News MiiPC gives parents an Orwellian overview

He made a cool $265 mill from his sale yet is still looking for 50k to fund a kickstarter? Poke off.

 

I disagree with the 'Orwellian' comparison, I think it's actually a pretty good idea for pre-teen kids - a bit like an internet version of learning to ride a bicycle with stabilisers on: Not quite the full thing, but not needing a parent standing behind with one hand on the saddle either. It's a half-way step to going it alone.

I agree with thom804's main point though: You're right Gareth that he will have made far less than $265m, but even if he only owned a few percent, (and he probably owned much more than that) he'll still be worth many millions of dollars. It just 'feels' wrong that someone with that degree of personal wealth is looking to kickstarter for such a comparatively small sum.

I mean it's irrelevant, he got what he wanted, but it's almost like he doesn't really believe in it himself by refusing to put his own money up for risk...

 

This is one of the ways the wealthy stay wealthy - they don't risk their own money. Dude could have put up his own money and even if the project tanked it likely wouldn't have put a serious dent in his bank account. But he's smart enough to realize he doesn't need to put up his own cash. Now he's got nearly $90,000 to get his new company up and running with enough of a base to get production kicked off, and he didn't spend a dime of his own.

In my own city, noted douchebag Paul Allen agreed to 'save the Seahawks' (American football, in case you don't kno.) He bought the team, but it came with all sorts of conditions. Now thanks to the asshats that run the city, I'll be paying a piece for the new stadium they 'needed' for years to come, despite the fact that I'd rather dig my eye out with a spoon than go to a football game.

Then he agreed to 'save' a neighborhood near mine and the city couldn't shovel cash at him fast enough. So even though the guy is worth multiple billions of dollars, he squeezed the city for millions in exchange for 'rescuing' this and that, and what cash he did put up was at very little risk - only a moron can't turn a profit owning a pro sports team or practically being handed an entire neighborhood.

Seems Song might be smarter still - he hasn't had to risk a dime of his own, and now he's got what seems a fairly hot prospect of a startup for those parents that are too busy to, ya know, parent.

 

As a MK808 user (which is overall better than the system this guy proposes and likely cheaper), I don't think Android makes a very good PC. It isn't good with 1080p screens, it is too reliant on touch screens, some games that don't require tilt or multitouch still don't respond to mouse clicks, you can't use portrait-oriented apps (though there is an app to correct that), and the web browsers are overall lacking in ability that a Linux or Windows RT system would take for granted.