Stupid/Small Questions Megathread

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Stupid/Small Questions Megathread

Fire In The Disco: Oct 4, 2007; I cannot change the gender of my unborn child and shouldn't waste my time or energy pretending he won't exist

AbdominalSnowman posted:

Can someone tell me how to get the smell of cigarette smoke out of my clothes / all of my earthly belongings? My dickbag roommates chainsmoke all day and I'm tired of smelling like an ashtray. The smell just sticks to everything and I don't have time to wash all of my clothes every single day. What can I do besides febreeze the hell out of myself?

When I went to university in the 90s, smoking was allowed as long as both roommates agreed. You don't agree. Isn't there someone you can talk to about it? It's really not cool if both roommates aren't down with it.

# ? Oct 7, 2011 20:01

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# ? May 16, 2024 18:29

Ularg: Mar 2, 2010; Just tell me I'm exotic.

Got this monopoly piece from McDonalds named B&O Rail Road, with "EA SPORTS FAN TRIP" right under it. Looking at the rare pieces from wikipedia, it looks like my piece is just barely different from the one that's on Wikipedia, despite what it says. So do I just assume I didn't win anything?

# ? Oct 7, 2011 20:05

RaoulDuke12: Nov 9, 2004; The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but to those who see it coming and jump aside.

AbdominalSnowman posted:

Tried the first, the other two aren't an option because it is university housing and I can either deal with it or lose my scholarship because we aren't allowed to live off campus if we accept funding from the university.

I was hoping there was some kind of neutralizing agent or something that would work. Would something like charcoal absorb the smell perhaps?

http://www.smokeeaters.org/iqair/

Not that you should have to buy an $800 air purifier because douchebag wants to smoke inside though. I'm a voracious smoker and I would never subject someone else to that. That's total bullshit, gently caress that guy.

# ? Oct 7, 2011 20:14

Golbez: Oct 9, 2002; 1 2 3!
If you want to take a shot at me get in line, line
1 2 3!
Baby, I've had all my shots and I'm fine

Ularg posted:

Got this monopoly piece from McDonalds named B&O Rail Road, with "EA SPORTS FAN TRIP" right under it. Looking at the rare pieces from wikipedia, it looks like my piece is just barely different from the one that's on Wikipedia, despite what it says. So do I just assume I didn't win anything?

You need all four railroads, and according to the internet, Short Line is the rare one, not B&O.

# ? Oct 7, 2011 20:16

Dr. Glasscock: Apr 15, 2004; HOO-DAH!!! Fatal Wiimote blow to the face, 20 points!

Trying to find a website that would let you time-delay send an email. The site was real simple site that required no registration. I recall it looking nice (it was Web 2.0ish if you will).

You would enter the recipient's information, email body, etc and the message would be sent after a randomized time interval. I can't stress that part enough. It didn't even let you choose or tell you afterwards what the time interval would be. It would just be from now until the next half year or something.

I've done all kinds of crazy searches on Google and looked around all the sites I frequent and haven't been able to come up with anything. I've found some other services but none of them are it (or randomized).

And yeah I'm a dumbass for not bookmarking or emailing the URL of it to myself.

Dr. Glasscock fucked around with this message at 21:26 on Oct 7, 2011

# ? Oct 7, 2011 21:23

baquerd: Jul 2, 2007; by FactsAreUseless

Dr. Glasscock posted:

Trying to find a website that would let you time-delay send an email. The site was real simple site that required no registration. I recall it looking nice (it was Web 2.0ish if you will).

You would enter the recipient's information, email body, etc and the message would be sent after a randomized time interval. I can't stress that part enough. It didn't even let you choose or tell you afterwards what the time interval would be. It would just be from now until the next half year or something.

Do you have any flavor of linux or unix?

code:

#!/bin/bash

sleep $RANDOM
/bin/mailx -s "Random Delayed Email" [email]email.addr@whatever.com[/email] <<*
A message for a goon.
*

baquerd fucked around with this message at 21:33 on Oct 7, 2011

# ? Oct 7, 2011 21:31

butt dickus: Jul 7, 2007; top ten juiced up coaches
and the top ten juiced up players

Why haven't the "Cardholder Services" assholes been shut down? I got two calls from those dicks today. Whatever kind of "business" they're doing is just to scam idiots. These guys have been operating for years and it's ridiculous that they haven't been stopped. I'm sure they're breaking a number of laws, certainly one being whichever pertains to the do not call registry thing.

