If you need another monitor that it ’s an specially risky time to back crowdfunded products on web site like Indiegogo and Kickstarter , Master Replicas Group , who introduced a smart speaker version of the HAL 9000 computer from 2001 : A Space Odyssey , is shutting down , and unless a minor miracle occurs ( distance babies ? ) backersprobably wo n’t be gettingtheir impertinent verbaliser .
Revealed way back in the late Summer of 2018,MRG ’s HAL-9000 replicasmart speaker was formally licensed from Warner Brothers and as a termination have an impressive horizontal surface of truth , including an literal wide slant tv camera lens ( that served as HAL ’s all - seeing , lip - reading centre ) tie to an official Nikon F - mount .
https://gizmodo.com/the-original-murderous-digital-assistant-is-now-a-bluet-1827988427
Image: Indiegogo
The loudspeaker by itself was a tidy $ 600 , while an optional Command Console , which introduce buttons and a screen boast animations urge on by the authoritative sci - fi motion picture , was doubly that at $ 1,200 . But that did n’t stop theIndiegogo crowdfunding campaignthat MRG was using to help fund and put the replica into yield from finally raising almost $ 650,000 , well past its modest $ 80,000 financing goal .
The earliest backer of the replica were theorise to receive their HAL-9000 smart speakers in January of 2019 , while those opting for the Command Console accessory would have to hold back a second longer until March , 2019 . Unfortunately , base onupdates from the companyon itsIndiegogo pagedating back to January of last twelvemonth , production delay meant the HAL-9000 replica did n’t get out the door as early as MRG had predict , and that was followed up with more sorry news show in March of this year as the company admitted the covid-19 pandemic had further complicated its ability to deliver the sassy speaker to backers .
A few months afterwards , on July 29 , 2020 , Master Replicas Group share itslast update on Indiegogo , revealing that the ship’s company had “ filed a Voluntary Petition for Bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on July 23 , 2020 . It was necessary to take this step to mend the society ’s fiscal emplacement , reduce monetary value , and address outstanding gild for some of the company ’s product . ”
The update seemed guardedly optimistic about Master Replicas Group being eventually able-bodied to return its HAL-9000 replica as the company work to reorganize itself , but a backer of the smart speakershared with Engadgeta notice they received from the company signal that it had “ change over its Chapter 11 bankruptcy ( filed in July ) to Chapter 7 on October 16th ” and would be shutting down and liquidating its assets .
At this point , unless another caller step in to write MRG and is unforced to accomplish all of these gild , there is little chance that backers of the company ’s HAL-9000 Indiegogo campaign will ever see their products . It ’s another unfortunate reminder that while crowdfunding site like Kickstarter and Indiegogo can be an priceless tool for recreational artificer looking to bring their foundation to the masses , it also places nearly all of the risk on those ponying up the money to help a product potentially see the light of sidereal day , and more often than not , when it does n’t , there ’s little they can do in full term of fix their money back . If there was ever a time to be overly - cautious about back crowdfunded product , peculiarly electronics where so much can go wrongly as it move through production , 2020 is it .
BankruptcyConsumer TechGadgetsReplicasTech
Daily Newsletter
Get the best tech , science , and culture news show in your inbox day by day .
word from the future , delivered to your present tense .
You May Also Like
