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2010-10-16 10:06:54 (4983 views) The pattern explainer, accessible from the admin screen whenever the male's device parameters have been received, allows the administrator to see a plain english explanation of the settings.
2010-10-16 01:22:35 (5020 views) ...between the web admin screen and the DL Uplink application
Test case: since remote administrators may not know what settings are stored on the DL2000 receiver, we added a "reset device to a known state" button. This transmits all saved settings on the male-side DL Uplink application to the receiver, and sends these settings to the server, to be displayed to the administrator.
This is ADVANCED functionality to be used only by remote administrators who will not have personal access to the male's DL Uplink application. In fact this feature is only useful if the administrator suspects the male may have altered the settings.
Combined with any form of video conferencing to ensure the receiver is mounted and online (and lights flashing as packets are received), this feature allows secure remote management sessions: the administrator knows what settings are stored on the receiver before activating them.
With regards to remote configuration of these settings, some are actually problematic like the pulse levels. For safety reasons these should not be customized "online" but in person.
Given that we plan to allow people to upload their settings, a good way of ensuring safety while allowing remote configuration would be something along these lines:
- administrator wants to change some settings on the male's receiver
- she finds a suitable pattern via a name search or parameter search
- all presets uploaded to the site must first be transmitted to the receiver somewhere (to encourage people to actually test their presets before uploading)
- this means a remote user who never had access to a product can't just set parameters remotely and send them
- presets can be commented on (like, don't like, safety, etc)
- having found a preset, she prompts the male to accept it for download and transmission to the DL2000 receiver
- male can normally accept or refuse having reviewed the comments made on the preset and the parameters (unless he chooses to waive this right when interacting with particular users).
Possible exceptions to the above rules could be commands that are innocuous or could be made innocuous, such as:
- vibration only commands
- timed pulses (a maximum per minute or hour can be selected as a permission granted to specific users, thus enforcing some degree of safety)
We're trying to keep complexity as low as possible while accommodating the unique nature of the device which requires attention to safety and the unique trust relationships between all the players involved. It would be easier to just give unlimited access to set parameters, but there's a liability aspect to this too.
Does this seem like a good compromise to everyone? If you can think of a simpler way to handle this, feel free to make your voice heard.
2010-10-14 23:33:34 (5292 views) Due to our size we can't guarantee compatibility with specific phones, but here's a link you can test:
http://www.dreamloverlabs.com/testajax/
If you see the number changing, and the "Blink" text appearing and disappearing every few seconds, it means your browser/phone supports all the javascript we'll need to use for the system to work bidirectionally (not only can the web management screen send commands to the DL2K-LINK but it can also receive status updates).
If it does NOT work, then you'll still be able to transmit, but not receive status updates. All major web browsers should work, so the question is primarily for phone users.
If you get any specific errors feel free to mail us a picture or post here a transcription of what your terminal is saying. If it works for a while and stops also let us know (some i-phone users reported this technique only worked for a minute or so). And if it does work why not post your phone and OS version below.
2010-10-14 22:34:16 (4461 views) Our main contact, the only serious Chinese vendor we've found so far, man of infinite patience who really enabled us to get to this point, is now comprehensively reevaluating our project and giving us a new (of course higher) price.
He's spent hundreds of hours over a year's period trying motor overmolding, creating sample parts, refining molds, ordering custom screws, brass inserts and more. We still have an agreement that we'll pay him when money starts coming in. But he's just figured out that we're having 7 custom plastic parts, 8 custom rubber parts, rubber and plastic overmolding, custom brass inserts (2 rounds), custom screws (2 rounds), a diamond polished mold, plus there are a bunch of molds for the rubber which were tried and discarded when we were fine tuning waterproofing and the motor - not to talk about favors from other vendors who are his friends, such as testing out the glow in the dark pigments. So he's basically taking a loss with the project ... and he'll need to review his quote...
