MxR Expresscard Reader moves from final QC to Shipping

[Ross Herewini]

Hi Guys,

Here's an update on where we are up to.

I just got back from the factory with the first shipment of cards for immediate release.

Quality Control:

I took my EX1 with me, along with a small pile of Ultra II 16GB cards. Each of the first 500 cards were tested individually, by me. They even get a little sticker on the back to say so. I was going to sign each one just for fun, until it turned into being, well, not so much fun.

Results:

In the first 500 there were 2 cards that came up with "media error", the rest were not only recognised but also had 5secs recorded over them.

500 cards, 2 failures.

That took about 7 hours of non-stop testing to achieve. I really wanted to test the another 500 but it would have meant being there until midnight, and the prospect of not so happy manufacturing people.

We also conducted another random sample of 50 cards from the next 500, and none failed. If you get a failed card, please contact me and we will ship another at our expense, expedited, to you. Just show us proof that the card is back on it’s way to us. We will pass it back to manufacturing to find out why it failed.

When I get some time tomorrow, (well maybe the day after), I’m going to start a little mini-study on Poisson distribution. It never occurred to me to ask the question of how they could get the same level of confidence as my labour intensive, individual testing using sampling techniques. But it can be done.

So are we shipping tomorrow?

For International orders, (ie not Australian), YES, WE ARE SHIPPING 19 DECEMBER 2008 as promised.

All Australian orders will be dispatched Tuesday 23 December for arrival Wednesday 24 December. (We had to concentrate on the overseas orders first because it takes so long to get there). Sorry for dispatching one day late, we just ran out of hands.

If you live in Sydney metro, and are nervous that Australia post might let you down, (although I’d have to say they rarely do, and I send out things all the time to nervous brides), one of the little elves said he would take a personal run with the sleigh to warm it up on Wednesday, and hand deliver to you. All you have to do is send me an email, tell me your name and address, and put in the subject, “To Santa’s little helper”, and we’ll pull yours from the mail processing.

I’m going to print out picking slips and labels tonight before I turn in, and match them all up tomorrow. So I’m sitting here in my hotel room, typing this up on my laptop surrounded by packing boxes, cartons and cartons of MxR cards, a laser printer I begged off the factory, and labels I bought with me, and no prospect of a beer until they are all sent.

So I will be emailing the invoices to you all as soon as the dispatch process has been completed, over the next few days. If you need the invoice sooner than that, email me, I can’t promise anything, but email me anyway.

Thanks again for all your terrific support, and as a small aside, I pushed the button on the next batch of four thousand to be delivered between now and New Year, that’s this new year, so there won’t be any shortage. I hope you all enjoy many happy years of shooting with your MxR's. I’d be really keen to hear feedback, good or bad, mind you bad wasn’t what I was planning for, but it does happen. Let us know how you go.

Ross Herewini
E-Films Video Production.


Ps If I could get the darn blog and faq software to work in Wordpress 2.6, I’d tell you there are some really exciting things happening on the memory front. As usual can’t say too much, but then when the MxR thing started, I couldn’t say too much about this either.

PS if you know anything about Wordpress v2.6 blogging, or FAQ in version 2.6, I would be very grateful if you could help me figure it out. My Web developer has gone on walkabout, I think i might have offended his delicate sensibilities when he stuffed up the Us airmail thing.

[Vincent Oliver]

Well done Ross, I am sure you will sell tons of them.

[Jason Davenport]

Packaging and everything! Well done. Have you picked your retirement place yet?

[Bob Grant]

Ross,
can I ask that you find a different packaging solution to using a clamshell:
Sony joins the bandwagon, declares death to annoying clamshell packaging - Engadget
At a guess the final cost burden including increased freight charge means it's probably costing as much as the direct cost of manufacturing the card.
Apart from the obvious negatives of the clamshell it makes the contents less secure when using satchels for shipping, the sharp edges can cut through the bag. To avoid that you then need to wrap the retail pack inside bubble or foam wrap.
A simple plastic bag with a cardboard hanger stappled to it would be more than adequate for retail display and even that's overkill for us ordering online.

[Ross Herewini]

Originally Posted by Bob Grant

Ross,
can I ask that you find a different packaging solution to using a clamshell:
Sony joins the bandwagon, declares death to annoying clamshell packaging - Engadget
At a guess the final cost burden including increased freight charge means it's probably costing as much as the direct cost of manufacturing the card.
Apart from the obvious negatives of the clamshell it makes the contents less secure when using satchels for shipping, the sharp edges can cut through the bag. To avoid that you then need to wrap the retail pack inside bubble or foam wrap.
A simple plastic bag with a cardboard hanger stappled to it would be more than adequate for retail display and even that's overkill for us ordering online.

Hi Bob,

You know, to get the Blister and inserts ready in a Just-in-time production environment, was a super duper feat by our supplier. I don't have the heart to tell them that they pulled out every pin to get the Blister ready, for nothing. So I may have to ease into any changes. I think they might start looking at me funny, (well funnier than they already do).

Here's the deal, we thought that the Blister would protect the card from getting bashed around in transit, giving it some torsional rigidity, as well as cosmetic protection.

None of us ever thought these would end up on shopping shelves, so the security from being stolen in a store didn't really come into it.

The biggest thing for us was, and it wasn't unanimous, that when we ordered all those cards from overseas through ebay etc, some came in blister twice the size of a Wilbur Smith Novel, while others were posted in a smaller blister, way down to one came in a bit of bubble wrap with rubber band around it.

I kept hearing all these DOA stories from other products, and if we were going to get any credibility amongst you all out there, it was to get it right first time, every time. What ever it took.

I must say, I never thought of the environmental impact, but now see it clearly.

