5 ms·

This reminds me of the story of ZPM. It tried to use off-the-shelf components and custom software to make it work well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKA2COJ

This reminds me of the story of ZPM. It tried to use off-the-shelf components and custom software to make it work well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKA2COJRt6M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKA2COJRt6M The world of atoms is so much harder than the world of bits.

sho_hn 4y ago
The hardest part of hardware is mass production and support. For a lot of things doing a good one-off is merely expensive and time-intensive, but great as a hobby. That's why a lot of DIY efforts are super impressive and have satisfying results, even if you could never scale and productize them.
- buildbot 4y ago
  Right, my theoretical one off hacked espresso machine might be perfect, but requires troubleshooting or programming skills or soldering to keep it working perfect - pretty much a no go for most consumers.
mongol 4y ago
In wonder how hard they tried, really. Feels like they more or less took the money and called it quits
- hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
  Wow, this is so unfair to them. I followed the project with intense interest from day 1, and "Feels like they more or less took the money and called it quits" is total BS. To be clear, I think the original ZPM gang got in waaaay over their heads - one of the biggest problems is that the kickstarter was just far too successful: the ZPM team had to go from building a prototype to actually worrying about how they were going to manufacture these at a sizable scale. I think it's totally fair to say they handled things quite poorly as it became clear they were struggling, and if I were a backer left with very little to show for it I'd probably be mad, too, but to say "they more or less took the money and called it quits" is not, at all, what happened.
- malermeister 4y ago
  Seems like they tried pretty hard. Here's James Hoffman, the authoritative Internet Coffee Weirdo, reviewing a prototype: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKA2COJRt6M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKA2COJRt6M

sho_hn 4y ago

The hardest part of hardware is mass production and support. For a lot of things doing a good one-off is merely expensive and time-intensive, but great as a hobby. That's why a lot of DIY efforts are super impressive and have satisfying results, even if you could never scale and productize them.

buildbot 4y ago
Right, my theoretical one off hacked espresso machine might be perfect, but requires troubleshooting or programming skills or soldering to keep it working perfect - pretty much a no go for most consumers.

mongol 4y ago

In wonder how hard they tried, really. Feels like they more or less took the money and called it quits

hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
Wow, this is so unfair to them. I followed the project with intense interest from day 1, and "Feels like they more or less took the money and called it quits" is total BS. To be clear, I think the original ZPM gang got in waaaay over their heads - one of the biggest problems is that the kickstarter was just far too successful: the ZPM team had to go from building a prototype to actually worrying about how they were going to manufacture these at a sizable scale. I think it's totally fair to say they handled things quite poorly as it became clear they were struggling, and if I were a backer left with very little to show for it I'd probably be mad, too, but to say "they more or less took the money and called it quits" is not, at all, what happened.
malermeister 4y ago
Seems like they tried pretty hard. Here's James Hoffman, the authoritative Internet Coffee Weirdo, reviewing a prototype: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKA2COJRt6M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKA2COJRt6M