The Boring Company | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Mon, 05 Feb 2018 14:34:10 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png The Boring Company | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Elon Musk rebrands Boring Company Flamethrower to avoid customs troubles https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/damien-cox/elon-musk-rebrands-boring-company-flamethrower-to-avoid-customs-troubles/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/damien-cox/elon-musk-rebrands-boring-company-flamethrower-to-avoid-customs-troubles/#respond Mon, 05 Feb 2018 14:34:10 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=363073 There seems to be many obstacles appearing for Elon Musk’s flamethrower, from government officials attempting to intervene, to customs agencies now refusing to ship something with such a volatile name. Of course, Musk isn’t backing down, reeling off alternatives he could call it instead. Apparently, some customs agents are particularly fussy about allowing shipments of …

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There seems to be many obstacles appearing for Elon Musk’s flamethrower, from government officials attempting to intervene, to customs agencies now refusing to ship something with such a volatile name. Of course, Musk isn’t backing down, reeling off alternatives he could call it instead.

Apparently, some customs agents are particularly fussy about allowing shipments of items dubbed as flamethrowers, and it’s rather understandable when the first thoughts prompted are the harmful military-grade variants that spit flames between 30 feet to a whopping 100 feet, and the fact that Musk has managed to sell all 20,000 units of this so called “Flamethrower.”

Of course, the previously-dubbed Boring Company Flamethrower falls vastly short of this at a range of well below 10 feet in accordance with Californian law. This has led many to consider the item a novelty propane torch under the guise of a flamethrower instead.

Regardless, to get the item into the hands of those that purchased into it, Musk had to change the name. First on his suggestions was simply and subtly renaming it “Not a Flamethrower,” shortly followed by the more technical “Temperature Enhancement Device.”

Rather than running with the confusion of someone genuinely using it to increase theirs or anyone elses temperature, Musk opted for the first one, releasing an updated image to the official website. An added bit of cheekiness is the final comment below, that reads “Flamethrower Sales Are Now Complete.”

Customs officials have yet to protest the name change, but only time will tell whether this change will be acceptable or not.

KitGuru Says: I rather like the tongue in cheek name change of “Not a Flamethrower” just to see if it can breach past customs unlike before. Besides, I’d say it’s difficult to argue that it’s anything related to a flamethrower aside from its shape. Do you think customs officials were right to call Musk up on how Boring Company not a Flamethrower?

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Elon Musk sells all 20,000 Boring Company branded flamethrowers https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-tech-news/damien-cox/elon-musk-sells-all-20000-boring-company-branded-flamethrowers/ https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/featured-tech-news/damien-cox/elon-musk-sells-all-20000-boring-company-branded-flamethrowers/#comments Thu, 01 Feb 2018 10:57:17 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=362707 Elon Musk set Twitter alight over the weekend when his Boring Company started selling $500 flamethrowers. Attracting 7,000 sales over the course of its first day, it hasn’t taken too much longer to sell all 20,000 as Musk tweeted out that the product was sold out as of today. Despite the lighthearted nature of the …

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Elon Musk set Twitter alight over the weekend when his Boring Company started selling $500 flamethrowers. Attracting 7,000 sales over the course of its first day, it hasn’t taken too much longer to sell all 20,000 as Musk tweeted out that the product was sold out as of today.

Despite the lighthearted nature of the act, this racks up a cool $10 million to fund other, more serious projects such as Musk’s SpaceX program and his tunnel digging ventures. That’s if he doesn’t get burned by U.S. politicians in the process, given that California Assemblyman Miguel Santiago has vowed to push legislation that would block the sales of The Boring Company’s flamethrower from reaching anyone in the state.

For those that have managed to snatch up a Boring Company flamethrower, delivery estimates are aiming for spring 2018 and every order will be accompanied by a complimentary Boring fire extinguisher.

And if you’re one of the many that missed out on the opportunity, USA Today points out that there is a more expensive XM42-M from Ion Productions Team sitting at $899 including delivery. The range being between 25 and 50 feet breaches the 10 feet limit posed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that Musk stated in defence of his gadget, however, so be warned.

It’s hard to tell what Musk has next up his sleeve as everyone cropped his comments on the flamethrower prior to sale to simply be a joke, however the entrepreneur has hinted at the possibility of a “snowthrower,” so keep your eyes peeled on The Boring Company in the near future.

KitGuru Says: This all seems like such a random turn of events and certainly isn’t what I expected to be writing about this week. What do you think of Musk’s humour? Did you manage to grab yourself a Boring Company flamethrower before they sold out? And how about the teased snowthrower, would that interest you?

