WEBVTT - Razer's Concepts and Vaporware 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:12.200 Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:15.520 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host Jonathan Strickland, 0:00:15.520 --> 0:00:18.960 Diamond executive producer with iHeartRadio and how the tech are 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:22.640 you well. On Monday, I did an episode about some 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:26.520 of the tech community's April Fools gags this year, and 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:32.239 I mentioned the Razor, a computer mouse that doubles as 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:36.199 an electric razor from the company Razor. That was, of 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:40.680 course just a joke. No such device exists, but I 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:45.000 also mentioned how Razor, the company behind the gag, has 0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:49.240 a history of introducing product concepts at events like cees 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:53.159 that never really seemed to go anywhere, and that convinced 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:55.160 me to do a quick episode to talk about a 0:00:55.200 --> 0:01:01.360 few of razors vaporware products. So first, let's define a 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:06.120 couple of terms. Vaporware refers to an announced but as 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:11.559 of yet unreleased product. Vaporware can cover hardware or software, 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:15.360 and typically we reserve the word for products that are 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:18.720 either taking longer to come to market than was expected, 0:01:19.360 --> 0:01:21.759 or ones from a company that has a reputation for 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:26.280 failing to release stuff. And I've done lots of episodes 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:30.920 about vaporware in the past. For years, the quintessential example 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:34.520 of vaporware was Duke Newcombe Forever. It was a game 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:39.399 that was in development for fourteen years. Many gamers were 0:01:39.440 --> 0:01:42.960 convinced that the Duke Newcomb's sequel was never going to 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:45.560 come out, and when it finally did a lot of 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:48.600 folks wish it had not come out. Now. I never 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:52.040 played Duke Nwcombe Forever myself. I did play Duke Nwcombe 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:55.400 three D. The reviews I read for Duke nukembe Forever 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:59.000 were pretty darn harsh. Anyway, While I don't intend to 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:02.160 put Razor on blast or anything, I thought it might 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:04.000 be interesting to look at some of the concepts the 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:06.800 company has shown off that have yet to materialize, and 0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:09.799 that brings us to the other term here, like concept. 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:14.400 Sometimes the word prototype is used. Concept and prototype those 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:18.560 are words that should not immediately lead us to use vaporware. 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:20.680 It might be unfair for me to use that term, 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:27.200 because really these are ideas. They are sometimes the materialization 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:30.120 of an idea, but it's not necessarily an idea that's 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:35.119 meant to go into production. So I should clarify that 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:39.320 when Razor shows off these concepts, it's doing so without 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:44.240 the express promise that this is going to become a 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:48.720 commercial product down the line. So I could be sitting 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:52.840 here arguing, Hey, it stinks because this thing Razor showed 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:57.280 off never came out, and Razor could legit say we 0:02:57.400 --> 0:02:59.120 never said it was going to come out. This was 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:01.880 kind of a proof of concept and we just thought 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:04.560 it was really interesting and we shared it with the world. 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:08.600 And that's fair because they did not promise that it 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:11.280 was going to be a product. One other thing to 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:13.720 keep in mind is that some of these things may 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:16.920 still come out as a product, or at least have 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:20.440 some of their features worked into a product in the future, 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:23.880 and it might be that that product is not as 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:30.480 flashy or capable as the concept was, but it could 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:35.160 still show that that concept served as a guideline for 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:39.200 certain features of products in the future. Some vaporware, like 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:44.440 the infamous Phantom Console, never materializes, and others like Duke 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:48.600 Nukem forever eventually clawed their way into reality and often 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:52.800 don't measure up to expectations. So this is not me 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:57.120 saying that the following Razor concepts will definitely never ever 0:03:57.240 --> 0:04:00.880 come out or materialize in some meaningful way. All right, 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:05.119 So Razor does have a history of showing off concepts 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:08.240 at CES that, as I record this, have yet to 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:12.640 actually become a product, and it does raise some questions 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:15.280 like why would you show off a concept that you 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:17.960 do not plan to bring to market? Now, there are 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:21.680 a few potential answers for this. Maybe the answer is 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:25.480 that Razor is considering bringing these things to market and 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:28.800 just hasn't pulled the trigger yet and needs to gauge interest, 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:31.760 Or that the company may still be fine tuning the 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:36.800 design and that the concept as it stands isn't practical 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:39.440 for a finished product, that things need to be tweaked. 