Pebble Time Kickstarter project raised $20.3 million - crushing yet another record!

It broke its first record on its first day, when it became the fastest project to raise $1 million - in 49 minutes. A week later, it became the most funded campaign in Kickstarter's history after receiving more than $13.3 million in pledges, besting Coolest Cooler, the previous record holder.

 

Now, in total, Pebble has raised $20,336,930 from 78,463 people. Pebble's initial goal to raise $500,000 was too easy of a hurdle. Each watch was sold for $159 to early backers, and $179 for just about everyone else. Once retailers start selling the watch, the price will go up to $199.

"We cannot thank the Pebble community enough for their monumental support," Eric Migicovsky, Pebble CEO, said in a statement. "We continue to listen to and be inspired by the backers who believed in us and supported our vision from day one."

The Pebble Time is Pebble's second generation smartwatch, and this is Pebble's second Kickstarter campaign.

Three years ago, Pebble raised more than $10 million from 69,000 people on the crowdfunding site for its first product, the original Pebble Watch. The company's goal at the time was also an easy target -- $100,000.

Pebble Time is 20% thinner than its predecessor, and features a new color e-paper screen. The Pebble Watch only came with a black and white screen. A one-week battery life has also been another selling point for the Pebble Time.

Kickstarter says that Pebble is one of thousands of companies and creators who have turned to crowdfunding on its site for more than one project.

"Pebble's double success really shows the power of Kickstarter as a way to build community around creative work," John Dimatos, Kickstarter's lead for tech and design projects, said in an email statement. "The Pebble team wanted to come back to the people who supported them at the start, and that community really responded."

Pebble says it will start shipping the Pebble Time watch to its backers in May.

Source: CNN Money

Paper business cards may be dying. Check out this cool replacement.

The humble business card still hasn’t been killed off by digital alternatives. Being handed a piece of dead tree with contact details printed on it in ink arguably increasingly stands out in an age when digital data is so cheap and mutable.

But paper inevitably presents a barrier to accessing and utilizing the data thereon — hence alternatives such as QR code business cards, and business card scanning systems like CardMunch.
Well, here’s a third alternative in the making: SwivelCard is a paper business card that — by way of a spot of patented printing and some clever perforations — also includes a USB stick interface so the business card can be stuck into a USB port and then point the user to a particular webpage.

The webpage you associate with individual SwivelCards can also be changed — so you could update it with content specific to the person you’ve given a particular SwivelCard to, for instance. One suggested scenario there is for a wedding photographer to personalize the photo content they showcase to a potential client, for example.

And, being as it has a digital interface, the SwivelCard also includes the ability to track usage — so you can see where your business cards have ended up, and how much people are accessing them. So it’s a paper business card with analytics.

How does the SwivelCard manage to stick a USB drive onto a piece of paper? “We invented a way to print a USB drive onto/into paper.  We use a special metallic ink to print the USB contact strips & embed a small chip in the paper,” says the startup.

For those without a USB drive, the card does also include NFC and a printed QR code so the data can still be accessed in other ways.

At present SwivelCard is a patent and a prototype. Its makers are raising crowdfunds on Kickstarter to bring their smart business cards to market, but have already doubled their original target of $10,000 with a further 33 days left of the campaign — meaning they have the means to deliver on their promises.

They’re offering taster packs of mini versions of their SwivelCard for $29 and $79 but if you’re after the full fat offering — which includes all your details printed on it, with a design of your choosing — it’s now a $289 Kickstarter pledge for a pack of 200 SwivelCards, so these smarter paper business cards don’t come cheap.

If all goes to plan, the makers are aiming to ship packs to backers starting from this October.

Source: Tech Crunch

Congratulations, Internet. You've successfully raised $55,492 so an Ohio man can make potato salad for the first time.

His crowdfunding effort on the website Kickstarter closed Saturday night. It became a social media phenomenon since it launched a month ago and the contributions came from nearly 7,000 people. Half of those gave less than $3 and 860 gave $35 or more, according to data posted by the site.

It wasn't to sponsor the culinary creation of a famous -- or even skilled -- chef. When asked what type of potato salad he would be cooking up, the man behind the project, Zach Brown, admitted he didn't have a recipe in mind, nor any experience.

