The Top 10 Crowd Funded Projects People Have Been Duped By?

[EEVblog]

As the title says...
What (tech only I guess?) projects should be on the list.
i.e. ones that actually made their target (or used flexible funding) and really has no chance in hell of working as claimed or being delivered?, so people got duped.
Solar Roadways probably has to make the #1 spot

[MLXXXp]

Mµ Thermal Imager
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mu-thermal-camera-a-great-tool-to-save-on-energy-costs

Soap router
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/soaprouter/soap-first-smart-router-w-touch-display-powered-by

[SeanB]

+1 for that! I can see the uses for rugged solar panels, but roadways are not one of them.

Mu thermal is just a slow motion train wreck.

[tom66]

Arguably OUYA, although they did deliver:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console?ref=discovery

[CanadianAvenger]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/myidkey/myidkey-passwords-at-the-tip-of-your-finger

This one died from feature creep and gross mis-management

[Bored@Work]

There are just too many.

Just looking at the recently funded projects at Indigogo results in many candidates https://www.indiegogo.com/explore?filter_browse_balance=true&filter_category=Technology&filter_quick=most_funded

[AndyC_772]

I guess the answer depends whether we're talking about:

a) scams in which punters were intentionally defrauded, or
b) projects which were launched with honourable intentions but which were doomed to fail because they just weren't feasible, or
c) projects which could have succeeded but for the developers' lack of skill and ability to bring them to market?

[tom66]

Medically/scientifically impossible, but still received $1million USD:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/healbe-gobe-the-only-way-to-automatically-measure-calorie-intake

[Artlav]

Arguably OUYA, although they did deliver:

Delivered?!
They promised an open-source gaming console, with a wide selection of free games.
They delivered a piece of crap that won't even start without putting your credit card data into it, and almost no playable games at all.

Good thing i had a backup plan for a nephew's christmas present...

[EEVblog]

I guess the answer depends whether we're talking about:
a) scams in which punters were intentionally defrauded, or
b) projects which were launched with honourable intentions but which were doomed to fail because they just weren't feasible, or

Given that you can't prove a), you have to lump them all into b)

c) projects which could have succeeded but for the developers' lack of skill and ability to bring them to market?

Not really. I'm talking about the ones that simply weren't technically feasible.
Or feasible from a cost point of view and hence were doomed to failure.

[MacAttak]

Mµ Thermal Imager
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mu-thermal-camera-a-great-tool-to-save-on-energy-costs

Soap router
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/soaprouter/soap-first-smart-router-w-touch-display-powered-by

Mu definitely. But what about the soap router makes it bad? (I haven't been following that one)

It sounds a lot like the Almond+, which is now starting to ship. The Almond+ is a little late, but they did keep backers updated throughout the process. So there can't be a tech reason for the other project to be unfeasible.

[Psi]

Arguably OUYA, although they did deliver:

Delivered?!
They promised an open-source gaming console, with a wide selection of free games.
They delivered a piece of crap that won't even start without putting your credit card data into it, and almost no playable games at all.

Good thing i had a backup plan for a nephew's christmas present...

Apparently XBMC or the Google Play Store can be installed instead, and work well for a alternative use of the box.

[tom66]

Mµ Thermal Imager
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mu-thermal-camera-a-great-tool-to-save-on-energy-costs

Soap router
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/soaprouter/soap-first-smart-router-w-touch-display-powered-by

Mu definitely. But what about the soap router makes it bad? (I haven't been following that one)

A short list...
 - Insufficient funds and time to bring quantity of products to the market
 - Lying about development prototypes (copying Novena board, not showing current prototype)
 - They started with an Ethernet shield for an Arduino. I just don't...
 - Fake PCB layouts showing they haven't a clue
 - Enormous software development which is still TBC
 - Unrealistic features such as on-the-fly antivirus (for a gigabit router)

[MacAttak]

Ah OK. So in that case, the project owners are just wholly inept at best, and lying bastards at worst.

[Legit-Design]

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/crowd-funded-projects/full-android-watch/ 

ORSTO (ostro?)

