New kick ass device !!! www.umbo.us

[fsaezc]

Have you ever seen Apple videos?... do you think those are the working product? Ha! Nope, they're renders.
So I disagree with your comment.

Apple has a proven track record of delivering a working product.

we've pre-sold over $10k in just few hours directly on our site

That's like 35 units. Obviously there are at least this many people with no ability for critical thinking. Things will change once people actually get the product and publish bad reviews. And they will be bad, just based on technical impossibility of claimed performance.

Alex, we could be discussing this for hours and hours...

We're entrepreneurs trying to do something hard, but something non the less...

You're giving us great points here but with a sad "glass half full" view... You'r comments are fuel to us so keep up the hater work!
Either you're part of the solution or you're part of the problem...

We'll take reasonable time to execute on our roadmap, invent new technologies and hopefully I'll come back and tell you "Alex! You were wrong! " So time will tell!

Thanks for your feedback!

[jancumps]

So what is your answer fsaezc when a customer says

"hello, I put my umbo on my kitchen counter exactly like shown in your photo, and... I can not see any black, in fact, I can't see anything in daylight I have to close all my curtains and make the room dark"

do you say "that was just a render, you did not think it was real did you!"

We're working so when this product is shipped, there is no way to get that question.

A bit late for the 10K$ that have already pre-ordered, right? Lucky for them, your terms&conditions apply.

[Cliff Matthews]

Besides the obvious PS-ing and no power cables on a power-hungry device..
How do you propose to keep this thing cool while it competes with ambient light?

Hi Cliff, we'll be updating the media on the site shortly.
This is a power-hungry device as you say, it doesn't use battery, it uses USB-C power connector.
We hope to make these points clearer this week.
thanks!

With that puny lens, it'll need a roaring fan and 500 Lumens (or most customers will "batterize it" with a hammer)   

[Bud]

On the team of 7 people why do you need a Chief Technology Officer if you have an EE ?

[Dubbie]

Just a pro-tip for you. In your compositing software set the layer to "add" mode to see what it will really look like. Or if you are using photoshop, use "screen" mode. This will give you a realistic simulation of what a projection will look like.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Delta]

 

Scam scam scam scam scam scam SCAM!

Get thee onto Indegogo, you'll make a fortune!

Then use the money to buy a physics book...

[Corporate666]

Have you ever seen Apple videos?... do you think those are the working product? Ha! Nope, they're renders.
So I disagree with your comment.

Apple does not show their products doing things that they will not be able to do when they deliver them to the customer.  To do so is fraud.

The main idea of launching a website with renders is to validate the value proposition, customers won't be disappointed with a render-page, they will be only if the product doesn't meet the value prop, which we're working extremely hard not to go on that route.

I can't believe what you're saying.  You're justifying lying to your customers so long as your device fulfills enough of it's promised capability to be useful - and you are making the determination about how much of that need you need to fill to have delivered on the promise.  That is tantamount to a scam. 

Our product can do all what we're claiming. Want to swing by a try it? Ping me.

It can project dark scenes onto a bright wall?

We will change the renders on our next photo/video session, but guess what?... we've pre-sold over $10k in just few hours directly on our site... so we're actually validating the need for a device like this... and also, our orders are 100% refundable

The fact that orders are refundable doesn't matter.   Have you actually checked what the terms of your credit card account state?  Others mentioned in this thread that you didn't have a privacy page (but you seem to have quickly added one).  You are not allowed to just take people's money and say "it's cool, we'll refund people", just like you aren't allowed to make false promises and say "it's cool, we're validating a concept".

You guys are behaving like scammers.

[rt]

We're entrepreneurs trying to do something hard, but something non the less...

You're giving us great points here but with a sad "glass half full" view... You'r comments are fuel to us so keep up the hater work!
Either you're part of the solution or you're part of the problem...

An almost verbatim Ubeam quote.

Either you have a working prototype and believable physics or this is a scam.

[jancumps]

The 'kick ass' part from the subject line turned into an ass kicking.

[prasimix]

A specific odor of psychopathic traits can be smelled in umbo's replies. That's give them a great chance to make another unforgettable campaign on the IGG or KS. If you think that is exaggerated take some time and read this book (it's free and open source!). It comes not from academics who is theorizing about psychopathy but guy who had a lot of opportunity to detect psychopathy and clean a mess caused by it.

