Sometimes the best Kickstarter projects are the simplest ones. Lumio is a lamp masquerading as a beautiful hardcover book with a wooden finish. To turn the lamp on, you open it up. To turn it off, you close. It’s equal parts simplicity and ingenuity. → Read More
I like to use my SLR, but there are many times when I leave it behind because I’m not sure whether it’ll be able to handle the conditions I plan to be using it in. LA-based hardware startup Outex is trying to make sure that photographers can use their cameras anywhere, without having to fork over north of $1,000 for environmental protection gear, and it’s taking to Kickstater to fund the latest… → Read More
We’re positively sure no one ever in the history of the world looked at a soccer ball and thought of it as anything more than just a soccer ball. That’s why we’re a little astounded at SOCCKET, just a normal soccer ball… that also doubles as a portable generator.
It’s pretty ingenious. You take SOCCKET and play around with it just as you would with an ordinary soccer ball. Dribble… → Read More
A new Kickstarter project called the Ego! Smartmouse blends together some recent trends in computing, including hardware identity authentication and 3D motion control to come up with a unique input device that wears many hats. The Ego! is a mouse in the traditional sense, allowing you to control your desktop or laptop computer, and it also has on-board file storage, can work as an authentication… → Read More
Editor’s note: Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research and blogs at Techspressive.
Kickstarter has seen its share of campaigns that spin out of control, but it’s a lot more impressive when spin is in control. Seeing that potential, a trio of tethered toys has recently cropped up on the site, with each appealing to different levels of rotational robustness. Here’s the spin… → Read More
MacBooks are on a straightforward path to becoming closed case devices, with very little in the way of aftermarket expandability options for consumers. Which is why the Nifty MiniDrive Kickstarter project seemed so promising: it’s a microSD card adapter that fits flush with the side of your MacBook Pro or Air, which means you can add up to 64GB of additional flash storage via a port that many… → Read More
Thunderbolt expansion docks for MacBook Pro have been slow to come to get started with offerings from Matrox and Belkin only now coming to market after lengthy delays. And they’re pricey, too, at $299 and $249 respectively. A new Kickstarter project called the MacDock argues you can do almost as much for considerably less, and without adding Thunderbolt into the mix. → Read More
3D printing can be complex or, if the 3Doodler is any indication, wildly simple. Built by a team of toy designers, the 3Doodler is a pen with a simple plastic extruder at the tip. When you press a button, a thin string of plastic comes out and almost instantly hardens. You can use the pen to draw plastic pictures or, with a little plastic, even build three-dimensional objects. → Read More
We all go through phases where we feel like we’ve seen every possible Kickstarter project that we’d ever want. And then one like Mycestro comes along and reminds us that this is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s a 3D mouse that you strap to one of your fingers and it looks like it could become a huge asset for multi-tasking. If you think about how you use your computer, be it a… → Read More
It’s Valentine’s Day and what better way for a crowdfunding site to show its love for you than release an iOS app? The new app will go live on iTunes shortly and allows users to follow their funded projects and search for new projects from the comfort of their iOS device. No word on an Android version yet. → Read More
Being based in Canada means that I’m often traveling for work, and that means fiddling with SIM cards. A new Kickstarter project from the same people who brought you the X-Wing joke campaign proposes to make keeping track of those SIMs and navigating international border-crossing much easier, with a simple design that adds a couple simple twists to a basic low-profile iPhone case design. → Read More
Finding good lighting is hard and controlling it is harder. That’s why the Lumapad programmable lamp is so interesting. It’s a light source that can hit up to 8,000 lumens. You can either control from the unit itself or program it using USB or Wi-Fi. Why would you want to control this lamp remotely? Because it’s such a bright light source, you can use this for DJ events, lighting video and still… → Read More
Editor’s note: Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research and blogs at Techspressive. Each column will look at crowdfunded products that have either met or missed their funding goals.
