Technology

Hmm so this entire trick of setting up companies just to be bought by mega corps appears to be not a viable strategy if anti trust law is enforced?

Edit: apparently this company was set up before sell to mega corp craze got kicked off. I don't think changes the thesis but this case study doesn't support it with the strength I suggested

Hmm as if last 30 years of corpo behavior has been essentially to maintain mega corp dominance via captured regulators and legislators

We got the capitalism alright but where is the free market at, daddy?

(I know I didn't contribute shit & just complain but) ... isn't it a bit weird how after all this time there arent any good open sauce diy robot kits?

Like, materials, sensors, brushes, filters, batteries, etc are all cheaply available, a basic board could literally be just cut plywood with the rest is the things mounted on top (who even needs a cover?). And ofc one could mount various weapons mod on it.

Their products require their app, would this effectively turn their devices useless when the servers die?

I know it supports a single button to start cleaning, but I wonder if that will work properly without being able to call home.

Might be time for people to look for alternatives.

It would be great if more smart devices had a LAN-only control mode like my 3D printer, TV and AV receiver.

I would be perfectly happy if my iRobot phone app only worked from inside my network.

Another company squandering their patents and market advantage. Reminds me of TiVo.

I'm a bit of a diy and repair nerd for damned near anything. I have a near 20 year old roomba 530 model that still works great. Back then and for a good many years roombas were hands down the best bang for your buck. I haven't recommended them for the past decade. They fell behind in ability and build quality. Let alone any of the privacy concerns stuff. Damned shame.

my first thought was aren't they a part of the Military Industrial Complex, how could they possibly go bankrupt? It turns out they sold off that part of their business in 2016 to private equity. Oops.

The free market is supposed to make this happen. The problem is that we have also built a system that just generates mountains of junk and e-waste. Because our government is feckless and refuses to actually regulate, ya know, anything with a shareholder attached.

Haha. Ofc with these prices and features compared to some other good Chinese and other brands roomba is doomed. Like check vacuum wars on YT. Middle model roombas are on par with your typical Chinese brand robots but price is double. Basically, you pay for a brand 🤷.

So the Roomba I bought in 2021 is gonna stop working come 2026... Guess I need an open source vacuum now too 😩

Pretty much inevitable. Nowadays there are so many robot vacuum cleaners from different brands, and everyone has more or less figured out the tech so they all work pretty well. (I have a Roborock, and have nothing to say about it other than it keeps the floors clean and doesn't cause me any grief.) There's no moat, so consumer market success is purely a matter of manufacturing and cost efficiency, and iRobot obviously would have a huge upfill fight against Samsung, Xiaomi, and a thousand other light consumer goods makers.

Their products are like 5 years behind their competitors. It's inevitable.

I’m glad my old, non-smart one still works fine. It slams into things and says, “Roomba needs help” or something when it eats a sock or wire I missed. But at least it will outlast the company’s servers.

So my vacuum will likely not work in 12 months. Niiiice.

Any European alternatives?

I rarely use mine, but can I block them from using the Internet and they'll still work?