[Ontaelio]

Well, Lenovo has a tablet called Yoga with in-built projector. Not being an IT journalist anymore I wasn't able to lay my hands on it, but people who did say it is surprizingly efficient. Not on par with normal projectors, sure, but enough to watch a TV show on a ceiling in a darkened room.

Thus I'm even a bit interested in this device. I won't ever buy a tablet just to watch TV shows, nor will a buy a thingie that's projecting my phone screen on a wall, but if this device were capable of streaming video off a phone/notebook (or even better a memory card) and had a headphones jack... which it doesn't.... well, I would have at least thought about giving it a try.

Really, really remove these offending images with darkened walls from your site. This is not marketing, this is an abuse to anyone with at least some ability to think.

[Cliff Matthews]

A specific odor of psychopathic traits can be smelled in umbo's replies. That's give them a great chance to make another unforgettable campaign on the IGG or KS. If you think that is exaggerated take some time and read this book (it's free and open source!). It comes not from academics who is theorizing about psychopathy but guy who had a lot of opportunity to detect psychopathy and clean a mess caused by it.

I think some EE Enthusiast types have our own bent and as such, we overlook things you picked up on. I see it can be bought (if any still use paper here..) on Amazon and has some good reviews! It'll be a break from the datasheets, Thanks!
https://www.amazon.com/Psychopath-Code-Cracking-Predators-Stalk/product-reviews/1514342022/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_summary

[jancumps]

Pieter Hintjens was from Belgium. I know first hand that there's plenty of study material around here .

(It's good to see his name mentioned - he passed away last month)

[Morgoroth]

I start this thread and never think the project were beaten in this way, so is time to explain some details:

We are aware of the luminosity limit and usability, obviously, there is no device that works at sunlight or really bright room and we don't pretend to lie about that, but our projector is quite powerful given the size and proved to handle well on artificial light and not direct spotlight over it. Sadly I can't share all the information right now given NDA signed with the manufacturer (the new projector will be released in Q2 next year), I think all understand that. Maybe for PM I could share more information if someone is really interested.

One of the objectives to share the website was to polish it and I think we did it with all the comments.... even the bitter ones, and indeed the renders are just while we finish the prototype and test it as unit to take the pictures, we KNOW that the renders are not real/best approach and we don't want that, seems like I just don't insist in that enough.

Now we have the device working over EVMs and ugly cables, just this Friday we received the integrated PCBs and sadly I had to go out f the country to renew my VISA (SF, CA) and I couldn't finish the integration and testing, so all is delayed a couple of weeks. Should be a startup visa kind.

@prasimix: I just start reading the book and looks very good, thanks for share it.

Other details I can share, the device use USB type C with PD, so we have up to 60W to play with it.

The processor is Smartdragon 410E, but I'll try to go for the Snapdragon 800 if Qualcomm gives us a decent price for it.

3GB of RAM.

No need of headphones connector given the bluetooth 4.1 integrated to it.

And please don't beat us for a mistake, all the comments are welcome, but calm down, that's why we are here, we want professional opinions to do it well.

Best regards all,

 JP

[StuUK]

I've got Deja Vu 

[prasimix]

The "main" problem with suggested book is that it can gives real psychopaths a new idea how to "polish" their strategies and to look more human when hunting for their (human) pray. Good luck.

[free_electron]

Is the projector you are using still suffering from sparkling ? or has that been solved ?

For the naysayers : this technology is perfectly possible. It is a called a laser picoprojector.

http://www.st.com/en/imaging-and-photonics-solutions/pico-projection-video-processors.html?querycriteria=productId=SC1600

i have seen this thing already in 2013 and it works really well.
http://www.picoprojector-info.com/tags/companies/st

http://www.kguttag.com/2015/06/21/lenovos-stmicro-based-prototype-laser-projector-part-1/
http://www.chipworks.com/about-chipworks/overview/blog/stmicroelectronics-micromirrors-microvision-and-sony-bring-pico

Sony has had video camera's with such projectors in them for at least 2 years.

[Cliff Matthews]

Ok, reasonable response to nay-sayers...
So is this capable of running stand alone slides? (ie. In case the BT rmt. gets lost or dropped, and will have a uflash slot?)

... and thank you to free_electron for the good links!