Last year, Kickstarter launched a bumper crop of smart watches that connect via Bluetooth to your smartphone. The field was led by the record-setting Pebble, but also included products such as… → Read More
The Death Star may be well on its way to Kickstarter success, with £224,596 pledged out of total £20,000,000 goal, but its construction won’t go unopposed. Rebel forces have rallied to crowdfund a means to oppose Imperial tyranny, in the form of an X-Wing fighter and a pilot trained to use it to take down any moon-sized space stations that may end up floating around in the void. → Read More
Kickstarter occasionally has a watch project, but they’re relatively rare, and even when one does pop up, it usually isn’t impressive enough to turn my head. The Coastliner, a project going on right now, is definitely a noteworthy exception. From independent graphic designer-turned-watchmaker Tim Hadleigh out of the U.K., the retro-cool Coastliner gets its design inspiration from American classic… → Read More
Often the stuff that gets press attention from Kickstarter tends to focus on the consumer market, but the Hydra is a new project on the crowdfunding site that could make big waves in everything from hobby electronics, to home robotics, to industrial manufacturing. It’s a compact power supply with three outputs, each with completely configurable voltage. Put simply, the Hydra is almost like a… → Read More
After experiencing a roller coaster pre-production period, the folks over at FormLabs have announced that the Form 1 3D-printer is entering into full production.
The “large majority” of Kickstarter orders set for delivery by the end of April. They’ve purchased enough components to build out over 1,000 Form 1 3D printers.
The company first launched the Form 1 on Kickstarter to an awesome… → Read More
The Death Star is undoubtedly a worthwhile undertaking. Sure, in the Star Wars films it’s generally depicted as an offensive weapon but it could have terrific value as a defensive platform, too. The government recently responded to requests from the general public that it look into constructing the massive, moon-sized space station, shutting down the idea because of a short-sighted “we don’t blow… → Read More
High atop Weathertop where the Kings of Old Middle Earth once surveyed their kingdoms, the Smorn leers knowingly at the vale below. His hand rubs the grass and sniffs the air – hobbits had been here, for certain. He raises his long snout and begins to howl, the sound echoing off the swart hills and into the darkness below. → Read More
The Mio Alpha made a bit of a splash on Kickstarter earlier this year when it promised a heart rate-sensing watch that didn’t use chest straps or similar encumbrances to measure your exertion. They went $200,000 over their goal of $100,000 and just started shipping in time for pre-marathon season. → Read More
Editor’s note: Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research and blogs at Techspressive.
Last week’s Backed or Whacked focused on devices that can remotely provide input to smartphones; this week, we venture beyond the bounds of simple information retrieval and toward illuminated products that can actually be controlled by one’s pocket companion, particularly in the home. → Read More
Pebble, the Kickstarter darling and connected smart watch, announced just yesterday that its product was now beginning to ship out to backers in limited quantities, but its iPhone app had yet to be approved. Today, the company announced to its Kickstarter backers that both the iPhone and Android apps are available now, which means they’ll be fully functional for users of both types of devices when… → Read More
Addvocate is launching today with a “paid beta,” that will allow customers to set their own price for for the service that aspires to take on the still primitive methods for coordinating social media inside a company’s walls. → Read More
We’ve seen the Organic Transit Elf go from a twinkle in founder Rob Cotter’s eye to the real deal in a matter of a few short months.
The solar-powered pedal hybrid vehicle first showed its face in prototype phase back at our Durham meetup, and shortly thereafter found its way to Kickstarter. → Read More
Editor’s note: Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research and blogs at Techspressive.
Some say the cloud has replaced the PC as the digital hub. That may be true for data, but devices that create that data often need to make at least a pitstop before being distributed, and, increasingly, that interim destination is an app on a smartphone. Information and video can now be applied… → Read More
As fans of D&D will attest, there are not many games as satisfying as Gygax’s original but darn it if it wasn’t fun to try new platforms when they came out. Tunnels & Trolls, created 37 years ago by Ken St. Andre, wasn’t so much a D&D knock-off but an alternative. St. Andre streamlined the D&D rules, reducing the complexity, and added a bit more humor. For folks unable to get the… → Read More
A fascinating project is making the rounds this weekend that could change the way we think of 3D printers. The Filabot is a robot that can turn scrap plastic into 3D printer filament, thereby allowing an almost endless supply of material for prototyping and manufacturing. → Read More
Editor’s note: Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research and blogs at Techspressive.
Bikes and tech go back a long way. During his first stint at Apple, Steve Jobs would talk about how, when one compared the efficiency of various animals in advancing a kilometer, humans fared poorly, a distant species from the class-leading condor. But when you did the same comparison with a… → Read More
The Swivl is an odd duck. When you first look at it you wonder what it’s for. But anyone who has given a speech or performed onstage will immediately appreciate this clever little device. The Swivl essentially follows you around the room as you speak, allowing you to record your video without a separate camera operator. → Read More
The Pebble Smart watch is one of the best-known Kickstarter projects. A compact e-ink device designed to work with almost any smartphone, the Pebble grabbed attention when it hit $10 million and sold 85,000 watches after expecting to sell 5,000 units. → Read More
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