#11
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More About Lights
On Wed, 15 Mar 2017 14:08:44 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote: Thing is, nobody's demonstrated any need for so much stationary "be seen" light, beyond the usual "well, it _could_ happen" safety inflation mentality. True, but you're thinking like engineering, not marketing. Modern devices and electronics are crammed full of useless features. For example, my smartphone has hidden features that I don't know exist, much less know how to use them. Same with my fancy scientific calculator, where 99% of my use is simple arithmetic. If you could customize a product to do only what you need, only what's necessary, or only what is useful, it wouldn't sell. People buy products based on features, even if they're useless, not needed, and un-necessary. In some market sectors, marketing a product is an exercise in feature pollution. In the trade press, products are compared with tables of features. Failure to check the a box because some useless feature is missing will produce an inferior reviewer rating. A standlight, flashing light, blinding intensity, programmable settings, battery indicator, laser bug zapper, etc are all useless features that nobody needs. Yet, they sell products, so they are included. If you read the Oculus patent (BarryBeams): https://patents.google.com/patent/US8662697B2/en you'll find that he threw in a horn and siren, items which are of dubious value. Why? Because they provided the necessary product differentiation that makes his light different from the competitors. If there is a feature of dubious value, it won't be the safety statistics that determine whether it gets included or trashed. It will be the sales statistics. If it sells, it's good, no matter how dumb or useless. It appears that the Pet Rock of bicycling may eventually be the bicycle lighting system. I can't wait. We're facing the same mentality regarding our local forest preserve. Some people want to cut down every dead or dying tree within 100 feet of any trail because, well, it _could_ fall on somebody and kill them. Sheesh. Yep. We had a popular local river park closed because it was deemed hazardous even though the only injury was a drunk transient who tried to cross the river by doing a balancing act on the very narrow steel dam. It's not the falling tree that does the damage. It's the subsequent litigation. -- Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |
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