S09.E10: Robin Auto Pilot, Smartgurlz, DNAsimple, Grypmat / S09.E11: Reely Hooked, Prontobev, Slumberkins, Cut Buddy

[Tara Ariano]

Quote

Products include a new DNA test; a high-performance problem-solver from a military mechanic; a hi-tech solution for a common household chore; and a way to encourage girls to get into coding and technology.

Quote

Two firefighters and entrepreneurs from Pembroke Pines, Fla., introduce their healthy, smoked fish dip; a hair- and beard-cutting template from an entrepreneur in Chapel Hill, N.C.; two entrepreneurs from Vancouver, Wash., who created a unique hybrid of a stuffed animal and blanket for families on the go; and a device that chills an entire bottle of wine in just 30 seconds from an entrepreneur in San Francisco.

[StatisticalOutlier]

Richard?  It seems to me if Lori is so smart, she would know that rubbery mat is made of silicone, not silicon. 

And can I just say again how much I hate Mark's "accept my offer this instant or I'm out" plays?  As if his Tourette's-like "Thank you for your service" isn't annoying enough.

[Dots And Stripes]

I was really surprised Mark did a deal with Richard.  He's been particular about which sharks he would work with in the past. I remembered the Ring Doorbell guy had not gotten a deal, but I forgot that Richard later invested. That was an excellent update, in part because I could imagine Mark's head exploding if he saw Richard bragging about realizing the product's potential from watching the pitch.

Lori having good news and bad news made me laugh. 

Why did they shuffle the order of the regular sharks? 

[cyberfruit]

I had no idea this was coming on tonight. I swore my lineup said tonight's episode would be a repeat!

[yourdreamer]

I so wish Kevin had been around for the first episode and the STEM coding hover board Barbie carrier. I feel like he would have been a good fit with the previous toy experience. He probably would have licensed as well but for a royalty and less equity. 

[hoodooznoodooz]

If that DNAsimple pitch is everything it claims to be, it seems spectacular. And Olivier, my goodness, how impressive.

Can someone remind me if no sharks made an offer to the Ring security guys, or did they just not accept any offers? Is that going to be Bramson's thing, throwing beverages?

Could someone just walk off with the Robin, if no one was supervising?

[hoodooznoodooz]

I actually saw Lori extend her arm up and out to take a Slumberkin. And Daymond was standing up to her left. 

[retrograde]

I found that rubbery-tool-box-thing guy a bit obnoxious and frankly I think they would've called him out on it if he wasn't in the military. I didn't see why they were all falling over each other for his product -- I can see it clearly has an advantage specifically for what he does but the selling point of "well it's orange so people will use it on flat surfaces too" seemed pretty dubious to me. 

The DNA guy was definitely impressive and I appreciated Branson making a political point about it.

Robot lawnmowers seem cool and a good bet for the future but... I think people will just buy the robot mowers directly and do their edging themselves with their newfound spare time. 

"Girls will only like engineering if it's pink and done with dolls!" is lame and seems to be playing into the exact attitudes that keeps girls out of tech. When I was a little girl, my female friends and I played with dolls but also computers and video games and Lego (before Lego got weirdly gendered). If my memory serves me, girls and boys have equal interest in STEM at elementary school age -- which seems to be the target demographic for this toy -- but drop out around middle school, so I'm not sure how this scooter thing would really help because most 13 years olds think Barbies are lame.  

Also (and I think I've said this before here when other "teach kids to code!" products have been on, which is like every second episode at this point) but this push to make 6 years olds (regardless of gender) learn coding seems weird to me. I understand people are anxious to give their kids competitive edges for uncertain futures, but sheesh. Kids manage to grow up to be lawyers without memorising torts cases in kindergarten. These products all seem aimed at well-off families with very engaged parents, who will all do just fine in life anyway.  

[Primetimer]

The Sharks try to reel in more deals with savvy suggestions.

View the full article

[UsernameFatigue]

I didn't think the robot lawnmower guys explained their product well at all. They mentioned something about cutting your lawn a bit every day? Why would I want a lawn that is constantly at different levels of grass length? And I understand the perimeter wires so it doesn't go beyond that, but if it isn't cutting the whole yard at once how does it know where to start the next day? How long does it stay charged? I also thought their comment about lawn care providers often being unreliable odd as there was nothing to prevent the contractors they hire from being unreliable as well. If I was ever going to use such a product I would just buy it. But for the 45 minutes a week it takes to mow my lawn, I am not going to stress about how bad my gas mower is for man kind. I just don't care. 

I commented to hubby that since they have been bringing on guest sharks this season, it seems that in the episodes when it is the core group of sharks, they seem to really be enjoying each other's company. The continual toasting to Kevin's wine designation was hilarious. Also the two guys with the pantomime of reeling in a fish were so funny. 

Does anyone know why they keep airing double episodes every Sunday night? Way too many pitches for my brain to keep track of. 