The most important thing for us is to keep his friendship because he really helped us a lot and followed through until we were satisfied... and it's hard to find someone like him in China where all the vendors screw up all the time and drop our business very quickly when we complain. He deserves not to take a loss with our business, we don't think he's going to go for the jugular but we're looking at a painful price increase since he's the one making most of the parts... we're keeping our fingers crossed.
This is the last mile of this marathon. The PCBs are being produced in panelized version ready for automated assembly. Components are being ordered. Batteries are getting created to go through LVD testing, and within a week of testing we can get a report, slap a CE mark on the product and sell the DL2000 in the EU as well (maybe, there are still a few minor legal loopholes but we'll work them out by that time).
We'll send a final CAD drawing for the foam cutting next week, and after 7 days they'll have foam samples and then we'll go for the box.
As far as living in China is concerned, YUCK! This simply cannot continue. Yucky details follow. Keep reading at your own risk......
2010-10-12 22:03:28 (4662 views) Ta-da. No comments necessary. Hm, except for the fact that... notice those dots... they are the ejection pin marks... the places where the mold pushes out the part when it's ready. Those areas could have been polished in the same way, perhaps even for the same price, leaving only the contour of a circle - but alas, they didn't do it, and the manufacturer is really about to let us go so we can't ask for any more goodies or tweaks with the quantities we're ordering. That's ok. Considering battery guys can't find the connectors, and that overlay guys can't find the polycarbonate material, this manufacturer is really a gem in China and all right, if we need to keep the dots we'll keep the dots... until we have money to get those parts re-polished in the future.
But for now... what a difference from the muddy parts we've seen to date!
2010-10-11 07:03:52 (4905 views) Here we are again with the monthly trip to Hong Kong.
- The diamond polished mold will be tested today so we should receive the Ultimate, Final, no-more-changes-or-touchups plastic parts tomorrow.
- The PCBs are being produced and we're sorting out the last details, such as, we've miniaturized the product so much that there's no space for regulatory markings :)
- The testing lab tried to raise our price 25% after we already accepted a price (as usual) but we were able to counter that through various techniques and we're negotiating a pick-up to visit their lab on our way back into China.
- The battery guys screwed up the connectors and stuck us with a sample delivery date of Oct 26th (we can't begin LVD testing without those). But we located another supplier for the connectors and should have some in our mailbox by tomorrow if all goes well.
- Random thought... starting a business in China is like trying to keep a boat afloat that's got holes in every spot. Every minute there's an emergency and something needs to be patched up or replaced...
UPLINK APPLICATION
- Uplink application battery calculation
- Uplink application PC remote function. Allows you to use the DL2000 RF remote to control PC applications (powerpoint, games, whatever). We figured, we've got a very high tech RF remote with good range, and it's an easy addition, so why the heck not? Teachers out there... makes a good talking point - conduct your next Male Training seminar with one of these.
- Change RF channel: ADVANCED functionality. Don't panic - there probably won't be a need to change the default channel (but we've got to test it so we went ahead and built a user friendly menu for it...)
- Recover devices if the RF channel settings ever become mismatched
WEB STUFF
- Male management nexus shows device ownership as well as males "under management" (reflects prior decisions on owner/administrator roles). Note that each DreamLover enabled male will have a unique ID, allowing reputation to be built, courseware completion to be documented, and so forth. Yes, the bar code is an actual barcode standard, though we don't have a reader for it yet :)
- Prototype of male profile screen
- Prototype of actual management functions accessed through the web (will be greatly simplified)
All User Interface is for in-house debugging purposes only and will look a lot better soon. When all functionality is built and working we will focus exclusively on simplifying and creating extensive help documents.
Wizards will be created to simplify the entry of patterns such as timed pulses and the arousal inducers.
And more... but first of all, feel free to salivate as we're doing awaiting the diamond polished parts. Will they look like sculpted quartz? Like molded crystal? Will they be just a bit better than the old parts? Will they have a high index of refraction (nah, doubt it...) - anyway it's exciting stuff.
More soon.
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