# ? Oct 7, 2011 21:52

stubblyhead: Sep 13, 2007; That is treason, Johnny!; Fun Shoe

Doctor rear end in a top hat posted:

Why haven't the "Cardholder Services" assholes been shut down? I got two calls from those dicks today. Whatever kind of "business" they're doing is just to scam idiots. These guys have been operating for years and it's ridiculous that they haven't been stopped. I'm sure they're breaking a number of laws, certainly one being whichever pertains to the do not call registry thing.

Was it Rachel? I hate that bitch.

# ? Oct 7, 2011 22:44

RaoulDuke12: Nov 9, 2004; The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but to those who see it coming and jump aside.

Doctor rear end in a top hat posted:

Why haven't the "Cardholder Services" assholes been shut down? I got two calls from those dicks today. Whatever kind of "business" they're doing is just to scam idiots. These guys have been operating for years and it's ridiculous that they haven't been stopped. I'm sure they're breaking a number of laws, certainly one being whichever pertains to the do not call registry thing.

Cardholder services is usually a representative from a credit card that you have. You being the cardholder, them providing the services.

# ? Oct 7, 2011 22:59

jackpot: Aug 31, 2004; First cousin to the Black Rabbit himself. Such was Woundwort's monument...and perhaps it would not have displeased him.<

I want to download simple/minimalist ringtones and sound effects for my phone. Like when I get a text message, my phone just makes this little _*pop* sound, and I like that. Where do I go? Google is not my friend in this matter.

# ? Oct 7, 2011 23:06

Xandu: Feb 19, 2006; It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am.

RaoulDuke12 posted:

Cardholder services is usually a representative from a credit card that you have. You being the cardholder, them providing the services.

Actually he's referring to a specific telephone scam company called Cardholder Services.

# ? Oct 7, 2011 23:21

RaoulDuke12: Nov 9, 2004; The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but to those who see it coming and jump aside.

Oh. poo poo. That's shady as hell.

# ? Oct 8, 2011 00:08

AbdominalSnowman: Mar 2, 2009; by Ozmaugh

ElwoodCuse posted:

Where do you go to university that hasn't banned smoking virtually everywhere?

It is banned, but the worst the university will do about cigarettes is $50 fine, and the administration is so lazy that if you call them and complain 99% of the time they will just remove the charge rather than go to a judicial affairs hearing over it.

# ? Oct 8, 2011 00:33

Pympede: Jun 17, 2005

jackpot posted:

I want to download simple/minimalist ringtones and sound effects for my phone. Like when I get a text message, my phone just makes this little _*pop* sound, and I like that. Where do I go? Google is not my friend in this matter.

I've never used the website before but it has a large library of freeware sound effects, I'm sure if you browsed around you can find something you like.

http://www.soundjay.com/button-sounds-2.html

I tried a few and sound number 16 was pretty decent. 29 was nice too.

# ? Oct 8, 2011 02:08

Reformed Pessimist: Apr 18, 2007

So I found a neat coin at work tonight. As far as I can tell it is a 1946 Walking Liberty Half Dollar. I'm don't know much else about it. I was wondering if there was a thread at all related to coins on A/T? I looked through the first three or so pages and didn't find one. If not is there anyone on here who might be able to tell me a bit more about the coin? I don't expect it be super valuable as it's in pretty rough shape. I can post pics or whatever if anyone wants to see it.

# ? Oct 8, 2011 04:26

stubblyhead: Sep 13, 2007; That is treason, Johnny!; Fun Shoe

Reformed Pessimist posted:

So I found a neat coin at work tonight. As far as I can tell it is a 1946 Walking Liberty Half Dollar. I'm don't know much else about it. I was wondering if there was a thread at all related to coins on A/T? I looked through the first three or so pages and didn't find one. If not is there anyone on here who might be able to tell me a bit more about the coin? I don't expect it be super valuable as it's in pretty rough shape. I can post pics or whatever if anyone wants to see it.

Post some pics, I'd be interested in seeing it. If these prices are accurate, it's probably worth at least a few dollars. Where do you work that people are dropping antique coins?