Edited November 13, 2017 by UsernameFatigue

[bilgistic]

56 minutes ago, retrograde said:

"Girls will only like engineering if it's pink and done with dolls!" is lame and seems to be playing into the exact attitudes that keeps girls out of tech. When I was a little girl, my female friends and I played with dolls but also computers and video games and Lego (before Lego got weirdly gendered). If my memory serves me, girls and boys have equal interest in STEM at elementary school age -- which seems to be the target demographic for this toy -- but drop out around middle school, so I'm not sure how this scooter thing would really help because most 13 years olds think Barbies are lame.

Ugh, that segway doll thing bothered me SO MUCH. My nine-year-old niece rides BMX and plays with Lego and superhero toys. She's never wanted a doll in her life. I wasn't that into Barbies when I was a kid, either. I was way more interested in books, Atari and Nintendo (this was 100 years ago). There's a way to appeal to girls without pandering. I didn't see any boys with "action figures" on the segways.

41 minutes ago, UsernameFatigue said:

The continual toasting to Kevin's wine designation was hilarious.

I was howling over the "drink every time someone says 'chaternay du tastevin'!" or whatever it is that Kevin is all up his own ass about. Lori kept saying it and the others would holler. That was the best thing I've seen on this show, hands down.

Edited November 13, 2017 by bilgistic

[bilgistic]

I forgot to mention the DNA kit. Here's me not giving away my DNA to random "scientists" for the low, low price of $50. I'd rather not have my genetic code stored in a database somewhere that could can be used for nefarious purposes. Yeah, I realize that may not be how it works, but still. Google already controls my life. I'll keep my DNA to myself.

I'm shocked Lori didn't go in on "The Cut Buddy" and fix the terrible logo using her "marketing expertise".

[hoodooznoodooz]

4 hours ago, UsernameFatigue said:

 

Does anyone know why they keep airing double episodes every Sunday night? Way too many pitches for my brain to keep track of. 

I think one reason is because Kyra Sedgewick's show was not doing well in the ratings, and they had to fill that hour. I don't like two hours of Shark Tank either. So this week I only watched the beginning of each pitch to just get an understanding of each concept. It's just too much. 

Edited November 13, 2017 by hoodooznoodooz

[mtlchick]

So now that we got the annual Scrub Daddy update out of the way (though I do admit the Scrub Daisy is sort of cute...)

I am happy for Ring.com FKA as Door Bot as I thought it was a good idea back then before having smart home technology became a thing.  And I am a sucker with commercials involving Shaq. 

1 hour ago, hoodooznoodooz said:

Does anyone know why they keep airing double episodes every Sunday night?

"Ten Days In The Valley" was pulled from the schedule as it was  doing horrible on the night (and it didn't help that it was 3 hours of reality shows before a downbeat show about a missing child.)  Shark Tank is a stable hit for them but I'm still not sure the move to Sunday was the best idea for it either. 

 

And of course I go to bed before we get to a pitch involving wine and I miss Kevin getting mocked about it. 

[lexytheblasian]

8 hours ago, UsernameFatigue said:

Does anyone know why they keep airing double episodes every Sunday night? Way too many pitches for my brain to keep track of. 

I really hate that they keep doing this, too. Not even halfway into the second hour I tune out. I don't really like Richard. It's so obvious when Mr. Wonderful isn't there. A lot of his offers kinda suck but ya gotta admit, he's freakin' hilarious.

I'll never forget the pitch where the guy's product was a toilet lid that flips (Ez-Pee-Z I think). The guy brought up the fact that Mr. Wonderful received a loan from his mom for $10,000 and Kevin says, "yeah but it wasn't for a toilet seat." I don't know why but that part makes me laugh so hard, no matter how many times I watch that episode.

[basiltherat]

Mr. Wonderful makes everything better -- testavan de blah blah blah -- toast  -- hic!!

[chocolatine]

9 hours ago, UsernameFatigue said:

I didn't think the robot lawnmower guys explained their product well at all. They mentioned something about cutting your lawn a bit every day? Why would I want a lawn that is constantly at different levels of grass length? And I understand the perimeter wires so it doesn't go beyond that, but if it isn't cutting the whole yard at once how does it know where to start the next day?

They said it cuts a little bit of the length each day, but it does cut the entire lawn, so it's all the same length all the time. And the clippings get dropped back into the lawn as fertilizer.

The thing that I didn't understand is why the lawn needs to be pre-wired for it. Why can't the mower robot work like a Roomba, assuming there is some sort of fencing so that it doesn't go outside property lines? It could have a sensor built in that distinguishes grass from other materials and stops mowing when it no longer senses grass.

[Destiny74]

9 hours ago, bilgistic said:

Ugh, that segway doll thing bothered me SO MUCH. My nine-year-old niece rides BMX and plays with Lego and superhero toys. She's never wanted a doll in her life. I wasn't that into Barbies when I was a kid, either. I was way more interested in books, Atari and Nintendo (this was 100 years ago). There's a way to appeal to girls without pandering. I didn't see any boys with "action figures" on the segways.

