Not. Crazy to think these guys think it is safe and efficient to pump 160 db SPL of ultrasound into air to charge a cell phone. And got $30M to do it!!!
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Ubeam: Using Sound waves to charge your cell phone!
- Thread starter amirm
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OP
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Here is her 2012 talk.
Five years later an idea that she said she solved and engineers said it can't be done, is still not in the market. So maybe those "linear thinking engineers" were right.
Yes, there is a grain of truth in what she says. But to blow it out of proportion and blame engineers for not thinking right when it is her idea that is not thought of right, is pretty preposterous. There are tons of ideas one can create. That is the easy part. Making it work and bring it to market -- that is the hard part.
Yes, Steve Jobs was not an engineer. But he understood customers, marketing and PR. And he didn't try to invent what didn't exist or wouldn't work.
Five years later an idea that she said she solved and engineers said it can't be done, is still not in the market. So maybe those "linear thinking engineers" were right.
Yes, there is a grain of truth in what she says. But to blow it out of proportion and blame engineers for not thinking right when it is her idea that is not thought of right, is pretty preposterous. There are tons of ideas one can create. That is the easy part. Making it work and bring it to market -- that is the hard part.
Yes, Steve Jobs was not an engineer. But he understood customers, marketing and PR. And he didn't try to invent what didn't exist or wouldn't work.
OP
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Good grief. Looks like both Marc Cuban and Andreesen invested in this: http://fortune.com/2015/07/29/cuban-andreessen-ubeam/
Both of them made it rich when young kids and now pretend to have wisdom about investing. Neither invented anything themselves. They just rode the hype on the Internet which they translated into billions of dollars in their bank account. See this ridiculous statements from Cuban in the above interview:
"Have you seen a prototype?
No. I trust her enough that I haven't gone out and said, ‘Show it to me.’ She’s shown it to enough people that I trust what’s going on."
He sits there and grills people in Shark Tank on most trivial things and here, just trusted her??? Mark is not technical and doesn't know which end is up on this technology and he would not even ask to see a working prototype?
"Have you ever met Perry [ubeam CEO] in person?
Not since I first invested. I'm available via email whenever she wants, but I let her do her own thing. "
Let a kid barely out of school fend for herself on something like this? Where did Perry get CEO skills from seeing how she doesn't have the engineering skills either?
"What investments of yours in the past would you compare it to?
When I started broadcast.com with Ty Wagner, that would be one example. [Author's note: Yahoo bought it in 1999 for $5.7 billion.] Or passing on Uber and missing it because I over-negotiated."
Cuban took advantage of the internet hype and Yahoo's stupidity about value of radio streaming at that time that was a complete money losing proposition to make his fortunes. Difference here is that folks better be a lot crazier than the Internet hype to invest in this.
Both of them made it rich when young kids and now pretend to have wisdom about investing. Neither invented anything themselves. They just rode the hype on the Internet which they translated into billions of dollars in their bank account. See this ridiculous statements from Cuban in the above interview:
"Have you seen a prototype?
No. I trust her enough that I haven't gone out and said, ‘Show it to me.’ She’s shown it to enough people that I trust what’s going on."
He sits there and grills people in Shark Tank on most trivial things and here, just trusted her??? Mark is not technical and doesn't know which end is up on this technology and he would not even ask to see a working prototype?
"Have you ever met Perry [ubeam CEO] in person?
Not since I first invested. I'm available via email whenever she wants, but I let her do her own thing. "
Let a kid barely out of school fend for herself on something like this? Where did Perry get CEO skills from seeing how she doesn't have the engineering skills either?
"What investments of yours in the past would you compare it to?
When I started broadcast.com with Ty Wagner, that would be one example. [Author's note: Yahoo bought it in 1999 for $5.7 billion.] Or passing on Uber and missing it because I over-negotiated."
Cuban took advantage of the internet hype and Yahoo's stupidity about value of radio streaming at that time that was a complete money losing proposition to make his fortunes. Difference here is that folks better be a lot crazier than the Internet hype to invest in this.
She hasn't worked with many design engineers, at least not the ones I have worked with and seen over the decades, to be so disparaging of their creativity... Pretty arrogant for a fairly young person with no (?) technical background. I'd be surprised if some gov't agency doesn't want to look into exposure levels -- ultrasonic waves are non-ionizing IIRC so not really a cancer risk, but that's a lot of power to be exposed to over a long period of time (given how long it will take to charge a phone). OTOH maybe it'll also drive out pests in the room...
From her LinkedIn profile (below) -- she worked at NASA, but does this really give her the competence (her confidence is not in question!) to question the ability and know the thought processes of all engineers? (Insert audiophile joke here.)
Education
From her LinkedIn profile (below) -- she worked at NASA, but does this really give her the competence (her confidence is not in question!) to question the ability and know the thought processes of all engineers? (Insert audiophile joke here.)
Education
- University of Pennsylvania
Degree NameBachelor of Arts
Field Of StudyPaleobiology, Geology, Astrobiology
Dates attended or expected graduation2007 – 2011
Activities and Societies: Bloomers Comedy Troupe, WQHS Penn Student Radio, TEDxUPenn, Weiss Tech House
- Montgomery High School
Dates attended or expected graduation2003 – 2007
Activities and Societies: Senior Class President
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Fitzcaraldo215
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Oh, oh. Another fellow Penn Quaker alum bites the dust, like, ahem, Donald what's his name. I am burning all my Penn t-shirts this weekend.
OP
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My partner got his business degree there and there are a ton of good graduates including yourself .Fitzcaraldo215
Major Contributor
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Oh, Don. I must have been thinking of the other guy. That guy and I even went to the same Wharton School at Penn, but at different times, alas, and at different levels, he a mere BS level guy.