It's a ... hard drive enclosure??!?!?!?!?!



  • A friend just posted this link to an amazing indiegogo campaign. I'm still trying to figure out what it actually is, and what the proper use case is for it.

    Your own secured pocket server



  • All I got out of that page is that it prevents global warming.



  • According to the commercial, it's:

    • A cloud server.
    • That is not backed up anywhere.
    • And is not connected to the internet.
    • It also has an email client.
      • Again, it's not connected to the internet,
      • so you can't actually send or recieve emails.
    • You can store things on it.
    • It has 2TB capacity.
    • It has the ability to store things that are encrypted. JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER FUCKING HARD DRIVE IN EXISTENCE.

    Summary: $299 for a 2TB hard drive that comes pre-loaded with an open source email client on it. Versus this:



  • It sounds like a headless server in the form factor of a hard drive enclosure.

     



  • @Ben L. said:

    And is not connected to the internet.
     

     

    Going by the text write-up, sounds more like "can be accessed locally while not connected to the internet".  Sounds like it could be a viable product, they're just crap at explaining it properly.

     



  • @emurphy said:

    Sounds like it could be a viable product, they're just crap at explaining it properly.
    More like marketing bullshit. All of their claims are contradictory, deceptive or just don't make sense.

    A "server" that fits in your pocket.
    That you can access from anywhere in the world
    If it's in your pocket then why do you need the ability to access it "from anywhere in the world"?
    Accessiing it from "anywhere in the world" would require an Internet connection, whch means it isn't any more secure from hackers or government agencies than any other system.
    Same for email.
    Works fast even on a slow Internet connection
    Transfwer 165MB in 1.2 seconds
      So, you've invented away to go faster than your internet or wifi connection allows. I don't think so.

     

     



  • Think lan party without an internet.

    Or completely isolated cloud environment that also includes emailing between machines connected to it. Highly secured internal office solution. Look and act like you are on the web when you really aren't. Possibly even a case for an isolated test environment utilizing cloud services without relying on an actual cloud.

    Very low use case, but I can possibly see one.



  • Every Indiegogo campaign I've seen has been either completely pointless or completely full of crap. I'm leaning towards "full of crap" because if it worked it would certainly have a market. Plus, they make a point of mentioning the EVILAWFULOMGSPYING government (in what context I don't know, the video was horrible so I skipped around a bunch), which is so patronizing it almost hurts.



  • @KattMan said:

    Or completely isolated cloud environment that also includes emailing between machines connected to it.

    You mean like pretty much every properly configured mail/storage server does?

    This thing costs ~ $200 more than a simple external hard disk of similar capacity, and all you get for that is a linux distro with a free mail and file server installed. Which they will make open source.

    Yeah, I'll pass.



  • @FragFrog said:

    @KattMan said:
    Or completely isolated cloud environment that also includes emailing between machines connected to it.

    You mean like pretty much every properly configured mail/storage server does?

    This thing costs ~ $200 more than a simple external hard disk of similar capacity, and all you get for that is a linux distro with a free mail and file server installed. Which they will make open sourcetook (without modification) from an open source project.

    Yeah, I'll pass.

    FTFY


  • It says it has a built-in battery and built-in Wi-Fi, and it appears to have an Ethernet port and a standard USB A port. Pretty sure it's more than just a hard drive enclosure.

    Does anybody recognise the port between the power button and the Ethernet port? I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it's just for power... but why not use a USB micro B port like 99% of everything except Apple?

    Note that it says it has to be connected to the Internet to receive e-mail. The offline mode presumably just means that your e-mails are stored on the device and you can read them without being connected to the Internet.



  •  I have used a very similar device, and found it quite handy. Mine was about 3x the (cubic) volume, making it slightly annoying (e.g. I could put it in my computer bag, but not in my briefcase). If this is a decent implementation it should be a viable product.



  • It's hardly the first thing of this kind to pop on kickstarter. There was that "It's a computer in your pocket!" that was basically a USB stick with a live linux distro, presumably with some read-only zones so that you couldn't break it easily. I can't find it now, sadly.

     

    Not a bad idea, but it was referenced as "a computer revolution" and "the end of all IT problems". And they asked for some huge amount of money for it.



