Hi guys, it's time for another walk time rant. Haven't done one in a while and this one comes by popular request. Actually, um, had a few people actually request I do this one. So here goes.

It's about uh, yes, crowdsource funded projects and oh, more specifically, um, scams on crowdsource funded projects. Unfortunately, because this Uh seems to be happening more and more either deliberate scams from the get-go or ones that essentially turn into uh, scams when you know they don't deliver and they lie about deliverables and and prototypes they got and things like that Now, um, what started this was the Mew Thermal Imaging camera uh project on um, no, not Kickstarter on Indiegogo Um which has has less requirements than Kickstarter Kickstarter Recently, Um implemented a new rule which basically said um, you know, unless you've got a real prototype, you can't uh, you know, put your project on the site. You got to show a real tangible prototype. Now this, uh, me, thermal camera didn't so they couldn't get on Kickstarter don't even know if they tried, they wouldn't have got on there.

But anyway, they put it on Indiegogo They got their $280,000 or something like that. quarter of a million dollars, uh, funding and on. basically no Prototype at all. They promise lots of things and anyway, um, they're ultimately not going to deliver this thing.

There's no real Hardware They've never proved there's any real hardware and if it wasn't a deliberate scam to begin with, unfortunately, it looks like it's turned into one cuz they're just flat out lying about technical details and uh, uh, having prototypes and stuff like that I think so. Anyway, there's huge discussion thread over on the Eev blog Forum Um, so go check that out if you haven't already now. I actually had I've noticed this uh trend of um, about 9 months ago or something I had the idea that um I would actually start a separate uh blog either video blog or text blog or something like that. um to uh, don't get run over, be careful.

um yeah, I thought I'd set up a separate uh Vlog to sort of, you know, talk about or sort of review. um, these crowdsource funded projects as they came up. but I ultimately didn't do it cuz it's a very limited market and stuff like that and you know it really would have sucked all my time and um I wasn't going to get any return from it really. So um, I thought now I would, actually, um, let the community do that.

It's much better than just me trying to do it. So what I've said up now is a separate Uh section on the Eev blog Forum where you can discuss and review. uh, crowdsource funded projects mainly Hardware art projects cuz of course, that's where. um, all of our experience lies mostly in the hardware realm.

I Know there's a lot of, uh, talented software people who watch the blog as well. so by all means, uh, uh, feel free to talk about the software. Uh, there projects that involve software as well. But that's the whole idea is that if we can have a sort of a review SL comment section where you talk about these crowdsource funded projects either on Kickstarter Indiegogo the Australian POS one and uh, stuff like that, then really, you know, um I think it can do good and because the EV log Forum has a good search engine ranking, they it should, in theory, um, appear up pretty quickly.

So the people who obviously know nothing about the blog and they're backing these projects uh, when they Google search these things, if they got concerns, hopefully it'll show up on the EV blog forum and it can be an independent place to discuss these. um, either either scams or ones that look like deliberate scams From the getg, there's a few out there now. I've got to say that the majority of them are, you know, well-intentioned they aren't scams. they're well-intentioned Um, and they don't deliver.

I mean there's a very high percentage I think it's like don't quote me, it's like 60 70% off higher of uh Hardware type projects on Kickstarter don't actually deliver on time as they claimed and that's not surprising if you, um, a lot of you have been involved in the electronics manufacturing Hardware side of things and you'll know that really, it's um, you know, can take a lot longer than you expect. So a lot of these people are well intentioned. they just have no experience in manufacturing, um, electronics and how long it realistically takes. So yeah, no surprise, a lot of these projects are late.

So they're not scams or anything. it's just you know, enthusiastic people, well intentioned, and it just comes a gutsa sometimes I mean there's some that haven't delivered after 2 years. Um, you know things like that, which is absolutely crazy. But anyway, so what I really want to do is use the Forum as an Avenue to expose the ones that look like genuine scams from the get-go or turn into scams when they realize that they can't actually deliver anything and they're not going to admit it.

Or um, snake oil products as well. Where uh, people? Actually the people here, the, uh, people who run these projects actually believe in these products like you know. Um, there's one example that just popped up this morning on the Forum about an Em radiation shielding laptop case. right? classic Snake Oil.

Check the link down below. Uh, for that project, it's a, you know, but I I reckon um, it's not. It's essentially not a scam cuz they probably they actually believe Le in this product I think and they'll probably deliver the product cuz they don't just want to take the Indiegogo money and go go. They actually, you know I think they want to deliver a product and sell it.

Um, and become a big company and sell millions of these things. So um, it's not a it's not your traditional scaming that they just want to grab the Money and Run. So yeah, there you go anyway. um I Just thought I'd uh mentioned these projects and the Forum if you got any ideas about, should set up a separate domain for it or something and point to it.

I Don't know if that helps a lot, but the whole idea is that you know a place where can point uh, backers of these projects to who aren't like us. They don't have a lot of experience in electronics manufacturing, so they put their trust in these you know in these projects and hope that they deliver. whereas People Like Us Um, you know, can smell a mile away and go. There's no way you know, nah, there's no way they're going to meet that date.

You know it's just crazy. It's just not going to happen. So anyway, um I hope it's a good idea I Hope it takes off uh, a separate section of the Forum I Thought about a separate domain and separate forum and everything, but that doesn't generate the same traction. won't show up on the search engine rankings like it will on the EV blog.

Forum So yeah, um anyway, if you got ideas for that, let me know. sorry. I'm coming into some traffic now. It could uh, be a bit noisy and uh yeah folks, here's the Northwest Rail Link that may happen, may or may not happen I don't know.

but anyway, we'll see where in the Hills district. We've been waiting about 20 years for this thing. but yeah, um, it's almost like a snake oil product it has. or Vaper Weare really, it's um, ah, crazy.

Anyway, um yeah, please leave comments down below and uh, please. If you see any uh projects that look a bit, uh, dodgy, then uh, please actually list them on the website and uh, then we can get all of us who are experts to talk about it, discuss it, debate it, and uh, hopefully help out these people not get scammed. So anyway, they probably look a bit silly walking along the main road here with uh, holding my monopod. Yes, if people want to know how I shoot this video.

No, there's not someone in front of me holding the camera. it's a monopod. It's just a long stick camera on the end of a long stick. Anyway, that is a walk time rant.

Hopefully I'll do another one before the year's out. You never know. Catch you next time.