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Col. Justice posted:I'm not saying that it's a terrible idea. But that's still a poo poo load of money for perfect strangers to give to a sleeping mask with lights in it.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 04:59 |
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| # ? May 19, 2013 04:05 |
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Saint Darwin posted:Because I really doubt it actually works? From what I understand having lights on a timer is actually one of the main techniques that people use to wake themselves up just enough to dream lucidly without it being enough to wake them up completely. It's still kind of goofy in a New Age-y way but since they're offering an actual physical product as a reward for investing it's easier to think of it as an extended pre-order.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 04:59 |
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Col. Justice posted:I'm not saying that it's a terrible idea. But that's still a poo poo load of money for perfect strangers to give to a sleeping mask with lights in it. I mean, sure, show me some  and I'll buy one in a heartbeat.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 05:12 |
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Col. Justice posted:This is a mask with small red lights that go off at random while you sleep. I actually saw them pitching that on Reddit a while ago. Probably why they were able to get so much. They claimed that it works great on them but eventually they will do some research on it.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 05:17 |
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octoroon posted:But they have an amazing pitch. Somewhere a salesman is just staring at their kickstarter and masturbating furiously.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 05:21 |
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Am I missing something with this, or are they selling soda for $15 per bottle?
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 05:41 |
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I'm fairly sure they haven't gotten the logistics and manufacturing aspects of this venture down, hence the cost and the kickstarter.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 06:06 |
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jonjonaug posted:He did submit that. It got rejected. Kickstarter more like Hitlstarter  My sandwich kickstarter
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 06:15 |
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I don't think it's been mentioned here, but apologies if it has. I'm sure some of you know about Tim Buckley, the creator of the webcomic Ctrl+Alt+Del which is a wacky comic about gamers in which one of the characters had a miscarriage. Yeah. It's abysmally bad and there's a long running mock thread in BSS. Every year (except for this year) Tim Buckley hosts a convention called Digital Overload. Basically it's just a bunch of obese nerds having a massive LAN party (with no internet, mind you) that includes such fun events like keyboard tossing and sucking up to Mr. Buckley. It's been a horrible failure every year with a dwindling crowd. Last year, Buckey hosted a kickstarter to fund Digital Overload 2011. His ultimate goal was $3500. He raised $150.20. Goons even chipped in pennies to see if the counter was actually rising or if it was stuck. It certainly wasn't stuck. Needless to say he cancelled this year's event and probably pocketed the money from his failed kickstarter.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 06:31 |
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Timall posted:
That's not how it works.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 06:39 |
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this looks like it would be a revolutionary way to hold/use a smart phone or tablet. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects...martphone-stand unfortunately for everyone that backed it (including myself) it is a horrible piece of poo poo that doesnt function anything like it should. I only received it a week ago, and it finished in june or something last year. they had a bunch of problems with suppliers and manufacturing, supposedly, and in the end the product doesnt function anything like any of the pictures or video. the ipad size is good as a stand if you dont reshape it from it factory shaped position, but the iphone sized unit is laughably bad. the suction cup doesnt work for more than a few minutes and it is identical in design to the ipad one - its just as thick, just as bulky and utterly useless. Having said that a lot of the tech/design projects on there are amazing things that definitely should be funded.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 07:29 |
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Xandu posted:That's not how it works. There is a "Flexible Funding" option that takes the money regardless if it meets the goal or not, I'm pretty sure?
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 07:45 |
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Farbtoner posted:From what I understand having lights on a timer is actually one of the main techniques that people use to wake themselves up just enough to dream lucidly without it being enough to wake them up completely. Binaural glasses have been around for a while. This is essentially a kickstarter for something that has been around since the 80's.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 07:47 |
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Edward_Lapine posted:A little late, but looking at one of the first kickstarters here, I stumbled upon. From this link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects...-bronies-of-nyc Hooooolllly poo poo. The kick starter is not for fanfic at all the guy is making a documentary on adults obsessed with my lil pony. I dare you to watch the clip he has posted from the doco and tell me you don't want to see more of these human failures.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 09:02 |
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Blackclaw posted:There is a "Flexible Funding" option that takes the money regardless if it meets the goal or not, I'm pretty sure? Not on kickstarter I don't think. Indiegogo has that function, but I'm pretty sure kickstarter requires you to reach your goal to keep any money.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 09:06 |
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Xandu posted:Not on kickstarter I don't think. Indiegogo has that function, but I'm pretty sure kickstarter requires you to reach your goal to keep any money. Oh right yeah, sorry, I'm an idiot.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 09:12 |
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Blackclaw posted:Oh right yeah, sorry, I'm an idiot.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 09:32 |
