
Philosopher invents clever iPhone case - boredguy8
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1250439912/popsockets-iphone-case-it-pops-props-kicks-and-cli
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jaysonelliot
I liked the idea of the product enough on first glance that I went straight to
the pledge rewards, and nearly pledged the $25 without knowing any more.
That's an affordable price for any case at all - most start around $40.

Since the images happened to be broken when I looked at the page, I decided to
watch the video to learn something about the product.

You can guess how well that went.

I tried not to hide behind my hands while he danced and made bad jokes,
because I figured that sooner or later, he'd demonstrate some details.

By the time the three minutes and eight seconds of self-love had ended, I not
only didn't want to contribute anymore, I never wanted to see him speak again.
I've never had a Kickstarter video talk me _out_ of supporting a project
before.

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draggnar
debbie downer. i thought the video was pretty cool. hey, you did watch it to
the end right?

i would customize my pop sockets with cartoon eyes on the sockets.

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Malic
No. Actually, I didn't watch it to the end. Too embarrassing to watch.

I guess some of us are from the Sgt. Joe Friday school of thought when it
comes to Kickstarter presentation videos, "Just the facts, ma'am."

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jws
The video is good exercise in "You can't please everyone."

Comments here are about 50-50 "love the dance", "hate the dance", and with a
sparser spattering of "cool" and "who cares" to the philosopher designation.

He doesn't need to win everyone, or even a significant percentage of the
population. Attracting the 33% or so that like the dancing and aren't
alienated by the philosopher tag gets him a large enough market.

Without the dancing philosopher, essentially no one would have heard of his
product.

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jaysonelliot
I disagree wholeheartedly. Look at all the great products that have come out
of Quirky. No dancing philosophers there.

If this case were truly innovative—and I sort of think it is—people would go
for it, and share it with their friends.

I believe he lost sales with the corny video, rather than gaining any new
ones.

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jws
Quirky? Never heard of them. Do they dance? Do they ponder?

What if this case is just one more variation of a theme with 500 incumbents?

Ok, I googled and have seen some of quirky's designs on the "hey this is
_design_ " type of web sites. They appear to have established brand and an
extensive network of retailer relationships. It seems a different game. A
press release gets them eyeballs.

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dpcan
I think it would be better if, instead of circles, the pop-sockets were
octagons for little flat edges depending on the angle you were using to rest
the device.

And the video? The "joke" never ended and got down to details about the
product.

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pdenya
Agreed. I skipped around looking for the part where he explains the product.

Why octogons instead of squares?

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xxbondsxx
So when in "facetime" mode:

[http://sozolate.com/popsockets/Kickstarter%20Images/PopSocke...](http://sozolate.com/popsockets/Kickstarter%20Images/PopSockets_Facetime_Title.jpg)

The phone is actually stable, rather than teetering on the edge of rolling to
one side or the other

~~~
erikpukinskis
The phone itself has two corners of contact. The circle provides the third.
It's like a tripod. I don't think having a fourth point of contact less than
an inch away from the other would really add any noticeable stability.

Plus, by having a rounded edge on the table, it will compress a little bit,
giving a very solid connection with the table. If it was a flat edge, you
might get less solid contact, especially if it warps at all with use.

Circle seems like a good call.

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agilo
Throughout the video, I was just hoping he would stop dancing and show me
exactly how the product works. While I appreciate being entertained, a
demo/informational video would have been more conducive to the goal of getting
me to pledge some funds.

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ntkachov
I feel like he showed how the product works plenty. He showed you can hold it
with one hand sans thumb, it stands in multiple different ways and it's
stylish. Also it doubles as a headphone wrap. Had he stopped dancing and just
went on about "This is the revolutionary new product that will..." shpeil that
every other product does I probably would have quit that video a while back.
As far as pitches go his was rock solid.

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jmonegro
Indeed. This is probably the best Kickstarter video I've ever seen.

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savrajsingh
The success of this project is proof positive that pitching _really_ matters.
You could imagine someone pitching the same project without a dance-filled,
much less entertaining video, and not creating the same excitement. Congrats
to the prof and his team!

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antr
he won me with the dance. i'm in

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jpeterson
Pretty cool, but what exactly qualifies someone as a "philosopher", and how is
that relevant to this product?

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cleverjake
being a professor of philosophy, in this case. and it is a summation of the
person making it, that also makes it more interesting to click on. "Person
creates interesting iphone case" sounds a lot less interesting.

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djacobs
Seeing as his philosophy degree had no place in the video and little bearing
on the design, I would say that the title is framed the wrong way entirely.

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cleverjake
What would you suggest as an alternative?

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Locke1689
"Clever new iPhone case pitched on Kickstarter"? Maybe without the Kickstarter
since the domain is always shown with the link.

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saryant
I wouldn't have clicked on it if that were the title.

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djacobs
Neither would I. I wish that had been the title.

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pagliara
Looks ugly, not something I would use. Really though, how often do you need to
prop your iPhone up? This is something I rarely find myself needing to do with
my phone.

