The main thrust of the comments so far are negative, but in my opinion this was a great idea.
Phones are personal devices. Plenty of time is spent on smoothly machined surfaces, wood cases, etc. A little biosphere is a beautiful idea, and likely cost a fraction of the overall project.
And yeah some look pretty cool, a scale, iris detector, a better microphone and speaker, laser range finder, smoke detector (but could imagine perhaps other hazardous materials). Might think of other specialty application, but the problem is in any of those fields, there are probably higher quality tools already available not tied to an experimental expensive phone. They'd have to first make the phone as ubiquitous as an iPhone then start selling add-ons. Not make add-ons as as a major feature of the phone.
But tardigrades just seems like a way to get someone in management to notice and say "Wait wut, we are spending the money on this? Somebody, please defund this project".
I can think of plenty of use for modules. The problem is that none of them are general purpose. There are tons of niche applications though. They should have made an industrial phone for $1000. Lots of people would have bought them for interesting use cases that Google never would have thought of.
The challenge is that a hackable industrial strength phone is not a ten billion dollar business, which is what Google wants.
What we need is for Android device manufacturers to agree on a standard mounting point to attach a single external module. Something like a rail or magnet on the back at a fixed position relative to the USB port so that we can securely attach a peripheral without having it fall off.
These sealed aquatic systems are really cool. How do you go about finding out how much of everything you need to put in them for long term survival?
Can the biological processes of these simple organisms be modeled as checmical equations and all you need to do is balance them out and solve for the mols of everything you need to pour in?
Guessing it's a bunch of trial and error right now - these systems are pretty hard to predict in general and I'm not aware of a whole lot of research into closed ecological systems. Which is a shame really.
A self-sustaining system like we'd want should come to its own dynamic equilibrium, given a decent enough starting state, which does make the trial and error slightly more feasible, and of course they have to have some idea of the inputs and outputs of the various organisms.
I'd say that aquarium counts as some kind of art project (art product?). Which seems like the thing you'd hire such an agency for, after you've run out of more sensible ideas.
Sad to see Ara die. I don't understand why they took three years to realise the path they were pursuing didn't work. Why couldn't they figure out earlier so they still had time to do something that works?
Google should have pursued a less ambitious and more practical version of the idea. Instead of making everything replaceable, maybe just identify one component that would be. Like the camera. Why do I have to buy a new phone if all I want is a new camera? Would a phone with only one or two replaceable components be feasible to build, and not impose too many tradeoffs?
The Ara team pursued the "everything should be replaceable" dream for too long, and failed. I wonder if a limited version would have been feasible.
It doesn't make sense that you should buy a new smartphone, priced at as much as ₹80K ($1000) even if all you want is one new component. Imagine if you had to buy a new laptop for more storage for your movies, and external hard discs didn't exist. Or a bigger screen, when you could use an external monitor. And so on.
The problem with that is that it's not just one or two components that are new iterations when you upgrade your phone - CPU, GPU, display (or, more likely, generation of protective tech on display, at this point), camera, maybe speakers, the antenna(e) could be workable barring something like a 4G->5G iteration if they covered enough to start with...and that's all ignoring the custom-shaped battery, which would get smaller to fit the modular slot.
Plus the one upgradable component that stops having feature-parity often long before the rest - software stack. The number of problems with getting random bugs out would get worse by the number of modular parts, and few Android vendors that I've seen keep phones updated for even 3 years, let alone 6.
It's been the case for a long time that you lose customization when you shrink the form factor, as you start squeezing every component down to its minimal essentials, and because it lets you start making tradeoffs you can only make if you know intimate details of the entire platform.
I would, quite fervently, like for a modular smartphone to work, and to not have to do the equivalent of paying hundreds of dollars every few years when my phone gives up the ghost or is EOL (or both). I just don't see the technology advancing that way until we get way better at miniaturization, such that fitting functionality into the phone form factor is no longer a strong pressure constraint.
Those poor tardigrades would be killed by all of the dangerous radiation coming from the phone.
Just kidding, they'd be killed by the dangerous conduction from the phone. The little guys can't handle the rapid heat changes caused by the battery and CPU.
It would be cool if in the future a device can scan (real life scene, blood, piece of chalk) anything and tell you the composition and everything you ask. Think Pokedex and those fictional gadgets in sci-fi movies.
Would make an interesting random number generator (which are tough to find on some systems). Waterbears are rad hard as well :) Would be tough for Mallory to "reduce their entropy."
> One pitch outlined a module that transmits touch, like a high-tech version of the heartbeat feature in the Apple Watch.
Seems unfair to group this with the far fetched ideas. I for one think this is a killer feature in a world that could use more opportunities for meaningful connections.
Coming across the Lapka concept for Project Ara[0] made me realize that the problem was to market this as a "phone" in the first place.
Few people are willing to take the risk on a phone with an entirely new form factor, let alone an entirely novel premise, and no one would carry two phones around in their pocket.
It seems like they missed an opportunity to position this as a customizable mobile computing platform. Or perhaps they did and thought it was too niche.
Yeah, but not just investors money. One of the sad things about Google is that it seems to soak up so many bright, highly paid minds - then puts them to work on relatively useless things.
It's inefficient allocation of humanity's intellectual resources.
"Hey, the Ara is going nowhere, but it would be a shame to not get any return from it... Lets see how many click bait blog articles we can generate from it!"
Cruelty to animals. I eat meat but do not like seeing anything suffer for purposes of amusement. These are small, but mistreating even insects can be a crime in the US (specifically if you film it). Give them a digital version and leave the actual animals out of such displays.
The creators of this project told me they actually wondered if PETA would take offense. Ideally, though, the tardigrades would have had plenty of algae and room to swim around/reproduce.
