designers to create the finished good for them and launch a start-up business. They don't need to be the product specification experts. They can hire them.
There are many stories like this on Kickstarter. The PRINTRBOT is another. I think some people are still waiting for their printer but the key point is the guy launched a whole business from that investment. And he just built a team of experts to create the key components.
In a way Kickstarter is what we technical minds need. Take Maximite for example. What if Geoff would have released his design on Kickstarter? What if enough people wanted one of these unique little computers that he got 500 people to pledge $150 for an assembled unit (which is reasonable considering how many were sold as kits early on). He'd have $75k to use to build the design which was already complete. He could then have setup Don to sell the thing and get Olimex to build it for far less than $150 as Duinomite proved.
And if a design is launched on kickstarter and you don't meet your pledge, then you know up front you probably don't have a market for the product. And what did it cost you? Your time and some cost for the prototype which you probably would have developed anyway.
I really think Kickstarter and the other crowd funding websites are a great thing and can be the basis for launching the next technical revolution. It connects the creative with the non-creative much earlier in the process and its a great way to get the world to vote for a idea with dollars with very little investment on the part of the presenter. You don't have to go to a bank and beg for a loan. You don't have to save every penny or borrow from relatives. You can launch your idea and see where it goes.
I think its great.www.elproducts.com
DuinoMiteMegaAn Senior Member Joined: 17/11/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 231
Posted: 03:02am 07 Jul 2012
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In a way Kickstarter is what we technical minds need. Take Maximite for example. What if Geoff would have released his design on Kickstarter?
What if enough people wanted one of these unique little computers that he got 500 people to pledge $150 for an assembled
unit (which is reasonable considering how many were sold as kits early on). He'd have $75k to use to build the design which was already complete.
He could then have setup Don to sell the thing and get Olimex
to build it for far less than $150 as Duinomite proved.
A bit of humor ...
KickStarter is ONLY for American based start-ups. This would have been traumatic for Geoff G. to pack up his belonings and move to San Francisco, California. His 75k seed money for his cost of travel and his rent would have been wasted in a very short period of time! Breakfast for $25 USD for anyone who dines in SF? (I told my wife not to order the cantaloupe which turned out to be $13!)
But you cannot deny the fact that there are many people, with money, who are not so logical and willing to fund a seemingly great technical idea.
There is a sucker born everyday!
Now this gives me a great idea. I will start a KickStarter project and call it a MaxiMite Smart Watch. I will use the 100 million USD seed funds and move to Alice Springs or Moomba and no one will ever find me for years!
Edited by DuinoMiteMegaAn 2012-07-08
elproducts Senior Member Joined: 19/06/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 282
Posted: 11:41am 07 Jul 2012
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Good point.
Indiegogo.com is a worldwide platform option to kickstarter.
www.elproducts.com
marcwolf Senior Member Joined: 08/06/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 119
Posted: 05:52pm 09 Jul 2012
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Kickstarter and Indiegogo are both good idea's. Sure ther will be some cynical people who will mutter 'Succers' but all in all its a risk process.
For a small developer/inventor who has an idea and wants to make a go of it it can be very difficult getting started. Yes you can advertise on Forums but that is often frowned upon. Likewise on forums you are generally expected to explain ALL details and thus possibly shooting yourself in the foot since forums are classified as 'Public Domain'.
I have been involved in several businesses where Venture Capital was sought. It's a difficult process and if you have to look at the financial institutions then forget it. Risk is not in their vocabulary.
Likewise these sites are great for testing the response for an idea. If the response is good then you have a market. If the response is nill or low then you can put your efforts elsewhere.
With Indiegogo it can also be for charity calls as well. A aquaintance of mine in the US has several rescued wolves/wolfdogs. These were animals that people had got as a pet and found that a wolf is not a dog. My friend is knowledgable about their behaviour and has build enclosures etc to give them a better life than the needle.
However his landlord decided that they wanted to sell the place and my friend was left on short notice to move and set up again.
Using Indiegogo he was able to raise suffcient to start to relocate in a short period of time.
We all at one time or another dream of a better mousetrap. Atleast this way we can give the dream a chance.
DaveCoding Coding Coding..
Keep those keyboards coding..
RAW CODE!!!!!
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