Public info proposal

This is the kind of information we'd like to store about users, and connect to a specific hardware id... notice: no personal information, no "chat" records (too much traffic, the uplink doesn't allow chatting), just the usual social networking sort of info... male management style!

Profile page



Username: Nick
Gender: Male
Status: Offline
Last seen: 2010/10/26 12:00am
Public introduction: (free text)
Picture: change/delete

Male ID: 981321981289
Training rank: Advanced (* * * three stars)

Device owner: Nick
Current assignee owner: Susanne

View ownership history > links to a page where you can see how many owners he changed and when he's revoked ownership i.e. has he abused this feature

Basic stats:

(stats on how many times pulse were delivered, and how the average is changing which indicates need for correction is being reduced)

Courses completed:

Basic course 101 (view detailed scores)
Basic course 102 (view detailed scores)

Users with administrative privileges on this male:

Susanne
Kim

Course info page

Basic course 101 - taken: 3 times (view advancement chart)

Section 1, silent commands, completed 100%
Section 2, basic service, completed 100%

Supervised course: YES < indicates someone was watching on cam and testifies the user had the receiver on while taking the course and so all course commands such as negative feedback for errors were delivered. Otherwise course is unsupervised

Supervisor: Susanne (female user required to sign off)

One male, one USB device - establishing hierarchy and reputation

We're about to make a modification to the web platform as follows. Rather than allowing permissions to be set on both devices and individual user accounts (messy), permissions will refer to devices only.

If an administrator A has some permissions on a device, they will have access to that device regardless of which account is used to log into the DL Uplink application. Essentially log in credentials on the Uplink side become irrelevant - they will be used for online presence reporting only and may even disappear at some point, making the USB device the "passport" by which the male enters the system (or by which the owner starts the receiving machine and activates the DL2K-LINK).

Another way of looking at this is that one device will be tied into a single male account just like it's tied into a single owner account.

Let's analyze a few use cases and check the pros and cons:

SIMPLEST CASE - SINGLE MALE, SINGLE DEVICE

No difference here except that you may end up not needing to sign up - just start the uplink application and plug in your DL2K-LINK and you're online, people can see who the device belongs to and the associated male profile. If the owner and purchaser is the administrator, again no change - plug in your device and lock your old windows laptop somewhere and you're ready for remote management.

SINGLE MALE, MULTIPLE DEVICES

Let's say you need to use two DL2K-LINK devices (ex. home and work). You may have to give permissions to third parties twice. On the other hand, you may in fact want someone to have access to the home device only, in which case this is actually more flexible. A method will be provided to optionally associate secondary devices to a single male profile so that online user presence can be kept consistent, though there has to be a main device that serves as the passport and is directly linked to all prior activity and records.

SINGLE MALE, MULTIPLE DEVICES "ON THE GO"

A drawback exists in scenarios in which a male wants to use devices in locations unfamiliar to him (Male Training Cafe???). Until the device becomes very popular there seems to be no need to plan for this scenario, at any rate something can be worked out in software for this eventuality.

MULTIPLE MALES, SINGLE LOCATION

In case multiple males are sharing a physical space and need to be administered independently, with the new method multiple DL2K-LINK devices can be used. At some point we will enable the Uplink application to manage multiple USB peripherals.

The USB devices will transmit using different radio unique IDs as they already do. The receivers will be set to listen to the appropriate transmitter as usual (through the LEARN process described in prior blog posts and available in the documentation now being written). "Broadcast to all" will be an interesting function one can implement in software.

There is a drawback here in terms of cost, because you won't be able to use a single USB device to manage multiple males, but the other side of the coin (safety and security) is more important. Consider that if we were to allow single device/multiple male interaction, there would have to be an option somewhere in the software (exposed or hackable) to change and define the unique radio ID of the device for each male.

Having this is unsafe, because one could try all IDs until they can activate the neighbor's receiver! Considering the range of the DL2K-LINK, the fact pulses can be customized, and the fact one could be war-driving with this and potentially cause big trouble to wearers driving a vehicle, it is imperative to keep one device locked into a single radio ID derived from the hardware ID, and implement this lockage in the firmware, so that the learn mode on the receiver can be used reliably to listen to selected devices only and the system cannot be hacked by messing with the software.

