With the expansion of the abilities available to manufacturers with the release of Windows 8.1 and the 4th generation Intel Core (Haswell) family of processors, Lenovo this week aims to show its dominance in the “Multimode” world of notebook computing with the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro. This device takes what was presented in the original […]
It would appear that ASUS has had so much success with the first 7-inch smartphone/tablet combination (as revealed earlier this year in the Fonepad) that they’ve brought on a second generation in the Fonepad 7. This device works with a new non-slip finish (where the original was a bit slippery, as it were), HSPA+ 3G […]
In today’s obligatory unveiling video of the new Android statue for Google’s lawn full of statues of desserts, a new Google smartphone has appeared. This may very well be the next-generation Nexus device as it does indeed have the word Nexus written on it – though in a bit of a cut with what may […]
It would appear that Sony’s notoriously unlucky streak of leaking the ins and outs of the smartphone known as the Xperia Z1 have reached their height with no less than a full press release leak just one day before it’s scheduled to go live. Straight from Xperia Blog comes this gush of information (the screenshot […]
This article was written on July 31, 2006 by CyberNet.
The rumors are buzzin’ like crazy now that Zune has been labeled the “iPod Killer” and we’ve received a few details about it. The specifics that remain unknown are all becoming rumors and now the rumors are flying about the launch date. Betanews is claiming an October launch date while Engadget is rumoring a November 14th date. Either way, I’m sure we can expect it to be fully stocked on the shelves before the holiday rush if Microsoft has any intention of competing with the iPod. I think it’s safe to say that it will probably take years before Microsoft will truly be able to compete with Apple. If only the rumor about the iPod lasting for four years (really, it’s “for years”) was true, Microsoft may have had a chance to build the competition early on in the game. In other rumored news about Microsoft’s portable entertainment devices, it is believed that there is an additional player that Microsoft is working on code named Pyxis. Betanews says it would be comparable to the iPod Nano in size and function but with added video support. Just like the iPod relationship with iTunes, the Zune is rumored to be companioned with a service called Alexandria. Seriously, could they have thought of a better name? I don’t know about you but Alexandria just doesn’t flow like iPod does with iTunes. So if the Zune is really expected to be launched in October/November, I anticipate Microsoft will be unveiling this “iPod Killer” shortly complete with all of the juicy details. Until then all rumors.
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Though when this article is being written and published, we’re not certain of what the next iPhone will be called, it does seem quite likely that there’ll be a version with a plastic back cover in a variety of colors. This device has been code-named iPhone 5C in the tech news circuit, and may very […]
In this modern, pixelated world, the computer keyboard has become a real everyday object, something we tend to touch more times than we realize. So why not seek out the best keyboard, one built from the features of lesser keyboards? That’s precisely what the CODE keyboard aims to do.
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If you had any doubt that chucking in your entire life and building that iPhone case with a bottle opener you’ve always envisioned (the perfect design, honest) would be difficult, look no further than a couple recent Kickstarter failures that have been a long time in the making for proof. The Levitatr Keyboard and the Syre iPod nano Bluetooth watchband are both projects that were germinated in the heady wild west days of Kickstarter’s first beginnings, before it started to tighten the reins on hardware campaigns, and they’re both case studies in what happens if even the most well-intentioned hardware startup goes south.
Kickstarter has never claimed to be a storefront by any stretch of the imagination, so projects running into problems and failing to deliver should be familiar territory to any and all backers at this point. Anyone who has used it for any decent amount of time knows that you will get projects that just don’t materialize, and you’ll get ones that do finally ship, but that also massively under-deliver. But sometimes, you get projects where the founders are so transparent about the problems they encounter that it’s worth taking special note of what went wrong.
One such project is the Levitatr keyboard. Originally conceived in 2011 as an iPad and tablet keyboard accessory, this project by James Stumpf impressed with a design whereby the keys would magically appear out of slick flat surface once the accessory was powered on. Designed by Dayton, Ohio-based entrepreneur James Stumpf, it met and surpassed its $60,000 funding goal in 45 days and seemed to stand a reasonable chance of shipping by its November 2011 anticipated shelf date.
