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Complete anecdata: the design team at a previous fintech company had a cricut machine. Head of security came down one day along the lines of "has anyone heard o

by RickS 6y ago

Complete anecdata: the design team at a previous fintech company had a cricut machine. Head of security came down one day along the lines of "has anyone heard of cricut? there appears to be a keylogger on some of your machines". Made the design team run the cricut off an airgapped box. I wouldn't touch this company or its products with a 10 foot pole.

jjeaff 6y ago
As of a few years ago, without an active internet connection, any circuit machine is basically a brick.
myself248 6y ago
What's weirdest to me, what's suuuuuuper weird, is they're just crappy little vinyl cutters. Vinyl cutters have existed for decades, they're cheap, reliable, and fairly straightforward to use. They're just not saturation-marketed to the JoAnn Fabrics crowd.
- jjeaff 6y ago
  Most vinyl cutters aren't quite as plug and play. Kind of like how Dropbox thrived even though rsync is free and has been around forever. Also, most vinyl cutters can only handle sheet vinyl on rolls. Cricut machines have a backer board that you can stick materials on in layers or put things like odd shaped fabric and cut it. So it's quite a bit more versatile than a standard plotter cutter.
  - myself248 6y ago
    You can buy the cricut board and shove it through a standard vinyl cutter...
    - jjeaff 6y ago
      I never thought of that. Though I'm not sure if most of those machines are setup to keep something like those boards lined up. Cricut also has optical sensors to line up the board. I'm sure some of the more expensive vinyl cutters do that as well. Also, at around $300, you would be hard pressed to find a very good traditional vinyl cutter.
      - myself248 6y ago
        Ehh, the US Cutter MH series starts at $229, and I think that's quite comparable to the Cricut in capability. Calling either one a "very good" machine is straining a bit. I have the 28-inch version and it's perfectly passable, had to replace a clamp lever after about 5 years and the PSU after 8. No laser locator or anything fancy, but it does the job.

by RickS 6y ago

jjeaff 6y ago

As of a few years ago, without an active internet connection, any circuit machine is basically a brick.

myself248 6y ago

What's weirdest to me, what's suuuuuuper weird, is they're just crappy little vinyl cutters. Vinyl cutters have existed for decades, they're cheap, reliable, and fairly straightforward to use. They're just not saturation-marketed to the JoAnn Fabrics crowd.

jjeaff 6y ago
Most vinyl cutters aren't quite as plug and play. Kind of like how Dropbox thrived even though rsync is free and has been around forever. Also, most vinyl cutters can only handle sheet vinyl on rolls. Cricut machines have a backer board that you can stick materials on in layers or put things like odd shaped fabric and cut it. So it's quite a bit more versatile than a standard plotter cutter.
- myself248 6y ago
  You can buy the cricut board and shove it through a standard vinyl cutter...
  - jjeaff 6y ago
    I never thought of that. Though I'm not sure if most of those machines are setup to keep something like those boards lined up. Cricut also has optical sensors to line up the board. I'm sure some of the more expensive vinyl cutters do that as well. Also, at around $300, you would be hard pressed to find a very good traditional vinyl cutter.
    - myself248 6y ago
      Ehh, the US Cutter MH series starts at $229, and I think that's quite comparable to the Cricut in capability. Calling either one a "very good" machine is straining a bit. I have the 28-inch version and it's perfectly passable, had to replace a clamp lever after about 5 years and the PSU after 8. No laser locator or anything fancy, but it does the job.