Scobleizer - Latest Comments in Manufacturing is changing with us

Re: Manufacturing is changing with us

BobTurbo — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 07:30:08 -0000

Is this like the tech version of an open kitchen restaurant? :)

Re: Manufacturing is changing with us

Matthew — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:05:16 -0000

Great post and great insight. Federated Media, Intel and Asus have created the queen-mother of this concept with WePC.com: http://www.wepc.com/. Check it out. Sometime in the near future we should see the first ever crowdsourced PC, notebook, netbook.

Re: Manufacturing is changing with us

Ross Morrissey — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 03:39:29 -0000

A couple of years ago the design of a 10 meter sailboat was refined with the help of an online community. The designer's commentary is here: http://www1.ft10class.info/....

Re: Manufacturing is changing with us

Don — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 10:42:47 -0000

Hi Robert,

I am currently working with a client on their website. They are into lean manufacturing and had no web presence until this past week. Their site (http://micronmfg.net) is in it's infancy, but the first thing they asked is how can this help us better serve existing clients.

Their product (they really don't make end products, but rather components for others) is much different than the "electronic" things you are discussing above, and yet I think that the principles will apply in their industry as well. They make very small metal and plastic parts, but they try to listen carefully to their customers and often suggest ways that they can manufacturer a part with the same results but at lower cost to the client.

So give me some ideas Robert, what can they do with their web presence that will help others help themselves. It won't take them four years to act on your advice.

Re: Manufacturing is changing with us

Michael Long — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 14:43:52 -0000

One doesn't design breakthrough, highly-desireable, highly-competitive products by counting noses.

Do you really think the iPhone was the result of a design-by-committee process?

Re: Manufacturing is changing with us

Steve Jobs — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:13:00 -0000

You're naivety is amazing. Not a single TechCrunch tablet has been sold and BugLabs is hardly a household name yet you're already making proclamations about the state of manufacturing.

Do you realize how thin margins are in the hardware manufacturing business? Have you any guess as to how many tablets Arrington will need to sell to have a viable enterprise? Have you paid any attention to the dwindling demand that is hitting chipmakers? Are you aware of the consolidation that will likely take place because of the economic environment?

Of course not.

Get a clue Robert. Tens of thousands of new physical products are "invented" every year. Most fail and very few go on to create the foundations for new consumer brands. You need to wake up. Nothing is changing. You're just getting more ignorant.

Re: Manufacturing is changing with us

dave — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 10:20:13 -0000

Another data point that supports you:

The Pandora open gaming handheld is a cross between a tiny netbook and a Nintendo DS. It was designed, specced built by the members of the retro, emulated and homebrew game community. Similar to some musicians' recent strategies, they actually sold-out the first run of 4,000 copies before anyone had even seen a dev-unit. Interesting times.

For more info, see: http://www.openpandora.org/

I like the CrunchPad but I feel their focus on Flash-delivered video probably ruled out ARM chips with the attendant impact on size, heat and battery life.

Adobe are working on this, but I'm not sure where they are with it.

http://www.adobe.com/abouta...

Re: Manufacturing is changing with us

Hyder — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 05:15:33 -0000

I think TechCrunch just became a consumer electronics company. Arrington will need a slogan and a wardrobe for the CrunchWorld product expo's.

Re: Manufacturing is changing with us

Gerrit Eicker — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 04:14:19 -0000

Beside those brand questions I'm really looking forward to see more products we demanded since ages. And that's not only web/digital media tablets.