EEVblog #751 - How To Debunk A Product (The Batteriser)

[mikerj]

Do you think perhaps Batteriser are planning an April fools gag?

"There is no Batteriser and we've got your money! April fools!"

[LabSpokane]

The week is almost over ;-)

Just be glad they aren't Brazilians, or Carnival would be an excuse for pushing the deadline another week... or 2 if you consider recovering from the massive hangover.   

It's Mardi Gras here tomorrow. Just wait for it...

[AlxDroidDev]

It's Mardi Gras here tomorrow. Just wait for it...

I've always wondered what it would be like to be in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. Is it as fun as Hollywood makes us believe?

Giving it a better though, if the Batterizer guys are very religious, christian people, they may not release it for the next 42 days due to Lent. Just until until after Easter... we do have April 1st on that week, and I don't think it's a coincidence!

[rx8pilot]

I've always wondered what it would be like to be in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. Is it as fun as Hollywood makes us believe?

If being in a marginally controlled mass of drunken people that is peppered with thieves is fun, then it is a BLAST! After my Mardi Gras experiences, I would never go back.
Probably more fun than Hollywood makes it seem, but the wrong king of fun for me.

[AlxDroidDev]

I've always wondered what it would be like to be in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. Is it as fun as Hollywood makes us believe?

If being in a marginally controlled mass of drunken people that is peppered with thieves is fun, then it is a BLAST! After my Mardi Gras experiences, I would never go back.
Probably more fun than Hollywood makes it seem, but the wrong king of fun for me.

I see what you mean. Possibly the same reason why I stay at home during Carnival in Brazil or sometimes go to a quiet beach.

[miguelvp]

Three years ago I went to New Orleans but a full week before Mardi Gras.

It wasn't crowded and had a blast. Not many drunks either, and since they were pretty much ready for Mardi Gras every place was fully stocked.

[Brumby]

Any reason we're talking about Mardis Gras instead of the original subject?

Is it because 'Mardis Gras' is also known as 'Fat Tuesday' ... and we expect there is a 'Fat Chance' that the Batteriser will ship?

... or are we just getting bored with the whole deal?



Are there any further grumblings from social media... or news of any kind?

[miguelvp]

I think it was brought up as another excuse they might use to delay it more.

[g.lewarne]

I think it was brought up as another excuse they might use to delay it more.

yup, we still have Chinese new year, the rainy season, meteorite, volcano, pole shift, nibiru and the rapture to go....

[Jay_Diddy_B]

Meanwhile, on the Batteriser IGG campaign we have:





Even Google is on the action:



Looks like our favourite monkey 'Probes' missed the photo shoot 

Edit. I just learned Probes is on a date with the Energizer Bunny...You could say that they are Courting.

Regards,

Jay_Diddy_B

[Fungus]

This word "update". I do not think it means what you think it means.

[Kjelt]

Hmmm are they using flextronics for their manufacturing, could turn out to become a real product then

[EEVblog]

Hmmm are they using flextronics for their manufacturing, could turn out to become a real product then

It's well known that Bob was the former President of Flextronics for 4 years:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-roohparvar-73b6b15
Also CEO of Flexpower, a subsidiary of Flextronics.

And to quote him from his LinkedIn profile:

Prior to Batteriser, Dr. Roohparvar served as CEO and President of Flexpower, a subsidiary of Flextronics. After being told it couldn't be done, Dr. Roohparvar and his team re-designed the original iPhone charger, reducing size by 40% and creating the smallest charger in the world. Prior to Flexpower, Dr. Roohparvar served as Vice President and General Manager at Broadcom, in charge of their Power Management Business Unit.

So there is absolutely no doubt he has the technical background and experience to make such a product, and yes, very likely using his old company Flextronics.

[timgiles]

FlexTronics helped sink the Kickstarter CST Watch (thinest watch in the world) project. So seems a perfect place for Bob to sew his magic beans.

[Godzil]

FlexTronics helped sink the Kickstarter CST Watch (thinest watch in the world) project. So seems a perfect place for Bob to sew his magic beans.

You mean, they didn't help to make a project that was completely out of reality from the beginning?