0:04:40.040 --> 0:04:43.400 Maybe the plan is just to stand out in a 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:47.320 very crowded field of competition at big events like CES, 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:51.640 because these concepts always seem to garner a lot of 0:04:51.800 --> 0:04:55.880 media attention and that can be hard to come by. 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:59.440 Like if you ever visit CES, it is such a 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:05.359 huge show with thousands of companies exhibiting at CS that 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:10.400 finding any way to grab attention becomes a big driver 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:12.640 for a lot of these companies. Otherwise they're just sitting 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:17.040 there as countless people walk past their booth. But let's 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:20.200 start with a concept that came out several years ago, 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:25.360 so way back in twenty fourteen, Razor showed off a 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:30.800 modular desktop computer concept called Project Christine. The foundation for 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:35.520 this concept was a simple tower chassis. It had no front, 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:37.440 had no back, it didn't even have sides. It was 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:42.359 just sort of a vertical rectangular stand and the corners 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:45.040 were a little bit rounded off, so it wasn't like 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:51.040 a sharp rectangle, but imagine a vertical rectangular stand that's 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:54.560 empty in the middle. This served as a rack, and 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:57.920 in this rack you could plug in modules that would 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:02.400 serve as different computer components. One might be dedicated to RAM, 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:07.400 for example, or the CPU, or maybe more specific things 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:11.920 like LED controls, and you would be able to install 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:16.800 and uninstall these modules really easily. You just essentially plug 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:20.560 and play hot swapping if you wanted to, so you 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:25.080 could theoretically quickly swap out parts to upgrade your machine. Though, 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:29.640 because these modules were being made by Razor and so 0:06:29.800 --> 0:06:32.719 was the chassis, presumably you would have to get everything 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:37.000 from Razor to upgrade your machine. So let's say that 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:40.440 there's a new faster CPU on the market. If it 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:44.279 was just available in general but not from Razor, you'd 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:47.239 probably be stuck because you had to use this modular approach. 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:51.120 It's almost like plugging cassettes in in a way. Also, 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:55.200 the concept used mineral oil as a coolant, so a 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:59.320 module near the base of the chassis act as a 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:03.640 reservoir for mineral oil, and then each module that would 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:07.040 attach to the chassis also had its own little pump 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:12.280 system to pump mineral oil through the module and thus 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:16.120 cool it down as it operated, which was a really 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:20.000 neat concept. I imagine it would really appeal to people 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:23.280 who wanted a bit more flexibility with their desktop computers, 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:26.480 but who were not yet comfortable at building their own 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:29.440 or swapping out their own components, because that is a 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:33.120 big step for people. Right, you have your average consumer 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:36.920 who just wants something that works, and they buy their computer, 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:40.880 and then over time their computer is getting outpaced by 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:45.240 the complexity of software demands and you need to upgrade. Well, 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:47.760 those folks are probably more likely to buy a new 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:50.840 computer than they are to open up their machine and 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:54.800 swap out components, because that's an intimidating step for someone 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:59.400 who's never done it before. This concept project Christine created 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:02.720 kind of a stepping stone toward that, this modular approach 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:08.000 where it seems much more intuitive and simple and harder 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:10.880 to screw up, so that the average person would say, oh, 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:13.440 I just need to pull this module out, plug this 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:16.680 new module in, and I'm good to go. So yeah, 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:19.480 the concept was really intriguing, but we never got a 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:23.800 production model of Christine, which might be for the best 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:28.680 because if Christine the computer gained sentience and then developed 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:31.640 romantic feelings for you, then Stephen King would have to 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:35.760 write Christine too, this time she's a computer. The next 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:40.320 razor concept made me say, won't you come on over? 