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Politician to extinguish Elon Musk’s fun by seeking ban on Boring Company flamethrower https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/damien-cox/politician-to-extinguish-elon-musks-fun-by-seeking-ban-on-boring-company-flamethrower/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/damien-cox/politician-to-extinguish-elon-musks-fun-by-seeking-ban-on-boring-company-flamethrower/#comments Tue, 30 Jan 2018 13:15:19 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=362422 Over the weekend, Elon Musk began a successful run of selling flamethrowers via his Boring Company brand. This success could be short lived if California Assemblyman Miguel Santiago has anything to do with it, as the politician plans to introduce legislation that would block Musk from selling the device to the public. Of course, even …

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Over the weekend, Elon Musk began a successful run of selling flamethrowers via his Boring Company brand. This success could be short lived if California Assemblyman Miguel Santiago has anything to do with it, as the politician plans to introduce legislation that would block Musk from selling the device to the public.

Of course, even if this legislation is pushed through, it would only prevent the weapon being sold to the public in the state of California. The other 49 states are currently still open to the sale of the firearm, but this action could lead to a domino effect of other politicians stepping in on the practice.

As Musk points out, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives only deems a flamethrower with a flame above 10 feet as illegal, to which The Boring Company’s flamethrower is “max fun for least danger,” keeping its flame well below the minimum. So much so that Musk claimed that he’d “be way more scared of a steak knife.”

Santiago says that while he is “in awe of Mr Musk’s genius” the deviation from something as beneficial as SpaceX to this “feels like a slap in the face.”

“As President Truman and Stan Lee have taught us all, ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ There are many times in which technology and inventions benefit society, but are not made available to the public,” continues Santiago’s statement. “We don’t allow people to walk in off the street and purchase military-grade tanks or armor-piercing ammunition. I cannot even begin to image the problems a flamethrower would cause firefighters and police officers alike.”

Musk has assured people that The Boring Company would use the flamethrower in some official capacity, but has yet to reveal what exactly that might be at this given time other than to “roast nuts” or as some others have pointed out “remove weeds in the garden.” Otherwise, it’s easy to see why this can be insulting, dangerous and simply not a toy despite Musk’s inherent fun.

As it stands, a confirmed 7,000 of the 20,000 flamethrowers have been sold with presumably many more in the past day.

KitGuru Says: While this does seem like one big joke, placing anything dangerous into the hands of potentially irresponsible people is a risky move. Especially when this is in the public eye so much that it has the power to influence similar practices. What do you think of Musk selling the flamethrower to the general public?

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Elon Musk sells 7,000 Boring Company branded flamethrowers https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/damien-cox/elon-musk-sells-7000-boring-company-branded-flamethrowers/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/damien-cox/elon-musk-sells-7000-boring-company-branded-flamethrowers/#comments Mon, 29 Jan 2018 15:47:35 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=362348 It seems that Elon Musk's head is firmly buried in the clouds, as his Boring Company began selling branded flamethrowers over the weekend. Tweeting about the milestones the bizarre product has hit, it seems that he's already unloaded $3.5 million worth of them. The flamethrowers are listed on the company website for $500, attracting a …

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It seems that Elon Musk's head is firmly buried in the clouds, as his Boring Company began selling branded flamethrowers over the weekend. Tweeting about the milestones the bizarre product has hit, it seems that he's already unloaded $3.5 million worth of them.

The flamethrowers are listed on the company website for $500, attracting a hefty 1,000 sales within the first three hours, and a confirmed total of 7,000 over the course of the day. Of course, Musk is all about responsibility, however, as there is an option to tack on an “overpriced” fire extinguisher with a “cool sticker” for an extra $40.

“Obviously, a flamethrower is a super terrible idea. Definitely don't buy one,” professes Musk on his Twitter. “Unless you like fun.” Affirming such fun, Musk couldn't help but post a video of himself playing with his new toy on Instagram.

“The rumour that I'm secretly creating a zombie apocalypse to generate demand for flamethrowers is completely false,” assures Musk. In fact, the only reason this is not plausible is due to him not having access to a factory big enough to make enough needed for an “apocalypse,” but none the less, Musk has teased that the flamethrowers have a secret safety mechanism:

“The flamethrower is sentient, its safe word is “cryptocurrency” and it comes with a free blockchain.”

Friendly warning, the Instagram video above is loud.

There is next to no explanation on why Musk has taken to selling flamethrowers aside from fulfilling a promise once his 50,000 branded hats were out of stock, and although there's 7,000 down, there's still another 13,000 flamethrowers to go.

Although Musk seems to be doing this simply for fun, the trend has caught on with known online celebrities such as PewDiePie getting in on the action. Presumably, given his total cost, it's possible he bought the optional fire extinguisher.

While Musk suggests that these flamethrowers should be used to “roast nuts,” it is uncertain as to what users will actually do with them once they arrive. And they won't have long to wait, either, as they're pegged to ship in the Spring.

KitGuru Says: I might sit here, silently judging such irresponsible behaviour but in actuality, I'm just jealous that I can't afford one right this second despite having literally no uses for such a thing. Can you think of any (legal) uses for a Boring Company flamethrower?

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