# ? Oct 8, 2011 04:42

Reformed Pessimist: Apr 18, 2007

I work at Walgreens and for some reason we continuously find weird currency in our registers. In the way of coins I've found British Pence, Korean Won, tons of coins from Bermuda, a couple of Pesos, a Deutsch Mark, and several Euro coins. Also I've picked out about five Indian Head pennies, and three Buffalo Nickels. That's not to mention the Susan B. Anthony dollars that come in about once or twice a week. We also have a customer who routinely pays in 2 dollar bills I have no idea why. Also the other assistant manager found a $1.00 silver certificate in the register one night.

So yeah we get some pretty weird currency and I can't understand why. It's not exactly an ethnic melting pot or a tourist destination. My store is located in middle of nowhere in upstate New York.

This is by far my weirdest find to date. Well maybe I also once found a plastic penny in our registers that was stamped "Duplicate" on it. That was pretty strange too. I honestly don't know how my cashiers miss these things. Here's a few pictures of it.

Front

Sorry for the flash on the last one trying to get a good one that close without glare in my darkish room was not easy.

Back

One thing I'm completely uncertain of is what the J.O. stamped into the coin stands for. It is clearly struck into the coin by a letter punch of some sort. I haven't been able to find any information on this marking so I don't know what it means.

Reformed Pessimist fucked around with this message at 07:33 on Oct 8, 2011

# ? Oct 8, 2011 07:28

ShadowHawk: Jun 25, 2000; CERTIFIED PRE OWNED TESLA OWNER

When you begin to throw up and get an awful taste in your mouth, what are you actually tasting?

# ? Oct 8, 2011 08:50

Dr. Video Games 0089: Apr 15, 2004; �Silent Blue - .random.�

So I bought an electric water dispenser and I'm leaving it warm at 195F. I have an insta-thermometer so I tested the temperature - 190F, close enough.

I then dispense the water into a glass cup and I put my thermometer to see what the temperature is...and it reads 150-153. What. Why is my thermometer showing a 40 degree jump from 190 to 150 in less than 10 seconds? The glass cup may be room temperature cold but is this normal? I measured the stream that comes out of the dispenser and it's 185-190F.

I doubt it's the dispensers fault so I want to know that the deal is with the temperature drop. I don't want to be brewing tea @ 150F when it should be at 180F

Before the electric water dispenser, I had an electric kettle where I would measure the temperature of the water and then directly pour into a pot/cup but I never recall the temperature in the pot/cup dropping so fast - but then again, I don't really recall measuring it before. I could do some tests later.

WHAT IS GOING ON

HAVE I BEEN UNDERBREWING THE TEMPERATURE OF ALL MY TEA?! BUT IVE HAD SO MANY GREAT TASTING TEA AND SOME TOO HOT ONES!! My world is being torn. :smithicide:

# ? Oct 8, 2011 09:48

sub supau: Aug 28, 2007

Dr. Glasscock posted:

Trying to find a website that would let you time-delay send an email. The site was real simple site that required no registration. I recall it looking nice (it was Web 2.0ish if you will).

If you're using Gmail, you could try Boomerang. I've used it a couple of times and it's worked like a charm.

# ? Oct 8, 2011 11:07

gwar3k1: Jan 10, 2005; Someday soon

Reformed Pessimist posted:

So yeah we get some pretty weird currency and I can't understand why. It's not exactly an ethnic melting pot or a tourist destination. My store is located in middle of nowhere in upstate New York.

Tourists visit NYC, use some of their home currency either by mistake or on purpose then get away with it. The cashier with that currency in their till will either remove it (as you have) once noticed, or pawn it off as change for an unsuspecting customer, probably a local. Customer relalises too late and decides to try and pass it off to another cashier somewhere; if they're local, they'll do it in a less tourist-y shop. Your store is that store.

I know its just odds and ends, but save foreign currency up. Once you've got an exchangable amount, use it as a social fund for the cashiers?

# ? Oct 8, 2011 11:55

Pweller: Jan 25, 2006; Whatever whateva.

ShadowHawk posted:

When you begin to throw up and get an awful taste in your mouth, what are you actually tasting?

Stomach acid perhaps?