But, read the last section on "hacks".

ADVANTAGES - ESTABLISHING HIERARCHY AND REPUTATION

With this "One male, one device" principle (sounds a bit like a government program, we know), we can base the portal on the assumption that every male will have a different DL2K-LINK device.

The greatest advantage aside from keeping permissions simple is that this allows us to provide *real traceability* of male behaviors and records since each male will have a male id connected to the hardware's unique ID. Creating a pool of trustworthy, well trained males with a "Pedigree" and a course completion record is one of the motivating factors in attracting new administrators and trainers and spreading our lifestyle.

Sure, nothing prevents a male from purchasing another DL2K-LINK to "clean up his act" so you may wonder whether traceability really exists. But we have ways to counter this in software (all techniques normally used for copy protection), and by associating course completion to the hardware ID. Purchasing a new DL2K-LINK will have a double cost deterrent (device + courses). And, the sign-up date will tell a lot. This is definitely a lot better than where we are today, where males act anonymously and with impunity and can create new profiles whenever they please - with bad consequences for those serious about their training, who can't establish proper status and recognition.

A "male ID for life" will enable real male hierarchy and status to emerge, which in turn will motivate males to compete for status based on the qualities of teachability and deference to the administrators and trainers.

It is possible part of the training will eventually be outsourced to the male themselves when an elite of males with the equivalent of a PhD in obedience has emerged - the highest level males will be able to keep the newcomers in check with basic function activation when their owner is not present. Optional.

LOST DEVICES

Last issue: what if you lose your USB device? In that case we'll be able to deactivate that hardware ID from the system, send you a new DL2K-LINK, pair up the new hardware ID with your account and get you operational again. Log in credentials will be required to issue the request, so the system is still secure.

HACKS and tech notes

The DL2000 is a complex product and you don't need to know a lot to benefit from it, but there's always a new creative way to put together its functions and achieve a new interesting result.

Despite all we've said, it's still possible to use the receiver's LEARN feature to associate the receiver to any transmitter. This could be useful in temporary situations like house parties, rent-a-male programs, swaps, whatever, because multiple males can be set to respond to the same ID (one remote control to rule them all, or, remote group management, or, just setting the receiver to listen to a foreign device).

The difference between using this hack to set multiple receivers to listen to the same device (DL2K-LINK or a remote control) and having multiple males with multiple DL2K-LINK devices is that if you use learn mode then all receivers will always respond to the learned transmitter, and it won't be possible to activate just one receiver.

As far as the web platform is concerned, remember the system only knows what's connected to the USB, not what the receiver's set to listen to - the web platform only concerns remote activation of USB devices.

So if you play with learn mode you will want to restore the device to its original configuration by re-learning the right DL2K-LINK and remote control IDs at some point.

Also keep in mind that without access to the DL2K-LINK's admin panel, the receiver can only be reset by opening it and disconnecting and reconnecting the battery. Learn mode can only be entered from a device reset, so messing with learn mode entails the male tampering with the hardware, screws, waist band etc. (xref earlier discussions on tamper evidence).

24 hours for feedback, opinions welcome. We need to get this platform completed before the hardware's done.

Matte overlay update

Matte overlays actually look great on the black spray painted remote.

Received new UL certified rechargeable batteries, and remote matte overlay

This vendor is VERY professional, if not with timing at least with the product. We received a small batch of batteries, each one is individually tested for capacity, resistance etc.

The specs were checked individually for each battery so there's a big hand written chart confirming all the properties for each of the batteries.



The next step is to get the OTHER batteries (for the receiver) from the other UL certified vendor; they were trying to extend delivery date to Nov 1st with some excuse that they didn't have the connectors but we countered that and sent them connectors ourselves! So the delivery is scheduled for next Wednesday. There's a small cosmetic surprise with these receiver batteries, stay tuned.

When we have both types of batteries we can go ahead with the second and last lab test which will allow us to print stickers with the CE mark and affix them to our product.