Stumpf declared Levitatr a failure via an update for backers posted to Kickstarter on August 12, 2013. He cited overly ambitious goals for the product, a shortage of funds, numerous failed licensing negotiations and his own general inexperience as the major motivating factors behind the project’s failure. The money he gathered to fund the project was all spent on attempting to build it, Stumph says, and he’s offered up an itemized list of just where it went to prove it. Stumpf also claims to have incurred considerable personal debt in the process.
Levitatr collapsed because it was more concept than concrete, with a physical prototype that promised one thing that ended up being immensely challenging from an engineering perspective to deliver. Stumpf blames a lack of willingness to compromise as part of the reason behind the project’s failure but that really engenders biting off more than one can chew: promise only what you know you’ll be able to build at project outset, in other words.
Many Kickstarter projects simply disappear into the night, but Stumpf has gone out of his way to publish a long list of supporting documents via Dropbox to support his account of how things went down, and he has been good about keeping backers up-to-date on his trials and tribulations via update. Kickstarter is designed to be a space where things can go wrong, and I think Levitatr is a perfect example of the best case scenario you could hope for in a failure, since it at least provides some guidance for others looking at building a hardware startup company.
Another decent example that has maybe done a bit too much apologizing and not enough explaining is the all-but-dead Syre Bluetooth watch band for the iPod nano. Right away, you see the problem; this is a project that was built for Apple’s last-generation iPod nano, the small square one that fit nicely on the average person’s wrist. The fact that it hasn’t shipped yet, well after Apple has stopped selling that device, is definitely Not Good.
The Syre was intended to solve the major oversight of the sixth generation iPod nano by adding Bluetooth to the mix via a simple, low profile dongle embedded in a watchstrap accessory. The mock-ups that the project raised funding based on showed an attractive compact device that helped the project raise nearly double its $75,000 target in August, 2012. Then, later updates to backers showed a much different device as a final engineering prototype, which was essentially a rubber nano strap case with a large, unsightly Bluetooth dongle sticking out the end – essentially, all the value of its sleek design went out the window, and backers were vocally disappointed in the change.
Syre isn’t dead technically, but it’d be fair to say the patient isn’t showing any brain activity. Project founder Anyé Spivey posted an update today that describes the project’s status and go-forward options, and both are pretty grim. Apple’s decision to change the iPod nano’s design and introduce Bluetooth to the new model had an understandably negative impact on demand both from consumers and potential distributors for the Syre: like any other 6th-gen nano-focused product, it essentially now has an extremely circumscribed potentially audience and exactly zero growth potential.
Kickstarter is meant to help get projects off the ground that wouldn’t necessarily make it to first production on their own, not to provide the funds to underpin a business in the longterm, so even with $133K in the bank Syre faced problems with money right away. The design wasn’t finalized, engineering was still only sort of half-conceived at outset, and Spivey says he was “misled” by Apple’s Mi team and also had to spend a lot on simply locking down nanos for backers who selected a reward level where the iPod was included.
Since both these projects were conceived and funded, Kickstarter has made considerable changes to the way it handles hardware projects. The site is much more cautious in approving hardware campaigns to go live on the site, and requires that a functional prototype exist in each case. Generally speaking, far more hardware projects over the past year have been production-ready on Kickstarter than ever before, which is a good thing for the site, for backers, and ultimately for founders and creators as well. New rules or not, however, failure is still bound to be a flip side of this kind of startup funding (just as it is with traditional methods), and there’s a lot to be learned from the projects that go wrong.
There’s a device out there in the wild by the name of Honami – code-named by Sony for their next-generation follow-up to the Sony Xperia Z, complete with specifications made to out-do the previous model. This device appears today in a series of hands-on photos snapped by an intrepid Sony even-goer in China. These images […]
After the WWDC 2013 boost given to the MacBook Air range with Intel’s 4th generation Core processor technology, it would appear that the end of Summer is appearing as the most likely landing spot for this team-up with the MacBook Pro. What better time to bring this Haswell action in a FULL reboot than the […]
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