# ? Oct 8, 2011 16:27

AbdominalSnowman: Mar 2, 2009; by Ozmaugh

Reformed Pessimist posted:

I work at Walgreens and for some reason we continuously find weird currency in our registers. In the way of coins I've found British Pence, Korean Won, tons of coins from Bermuda, a couple of Pesos, a Deutsch Mark, and several Euro coins. Also I've picked out about five Indian Head pennies, and three Buffalo Nickels. That's not to mention the Susan B. Anthony dollars that come in about once or twice a week. We also have a customer who routinely pays in 2 dollar bills I have no idea why. Also the other assistant manager found a $1.00 silver certificate in the register one night.

So yeah we get some pretty weird currency and I can't understand why. It's not exactly an ethnic melting pot or a tourist destination. My store is located in middle of nowhere in upstate New York.

This is by far my weirdest find to date. Well maybe I also once found a plastic penny in our registers that was stamped "Duplicate" on it. That was pretty strange too. I honestly don't know how my cashiers miss these things. Here's a few pictures of it.

Front

Sorry for the flash on the last one trying to get a good one that close without glare in my darkish room was not easy.

Back

One thing I'm completely uncertain of is what the J.O. stamped into the coin stands for. It is clearly struck into the coin by a letter punch of some sort. I haven't been able to find any information on this marking so I don't know what it means.

As a coin collector I've never seen that marking before, and it probably isn't any kind of mint mark since on modern coins the markings are raised. Looks to me like someone stamped it themselves, or possibly it was used at a casino or something? I've seen pennies and quarters marked or painted for casino use before, but that would be a pretty strange coin to do that to. Cool find either way, definitely worth more than whatever the customer thought it was.

# ? Oct 8, 2011 16:36

Baron Bifford: May 24, 2006; Can't post for 2 years!

I can't get any of ebaumsworld's videos to play in Chrome, but they all work fine in Internet Explorer. What's going on?

# ? Oct 8, 2011 17:25

aquatic sideshow: Nov 21, 2005; by I Ozma Myself

Tire Rack says my car needs 225/60R16 tires, which is what are on the wheels now. Is there any way to put 235/70R16 tires on there?

aquatic sideshow fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Oct 8, 2011

# ? Oct 8, 2011 18:45

ChubbyEmoBabe: Sep 6, 2003; -=|NMN|=-

ShadowHawk posted:

When you begin to throw up and get an awful taste in your mouth, what are you actually tasting?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bile

# ? Oct 8, 2011 19:24

FactsAreUseless: Feb 16, 2011

Baron Bifford posted:

I can't get any of ebaumsworld's videos to play in Chrome, but they all work fine in Internet Explorer. What's going on?

Google Chrome has a built in anti-plagiarism filter. :todd:

# ? Oct 8, 2011 19:51

Dudebro: Jan 1, 2010; I TO UNDERAGE GYMNASTS

I feel like this question warrants its own thread, but I doubt that there would be many experts in the area.

I'm wondering if one has an idea to make a product that requires some electronics, metal, plastics, and possibly some glass, how would one go from idea to product, all starting off not knowing anyone in those industries? How do you go about developing a product without being taken advantage of along the way?

I think I'm asking about how the business-to-business (B2B) world works, which the average person has no clue about.

# ? Oct 8, 2011 20:01

Rat Patrol: Feb 15, 2008; kill kill kill kill
kill me now

I want to sell some stuff on SA mart but I don't know what it's worth. I'm basically going to say "make me an offer." Should I use the "auction" tab for that, or the "selling"?

# ? Oct 8, 2011 20:20

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Dudebro posted:

I feel like this question warrants its own thread, but I doubt that there would be many experts in the area.

I'm wondering if one has an idea to make a product that requires some electronics, metal, plastics, and possibly some glass, how would one go from idea to product, all starting off not knowing anyone in those industries? How do you go about developing a product without being taken advantage of along the way?

I think I'm asking about how the business-to-business (B2B) world works, which the average person has no clue about.

I've done this, and I started by hiring (contracting, actually) a mechanical engineer who had experience and friends in the prototyping industry (I'm an EE, so I had that part covered myself.) Then I realized how loving expensive it is to actually develop a product and enlisted the help of a friend of mine who works with VC's/angel funds. If I didn't know him I could have hired someone like him too. I also ended up hiring a software engineer and a medical device specialist to help.