Everything else is proceeding smoothly, we moved into our new home, a new body band vendor was located and a higher quality, non-stretchable sample's already on the way.

We've received a matte overlay sample, here:



This overlay is a lot more scratch resistant and it still looks good after you touched it with oily fingers... but it's not shiny and doesn't match our shiny enclosure very well... that is, unless we were to paint it! We've pretty much decided on the clear enclosures (and polished the mold so we definitely want the surface visible) so the glossy overlays (the first ones posted weeks ago) are probably the best choice. It's largely a matter of taste so feel free to comment.

If all goes well there's a chance our first few clients will start out right away with machine assembled boards as we have negotiated a micro test run with the PCB assembly house. But right after that we really need to reinvest all we can to continue with this method as their MOQs will kick in - or we'll need to do more begging or as a last resort switch back to manual assembly until we can go with the minimum order quantity. This is what bootstrapping is about - we're trying to keep it all together!

The assembly people were already standing by to do the micro run on the 26th - however, after consulting with their engineers it turns out we don't have enough components left at this point because the machine chews out the first few pieces of everything that's fed into it! So we did a comprehensive component re-count including strip lengths and how many pieces will be left after the few pieces are discarded (how many pieces depends on component size and packaging).

With this information we will proceed to order more components soon and then ... another giant step with the first machine assembly run (if they don't change their mind again - mandatory disclaimer on anything you read on these pages).

Now, every day something gets fixed but as you know something else starts leaking...

So what's leaking today? The cable people refused our order for a few hundred meters, imposed a new 3000 meter MOQ on us and asked us to put down a large cash deposit. Whaaat? We're experimenting new techniques to convince them to do their job and will report soon. We may be onto something, we're developing and researching a new form of mental judo where you use the laziness and short-term mindset of the opponent to your own advantage. This has already resulted in cheaper rent, and a courier delivery that's come 3 days sooner than originally anticipated.

Stay tuned...

The construction site home

Ok folks... we've been trying to keep this professional and about the product but some of you insist on hearing more about the China life and what we're going through so... if you're only interested in DL2000 product news, skip this post! But if you're up for some miscellaneous, yucky and somewhat incoherent episodes, read on...
...

Status update

A week or so ago a different battery vendor had to be chosen for both the rechargeable lithium polymer packs and the non-rechargeable cylindrical primary cells, due to Low Voltage Directive requirements and UL certifications. That was a real hassle figuring out all the IATA, UL, EU regulations and so forth - we received fake reports for wrong products, the labs tried to use our weaknesses to raise prices, a mess.

But now two compliant battery vendors are creating the samples that will get us through testing, and we should have both types within 10 days. We keep pushing and pushing to get stuff done sooner, but it's always 1-2 weeks for everything, which is a shame because during this "dead" time we've got to sit here in China as our building is completely being remodeled and it's just insane, the whole place looks like a construction site with heavy drilling morning to evening. But we're using this time to complete the web portal (ownership assignment, permissions, log in, client-server communication and so forth).

The PCB assembly guys are working on the stencil, the micrometer thickness metallic sheet that allows precise positioning of solder on the PCBs. They tried to raise the price for PCB production and the stencils but their attack was quickly countered; we've got an itemized cost list in writing signed by the CEO in person! (Got this last time when they actually were able to raise the price). They try this weekly. Seriously, it's insane - you just can't trust anyone, we're getting a nervous breakdown because every day a different vendor tries to raise prices and we need to have heated arguments and we risk losing the vendor (they don't particularly care about our quantities) and having to find a new one and start from scratch.

To recap:

- Waiting for batteries to do the last test

- Getting an approval for foam production and we're moving forward with foam and boxes.

- Will be assembling actual production pcbs in a few days (micro "trial" run with the million dollar assembly machines - wasn't easy to negotiate).

- Mass production of plastic and rubber parts can start any time after Nov 4th.

- Software being completed (web portal and all), it's already functional but needs some "diamond polishing" :)

- body band still up in the air, we're emailing new vendors to see if someone can do the eyelets correctly. Not really mission critical but we want it.

That's all.