  • @anonymous234 said:

    It's hardly the first thing of this kind to pop on kickstarter. There was that "It's a computer in your pocket!" that was basically a USB stick with a live linux distro, presumably with some read-only zones so that you couldn't break it easily. I can't find it now, sadly.

     

    Not a bad idea, but it was referenced as "a computer revolution" and "the end of all IT problems". And they asked for some huge amount of money for it.

    Not as cool as Ophelia (yes, Dell + Android)!

    This gives me an idea for a kickstarter project: a portable 3D-printer that prints all the parts needed to build a real computer. The 3D printer would be wifi-enabled so it could download new computer models or slipstream existing ones. This is something the army would definitely buy for its QRFs! Any backers?



  • @Ronald said:

    This gives me an idea for a kickstarter project: a portable 3D-printer that prints all the parts needed to build a real computer. The 3D printer would be wifi-enabled so it could download new computer models or slipstream existing ones. This is something the army would definitely buy for its QRFs! Any backers?

    That sounds like it would actually be a good idea if the printer+x computers worth of "ink" was cheaper to ship than x computers. Computer stores could just print out the computer you ordered while you're there instead of building it for you, you fat, horrible, lazy slob.*



  • @El_Heffe said:

    Works fast even on a slow Internet connection
    Transfwer 165MB in 1.2 seconds
    Shhh... I'm transfwering wabbits!


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Ronald said:

    This gives me an idea for a kickstarter project: a portable 3D-printer that prints all the parts needed to build a real computer. The 3D printer would be wifi-enabled so it could download new computer models or slipstream existing ones. This is something the army would definitely buy for its QRFs! Any backers?
    Yes! Except I know you can't print all the components yet.



  • @KattMan said:

    Think lan party without an internet.

    Or completely isolated cloud environment that also includes emailing between machines connected to it. Highly secured internal office solution. Look and act like you are on the web when you really aren't. Possibly even a case for an isolated test environment utilizing cloud services without relying on an actual cloud.

    Very low use case, but I can possibly see one.

     And I can build the exact same thing with a Rasberry Pi for maybe half the price, and actually be confident it will do what it is supposed to.



  • I'm a fan of The random Capitalization of seemingly Unimportant words, and sentences like this:

    Q: Is there any monthly or reoccurring fees?


  • @taustin said:

     And I can build the exact same thing with a Rasberry Pi for maybe half the price, and actually be confident it will do what it is supposed to.

    Including "market rate" for your labor?



  • @taustin said:

    And I can build the exact same thing with a Rasberry Pi for maybe half the price, and actually be confident it will do what it is supposed to.

    After you buy the Pi, a nice enclosure, a 2 TB hard drive, a battery, a 2-port USB hub, a Wi-Fi dongle... getting all that within the $150 range would be iffy. No mention what sort of processor this thing has; with the big emphasis they're putting on its low power consumption it's probably not a very powerful processor, so it may be similar to the Pi's but there's no way to know for certain with no hard data.



  • @TheCPUWizard said:

    @taustin said:

     And I can build the exact same thing with a Rasberry Pi for maybe half the price, and actually be confident it will do what it is supposed to.

    Including "market rate" for your labor?

     Given how much effort it (wouldn't) take, yeah, pretty much.



  • @dkf said:

    @Ronald said:
    This gives me an idea for a kickstarter project: a portable 3D-printer that prints all the parts needed to build a real computer. The 3D printer would be wifi-enabled so it could download new computer models or slipstream existing ones. This is something the army would definitely buy for its QRFs! Any backers?
    Yes! Except I know you can't print all the components yet.

    The purpose of a kickstarter project is not to build something, it's to convince people that you can build it so they give you money even if they know that if the project fails they will get nothing in return (or that even if the project is immensely successful they won't get anything more than a cheap sample).

    Basically it works like a mutual fund (or hedge fund), except that with a mutual fund the mark investor can get back the tiny proportion of his capital that isn't already lost by a moron in UK who used a broken Excel formula to monitor his exposure to risk.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Ronald said:

    The purpose of a kickstarter project is not to build something, it's to convince people that you can build it so they give you money even if they know that if the project fails they will get nothing in return (or that even if the project is immensely successful they won't get anything more than a cheap sample).

    Basically it works like a mutual fund (or hedge fund), except that with a mutual fund the mark investor can get back the tiny proportion of his capital that isn't already lost by a moron in UK who used a broken Excel formula to monitor his exposure to risk.