I found the guys on craigslist and interviewed a dozen or so guys before I picked the ones I liked. I used salary.com to get an idea of the going contractor rates for what I needed. I offered them a little less and a small stake in the business (5%.) We ended up selling the company and making a decent sum, but it was a lot of hard loving work and long hours and nervous wondering if the funding would run out before we could actually take the thing to market (or get bought out.) Good thing we got bought out, because this was right before the market crash and VC money suddenly dried up really quickly. And going from prototype/proof of concept to manufacturing, marketing, and logistics costs even more.

Basically, unless you're some kind of Renaissance man who can do it all, or it's a very simple product (doesn't sound like it) you're going to need help, so post a CL help wanted ad and start interviewing. And don't hire the first person (or the 5th) you talk to. Check references. Get examples of previous work. Make sure you get people who know the things you don't know. And if you're not independently wealthy start looking for money. SBA loans, angels/VC's, rich uncles, etc.

Oh, and make your people sign an NDA.

edit: I'd be interested in a thread on this (is there not one in BFC?) but since people tend to be leery of giving out much detail on their ideas, it might be hard to really give any more specific advice than general stuff like I wrote above.

randyest fucked around with this message at 20:41 on Oct 8, 2011

# ? Oct 8, 2011 20:25

RaoulDuke12: Nov 9, 2004; The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but to those who see it coming and jump aside.

aquatic sideshow posted:

Tire Rack says my car needs 225/60R16 tires, which is what are on the wheels now. Is there any way to put 235/70R16 tires on there?

Forgive me if you know this but if you didn't, now you do.

breaking down those numbers gives you 5 distinct bits of information.

P235/70/R16

P= passenger tire
235= width of the tire in mm
70 = aspect ratio of the tire height, in percentage
R = radial ply (internal construction of the tire)
16 = wheel diameter

So if you look at the difference, the tire that you want is 10mm wider, and 30mm higher. It doesn't sound like a lot, but you likely will get some wheel rub if it's not a vehicle with high clearance, and the bead may not seat properly on the rim. That said, I have mounted wider tires on a car just fine, and considering the larger width, they would probably seat fine...the clearance is the issue here.

Not to mention your speedometer and odometer are going to be wrong now.

I understand why you want a wider tire, but is there a reason you want a higher sidewall?

(I worked at a tire shop, installing tires for 3 years, so that's my reference.)

RaoulDuke12 fucked around with this message at 20:56 on Oct 8, 2011

# ? Oct 8, 2011 20:51

Dudebro: Jan 1, 2010; I TO UNDERAGE GYMNASTS

randyest posted:

I've done this, and I started by hiring (contracting, actually) a mechanical engineer who had experience and friends in the prototyping industry (I'm an EE, so I had that part covered myself.) Then I realized how loving expensive it is to actually develop a product and enlisted the help of a friend of mine who works with VC's/angel funds. If I didn't know him I could have hired someone like him too. I also ended up hiring a software engineer and a medical device specialist to help.

I found the guys on craigslist and interviewed a dozen or so guys before I picked the ones I liked. I used salary.com to get an idea of the going contractor rates for what I needed. I offered them a little less and a small stake in the business (5%.) We ended up selling the company and making a decent sum, but it was a lot of hard loving work and long hours and nervous wondering if the funding would run out before we could actually take the thing to market (or get bought out.) Good thing we got bought out, because this was right before the market crash and VC money suddenly dried up really quickly. And going from prototype/proof of concept to manufacturing, marketing, and logistics costs even more.

Basically, unless you're some kind of Renaissance man who can do it all, or it's a very simple product (doesn't sound like it) you're going to need help, so post a CL help wanted ad and start interviewing. And don't hire the first person (or the 5th) you talk to. Check references. Get examples of previous work. Make sure you get people who know the things you don't know. And if you're not independently wealthy start looking for money. SBA loans, angels/VC's, rich uncles, etc.

Oh, and make your people sign an NDA.

edit: I'd be interested in a thread on this (is there not one in BFC?) but since people tend to be leery of giving out much detail on their ideas, it might be hard to really give any more specific advice than general stuff like I wrote above.

Thanks for the response. How much do you think you spent from "Hey, I really want to make this" until the buy out? And what time period was that over? It's not a simple product, but it's nowhere near anything like a phone. The electronics part is needed, but I'm not sure to what degree. An average toaster has electronics inside yet is relatively simple. The software/programming side would be simple while the hardware side would be more involved and this device is intended to be small, like a smart phone but more depth.

