Author Topic: Silicon Valley invests $120 Mill. in $400 juicer that works as well as hands  (Read 50103 times)

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Online xrunnerTopic starter

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Apr 19, 2017, 12:20pm EDT

A startup called Juicero sells a $400 machine for making fresh-squeezed juice. Customers buy the machine and then they get a subscription to special Juicero bags of unsqueezed fruit. You put a bag into the machine and push a button, and in a couple of minutes you have a cup of fresh-squeezed juice.

But a pair of Bloomberg reporters discovered something hilarious: Squeezing the bags with your hands works about as well as doing it with the machine. You don’t really need a $400 machine at all.

Investors have pumped $118.5 million into this dubious invention. And the fact that the company was able to raise that kind of money says a lot about the state of Silicon Valley right now.

http://www.vox.com/new-money/2017/4/19/15357290/juicero-400-machine-hands

https://youtu.be/5lutHF5HhVA
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Offline Bud

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A pair of scisors from a dollar store is all you need, just cut the juce pack neck or punch a hole, why go to squeezing efforts.
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Offline amyk

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In other words, thanks to marketing, you can make people buy an overpriced "cloud connected" gadget that works only with proprietary DRM'd cartridges and ultimately creates more waste. I bet the company is going to "redesign" or "revamp" or whatever other buzzwordy marketing terms are popular today these packages to make them harder to operate by hand, and then claim it's "better"... :palm:
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Investors have pumped $118.5 million into this dubious invention. And the fact that the company was able to raise that kind of money says a lot about the state of Silicon Valley the human race right now.
 

Online xrunnerTopic starter

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A pair of scisors from a dollar store is all you need, just cut the juce pack neck or punch a hole, why go to squeezing efforts.

To be fair, I think the bags have slices of fruit that have to be squeezed to get the juice, But come on - I can easily use ancient technology such as my grandmothers rolling pin to squeeze the bag.

I say that as I confess to making coffee with K-cups ...  :palm:
I told my friends I could teach them to be funny, but they all just laughed at me.
 

Offline jm_araujo

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It has been discussed previously by Dave in The Amp Hour a couple of months ago: http://theamphour.com/321-monster-scale-production/
Edit: and also here: http://theamphour.com/327-an-interview-with-avidan-ross/


I think it was because of this article who covers it in some detail: http://liesandstartuppr.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-is-this-thing.html
« Last Edit: April 20, 2017, 10:39:28 am by jm_araujo »
 

Offline wraper

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Real thing, and don't require internet and presqueezed bags. As if there were just cut fruits and vegetables, you wouldn't be able to squeeze by hands.
 

Offline mc172

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These juicer kale-heads are the modern audiophiles.
 
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Offline Cyberdragon

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PPPPFFFFT! That ain't a juicer! Let's show this utter pile of :bullshit: what it means to be juiced!

Is Hydraulic Press Action anywhere here? >:D
*BZZZZZZAAAAAP*
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Offline Paul Moir

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Piece of junk compared to the Juice Loosener.



"It's whisper quiet!"
 
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Offline AndyC_772

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According to the BBC they're now giving refunds:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39664483

"Chief executive Jeff Dunn said the criticism overlooked the "experience" of the machine.

He claimed the "hacking" of the pouches did not produce the same quality of juice. saying the machine was calibrated to deal with different ingredients differently.

But Juicero has now given customers the chance to return the machine and get their money back, including those who bought it at its launch price of $699."


This bit made me laugh especially:

"Mr Dunn said that because each pouch of fruit and vegetables was individually tagged, the firm could remotely disable them"

 :-DD

Offline tszaboo

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Packs: Starting at $29.99 per weekly 5-Pack Bundle

This remids me. If I buy raspberrys at the store, I pay 3 EUR for 100g. If I buy them frozen, it is 3 EUR for 1KG. They ask for 30 dollars for ~1kg of fruit, please subscribe, and buy our 400 EUR fruit juicer.
I've seen someone making a kickstarter, to use sun and wind energy to dry clothes.
The world has gone insane.
 

Offline DimitriP

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I've seen someone making a kickstarter, to use sun and wind energy to dry clothes.

Here is a contraption that works in the shade as well :) :

   If three 100  Ohm resistors are connected in parallel, and in series with a 200 Ohm resistor, how many resistors do you have? 
 
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Offline frozenfrogz

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Well: That’s what you get, when you cut funds in the education sector...
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Online Sredni

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You guys do not understand!  ;)
This is a machine aimed at vegetarian and vegan people.
They do not have the strength to squeeze those bags themselves.  >:D

Seriously, this overpriced marketing might have its reason to exist for older and/or debilitated people. Think someone with arthritis. That would be useful to them. Especially if they need to reassure themselves about their status. "Look, I can spend hundreds of dollars on a juicener".

