muki, an e-ink based photo mug

[Lemurion]

The idea sounds interesting, but taking heat from coffee is a bad thing. I use a cup with a lid so my coffee stays hot, and not being able to microwave it if it gets too cold to drink... not so good.

[elemenoP]

This is hilarious! I have never seen anything so simultaneously clever and useless! I wish them well and I hope they actually produce them.

eP

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

The idea sounds interesting, but taking heat from coffee is a bad thing. I use a cup with a lid so my coffee stays hot, and not being able to microwave it if it gets too cold to drink... not so good.

The heat is always going away anyway. Now it's just being put to some use. Unless there is a serious Peltier effect or similar going on, I don't think this will draw heat from the coffee significantly faster than the inside of a vessel would anyway. And since there are no superconductors involved here, some of heat energy turned into electricity by the circuitry is being turned back to heat through its use, too.

Originally Posted by elemenoP

This is hilarious! I have never seen anything so simultaneously clever and useless! I wish them well and I hope they actually produce them.

eP

1. Making your first cup of coffee more entertaining is FAR from useless! I WANT my surgeon seeing an uplifting kitten cartoon before he operates!

2. Selling cute gadgets to lots of people with a little disposable income is great technique for generating the awareness and cash flow needed to produce useful things with the technology, and I can imagine several possibilities. True, a few of those possibilities end up with vast networks of self-powered, self-aware machines that take over the Earth and wipe out the human race, but that's the only downside.

[elemenoP]

Upside: cute kittens. Downside: end of the human race. It's a wash then.

[speakingtohe]

Great idea for someone who is terminally bored while drinking their coffee.

How long before the novelty of seeing a different picture/saying on your cup wears thin. And how long till your friends who at first say 'How cool is that" start looking at you with glazed eyes and saying yah yah, saw that already even if the picture is different.

I don't see it as a wise stock investment.

Helen

[ApK]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

Great idea for someone who is terminally bored while drinking their coffee.

How long before the novelty of seeing a different picture/saying on your cup wears thin. And how long till your friends who at first say 'How cool is that" start looking at you with glazed eyes and saying yah yah, saw that already even if the picture is different.

I don't see it as a wise stock investment.

Helen

Travel mugs with NO pictures sell well. Photo mugs with one static picure sell well. I don't see how this can miss, if it's priced reasonably.
Even if the market is only hackers who want to tear into it, and commercial cafes that want to use the picture space for marketing, it could still do well.

(Darn, I should buy stock.)

ApK

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by ApK

Travel mugs with NO pictures sell well. Photo mugs with one static picure sell well. I don't see how this can miss, if it's priced reasonably.
Even if the market is only hackers to want to tear into it, and commercial cafes that want to use the picture space for marketing.

(Darn, I should buy stock.)

ApK

It is the pricing reasonably by travel mugs/picture mugs that I question. Sure if they can sell a low end one for under a dollar and a high end classy looking ceramic for under $20, they might do okay. And of course the would probably do very well in the As Seen on TV Market if they can mass produce at a very low price.

I still think the novelty appeal would be short lived in the over 10 year old crowd, but maybe I am underestimating the average attention span and the amount of time the average user would be enthralled with this. What would be your guesstimate for yourself for example?

Me I would play with it for an hour or so and the excitement would be gone. A character flaw perhaps.

Helen

[ApK]

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

What would be your guesstimate for yourself for example?

Me I would play with it for an hour or so and the excitement would be gone. A character flaw perhaps.

Helen

I might find myself in that hacker group I mentioned, but as a consumer, I would anticipate that if this thing sold for under $50, I'd get a higher enjoyment-hours-per-dollar ratio (EH/$) from this than from many other things I've wasted money on.

I need to trademark a name for the EH/$ unit.

ApK

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by ApK

I might find myself in that hacker group I mentioned, but as a consumer, I would anticipate that if this thing sold for under $50, I'd get a higher enjoyment-hours-per-dollar ratio (EH/$) from this than from many other things I've wasted money on.

I need to trademark a name for the EH/$ unit.

ApK

Hmmmm... How many hours per $ make up one (EH/$) unit? Or am I misunderstanding the cocept?
For $50 I would have to have at least 5 hours of enjoyment and probably 10 to be satisfied that it wasn't a total waste of time. For $100 I tend to justify things more so my scales are not fair

Then there is the shelf space factor. I have a hard time throwing out/donating to others useless/disappointing items that cost over $10. I feel that I am just passing on my bad decisions to some unsuspecting soul. So the $50 items in question sit on the shelf taunting me for quite a wile. Occasionally I am lucky enough that an acquaintance actually desires to take said item off my hands but usually I am not so lucky and have to close my eyes and heave it in the trash.

But I like the idea of the (EH/$) unit. You should pursue it.

Helen

[jandrew]

It's about time! Finally, I'll be able to bluetooth my smart-watch to my mug and not dump my coffee at every damn text and tweet that comes across. Who needs stock when I'll be saving so much on coffee and dry-cleaning?

[QuantumIguana]

It's not useless: you can put coffee or tea in it. It's unnecessary, sure, but anything beyond a plain, utilitarian cup is just as unnecessary, such as a cup that says "#1 Granddad". And if it can't be washed in the dishwasher, that doesn't make it useless either. I have a coffee cup that isn't dishwasher safe, so I wash it by hand.

[elemenoP]

Another use: your grandkid could change it to say "#2 Granddad" at any time, so it keeps you on your toes.

[QuantumIguana]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

Another use: your grandkid could change it to say "#2 Granddad" at any time, so it keeps you on your toes.

Just think of the fun you could have hacking people's coffee cups at work. The possibilities are endless, limited only by your sadism.

[Jessica Lares]

"I haven't had my morning cup today, try again later."

[Glorfindel]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

Just think of the fun you could have hacking people's coffee cups at work. The possibilities are endless, limited only by your sadism.

"WARNING: Radiation Shield has failed, 10 Seconds to meltdown."