30 second recharging Rechargeable Battery

[Quarlo Klobrigney]

From the KS comment page:
"Dennis Leyton DeLauter 2 minutes ago Hey guys! I meant to do this a few days ago. Shawn contacted me and wanted me to update all of you. His internet is down so this is why I am reaching out. All but 2 of the capacitors from the manufacturer had their pressure release blown. Each one is getting re-made. Unfortunately since no major manufacturer makes these capacitors in the United States it has to outsourced. Which adds 6 weeks to our wait. Just like you I've invested into this new technology. I am willing to wait to have it properly manufactured.
Please be patient and you will receive news soon."

Sounds perfectly logical to me.......NOT

[PlainName]

That would be Dennis 'Sockpuppet' DeLauter, one presumes 

[Quarlo Klobrigney]

Indeed.. Check his profile. He Joined in July an he has been exalted already to PR Manager...

That would be Dennis 'Sockpuppet' DeLauter, one presumes 

[tom66]

"Internet is down" is no excuse these days.

Every coffee shop and library these days has free wi-fi access. Libraries also offer free computers in most areas. So why could he not post an update? Yeah. Makes sense.

[Quarlo Klobrigney]

They don't have those in Kansas.

"Internet is down" is no excuse these days.

Every coffee shop and library these days has free wi-fi access. Libraries also offer free computers in most areas. So why could he not post an update? Yeah. Makes sense.

[PlainName]

"Internet is down" is no excuse these days.

It is for me. Sometimes my link goes down, and I am stuck offline for the period. I don't usually waste a fortune with mobile data (the browser is too tiny, or it's like looking through a keyhole). I am not actually away much anyway. Plus I have no idea what my login data is for most places - Palemoon handles that automatically. Sure, I have the info in KeePass, but the copy on my phone isn't up to date because I don't use the phone for mobile data...

Turn off my broadband and I would essentially be offline until it's fixed. Nearest Starbucks is more than 10 miles away, which isn't far if I'm going to do a weeks shopping but a bit of a laugh if I want to spend £3 on a flaky WiFi link that will try to connect back to my offline mail server here...

[Rasz]

"Internet is down" is no excuse these days.

It is for me. Sometimes my link goes down, and I am stuck offline for the period. I don't usually waste a fortune with mobile data (the browser is too tiny, or it's like looking through a keyhole). I am not actually away much anyway. Plus I have no idea what my login data is for most places - Palemoon handles that automatically. Sure, I have the info in KeePass, but the copy on my phone isn't up to date because I don't use the phone for mobile data...

Turn off my broadband and I would essentially be offline until it's fixed. Nearest Starbucks is more than 10 miles away, which isn't far if I'm going to do a weeks shopping but a bit of a laugh if I want to spend £3 on a flaky WiFi link that will try to connect back to my offline mail server here...

tldr you are lazy and useless and NO ONE should EVER do any remote business with you. Im glad we have that settled down now.
Dog are my homework didnt work in kindergarden, and doesnt work when you are grown up and owe people money/product.

[PlainName]

tldr you are ...

That may be, but you miss the point that not everyone would die a horrible and bloody death if the RTT to Facebook rose by 2ms. Some of us would actually manage to get stuff done, it's just that we wouldn't be able to be twatter about it (not that we'd want to, of course). Takes all sorts, see.

[edavid]

How does someone get into $392k of debt?
Is that like not paying a card off for 20+ years?

Easy... walk away from a mortgage on a house that's underwater.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_mortgage_crisis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_sale_(real_estate)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deficiency_judgment

[tom66]

I thought that once the bank repossessed the house, it became their problem. So I guess you're still in the hole for the rest of the loan principal?

[extide]

I am pretty sure you can't banko a house, that is secured debt, just like a car. So that means $400K of credit cards/personal loans ...