This, a million times!  Pandering is exactly the right word for it.  I am sick to death of the desire to push girls into STEM, it seems a little militant to me.  I think the girls of today get it.  They can do whatever they choose, they just have to apply themselves.  I jokingly say that I am more worried about my two sons.  Are they getting any encouragement to enter any career field for anyone but family?

The snuggly ladies....ugh.  I have a problem with them saying that they had hoped one of the sharks got what they were trying to do,and that all they want to do is *sniff sniff* get their stuffies in the hands of those poor children that need the help and encouragement they would provide.  Um, ladies, YOUR DOLLY COST ALMOST $60.  You’re not doing what you do to get those dolls into the hands of “the kids”.  If you were, your price would be much lower.  I’m glad the sharks passed on that one.

[UsernameFatigue]

On 11/13/2017 at 9:11 AM, chocolatine said:

They said it cuts a little bit of the length each day, but it does cut the entire lawn, so it's all the same length all the time. And the clippings get dropped back into the lawn as fertilizer.

The thing that I didn't understand is why the lawn needs to be pre-wired for it. Why can't the mower robot work like a Roomba, assuming there is some sort of fencing so that it doesn't go outside property lines? It could have a sensor built in that distinguishes grass from other materials and stops mowing when it no longer senses grass.

You described their idea much better than the pitchers did. I still seems like a dud to me, though. So your grass gets cut every day, but you hire the company to come once a week to trim? So the areas that need trimming with be glaringly longer than the rest of the grass? Just don't get it. As far as the sensors goes, do many people have fencing around their entire lawn? Most people I know might have a back fence and/or side fence, but none at the front. We have no fencing at all. I did google the product and found that it cuts like a Roomba vacuums, as in randomly. Personally I prefer my lawn to be cut in a neat pattern. But then I like cutting my grass, so would never buy this product anyway.

On 11/13/2017 at 5:32 AM, mtlchick said:

 

And of course I go to bed before we get to a pitch involving wine and I miss Kevin getting mocked about it. 

That is what I love about Kevin - he laughs at himself as much as he does at others. He often brings up his love of wine and knows he will get mocked. He laughs as hard or harder than the other sharks. Some sharks have no sense of humor about themselves, but he isn't one of them. 

Thanks to all for the answers regarding why double episodes of Shark Tank are being shown. The funny thing is, I was watching Ten Days In The Valley and noticed it wasn't on the last few weeks, but didn't care enough to find out why. Since I sometimes watch shows on American networks and sometimes Canadian, I didn't notice that they were both ABC shows. Looks like it going to come back mid December on Saturday nights. It must have had brutal ratings for it to be pulled after only 4 episodes, when it is only 10 episodes long to begin with. Well deserved brutal ratings, I might add. 

Edited November 15, 2017 by UsernameFatigue

[LotusFlower]

I don't know if dolls-on-scooters is the best way to reach young girls, but I think it's important and necessary to foster teaching tech and coding to girls at any and every age, as the number of women in the science and tech fields is appallingly low.  Coincidentally, here's the cover for this week's New Yorker, for their annual technology issue: 

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cover-story/cover-story-2017-11-20

[theatremouse]

42 minutes ago, UsernameFatigue said:

I still seems like a dud to me, though. So your grass gets cut every day, but you hire the company to come once a week to trim? So the areas that need trimming with be glaringly longer than the rest of the grass? Just don't get it.

When my landscaper refers to "trimming" that's of things like trees and bushes. The grass is just mowing, or mowing and edging. If you have a weird funky perimeter of your grass, this thing is probably not a good idea, at least not in its current iteration. But it seems like what they're going for is: instead of waiting until the grass gets too high, and then cutting it down low again, wait, rinse, repeat, the robot will mow it daily, but by cutting off way less length than you normally would with a traditional mower. So instead of having grass clippings you have to do anything with, the tiny clippings just drop, don't need to be cleaned up, and fertilize the lawn. Allegedly. A human would still need to periodically trim the bushes or trees or other non-grass plants, which will still get long over time, but have no robot to maintain them. That was my understanding of the pitch. So if someone has pretty much just grass, or few enough bushes/shrubbery/trees/other plants that it's the mowing that's onerous from them, and the rest is something they only do maybe once a month, I can see how this would appeal. If you go "ugh, mowing" but not "ugh, shrubs" this gets more than 90% of your yardwork done for you. It you have a lot of bushes and shrubs and other stuff, then it's underwhelming because you do still need a human to deal with the yard, whether that's you or someone you hire. It seemed like they only offer this as a service because a)recurring revenue floats businesses and b) to counteract the "but I'd still have to do....X" so they're saying "no you won't, we'll do that too with our own humans".

Weeds are the other issue. If you cut them instead of pulling them, they'll come back, and weeding is way more effort, at least for me, than mowing. So then you still need a human for that too. I really like the idea of "roomba but for your yard" but it seems like maybe their goal should actually be to get bought out by roomba. They just seem super expensive and the device can't yet cover everything. There's a reason vacuuming is an easier problem to solve than lawns. Plus more people are moving away from the traditional mostly-lawn yards, slowly but steadily.