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:43.200 Stop making a fool out of me? Why don't you 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:46.880 come on over Project Valerie. That's a shout out to 0:08:46.920 --> 0:08:50.280 the late Amy Winehouse. So yes, we're going to now 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:54.920 talk about Project Valerie. We're skipping up to twenty seventeen 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:57.760 at this point. By the way, I got to see 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:00.680 Project Christine and I got to see Project Valerie because 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:02.040 this was back in the time when I was still 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:05.800 going to CS. Well. This was during a time where 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:10.080 we were getting a trend where companies were trying to 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:15.000 make laptops and experiment with having multiple screens built into 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:19.400 that laptop. I remember seeing a few concept laptops around 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:23.000 that time that were extra chunky, and the reason for 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:27.720 that extra chunk was that the laptop hit a second display, 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:31.600 typically housed inside the casing of the main display, so 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:34.160 like you would pop it out and it would stand 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:36.880 off to the side, so you would extend this secondary 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:39.520 display out and then bam, you've got a laptop with 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:43.040 two displays or two monitors. That was not good enough 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:46.640 a Razor and Project Valerie was a gaming laptop with 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:51.319 three displays. Not only that each screen measured seventeen point 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:54.480 three inches that those are big displays for a laptop, 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:59.800 and all three had four K resolution. Deployed, the s 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:03.280 could create a one hundred eighty degree viewing arc, giving 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:07.160 gamers a really immersive perspective. That is, if the game 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:10.480 supported that kind of setup, it would. Razor told booth 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:13.440 visitors that if they wanted to learn more, they could 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:17.000 sign up for updates. I do not think I signed up. 0:10:17.320 --> 0:10:19.679 CS is a really busy time, but I did a 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:23.360 little digging for this episode and I didn't find any update, 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:29.240 So I imagine Project Valerie is fairly dormant at the moment. Now, 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:32.920 there are dual screen laptops out there, most of them 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:36.480 are not side by side screens. Instead, what you get 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:39.160 as you open up your laptop, and then at the 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:43.400 base of your primary display you have a touch display 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:46.400 that is kind of it's above the keyboard and at 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:48.920 the base of the primary display. Sometimes it will even 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:51.720 tilt up a little bit so that you have a 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:55.760 little touch screen that you can use to do something. 0:10:56.280 --> 0:10:59.640 I honestly don't get this. I've never found one of 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:03.800 these laptops to be useful for the way I use computers. 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:06.559 That doesn't mean they're not useful. It just means that 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:10.680 the way I use computers, and to be frank, I'm 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:13.640 old and I'm setting my ways the way I use computers, 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:17.000 it just doesn't gel with this. I've said this before 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:18.880 in the past too. I feel the same way about 0:11:18.960 --> 0:11:22.480 laptop computers that have a touch display built into them, 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:26.520 where the display you're looking at is also a touchscreen. 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:30.720 I don't ever use that, Like, I don't have a 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:34.200 computer that currently has that, and the few times where 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:36.679 I've worked on a laptop that has that, it's just 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:39.360 it's the last thing in my mind. It just doesn't 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:42.800 work for me. So it may very well be that 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:44.760 some of y'all out there have one of these dual 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:49.240 display laptops where you have like that very wide but 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:52.720 short display, I guess, and it goes across the entire 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:55.680 with the laptop, but it's not very tall. In other words, 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:58.960 maybe some of y'all out there have laptops like that 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:01.560 that are incredibly useful, and that's cool. It's just one 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:03.480 of those where I could not find a use for it. 