    You're being over-cynical (except about the Excel formula — you can't be too cynical about financiers). Some kickstarters are genuine, and they serve a purpose in attracting speculative funding and encouraging promotion of a forth-coming product. Not that I fund anything; my personal taste for risk of that sort is rather low, so I'm content to wait until the product ships before buying it conventionally.

    No, what I'd like is a system that can 3D print a whole mobile phone from scratch. Every last bit. I'd be particularly interested in being able to do the components of the circuitry, as that currently requires exotic photolithography (hey, it's still printing!) and some exceptionally foul chemical reagents. Being able to get a replacement for all that for even a few thousand bucks would be utterly awesome.



  • @dkf said:

    No, what I'd like is a system that can 3D print a whole mobile phone from scratch. Every last bit. I'd be particularly interested in being able to do the components of the circuitry, as that currently requires exotic photolithography (hey, it's still printing!) and some exceptionally foul chemical reagents. Being able to get a replacement for all that for even a few thousand bucks would be utterly awesome.

    And while we're at it, let's also make a pill that cures cancer, some room-temperature superconductors and a nuclear fusion power plant.



  • @anonymous234 said:

    And while we're at it, let's also make a pill that cures cancer, some room-temperature superconductors and a nuclear fusion power plant.

    Of course, these should all be printable at will!!!!!!


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @anonymous234 said:

    And while we're at it, let's also make a pill that cures cancer, some room-temperature superconductors and a nuclear fusion power plant.
    Also, I want a teleporter and a starship. Or a wormhole-making device; yeah, that'd be good enough.

    But not a pony. Not unless it's been already butchered into steaks, as I don't know the first thing about that sort of thing. Horses are for eating, not for riding.



  • Flying cars! What about the flying cars!!


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @El_Heffe said:

    Flying cars! What about the flying cars!!
    Someone's very close to making those a reality, if reports I've scanned through are accurate, though “drivable plane” seems to be more like what they really are. And I don't want one; I live and work in areas that are not conducive to everyday use of personal aircraft for commuting (the topography is just wrong for aircraft, and both being heavily-built cities doesn't help either). Teleporter/wormhole portal would be far more useful.



  • @dkf said:

    @El_Heffe said:
    Flying cars! What about the flying cars!!
    Someone's very close to making those a reality, if reports I've scanned through are accurate, though “drivable plane” seems to be more like what they really are. And I don't want one; I live and work in areas that are not conducive to everyday use of personal aircraft for commuting (the topography is just wrong for aircraft, and both being heavily-built cities doesn't help either). Teleporter/wormhole portal would be far more useful.
    I believe the status was "exists", but as you said, more like a drivable plane. Also, a legal nightmare, not terribly convenient, and a solution looking for a problem that never really existed... or was better solved by the plain old automobile. (Most people don't live or work in areas that are conducive to commute by small aircraft. Amongst other things, you'd have nowhere to land because all of the large flat places nearby are usually intended for automobiles. Funny that.)


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @anotherusername said:

    a legal nightmare
    That at least has foreseeable technical solutions, as you get a merger between the technologies used in autopilots and in self-driving cars. It doesn't exist, but it's obviously not impossible. If there's a will and economic reason to get it done, it will be.@anotherusername said:
    a solution looking for a problem that never really existed... or was better solved by the plain old automobile
    That's much more to the point. Also problematic are the energetics and the required maintenance schedule; planes need more work than cars (as some of the failure modes are more catastrophic).@anotherusername said:
    Most people don't live or work in areas that are conducive to commute by small aircraft.
    Case in point: if I were to commute by plane it would actually take longer than driving, as the places where planes can land aren't that common in my area. I know where the nearest general aviation airfield is to my home; in zero traffic (or at 5am) it's 20 minutes in the opposite direction to work. Similarly with airfields close to work (though I'm less certain how long it would take, as that's not a route I often take); I might as well drive as I'm only about 60 minutes away outside rush hour.

    OK, I actually take the train in because then I can work and drink coffee well before I get to my desk.



  • @dkf said:

    Case in point: if I were to commute by plane it would actually take longer than driving, as the places where planes can land aren't that common in my area. I know where the nearest general aviation airfield is to my home; in zero traffic (or at 5am) it's 20 minutes in the opposite direction to work. Similarly with airfields close to work (though I'm less certain how long it would take, as that's not a route I often take); I might as well drive as I'm only about 60 minutes away outside rush hour.