Bob, I'll bet if it worries you, it worries someone else as well. I wonder if there is such a thing as ethical packaging.

My brother used to work for a company that made paper check out bags. As plastic ones started flooding into the market, the company started to lose money and eventually were forced to stop that line of their business.

They had these beautiful Triumph bag making machines, ( yes the guys that made Triumph 500's and all those wonderful motorobikes) with a huge Triumph logo made out of chrome on them, they were like works of art. I can still see them, things stamping, wheels flying.

When the company closed the line down, because they refused to go into the boutique line, but stayed trying to compete against the standard sizes used in supermarkets, and lost out big time.

Instead of selling the machines to someone else, they dismantled the machines, then smashed all the major components and scattered them around Wellington harbour, late one evening. The maintenance guys who had worked on these machines for years were really upset about doing this, but they were told to by management. My brother wanted to buy all the machines and set the business up on his own, as he knew, as their top salesman for years, how much his customers, the shopkeepers hated plastic and loved the texture of what he sold. My dad who was a public servant, and not really known for an entrepreneurial spirit, even said he would re -mortgage the family home to help my brother.

When they smashed the machines like that, it broke my brothers heart. He left the company a short time later as he could never look the GM in the face again, even though they were golfing buddies.

Anyway, just thought you'd like to know, I can never see one of those brown paper bags with the beautiful printing and the handles you see at those really top knotch stores without thinking of my brother and those machines.

So if you don't want us to use Blister, we're all ears, give us some safe alternatives, and we promise to look at them carefully.

See, now you've gone and got me all upset thinking about my brother now...

[Noah Kadner]

PS- re the blogging angle. If you are on a Mac get:

MarsEdit 2 - Powerful Blog Publishing For Your Mac

-Noah

[Ross Herewini]

Everything ordered by 10am Sydney time was shipped today. The only exception was one order from Slovakia, which required four invoices on the outside of the parcel. I will fix that first thing the couriers open.

Now time to have to have a beer,..... finally.

[Alister Chapman]

I take my hat off to you Ross. I hope you make the profit you deserve from you efforts.

[Peter Kraft]

Ross, congrats. Chapeau! As our neighbours say. What an achievement. P.

[Floris de Rijke]

Thanks for the update Ross and enjoy your beer. Will be waiting by the mail.

[Bill Ravens]

OMG! I don't give a sh*t how you've packaged things. IMHO, the blister clamshell is totally adequate. Seems like SOMEONE will always complain, and it seems to always be the same select people. I'm just greatful someone took the initiative to do this. Many, many thanx.

[C.S. Michael]

Ross, congrats on getting your new product out the door! Enjoy that well earned beer. I look forward to receiving my MxR adapters (given the time of year, perhaps they'll be delivered by St. Nick?).

I blog with Wordpress 2.6x, and know just enough about the software to be dangerous. If you need some help, drop me a line. In the (likely) event I don't know the answers, I can recommend a good reliable Web developer who works well via email.

[Tasos Roubis]

Hi,I've ordered and paid for 4cards on the 18th of December, tomorow morning ( 8h from now, i have communicate with courier ) i will receive my order from Ε.Λ.Τ.Α ( greek courier).im waiting to test the cards, because If It All Goes Righ , i will save 2000 euros =
sony sxs 32gb (2x 1000 ) = 2000 euros.Tomorow night i will tell you the resultst!!!

I.'ll add my congratulations to Ross as well for his efforts and courage in taking on this achievement !!!!!!!!!



thaks again Ross !!!

[Ross Herewini]

Originally Posted by C.S. Michael

Ross, congrats on getting your new product out the door! Enjoy that well earned beer. I look forward to receiving my MxR adapters (given the time of year, perhaps they'll be delivered by St. Nick?).

I blog with Wordpress 2.6x, and know just enough about the software to be dangerous. If you need some help, drop me a line. In the (likely) event I don't know the answers, I can recommend a good reliable Web developer who works well via email.

HI CS, I just might have to take you up on that matter. I went to a computer market here in Hong Kong on Sunday, and bought a book Wordpress for dummies.

You should see this computer mart. Nearly a whole block, three or four stories high, I couldn't figure out which floor I was on or even which direction, hundreds and hundreds of shops selling everything to do with computers at absolutely knock down prices. All full warranties. I had to remember, I'm here to sort out MxR not buy everything I could carry.

I did buy some SDHC cards.

Sandisk Ultra II 16GB
Kingston 16GB
Transcend 16GB
Adata 16GB
Toshiba 8GB ( they were out of 16GB ).

I also bought Apacer, which supposedly is 117x (whatever) as compared to Ultra II 150x.
The last one I bought was a Taiwan brand I have never heard of which was Dual-channel.

I went back and bought them all again yesterday just in case one sample was not enough.

I'll put it altogether for you all tonight while I'm on the plane back to sunny Sydney.

There seems to be some correspondence between the time it takes to write the TOC when it's buttoned off, as to overcranking. I've got nine hours on my hands with no email or internet to give it a workout.
May have to pay the upgrade to guarantee in seat power on Qantas for laptop, they are so behind the times, they are only introducing in-flight internet early next year.

[Sami Sanpakkila]

Originally Posted by Ross Herewini

You should see this computer mart. Nearly a whole block, three or four stories high, I couldn't figure out which floor I was on or even which direction, hundreds and hundreds of shops selling everything to do with computers at absolutely knock down prices. All full warranties. I had to remember, I'm here to sort out MxR not buy everything I could carry.

I bought an ipod touch from there and it seems that they're really on top of things. I got really proper corteous service at 33% price off what I would pay in Europe. And the computer mart totally looks like future, the whole city looks like Blade Runner :D