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:07.080 But that's more common, right. You can find dual screen 0:12:07.160 --> 0:12:11.560 laptops like that out there. They aren't the norm, but 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:14.599 they exist, and they are more frequent than say a 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:19.360 side by side display laptop. There are also aftermarket products 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:23.400 that let you mount extra displays to your laptop screen 0:12:23.480 --> 0:12:28.280 and effectively turn it into a multidisplay laptop. These typically 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:32.040 will plug into a USB port, often a USBC port, 0:12:32.120 --> 0:12:35.520 so you can dy your own Project Valerie laptop if 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:38.880 you so desire, though, I would definitely watch some videos 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:41.040 online first to get an idea if it's right for you, 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:43.960 before you PLoP down the cash for them. One video 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:46.400 I saw showed that if you had a laptop with 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:49.400 a fairly large screen, it was hard to find a 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:54.320 solution that worked properly for that. It don't work better 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:58.959 for middle sized laptops. But I don't have one of 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:01.079 these I haven't used it myself, so I can't really, 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:04.440 you know, comment on it one way or the other. Okay, 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:06.360 we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:10.400 we're going to talk about some more concepts slash vaporware 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:25.040 from Razor. Okay, we're back now. Project Valerie was shown 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:29.040 off in twenty seventeen, but that wasn't the only concept 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:33.200 that Razor had for folks visiting their booth that year 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:38.040 at CES. They had another one called Project Arianna. Also, 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:42.520 you'll notice, you know, Project Christine, Project Valerie, project Ariana. 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:47.880 Razor names its projects after traditionally female names. If Project 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:50.640 Valerie was asking the question, hey, wouldn't it be cool 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:54.880 if your laptop had three screens, Project Ariana asked the question, Hey, 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:56.880 wouldn't it be cool if you could turn the wall 0:13:56.920 --> 0:14:03.120 behind your computer into a giant screen. So basically, Project 0:14:03.160 --> 0:14:07.800 Ariana was a four K projector that would connect to 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:10.800 your computer, and you would have this projector pointed at 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:13.920 the wall behind your computer, and the projector would display 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:19.680 images on that wall, essentially creating a wall sized display. 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:24.360 It couldn't magically extend your view necessarily, though it could 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:28.000 give that impression. The projector used a fisheye lens to 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:31.240 create a one hundred and fifty five degree projection. It 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:35.800 also supported depth sensing cameras, which Razor said meant that 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:38.840 the projector would be able to detect objects that were 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:42.480 in between the computer and the wall and thus adjust 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:46.000 the projection so that it could compensate for any obstacle. 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:49.040 So if you had like a chair between you and 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:52.560 the wall, or maybe it's another table or a little 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:56.560 brother or something, you know, the cameras on this projector 0:14:56.600 --> 0:15:00.160 would detect that and adjust the projection so that it 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:04.640 would be flat from your perspective, right, so you wouldn't 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:09.760 have these weird distortions in your view due to the 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:13.720 obstacles in place. I don't know if that actually worked 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:16.760 or if that was just an idea, but that was 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:19.160 what they said. So it's kind of like a very 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:24.960 low technology version of three D mapping. You know. That's 0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:28.000 the type of art that you see where there's a 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:32.680 projection against a permanent structure like a building, where the 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:40.160 animation creates these really really powerful and compelling effects on 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:43.440 actual structures. You know, I've seen somewhere it makes it 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:46.440 look like a building crumbles down into nothing. And then 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:51.480 rebuilds itself as a fantasy structure. It's cool stuff. It 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:53.320 was kind of supposed to be able to do that 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:57.080 at a very low end. Now. Really, Project Ariana was 0:15:57.160 --> 0:16:02.920 more about showcasing a product Razor already had called Razor Chroma. 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:07.080 This is Raizel's technology that aims to incorporate hardware into 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:12.360 the experiences of gaming through lighting. So think of stuff 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:16.360 like a backlit keyboard or a gaming mouse has LED 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:20.800 elements worked into it. Chroma would aim to match the 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:25.680 colors and patterns of light on these devices to accompany 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:29.000 whatever game or movie or whatever you were running on 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:33.840 your computer, so that the experience of that media would 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:37.160 extend beyond the media itself. It wouldn't just be you 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:41.760 playing this game, be your keyboard is enhancing that experience. 