QuoteBatteriser is crafted from stainless steel at 0.1 mm thin to fit back neatly back into your devices’ battery compartments, and comes in 2 variations: for side-by-side batteries or batteries that are stacked, like in a keyboard.
Umm... when did this happen?
Korean SKTA is not really a big player in the VC California world. They haven't been around for more than a couple of years. They are focusing on reviving the Silicon Valley hardware business, instead of investing in software, like other VC companies. Batteroo is their first venture into the consumer product arena. By the look of things, not much 'energy' went into assessing the final product performance.
Up to one million dollars is allocated to each start-up, for an equity of 25%, with a revenue stream or acquisition within 3 years. Their overall initial funding was 10 million dollars in 2013.
They have 5 start-ups on their books (incubator space for 11), with, AFAIK, no return on investment yet (target 8~10%).
Incidentally, the tech start-up failure rate in California is hovering around 90%. The failure rate for VC-backed companies is still about 75%.
The odds don't look good for SKTA.Excellent review of SKTA credentials. An inexperienced VC with money, but no tech savvy, falling for the story of a self-aggrandizing, but mediocre, technical leadership. A short expected lifetime.
Update.
Batteriser is crafted from stainless steel at 0.1 mm thin to fit back neatly back into your devices’ battery compartments, and comes in 2 variations: for side-by-side batteries or batteries that are stacked, like in a keyboard.
"side-by-side" (i.e. parallel) battery configurations
QuoteBatteriser is crafted from stainless steel at 0.1 mm thin to fit back neatly back into your devices’ battery compartments, and comes in 2 variations: for side-by-side batteries or batteries that are stacked, like in a keyboard.My take on this is they have different versions for "stacked" (i.e. in-series) batteries versus "side-by-side" (i.e. parallel) battery configurations. This is to adjust for the in-efficiencies of multiple boost converters in series. At least that's what I read into this announcement.
NOW.... as far as the general lay public understanding what this means for their toys and appliances, I don't know. Some people have a hard time even putting batteries in the correct polarity orientation. Now ask them to decypher the circuit internals (which may not be entirely obvious) into whether those "side-by-side" batteries are anti-parallel or going in the same direction, and whether the ends are common or not, or wired in some other way. It will be hard to sometimes figure out for some people.
That was a pretty lame update after 11 days. No detail at all.
Their campaign was a classic example of about how to do everything right (from a marketing/sales and running a campaign perspective). Can't say the same for the updates after it's closed.
QuoteBatteriser is crafted from stainless steel at 0.1 mm thin to fit back neatly back into your devices’ battery compartments, and comes in 2 variations: for side-by-side batteries or batteries that are stacked, like in a keyboard.My take on this is they have different versions for "stacked" (i.e. in-series) batteries versus "side-by-side" (i.e. parallel) battery configurations. This is to adjust for the in-efficiencies of multiple boost converters in series. At least that's what I read into this announcement.
NOW.... as far as the general lay public understanding what this means for their toys and appliances, I don't know. Some people have a hard time even putting batteries in the correct polarity orientation. Now ask them to decypher the circuit internals (which may not be entirely obvious) into whether those "side-by-side" batteries are anti-parallel or going in the same direction, and whether the ends are common or not, or wired in some other way. It will be hard to sometimes figure out for some people.
It will be impossible for most, and they won't even bother checking even if they could.
And what type do backers get shipped? Will they send out a survey asking people which type they want?
This has all the hallmarks of a last minute worthy oopsy.
Yes, slick and effective marketing BS, for sure.... Actual information or useful data and statistics, any technical information at all, anywhere? Not so much!
They've certainly had several worthy oopsies during this cherade and they still obviously seem to be engineering these things on-the-fly, as it were... This is not at all how you bring an honest, quality product to market, regardless of how "slick" your marketing department is.
That stuff doesn't matter when you are strictly (as I am) talking about their actual campaign. I can't see how anyone could argue it was not executed to almost flawless perfection.
...
