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Submission + - Phosphor Watches founder bilks customers out of $314k with Kickstarter project (kickstarter.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Phosphor Watches founder, Donald Brewer, received over $314,000 from over 2,200 Kickstarter pledges for a watch that was supposed to be delivered in Nov. of 2012. Well, its Oct. 2013 and the watches still haven't been delivered. In fact, there hasn't even been an update from Mr. Brewer since August.

If a Kickstarter project with the backing of a company like Phosphor Watches, Stefan Andren as Creative Director (Design Director for Nike+), a "working prototype" and software development from Softeq, cannot pull a project together, what are we to believe happened?

I have tried contacting Kickstarter and Donald Brewer to no avail. All Kickstarter feels obligated to do is send a message to Mr. Brewer "with a reminder of [their] Terms of Use", and a "reminder of [their] expectations regarding posting consistent updates".

It is apparent that Donald Brewer has abandoned the project and bilked 2,278 backers.

I want to bring failed Kickstarter project to the attention of the Slashdot community as a cautionary tale to potential Kickstarter supporters, and look for suggestions on how to the defrauded backers should proceed.

Interestingly, Phosphor Watches still has the item on their website (Items TT001 through TT008), and the watches are now for sale on AliExpress.com (product ID: 1332039375).

Comment Re:Puh leeze (Score 2) 382

I doubt there's any real committee yet, at least not one comprised of people with sufficient project management and technical expertise to competently analyze this train wreck. Everyone working in an upper management role on this project should be terminated, although that's a difficult proposition when some of those personnel are likely the people needed to assist competent personnel with beginning to understand how badly this system is built. So they should be terminated immediately following resolution of most of the outstanding problems.

Everyone should keep in mind that we're still paying for this with our taxes, and the massive cost overruns on this project (USD $634 million and counting for shit that doesn't work) aren't likely to slow down any time soon.

Comment Re:jor1k Demo Pages (Score 2) 89

What sort of Mac Mini are you using, an original G4 model or someting? I ran the demo just fine in Firefox 24.0 and Safari 6.0.5 on Mac OS 10.7.5 using a MacBook Pro from 2009. Here's a screenshot of Safari running jor1k.

When you say something doesn't work, you should probably include details on what you're trying to run the thing on. Mod parent down.

Comment Re:In other news (Score 3, Insightful) 205

Those who question a popular position, especially in a mocking or condescending manner, should strive to demonstrate a perfunctory attempt at providing evidence in support of an alternate viewpoint prior to publicly adopting the contrarian position.

To put this in simpler terms, either show evidence to support your specific position, or shut the fuck up and stop representing untested and unsupported ideas to be on the same plane as widely recognized and supported views that indicate only a vanishingly small degree of gender parity among Homo sapiens males and females with respect to sexual division of labor related to hunting responsibilities.

Have a nice day.

Comment Re:My worry (Score 1) 118

This is where teamwork really pays off. All the GP has to do is enlist the assistance of a friend to make sure the foil is uniformly wrapped around every square centimeter of his body, triple check that it's tightly crimped to avoid any potential for air leaks, and wait a mere matter of minutes for whatever problems he may have been concerned about to vanish.

Comment Re:hmmm... (Score 1) 85

Go anywhere on the dessert for one.

I stood on a few pies to test this hypothesis, but I still had signal. Am I doing it wrong?

Nothing like driving 100miles on a dangerous road with no signs of civilization anywhere when you need 911 the most.

Why are you doing such a thing without, at minimum, an emergency kit in the trunk consisting of a spare tire and tools, basic first aid supplies, a couple of blankets, flares, a firearm, some ammunition, and a jug of water? I don't travel for any significant distance in remote country without everything on that list. Even in town, most of that is still in the vehicle.

Comment Re:Douche-o-matic (Score 1) 251

Hey jackhole, guess what? I've personally witnessed more than one registrar virtually automatically roll over in cases like this, without so much as a glimmer of a court order or even a UDRP filing to back anything up. Do you happen to work for GoDaddy or NetSol? If your employer is the former, tell Bob Parsons I said he's still the turd he used to be, that is if you can reach him these days. If it's the latter, you're probably trolling on their behalf, so take a 15 and try to think about what you're doing with your life.

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"More software projects have gone awry for lack of calendar time than for all other causes combined." -- Fred Brooks, Jr., _The Mythical Man Month_

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