On the complexity scale: If something simple like a toaster or stopwatch are zeros and a smart phone is 100, then this would be 10-20.

Dudebro fucked around with this message at 21:01 on Oct 8, 2011

# ? Oct 8, 2011 20:57

aquatic sideshow: Nov 21, 2005; by I Ozma Myself

RaoulDuke12 posted:

Forgive me if you know this but if you didn't, now you do.

breaking down those numbers gives you 5 distinct bits of information.

P235/70/R16

P= passenger tire
235= width of the tire in mm
70 = aspect ratio of the tire height, in percentage
R = radial ply (internal construction of the tire)
16 = wheel diameter

So if you look at the difference, the tire that you want is 10mm wider, and 30mm higher. It doesn't sound like a lot, but you likely will get some wheel rub if it's not a vehicle with high clearance, and the bead may not seat properly on the rim. That said, I have mounted wider tires on a car just fine, and considering the larger width, they would probably seat fine...the clearance is the issue here.

Not to mention your speedometer and odometer are going to be wrong now.

I understand why you want a wider tire, but is there a reason you want a higher sidewall?

(I worked at a tire shop, installing tires for 3 years, so that's my reference.)

This is very helpful, thanks. The only reason I'm considering the tires is because I can get them for essentially free, and the ones currently on my car are pretty much gone. I guess I will take the car and tires into a tire shop and see if they can do it. Thanks again!

# ? Oct 8, 2011 21:08

Gravity Pike: Feb 8, 2009; I find this discussion incredibly bland and disinteresting.

Dr. Video Games 0089 posted:

So I bought an electric water dispenser and I'm leaving it warm at 195F. I have an insta-thermometer so I tested the temperature - 190F, close enough.

I then dispense the water into a glass cup and I put my thermometer to see what the temperature is...and it reads 150-153. What. Why is my thermometer showing a 40 degree jump from 190 to 150 in less than 10 seconds? The glass cup may be room temperature cold but is this normal? I measured the stream that comes out of the dispenser and it's 185-190F.

I doubt it's the dispensers fault so I want to know that the deal is with the temperature drop. I don't want to be brewing tea @ 150F when it should be at 180F

Before the electric water dispenser, I had an electric kettle where I would measure the temperature of the water and then directly pour into a pot/cup but I never recall the temperature in the pot/cup dropping so fast - but then again, I don't really recall measuring it before. I could do some tests later.

WHAT IS GOING ON HAVE I BEEN UNDERBREWING THE TEMPERATURE OF ALL MY TEA?! BUT IVE HAD SO MANY GREAT TASTING TEA AND SOME TOO HOT ONES!! My world is being torn.

Try doing a hot-rinse of your cup before you make tea in it. Fill it with hot water, let it sit for a few seconds, dump the water out, then make your tea. I'm not 100% sure that this will make things better, but I'd be willing to bet that the heat you're missing is going directly into your cup.

# ? Oct 8, 2011 21:18

RaoulDuke12: Nov 9, 2004; The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but to those who see it coming and jump aside.

aquatic sideshow posted:

This is very helpful, thanks. The only reason I'm considering the tires is because I can get them for essentially free, and the ones currently on my car are pretty much gone. I guess I will take the car and tires into a tire shop and see if they can do it. Thanks again!

Just fyi, the wider tire is going increase your rolling resistance, which will decrease fuel economy, and if you do have the ground clearance, the taller tire will increase the height of your vehicle, increasing drag and also decreasing fuel economy.

I'm sure over the course of three years, the loss in fuel economy will probably equal out to be the cost of the tires, but just so you know.

# ? Oct 8, 2011 21:34

randyest: Sep 1, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Dudebro posted:

Thanks for the response. How much do you think you spent from "Hey, I really want to make this" until the buy out? And what time period was that over? It's not a simple product, but it's nowhere near anything like a phone. The electronics part is needed, but I'm not sure to what degree. An average toaster has electronics inside yet is relatively simple. The software/programming side would be simple while the hardware side would be more involved and this device is intended to be small, like a smart phone but more depth.

On the complexity scale: If something simple like a toaster or stopwatch are zeros and a smart phone is 100, then this would be 10-20.

