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Response from The Dash

Just received this email from Nikolaj Hviid, founder of The Dash headphones project in response to our write up:

Hi,
Just saw your teardown of The Dash. I’m impressed with the analysis.
I’d like to provide some additional content that you are allowed to share.
If you approve, I’d like to link from our campaign, unless you think that will make your site less trusted.
We haven’t disclosed much about us, but a bit about our credentials:
  • Nikolaj, ex CEO of Designit Munich (www.designit.com), ex head of design at Harman (last 2 generations of products from JBL & harman/kardon was concepted and designed by the team I built), the design teams I created, have won more than 100 innovation and design awards 2011-2013.
  • Josef Scheider, ex AKG (www.akg.com) Head of Mech engineering 20+ years
  • Toby Martin, de.linkedin.com/pub/toby-martin/6/a75/4b4
The rest of the team has similar level of experience. As you say, we have made a few products in our time.
Regards,
Nikolaj

The email included these exclusive high-resolution images which provide some more detail on the 3D construction of the ‘phones:
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We are very impressed with the team’s openness, and the level of polish on their campaign and PR alike.  We will be following this campaign closely as it nears its November 2014 deadline.

The Dash headphones: surprisingly possible

phones

The Dash wireless earbuds cropped up earlier this week on Kickstarter, and you guys have been blowing up our inbox requesting a review.  We can see why you’re interested; they’re offering a pair of wireless earbuds with integrated heart rate monitor, bone microphone, touch-sensitive controls, voice feedback, 4GB MP3 player, and more. While a cursory glance might bring up memories of the Smarty Ring, a device with a similarly extreme sizing and technology requirements, there are a few details present in the Dash campaign that make it not so far fetched.

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Your fundraising goal is bullshit

blast

When your average tech journalist wants to talk about the success of a new product or service, he has a lot to draw on.  Netflix subscriptions can be compared to cable subscriptions, iPhone sales can be compared to Android sales.  Even the number of reported returns or one star Amazon reviews can tell you a lot about the success of a company’s new product.

Unfortunately, in the world of crowd funding, there isn’t a whole lot to go on when trying to gauge success.  Many crowd funded products are too unique to compare to products already on the market.  Others attempt to butt heads with established brands, but journalists can’t verify their claims without review units. Readers want to hear who won and who lost, but the world of product development makes that distinction cloudy.

Fortunately, Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and just about every other crowd funding site offer an arbitrary and random way to gauge the success of a campaign without drawing on information from any of the established and reliable sources mentioned above: the funding goal.

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Atlas Fitness Tracker doesn’t understand what an endorsement is

Just noticed something on the Atlas Fitness Tracker campaign.  It’s a textbook example of a crowdfunding project mistaking a quote for an endorsement.

atlas quote

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