The sad thing is this guy would have gotten away with it IF he just kept his mouth shut. But he started hinting stupid things while the campaign was still ongoing.    It went something like "don't worry we lost money on this too"
After that he called indiegogo people "unprofessional". He also came on this forum sockpuppeting!  After that I was waiting we will see the same thing maybe with mu thermal... too bad mu thermal people were smart enough to just ignore everyone.

Mr. Orsto Deservers special place for doing EVERYTHING wrong.   
This one goes into eevblog.com/forum history books as epic.... FAIL

EDIT: This one was rare occurrence where indiegogo people were actually smart enough to call it quits, if I remember correctly this one already reached it's funding and he started switching the designs around? Must be really bad when indiegogo shuts something down?

[EEVblog]

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/crowd-funded-projects/full-android-watch/ 
ORSTO (ostro?)
He also came on this forum sockpuppeting!

Yep, and flat out lied to me, even when I caught him out and had the proof. What a dick.
Indiegogo have even removed that project page, so everything is lost unless it's been archived.

[Legit-Design]

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/crowd-funded-projects/full-android-watch/ 
ORSTO (ostro?)
He also came on this forum sockpuppeting!

Yep, and flat out lied to me, even when I caught him out and had the proof. What a dick.
Indiegogo have even removed that project page, so everything is lost unless it's been archived.

He changed all the facts around literally every day... all the pictures were hosted on his own site. All the marketing things were on his pictures. If someone had just saved all the pictures, would be fun to watch how they evolved.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/crowd-funded-projects/?sort=views;desc
This narrows the search...

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/crowd-funded-projects/sticknfind-bluetooth-low-energy-(ble)-tracking-tags/
Radio devices never work as advertised. Everyone saying otherwise is lying marketing.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/crowd-funded-projects/stuff-on-indiegogo-that-manages-funding/
SafeSleeve: The All-in-One Radiation Blocking Laptop Case
Dave touched this on his walkabout rant while talking about snake oil and such things. Ok, it might make some people happy. 

[Legit-Design]

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/emospark-first-a-i-home-console#home

Hmm they invented siri that can do smart decisions ?

Early in March an Indiegogo campaign raised $178,000 for EmoSpark, which allows users to “create and interact with an emotionally concise intelligence.” The product video looks like it was composed in a fit of saccharine inspiration after someone saw the movie Her. The campaign was savaged online (http://www.reddit.com/r/kickstarter/comments/1y8stq/emospark_indiegogo_campaign_is_a_scam_they_are/) for its vague product descriptions, the inability to produce a prototype and suspicions that it had massively overstated what it could do.

Also remember this: http://pando.com/2014/04/03/after-pando-shows-clear-evidence-of-fraud-on-indiegogo-company-responds-by-deleting-anti-fraud-guarantee/ ?
Indiegogo are almost as bad as the scammers themselves? Doesn't matter if you don't do it yourself, but you let others do it on your watch in your service?

http://pando.com/2014/04/04/revealed-healbe-isnt-indiegogos-first-giant-medical-scam/ Same as with orsto... indiegogo has ability to swipe scams from the face of the earth. That is after they test it on people to see if anyone notices or cares. If no one notices -> Good scam is a good scam.

[miguelvp]

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/crowd-funded-projects/full-android-watch/ 
ORSTO (ostro?)
He also came on this forum sockpuppeting!

Yep, and flat out lied to me, even when I caught him out and had the proof. What a dick.
Indiegogo have even removed that project page, so everything is lost unless it's been archived.

Apparently Indiegogo pulled the rug under them so no moneys were lost I would think:
https://web.archive.org/web/20130802082626/http://www.orsto.com/

This is the only capture from the way back machine I can get for that project:
https://web.archive.org/web/20130707155118/http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/orsto-x1-2inch-colour-touch-voice-recognition-mobile-phone-watch

No pictures videos, but at least something.