~$1.5M and ~12 months (~7-8 months of serious full-time work with employees/payroll to meet, including paying myself the salary and healthcare I gave up when I took a leave of absence from my job) and ending in late 2007. Close to 4 months of that (and about $400k) was working with the FDA (it was a medical device -- though not for life saving or actual medical procedures, but even devices for data aggregation/smart display/decision assistance and electronic medical record interface require FDA approval, which means ISO standards for development, verification, documentation, etc.) I'm guessing it would have been at least another year and $3-5M more to market and sell it on our own. I'm probably underestimating that, because every small business / product idea time or $ estimate is a huge underestimation. So guess, then double it, then double it again to get a realistic idea.

I don't know what your background is or if you've already got the electronics part down, but I'd be willing to consider helping out with the EE portion and project planning, hiring, funding, and whatever I can do (if it looks interesting to me -- I suck at working on things I don't personally like and find exciting.) I've still got the entrepreneur/startup bug even though I went back to my "real job" :shobon:

. I'm not sure how to reconcile your idea being a 1-2 on the 1-10 toaster-to-smartphone scale yet "like a smart phone but more depth" but if you want, grab a free NDA off the web and email me at my username at gmail and we can discuss in more detail.

edit: FYI most toasters are more "electric" than "electronic" and as simple as they may seem, UL certification (which you need if you want to sell your toaster in the US is anything but "simple.") Not to mention all the other slightly- or very-different safety standards groups in Canada and EU. Underestimation of complexity, cost, and schedule are the biggest killers to new products and small businesses, in my experience.

randyest fucked around with this message at 22:31 on Oct 8, 2011

# ? Oct 8, 2011 22:27

Schweinhund: Oct 23, 2004

Any word on how Christopher Hitchens' treatment is going other than "hasn't killed him"?

# ? Oct 8, 2011 22:55

Dudebro: Jan 1, 2010; I TO UNDERAGE GYMNASTS

randyest posted:

~$1.5M and ~12 months (~7-8 months of serious full-time work with employees/payroll to meet, including paying myself the salary and healthcare I gave up when I took a leave of absence from my job) and ending in late 2007. Close to 4 months of that (and about $400k) was working with the FDA (it was a medical device -- though not for life saving or actual medical procedures, but even devices for data aggregation/smart display/decision assistance and electronic medical record interface require FDA approval, which means ISO standards for development, verification, documentation, etc.) I'm guessing it would have been at least another year and $3-5M more to market and sell it on our own. I'm probably underestimating that, because every small business / product idea time or $ estimate is a huge underestimation. So guess, then double it, then double it again to get a realistic idea.

I don't know what your background is or if you've already got the electronics part down, but I'd be willing to consider helping out with the EE portion and project planning, hiring, funding, and whatever I can do (if it looks interesting to me -- I suck at working on things I don't personally like and find exciting.) I've still got the entrepreneur/startup bug even though I went back to my "real job" . I'm not sure how to reconcile your idea being a 1-2 on the 1-10 toaster-to-smartphone scale yet "like a smart phone but more depth" but if you want, grab a free NDA off the web and email me at my username at gmail and we can discuss in more detail.

edit: FYI most toasters are more "electric" than "electronic" and as simple as they may seem, UL certification (which you need if you want to sell your toaster in the US is anything but "simple.") Not to mention all the other slightly- or very-different safety standards groups in Canada and EU. Underestimation of complexity, cost, and schedule are the biggest killers to new products and small businesses, in my experience.

I suck at not being confusing sometimes. I was talking only of dimensions there. So I imagine it would be the size of a smart phone, but larger in the z-axis.

I will send off an e-mail to you.

# ? Oct 8, 2011 23:22

cloudchamber: Aug 6, 2010; You know what the Ukraine is? It's a sitting duck. A road apple, Newman. The Ukraine is weak. It's feeble. I think it's time to put the hurt on the Ukraine

Schweinhund posted:

Any word on how Christopher Hitchens' treatment is going other than "hasn't killed him"?

How else can you describe blasting someone with massive doses of radiation?

# ? Oct 9, 2011 00:09

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# ? May 16, 2024 18:29

Pweller: Jan 25, 2006; Whatever whateva.

Is it possible to make use of linkedin.com 's shortened url lnkd.in to point to my personal profile?

Profile urls are linked.in/in/johnsmith, but lnkd.in/in/johnsmith and lnkd.in/johnsmith don't seem to work.

# ? Oct 9, 2011 00:14

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