You could train an AI to generate these randomly, something similar to:
Dead Startup Toys
51–60 of 211 posts
Re: Dead Startup Toys
#52Man, 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…
> 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
Or did they?
https://techcrunch.com/2020/09/24/amazons-new-echo-show-10-f...
Re: Dead Startup Toys
#53It's missing "Pryme Vessyl", the "smart cup" that tracked your water intake and told you when to drink water. You know, just in case you lose the sense of thirst for some bizarre reason.
> You know, just in case you lose the sense of thirst for some bizarre reason.
Re: Dead Startup Toys
#54Is „one laptop per child“ really as bad as the other vaporware/fraudware in the list?
Well, if you think OLPC was a deliberate grift—I don't—then it's like the moral difference between scamming buyers looking for an Internet-connected juicer and scamming donors looking to help the world. As a non-deliberate grift—I guess the same math applies? Wildly overpromising and underdelivering on a picnic cooler seems somehow less morally problematic than wildly overpromising and underdelivering on an effort to…
I think you are on the right track here, and its important.
In the context of work with developing nations, the defense of good intentions is increasingly dismissed out of hand. Good intentions are often deeply problematic and can cause more harm than good - including capture/transfer of resources that could have been used in some other way improve conditions for people.
c.f., many NGO projects to improve stove design in less developed countries [0]
[0] https://nature.berkeley.edu/er100/readings/Crewe_1997.pdf
Re: Dead Startup Toys
#55Is „one laptop per child“ really as bad as the other vaporware/fraudware in the list?
It's not. Chromebooks just came along and made their goals obsolete.
At least with respect to the developing world educational tool for children goal, it was probably filled by smartphones far more than Chromebooks.
Re: Dead Startup Toys
#56Seems prudent to point out this isn't the product of a disgruntled's weekend project with fancy webdesign.
This is a product from MSCHF which is a $100M+ startup [1]
(feels like they're getting a bit of an astroturfed free ride of prime PR on HN because folks may not realize who is behind this)
Re: Dead Startup Toys
#57>coolestcooler
The hyper expensive cooler segment of society is one I never would have predicted / don't understand.
Re: Dead Startup Toys
#58That Elizabeth Holmes cherub! OMG best part of my morning.
https://deadstartuptoys.com/_nuxt/img/cherub-animate.319d6a4...
Re: Dead Startup Toys
#59The art collective behind this project, MSCHF, has done some pretty interesting stuff: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSCHF
Re: Dead Startup Toys
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
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"
OLPC was far from the least effective charity though. It could have diverted funds from an even worse charity.