Edit: btw they seem to still be in business
http://www.orsto.com/

[deth502]

Edit: btw they seem to still be in business
http://www.orsto.com/

just posted 2 new vids yesterday. as of my checking, 1 view on one and 8 views on the other.

https://www.youtube.com/user/orsto1/videos

[Legit-Design]

This looks familiar.

https://www.youtube.com/user/orsto1 just scroll down... all his retarded guerilla marketing comments are still there... You know you have it bad when you have to go on similar products youtube comments to promote your product 

[BartManInNZ]

"It has crossed the line into outright fraud."
I agree with this as well, but what  be done about it as outsiders looking in at this slow motion train-wreck people are throwing their money at to get on board?

[vk6zgo]

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/crowd-funded-projects/sticknfind-bluetooth-low-energy-(ble)-tracking-tags/

These sort of gadgets seem to be very popular,though at least this one has a real battery,& doesn't pretend to harvest power to keep it going.

At the end of the day,they are all updates of the venerable (pun intended) "Clap".
At least the Clap was easy to activate without any extra equipment.

All these things require you to know where your smartphone is before you can find anything.
There is a quicker,(& free) answer,------just put all the things you need to find next to your phone!

[janoc]

OpenVizsla, perhaps not outright scam, but the end effect is the same:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bushing/openvizsla-open-source-usb-protocol-analyzer

Oh and Clang was an epic (non-electronic) fail:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/260688528/clang

[tom66]

4 years for OpenViszla but it does look like they are actually delivering?

[Kean]

Some that I've been following that are either outright scams, seriously misleading, or just are technically not possible (with the requested or even final levels of funding):

Soap Router (mentioned above) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/soaprouter/soap-first-smart-router-w-touch-display-powered-by/
and their current IGG campaign https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/soap-one-device-to-rule-them-all-touch-screen-intelligent-router
Kickstarter doesn't normally see Loss Leaders, but worse was their faked prototypes and over-the-top feature list with very short delivery times
They justified the additional IGG campaign because of "interference" on their KS campaign (KS dropped them off the search for a week while investigating complaints)

Smarty Ring https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/smarty-ring--3
and their "upgrade" campaign https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/smarty-ring--4
I challenged them a number of times in the comments (as did many others), and yet they guaranteed they'd have it finished in April

iFind (currently in progress) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yuansong84/ifind-the-worlds-first-battery-free-item-locating
Inver square law (cube law?) makes this just ridiculous - you'd have to regularly leave the device directly on top of your WiFi router - that isn't a device that doesn't need charging!

TellSpec https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tellspec-what-s-in-your-food
Very suspect demos, and now they've completely change technologies
I just hope their competitor SCiO (who I've backed) is genuine - I just want to reuse their tiny spectrophotometer sensors

LiX 3D pen https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lix3d/lix-the-smallest-3d-printing-pen-in-the-world/
Just silly - wouldn't get hot enough with USB power to melt plastic fast enough to be very useful, and yet would likely get too hot to hold

Carbon Watch https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/875790568/carbon-the-only-watch-that-can-charge-your-smartph/
Not at bad as some of the above, but: clearly faked photos (laser printed watchface?) - such a tiny cell isn't going to collect any significant charge, so you're reliant on manually charging the tiny battery, and may as well carry one of those cheap USB chargers you can buy for peanuts - plus if the "winder" is repurposed as the power socket, how do you adjust the time on the watch movement.

For more info and analysis on some of these (and others) check out Drop-Kicker http://drop-kicker.com/

[janoc]

4 years for OpenViszla but it does look like they are actually delivering?

The last I heard they are delivering some sort of devboards to people interested in writing firmware for it. That's probably not what the people signed up for when they have put money in it - that's why I have listed it. However, better than nothing, that's sure.

[marcan]

4 years for OpenViszla but it does look like they are actually delivering?

The last I heard they are delivering some sort of devboards to people interested in writing firmware for it. That's probably not what the people signed up for when they have put money in it - that's why I have listed it. However, better than nothing, that's sure.

Bare-PCB backers already got their rewards, and at least some have ordered the parts, put it together, and reported success on the mailing list. $1000 backers have all received their final, tested working pre-production boards. An update is imminent regarding the rest, but spoiler: modulo a couple of minor delays, things are going as (finally) planned. Check the existing KS updates for the story so far and watch for an imminent one.

