Wakemate: Nearly Final Update | Hacker News Reader

Wakemate: Nearly Final Update

blog.wakemate.com

15 pointsrickharrison13 comments

This is from Wakemate's April 1st email:

"The next batch of units will ship no later July 30th, 2010. Based on your pre-order date, you should expect your WakeMate no later than 07/30/2010, but probably significantly sooner."

Wakemate has got to stop lying in emails. I give huge kudos to Wakemate for trying and it's probably a lot tougher nut to crack than I can even imagine, but Wakemate has - through repeatedly not fulfilling their promises - lost all credibility in my eyes.

Wakemate has got to stop lying in emails...lost all credibility in my eyes.

Lying? So you really think they make these blog posts and give out dates knowing that they won't meet them? That would be lying. I, for one, don't think they are lying.

Are they always off-schedule and could they better manage expectations? Absolutely. But I don't think they are lying.

Many of us have had projects in life that just went on forever...each time thinking that we're almost there only to run into another hiccup. In hindsight it seems obvious that we should just expect more problems and an indefinite date--but when you are actually doing something you are so excited to get out, you helplessly want to put a date time and again. I'd put the wakemate launch in that box.

My guess is once they do the initial launch, they will have plenty of information to make a more accurate prediction about future launches.

I think stating that your product "will ship no later than" when you know there are still some serious issues to be worked out is lying. Whether they actually know that they won't come in on schedule or just think it's overwhelmingly possible they won't, makes no difference to me.

If they don't know they won't come in on schedule, it's not lying. Sure, you can make up your own definition of any word.

What they did wrong is to promise a deadline after missing _all of their previous deadlines_. You don't do that! (especially if you are relying on something that is apparently outside your control)

Well, I'm glad they're making progress. In the meantime, for those of us who intended for these to be holiday gifts last year, does anyone recommend any alternatives?

http://mdlabs.se/sleepcycle/

Similar idea, except uses the accelerometer in the iPhone itself.

A friend of mine uses this. As long as you don't kick the phone on the floor during your sleep it ends up cheaper :)

It also has the advantage of not having anything attached to your body while you sleep, for those or us that dislike that.

I found this app shockingly accurate. I recommend it.

I'll give that a shot, and if it works I'll 'gift it' - thanks!

Note to self: don't ever give into the temptation to work on consumer hardware.

Awesome. The wakemates tackled a tough problem. Really excited to see how it turns out.

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