[StatisticalOutlier]

9 hours ago, bilgistic said:

I forgot to mention the DNA kit. Here's me not giving away my DNA to random "scientists" for the low, low price of $50. I'd rather not have my genetic code stored in a database somewhere that could can be used for nefarious purposes. Yeah, I realize that may not be how it works, but still. Google already controls my life. I'll keep my DNA to myself.

So true.  Maybe he's just a little early.  Before long, all us relics who cling to shards of privacy will be gone.

 

3 hours ago, lexytheblasian said:

I'll never forget the pitch where the guy's product was a toilet lid that flips (Ez-Pee-Z I think). The guy brought up the fact that Mr. Wonderful received a loan from his mom for $10,000 and Kevin says, "yeah but it wasn't for a toilet seat." I don't know why but that part makes me laugh so hard, no matter how many times I watch that episode.

I don't even need to watch the episode to laugh about his mispronunciation of "Persephone."  What I used to see as obnoxious has become endearing.  How did that happen?

[UsernameFatigue]

36 minutes ago, theatremouse said:

When my landscaper refers to "trimming" that's of things like trees and bushes. The grass is just mowing, or mowing and edging. If you have a weird funky perimeter of your grass, this thing is probably not a good idea, at least not in its current iteration. But it seems like what they're going for is: instead of waiting until the grass gets too high, and then cutting it down low again, wait, rinse, repeat, the robot will mow it daily, but by cutting off way less length than you normally would with a traditional mower. So instead of having grass clippings you have to do anything with, the tiny clippings just drop, don't need to be cleaned up, and fertilize the lawn. Allegedly. A human would still need to periodically trim the bushes or trees or other non-grass plants, which will still get long over time, but have no robot to maintain them. That was my understanding of the pitch. So if someone has pretty much just grass, or few enough bushes/shrubbery/trees/other plants that it's the mowing that's onerous from them, and the rest is something they only do maybe once a month, I can see how this would appeal. If you go "ugh, mowing" but not "ugh, shrubs" this gets more than 90% of your yardwork done for you. It you have a lot of bushes and shrubs and other stuff, then it's underwhelming because you do still need a human to deal with the yard, whether that's you or someone you hire. It seemed like they only offer this as a service because a)recurring revenue floats businesses and b) to counteract the "but I'd still have to do....X" so they're saying "no you won't, we'll do that too with our own humans".

Weeds are the other issue. If you cut them instead of pulling them, they'll come back, and weeding is way more effort, at least for me, than mowing. So then you still need a human for that too. I really like the idea of "roomba but for your yard" but it seems like maybe their goal should actually be to get bought out by roomba. They just seem super expensive and the device can't yet cover everything. There's a reason vacuuming is an easier problem to solve than lawns. Plus more people are moving away from the traditional mostly-lawn yards, slowly but steadily.

I refer to edging as trimming. But in their pitch they said to rent the mower only it is $17 a week, $25 for edging and trimming, and $37 for weeding and shrub trimming. So you would still have the problem as I posted above of having the areas that need to be "edged" higher than the rest of the grass that is being trimmed daily. If I hated cutting my lawn I would just hire the guys that come to fertilize/weed to cut it weekly. But I prefer to cut my own lawn - in a neat and orderly fashion, not randomly where ever the lawnmower decides to go. In any case they did not invent the machine - there are several already on the market. They are only "inventing" the first lawn care service (so they say) that uses them. So they have nothing to sell (product wise) and anyone could knock off their lawn care service idea. 

Edited November 13, 2017 by UsernameFatigue

[bilgistic]

I think if one is concerned with the environment, one would used an old-fashioned push manual cutter mower and manual hedge trimmers. Their pitch was "we're saving the environment by not polluting with traditional electric and gas machines", but what are the people they hire using to do the hedges and whatever else that is non-grass?

[chocolatine]

7 minutes ago, basiltherat said:

What the hell is coding?

Writing a computer program.

[lexytheblasian]

4 minutes ago, chocolatine said:

Writing a computer program.

lol.

1 hour ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

So true.  Maybe he's just a little early.  Before long, all us relics who cling to shards of privacy will be gone.

 

I don't even need to watch the episode to laugh about his mispronunciation of "Persephone."  What I used to see as obnoxious has become endearing.  How did that happen?

I guess Mr. Wonderful has grown on all of us. :D

17 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Richard?  It seems to me if Lori is so smart, she would know that rubbery mat is made of silicone, not silicon. 

And can I just say again how much I hate Mark's "accept my offer this instant or I'm out" plays?  As if his Tourette's-like "Thank you for your service" isn't annoying enough.

The way he says it sometimes makes it sound like more of an after-thought than a sincere, "thank you for your service." 

[bilgistic]

54 minutes ago, lexytheblasian said:

The way he says it sometimes makes it sound like more of an after-thought than a sincere, "thank you for your service." 

Y'all should see last week's Curb Your Enthusiasm. It dealt with this situation.

[StatisticalOutlier]

2 hours ago, lexytheblasian said:

The way he says it sometimes makes it sound like more of an after-thought than a sincere, "thank you for your service." 

