Arist released an update today which many of us thought we’d be as likely to see as a unicorn in the wild. I guess we were wrong. The thing is, the update was posted in a backer only update, and Arist is threatening legal action against anyone who says anything. Or shows anything. Now, I didn’t sign a non-disclosure agreement. Nor do I think they’re going to successfully prosecute me from Hong Kong. However, there was a sappy statement about how “they trust the backers and know we want them to succeed, so please don’t share the info.” I’ll say a few things that are public knowledge or already posted, and then I’ll comment on it.

There’s a new design with changing and nebulous product specs.

There wasn’t any actual model of the new prototype, just digital renderings.

They’re threatening to sue anyone who divulges their update.

You can now preorder once again on their website (which by the way shows their old design). Please give us money without seeing what you’re getting!

They’ve raised many millions of dollars with preorders after the Kickstarter campaign ended on their website.

They’ve allegedly partnered with several companies who wish to stay anonymous.

The project is already promised to be delayed 3 months but they do say they’ll give refunds once we are 3 months past due.

My 50 cents, and I’m going to pretend this is a real product for a minute:

The new design looks nothing like the old one, so it seems only fair that those that want out should be able to get a refund. It looks like a Nespresso married a ’97 iMac. Whether you like it is a matter of taste. Here’s a great comment:

During the campaign they declared “Today – we have completed our final prototype. We are ready for manufacturing.” With this update they have admitted the ‘design verification’ phase and ‘design for manufacture’ phase failed, so they had to redesign the machine completely. If this is true (I assume it is), the redesign can go bad too.

Someone else posted:

I would like to understand how the coffee beans get in to the machine and grounds come out.

Wouldn’t we all.

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