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http://www.kickstarter.com/projects...e-game?ref=live Internet Memes + Tower Defense. How this managed to get nearly $3,000 makes me cringe.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 13:00 |
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There's a lot of terrible ideas on Kickstarter, but I can't bring myself to dislike them. They made Wasteland 2 a thing, after all.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 13:01 |
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Nat posted:http://www.kickstarter.com/projects...e-game?ref=live That guy registered an account to shill his game here, because if there's one thing SA is known for it's our love of ragefaces.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 13:12 |
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If a kickstarter for any sort of software development actually has a pitch video with someone from the team talking on camera, you have to give it some credit. If the group screws up(failing to deliver) after being funded, anyone involved will get some pretty bad rep which could effect their ability to get a REAL job or threaten their existing REAL job. The evidence is in their pitch video which will probably be on the internet for the next 10 years or so. On awful kickstarters, there was actually an amusing one I found called "Thug Midi" where some guy was going to make an album of thug/rap sounding midi songs. He had part on one in his pitch video which was pretty good. The guy simply called himself "Boy". He didn't get a single cent of funding though! I can't find the page at the moment. I'll edit it in this post if/when I find the link.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 13:25 |
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Nubcakes posted:If a kickstarter for any sort of software development actually has a pitch video with someone from the team talking on camera, you have to give it some credit. If the group screws up(failing to deliver) after being funded, anyone involved will get some pretty bad rep which could effect their ability to get a REAL job or threaten their existing REAL job. The evidence is in their pitch video which will probably be on the internet for the next 10 years or so. If you're a competent software developer I doubt any employers are going to give a poo poo if your tiny project funded by a dumb website actually worked out, much less even find out about it.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 13:42 |
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http://www.kickstarter.com/projects...tucker-baseballThe Entire Pitch posted:My book is a game for long car rides up north,to gramma house and vacations. Instead of popping in a video go back in time and play a family fun filled game while you travel. Fun for the whole family. It's playing baseball with trucks, and spending time together. Yes, these three poorly-written sentences and a single indecipherable MS Paint picture are an excellent business proposal! People will be sure to give me $3000 with an idea like this! And you know what my life was missing up to this point? An unfunny mockumentary about bronies! And if I donate five dollars, I'll get: quote:FAN LEVEL A huge thank you for your help and support, and an internet bro-hoof from all of us at MLB! Oh boy! They're going to thank me! That's a great incentive for a financial investment! Waffleman_ fucked around with this message at Apr 27, 2012 around 13:59 |
| # ? Apr 27, 2012 13:46 |
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Col. Justice posted:This is a mask with small red lights that go off at random while you sleep. Ahem. We already have the technology. If you don't like embedded programming, you could probably get a reasonably accurate 2 hour delay with a 555 timer maybe. \/\/\/\/ Yeah, I don't know much about electronics outside of some super-basic embedded programming I've done with an arduino and a bare ATMega flashed to run arduino code, but I'm pretty sure you can rig it up for much less than $80 dollars. Probably less than $10. TVarmy fucked around with this message at Apr 27, 2012 around 16:20 |
| # ? Apr 27, 2012 14:03 |
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TVarmy posted:
That will vary with part tolerances and temperature. If you use the CMOS version of the 555(7555) you'll have less variation with temperature. You could cut this down even more if you avoid Tantalum/Electrolytic Capacitors
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 14:47 |
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Waffleman_ posted:Oh boy! They're going to thank me! That's a great incentive for a financial investment! It's not an investment. It's never supposed to be an investment. You give money to the Kickstarter because you want to see it get off the ground, not because you expect something in return. Kickstarters giving physical things at all levels has kind of spoiled people who would have otherwise donated a dollar or two to good causes on KS.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 15:19 |
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Waffleman_ posted:http://www.kickstarter.com/projects...tucker-baseball I thought it was by a kid, until I saw the about the creator thing. Nope. Dude's a 41 year old electrician.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 15:25 |
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Saint Darwin posted:It's not an investment. It's never supposed to be an investment. You give money to the Kickstarter because you want to see it get off the ground, not because you expect something in return. Yes, perhaps investment was the wrong word. But still, it's silly to have that as an incentive.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 15:27 |
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Waffleman_ posted:Yes, perhaps investment was the wrong word. But still, it's silly to have that as an incentive. Well, I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that lots of people don't realize you can donate amounts that aren't tied to a specific incentive.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 15:42 |
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Nubcakes posted:That will vary with part tolerances and temperature. If you use the CMOS version of the 555(7555) you'll have less variation with temperature. You could cut this down even more if you avoid Tantalum/Electrolytic Capacitors You could probably get a more accurate timing from a CD4060 ripple counter that costs half as much as a 7555 (~0.32GBP) which could easily do 2hrs. That makes the total electronics spend about 2-5GBP. Attach it to a sleeping eyemask (about 2-3GBP on Amazon) - a lot less than the $80 you'd have to pledge to get it from that kickstarter. Edit: Re-reading the kickstarter, it does to a bit more than that, but it doesn't appear to do anything that an 8 pin PIC like a 12F675 (~1.07GBP)couldn't do. Maybe I'm missing something. One Eye Open fucked around with this message at Apr 27, 2012 around 16:25 |
| # ? Apr 27, 2012 16:14 |