It sounds like it has as much thought behind it as "gesundheit" when someone sneezes.

Edited November 13, 2017 by StatisticalOutlier
sounds, not sound

[Amarsir]

3 hours ago, lexytheblasian said:

The way he says it sometimes makes it sound like more of an after-thought than a sincere, "thank you for your service." 

I think it's reflexive. Like saying "God bless you" after a sneeze, there's not a lot of sentiment behind it's still nice manners.

16 hours ago, UsernameFatigue said:

I didn't think the robot lawnmower guys explained their product well at all. They mentioned something about cutting your lawn a bit every day? Why would I want a lawn that is constantly at different levels of grass length?

As already mentioned, it seems they mean "the whole yard by a little cut", not "a little bit of the yard".

What I don't get is how the rental model makes sense for these. Is it at your house 24/7? If so, isn't this basically just sales with financing? Because they're not allocating the cost over multiple people by making use of down hours. If they are transporting the device to your house every day, that doesn't sound like energy savings.

6 hours ago, chocolatine said:

The thing that I didn't understand is why the lawn needs to be pre-wired for it. Why can't the mower robot work like a Roomba, assuming there is some sort of fencing so that it doesn't go outside property lines? It could have a sensor built in that distinguishes grass from other materials and stops mowing when it no longer senses grass.

I can see a couple reasons. Roomba uses a random pattern, yes? If the borders are pre-determined, the mower can use a more efficient pattern. I assume you'd want it to cross footpaths or sidewalks, not stop. Many yards don't have fencing. And I wouldn't be surprised if the unevenness of the ground can throw up problems for detection. Easier to put the wire there and be sure.

I hate to say it, but I found myself thinking that Sacca would have made an offer to them. It seems like him to think "This is the new world, how can anyone still mow lawns manually like a peasant?"

[UsernameFatigue]

11 minutes ago, Amarsir said:

 

What I don't get is how the rental model makes sense for these. Is it at your house 24/7? If so, isn't this basically just sales with financing? Because they're not allocating the cost over multiple people by making use of down hours. If they are transporting the device to your house every day, that doesn't sound like energy savings.

 

As far as I can make out (and again, I thought the presentation was very poor) you are renting the model for $17 a week. It stays at your house, as when it has cut your grass it also needs to dock and recharge. So I can't see that it is being transported from house to house during the course of a day. That would be a waste of manpower (and presumably gas to transport it via a vehicle - the horror!). I don't think they ever said either how long a charge lasts? But yes, if you are renting for $17 a week and live where you have grass growing year round, you could buy one and have it paid off in a couple of years. No need for them at all. 

I also didn't understand how they are losing a million dollars a year, while supposedly making millions. Their numbers seemed a bit fishy. With so many pitches over two hours last night I can't even remember - did they get a deal? 

Edited November 14, 2017 by UsernameFatigue

[cooksdelight]

The Robin guys need to do a little research. There’s a robot grass cutter out there that you can buy, program it yourself, and it’s easy to use. You don’t have to pay anyone a weekly fee, and you can choose the grass height. I’m getting one for Dad for Christmas. He will have a blast watching that thing work.

https://www.worx.com/landroid-robotic-lawn-mower-wg794.html

I also wish Kevin had been there for the little robotic doll thing, I’d love to know what his doll would have looked like. Which made me wonder.... how in the hell did she know who’d be there, in time to get dolls made to look like each person?? I could see Kevin making his doll go into a rock-em-sock-em-robot match with Robert’s. :)

My husband does home renovations and he wants one of those silicone mat thingys. He said, “Wow, that would be awesome when I’m up on a roof!” I can see this being a huge seller at Lowe’s and Home Depot. 

[nutella fitzgerald]

7 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

It sounds like it has as much thought behind it as "gesundheit" when someone sneezes.

THOUGHTSANDPRAYERS.

[Thrifty]

On 11/13/2017 at 3:58 AM, bilgistic said:

I forgot to mention the DNA kit. Here's me not giving away my DNA to random "scientists" for the low, low price of $50. I'd rather not have my genetic code stored in a database somewhere that could can be used for nefarious purposes. Yeah, I realize that may not be how it works, but still. Google already controls my life. I'll keep my DNA to myself.

I can't conceive of what nefarious purposes your DNA information could be used.  Anything I can think of veers into the realm of sci-fi, such as creating a hybrid clone of you and some other creatures (human and/or non-human), Jurassic Park style.

[Amarsir]

12 hours ago, UsernameFatigue said:

As far as I can make out (and again, I thought the presentation was very poor) you are renting the model for $17 a week. It stays at your house, as when it has cut your grass it also needs to dock and recharge. So I can't see that it is being transported from house to house during the course of a day. That would be a waste of manpower (and presumably gas to transport it via a vehicle - the horror!). I don't think they ever said either how long a charge lasts? But yes, if you are renting for $17 a week and live where you have grass growing year round, you could buy one and have it paid off in a couple of years. No need for them at all. 

I also didn't understand how they are losing a million dollars a year, while supposedly making millions. Their numbers seemed a bit fishy. With so many pitches over two hours last night I can't even remember - did they get a deal? 

