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Rant Big Companies on Kickstarter!?

Discussion in 'General' started by The_Crapman, 10 Sep 2024.

  1. The_Crapman

    The_Crapman World's worst stuntman. Lover of bit-tech

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    Just seen a morphyrichards aircon unit (a ductless one on Kickstarter. :eyebrow:

    https://www.kickstarter.com/project...hards-first-ductless-portable-air-conditioner

    Wtf is that all about!? You want to know if there's a market for it? Of course there there frickin is! You want money to fund r&d? Budget, business plan, forecast, reduced dividends or drawdown off your rcf. Why is Kickstarter even allowing this? Oh right, money. They been bought out or just don't care at this point?
     
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  2. Midlight

    Midlight Minimodder

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    I think in this case they were hoping people would get caught up in the hype of kickstarters and not really look at it too closely. "Where does the heat go?" back into the same room that you are trying to cool, rendering the device no more useful than a simple fan. Just a lot more expensive. But that is fine because it is a kickstarter, they are trying something new and innovative of course they can have my money.
     
  3. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    Actually, from a quick skim, that's not the case: what they've created there is not just an expensive fan. It's an expensive swamp cooler.

    If you scroll down, there's an animation demonstrating the working principle: the coils for the compressor are sprayed with a mist of water, which cools them down. The heat energy goes into evaporating the water, not into the room. The evaporated water, though... yeah, that goes into the room. So the room becomes cooler, but more humid.

    It's technically known as evaporative cooling, and is... err, a few thousand years old. It works fine, but it does rely on there being space to throw moisture into the air. If you're sat there sweltering in 100% RH, it'll do jack.

    EDIT:
    What irks me isn't big companies using Kickstarter (hey, they weren't exactly "big" at the time, but the first UK campaign on Kickstarter was by Pimoroni...), but the amount of gen-AI spam that's hitting it at the moment - and the fact Kickstarter's doing nothing about it, even when you report 'em.

    Here's one. A single poorly-generated image, clear ChatGPT text, no product.

    This one has more pictures... that are also all gen-AI (Stable Diffusion, judging by the "text" on the map). There's no product, and there never will be.

    This one, at least, did actually get suspended... eventually.

    This one did not, though I'm willing to bet all three "backers" were Jason Fadel and friends.

    This one was probably my favourite. Again, to be fair, Kickstarter did suspend that one. EDIT EDIT: Oh, wait, they updated that to include actual (dropshipped) products. Originally it was ridiculous gen-AI nonsense with four different bag designs, one of which had an A4-sized passport, and a model with four arms at one point...

    This one didn't even create its own gen-AI images, it stole someone else's! And despite sending Kickstarter evidence of that, it was still allowed to complete its full campaign run - though, thankfully, didn't hit its goal.
     
    Last edited: 10 Sep 2024
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  4. Midlight

    Midlight Minimodder

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    I read that part as the water cooling is for the hot side of the heat pump so, the exhaust would be at a slightly 'more relaxed' temperature.
    The unit itself does appear to be a full heat pump not a swamp cooler.
     
  5. The_Crapman

    The_Crapman World's worst stuntman. Lover of bit-tech

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    Sneakily putting in a reverse function so it can act as a dehumidifier, then claiming "3in1" function, just not at the same time.
     
  6. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    Aye, hence the "more expensive" part. It's a real heat-pump aircon, but instead of pumping the heat outside it pumps it into what is, effectively, a swamp cooler. "The water absorbs the heat from the air, which lowers the temperature of the air before it is expelled from the unit. [...] The expelled air remains close to the surrounding room temperature."

    I was just following your oversimplification of referring to it as "no more useful than a simple fan."
     
  7. wyx087

    wyx087 Multimodder

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    1. Cool the air
    2. Dehumidify
    3. ???
    4. Cooler/Profit?
     
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  8. Mr_Mistoffelees

    Mr_Mistoffelees The Bit-Tech Cat. New Improved Version.

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