Just in case you're not joking I'll point out that water bears do not suffer in any meaningful sense because they have far fewer neurons than even a mosquito.
[+] [-] patsplat|9 years ago|reply
Phones are personal devices. Plenty of time is spent on smoothly machined surfaces, wood cases, etc. A little biosphere is a beautiful idea, and likely cost a fraction of the overall project.
[+] [-] rdtsc|9 years ago|reply
But to be serious here are some of the other modules they planned on:
http://www.modularphonesforum.com/news/yezz-another-28-modul...
And yeah some look pretty cool, a scale, iris detector, a better microphone and speaker, laser range finder, smoke detector (but could imagine perhaps other hazardous materials). Might think of other specialty application, but the problem is in any of those fields, there are probably higher quality tools already available not tied to an experimental expensive phone. They'd have to first make the phone as ubiquitous as an iPhone then start selling add-ons. Not make add-ons as as a major feature of the phone.
But tardigrades just seems like a way to get someone in management to notice and say "Wait wut, we are spending the money on this? Somebody, please defund this project".
[+] [-] Animats|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joshmarinacci|9 years ago|reply
The challenge is that a hackable industrial strength phone is not a ten billion dollar business, which is what Google wants.
[+] [-] nradov|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mirimir|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] PepeGomez|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] reaktivo|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] M_Grey|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gravypod|9 years ago|reply
Can the biological processes of these simple organisms be modeled as checmical equations and all you need to do is balance them out and solve for the mols of everything you need to pour in?
[+] [-] ralfd|9 years ago|reply
I find them more cruel, as you knowingly doom your pet world to die a few years later.
[+] [-] ehsanu1|9 years ago|reply
A self-sustaining system like we'd want should come to its own dynamic equilibrium, given a decent enough starting state, which does make the trial and error slightly more feasible, and of course they have to have some idea of the inputs and outputs of the various organisms.
[+] [-] WheelsAtLarge|9 years ago|reply
Forget the aquarium, how about a really strong microscope. Or a portable testing lab or a television or some kind of art project.
[+] [-] detaro|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kartickv|9 years ago|reply
Google should have pursued a less ambitious and more practical version of the idea. Instead of making everything replaceable, maybe just identify one component that would be. Like the camera. Why do I have to buy a new phone if all I want is a new camera? Would a phone with only one or two replaceable components be feasible to build, and not impose too many tradeoffs?
The Ara team pursued the "everything should be replaceable" dream for too long, and failed. I wonder if a limited version would have been feasible.
It doesn't make sense that you should buy a new smartphone, priced at as much as ₹80K ($1000) even if all you want is one new component. Imagine if you had to buy a new laptop for more storage for your movies, and external hard discs didn't exist. Or a bigger screen, when you could use an external monitor. And so on.
[+] [-] rincebrain|9 years ago|reply
Plus the one upgradable component that stops having feature-parity often long before the rest - software stack. The number of problems with getting random bugs out would get worse by the number of modular parts, and few Android vendors that I've seen keep phones updated for even 3 years, let alone 6.
It's been the case for a long time that you lose customization when you shrink the form factor, as you start squeezing every component down to its minimal essentials, and because it lets you start making tradeoffs you can only make if you know intimate details of the entire platform.
I would, quite fervently, like for a modular smartphone to work, and to not have to do the equivalent of paying hundreds of dollars every few years when my phone gives up the ghost or is EOL (or both). I just don't see the technology advancing that way until we get way better at miniaturization, such that fitting functionality into the phone form factor is no longer a strong pressure constraint.
[+] [-] labster|9 years ago|reply
Just kidding, they'd be killed by the dangerous conduction from the phone. The little guys can't handle the rapid heat changes caused by the battery and CPU.
[+] [-] TheSpiceIsLife|9 years ago|reply
They can withstand temperature ranges from 1 K (−458 °F; −272 °C) (close to absolute zero) to about 420 K (300 °F; 150 °C)
Battery and CPU heat output of a phone couldn't be more than 40 degrees C in variation, at a guess.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade
[+] [-] yeukhon|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] spyder|9 years ago|reply
https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/16/scio-the-pocket-sized-mole...
[+] [-] 1001101|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] matt_wulfeck|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rlpb|9 years ago|reply
According to the article, Mallory could just burn 100% CPU for a while to "reduce their entropy" forever.
[+] [-] karmakaze|9 years ago|reply
Seems unfair to group this with the far fetched ideas. I for one think this is a killer feature in a world that could use more opportunities for meaningful connections.
[+] [-] alexandersingh|9 years ago|reply
Few people are willing to take the risk on a phone with an entirely new form factor, let alone an entirely novel premise, and no one would carry two phones around in their pocket.
It seems like they missed an opportunity to position this as a customizable mobile computing platform. Or perhaps they did and thought it was too niche.
[0] https://medium.com/@my_lapka/lapka-x-project-ara-78fc5fe9f50...
[+] [-] imtringued|9 years ago|reply
Soldering irons that are powered via USB with 1500mA and 5V exist and are basically just a heating element plus a 555 timer chip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-8D5t6TJYU
[+] [-] frozenport|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nashadelic|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] webwielder2|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bitmapbrother|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] xyzzy4|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Reason077|9 years ago|reply
It's inefficient allocation of humanity's intellectual resources.
[+] [-] a3n|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] maxander|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] harrisonweber|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] andrepd|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sandworm101|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] harrisonweber|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] PhasmaFelis|9 years ago|reply
Far worse things happen to the animals you eat than ever happened to these critters in their aquarium.
I'm a meat-eater too, but I try to be honest with myself about it.
[+] [-] hyperdunc|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cm2012|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ntelson1s|9 years ago|reply
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