Kickstarter

Comments

1. 1. 

      Creator Richard NL on July 18, 2012

      Just try to keep updates coming. Projects running late is nothing new - not in construction, not in CAD design projects, not in movie making and not in CrowdFunding ( iirc the figures were 25% deliver on time and after 8 months 75% were delivered - see: http://www.appsblogger.com/behind-kickstarter-crowdfunding-stats/ ). What matters is how you're handling delays in terms of the project, and the communication toward backers. Perhaps share some media of the new facility/etc.? :)

   2. 

      Creator G Nagel on July 18, 2012

      While I am sad to see the project delayed again, I am happy to see an update.

      I am happy with 2 production quality units instead of 1 prototype / 1 production.

      Please keep us updated with the progress.

      -G

   3. 

      Creator James Botham on July 18, 2012

      Jason I don't mind the delays at all..you are bringing multiple technologies together to form a complicated new product. I'm truly excited about getting mine. I desperately need a new keyboard and have been hanging tight for this...I may just go buy a regular keyboard so I can hang tight longer.

      However, one thing that I would appreciate and it sounds like the other backers would too is just the occasional update (however brief) say every 2-3 weeks....it gives us something to read, keeps us in the loop and in IMO keeps the backers happier. Which in turn will make it easier for you.

      Good luck....don't settle for ok and make us proud!

      Cheers!

      James

   4. 

      Creator Jason Giddings on July 18, 2012

      @Craig... I am sorry you are frustrated. Your comments are valid. The fact is that there is so much going on it it difficult to dive into every detail but I am happy to answer your specific points above.

      We did have a building before. The building was owned by the city and they were going to let us use it at a very low rate to help our company get off the ground. The company that was in the building had signed an agreement to move out but when their last day came and went they decided not to. This all happened a few weeks ago. For us, this caused 2 big problems... One; we had been awarded a grant from the state for $50,000 to start our business in that building, and two; the city was giving us a really great deal on the monthly lease. So the other company refusing to move after they had agreed to, forced us to flex our legal muscle and in the end the other company paid us $62,000 for the problems they caused. We managed to find another building just recently that will actually work better for us. We are now in the process of making some changes to it so that it will suit our needs better.

      The fancy assembly line is still fancy but it is located in Oregon and is being moved to Sandpoint Idaho. If you're wondering why we have put so much effort into moving to Idaho, it's all about taxes and new business incentives. There are a lot of politics to starting a new large scale business. Idaho is aggressively soliciting us to manufacture in their state because like us they want to create jobs to help their state.

      With regard to the parts... We had received lenses as well as many other parts at the last update but first articles always need fine tuning. So over the last few weeks we have been working with the factory in China to get the quality to a point where we could assemble devices with some level of accuracy. Tooling and process changes are common in this sort of production. So if there is blame to be assigned it should be on me, not the tooling factory, as I should have planned much more time in the project for uncertainty.

      The lens for the cameras has always been plastic... This is the most common way to make them. The top of the keyboard is still glass. That has not changed.

      I'll try to give more frequent updates. Remember, I want this project to work too. I am really giving everything to insure the success. We're on the same team.

      Sorry for any typos... Still working from my iPhone.

   5. 

      Creator Luke McDaniel on July 18, 2012

      I'm sadly not one of the top tier backers, but the prototype as a collector's piece sounds nice, maybe have their names on the final production packaging. Or give theirs a special paint job before the etching?

      And yeah, hiccups are expected, and while I can only speak for myself, I'm sure smaller more frequent updates are preferred. Maybe pass that job(chore?) to your marketing manager. We are an asset to you, we're obviously already fans, and word of mouth is always good advertising.

   6. 

      Creator Craig Dunn on July 18, 2012

      Seems like we were at or beyond this point a number of updates ago.... Before, we had a building, a fancy assembly line to "assemble and test," and all sorts of things were in production or about to be released to production after final approvals. Now, we don't have the most basic element required for the product to work (a lens - which is now plastic rather than glass, apparently)...and there is no software/firmware written to perform recognition. It seems this core functionality would have been prototyped, if not fairly mature, during the KS campaign and certainly over the course of the many subsequent months post-funding. I get the distinct feeling of running in circles and getting fed updates meant to shut us up rather than reveal any factual information. The lack of communication and transparency is disheartening.

   7. 

      Creator David Ramsey on July 17, 2012

      It's not surprising that you run into unexpected production problems with a cutting-edge product like this. Just keep us informed about how things are going...

   8. 

      Creator Marcus Frasier on July 17, 2012

      2 etched units should do it I think -- though having prototype stuff could be kinda cool too. Sort of like an early collectors item or something.