[DarkStar]

I don't know how it works in the US, but in the UK if you can't pay the mortgage they sell off your house. If the sale price doesn't cover the outstanding mortgage (negative equity) you are still on the hook for the rest. A lot of people in the 90s fell into that trap, losing their home but still owing tens of thousands of pounds to the bank. It's going to happen again when the current bubble bursts.

Correctamundo! It is the same here in the U.S.

[Corporate666]

I don't know how it works in the US, but in the UK if you can't pay the mortgage they sell off your house. If the sale price doesn't cover the outstanding mortgage (negative equity) you are still on the hook for the rest. A lot of people in the 90s fell into that trap, losing their home but still owing tens of thousands of pounds to the bank. It's going to happen again when the current bubble bursts.

Correctamundo! It is the same here in the U.S.

It actually varies by state.  In some states, called "non-recourse" states, the borrower is not liable.

12 states in the USA are non-recourse, including California, Connecticut, Texas and several others.  If your home is foreclosed on or the bank approves a short sale, and the proceeds are below the mortgage balance owed, the borrower isn't responsible for the difference.

Amazing, but true.

[Quarlo Klobrigney]

It appears he's hanging out with Judge Crater and Jimmy Hoffa. Edit: Oops, I forgot one more, Amelia Earhart.

So any news about this scammer?

[Corporate666]

So any news about this scammer?

I'm gobsmacked that no government has yet stepped into regulate crowdfunding... it's SOOOOOO obviously in need of it.  In this case, it appears the guy has absolutely zero intention of delivering anything, and likely never did.  In other words, this was an outright scam from the beginning.  It's amazing to me that people still defend it with comments like "well, it's not a lot of money and I was willing to take a gamble", as if it's OK to steal from people who won't miss the money.

It's also reprehensible, IMO, that Kickstarter takes the "hey, not our problem" attitude with this stuff.  I'm very surprised no lawyer has yet taken them on (or hasn't done so and won - or maybe they have and KS paid to settle and keep it hush hush?).  I can't see how KS isn't responsible and liable in these cases.  KS are the only ones who really have the ability to vet the creator, they are the only ones who have control over the funds during the campaign and they are the only ones who can impose rules and regulations on creators.  The buyers are totally at the mercy of what KS requires from the creators, and whenever you see the comments, it's obvious that most of them don't realize the creator isn't vetted by KS at all and nor are the claims or any project details.

With the sheer # of people participating, I'd have thought a few lawyers would have been burned by now and would see the opportunity for a nice juicy class action against KS.

[miguelvp]

You can't sue a newspaper because there is a business opportunity on their want ads and they scammed you. You can sue the scammers but not the paper.

[Corporate666]

You can't sue a newspaper because there is a business opportunity on their want ads and they scammed you. You can sue the scammers but not the paper.

The newspaper doesn't do any due diligence on the advertiser, nor do they hold the money (and take a cut) when you respond to an ad, or provide the forum by which to ask questions and communicate with the advertiser.  Nor do they sell the products and services available in their ads as a great thing for their readers, and brand those ads with a common look/feel which leaves many readers thinking it's something more finalized than it is.

[rsjsouza]

The newspaper doesn't do any due diligence on the advertiser, nor do they hold the money (and take a cut) when you respond to an ad, or provide the forum by which to ask questions and communicate with the advertiser.  Nor do they sell the products and services available in their ads as a great thing for their readers, and brand those ads with a common look/feel which leaves many readers thinking it's something more finalized than it is.

Despite I think that KS is more involved than a newspaper in promoting a product, solely due to the fact it takes a cut on the payments (IMHO a conflict of interest to block scammers), everything else is the same: newspapers provide a way to communicate with the advertiser (a phone number, a URL or an e-mail), they have the power to promote a service/product in ways that may look as the next great thing for their readers, and they can look way more finalized than it actually is. I am thinking about full page ads.

Regarding a class action suit, I wonder what is the percentage of these niche scams when compared to the full number of projects in KS.

[Kean]

This graphene supercapacitor charger looks a bit more promising, but still give me an uneasy feeling...
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/zap-go-first-graphene-supercapacitor-charger
(doesn't help that they are on IGG either!)