"I'm not sure. It's my first one. Probably whatever is easiest," he wrote.

His effort began with a $10 goal and quickly caught steam. In the first week, Brown raised $11,000. Along the way he set new benchmarks for success. If the effort raised $3,000, for example, he promised to "rent out a party hall and invite the whole internet to the potato salad party."

After exceeding his goal many times over, Brown pledged to do some good with "our little Internet joke about potato salad." In an op-ed for CNBC, he promised to donate "a significant portion" to an endowment fund at a non-profit to support hunger and homeless efforts. The non-profit, The Columbus Foundation, said the fund would "be sure there is a legacy left from the campaign."

Brown has a lengthy list of other commitments. In exchange for the money, crowd funders promise their contributors something in return -- like the hundreds of commemorative t-shirts, hats and cookbooks Brown offered. To all 6,911 donors, he committed to "say your name out loud while making the potato salad." And he owes 3,330 contributors a literal piece of his effort: "a bite of the potato salad."

Source: CNN Money

Bluetooth and a blender? Now this is the coolest cooler we have ever seen!

One of the hottest Kickstarters at the moment is also the coolest. It's hard to imagine a cooler could inspire passion, but the Coolest cooler is winning crowdfunding fans by throwing everything from a blender to a Bluetooth speaker into the mix.

The Coolest has some features that are just plain smart and practical. It comes stocked with all-terrain wheels, gear tie-downs for strapping your extra stuff on top, plate and knife storage, and an LED lid light to shine down on the glory of its contents.

It holds 60 quarts and an internal divider doubles as a cutting board. The cutting board comes in handy when you want to slice limes for your margaritas, which you will be making with the 18-volt battery-powered rechargeable blender that attaches to the top of the cooler.

The blender certainly catches the eye, but the technology doesn't end there. There's a USB charger for powering up your smartphone and a removable waterproof Bluetooth speaker so you can blast "Margaritaville" while you're making your blended frozen beverages. The Coolest is not so much a cooler as it is a party companion.

The Kickstarter has certainly created a new cooler fanaticism. The original $50,000 funding goal got left in the dust. Now, nearly 11,000 backers are in for over $2 million with a long 49 days to go. The cooler is going for a $185 pledge. Ryan Grepper, the man behind the Coolest, is looking into stretch goals such as more colors, bigger wheels, and perhaps even a solar charger.

Check the Coolest out on Kickstarter by clicking here.

New 3D printer, The Micro, has launched a crowd funding campaign for $199.

High end 3D printers out in the wild already can print some pretty incredible things but at a high cost and commensurate level of complexity. As with any nascent industry, the market’s initial focus was specialists and professionals rather than the mainstream. But that focus is shifting and more consumer-focused 3D printers are starting to push in.

The Micro, launching a Kickstarter crowd funding campaign today to raise $50,000, is aiming squaring at the consumer end of the market, with a low cost device that’s undoubtedly pretty basic but which is therefore aiming to be simple and straightforward to use.

The Micro 3D printer has a print layer resolution of between 50 and 350 microns, and a print area of 4.6 x 4.2 x 4.4″. Its on desk footprint is just 7.3 in³.

This box is not going to be able to print anything big or especially beautiful but it looks set to be able to churn out brightly coloured plastic trinkets at relatively low cost – with an early bird Kickstarter price of just $199 for the printer (rising to $249 and $299 after the cheaper pledge levels are gone).
That’s considerably cheaper than some other consumer-focused 3D printers. For example, MakerBot’s compact 3D printer, the Replicator Mini, which has a maximum build volume of 3.9 × 3.9 × 4.9″ and a print layer resolution of 200 microns, costs orders of magnitude more, at circa $1,375.

There’s also the Zim, which hasn’t yet made it to market, offering up to 80-micron print layer resolution and a print area of 5.9”x5.9”x5.9 – but with a retail price expected to be a little lower, circa $899.

The Micro’s consumer-friendly credentials include having a plug and play ethos, with the device shipped ready assembled, and with auto-leveling and auto-calibration built in to the printer head so it can keep on printing without requiring user intervention.