Most delayed Kickstarter project ever, perhaps. Multiple management epic fails, sure. But people are finally getting what they pledged for; I'd say that's hardly duping people.

Admittedly the software/firmware is bare-bones and incomplete, but fully open source, exercises all of the hardware, and can actually sniff USB packets.

(Disclaimer: I'm an occasional volunteer developer for the project but not involved in manufacturing or distribution. Yes, I have a prototype and it works.)

[BurtyB]

4 years for OpenViszla but it does look like they are actually delivering?

Yup they do exist

[8086]

I wonder if they have permission to put Altium etc on the PCB...?

[tmbinc]

Yes, the project was actually - back then when it was still all shiny and glory - supported by Altium; for example they supported it with a free license, in response to appearing on the product. Whether the association in the end was worth it may be a different question.

OpenVizsla actually works:

~/ov_ftdi/software/host$ sudo python3 ovctl.py --pkg ov3.fwpkg  sniff ls > log
FPGA: Bitstream timestamp 2014/06/06 13:58:18
FPGA: sending configuration bitstream
FPGA: CRC OK
FPGA: configured
^Ctmbinc@debian:~/ov_ftdi/software/host$ python3 ~/ov_analyze/v1/analyze.py log  | grep -v CLAIM | grep -v TIMESTAMP
<2 ERROR >
<32 Control: time=4 Addr 0 EP0 bmRequestType=80 bRequest=06 GET_DESCRIPTOR wValue=0100 wIndex=00 wLength=40 data=12010002000000083c411230014301020001>
<40 Transfer: time=16..16 OUT Addr 0 EP0 >
<56 Control: time=19 Addr 0 EP0 bmRequestType=00 bRequest=05 SET_ADDRESS wValue=0025 wIndex=00 wLength=00 data=>
<86 Control: time=25 Addr 37 EP0 bmRequestType=80 bRequest=06 GET_DESCRIPTOR wValue=0100 wIndex=00 wLength=12 data=12010002000000083c411230014301020001>
<94 Transfer: time=37..37 OUT Addr 37 EP0 >
<117 Control: time=40 Addr 37 EP0 bmRequestType=80 bRequest=06 GET_DESCRIPTOR wValue=0200 wIndex=00 wLength=09 data=09022200010100a032>
<125 Transfer: time=49..49 OUT Addr 37 EP0 >
<169 Control: time=52 Addr 37 EP0 bmRequestType=80 bRequest=06 GET_DESCRIPTOR wValue=0200 wIndex=00 wLength=22 data=09022200010100a0320904000001030102000921110100012234000705810305000a>
<177 Transfer: time=70..70 OUT Addr 37 EP0 >
<193 Control: time=73 Addr 37 EP0 bmRequestType=80 bRequest=06 GET_DESCRIPTOR wValue=0300 wIndex=00 wLength=ff data=04030904>
<201 Transfer: time=79..79 OUT Addr 37 EP0 >
<252 Control: time=82 Addr 37 EP0 bmRequestType=80 bRequest=06 GET_DESCRIPTOR wValue=0302 wIndex=409 wLength=ff data=2e03440065006c006c00200055005300420020004f00700074006900630061006c0020004d006f00750073006500>
<260 Transfer: time=103..103 OUT Addr 37 EP0 >
<283 Control: time=106 Addr 37 EP0 bmRequestType=80 bRequest=06 GET_DESCRIPTOR wValue=0301 wIndex=409 wLength=ff data=0a03440065006c006c00>
<291 Transfer: time=115..115 OUT Addr 37 EP0 >
<307 Control: time=118 Addr 37 EP0 bmRequestType=00 bRequest=09 SET_CONFIGURATION wValue=0001 wIndex=00 wLength=00 data=>
<323 Control: time=124 Addr 37 EP0 bmRequestType=21 bRequest=0a  wValue=0000 wIndex=00 wLength=00 data=>
<381 Control: time=130 Addr 37 EP0 bmRequestType=81 bRequest=06  wValue=2200 wIndex=00 wLength=34 data=05010902a1010901a1000509190129031500250175019503810275059501810105010930093109381581257f750895038106c0c0>
<389 Transfer: time=154..154 OUT Addr 37 EP0 >
<1207 Transfer: time=156..478 IN Addr 37 EP1 >
<1213 Transfer: time=481..481 IN Addr 37 EP1 IN=000000ff >
<1716 Transfer: time=483..681 IN Addr 37 EP1 >
<1722 Transfer: time=684..684 IN Addr 37 EP1 IN=00fffd00 >
<2350 Transfer: time=686..934 IN Addr 37 EP1 >
<2356 Transfer: time=937..937 IN Addr 37 EP1 IN=00f9fa00 >