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:45.040 And it's a nifty concept like one where there's this 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:49.120 enticing idea of the game experience extending out into the 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:52.320 real world in some way. Virtual reality kind of takes 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:56.880 that on the other direction, but it's the same general concept, right, 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:01.080 incorporating us into the game experience in new way. So 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:05.800 Ariana was really meant to show off Chroma at large scale. 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:09.080 It just, you know, never became a product of its own. 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:13.400 Something that did become a product, though only for a 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:17.880 short time, was the Razor phone. Now, I'm not talking 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:21.639 about the R A z R Razor phones, the ones 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:25.200 that were originally made by Motorola. They were very popular 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:31.040 a couple of decades ago in the time before smartphones. 0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:35.000 The Razor flip phones were like a must have accessory 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:38.000 for a lot of people of a certain generation. I 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:41.000 was never cool enough to have one, So instead I'm 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:45.600 talking about Razor R A Z er phones. These were 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:51.600 Android based smartphones that Razor produced. Starting in twenty seventeen, 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:55.200 Razor acquired another company that was in the smartphone business 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:59.560 and then started to use that company's technology to produce 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:03.680 phone with Razor branding on them. Now, Razor only made 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:08.280 two models of their phone, and the Razor three model 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:11.640 was apparently shelved, and from what we can tell, it's 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:16.760 shelved permanently. But in twenty eighteen, Razor took the opportunity 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:20.600 to create a concept that further promoted its brand new smartphone, 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:24.439 so the Razor one was introduced in the end of 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:31.480 twenty seventeen. Ces twenty eighteen, they come out with Project Linda. 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:35.480 Now At a glance, Linda looked like a typical laptop computer, 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:38.920 but it really wasn't a computer. It was a dumb terminal. 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:42.919 It was, you know, just a place for you to 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:46.800 plug a phone into. Really, so the secret to Linda 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:49.800 was that it would get its processing power and capabilities 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:53.240 from a razor phone. So if you were to look 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:56.040 down at the keyboard of Project Linda, you would see 0:18:56.040 --> 0:19:00.359 that where the touchpad normally would be on a laptop computer, 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:03.320 there was kind of an indentation, and it was a 0:19:03.400 --> 0:19:07.320 space where you could plug a razor phone into the 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:10.639 machine and the phone would act as your touchpad, but 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:14.879 it would also actually be the brains of the laptop, 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:18.480 and really the laptop would just become a new interface 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:21.359 for your phone. It was a dock. In other words, 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:24.280 it was a smartphone dock. And there were actually a 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:28.600 few computer concepts from different companies around this same time 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:32.000 that used a similar idea that you would have a 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:35.120 smartphone doc that would allow you to tap into your 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:38.520 phone's processing power but use it like a computer, which 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:42.760 would be arguably better for cases of stuff like like 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:47.600 productivity software. It's way easier to type on a laptop 0:19:47.880 --> 0:19:51.320 than on your typical smartphone, and these docks would have 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:54.320 their own battery. Obviously, they'd have a keyboard, and they'd 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:57.320 have a larger screen, but otherwise they would rely on 0:19:57.359 --> 0:20:01.600 the smartphone to provide the oomph behind comput This was 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:04.800 also around the era of ultra light laptops. This was 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:08.280 an evolution of the teeny tiny netbooks that had come 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:13.119 the decade before. Netbooks were extremely portable computers, but they 0:20:13.119 --> 0:20:16.400 were also a nuisance to use because they were so small, 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:19.040 they had really cramped keyboards. It was hard to use 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:23.840 them and not feel uncomfortable. So ultra lights kind of 0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:27.760 followed along behind that, and you can even find a 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:31.800 few companies that sell these sort of smartphone doc style 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:36.440 laptops today. But Project Linda was clearly more about promoting 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:40.080 the Razor Phone than it was about actually selling a 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:44.200 smartphone doc itself. Now, as you no doubt have already 0:20:44.200 --> 0:20:46.879 gathered by the fact that I've included Project Linda in 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:49.600 this episode, it never saw the light of day. But 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:54.520 more than that, Razor would actually abandon its smartphone production entirely. 