Gaming Peripheral Company Razer Shifts Some Production To Surgical Masks (polygon.com) 28
Razer CEO Ming-Liang Tan announced on Thursday that the company will shift a number of its manufacturing lines from producing its own products to making surgical masks. Polygon reports: As COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, continues to spread around the world, healthcare officials are reporting shortages of essential resources, including surgical masks. Tan said Razer intends donate up to 1 million masks to healthcare providers globally; its first shipments will go to healthcare authorities in Singapore, where Razer's Southeast Asia headquarters is located.
The Razer CEO said designers and engineers have been working "24-hour shifts" to convert the company's production lines. "While there has been incredible demand for our products during this time with many staying home to avoid the crowds (and to play games), the team at Razer understands that all of us have a part to play in fighting the virus -- no matter which industry we come from," Tan said. He added that "emergency conversion" of Razer's manufacturing lines is the first step in the company's plan. "We are committed to contributing our extra time, resources, effort and talent toward the fight against COVID-19," Tan said. Elon Musk said on Twitter that Tesla "would make ventilators if there is a shortage." This prompted New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio to tweet out the plea: "Our country is facing a drastic shortage and we need ventilators ASAP -- we will need thousands in this city over the next few weeks. We're getting them as fast as we can but we could use your help!"
The Razer CEO said designers and engineers have been working "24-hour shifts" to convert the company's production lines. "While there has been incredible demand for our products during this time with many staying home to avoid the crowds (and to play games), the team at Razer understands that all of us have a part to play in fighting the virus -- no matter which industry we come from," Tan said. He added that "emergency conversion" of Razer's manufacturing lines is the first step in the company's plan. "We are committed to contributing our extra time, resources, effort and talent toward the fight against COVID-19," Tan said. Elon Musk said on Twitter that Tesla "would make ventilators if there is a shortage." This prompted New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio to tweet out the plea: "Our country is facing a drastic shortage and we need ventilators ASAP -- we will need thousands in this city over the next few weeks. We're getting them as fast as we can but we could use your help!"
gaming knows how to make them (Score:4, Funny)
Will they have cool green LEDs as well?
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Will they have cool green LEDs as well?
The LEDs will only be green for those who are virus free. If you have COVID19 then the mask will blink red. And if the wearer goes into respiratory failure it will go rainbow and eventually to plaid as it gets worse.
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That would be utterly awesome, to be fair.
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This could be interesting [ytimg.com].
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Also, will they require you to install spyware and create a Razer account just to use them?
Re: gaming knows how to make them (Score:1)
Rainbow flashing masks! (Score:1)
Razer's poor QC (Score:5, Insightful)
With Razer's poor quality control, I wouldn't trust these.
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On the contrary, it looks like they finally found a product niche where their inability to build a product that lasts more than a few months before it develops problems is actually fitting to expected lifetime of said product.
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Is this a new thing? I've been using their Diamondback mouse for literally over a decade and it works perfectly, all the buttons are as clicky as the day it was new. Even the surface is showing very little wear under the fingers.
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Consider taking it out of the packaging and actually seeing if it works.
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Aw snap, totally owned the Razer fanboys!
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No, that happened when they bought razer products for any use that would last more than a few months. I'm just here to rub salt in the wounds because this is the internet and that's the dumb shit that we do here.
Well, that and watching cat videos.
So Tesla had to close its car production... (Score:2)
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So healthcare workers get masks... (Score:3)
Razer cloud account (Score:2)
The mask will not be operable without a Razer cloud account.
Perfect fit! (Score:3)
So they'll make masks that are shiny and light up all 1337 but fall apart in months and require you to install their crapware to turn off said 1337 lighting.
I guess, like leasing a new German car, that's the next guy's problem.
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On the other side of the coin... (Score:3)
Gamestop is refusing to close its stores claiming they are vital to making home workers more comfortable and able to do their work online.
Failing Peripheral Mfg. Staves Off Bankruptcy (Score:2)
Nice pivot; but you arenâ(TM)t fooling anyone.
much comedy (Score:3)
At risk of breaking convention by not suggesting LEDs or cloud registration, it's nice to see various companies retooling to meet medical demands at this time.
Especially ones such as Razor who offer a product that will be in higher demand over the next few weeks.
Retooling? (Score:2)
I'll be the first to admit I don't know much about manufacturing other than what I gleaned from, "How It's Made."
How easy is it to switch the product a facility is making? It seems like there would be specific tooling required for making different products.
Does anyone have any links to learn more about this?
They should have done this a long time ago (Score:2)
This is a great thing for Razer to produce, because most people don't use a surgical mask after 6 months.