[Smokey]

Hmmm are they using flextronics for their manufacturing, could turn out to become a real product then

It's well known that Bob was the former President of Flextronics for 4 years:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-roohparvar-73b6b15
Also CEO of Flexpower, a subsidiary of Flextronics.

And to quote him from his LinkedIn profile:

Prior to Batteriser, Dr. Roohparvar served as CEO and President of Flexpower, a subsidiary of Flextronics. After being told it couldn't be done, Dr. Roohparvar and his team re-designed the original iPhone charger, reducing size by 40% and creating the smallest charger in the world. Prior to Flexpower, Dr. Roohparvar served as Vice President and General Manager at Broadcom, in charge of their Power Management Business Unit.

So there is absolutely no doubt he has the technical background and experience to make such a product, and yes, very likely using his old company Flextronics.

With that kind of background this whole saga just seems absolutely nuts.  How can a guy with the big trifecta of design, manufacturing, and marketing experience get so far down shit creek without anything even resembling a paddle?
I can only come up with two scenarios:
1) It was a scam from the beginning, with the potential scammed party being VC money and any large distributors like Walmart or something.  Try to make something that never lives up to the grand claims and sorta works but most people don't have the knowledge or skills to really evaluate and ride the "as seen on TV" wave of impulse buys.  This still doesn't explain all the production problems.  A big part of selling a crappy product is actually having a product and not pissing off your customers.
2) They really are clueless and throught they had invented cold fusion and by the time enough people proved their fundamental concept was flawed they were already too committed so they doubled down on the bulls[daveface]t.

?? It doesn't make any sense.

[AndyC_772]

Given what we know of the backgrounds of the people involved, I'd suggest that they've become used to the idea that other people (ie. not them, personally) can and do solve technical problems. Therefore, if the Batteriser does have any problems, they can and will get sorted.

They are, of course, completely failing to comprehend the difference between a practical or technological limitation (like not being small enough or able to handle enough current) with a fundamental one.

It reminds me a bit of the ongoing circus surrounding the use of strong encryption. Any scientist or mathematician knows that an encryption system is either strong and effective, or it can be broken by anyone with the necessary knowledge and resources. Yet, we still have politicians bleating on about how if the great minds in industry were motivated to do so, they'd be able to come up with a system that was strong and effective except when a government agency had a court order... as if mathematical operations know or care.

In this case, the politicians have the same complete mental block as we're seeing with Team Batteriser; that unshakeable faith that a deeply, fundamentally flawed idea can be made to work, even when the myriad reasons why it can never work have been spelled out to them in words of one syllable or fewer.

I wish every time I came up with something that doesn't work, as many people would repeat my work, analyse my design and explain to me so thoroughly what my mistakes were. It would make my job a whole lot easier.

[EEVblog]

With that kind of background this whole saga just seems absolutely nuts.  How can a guy with the big trifecta of design, manufacturing, and marketing experience get so far down shit creek without anything even resembling a paddle?
I can only come up with two scenarios:
1) It was a scam from the beginning, with the potential scammed party being VC money and any large distributors like Walmart or something.  Try to make something that never lives up to the grand claims and sorta works but most people don't have the knowledge or skills to really evaluate and ride the "as seen on TV" wave of impulse buys.  This still doesn't explain all the production problems.  A big part of selling a crappy product is actually having a product and not pissing off your customers.
2) They really are clueless and throught they had invented cold fusion and by the time enough people proved their fundamental concept was flawed they were already too committed so they doubled down on the bulls[daveface]t.

It's #2.

[EEVblog]

In this case, the politicians have the same complete mental block as we're seeing with Team Batteriser; that unshakeable faith that a deeply, fundamentally flawed idea can be made to work, even when the myriad reasons why it can never work have been spelled out to them in words of one syllable or fewer.

It's exactly this.
Countless examples available, most notably the high profiles ones Solar Roadways & uBeam.

[Corporate666]

FlexTronics helped sink the Kickstarter CST Watch (thinest watch in the world) project. So seems a perfect place for Bob to sew his magic beans.

You mean, they didn't help to make a project that was completely out of reality from the beginning?

