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rusew

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I build stuff: http://robseward.com @robseward

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The slides are really cool – there's a lot of depth. I was really impressed that vectors could be encapsulated in names, removing the need for street information to be stored. Can the system encode non-linear vectors, i.e. curvy streets?

The idea and product are sound – your device seems to have a clear advantage over duck tape and stickers.

However, your site looks like a blog post. Use less copy (like 90% less). The Gif is good. Make it larger and front and center. Make your value proposition in one short sentence in a bold header.

Also, I wonder if my laptop would still close if this were on it. You might want to address that somewhere...

The Pebble has the potential to be the generic wearable you describe. It's accelerometer and CPU are very similar to the FuelBand, and it's easy to write apps for. I'm not sure why it hasn't taken off as a sport platform. Perhaps there are software limitations or it's difficult to monetize apps.

Generally you want to charge 4x your BOM (bill of materials) to cover shipping, fulfillment, customer support, etc. For such a small run (50 pieces) your costs are probably a lot higher than that of a large manufacturer; in their case they'd probably want to do > 4x to actually turn a profit. At $148 I'd be amazed if they were doing more than breaking even – these guys are doing it for the learning experience (and it says so on their blog).

But users who perceive a site to be "pretty" will usually experience it as easier to use than an uglier site, even if the uglier site is easier to use structurally. "Pretty" often translates to "easy," because users trust the design more.