    Of course, this would be negated by a car that transforms into a VTOL plane like this. Land outside your office building, drive it into the parking garage, done. Your one-hour commute would drop down to about twenty, thirty minutes; provided at least that the pre-flight checks do not take too long.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @FragFrog said:

    Of course, this would be negated by a car that transforms into a VTOL plane like this. Land outside your office building, drive it into the parking garage, done. Your one-hour commute would drop down to about twenty, thirty minutes; provided at least that the pre-flight checks do not take too long.
    How much would it cost to run? How much time would need to be spent on maintenance? Not to put too fine a point on it, but something that's being used several times a day has to be pretty damn reliable, and I'm not going to have time to be maintaining it (there's a real job too). That's the problem with helicopters, which have proved so far to be the only really practical non-military VTOL aircraft. Well, I suppose an airship could do it, but that wouldn't be reducing the travel time by anything like the same amount, and they're much larger. The flight characteristics in bad weather are also "interesting"; maintaining some true ground capability seems reasonable, but that in turn requires rather better folding of the wings (or the envelope, assuming we pretend that airships are still a reasonable alternative) and so on. For example, that Terrafugia seems to assume that buyers have large garages; their target market might but they'll not make a true mass-market device unless they can make it quite a bit smaller vertically and horizontally.

    The hard problem with "personal road-ready aircraft" is that the economics don't really work. Either you need a lot of space for runways (not practical in most of the world) or you need very energy- and maintenance-intensive VTOL systems. Or the whole system is likely to require a ridiculous investment of capital to acquire. And you have to make it all work with only minimal reengineering of existing infrastructure.



  • I don't care what you say. I still want my jetpack.



  • @anonymous234 said:

    I don't care what you say. I still want my jetpack.

    Does it come with a GPS and bluetooth radio?



  • @anonymous234 said:

    I don't care what you say. I still want my jetpack.
    I would have been just as happy with a 40 year old WASP (not the best video I've seen, but the best I could find)



  • @OzPeter said:

    @anonymous234 said:
    I don't care what you say. I still want my jetpack.
    I would have been just as happy with a 40 year old WASP (not the best video I've seen, but the best I could find)
    Did my own Google Images search for "40 year old WASP" and found this:

    Not bad.



  • My Google seems to be broken.  Searching for "40 year old WASP" gave me this:




  • @da Doctah said:

    @OzPeter said:

    @anonymous234 said:
    I don't care what you say. I still want my jetpack.
    I would have been just as happy with a 40 year old WASP (not the best video I've seen, but the best I could find)
    Did my own Google Images search for "40 year old WASP" and found this:

    Not bad.

    Katherine Heigl was 31 in that photo source: http://putu.us/hollywood-beauties/katherine-heigl/katherine-heigl-attends-killers-european-premiere-in-london-june-9/.



  • @anotherusername said:

    Katherine Heigl was 31 in that photo

    How do you know? Do you enable timestamps in your jerk-off Picasa albums? Or maybe you have a Katherine Heigl shrine in your basement (including a dirty Carl's Jr napkin that you stole from her trash on your latest nightly visit to her house)?



  • @anotherusername said:

    Katherine Heigl claimed to be 31 in that photo source: http://putu.us/hollywood-beauties/katherine-heigl/katherine-heigl-attends-killers-european-premiere-in-london-june-9/.
    FTFY

     

    And she doesn't have any Carl's Jr. napkins in her trash.

     

    Or so I've heard.



  • @OzPeter said:

    @anonymous234 said:
    I don't care what you say. I still want my jetpack.
    I would have been just as happy with a 40 year old WASP(not the best video I've seen, but the best I could find)
    Oh, look, it's a flying Segway.



  • @El_Heffe said:

    @anotherusername said:

    Katherine Heigl claimed to be 31 in that photo source: http://putu.us/hollywood-beauties/katherine-heigl/katherine-heigl-attends-killers-european-premiere-in-london-june-9/.
    FTFY

     

    And she doesn't have any Carl's Jr. napkins in her trash.

     

    Or so I've heard.

    shrug I went by what IMDb says - she was apparently born in November of '78.


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