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:58.000 The company did release the Razor Phone two in late 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:02.919 twenty eighteen, so you know ces happens in January of 0:21:03.080 --> 0:21:06.159 each year, so this would have been well after they 0:21:06.160 --> 0:21:08.320 had showed off Project Linda. They came out with the 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:10.760 Razor Phone two. But then after that thing's kind of 0:21:10.800 --> 0:21:14.040 wound down when the Phone three did not emerge in 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:18.359 twenty nineteen. The original excuse we were given the reason 0:21:18.600 --> 0:21:23.040 for its delay was that Razor was waiting on five 0:21:23.119 --> 0:21:27.440 G network deployment, that the five G networks were slower 0:21:27.480 --> 0:21:30.560 in rolling out than Razor had anticipated, and rather than 0:21:30.600 --> 0:21:35.840 release a phone that had limited utility, they would wait 0:21:36.000 --> 0:21:40.280 for more five G coverage. That was the excuse. I mean, 0:21:40.560 --> 0:21:42.400 I get that, but at the same time, it does 0:21:42.440 --> 0:21:46.240 seem like it's an excuse because presumably the phone had 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:51.520 the capability of tapping into LTE networks, because I mean, 0:21:51.560 --> 0:21:53.879 even with full deployment, five G was going to have 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:57.440 spots that it wasn't going to reach, So you could 0:21:57.560 --> 0:22:01.320 roll the phone out early and then five G capability 0:22:01.359 --> 0:22:04.760 would come online once the networks were in place. But whatever. 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:08.560 Slash Gear actually published an article in twenty twenty two 0:22:08.840 --> 0:22:13.240 that showed photos of a supposed Razor Phone three. It 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:16.359 was at least a phone that had the Razor logo 0:22:16.400 --> 0:22:18.200 on the back of it. Though of course that could 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:22.600 have been faked, and it did have differences from the 0:22:22.640 --> 0:22:28.040 previous two Razor phone models, but it didn't look that different. 0:22:28.440 --> 0:22:30.160 So in other words, it had a couple of features 0:22:30.160 --> 0:22:32.480 that set it apart, So it obviously was a different phone, 0:22:32.840 --> 0:22:35.480 but it didn't set it apart so much that it 0:22:35.480 --> 0:22:39.760 looked truly innovative. So in that article, slash Gear ends 0:22:39.840 --> 0:22:43.200 up saying that, well, maybe the problem was that Razor 0:22:43.320 --> 0:22:48.679 determined that they were slowing down in innovation with the 0:22:48.680 --> 0:22:51.119 phones and that it just wasn't going to live up 0:22:51.160 --> 0:22:54.280 to expectations. It wasn't going to compete in the market 0:22:54.320 --> 0:22:59.320 against flagship smartphones from other companies, and so they decided 0:22:59.600 --> 0:23:02.479 to hold the plug on the whole division. They've been 0:23:02.520 --> 0:23:05.280 pretty quiet on that front ever since. The Razor continued 0:23:05.320 --> 0:23:08.600 to support the earlier phone models, so at least people 0:23:08.600 --> 0:23:11.000 who had a Razor Phone or Razor Phone two didn't 0:23:11.040 --> 0:23:17.280 immediately find their devices unsupported. In twenty nineteen, Razor actually 0:23:17.320 --> 0:23:19.679 took a little bit of a breather with their Blue 0:23:19.680 --> 0:23:22.600 Sky concepts. They still had plenty of things to show 0:23:22.640 --> 0:23:26.040 off at ces, right, like, they brought new products in 0:23:26.119 --> 0:23:28.960 to show people, but these were things that were actually 0:23:29.359 --> 0:23:33.320 real products or soon to become real products. So there's 0:23:33.359 --> 0:23:36.399 no fun in that, right, Like, we can't talk about 0:23:36.440 --> 0:23:40.879 all these crazy things that Razor showed off but never produced, 0:23:40.880 --> 0:23:44.440 so we're got to skip ahead. And boy, howdy did 0:23:44.520 --> 0:23:47.640 Razor go hard In twenty twenty. That was the year 0:23:47.680 --> 0:23:51.640 that the company showed off the Razor Erasing Simulator concept. 0:23:51.760 --> 0:23:56.320 No female name for this one. This thing, however, is 0:23:56.600 --> 0:24:01.600 massive and you should look up pictures or video of this, 0:24:01.760 --> 0:24:07.040 the Razor Eracing simulator. It consists of a big metal 0:24:07.119 --> 0:24:11.120 frame that holds everything together. You got yourself a racing chair, 0:24:11.440 --> 0:24:13.919 so it's a gamer chair in the race car style 0:24:14.400 --> 0:24:18.640 that's mounted on a sturdy hydraulic platform so the platform 0:24:18.680 --> 0:24:23.280 can create movement. The chair includes both a lap and 0:24:23.359 --> 0:24:26.720 then over the shoulder seat belt actually over both shoulders, 0:24:27.320 --> 0:24:30.399 and those were necessary not just so that you wouldn't 0:24:30.440 --> 0:24:32.840 fall out of your racing chair while you're racing, but 0:24:32.960 --> 0:24:36.880 also because they connect to motors, and the simulator would 0:24:36.960 --> 0:24:40.119 tighten the belt at times to simulate the g forces 0:24:40.160 --> 0:24:43.800 you would feel. Let's say you're breaking really hard, well, 0:24:43.840 --> 0:24:46.440 it would tighten the seat belt so you would feel 0:24:46.480 --> 0:24:49.320 that pressure as if you were being pushed forward from 0:24:50.200 --> 0:24:54.320 the momentum you were experiencing, or you know, if you're 0:24:54.320 --> 0:24:57.480 going through a really tight turn suddenly, that's when the 0:24:57.760 --> 0:25:00.479 seat belts would create the sort of haptic FEEDBA for you. 0:25:00.960 --> 0:25:04.120 Mounted in front of the chair is a huge curved 0:25:04.240 --> 0:25:08.840 projection screen measuring an enormous one hundred twenty eight inches 0:25:09.280 --> 0:25:12.440 and giving more than two hundred degrees field of view 0:25:12.760 --> 0:25:15.960 to the player. In between the chair and the screen, 0:25:16.080 --> 0:25:18.840 you of course have your super high end gaming steering 0:25:18.840 --> 0:25:25.800 wheel with leather covers and as sophisticated controls, including magnetic 0:25:25.800 --> 0:25:28.800 paddles for gear shifting that kind of thing. The whole 0:25:28.800 --> 0:25:32.720 setup is meant to create as immersive and experience as 0:25:32.760 --> 0:25:35.920 possible to really capture the feeling of driving a high 0:25:36.000 --> 0:25:40.720