I wasn't clear if they were actually showing losses of 1 million or just negative cash flow of that much. The latter would be easy: they spend $1000+ on a mower which they then rent for $17. The more signups they have, the faster they run out of money.

To have actual losses of that much it would have to be expensed payments (not hardware), which is harder. But it's still possible if they were installing the ground wire for free and advertising heavily.

2 minutes ago, Thrifty said:

I can't conceive of what nefarious purposes your DNA information could be used.  Anything I can think of veers into the realm of sci-fi, such as creating a hybrid clone of you and some other creatures (human and/or non-human), Jurassic Park style.

Blackmail? Yeah I don't know. I paid $100 to get my DNA in databases so I'm not the right person to warn you off it.

[Skyfall]

21 hours ago, UsernameFatigue said:

You described their idea much better than the pitchers did. I still seems like a dud to me, though. So your grass gets cut every day, but you hire the company to come once a week to trim? So the areas that need trimming with be glaringly longer than the rest of the grass? Just don't get it. As far as the sensors goes, do many people have fencing around their entire lawn? Most people I know might have a back fence and/or side fence, but none at the front. We have no fencing at all. I did google the product and found that it cuts like a Roomba vacuums, as in randomly. Personally I prefer my lawn to be cut in a neat pattern. But then I like cutting my grass, so would never buy this product anyway.

That is what I love about Kevin - he laughs at himself as much as he does at others. He often brings up his love of wine and knows he will get mocked. He laughs as hard or harder than the other sharks. Some sharks have no sense of humor about themselves, but he isn't one of them. 

Thanks to all for the answers regarding why double episodes of Shark Tank are being shown. The funny thing is, I was watching Ten Days In The Valley and noticed it wasn't on the last few weeks, but didn't care enough to find out why. Since I sometimes watch shows on American networks and sometimes Canadian, I didn't notice that they were both ABC shows. Looks like it going to come back mid December on Saturday nights. It must have had brutal rating for it to be pulled after only 4 episodes, when it is only 10 episodes long to begin with. Well deserved brutal rating, I might add. 

It’s lucky it wasn’t pulled after 1!

[bilgistic]

3 hours ago, Thrifty said:

I can't conceive of what nefarious purposes your DNA information could be used.  Anything I can think of veers into the realm of sci-fi, such as creating a hybrid clone of you and some other creatures (human and/or non-human), Jurassic Park style.

Framing in crimes.

[StatisticalOutlier]

5 hours ago, Thrifty said:

I can't conceive of what nefarious purposes your DNA information could be used.  Anything I can think of veers into the realm of sci-fi, such as creating a hybrid clone of you and some other creatures (human and/or non-human), Jurassic Park style.

Deciding whether to sell me a health insurance policy?  Or a life insurance policy?

[bilgistic]

1 hour ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Deciding whether to sell me a health insurance policy?  Or a life insurance policy?

Taking to Small Talk

[aemom]

I'm in Canada and we only got one episode this week.  The one with the fish dip, the snuggle thing, the wine cooler, and the hair cutting device.  I wonder why?

[UGAmp]

Y’all. I apologize if this has been mentioned in a previous season with a Scrub Daddy update. But. Did you SEE the inventor wears a gold blinged out necklace with the scrub daddy smiley face logo on it?? I could not believe it. I had to pause and get up and get five inches away from my tv to be sure. Amazing. 

Kevin and Mark absolutely losing it laughing at the fish dip guys’ pitch had me dying laughing. It’s fun to see real moments like that with them. And each time Kevin mentioned his special wine society and everyone toasted. So fun.

I saw nothing special about the stuffed animals. The creators acted like because they were long that made them but different. But it looked pretty similar to my dog’s chew toy (minus the squeaker). The fact they could sell them for 50 bucks+ blew my mind. I’m glad they did not get a deal. 

[aemom]

I was so surprised that there were 2 episodes that I forgot to make my point. For those snuggly things, my first question would have been: Can I machine wash it on delicate in a lingerie bag without it looking like crap? Now that's a plush toy I'd consider spending $50 on.

[cooksdelight]

10 hours ago, AEMom said:

I was so surprised that there were 2 episodes that I forgot to make my point. For those snuggly things, my first question would have been: Can I machine wash it on delicate in a lingerie bag without it looking like crap? Now that's a plush toy I'd consider spending $50 on.

You can buy that teddy bear washing bag that Mark invested in a few seasons ago. :)

The best part of the fish dip pitch was when Mark joined them and got “hooked.” LOL

[LittleIggy]

On 11/13/2017 at 8:29 PM, cooksdelight said:

The Robin guys need to do a little research. There’s a robot grass cutter out there that you can buy, program it yourself, and it’s easy to use. You don’t have to pay anyone a weekly fee, and you can choose the grass height. I’m getting one for Dad for Christmas. He will have a blast watching that thing work.

https://www.worx.com/landroid-robotic-lawn-mower-wg794.html

I also wish Kevin had been there for the little robotic doll thing, I’d love to know what his doll would have looked like. Which made me wonder.... how in the hell did she know who’d be there, in time to get dolls made to look like each person?? I could see Kevin making his doll go into a rock-em-sock-em-robot match with Robert’s. :)

My husband does home renovations and he wants one of those silicone mat thingys. He said, “Wow, that would be awesome when I’m up on a roof!” I can see this being a huge seller at Lowe’s and Home Depot. 

