Does anyone have direct contact with Steamboat...as in a phone number or address? Seems like someone stopped by to take pictures a while back. Could we get that same person to pop back by there and ask him for an official update? I never received an e-mail about refunds, the e-mail I sent through the website was never replied to, and I don't think there has been any communication in a few weeks now. To top all of that off the forum was down for close to a week and we still haven't heard anything back from him.
Chad
I was in contact with Zeke (helping Steamboat verify addresses for shipments) who answers at least one of two email addresses I've received updates from. He forwarded my second refund request to Steamboat, who denied me again. Apparently my first request came in a day late and there's simply not enough refund $$$ to go around. It's disappointing, too, because I had nearly 700 chips from batch one and supplies ordered from Chris (Bkkcoins, developer of the K16), who disappeared with his customers' money and left the USB firmware unfinished, as well as the I2C bus inoperable.
Steamboat said they're quickly trying to finish the firmware (so the damn things work with an acceptable error rate) which probably accounts for the lack of updates. He also said that finishing the I2C bus, which is required to chain multiple K16s together, is not a priority. So those with many K16s will need more USB cables and hubs. Chris left a lot of work to do when he disappeared, apparently.
Today I got a tracking email from a Steve Manos (I'm assuming that's Steamboat) notifying me that my chips have been shipped. If anyone's interested I'll be selling these at a deep discount as I have bills to pay. Thank god this saga is finally coming to a close.... a very bittersweet one at that. Hope you all get your K16s sooner rather than later.