[quote=āfrauenfelder, post:1, topic:60207ā]Now Lee is suing for at least $150 million.[/quote]Why, thatās enough to buy three, maybe even four cables!
It is absurdly obnoxious that almost all of the pictures in the Bloomberg article show him riding a Segway
If I were responsible for the āBeats by Dr. Dreā headphones; Iād be a lot less willing to admit to it in public. Cost optimization is a valuable skill; but ādepraved indifference to crapā is slightly different.
I think he rides one because he has nerve damage and he has trouble walking.
[quote=āpiers_whyte, post:3, topic:60207, full:trueā]
It is absurdly obnoxious that almost all of the pictures in the Bloomberg article show him riding a Segway
[/quote]From the article: āLee gets around on a chrome-plated two-wheel Segway, necessary because of nerve damageā.
Doesnāt he make like a million dollars selling a dozen fancy RCA cables?
I admit to not fully reading the article for that info (my bad), but I still find it hard to believe a Segway is the best answer to nerve damageā¦
Agreed that Monster is obnoxious and reprehensible. But its lawsuit against Beats paints a pretty grim picture of Iovineās actions, which amounted to using Monsterās electronics expertise and marketing channels to build and sell the headphones, then, once Beats looked like it could make money, Iovine arranged a sham purchase by HTC solely for the purpose of canceling Monsterās rights in Beats, allowing Beats to exist outright with Monster retaining nothing.
Ultimately, though, Iām unable to spare any tears for Monster.
Then donāt choose one if you ever have any.
Cheap crap with bad quality marked up 100x ? Yeah, Iād say thatās pretty good evidence Monster was involved.
It may not be the ābestā answer; but I suspect that it is, by far, the answer that says āeccentric, maybe even mockably so; but especially if seen in the correct tech-related contexts, probably an eccentric zillionaireā; rather than any sort of purpose-designed āmedical deviceā which (no matter how they try to improve the ergonomics, or remind people not to be cruel) tends to say ācrippleā.
Depending on the nature of the problem, going off-the-shelf may not be an option(some ugly, expensive, specialty devices exist because they address a very specialty problem, or a specialty problem that needs an FDA approved validated software system because if your cheapo COTS software crashes, it might kill you); but when it is an option, the consumer stuff is likely to be cheaper(though not covered by insurance) far better designed in terms of UI/UX, industrial design, etc. and markedly less stigmatizing to use in public.
Iāve only dealt with this in fairly limited circumstances(setting up assistive technology for vision or hearing impaired students) but at least in that context this is a major factor: the ātraditionalā assistive technology vendors have the gear that is more precisely tailored to the problem; but itās expensive, clunky, and good luck getting some middle school kid to use it when friends and/or bullies are watching them. Assorted COTS hackery(iPads mirroring the screen of the presenter over wireless link, providing electronic documents rather than photocopies so you can just change the font size, etc) still have some rough edges; but they are a much, much, easier sell in terms of the poor kid who has to use them among their not-necessarily-friendly peers.
Shady businessman beats another shady businessman in deal. Universe shrugs. Film at 11.
Gizmodo wrote a very informative article a few years ago about how the Monster guys got pushed out of Beatsā¦ It didnāt make me any more sympathetic to the Monster guys (because fuck them and their overpriced bullshit, not to mention their proclivity for suing anybody trying to use āMonsterā in any context, ever), but itās definitely an interesting read.
They donāt make violins tiny enough for this pity party.
Anyone remember the listening test of Monster Audio cables versus a Coat Hanger?
Another thing that should always come up when iovine and dre are ever discussed:
They are responsible almost single-handedly for the devolution of the University of Southern California under the ever-dubious umbrella of ādisruptionā.
The entire masters of fine art program just dropped out in protest. Hereās their fact sheet about how much debt dre and iovine are responsible for in their āphilanthropicā interest in āart and businessā:
But you can only sell so many $200 cables. The next step was speakers, but the company started in on speakers too late; the hi-fi era was over. Plenty of people were content with the sound their TVs made, or at most, a soundbar. Monster took a bath.
I donāt think ācontent with the sound their TVs madeā gets to the bottom of this. If people were content with mediocre sound, why would they buy premium headphones.
It doesāt take a lot of cash to buy good headphones; good speakers generally cost money.
This would be a valid argument if Beats headphones actually sounded good. Alas, they are uniformly drubbed by people who know good sound when they hear it.
Why? For someone who has trouble walking any significant distance but can stand upright just fine with something to lean on, a Segway would seem to be obviously more practical than a wheelchair.
I donāt get the knee-jerk hate people have for Segways. Theyāre a perfectly good solution in several very specific mobility domains. āOh, but they look stupid!ā Jesus, who gives a fuck? Itās a tool. Would you throw away a perfectly good hammer or screwdriver because it wasnāt in fashion this year?