I saw a robot lawn cutter on “Ask This Old House” last year.

[ddawn23]

The wine-enthusiast group Kevin is in is Chevaliers du Tastevin, literally Knights of the Tastevin.  A tastevin is a small shallow silver cup that was used in the middle ages to judge wine quality.  The way everyone immediately reached for their glasses whenever the Chevaliers du Tastevin was mentioned makes me think footage of the sharks agreeing to make a drinking game out of it was left on the cutting room floor.

Obvious problem with the lawn mowing robot:  I don't know how it is where you guys are, but here in Oklahoma I'd say 95% of houses have two yards: a front yard and a backyard, and the backyard is usually fenced.  I would need to either always keep the gate open, which would mean keeping my dog in the house at all times, or I would need two mowerbots.  And the front yard mowerbot would definitely get stolen.

About the bot only mowing a little bit each day:  They tried to frame that as a product feature, but I'm not buying it.  Cutting only a little each time means the bot can be smaller without gumming up the works.  It also allows the consumer to rationalize the expense-- "Yeah, it was expensive, but look!  I use it every day!"

On to the stuffed animal ladies.  "It's half stuffed animal, half blankie!  We call them loveys!"  No.  You don't call them loveys.  That's what they are.  That's their name.  You did not invent loveys.  All you did was add a storybook and raise the price by an order of magnitude.  And I'm sorry, but your line of loveys all look like dog toys.

I got the sense they were justifying the ridiculous price by promising the toy would be the one the kid loves the most.  That's not how it works.  Your child will have many stuffed toys.  One of those will be the favorite-- the one they take everywhere, the one they cherish even into adulthood.  You as the child's parent will have absolutely no say in which of their stuffed toys becomes The One.

[Thrifty]

Okay so I finally got around to watching episode 10 last night.  I inadvertently watched them out of order, but it doesn't matter since it's not like there's a story arc or anything.

 

Like others mentioned, the lawn mowing robot makes no sense.  I also have trouble remembering how their convoluted service worked.  I found their assertion that gas burning mowers are bad for the environment to be stupid.  It's probably true... it's a gasoline powered mower so it's going to produce greenhouse gases.  But so do cars.  We use these things because they are the best tools for the job. 

 

They mentioned electric cars, saying something like "it's foolish that we drive electric cars but still mow lawns with gasoline powered mowers".  That's such a phenomenally dumb thing to say that I was surprised it was not uttered by Chris Saca.  Fully electric cars like the Volt and the Tesla are out there, as are gas-electric hybrids, but they are VASTLY outnumbered by old fashioned pure gas cars.   This idea that electric robot mowers are good because gasoline cars are obsolete is phenomenally stupid and the statement is about a century premature.

 

I just don't get this thing AT ALL.  It clips the lawn a little bit each day?  But it's something they rent out instead of sell?  How do you rent something that you essentially have to use every single day?  That's like the joke about the guy who wanted a lavish funeral for his recently deceased father, so the undertaker rented him a tuxedo and kept sending the man a monthly bill.

 

Besides, if someone wants a more eco-friendly way to mow the lawn, aren't there electric lawnmowers?  My grandmother had one.  It kinda sucked because it didn't have a battery so you had to get a long extension cord and keep it plugged in.  Which meant you were constantly running out of cord and finding a new plug, and also worrying about running over the cord with the mower.  But that was almost 20 years ago and they surely have better ones by now.

 

That was a lot of words on one pitch..... I'll have to post again later for other products.

[Thrifty]

On 11/13/2017 at 3:15 AM, bilgistic said:

Ugh, that segway doll thing bothered me SO MUCH. My nine-year-old niece rides BMX and plays with Lego and superhero toys. She's never wanted a doll in her life. I wasn't that into Barbies when I was a kid, either. I was way more interested in books, Atari and Nintendo (this was 100 years ago). There's a way to appeal to girls without pandering. I didn't see any boys with "action figures" on the segways.

I didn't like the product either.  I'm a programmer, and a guy. 

 

Firstly, I don't see why it would be important to get women into programming or any STEM field.  I mean, if a woman wants to get into programming et al., fine.  Take a try and if they're any good I'd be glad to work with them.  But these fields aren't really specifically enriched by having a more even gender mix, so it feels like people trying to solve a non-problem.  Some fields just seem to be dominated by one gender.  Nobody seems to care that most garbage men are male, or that most nurses and early childhood educators are female.  It seems like such an odd goal. 

