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Shitty products. I had a Quirky Wink Spotter and it was just shy of usable. How they failed (for over a year!) to issue a software update that fixed the proble

by natch 11y ago

Shitty products. I had a Quirky Wink Spotter and it was just shy of usable. How they failed (for over a year!) to issue a software update that fixed the problem of getting hundreds of push notifications every time the thing moved, I will never understand. Coalescing was not in their vocabulary. This was not an exceptional team of engineers, by any stretch. It was apathetic people who knew how to cobble stuff together, but didn't give a shit about doing the last finishing touches to make the stuff usable.

andyjsong 11y ago
Seriously, let's be honest, who wants to buy pieces of plastic that are minute improvements over existing products? Their best seller was a multi-jointed power strip. [1] The rest were half baked ideas from inventors that have no desire to scale their business. They were pumping out products that were decided in an echo chamber of inventors, not consumers. It's a great idea, but not enough premarket research was done before shoving it down peoples throats. Edit: the fact that their forth bestseller was a silicone yolk separator doesn't really set the barrier to entry high. A plastic water bottle can do the same.[2] They were flying too close to the mirror, not the Sun. [1] http://www.businessinsider.com/simple-successful-inventions-quirky-ben-kaufman-2012-12 http://www.businessinsider.com/simple-successful-inventions-... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AirVOuTN_M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AirVOuTN_M
- Stratoscope 11y ago
  I have one of those power strips. It's really great! I usually keep it in a simple tight circle. Right now it has a couple of MacBook Pro AC adapters, another AC adapter for a network switch, and a few regular AC plugs. It's super easy to arrange it to fit all kinds of power plugs without them getting in the way of each other.
  - andyjsong 11y ago
    That's awesome that you're enjoying it! I'm just saying, they spent a ton of time/money on vetting ideas, R&D, and manufacturing, just to have it knocked off for $5 to $15 [1]. Why did they make such risks by manufacturing before gauging demand? A simple pre-order or crowdfunding campaign where fix batches were pre-sold and repeated until steady orders came in would make sense. [1] http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/New-Universal-Surge-Protector-4-Outlets_2001758433.html?spm=a2700.7724838.30.48.gb7c8x http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/New-Universal-Surge-Pr...
    - Stratoscope 11y ago
      Oh, not disagreeing with anything you are saying - you make some excellent points. I just like the power strip. :-)
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
eloisant 11y ago
That's precisely what the article says: instead of improving and iterating on their product, they just moved on to building something else as soon as the first version is released.
- rickyc091 11y ago
  Yep, my quirky nimbus which was basically a customizable dashboard device stopped working after a few weeks. The API endpoints basically borked, but they refused to fix it. These days, it literally sits unplugged on my desk. Why it's still on my desk beats me....

by natch 11y ago

andyjsong 11y ago

Seriously, let's be honest, who wants to buy pieces of plastic that are minute improvements over existing products? Their best seller was a multi-jointed power strip. [1] The rest were half baked ideas from inventors that have no desire to scale their business. They were pumping out products that were decided in an echo chamber of inventors, not consumers. It's a great idea, but not enough premarket research was done before shoving it down peoples throats. Edit: the fact that their forth bestseller was a silicone yolk separator doesn't really set the barrier to entry high. A plastic water bottle can do the same.[2] They were flying too close to the mirror, not the Sun. [1] http://www.businessinsider.com/simple-successful-inventions-quirky-ben-kaufman-2012-12 http://www.businessinsider.com/simple-successful-inventions-... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AirVOuTN_M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AirVOuTN_M

Stratoscope 11y ago
I have one of those power strips. It's really great! I usually keep it in a simple tight circle. Right now it has a couple of MacBook Pro AC adapters, another AC adapter for a network switch, and a few regular AC plugs. It's super easy to arrange it to fit all kinds of power plugs without them getting in the way of each other.
- andyjsong 11y ago
  That's awesome that you're enjoying it! I'm just saying, they spent a ton of time/money on vetting ideas, R&D, and manufacturing, just to have it knocked off for $5 to $15 [1]. Why did they make such risks by manufacturing before gauging demand? A simple pre-order or crowdfunding campaign where fix batches were pre-sold and repeated until steady orders came in would make sense. [1] http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/New-Universal-Surge-Protector-4-Outlets_2001758433.html?spm=a2700.7724838.30.48.gb7c8x http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/New-Universal-Surge-Pr...
  - Stratoscope 11y ago
    Oh, not disagreeing with anything you are saying - you make some excellent points. I just like the power strip. :-)
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]

eloisant 11y ago

That's precisely what the article says: instead of improving and iterating on their product, they just moved on to building something else as soon as the first version is released.

rickyc091 11y ago
Yep, my quirky nimbus which was basically a customizable dashboard device stopped working after a few weeks. The API endpoints basically borked, but they refused to fix it. These days, it literally sits unplugged on my desk. Why it's still on my desk beats me....