The way they talk about the differences betwen batteries, capacitors, and supercapacitors way oversimplfies things to the point of being misleading.  And they show no evidence they can design a 6V 40A* charger in that tiny enclosure - look at the size of their prototypes in the technical video.
(* a quick calculation shows a 20A charge would be sufficient, but they mention 40A)

[Corporate666]

The newspaper doesn't do any due diligence on the advertiser, nor do they hold the money (and take a cut) when you respond to an ad, or provide the forum by which to ask questions and communicate with the advertiser.  Nor do they sell the products and services available in their ads as a great thing for their readers, and brand those ads with a common look/feel which leaves many readers thinking it's something more finalized than it is.

Despite I think that KS is more involved than a newspaper in promoting a product, solely due to the fact it takes a cut on the payments (IMHO a conflict of interest to block scammers), everything else is the same: newspapers provide a way to communicate with the advertiser (a phone number, a URL or an e-mail), they have the power to promote a service/product in ways that may look as the next great thing for their readers, and they can look way more finalized than it actually is. I am thinking about full page ads.

Regarding a class action suit, I wonder what is the percentage of these niche scams when compared to the full number of projects in KS.

I don't agree - but that's OK - differing opinions makes life interesting

The thing about KS that really causes issues is the due diligence they do on creators.  They create quite a lot of hoops that you must jump through to list your project there, whereas a newspaper doesn't do any on advertisers, short of obscenities in the ad itself.  KS says you must have a prototype or tangible item and they have a whole bunch of stuff that is and isn't allowed (and not just legality stuff... they don't want you funding a business or something that resembles starting a business, rather just a specific product).

No idea how many KS projects are scams... but I am baffled that a bunch of Nigerians haven't figured this out yet    I know you have to reside in one of a few select countries, but the proof required of that is pretty light and pretty easily circumvented (look at Lifx... they were Ozzies but KS was USA only at that time).

[Quarlo Klobrigney]

And then this, as you say "sock puppet":

Dennis Leyton DeLauter 11 minutes ago
"Robert, I sorry to take a long time to respond. I am not sure about the whole situation. I was in contact with shawn through facebook since the campaign. We talked numerous times about possible further business if the batteries work. I most likely have more $$ invested into these batteries than most of you so please be patient, I hope shawn is just bad with communication, because I am currently broke and used my little bit of capital to buy these batteries. But i respect innovation and understand sometime projects take longer. I just wish he would respond. Hopefully within the next week or two."

WTF? Get your ass in gear boy! Talk about irresponsibility! Must be one of those "Me Generation" assholes.
I also thought his internet was down. So how did he get on Facebook? LIAR!

[OlDrunk]

any one wondering what the kickstarter money had gone to just look at Shawn West's wife's facebook, Shawn went silent but his wife didn't just check out the small business she started up this month and she's hiring too ,  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Youniquely-Tiffany/821512157910865?pnref=lhc , people need money to start shitty little amway businesses right?

[Quarlo Klobrigney]

Excellent detective work Mr. Holmes! How did you find this little gem? Youniquely what a dumb name.

[OlDrunk]

Excellent detective work Mr. Holmes! How did you find this little gem? Youniquely what a dumb name.

Kept an digital eye on Shawn and the project, no public online activity from when the funding went though to till this month when he started up again

[george graves]

It's only fair that people know they have been scammed so they can start the chargeback process.

Naw - Caveat emptor. It's "buyer beware".  Not "after the fact, let someone tell you that you were a sucker, and you an get your money back" - let everyone that lost money learn a lesson, and tell others.  If they aren't too disgraced to admit to being taken.

Hucksters have been around since the dawn of time.  This is nothing new.

I'd say in the grand scheme of things it's better to put pressure on kickstarter to take a few of their million to keep engineers inhouse to vet the project, rather then giving people their money back.  That just perpetuates the problem.