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Juicero Is Shutting Down

fortune.com

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Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#371

Post by kerkeslager »

epipping wrote: post #338

After watching their promo video at the top of the page, I'm left wondering two things: - If the machine takes away all my liberty (I cannot use it on my fruit and vegetables) and even their packs need to be refrigerated and stay good only for 8 days, can't I just buy the resulting juice and put it in my fridge? (If I left the bottle closed, that would last equally long). So what do I gain? - They're using QR codes t…

But the printer-cartridge-thing made lots of money, so people probably want more of that!

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#372

Post by tigershark »

bllguo wrote: post #71
nickparker wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trouble is, I've always thought Juicero was a bank shot for digitized food in general. If that's the case, they needed to be serving consumers not businesses. The concept of food that's uniquely tagged and tracked from origin to consumption is pretty attractive - makes contamination a breeze to trace back, keeps you from cooking with rotten food since the machine knows to reject it, and it could automatically tra…

Interesting concept... Tracking what you have to suggest recipes or restock - that's the feature that seems most appealing. But I don't think you need a network like you describe to accomplish that. You could have a "smart" fridge or some other device that can catalog your food for you thru imaging and scans. Hell, you could just input a list you type up yourself. Like you say, Amazon could easily do this. They alrea…

They are already doing it with Amazon wand. It's attached to the fridge, whenever I finish something I scan the barcode. If I tossed away the package or I remember something that I don't have I just tell it to the wand.

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#373

Post by FICO »

abpavel wrote: post #331
FICO wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't mean they are going to require you to ship the machine back to them. (I'm assuming there's tons of people who are going to miss that deadline anyway)

If it's Internet-connected, it might not squeeze without an approved API call from the vendor.

Yes, absolutely, but it can be gutted for parts or rewired to bypass the API. The latter is not straightforward but someone did so in a video posted in these comments.

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#374

Post by FICO »

distances wrote: post #367
FICO wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is my fridge air filter - https://youtu.be/ziaCjNIPSCU all the new fridges have them now. It's literally just for filtering the air in the fridge, the high tech version of a box of baking soda. My HVAC system is steam radiators, which, thankfully, don't require filters. I don't doubt that filters should be changed regularly but I don't trust LG to tell me when.

Excuse my ignorance, but I've never heard or fridges having filters. What are they used for?

The air filter- It's just an electronic version of putting a box of baking soda in the fridge. See the video I posted in the comment you are replying to, its from the manufacturer and shows the setup.

The water filter- My fridge makes ice and dispenses cold water from one of the doors. This mechanism has a water filter.

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#375

Post by marcosdumay »

tesin wrote: post #269
marcosdumay wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- A capsule coffee machine is way cheaper than an expresso machine. - Expressos are minimally hard to make correctly, and those capsules are above even the quality of some coffee shops. - There is a big movement of gourmet coffee that favors high priced drinks with the correct marketing (not perfectly correlated with quality). None of those seem to apply to Juicero. They may have aimed at the last point, but I don't…

It's espresso, not expresso. Capsule is far more expensive over the it's lifetime than something like a Gaggia Classic. Capsules aren't anywhere near the quality of coffee shops, unless you're counting Dunkin.

> It's espresso, not expresso.

Portuguese is my first language, and I never even noticed it's written differently in English. Noticed now.

As I said in my gourmet item, it is not something that correlates perfectly with quality. It may correlate better with price than quality. It's a property coffee shares with wine.

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#376

Post by lbatx »

frobozz wrote: post #122
nickparker wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trouble is, I've always thought Juicero was a bank shot for digitized food in general. If that's the case, they needed to be serving consumers not businesses. The concept of food that's uniquely tagged and tracked from origin to consumption is pretty attractive - makes contamination a breeze to trace back, keeps you from cooking with rotten food since the machine knows to reject it, and it could automatically tra…

> keeps you from cooking with rotten food If only we had some kind of olfactory or optical equipment stuck on the front of our faces that could help determine the rottenness or mouldiness of food. Failing that, perhaps producers of packaged food could use some kind of common standard system to inform consumers of the date by which the food should be used by, or before which it might be at its best.

This is, of course, a brilliant comment. Well stated.

The only thing I can add is perhaps a corollary to this, which is "nothing causes a business to fail more than solving a non-existent problem" which is what Juicero did.

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#378

Post by LnxPrgr3 »

saalweachter wrote: post #302
FICO wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, food recalls happen all the time. However, they are selling as a subscription service- they know what packets they shipped you. If there's a recall they should email you, snail mail you, and automatically issue you a refund on your credit card. WiFi is beyond overkill.

I'll say this -- and I'm in the "this is a stupid fucking product" camp -- but I think sending updates to your appliances to keep you from using bad food is actually the right way to go. I barely read half my mail, snail or electronic. The chances I'm going to see and read and act on a "your food is bad!!!" email (assuming it doesn't get eaten by some filter) before I eat the food in question is low, low low. Some de…

They could even do this without preventing the machine from squeezing improperly-ordained-by-DRM bags.

"If we recognize the bag, and it's recalled, we'll stop you—or at least yell at you. If you use someone else's bag you're on your own, but we won't stop you."

Surely they were capable of having this thought. That they didn't or chose to ignore it hints at ulterior motives—most obvious is overcharging for the bags, since not buying them makes you the proud owner of a $400 paperweight.

But a prediction: almost everyone who attempts to block consumers from consuming bad food with technology will do it to overcharge for the food. Safety will be the excuse, not the purpose.

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#379

Post by distances »

FICO wrote: post #374
distances wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Excuse my ignorance, but I've never heard or fridges having filters. What are they used for?

The air filter- It's just an electronic version of putting a box of baking soda in the fridge. See the video I posted in the comment you are replying to, its from the manufacturer and shows the setup. The water filter- My fridge makes ice and dispenses cold water from one of the doors. This mechanism has a water filter.

Right, the water filter makes sense if the fridge deal with water, I guess. Not very convinced about the air filter though.

Re: Juicero Is Shutting Down

#380

Post by hwillis »

dingo_bat wrote: post #314
hwillis wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ultra expensive juicers aren't new[1]. Even "normal" juicers are quite expensive[2]. Juicero was just trying to jump on a fairly well-established gravy train catering to the juice woo crowd. [1]: https://www.acemart.com/equipment/beverage/juicers/zumex-ess... [2]: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EXF4PLC/

Has there ever been a juicer before this that has forced you to buy all your fruits from one company? I think that's the key. People are ready to pay big bucks for premium appliances, but lock-in is another matter.

People love being locked in. Applying the keurig model to the juicing trend was a very solid business idea- it rocketed keurig to the top of all coffee makers, and juice fanatics make coffee fanatics look positively sane. I'm pretty cynical about it, but it is still a real and good thing. A half second of convenience makes you feel good and selecting, storing, washing and prepping produce is not trivial. A few extra clicks in one area of UI makes it a terrible design. The same thing translates into the real world, although at extreme cost (to the environment, primarily).

Negative press, overengineering, the smaller market group, and underdelivering convenience (the bags are just way too big compared to coffee) killed juicero. It was such a high-profile and brutal lambasting that it will be a scarlet letter for quite a while, but the core idea is solid enough that I wouldn't be surprised to see the idea re-emerge in 2-3 years.

I still can't get over how much people viscerally hate the idea. You'd think apple, google and microsoft had partnered to make a juice press because of how much juicero represented silicon valley-ness.

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