(Disclaimer: I'm an occasional volunteer developer for the project but not involved in manufacturing or distribution. Yes, I have a prototype and it works.)

[janoc]

Well, good to hear that at least that works. However, the device is quite far from what was promised in the KS project (yeah, I know the history).

[tjb1]

Check it out

http://hackaday.com/2014/06/26/the-ifind-kickstarter-campaign-was-just-suspended/

[marcan]

Well, good to hear that at least that works. However, the device is quite far from what was promised in the KS project (yeah, I know the history).

Is it? Little more than an open hardware and open firmware USB 2.0 (LS/FS/HS) analyzer was promised as far as I can tell. While the design did change quite a bit from the first shot (switched to a more modern FPGA, got rid of the XMOS which made no sense to begin with, simplified, removed a ton of feature creep), it still does buffered*, realtime USB sniffing and can be extended via unused I/Os on a .1" header. While the original had a ton of overkill stuff like a dedicated debug USB port, LCD screen, SD card slot, high-speed expansion connector, VBUS current meter, and a few other things, I don't think any of that was promised in the KS project description? Please correct me if I'm wrong. We did our best to go back to the basics and deliver something that works as promised, trying to trim things that were overkill to begin with. There's still room for quite a bit of functionality (e.g. rather complex filtering/triggering) in the FPGA, which anyone can hack on since it's open source. And, for example, even though the current meter IC is gone, there is a link you can cut to tap into the VBUS line, so you could add that as a very simple shunt+ADC module and plug it into the spare I/O port. The design is meant to be reasonably extensible.

* well, not yet, the RAM is there and well tested beyond the required speed, but not part of the USB datapath in the FPGA design yet.

[reubot]

SIGMO - talk and understand in more than 25 languages!! ($249,005USD
raised of $15,000 goal - 1,660%)

[8086]

SIGMO - talk and understand in more than 25 languages!! ($249,005USD
raised of $15,000 goal - 1,660%)

I don't see the problem with this one?

[reubot]

I don't see the problem with this one?

There are plenty of disgruntled backers in the comments.

[deth502]

heres my view of the future.

these scammers/well intentioned idiots will destroy this entire process. im reading these comments and all of these ppl are saying that they got nothing and they are filing chargebacks with their credit card company. i cant imagine the cc companies taking these hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses through these sites in stride, so im guessing it wont be long before they will not allow ppl to accept their cards on these sites. and that will kill the "crowd funded" activities.

[Marco]

If the CC's stop cooperating Kickstarter could still go on, they would have to setup a paypal like scheme (well outside the EU any way, in the EU they can simply keep the money in escrow because of the free money transfers). This would be good, would make them a bit more liable/careful and would make the impulse buyers go away. Win win.

[MrsR]

I think the most obvious is WINDOWS  their back down to Ver.8 if they keep going they will disappear up their own err!! Rectums.
Has anyone seen a better con job, Comes loaded on just about every personal computer made and from the day it's bought on the way home the first update &  fix is there to up load.

Rachael 

[8086]

SIGMO - talk and understand in more than 25 languages!! ($249,005USD
raised of $15,000 goal - 1,660%)

I don't see the problem with this one?

Like many Kickstarter projects they vastly underestimated the difficulty of what they are trying to do.

