I've heard that custom LCDs are relatively cheap to order in low volumes. This one has quite a lot of segments, but feels doable.
If we can find some premade game-and-watch style cases with buttons and battery compartment.. this could be made into a product or a hobby kit, without too much expertise or upfront cash. Hmmm.
EEVblog did a whole series on designing a segment LCD, getting it manufactured, and integrating it into a product. Worth the watch if you're at all interested in low power embedded systems.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYvxgl-9tNM
> This is not a web app running on an AWS virtual machine in Ohio.
This also does not come from Magic Unicorn Land. Think of the sysadmins and developers in poor conditions who have to support the machines and networks. The electricity spent. The cycles on server gear. All for a throwaway comment on HN that you will forget within a few minutes.
Their tone is off-putting, but there are many orders of magnitude difference of impact between serving a game over AWS and serving it by mailing someone a small computer with an LCD screen.
In the same way that people should think about the impact of their purchases, I suggest you consider the impact of your communication more seriously. I don’t think it is causing people to change their behavior in positive ways.
It’s the same as things like recycling. We can wish that everything was perfect after we throw the can in the bin, but the reality is different. People should make better choices when called out with the blunt truth. But is that what’s actually happening?
If it's a 3D printable kit with parts for rich Americans to solder and assemble in their free time, does it make it better? Does it make it better that they're taking that job away from a real human in poor conditions, but still better than the alternative, conditions?
I wrote my reply based on what GP wrote, which implied usage of mass produced garbage coming from god knows which hellhole factory in Asia. Adding "ifs" (what if it was produced by a Star Trek replicator using only solar energy?) does not further any argument.
Also, nobody is taking anything away. The market is so oversaturated they would simply switch to a different product line. But still, carelessly contributing to the pile without even thinking about the consequences of your actions is not the best thing in the world
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If we can find some premade game-and-watch style cases with buttons and battery compartment.. this could be made into a product or a hobby kit, without too much expertise or upfront cash. Hmmm.