Richard B
Active Member
Well, yes, more or less. We've had people writing to us requesting that feature every now and then since we launched our first product, but the enthusiasm from you folks was the tipping point that persuaded us to go ahead with it now.
We're lucky enough to be a (very) small business with no-one telling us how to run it, so we just try to make the best products we can, within the timescale and cost constraints that we set for each project. I suppose our lack of hard-nosed business acumen might mean that we run out of money one day, but for now we're doing OK and having fun.
Wow - all the compliments are rather overwhelming. We really do appreciate all your support.
There is a "Quiet Control Mode", where the Sonic will just make a discreet click sound (and flash the blue tip) for each control gesture, rather than making the usual Sonic Screwdriver buzzing sound. However, if you're trying to find your way to the fridge then I guess you're looking for more of a torch-like mode. We did consider adding a specific torch mode, but we felt that the blue LEDs weren't bright enough for us to claim that they could be used as a "torch". (To me, having spent my childhood in the countryside, a torch is a thing that you use to look for your dog in the forest at night.) However, as it happens, the blue LEDs are certainly bright enough to find your way down the stairs in a pitch-black house (it's late here in the UK and I just tested it to double-check) and there is a silent version of the TV-B-Gone feature that will keep the LEDs lit but without making the buzzing sound - we imagined this to be useful as a stealthy option for turning off other people's TVs, but it should work fine for midnight snacks too.
Thanks Lee, but I'm sorry to say that it's only me doing the work on the electronics and software, and I'm definitely not a genius. There's probably a dozen other electronics engineers on my street who will all be more talented than I am, but they'll be working for companies like Samsung, ARM and Broadcom doing proper clever stuff, usually to make mobile phones do more amazing things.
I'm afraid the final crackle finish isn't quite done yet - I was out in China at our factory last week and was hoping to see them mould and paint the first parts with the crackle pattern applied to the tool, but there were some delays in the tooling process so it didn't work out that way. I should have something in my hands next week, though, and if we're happy with how it looks then I'll definitely share a photo on here. Going slightly off-topic, I also visited the factory that makes the custom lithium-polymer batteries for our sonic last week - it was quite an impressive operation - I hadn't realised just how much testing is done on the decent-quality batteries. Every battery is subjected to around a dozen tests at various stages during the manufacturing process; as an example, each battery is monitored individually whilst being charged up to 100% of capacity, then fully discharged, then charged and discharged again - they had over 150,000 testing stations (arranged in huge arrays) for this purpose.
Im going to buy one. I have been dreaming of something like this since i first started watching Doctor who. I can see it now. grabbing your Sonic screwdriver from your dresser and turning your tv on with it then putting in your Doctor who disks and watching it with your sonic in hand.
That's exactly how we hope people will be using the product!
Yes, indeed!
Cheers,
Richard
