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Mother

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51–60 of 201 posts

Re: Mother

#51

Wait, is this real? It seems like commentary on the current zeitgeist, not a real product. > Mother. Mother knows everything. > She's like a mom, only better. > Sense: the meaning of life® edit: I see they are based in France, so perhaps the branding didn't translate well.

Even allowing for a language barrier, this has to be the most overtly Huxleyan branding I've seen on a consumer product. It's unnerving.

Re: Mother

#52

First I've heard of it, but I had the same reaction as Cringley. Maybe it's an age thing. "Imagine v1 of Big Brother's -- or NSA director Keith Alexander's -- most inflamed fever dream: a sensorbot shaped like a Russian nesting doll wearing a Hindi-cow smile. Then terrifyingly name it "Mother" and build it specifically to monitor as many facets of your personal life as it can. Are you schvitzing yet?" http://www.info…

Yeah, the product name, copy, and the router design are pure nightmare fuel.

Re: Mother

#55
Same French company that created the successful Nabaztag rabbit and then couldn't cope with the traffic. I had my wife buy me one of those for Valentines Day (stupid, I know) and after trying to do something useful with it and getting frustrated I tossed it somewhere in my cube where it remains to this date.

Apart from the super bad naming and Branding, this is another reason for me to stay away from this mother rabbit.

Re: Mother

#56
post #24

First I've heard of it, but I had the same reaction as Cringley. Maybe it's an age thing. "Imagine v1 of Big Brother's -- or NSA director Keith Alexander's -- most inflamed fever dream: a sensorbot shaped like a Russian nesting doll wearing a Hindi-cow smile. Then terrifyingly name it "Mother" and build it specifically to monitor as many facets of your personal life as it can. Are you schvitzing yet?" http://www.info…

I can't dispute the age thing, given that I'm in the oldest 5 or 10% of the community according to the various age polls we've had over the years, but my reaction (not having read Cringley's review) was, "Can this thing get any creepier? Oh, look; it can."

I'm in the older age group and afaik so is Cringley since he's been around forever (if it's still him writing under that name.) I thought, well, maybe the kids will like it.

Re: Mother

#59

As a young person who wants to remember to take her pills, to cut down on her soda consumption, to track how much she exercises (and maybe turn it into a game of walking further every week), and no doubt some more that I can't think of right now, this product sounds like it'd be amazing. The video is a brilliant marketing asset. It showed me some very real problems of mine, and how it could help me solve them (by tra…

I'll save you money. I'll be Dad. Stop drinking soda and walk more.

This comment is fantastic! The trend in pointless analytics is annoying and isn't solving any real problems. All the ‘problems’ Mother solves are not really problems and it doesn’t seem to serve any truly useful purpose.

Wakeup times - Already solved by the alarm on your clock. Managing drink consumption - Drink more or less than you currently do. Staying fit/active - Go workout/exercise once a day. Step tracking - One of the more silly trends lately. Does it honestly matter how many steps you took today? No, not really. Pill taking - A weekly pill container solves this already for a few dollars and is old person friendly. Check-ins - Have your kid text/call you when they arrive home. Can’t use a phone? Don’t leave them alone. Brushing teeth - Does anyone here not brush their teeth? Anyone at all? Guess that problem doesn’t really exist. Temperature - Look at your thermostat. If you really care, go buy some nest products, they got you covered.

This product tries to make you feel like you have no idea what is going on in your everyday life (but don’t worry, they can help!). You have your own daily pattern and I guarantee you know what happens in it already. Don’t get me wrong, this thing has potential in other specialized areas but for its intended purpose and what most people will end up using it for, it’ just more gadget bloat.

Re: Mother

#60

Does anyone know how the signals are being sent from the cookie to Mother? The company mentioned in a CES video that they werent using the traditional bluetooth, wifi, etc.

The webpage mentions 915 MHz (America) / 868 MHz (Europe) radio. This is a part of ISM band and the most popular radio for low power internet of things. There are some microcontrollers with those radios integrated, for example TI CC430. As far as I recall, there is no standardised protocol stack on top of that.
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