I must have not fully understood in that case, I thought they were essentially developing a bluetooth audio interface which would be used with a phone running a 3rd party app/service to actually do the translation. I assumed they weren't providing the translation themselves.

[deth502]

http://www.polygon.com/2014/7/5/5873325/kickstarter-potato-salad

[Mr.B]

I'm not sure anybody is being 'duped' with the Potato Salad KS.
The project is honest and not promising anything that cannot be delivered.
Vac-pack a couple of thousand tablespoons of salad and ship it... Logistically a bit of a challenge but not impossible.
If there are people out there that want to waste 20 bucks buying a tablespoon of potato salad, let them I say.
I personally would not invest, but plenty of apparent potato salad lovers are... 

[miguelvp]

Who will eat it anyways, after shipping if not refrigerated just spells salmonella! 
Unless his potato salad is not prepared with mayo or any egg based ingredient, but then it wouldn't be a potato salad!

[pickle9000]

Seeing as the "potato salad" thing worked so well, it's fair to assume there will be many more "silly" projects. I agree that in this case it looks like an honest guy having some fun. I personally have no problem with that. And of course there could be some really weird ones, exhibition type art stuff.

[Bud]

Did he say he is going to ship anything? I thought he said he will just "make" potato salad.

[miguelvp]

Did he say he is going to ship anything? I thought he said he will just "make" potato salad.

Pledge $3 or more
Receive a bite of the potato salad

so 1,357 backers out of 2,737 so far will receive potato salad

Edit: I don't know how is he going to do this:

$3000: My kitchen is too small! I will rent out a party hall and invite the whole internet to the potato salad party (only $10 and above will be allowed in the kitchen)! The internet loves potato salad! Let's show them that potato salad loves the internet!!

So far there are 575 with $10 or above. so I imagine a long line to see him make potato salad in his kitchen.

[MacAttak]

It does indeed look like a tasty potato salad though. Unless those photos are really just "artistic representations".

[LukeW]

The potato salad thing does not sound like a scam or a fraud - just people backing something silly, but not doing so based on unrealistic or fraudulent expectations of what their money is getting them.

Kickstarter is kind of like an open access scientific journal - the people running it do have to filter the content well, and have standards, and weed out the good stuff from the crap if it is to be taken seriously and not be a joke.

[miguelvp]

Agreed, it's all in gist because there is no way they can deliver a bite of potato salad and photo (not a picture) of him making potato salad, a thank you on their web page and him saying your name out loud while making a potato salad $3 won't cover it, but I bet most won't really expect the actual bite

[matseng]

TellSpec https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tellspec-what-s-in-your-food
Very suspect demos, and now they've completely change technologies
I just hope their competitor SCiO (who I've backed) is genuine - I just want to reuse their tiny spectrophotometer sensors

What happened with your SCiO?  Did you ever receive anything from them?  They are still at it it seems:

French startup DietSensor launched at the 2016 International Consumer Electronics Show a pocket-sized, Bluetooth-connected molecular sensor called SCiO. It uses near-infrared spectroscopy (the analysis of how molecules interact with light) to determine the chemical makeup of food and drink. SCiO can analyze substances based on how their molecules interact with light.

http://mashable.com/2016/01/04/dietsensor-scio-scans-food

[Kean]

Hi Mats,
I actually received it just before Christmas, so it is actually shipping, and looks well built.  I've been so busy with work for the last month that I've only played with it a little, but it does seem to actually work.  Just not sure how useful it is with the currently available data models.  Certainly doesn't seem ready for consumers in that respect.
As a "developer backer" I guess I'm meant to start building my own models, but that means having lots of samples to measure and knowing their specific attributes.  My interest is in spectrophotometers for chlorophyll and sunlight measurements, not so much for food or medicine.
Kean

[Kean]

French startup DietSensor launched at the 2016 International Consumer Electronics Show a pocket-sized, Bluetooth-connected molecular sensor called SCiO. It uses near-infrared spectroscopy (the analysis of how molecules interact with light) to determine the chemical makeup of food and drink. SCiO can analyze substances based on how their molecules interact with light.

http://mashable.com/2016/01/04/dietsensor-scio-scans-food

It looks like DietSensor are a SCiO early developer.  I wonder if they will be selling SCiO devices before ConsumerPhysics finish delivering to backers.  That would be sneaky way for ConsumerPhysics to bring in some more cash.  I doubt they'd do that as I think they'd be able to get a decent amount investment quite easily elsewhere, so it is probably DietSensor just getting in early at CES.

