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Author Topic: Cycling themed Fidget Spinners  (Read 9671 times)

ta0

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Re: Cycling themed Fidget Spinners
« Reply #30 on: October 20, 2017, 07:05:03 PM »

I wonder if your equations work the same in the absence of gravity?
The only effect of the lack of gravity is that the spinners might spin a little longer as the center can spin with the rest while floating, eliminating the ball bearing friction.
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Kirk

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Re: Cycling themed Fidget Spinners
« Reply #31 on: October 27, 2017, 05:08:28 PM »

I wonder if your equations work the same in the absence of gravity?
Oh yes.

There are some amazing things there including how the simple movement of the fidget spinner and twirl someone's whole body.
I don't see that they represented being spun by the spinner in any way.
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Jeremy McCreary

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Re: Cycling themed Fidget Spinners
« Reply #32 on: November 12, 2017, 02:16:38 PM »

I wonder if your equations work the same in the absence of gravity?
Oh yes.

There are some amazing things there including how the simple movement of the fidget spinner and twirl someone's whole body.
I don't see that they represented being spun by the spinner in any way.

Agree on all counts, Kirk. But I saw at least one unfortunate cut that might give some viewers the wrong impression.

Prominent scientists and engineers who appear as talking heads on TV "science" shows (e.g., on the Science and Discovery Channels) have no control over how their statements are cut and framed in the finished product. All they can do is cringe when they see themselves appearing to support semi-nonsense on national television. This has happened to several friends of mine.

I'd like to think that NASA PR pieces aren't left entirely to the creative folks, but this one got past the defenses.
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ta0

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Re: Cycling themed Fidget Spinners
« Reply #33 on: May 04, 2018, 06:15:39 PM »

Looking into recent spintop patents, I bumped into the fidget spinner patent: US9,914,063, issued March 13, 2018 (priority date May 11, 2016, from the provisional patent).
Fortunately, it's under the name of the real inventor, Scott McCoskery of Seattle, who invented it in 2014 and first sold it online as the Torqbar (NPR).

I also found this chart for the searches of Fidget Spinner on Google, what shows the evolution of the fad:



After listening to the NPR program again, I can only wonder if the fidget spinner contributed to the bankruptcy of ToyRUS.  :-\
« Last Edit: May 04, 2018, 06:24:38 PM by ta0 »
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studio42

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Re: Cycling themed Fidget Spinners
« Reply #34 on: May 10, 2018, 05:24:56 PM »

I kinda doubt it. TRU has a reputation of selling some stuff at above what the market maybe should be. But when it came to fidget spinners and fidget cubes, they went with a company and sold their stuff for a really fair price. I bought a bunch from there.

Prices between online and in-store were consistent in my experience, so no issues there. I think companies like Amazon and other online retailers(or who function mainly online) really ate into their marketshare. Me personally, I like to LOOK at stuff up close and in person before buying, which the online stores simply can't do. I do know that I would buy things where cheapest, so I might have to exploit TRU to examine a product, only to buy somewhere else to save money. I also  know I made a LOT of decisions to not buy certain things at all after a closer examination. Stuff like Nerf blasters, video games, Hot Wheels and most action figures are commodity type items but you still want to see what exactly you're getting before plonking down the cash. I also know stores like Target and Walmart were getting some of that marketshare too, but TRU always had the largest selection. I think the exclusive brand stuff might have been putting money and efforts into products that didn't pay off so well, but I also don't feel it was enough to take down such a large company. My thoughts are that they are so big that they may have lacked proper top tier guidance and the ability to adapt quick enough to move to an evolving business model that better matches the current trend that smaller retails can utilize.

I always saw the fidget spinners as a short trend so it's no surprise it's already "spinning down". I don't see these spinners having the same sort of long appeal that has allowed things like yoyos and spintops to stay around so long.
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Jeremy McCreary

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Re: Cycling themed Fidget Spinners
« Reply #35 on: May 11, 2018, 04:29:20 AM »

I don't see these spinners having the same sort of long appeal that has allowed things like yoyos and spintops to stay around so long.

Doubt you'll get much argument around here, and certainly not from me. But yesterday, I got this comment on the LEGO top video below it...
Quote
My mom says tops are the first attempt at fidget spinners



Having made roughly 800 LEGO tops and dozens of fidget spinners, I'd say that mom's badly mistaken no matter how you interpret this. Since the video first appeared in April, 2017, it's gathered 75k views and 369 likes -- sadly, my most viewed LEGO top video by a factor of 14!

But this fidget spinner video, posted a month later, has collected 353k views and 1,462 likes. My sense is that the viewing rate peaked 6-8 months ago and has been declining steadily ever since.

 

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ta0

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Re: Cycling themed Fidget Spinners
« Reply #36 on: May 11, 2018, 04:07:43 PM »

After listening to the NPR program again, I can only wonder if the fidget spinner contributed to the bankruptcy of ToyRUS.  :-\
I kinda doubt it.
I said it jokingly. But that article does say:
Quote
Toys R Us has literally scrambled the jets trying to meet the demand of this year's break-out toy, handheld whirligig known as a "fidget spinner."

And then there is this one from May 2017:
walmart-toys-r-us-cant-keep-demand-fidget-spinners

A third of a million views is not bad, Jeremy! I'm also sorry it's for the fidget and not a top.  :-\
« Last Edit: May 11, 2018, 04:09:56 PM by ta0 »
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