151–160 of 175 posts
Siemens could expand HaD to be like Github for makers. Maybe even compete with Autodesk by making it easy to use their PCB and CAD software on the platform. And, compete with AWS IoT and other cloud services by offering Siemens' own, compatibile with Adafruit modules.
So what the heck does Supplyframe even do? Went to the website and can see all the glossy feel good front end bs but can't really see what they actually provide.
I imagine they had great quarter or two during recent chip shortage, everyone is scrambling for inventory.
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Eh, no need to be that narrow: What fraction of all acquisitions end well for the acquired company? I'm sure it must happen, but (at the risk of availability bias) I can't actually think of any.
Apple buying NeXT worked out pretty well for NeXT. Youtube also seems to be doing well under Google.
i will be interviewing the team at siemens and maybe some of the folks at supplyframe / hackaday / tindie -- post up any questions you want me to ask (disclosure: i started hackaday 16 years ago or so, have nothing to do with this now).
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Do you think some sort of automated storefronts could replace the old hardware stores like RadioShack? I would love to have a place I could drive to and pick up some components that I need TODAY, and I always thought a giant vending machine might be good for that!
There isn't a single electronics store in the SF Bay Area where you can drive up, walk down a row of capacitors, and find one that isn't (1) holdover stock from the 1980s or (2) a no-name capacitor brand that will fail to deliver on it's specifications. And even the stores with 1980s holdover stock or bottom-barrel crapware are going away. People would rather just wait 2-4 days for Amazon or even wait 10 days for Mou…
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> Kickstarter [...] has put more people into bankruptcy than MLM in my opinion. I don’t understand what this means. The creators of kickstart projects overcommit and then bankrupt themselves trying to fulfill orders? Backers of kickstart projects bankrupt themselves supporting more projects than their financial resources allow?
Yes, they price their product without understanding what it costs to manufacture something and then find themselves shipping units at a net loss, or not shipping at all and carrying around a burden of guilt. At least four 3D printer kickstarters failed in this way and three or four drone kickstarters that I watched but didn't participate in also failed in this way.
I've heard that Kickstarter, etc. Are best used as marketing platforms. I.e. only put a product on there once you've made it to the point where you are ready for mass production, have the suppliers waiting, and even products in hand. It's doesn't work to "launch" products from the concept of prototype stage to market.
This is great news for Supplyframe. But there is a darker undercurrent here that really needs some introspection. The "makers market" of today doesn't work. Let's compare the market between say 1975 and 1985 with the market between 2010 and 2020. Money spent on the early market supported no less than 6 monthly printed magazines, several chains of electronics component stores (Radio Shack/Tandy/Dick Smiths/Marples(sp?…
It’s a different world of smartphones and apps. Not to say that your lamentation for what’s lost is invalid, but you’ll find some incredible people on those new platforms. Check out Jeremy Fielding, Machine Thinking, AvE, and many others on YouTube. We have lost, and we have gained.
Leo's Bag of Tricks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq968AFgPhg
Tech Ingredients: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVSHXNNBitaPd5lYz48--yg
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Can I ask why? Or what company?
In 1993 Siemens acquired ELWRO, Polish computer manufacturer (RIAD - IBM 360/370 mainframe clones for Russian/Indian market) and ZWUT, Polish telecommunication equipment manufacturer. They paid $38mln. First thing they did was to fire everyone from ELWRO. They also send manufacturing lines and unused parts stock back to Germany, and on top of it demolished manufacturing plants and sold off bare land. Good old German…
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$0.7b*!
Thank you - added an edit in time, epic brain fart upon my part that and certainly makes the price with the turnover balance out more as a much fairer deal.
My comments often go through multiple revisions like this in the first ~5 minutes or so. If dang has any ability to see or query these edits I wouldn't be surprised if they discovered my "edits per word" is among the highest in HN :D