4 ms·
This is from Jeri Ellsworth, an interesting person who's name pops up in the AR/VR (and Commodore 64) world now and then.
by pugworthy 3y ago
This is from Jeri Ellsworth, an interesting person who's name pops up in the AR/VR (and Commodore 64) world now and then.
- JohnFen 3y agoJeri Ellsworth is awesome and has always been awesome.
- pnw 3y agoAmen. She really is awesome. I was so happy she was able to continue with this product after the previous venture imploded.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- HWR_14 3y agoThis is the same concept that she kickstarted years ago and then, sadly, never delivered. She did refund people's money, IIRC, when she used the social proof to get VC funding, which was nice of her. I thought the IP was stuck in some kind of bankruptcy court hell. The price seems to have increased dramatically.
- detaro 3y agowrong way around in a way: it was a VC-funded thing that failed, the tech then turned into a kickstarter, which then gave renewed proof for investors to support it too. (Kickstarter was 2019, so unsurprisingly delivery took longer than planned)
- HWR_14 3y agoI was correct in the order. They had a 2014 kickstarter for CastAR[1] that they used as proof of concept to get VC-funding. That company failed. They then (presumably) reacquired the IP and had a second kickstarter for the new company. I'm only talking about the first kickstarter. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CastAR https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CastAR
- detaro 3y agoah, I had forgotten that CastAR had run a kickstarter too.
- gumby 3y agoIt was my decision to give back the money when it became clear we would not deliver any way close to on time (and could afford to give it back -- the Kickstarter money had all long been spent). Actually it was an optional refund: you could keep waiting and maybe get some hardware eventually, or get your money back and decide later at whatever the cost might be. The two people who supported at the $10K level (same as the $1K level but cost more) did not ask for refunds. We did ship a few early headsets to people who paid extra for "earliest access" -- one of them even did a teardown video!
- HWR_14 3y agoAre you referring to the CastAR kickstarter or the more recent one?
- gumby 3y agoThe CastAR kickstarter.
- supermatt 3y ago> Actually it was an optional refund: you could keep waiting and maybe get some hardware eventually This wasnt the case! I was a backer and the actual email sent stated: "we’ve decided to give everyone who was expecting castAR hardware a free pair of consumer castAR at release and will be fully reimbursing your Kickstarter backings if you follow the process we describe in a FAQ. You believed in us, so you get a castAR for free once the consumer product is released." https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/technicalillusions/castar-the-most-versatile-ar-and-vr-system/posts/1445376 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/technicalillusions/cast... You never gave an option to wait, never sent the "free" device, and (most annoyingly) didnt even inform castAR backers about the tilt5 kickstarter, so this is the first time I have heared about it! I appreciate castAR went bankrupt (and that you reimbursed backers beforehand - a most honorable thing to do in the kickstarter world), so not expecting tilt5 to honour the free device, just clarifying your confusion over what was actually stated :) p.s. what was the gift you sent out with the refund? I never got one as IIRC I would have had to pay for shipping to EU.
- MegaDeKay 3y agoAnd she has a hell of a pinball collection to boot. According to a 2019 article in NYT, "she has a collection of more than 70 pinball machines".