[Kean]

In addition to backing SCiO at the developer level, I also pledged (under a different KS account) at the Maker level.  I was starting to wonder how they were going to ship the maker devices considering they've made a big deal in their updates about how fiddly the sensors were to assembly.  Also there are interesting terms in the (software & backend web service) T&C's which are not exactly maker friendly.

Well, I just got this message from CP:

Thanks again for making the pledge for the SCiO Makers Kit!
We are happy to let you know that we will be shipping your product in the next few weeks, and would like to update you on what you can expect to get.
Due to the sensitivity of the molecular sensor and illumination source we will not be able to send you a "bare-bones" product as originally promised because we have found it is imperative to keep the delicate components within the rigid structure of the mechanical enclosure to ensure the accuracy and consistency of scan results.
So, instead we will be upgrading you, at no extra charge, to the Developer Toolkit and provide you with a developer license, along with CAD files so you can design and integrate the encased SCiO unit into your project.
You will be contacted within days to confirm your shipping information.

So it appears they're really ramping up production now, and trying to get as many developers on board as possible.
Anyway, it means I will now have an extra device that I can lend out to clients and friends, and/or do a tear down.

[matseng]

That's nice!  For once one of the "impossible" campaigns actually produced something.  Even if the units would not live up fully to the expectations of the original purpose they might be usable for other things like in your case.

[boffin]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned ZPM Espresso. 

Lots of press on the vapourware espresso machine.  I know I'm out a couple of hundy.

[sk2593]

Is this another Scam?

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/asap-dash-world-s-fastest-pocket-sized-charger#/story

They claim to be able to fully charge a 5000mAh battery in 15 mins using a 50 watts charger???
Is that even possible?  5000mAh @5 volts = 25 Wh battery.

Assuming a  100% conversion efficiency and a constant charge rate(batteries don't charge at a constant charge rate the last 20% actually takes a lot longer)  a 50 watt charger  would take 30 mins at the least to charge, right?

Newbie just trying to learn!

[rrinker]

 Charge your iPhone in just 5 minutes? Let's all say it, in Dave's voice.....that's BULLSHIT! 

I dunno about the newest ones, I'm still on a 5S, but while it does charge faster using my iPad's 2.1 amp charger, it's not twice as fast as using the stock 1 amp charger. The phone does not allow charging at a rate that could take it from dead to full charge in only 5 minutes. Not to mention, if their 3 amp output means it charges in 5 minutes, that would mean the stock 1 amp charger recharges it in 15 - NOT. Slightly misleading when they say you can charge the thing up at 10W using any USB port - sorry guys, the standard USB port does NOT provide 2 amps, though my pc motherboard does have 2 USB 3.0 ports than when used with their special driver will supply 2 amps. Stock limit is 500ma for USB 2.0, 900ma for USB 3.0.

Fail.

[Delta]

Charge your iPhone in just 5 minutes? Let's all say it, in Dave's voice.....that's BULLSHIT! 

At least read the bloody thing, that is NOT what they are claiming at all...

[rrinker]

Charge your iPhone in just 5 minutes? Let's all say it, in Dave's voice.....that's BULLSHIT! 

At least read the bloody thing, that is NOT what they are claiming at all...

 Oh? Caption of the video right at the top: "World's Fastest Pocket-sized Phone Charger. Enough power to charge your iPhone in only 5 minutes. "

And later they have one that says "charge 3 iPhone 6's in 15 minutes"

OK, well, in the first one I guess they only say it has enough power to do it, not that it does do it - but how are 99.9% of the population going to interpret that wording? Exactly as I did - it can charge your iPhone in 5 minutes.

