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Mother

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Re: Mother

#131

Post by SiVal »

michaelwww wrote: post #56
rosser wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The writer is not Mark Stephens, the PBS Cringely whose name is the first Google hit, but a current InfoWorld staff writer. I suspect they would share this opinion, though.

Re: Mother

#132

Post by MiWDesktopHack »

kill it. kill it with fire. this product collects the kind of personal data that should not be handed to third parties. too ripe for abuse. too much insight into your existence. a scary Orwellian nightmare.

Re: Mother

#133

Post by r00fus »

brazzy wrote: post #127
Geee wrote: post #124

What's going on in here? I don't get the negativity. I think the branding is great, and I realized the function of the product immediately. Also I think they presented it in a funny way (programmable mother). It's obvious that it doesn't 'know everything', that was a joke. It has simple sensors and you can collect data from those, there's nothing scary about that. The product is interesting, but however not useful at…

I don't get not getting the negativity. This is straight out of the first part of a dystopian horror movie.

Sorry, which one? I'm not getting it. Mixed feelings on the branding, but my mind didn't go to dystopia until I read comments here.

Re: Mother

#134

Post by SiVal »

crbnw00ts wrote: post #84
cromwellian wrote: post #11

The way the thing is filmed with the smiley face and lighting up eyes, I could easily imagine a sci-fi horror film being based around it. :) More seriously, the idea of using cheap motion trackers to track usage of things in the home is very interesting. When Google acquires this, it'll make the Nest complaints pale in comparison. :)

> The way the thing is filmed with the smiley face and lighting up eyes, I could easily imagine a sci-fi horror film being based around it. :) Like this? http://i.imgur.com/W1s9crO.jpg In all seriousness, I feel it is only a matter of time before someone dies as a result of their home automation being hacked.

+1 Nice work.

Re: Mother

#135

Post by 75lb »

advertising slogan: "It's not enough to pipe every move, call, text and click you make from your smartphone? Mother's sensors are cute, small and funky. Collect more data for US spies today!"

Re: Mother

#136

Post by mmanfrin »

allochthon wrote: post #101
mortenjorck wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

this has to be the most overtly Huxleyan branding I've seen on a consumer product Which isn't necessarily a bad thing for the product they're selling, which is both cool and odd in a 1984 kind of way.

1984 was Orwell. Huxley was Brave New World.

Re: Mother

#137

Post by krz »

nilkn wrote: post #109
krz wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's all about measurable goals and improvements, not about importance.

I think his point is that this doesn't provide much in the way of meaningful measurements or analytics. It's not actually a better way to, say, track soda consumption--it's just more self-aggrandizing.

Soda - no, but it doesn't stop at soda, it even doesn't start there. A lot of valid use cases for generating/analyzing this data.

Re: Mother

#138

Post by makmanalp »

mortenjorck wrote: post #51
nostromo wrote: post #30

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.

I think "mother knows best" would have been much less creepy.

Re: Mother

#139

Post by mscarborough »

amirmc wrote: post #70
bluejellybean wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 - O…

To summarise your comment: "Bah, Humbug." More seriously, I think you're being way too dismissive. The same train of logic could apply to any tech advances we've had. Email? Use letters. Smartphones? Use a proper computer. Social networks? Use a paper address book. Do you feel the same about those? Compliance is a big problem for medicine. Motivating people (nay, yourself) to be active is a problem. Keeping track of…

That's not what the parent comment is saying. I share her/his view that this is pretty lame, and I don't mind being dismissive about it.

Adding more dongles to a problem doesn't fix it. Are the people who would be best served with this really sitting around with an iPad and dongles?

I'm surprised this isn't just a big joke.

Re: Mother

#140

Post by [deleted] »

brazzy wrote: post #127
Geee wrote: post #124

What's going on in here? I don't get the negativity. I think the branding is great, and I realized the function of the product immediately. Also I think they presented it in a funny way (programmable mother). It's obvious that it doesn't 'know everything', that was a joke. It has simple sensors and you can collect data from those, there's nothing scary about that. The product is interesting, but however not useful at…

I don't get not getting the negativity. This is straight out of the first part of a dystopian horror movie.

[deleted]
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