~~~
learc83
Looks like propping it up is just an extra feature. From the video the main
benefit is easier one-handed use.

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Terretta
I so frequently find myself needing to hold an iPhone between my shoulder and
ear while schussing down snowy slopes, I can't imagine how I didn't invent
this myself!

(To be fair, the headphone windup is probably the most useful feature for
those who listen to music a lot.)

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radarsat1
The music is entirely composed of samples from commercial songs, remixed
together by Girl Talk, who re-licensed them as Creative Commons Attribution /
Non-Commercial.

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georgemcbay
Reminds me of this from Joel Spolsky's interview in Founders at Work:

"I remember one of the stupidest things I ever wrote on Joel on Software. I
was giving advice on writing technical specifications, and I said, "Be funny."
The reason that was stupid was that I later realized that most people, when
they try to be funny, aren't that funny. They just look kind of sad. That's
like, "Be born to rich parents." It's not that useful advice for most people."

I don't use Apple products so I'm not in the target market for this in any
way, but count me among the people that think the painfully unfunny video
hurts more than helps.

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JacobIrwin
This guy is dancing his future-millionaire-dance in advance. Can't blame a guy
who designs a nice little product like that.

Can we put out better apps now too with something like this?

There's a significantly higher chance a user [whom is using this case/multi-
widget] will be able to control the touch interface more efficiently (and
dynamically).

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zeynalov
To whoever made this video:

1\. Delete this video. 2\. Make a video explaining, how it's designed, what is
it good for, why it's useful, why should people buy it. Focus only in its
visual design and its features. I want to see how does it look and what are
the main features. Avoid all other things.

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jasonlotito
> Avoid all other things.

You mean, like showing it in actual action? Showing it actually working,
which, I might add, is not on your list of criteria. I'd go so far to say that
if instead of showing you the case in action, he'd described it, it would have
been awful.

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sls
I use The Glif from Studio Neat (<http://www.studioneat.com/products/glif-for-
iphone-4>), which was also a kickstarter project. It's a stand and a tripod
mount, very elegant and small.

~~~
OJKoukaz
Great design and wonderful packaging and marketing. The video made me want one
even though I was not in the market for such a device.

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jenius
haha what a fantastic video. I wish this guy was my professor

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fenugeek
The dancing was very ill-advised.

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Foster2
So the article for an iPhone case relies on flash? Wtf?

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j45
Cool case, I can see myself actually using this one.

It would have been cool to see how the popouts extend and rotate but I think
we got the idea from all the different positions they were sitting in.

Authentic dancing also helped a lot that this product is dance-party ready, if
you use an app like Djay.

For anyone wanting detailed deathstar level specifications in a video, I'm
sure more information will come out. I'm curious how the popouts work.

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dools
I haven't listened through yet but a quick glance at the track list suggests
this is the Girl Talk mashup from the soundtrack:
<http://soundcloud.com/walt74/girl-talk-all-day> (unless Girl Talk is using
Flava in Ya Ear in multiple mashups ;)

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gerggerg
Thought the iphone case was going to help me reason with siri or something.
Instead I had to turn my speakers down and fight the urge to move to the
country side away from noisy, abrasive hunks of plastic. I am glad he's doing
what gets him going though and I mildly envy his lack of public inhibition.

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nhangen
What a horrible video.

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elxrr
Upon seeing those 'sockets', I thought it'd be something along the lines of
this: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvQzxcYZuss>

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leak
Can someone explain what the benefits of the case are in your pocket? In his
video, it's like the main focus. Can't it still fly out if you're dancing just
as easily as any other case?

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Iv
I expected more something like a case that says "I'm an iPhone" he says that
this proves machine can be self-conscious.

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spung
Haha! What an awesome video, I want to contribute because of the video alone
(don't have an iphone)

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gonzo
I think the LEGO case (www.smallworks.com) is more interesting. Modify it to
be what you want.

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YuriNiyazov
this guy was my TA at a philosophy class at nyu 11 years ago. cool!

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mwsherman
I thought he said “Hot Pockets”. Imagine my disappointment.

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diN0bot
i thought the sockets were speakers. making the noise he was dancing to. nuts.

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knyx
It would be even better if the sockets had suction cups so you could attach it
to your dashboard.

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richardburton
I just want to give this guy money. Hilarious.

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djbender
Most ridiculous video ever. <3

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utopcell
Do you think that's clever ?! Wait until you see this case :
<http://www.shapeways.com/model/207851/>