For me the big no-no is the proprietary format of the squeezable material.
But I'm the kind of person who would go to Brazil to pick his own coffee to toast and grind before even thinking of buying one of those coffe machines that require proprietary capsules.
All instruments lie. Usually on the bench.
 
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Offline madires

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This bit made me laugh especially:

"Mr Dunn said that because each pouch of fruit and vegetables was individually tagged, the firm could remotely disable them"

I see, that's their business model. The next step after ink and toner cartridges with chips is full remote control of consumables to make sure that the customer buys only the overpriced genuine refill packs. And if the customer posts a bad review, the juicer or pouches of a specific flavour will be disabled remotely. No wonder that investors have put so much money into that. The only downside is that tiny design error.  >:D

PS: I prefer fresh fruits and vegetables from the family's garden.
« Last Edit: April 21, 2017, 11:56:26 am by madires »
 
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Offline wraper

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This bit made me laugh especially:

"Mr Dunn said that because each pouch of fruit and vegetables was individually tagged, the firm could remotely disable them"

 :-DD
I already imagine a bright future. Government structures can disable all of the food for you, if you don't play with them well.
 

Online xrunnerTopic starter

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But I'm the kind of person who would go to Brazil to pick his own coffee to toast and grind before even thinking of buying one of those coffe machines that require proprietary capsules.

Well if I lived in Antarctica I would too.  :-DD

(look at his country flag)
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Offline amyk

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According to the BBC they're now giving refunds:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39664483

"Chief executive Jeff Dunn said the criticism overlooked the "experience" of the machine.

He claimed the "hacking" of the pouches did not produce the same quality of juice. saying the machine was calibrated to deal with different ingredients differently.

But Juicero has now given customers the chance to return the machine and get their money back, including those who bought it at its launch price of $699."


This bit made me laugh especially:

"Mr Dunn said that because each pouch of fruit and vegetables was individually tagged, the firm could remotely disable them"

 :-DD
That is hilarious, but if you think about it, refunding the machine still means they get to profit from purchases of the overpriced "cartridges" which people can still "juice" themselves.
 

Offline PA0PBZ

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That is hilarious, but if you think about it, refunding the machine still means they get to profit from purchases of the overpriced "cartridges" which people can still "juice" themselves.

No, you can only buy the 'cartridges' if you own a machine.
Keyboard error: Press F1 to continue.
 

Offline EEVblog

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According to the BBC they're now giving refunds:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39664483

"Chief executive Jeff Dunn said the criticism overlooked the "experience" of the machine.

He claimed the "hacking" of the pouches did not produce the same quality of juice. saying the machine was calibrated to deal with different ingredients differently.

But Juicero has now given customers the chance to return the machine and get their money back, including those who bought it at its launch price of $699."


This bit made me laugh especially:

"Mr Dunn said that because each pouch of fruit and vegetables was individually tagged, the firm could remotely disable them"

 :-DD

Comedy GOLD!  :-DD  :-+
 

Online xrunnerTopic starter

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That is hilarious, but if you think about it, refunding the machine still means they get to profit from purchases of the overpriced "cartridges" which people can still "juice" themselves.

Right, It's like a Swiffer or something like it. The point is not to make a lot of money on the Swiffer hardware (the metal stick thingy that holds the Swiffer refill). The point is to get something into the consumer's hands that requires a refill, which gets used up over and over. You'd want to get as many juice sqeezer machines out as fast and as cheap as possible and sell the refills. Then screw the consumer over with high-priced refills, preferable with a microchip that doesn't allow anyone else's refills. :-//
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Offline wraper

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I just got the best business idea ever. Internet of things toilet with monthly subscription fee. Only proprietary toilet paper allowed and every roll has it's own RFID, authenticity verified on the cloud. 3D results get automatically uploaded to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc, so you spare your time doing it manually.
 

Offline AndyC_772

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I wondered what happens to the waste once the bag has been squeezed dry, but according to their web site, that's covered too. I kid ye not:

"Once pressed, the pulp inside can be eaten (our preference)"

Source: https://www.juicero.com/the-packs/

Online xrunnerTopic starter

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I wondered what happens to the waste once the bag has been squeezed dry, but according to their web site, that's covered too. I kid ye not:

"Once pressed, the pulp inside can be eaten (our preference)"

Source: https://www.juicero.com/the-packs/

Wait a sec ... I think I just got a terrific idea!

Work with me here - wouldn't it be possible to just go to the local grocery store and buy the fruit directly, take it home, and then squeeze it yourself?  ::)
I told my friends I could teach them to be funny, but they all just laughed at me.
 

Offline Mark

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I just got the best business idea ever. Internet of things toilet with monthly subscription fee. Only proprietary toilet paper allowed and every roll has it's own RFID, authenticity verified on the cloud. 3D results get automatically uploaded to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc, so you spare your time doing it manually.

"Internet of Toilet". 

It will send data to a remote server and share your pooping profile with hundreds of companies.  "We see you're having difficulties.  Would you like assistance?". 
 


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