 

Secondly, it is not really a good idea to try and push someone into a field they don't have the inclination for.  I don't buy this idea that anyone can do anything if they put their mind to it.  I could never be a doctor, because I don't memorize things that well and I'm not good in crisis situations.  I couldn't be a lawyer, largely for the same reasons and also because I'm not very assertive.  I saw people in some of my early programming classes who just couldn't get it, even on the most fundamental levels of loop construction, conditional statements, or object use.  I remember there was this one woman trying to get into programming because her husband was a programmer.  I don't know the full story or why he tried to push her into it.  Or maybe it was her idea.  What I do know is that she greatly struggled on all the assignments and never seemed to get it no matter how hard I tried to explain it.  I knew another woman in the same class who was great at it, and several guys who struggled.  Some struggled but eventually got it, while some just couldn't get the hang of it and dropped out.

 

Lastly, I don't see how the program teaches coding.  They were configuring these scooters to go in specific paths through some sort of software.  But that's configuration, not coding.  Getting into coding requires getting down there in the nuts and bolts and knowing how to create something by hitting keys and typing out expressions.  Yes there was Javascript generated by their software, but you're not really learning coding if a machine is generating your code (although for some particularly complicated stuff like SOAP web services, you kinda have to do this, but it's uncommon).

[ddawn23]

I can't even with that first paragraph.  From the earliest age girls with an interest in science and math are discouraged from pursuing it.  Remember that old Simpsons episode with the talking Malibu Stacy doll who says "Math is hard!  Teeheehee!"?  It really is like that.  It's subtler, but the effect is the same.

We as a society benefit when everyone is able to contribute to their fullest potential.  Diversity is important, and one way to promote diversity is to stop telling girls that STEM is for boys.  And STEM remaining the domain of men is a huge factor in the gender pay gap.

 

Quote

Secondly, it is not really a good idea to try and push someone into a field they don't have the inclination for.

I fail to see how encouraging STEM-minded girls to explore that interest is pushing them into fields they don't have the inclination for.  Absolutely no one is advocating that we force coding down children's throats.  The push to see more STEM-type toys marketed to girls is about telling the brainy girls that it's okay to be interested in science-- that they don't have to choose between their gender and their interests.

 

Quote

Lastly, I don't see how the program teaches coding...  Yes there was Javascript generated by their software, but you're not really learning coding if a machine is generating your code

Of course JavaScript isn't the first lesson.  You start by teaching the concept that coding is writing a set of instructions for a computer to execute.  When I was in elementary school in the early 90s we played around with Logo with turtle graphics.  This is the same thing, but manipulating an object IRL instead of on a screen.  And the interface looked functionally identical to basically every other coding program geared toward children.  Example: Google's Blockly.

[Thrifty]

2 hours ago, ddawn23 said:

I can't even with that first paragraph.  From the earliest age girls with an interest in science and math are discouraged from pursuing it.  Remember that old Simpsons episode with the talking Malibu Stacy doll who says "Math is hard!  Teeheehee!"?  It really is like that.  It's subtler, but the effect is the same.

We as a society benefit when everyone is able to contribute to their fullest potential.  Diversity is important, and one way to promote diversity is to stop telling girls that STEM is for boys.  And STEM remaining the domain of men is a huge factor in the gender pay gap.

How?  How is STEM somehow special that we benefit from having more women in it?  Construction work is also traditionally seen as a "man's job".  Nursing is likewise perceived as "woman's work".  There is still a stigma attached with men working as nurses.  But... nobody cares about this.  I'm not saying there is anything wrong with women in a STEM field, but it's not inherently good either.  It's just... neutral.  This odd drive to increase the number of women in STEM fields is just an attempt to elevate the mundane task of pursuing a career into some grand and noble goal, like reducing poverty or recidivism.

[bilgistic]

Women care about it.

[retrograde]

1 hour ago, bilgistic said:

Women care about it.

I know many male engineers -- and CTOs and VPs of Engineering and tech CEOs -- who care a lot about this issue too. Beyond the moral realm, they believe having a diverse team working on a product results in a better product. 

But, Thrifty, in addition to that, it matters because STEM jobs -- especially tech and engineering jobs -- are high-paying jobs that are set to remain steady in the future. So it's important there is equality of access to those jobs. Currently there isn't. Many girls are steered away from these fields, both culturally and sometimes in very concrete ways, as tweens/teens, and those who do continue often face really hostile working (and study) environments, which lead many to quit. This is very, very, very well documented stuff that is being talked about openly and widely by many people in the industry. 

Now I didn't think the Shark Tank product was that great and I didn't like the way the woman pitched it as "All STEM toys are for boys, but girls love dollies!" -- because that doesn't ring true to me for the most part, and I think continuing to divide toys into boys stuff and girls stuff feeds into the culture that keeps women out of tech in the first place (and is super damaging to boys in other ways), and because the preoccupation parents have these days with teaching preschoolers to code seems a little OTT to me. But I don't think the toy is bad because girls shouldn't be encouraged to get into STEM, or because programming is not important.

12 hours ago, Thrifty said:

There is still a stigma attached with men working as nurses.  But... nobody cares about this. 

They do! And more and more people are going to care as many traditionally male-dominated jobs disappear while the health care sector continues to grow.