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Senic (YC S13) builds a laser distance meter for smartphones

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Re: Senic (YC S13) builds a laser distance meter for smartphones

#51

Post by bwilliams18 »

gutnor wrote: post #43
chriskelley wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that's advertising in a nutshell right? They're not using disinformation, they're simply setting a tone for how they wan't their company to be viewed. Coca-Cola makes sugar water, Kleenex makes tissue. But you don't push many units by downplaying your product. I think the video does a great job of making them seem to take their product seriously. If enough people walk away with a similar impression, it will allow…

Actually that is a weird ads. It seems targeted at 'us', i.e. tech guys mostly. Looking at the spec, it seems that this tool has all the necessary bits inside to compete with Leica tools. Yet the ads is very silent on all that. IMO I think they neglected the software side when designing their gismo ( by mistake or by strategy ). Now they hype it up with tech guys, so that one of us will eventually create a few killer…

$99 is ~ half the price of the cheapest leica that I can find on Amazon. For me, thats a great deal. Not to mention the fact that it can theoretically plug right into a drafting application automatically. Count me in.

Re: Senic (YC S13) builds a laser distance meter for smartphones

#52

Post by bwilliams18 »

twald wrote: post #39
stephengillie wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AutoCAD support would be awesome. I have a couple friends who run their own stainless steel fabrication & kitchen install business, and getting salesmen and business owners to give them accurate measurements is a huge pain point for them. If a wall shifts 1 inch across 20 feet, they can build for that, if they have those measurements. But when they are told to make a sink-with-backsplash square, and there's an ugly g…

Awesome. Thanks for the feedback. AutoCAD is in our top 10. A lot of people want to see this integration for various uses.

Also vectorworks for the theatrical crowd!

We're always taking big measurements and bouncing them around to other people, and measuring weird objects and spaces.

Re: Senic (YC S13) builds a laser distance meter for smartphones

#53

Post by twald »

tlrobinson wrote: post #50
toomuchtodo wrote: post #4

Useful product, although I'm dismayed its not a device that can build a point cloud of the whole room yet (and use said point cloud for rendering on a mobile device, as well as high-resolution measurements). Look what tech innovation has done to my expectations of products :( Room scanning point cloud with Kinect: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhg3_ZgRK68 Boiler Room Point Cloud: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1l0X…

I wonder if you could plop this thing on a cheap pan/tilt device like Galileo ( http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/449163977/galileo-your-i... )

The device fits all standard tripods. This is a great idea thoug. We will contact the guy from Galileo!

Re: Senic (YC S13) builds a laser distance meter for smartphones

#54

Post by hosh »

hosh wrote: post #45

It's the tri-corder! ... or at least, the seed technologies for one.

Oh wow, downvoted. I guess you guys lack imagination.

You use one device to connect with a sensor, much like the special secondary sensors used in the tricorders. Things get uploaded into a larger machine for processing.

Re: Senic (YC S13) builds a laser distance meter for smartphones

#55

Post by solistice »

chriskelley wrote: post #30
yan wrote: post #16

I'm going to preface this by saying this meter looks great and I realize that it's much easier to critique than encourage. Overall, I think it's an interesting implementation, but I felt the tone of the video did not match the nature of the product. The video feels produced towards something with more breadth and importance than essentially a contractor tool. Not that I'm downplaying what Senic built, but the present…

But that's advertising in a nutshell right? They're not using disinformation, they're simply setting a tone for how they wan't their company to be viewed. Coca-Cola makes sugar water, Kleenex makes tissue. But you don't push many units by downplaying your product. I think the video does a great job of making them seem to take their product seriously. If enough people walk away with a similar impression, it will allow…

Halfway true. Setting the tone for how they want their company to be viewed is the technique that 500 pound gorillas like Coca-Cola and Microsoft use. It's the atillery barrage approach to selling, and works well if your product is in store everywhere. But in all honesty, tell me how often you've walked into a store and thought to yourself "I feel young and hip today, let me buy some coke".

