This is Brass Tacks. I’ve collected the latest ingredients from hardware product news to bake a delicious cake-of-an-email for you.

Here’s what’s in today’s newsletter:

Why Roku loses money on streaming devices
Innovation Advice from an Advertising Guru
A waddling robot that saves energy
How fitness watches make us feel worse

Are smartwatches more harmful than helpful?

Spring weather is perfect for some creek fishing 🎣

i. Was Roku created at Netflix?

Roku is know nfor the low-cost media device that lets anyone stream entertainment onto their TV. What I recently discovered is that they also supply the operating system for all the smart TVs that come already loaded with streaming capability.

Why is that cool for Roku? Because they make all of their money on advertising. They even produce their own movies. But what’s crazy to me is that the product started inside of Netflix back in 2007.

Today Netflix has a market cap of $90 billion, while Roku sits at almost $14 billion. It turns out the little hardware product could become serious competition for the parent that abonded it.

I laughed out loud at the internal "pitch" video about Roku from 2007. Check it out in this Fast Company article 👇

Read: The Forgotten History Of Roku Under Reed Hastings

ii. When to Chase the Non-Logical Answer

I’ve been making an effort to learn more about the marketing piece of product development – what does it take to spread the word about a great new product?

I was encouraged to read the book by the advertising executive Rory Sutherland, vice chairman of hugely influential Ogilvy and Mather.

Sutherland sprinkles fun observations about British life among his lessons on innovation and marketing. I’ve plucked three for you:

1) A Flower is a weed with an advertising budget

Why do people love stripe toothpaste?

Because it shows the multi-functionality of the toothpaste that has three materials all one tube.

But you don’t benefit at all from the color separation. It’s just a gimmick.

And it’s a very successful one.

2) If there were already a logical answer, we would have already found it.

There is no shortage of rational people in the world. And they are out there solving problems every day.

So if a problem still exists, there’s a good chance that the rational approach has failed to find an appropriate solution.

Consider something as simple as changing one line in an email or flier, or for the script of a customer service representative. This could have an outsized impact on the results.

3) Dare to Look Stupid

One example of asking stupid questions — why don’t people like to stand on the train?

It’s less about the discomfort and more about the perks of sitting, such as stability, a place for your beverage, and a window view.

If you take the time to consider stupid questions you might reassess your assumptions and come up with a completely original solution. Rory describes a hypothetical train with seats in the middle and lots of standing room on the edges, with cup-holders and window views.

Watch Rory give highlights: 10 Rules of Alchemy

iii. Top Brass Nuggets

Onward

I’m fascinated by the question – are smart watches actually harmful? A lot of the time they wind up chiding you more than encouraging you.

I’ve had an Apple Watch for two years now and I love tracking my sleep. But I’m not sure if it adds much value. The biggest perk is when I feel tired but my watch says I slept well last night. It’s telling me “get over yourself!” which can be a helpful thing to hear.

For more of that helpful input, there’s the “O Band.” This *smart watch* has no electronics beyond a tiny speaker that announces “you’re awesome” each day.

Thanks,
— Jono

PS – this will be a very worthwhile quest.