I almost backed the Coolest Cooler, until I saw the built-in 'ice blender' and realized I didn't want a cooler that required a power supply. Sad to see so many people get taken for a ride :/
Dead Startup Toys
21–30 of 211 posts
Re: Dead Startup Toys
#22It it actually selling something? It takes me to a shopify link...
Re: Dead Startup Toys
#23I loved the Coolest Cooler idea but thought maybe it was overengineering something that most people didn't really need. How often do we get to use a cooler in a summer? Not much for my family, not enough time.
It was a rare case where breaking the interface segregation principle IRL causes product failure.
Re: Dead Startup Toys
#24I know it's a joke, but a bit harsh it says OLPC achieved nothing.
I'm not too familiar with OLPC (perhaps they were indeed a money grab), but I feel there is a difference between "oops..my startup that would have made me rich AF failed" and "oops.. my startup that would have made the internet more accessible for african kids failed"
"oops.. my startup diverted funds that could have gone to actually effective charities"
Re: Dead Startup Toys
#25Is „one laptop per child“ really as bad as the other vaporware/fraudware in the list?
I knew a girl in school who had one of these. It was a neat little gadget at a cheap cost, but was criticized for not solving more pressing issues (water, schools) and there was no training provided for teachers. The laptops also weren't sustainable and difficult to repair. It seems the initiative is still kicking since their website is still alive (albeit without an HTTPS certificate).
> but was criticized for not solving more pressing issues
Sounds very much like a fallacy of relative privation to me.
Re: Dead Startup Toys
#26Don't forget the ZANO mini drone, the OLO smartphone 3D printer, Peachy printer, the $100 resin printer and Blocks, the modular smartwatch.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/torquing/zano-autonomou...
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/olo3d/olo-the-first-eve...
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/117421627/the-peachy-pr...
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2106691934/blocks-the-w...
Re: Dead Startup Toys
#27Man, that Jibo toy makes me sad. I feel like Amazon realized that they didn't need the screen or the character movement to accomplish 95% of what consumers were interested in: voice-controlled task automation. The Echo and similar devices make more sense, but I would have liked to see what Jibo could have become. In some alternate reality the world is full of expressive robots... and probably doors that sigh when you…
It kinda lives on, Elliq is very similar, but aimed at old people. https://elliq.com/ There's actually quite a few of these that I never knew about, aimed at old people. Not quite sure why. https://roboticsbiz.com/top-seven-companion-and-social-robot...
That ElliQ banner video is something special. I love the reactions.
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2679/2074/files/banner-vid...
Re: Dead Startup Toys
#28Man, that Jibo toy makes me sad. I feel like Amazon realized that they didn't need the screen or the character movement to accomplish 95% of what consumers were interested in: voice-controlled task automation. The Echo and similar devices make more sense, but I would have liked to see what Jibo could have become. In some alternate reality the world is full of expressive robots... and probably doors that sigh when you…
Not by any means a Jibo replacement, but Peeqo may be of interest for some of the social aspects.
https://peeqo.com
Re: Dead Startup Toys
#29Amazing website design. Need to bring this aesthetic back.
Re: Dead Startup Toys
#30I know it's a joke, but a bit harsh it says OLPC achieved nothing.
I'm not too familiar with OLPC (perhaps they were indeed a money grab), but I feel there is a difference between "oops..my startup that would have made me rich AF failed" and "oops.. my startup that would have made the internet more accessible for african kids failed"
Although Negroponte is an angel investor these days according to Wikipedia, so he did become wealthy somehow. I'm not sure how much OLPC helped that (although leaders of seemingly noble non-profits can do quite well for themselves in general).