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The Mars Climate Orbiter infamously disintegrated after its trajectory sent it too close to the planet’s atmosphere, due to a calculation error—an error that could have been avoided if everyone used the metric system. You might ask, “Well, why not have everyone use imperial units?”, to which I would respond: You might wonder why the […]
Teardown
A few of us have been griping that it’s time to get a company car. Back in the old days, our 6’ 5” CEO Dave used to deliver prototypes to customers on a tiny scooter. These days, we really want to make deliveries in style… so we got a LAMBORGHINI! Okay, not a real Lamborghini—we’re not that […]
Teardown
Flower Power is an environmental monitor that you stick in the soil of a potted plant. It measures 4 things: sunlight, temperature, fertilizer, and moisture. Powered by a replaceable AAA battery, it’s water resistant and good for indoor and outdoor use. The company behind this product, Parrot, hails from France and makes a diverse lineup […]
Teardown
In the midst of your holiday shopping, you probably came across the new Amazon Kindle Fire that’s selling for $50. $50! That’s twice as cheap as any other tablet Amazon has on the market. For 50 bucks you get a 7” display, 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, Wi-Fi, 8 GB of storage, and rear and front-facing cameras. […]
Article
I still remember the first Chinese electronics factory I visited like it was yesterday: It was an old tier-3* contract manufacturer somewhere in the sprawling Dongguan City. Its white tile facade was yellowed from acid rain, and despite the sweltering midsummer heat, only a few ceiling fans feebly circulated the muggy air on the factory […]
Teardown
Before we get to business today, here’s a little trivia: The Lazer Tag product line was brought to us by Worlds of Wonder (the original WoW), a toy company founded by former Atari employees. This hot hardware startup hailed from Fremont, California and got its start making “the world’s first animated talking toy,” Teddy Ruxpin. It […]