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Ugly In The Morning posted:I thought it was by a kid, until I saw the about the creator thing. Nope. Dude's a 41 year old electrician. The best thing about it is that just from the picture, I have figured out exactly what his game is, and now I don't need to give him any money to play it.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 16:54 |
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One Eye Open posted:You could probably get a more accurate timing from a CD4060 ripple counter that costs half as much as a 7555 (~0.32GBP) which could easily do 2hrs. That makes the total electronics spend about 2-5GBP. Attach it to a sleeping eyemask (about 2-3GBP on Amazon) - a lot less than the $80 you'd have to pledge to get it from that kickstarter. Still the point stands that the parts required are hella cheap. To be fair you are paying for the convenience of not having to design/build it yourself. Years ago I built my own Hard DDR(game reference, look it up) pads for around 100$ and they work as good if not better than the pre-built "metal" pads sold for 300~400$. The catch is that I spent around 30 hours building and tweaking the drat thing. It also requires yearly maintenance, where the pre-built pads I mentioned just break after a few years and can't be practically repaired. My internship pays 15$ an hour so if you multiply that by the amount of hours I spent, it comes out to 450$ not including the materials(550% w/ materials). It would not be worth it to build one now since I can make quite a bit from my internship. Bottom line is that time is money; You have to weigh out the materials and labor cost of doing something yourself and decide if it's worth it. Even though computers were FAR cheaper to build in the 1990s than pre-built computers then, most people did not opt to build their own computer because they felt that it would take too much of their time to learn how build a computer and then actually build one.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 17:13 |
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Does Kickstarter just transfer the money (minus their fee) to your personal bank account with no system for ensuring that the money is actually going towards the project or that the people who gave money are going to get their rewards? If so it seems like all you need to do is convince people that you have a good idea and working prototype of a product, whether you really do or not, to make a bunch of money off of random people. It's like the swindlers you see on the street but now they are talking to thousands of people at once and don't have to have anything physical to show.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 22:05 |
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Nubcakes posted:Still the point stands that the parts required are hella cheap. To be fair you are paying for the convenience of not having to design/build it yourself. quote:I own a soldering iron, give me specs!
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 22:29 |
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Kenshin posted:So pick up an atmega168 and some sort of internal oscillator, a sleep mask, and off you go. You pretty much only need the ATMega168 or similar, plus some LEDs and a battery. The internal oscillator is built in to the chip. An oscillator is the component that sets how fast the chip runs, and it also is being used in this application to keep time (which isn't ideal compared to an external oscillator or a Real Time Clock component, but for two hours it'll only be off by roughly 5-10 minutes).  The chip is definitely overpowered for what they're doing. An ATTiny ($1-2, depending on model, vs. ~$4 for a ATMega 168) could do the same in a smaller package for less and still be re-programmable. But that'd require either using the weaker and poorly supported Arduino libraries for the ATTiny, or writing in plain C, which is harder than the Arduino's programming environment. Or, as mentioned upthread, many sub-$1 much simpler parts could get you very close to what this does, minus the promise of re-programming the thing. The light-detection programming is pretty clever, though, although a serial-to-USB chip is pretty small and they could just have a microusb port on the side. The DIY solutions would require hooking the chip up to a serial port (or USB adapter) or programmer, or worse be essentially hardwired if you don't use a micro-controller. Here's some local flavor around me: No offense to the guy who wants to teach people how to succeed corporately, but I'd rather do some trust falls and walk on coals... Why are there so many games that try to have a positive impact in the dullest way possible? Doesn't the sims basically do what this pitches in a more engaging fashion? (Average donation: $355 from 82 donors!?) Would you trust this man with your spiritualism? TVarmy fucked around with this message at Apr 27, 2012 around 23:25 |
| # ? Apr 27, 2012 22:53 |
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TVarmy posted:You pretty much only need the ATMega168 or similar, plus some LEDs and a battery. The internal oscillator is built in to the chip. An oscillator is the component that sets how fast the chip runs, and it also is being used in this application to keep time (which isn't ideal compared to an external oscillator or a Real Time Clock component, but for two hours it'll only be off by roughly 5-10 minutes). "MyAmericanGame is an original and innovative new social game that lets you live a lifetime worth of experiences in a fraction of the time"  watedit: That 3rd link has to be just trolling.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 22:55 |
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 http://www.kickstarter.com/projects...-gee?ref=search One of the rare kickstarters that nobody wants anything to do with. It's currently sitting at $0. quote:A badass daredevil, an awkward teen, and a hipster. Stunts, skits, and wacky banter. edit: They're even selling t-shirts. Zellus fucked around with this message at Apr 27, 2012 around 23:19 |
| # ? Apr 27, 2012 23:03 |
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Zellus posted:
quote:This comes out to around 7-9 full episodes (3-5 minutes in length) along with a complimenting shorter "Mini-sode" (1-2 minute skit) for each full episode 3 minute videos, on youtube, consisting of shopping cart crashes. What a deal!
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 23:32 |
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Madcosby posted:3 minute videos, on youtube, consisting of shopping cart crashes. What a deal! Which one of you gave them the dollar?
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 23:32 |
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| # ? May 19, 2013 04:05 |
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I'm more curious about the 6 cents.
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| # ? Apr 27, 2012 23:33 |
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