The watch was completely within reality.  The problem was that the morons running the project had absolutely zero idea of what it would cost to manufacture the watch and how much work needed to be done between their (working) prototype and finished units.  So when they were funded they spent all the money ordering parts and traveling back and forth to Flextronics, and the end result was the manufacturing cost of the watch was going to be more than double that they had guessed.

...and they had already pissed away all the money on parts, so they absconded with hundreds of thousands of $$ worth of parts and have disappeared and failed to account for their >$1 million in cash.

[EEVblog]

NEW UPDATE!

Dear Friends,

Once again, I want to thank our supporters all around the world for being a part of the Batteriser Indiegogo campaign, and making it such a great success. As a small startup we know that each and every supporter is of great value and importance to us. Rest assured that your patience is greatly appreciated and will be rewarded. I want to take this opportunity to provide a brief update to ensure that none of you are left in the dark about the status of your orders. Thankfully, we have some very encouraging news to share.

While facing the challenge of working during the Chinese New Year holiday season, two of our executive team members have been in China and Taiwan working very closely with our contract manufacturer these past few weeks. As a result of this productive collaboration and our team’s diligence, our Contract Manufacturer has confirmed their commitment to ship Batterisers this coming March. We are absolutely thrilled to be this close to having the Batteriser shipped out to all of our Indiegogo supporters. It’s been a long road, but we are more excited than ever to bring all of you extended battery life and savings to the environment. I wish you all a Happy Lunar New Year, full of blessings and joy for you and your loved ones.

Best Wishes,
Bob Roohparvar
CEO | Batteroo, Inc.

So neither of them have a phone with with a camera in it and thought to take some snaps to share with backers?
Still no mention of the Trademark dispute and how that might potentially affect units shipping.

[BravoV]

NEW UPDATE!

Dear Friends,

..... two of our executive team members have been in China and Taiwan working very closely with our contract manufacturer these past few weeks. As a result of this productive collaboration and our team’s diligence, our Contract Manufacturer has confirmed their commitment to ship Batterisers this coming March.

So neither of them have a camera with a phone in it and thought to take some snaps to share with backers?

1st, those executives hate smart phone, and still using the old dumb phone without camera in it, nothing wrong with this right ?

2nd, they deliberately brought used and almost depleted AA batteries and AA cells powered camera, to prove the butterizer will work, its just its not ready yet as above contract, since there is nothing to power it, hence, no picture taken with that camera. Again, they're a strong believer, so no fresh AA cells, get it ?

... and ...

3rd, No ... they hate to borrow camera from others even just for 1 or 2 shots, again, nothing wrong with this attitude.

 

[photon]

Hmmm are they using flextronics for their manufacturing, could turn out to become a real product then

It's well known that Bob was the former President of Flextronics for 4 years:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-roohparvar-73b6b15
Also CEO of Flexpower, a subsidiary of Flextronics.

And to quote him from his LinkedIn profile:

Prior to Batteriser, Dr. Roohparvar served as CEO and President of Flexpower, a subsidiary of Flextronics. After being told it couldn't be done, Dr. Roohparvar and his team re-designed the original iPhone charger, reducing size by 40% and creating the smallest charger in the world. Prior to Flexpower, Dr. Roohparvar served as Vice President and General Manager at Broadcom, in charge of their Power Management Business Unit.

So there is absolutely no doubt he has the technical background and experience to make such a product, and yes, very likely using his old company Flextronics.

Being a president or CEO does not imply technical competence, even at a large manufacturing company. It implies an ability to gain power. Bob demonstrates he does not care about technical competence.

[drussell]

Being a president or CEO does not imply technical competence, even at a large manufacturing company. It implies an ability to gain power. Bob demonstrates he does not care about technical competence.

I believe that Bob thinks that he has technical competence but I also agree with Dave and think that he is accustomed to actual engineers doing the bulk of the actual technical and design work for him and is probably a bit deluded...

[FrankBuss]

So neither of them have a phone with with a camera in it and thought to take some snaps to share with backers?

<Bob mode>I'm confident you understand that large manufacturing companies don't allow taking pictures within their production facilities, so unfortunately no photos.</Bob mode>

Still no mention of the Trademark dispute and how that might potentially affect units shipping.

They need to reserve something for the next update, delay until April