[purfield]

I'll defer to more experienced engineers on the feasibility of this product, but as an average joe I can speak to the "value proposition  " of the device.  To me, this seems like something I would use once or twice, and then a few years later it would end up in a landfill.  I see no need for it, and it strikes as little more than a cash grab.  How many permutations of wifi/bluetooth connected ARM processors driving a display/sensor are we going to get?  /rant

[ataradov]

To me, this seems like something I would use once or twice, and then a few years later it would end up in a landfill.

Yes, that as well.

It is not clear how the gesture detection will work. If this thing is installed on my bedside table, and I'm in the bed, will it be able to detect my gestures? What type of gestures are supported?

What about image distortion? I want this thing to sit in the corner of a room and project into the middle of the wall. Is this going to work? There does not seem to be any optics to speak of, so does this mean that correction is digital? Does it reduce usable resolution? What is the resolution in a first place?

At the moment there is enough material for a scam IGG campaign, not much else.

[timb]

Is the projector you are using still suffering from sparkling ? or has that been solved ?

For the naysayers : this technology is perfectly possible. It is a called a laser picoprojector.

http://www.st.com/en/imaging-and-photonics-solutions/pico-projection-video-processors.html?querycriteria=productId=SC1600

i have seen this thing already in 2013 and it works really well.
http://www.picoprojector-info.com/tags/companies/st

http://www.kguttag.com/2015/06/21/lenovos-stmicro-based-prototype-laser-projector-part-1/
http://www.chipworks.com/about-chipworks/overview/blog/stmicroelectronics-micromirrors-microvision-and-sony-bring-pico

Sony has had video camera's with such projectors in them for at least 2 years.

Nobody said it wasn't possible... It could be done with TI's DLP micro mirror technology as well.

The problem we're all bitching about is this: The "concept renderings" from the OP's website show an image containing black being projected on a wall in a bright room. That's physically impossible and very deceptive.

Hopefully I don't have to explain what additive colors are, right?



So, this isn't possible:

[Morgoroth]

To me, this seems like something I would use once or twice, and then a few years later it would end up in a landfill.

Yes, that as well.

It is not clear how the gesture detection will work. If this thing is installed on my bedside table, and I'm in the bed, will it be able to detect my gestures? What type of gestures are supported?

What about image distortion? I want this thing to sit in the corner of a room and project into the middle of the wall. Is this going to work? There does not seem to be any optics to speak of, so does this mean that correction is digital? Does it reduce usable resolution? What is the resolution in a first place?

At the moment there is enough material for a scam IGG campaign, not much else.

We are aware of the phenomena of obsolescence by only use (I just made that name, not sure is there is one for that), but I'm allowed to say that in the roadmap we have:

1.- Open SDK for widgets developments.
2.- Voice services.
3.- Machine learning to adapt to users use.
4.- Home automation integration.

Plus, if you guys want to know, we are using TI technology and we checked laser and diode technology to get the best in the market at a decent entry price.

And yes, we have a 500 Lumens device in the roadmap for the next year.

The device is only the beginning, we want to integrate all the life of a person, something that goes with you all the time and is a help, that let you control the house by voice, while you go to the work, while check your agenda and watch the traffic to let you know how late you gonna be, whatever, a smart tech partner.

Respect of the gesture control, the device have a camera and we are using OpenCV to recognise gestures, actually, we have very basic stuff working and part of the $$$ will go directly to make it works well.

JP

[ataradov]

The device is only the beginning, we want to integrate all the life of a person, something that goes with you all the time and is a help, that let you control the house by voice, while you go to the work, while check your agenda and watch the traffic to let you know how late you gonna be, whatever, a smart tech partner.

The phone does this with a very rich, fluid and reliable UI.

Respect of the gesture control, the device have a camera and we are using OpenCV to recognise gestures

How will that work if this thing sits on a bed side table? Or do I need to put another table in front of the bed?

Where was the device located in that one non-bogus video?

[ez24]

www.umbo.us

When I go to your homepage, it shows nothing but uninteresting pictures which wastes my time trying to navigate to something meaningful.  Seems this design shit (large sliders) has taken over web design and the fact that web pages are getting worse is driving me nuts along with the goal of never visiting the site again.

If you want a meaningful page, inform the user with some info when they first see your page.  Not four meaningless pictures in a slide show that shows no skill in making web pages.  Get away from those damn sliders.   

Hope this was useful to you.  (I still do not know what you are doing)

[ataradov]

If you want a meaningful page, inform the user with some info when they first see your page.

That would imply that you have something meaningful to show. Most of those "startups" don't, and this one is no exception.