Be is presented as an “electric-free” toothbrush powered by a wind-up mechanism. A couple of twists of the handle yields two minutes of brushing, according to its Kickstarter campaign, which raised nearly half a million dollars on boasts of its simple usefulness and eco-friendliness. A similar tally is listed at a follow-up Indiegogo page.
Unlike electric toothbrushes, Be. is more than just a vibrating head. Built as a kinetic storage device, Be. harnesses and amplifies the power of 2 simple twists into over 80,000 tartar fighting brush strokes using its patented multiplier transmission system.
But there’s a problem with the Be, which is yet to ship. Or, at least, with a recently-posted video, since removed, depicting a prototype.
Spoiler: leaves in the video’s background loop uncannily, like an animated GIF, as the brush appears to run for a minute or so: “The plant skips in perfect sync with the prototype,” says Marek Baczynski, who spotted the crudely-looped section of video and posted it to YouTube with commentary. “It happens 18 times, every 49 frames.”
Here’s the demo video’s audio waveform, which also gives the game away:
Here’s the portion of Baczynski’s expose that shows the original demo “defaked” to remove all the loops. Jump to 2:40 if it doesn’t automatically.
One million American dollars crowdfunded. Fifteen seconds of action, brushing the air.