That's got nothing to do with the running of the campaign though. Different issue.
That stuff doesn't matter when you are strictly (as I am) talking about their actual campaign. I can't see how anyone could argue it was not executed to almost flawless perfection.
...
That's got nothing to do with the running of the campaign though. Different issue.
Oh, most definitely!
It just seems to me that with any kind of (especially crowdfunded) technological gadget, anything that is promoted without supplying any kind of technical information to back up claims or properly describe what the campaign is actually peddling should be the kind of thing that would raise red flags, even to some non-technical-type people.
... or just the AA, which is the only one we have seen a working prototype of.I didn't see that.
IIRC you keep repeating this scepticism, and I don't know why.
They have clearly shown prototypes, reputable people have physically seen them work, they exist.
No one, except you it seems, seems to think they don't exist.
Making a tiny boost converter like this is not rocket science.
QuoteBatteriser is crafted from stainless steel at 0.1 mm thin to fit back neatly back into your devices’ battery compartments, and comes in 2 variations: for side-by-side batteries or batteries that are stacked, like in a keyboard.
Umm... when did this happen?
, and comes in 2 variations: for side-by-side batteries or batteries that are stacked, like in a keyboard
Just because they did not show prototypes. And I did not see a working prototype in their videos.
Just because they did not show prototypes. And I did not see a working prototype in their videos.What about the Apple keyboard video?
What about the Apple keyboard video?I've been in doubt of mentioning my thought for many weeks, but although this video may very well be an actual working demonstration of the device, at the same time there is no guarantee that you are actually looking at the keyboard that is paired with the laptop. I mean it would be trivial to have a second keyboard nearby that is actually showing its stats on the computer screen.
QuoteBatteriser is crafted from stainless steel at 0.1 mm thin to fit back neatly back into your devices’ battery compartments, and comes in 2 variations: for side-by-side batteries or batteries that are stacked, like in a keyboard.
Umm... when did this happen?
TheQuote, and comes in 2 variations: for side-by-side batteries or batteries that are stacked, like in a keyboard
part disappeared from the batteriser website.
Just because they did not show prototypes. And I did not see a working prototype in their videos.
You mentioned the "reputable" "reporters" before. You did not say who they are, what they know, they did not make/show a report.
You just mentioned they said "it worked", without specifying how, where, why, conditions, report.
part disappeared from the batteriser website.
part disappeared from the batteriser website.
Technical information appearing and disappearing from their website after someone mentions it on could become a drinking game!
part disappeared from the batteriser website.
Technical information appearing and disappearing from their website after someone mentions it on could become a drinking game!
Or they're testing version control tools.
https://www.yahoo.com/makers/breakthrough-battery-gadget-answers-critics-125063020800.html
I have spoken to him directly, he has seen it working.
That eye-catching 800 percent improvement has been realized on some devices, Roohparvar says, but perhaps more importantly, his company has seen enough dramatic improvement in general to make the product worthwhile to regular consumers. “A golf GPS ran out in 2 hours,” he says. “We put the Batteriser on and it runs over 10 hours. That’s 5 times!”
Yahoo Makers was only able to try out the Batteriser briefly in our offices.
After Roohparvar successfully demonstrated the Batteriser prototype in his Apple keyboard, we tried it out in a regular flashlight and in a Bluetooth mouse. This time, though, it failed to make contact and power the devices. Roohparvar thought the positive tip wasn’t quite lined up where it needed to be and said the production version would be much more resilient. He offered to give Yahoo Makers another unit to test soon.
Quote from: YahooYahoo Makers was only able to try out the Batteriser briefly in our offices.
After Roohparvar successfully demonstrated the Batteriser prototype in his Apple keyboard, we tried it out in a regular flashlight and in a Bluetooth mouse. This time, though, it failed to make contact and power the devices. Roohparvar thought the positive tip wasn’t quite lined up where it needed to be and said the production version would be much more resilient. He offered to give Yahoo Makers another unit to test soon.
They couldn't fiddle with it until it made contact...?