[suicidaleggroll]

Is this another Scam?

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/asap-dash-world-s-fastest-pocket-sized-charger#/story

They claim to be able to fully charge a 5000mAh battery in 15 mins using a 50 watts charger???
Is that even possible?  5000mAh @5 volts = 25 Wh battery.

Assuming a  100% conversion efficiency and a constant charge rate(batteries don't charge at a constant charge rate the last 20% actually takes a lot longer)  a 50 watt charger  would take 30 mins at the least to charge, right?

Newbie just trying to learn!

Battery capacity is not rated at 5V, it's rated at the battery's nominal voltage.  They don't say what type of battery is being used, but assuming it's similar to a "standard" Li-ion at 3.7V, 5Ah=18.5Wh.  At 50W and 100% efficiency, that's a hair over 22 minutes.

However, they do list the charging rate in mAh/min (what a stupid unit...).  333.33 mAh/min is 20A.  At 50W, that would imply a battery voltage of 2.5 V.  Since they never actually tell you what the battery chemistry is (I certainly hope it's not standard Li-ion at that charging rate...), 2.5V could be correct.

[Delta]

Charge your iPhone in just 5 minutes? Let's all say it, in Dave's voice.....that's BULLSHIT! 

At least read the bloody thing, that is NOT what they are claiming at all...

 Oh? Caption of the video right at the top: "World's Fastest Pocket-sized Phone Charger. Enough power to charge your iPhone in only 5 minutes. "

And later they have one that says "charge 3 iPhone 6's in 15 minutes"

OK, well, in the first one I guess they only say it has enough power to do it, not that it does do it - but how are 99.9% of the population going to interpret that wording? Exactly as I did - it can charge your iPhone in 5 minutes.

In all honesty, I genuinely read it as "this device can be charged with enough energy in five minutes to charge 3 iPhone6s".  I think it is quite clear, especially as their main unit of energy on the page is "<name of mobile device> charges".

There is nothing deceptive there, I think you just misunderstood it... 

[sk2593]

Battery capacity is not rated at 5V, it's rated at the battery's nominal voltage.  They don't say what type of battery is being used, but assuming it's similar to a "standard" Li-ion at 3.7V, 5Ah=18.5Wh.  At 50W and 100% efficiency, that's a hair over 22 minutes.

OK, if it is Li-Ion than charging voltage would be ~ 4.2. and based on on 20 amps charging current that would mean a 85 watts power supply ?. It they are using a "special" battery that charges at 2.5 volts than the capacity would be 2.5v, 5 AH=12Wh. There is no way a 12Wh battery can charge a iphone5  3 times?

[suicidaleggroll]

Battery capacity is not rated at 5V, it's rated at the battery's nominal voltage.  They don't say what type of battery is being used, but assuming it's similar to a "standard" Li-ion at 3.7V, 5Ah=18.5Wh.  At 50W and 100% efficiency, that's a hair over 22 minutes.

OK, if it is Li-Ion than charging voltage would be ~ 4.2. and based on on 20 amps charging current that would mean a 85 watts power supply ?. It they are using a "special" battery that charges at 2.5 volts than the capacity would be 2.5v, 5 AH=12Wh. There is no way a 12Wh battery can charge a iphone5  3 times?

It's only 4.2 at the end of the cycle.  The majority of the cycle is constant current, where the voltage is whatever it needs to be to hit the target charge current (as long as it's < 4.2v).

[boffin]

To their defense, most of their "much faster" claims are not that they can charge your phone faster, but that they can charge *their* battery faster.  That would be nice, I know my 11000mAh battery really needs a good overnight to get it up to snuff.

However, most of the claims about being able to charge your phone/ipad faster are utter BULLSHIT ^{(tm) of eeblog}

I do wonder (and they don't mention it), if they support the 9volt charging that is fast charging on a Samsung (the charger sees D+/D- shorted and upvoltages to 9v (@ 1.8A IIRC) to charge the newer Samsung phones a lot faster than a 500mA USB jack.