The thing is, these guy's aren't 500 pound gorillas. I suspect even with funding, they're struggling to make ends meet. That's the point at which they should be using more targeted advertising to get their product out.

For example, someone is looking for measuring tape on Google via their iPhone. That is their ideal customer. Now give them an ad to click on and sell them on your product, get them to order one. They've just aquired a customer at the fraction of the cost they would have in conventional media.

I see startups on here all the time that try to revolutionize an industry by doing things differently, but they'll take over their advertising techniques down to the detail, advertising techniques which are completely unsuited for a company at their position.

Re: Senic (YC S13) builds a laser distance meter for smartphones

#56

Post by solistice »

doubledub wrote: post #35
kyro wrote: post #31

I love this for two reasons. First, this is a great example of creating a solution for a small yet annoying problem people have just come to live with. Second, I really like that they're creating well-designed tools for a very specific niche of customers. This isn't a general purpose device for mass consumption, but for architects, interior designers and the like -- professionals whose industry, like most other indus…

Agreed. This would be enormously useful for vacation rentals and real estate professionals. Add on and partnerships with virtual tour companies would be expansion value.

So like [1], for entire rooms?

[1]http://www.trimensional.com/

Re: Senic (YC S13) builds a laser distance meter for smartphones

#57

Post by solistice »

anateus wrote: post #29
toomuchtodo wrote: post #4

Useful product, although I'm dismayed its not a device that can build a point cloud of the whole room yet (and use said point cloud for rendering on a mobile device, as well as high-resolution measurements). Look what tech innovation has done to my expectations of products :( Room scanning point cloud with Kinect: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhg3_ZgRK68 Boiler Room Point Cloud: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1l0X…

What you're looking for is Matterport: http://matterport.com/ (another YC company)

No image of the product and a preorder button. If this weren't a YC company I'd dismiss it and move on.

Still, the scans seem promising.

Re: Senic (YC S13) builds a laser distance meter for smartphones

#58

Post by solistice »

twald wrote: post #6
toomuchtodo wrote: post #4

Useful product, although I'm dismayed its not a device that can build a point cloud of the whole room yet (and use said point cloud for rendering on a mobile device, as well as high-resolution measurements). Look what tech innovation has done to my expectations of products :( Room scanning point cloud with Kinect: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhg3_ZgRK68 Boiler Room Point Cloud: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1l0X…

Hey, my name is Toby from Senic. We're focusing on these simple solutions for the building industry first because they are under really high cost and time pressure and it help them the most. With our SDK and API, it's a really flexible product. We're already working on integrating it into different robots etc for some of the mentioned functions. If you have any good suggestions, please drop me a line.

Is there an email where we can do that? There isn't one in your profile or on the senic page.

Also your website is being rendered very strangely.

http://snag.gy/wCkIm.jpg http://snag.gy/2PXRW.jpg

Re: Senic (YC S13) builds a laser distance meter for smartphones

#59

Post by sfall »

sounds good but nothing really "new" here leica has similar products http://www.leica-geosystems.com/en/Laser-Distancemeter_5061...., additionally leica has intergrated with autocad, excel etc so you can already do more. I don't know any contractors that work based off sq. footage measurements alone for pricing no matter the type of work. it also looks like it can't be used without another device

Re: Senic (YC S13) builds a laser distance meter for smartphones

#60

Post by twald »

solistice wrote: post #58
twald wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, my name is Toby from Senic. We're focusing on these simple solutions for the building industry first because they are under really high cost and time pressure and it help them the most. With our SDK and API, it's a really flexible product. We're already working on integrating it into different robots etc for some of the mentioned functions. If you have any good suggestions, please drop me a line.

Is there an email where we can do that? There isn't one in your profile or on the senic page. Also your website is being rendered very strangely. http://snag.gy/wCkIm.jpg http://snag.gy/2PXRW.jpg

Please write me a direct email: support(a)senic.com. I will respond asap.
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