Introducing Synthiam, in beta mode!

@Zap Brannigan what do you find troubling with the new format?

As a member since 2013 (I believe), I have loved this place and check-in probably 6-8 times a day (I'm a retired old fart with nothing else to do you see). Heck, EZ Robot Community is even my home page ... lol. This post is only to give feed back to EZ Robot. I'll not write my full opinions but this web design is not working for me. It's too complicated with too much to look at. The old forums where easy to read and get around in. It's a beautiful site but not for a forums. Also, I believe new DIY's will come to the website and just click out being too congested. KISS theory!

Forgive me if I hurt anyones feelings. Just my feed back.

Herr Ball

Please

:(herr ball

i too see it not so positive eather.the old version you could see some contact adres or a youtube channel. all your own post is gone.as for now it feels like a death site.am still looking for the EZ blue color ,lol dont like the pink color.its so quite here,no sound.

That won't be gone for long . People's profiles will be back online shortly - with a ton of additional functionality. No need to waste valuable energy on worrying

I have a suggestion. Simply put, its called the power of three. Its ancient and proven. I suggest that the page display only three columns instead of 4. I would make the same suggestion for the videos that are produced, where you have a 4 camera set up and the video shows all 4, make that only three.

The power of three:

The human mind actually enjoys thinking in patterns. In fact, we naturally look for and create patterns everyday, in everything we do. An example of this idea is within our language where adjectives are often grouped together in threes in order to emphasize an idea.

The Rule of Three is relevant because the number three is the lowest figure that can be used to form patterns in our mind. This is important, because the first instance of something occurring, always comes down to chance; the second instance is considered a coincidence; while the third instance is perceived as a pattern.

Proponents of the Rule of Three state that things are more engaging, satisfying and more effectively presented when using this rule.[b] In fact, it is said that an audience is more likely to consume and absorb any type of information presented to them when it is grouped into threes. Push that marginally up to four and the brain gets confused about where to look and what to do and sends the eye scampering like a frisky puppy on a sunny day.

Bring back <first><previous><last> Nav links to discussions. RSS feeds not working

As I continue to buzz around I am starting to generate questions that I hope you can answer about the Synthiam split, SS for short. The intro video seemed a bit vague and I as I'm sure many more here would like a longer more detailed video, where perhaps you can explain your vision for Synthiam short medium and long term goals, who is staying with EZ Robot and who is going to Synthiam...altho I think I have a pretty good guess.

Also will the live camera feed come back from EZ Robot? Or will there be another feed from elsewhere? I cant help but notice the twitter feed for Synthiam lists the company in San Francisco. Will Sythiam be physically located in San Fran?

Inquiring minds want to know... I'm surprised many of the old timers haven't asked yet, but some seem to be in shock So, Ill see if I can get the ball rolling.

Firstly - tsk tsk for creating a new thread on this conversation. It belongs here That's why i made this thread, so let's keep things organized.

Synthiam is in beta mode - and all your feedback is necessary because this is our new home and we'll continue tweaking it for what makes us productive robot builders. The good news is that everything you've asked for in this thread is already in-development or on the todo list. You're seeing features being added a few times per day because we have someone working on it full time.

To answer your question of why - well, that's not a question i think that i need to answer because you've all been asking for it

EZ-Robot turned into a company that produces great revenue selling robots to education customers to learn about technology. The messaging is completely different than the DIY community, which was pushed to the back of the old website. This was explained in detail in my original "The future is" post.

Synthiam is a new company - but not a new idea. It's precisely what you think it is - and you already suspected the answers, so i don't have much to add. Instead, I can validate your perspective, though. I created Synthiam to be a flourishing place to support DIY builders and the companies who are in talks about licensing the ARC software for their hardware.

It's no secret that ARC is leaps beyond usability of any alternatives (i.e. ROS). Hiding this community to the back of an education focused website was not growing the community. It was doing the opposite, and adding to the mixed messaging.

The messaging between EZ-Robot and Synthiam have very different outcomes...

EZ-Robot sells robots to customers who wish to learn about technology using robots

Synthiam supports a community of creators who wish to build robots from their imagination without mucking about with complicated C++ code

It can't get any more clear than that. As a CEO of a great revenue generating business, I had to make a decision...

1. Drop the DIY community and focus 100% on education sales
2. Build the DIY to a new home that's specific to the DIY needs and let EZ-Robot focus 100% on education sales

Option #2 is A LOT MORE WORK as a CEO, but option #2 is always something I enjoy. It's why we're all here - it's why we know each other - it's what holds us together. I'm not letting that go! I also have a great COO with a ton of experience managing operations of a hardware company, so that helps the EZ-Robot division and allows me to focus on Synthiam with you.

While this is a new home, and new colors, and new website - the real only challenge I predicted is adjustment to a website change. But, to overcome that challenge, I launched this in Beta Mode so you all have the opportunity to present asks of what you missed about the old website so we can continue adjusting it to fit your needs. And that is exactly what's happening.

We're making 3 rows instead of 4. We're adding tags to link things together. We're adding twitch calendar so people can schedule live build sessions so we can hang out online together. We're merging plug-ins with controls so they're in the same place. We're linking tutorials into an organized filter with better search. We're allowing comments on EVERYTHING. We will be allowing unsubscribe notifications from threads. The list is very very long...

Over the next 3-4 weeks, this place is going to amazing. And the best part about it? IT'S NOT DANGLING OFF THE BACK OF A EDUCATION COMPANY'S WEBSITE ANY MORE!

10 Celebrate 20 goto 10