Filament spools can also fit inside the box to keep it looking clean and improve portability. The printer can take PLA or ABS, as well as the maker’s own filament spools — or standard 1.75 mm filament spools available on the market.

The companion software for selecting and tweaking 3D models to print is being designed for touchscreen use and to support drag and drop interactions.

It’s also apparently very quiet during operation, and its makers claim it has the lowest power consumption of any 3D printer on the market.

There’s no doubt its lower cost means corners get cut on print quality. But that’s the trade-off the Micro’s U.S.-based makers reckon the mainstream will be happy to make to have a device in their home that can print bits and bobs for fun or small household/family projects without costing a fortune.


Source: Tech Crunch, KickStarter

Newest Kickstarter project plans to bring wearable LED panels to market.

It can be hard to stand out in a crowd, but a bright, animated wearable LED panel should help you get noticed. The Fos on  is a fabric panel with Velcro strips. It weighs less than a golf ball and can be attached to clothing, backpacks, or just about anything else you can think to stick it on.

The Fos receives its animated display instructions wirelessly from your smartphone. It is geared for active people. Runners can display their heart rate. Bicyclists can display their speeds. Imagine seeing all the riders in the Tour de France kitted out with these.

Each Fos panel consists of white or blue LEDs, a microprocessor, flash memory, and a power supply. The panel is attached to a sheet of fabric and is extremely thin.

An 11x3-inch Fos patch is going for a $149 pledge. The overall project goal is to raise $200,000. A chunk of that is scheduled to go toward developing applications for the Fos, so it can be used right out of the box.

One of the neater ideas for Fos is to tie it in with GPS and biking. Enter your route into an app and wear the patch on your back. The LEDs will display large animated indicators showing which direction you're turning as your phone tracks you on GPS. It would give traffic around you a very bright heads-up about your movements.

Fos looks like fun for anyone into wearable tech, but the urban athlete audience will likely find it especially interesting, as anything that improves your ability to be seen is a good idea when you're sweating away on the streets. Also, the Fos may well end up being a motivational tool for lazy people. Once you've seen three or four of these running by advertising amazing workout feats, you just might be inspired to get your butt into shape.

Source: Kickstarter, CNET

The new Lernstift smartpen checks your spelling as you write.

The sometimes annoying, but frankly indispensable computer aid has spared billions of typographical blushes.

 

Now, an ingenious prototype pen developed by a German start-up is promising to give our longhand writing a similar sort of safety net.

 

Lernstift (German for "learning pen") is a digital pen with a difference, carrying not only ink inside its casing but also a tiny computer that alerts users to spelling errors.

 

Daniel Kaesmacher, co-founder of Lernstift told CNN: "Basically there are two functions. The calligraphy mode which helps you correct individual letters, and the orthography mode which vibrates when a word is misspelled."

 

The AAA battery-powered Linux computer includes a vibration module and a patent pending non-optical motion sensor which recognizes specific movements and shapes of letters and words.

The pen employs a menagerie of sensors, including a gyroscope (for measuring orientation), accelerometer (for calculating propulsion) and magnetometer (a device that measures the strength and direction of magnetic fields) -- all to calculate the pen's 3-D movements.

 

Lernstift recognizes all writing movements, the company says, written on paper or in the air and built-in Wi-Fi allows scribblers to connect with smartphones, computers or other pens in a network.

The pen was invented by software developer and Lernstift founder Falk Wolsky after seeing his wife's frustrations at watching their son struggle with his homework. Why can't pens give instant feedback on mistakes? she asked.

 

His imagination fired, Wolsky set about constructing a prototype before assembling a team of hardware and software experts late last year.

 

"We are at the stage where the individual components do their job. We haven't put it together yet, but the response to the idea though has been overwhelming," Kaesmacher said.

 

The pen has been designed primarily as an educational tool and the Munich-based company are hopeful that dyslexic children will find the new pen particularly useful.

 

Greg Brooks, Professor Emeritus of Education at the UK's University of Sheffield gave the pen a cautious welcome.

 

"It's a neat idea in principle, but as ever the proof will be in the using of it," Brooks said via email.

"Will it learn individuals' quirks of handwriting, or insist on one style? I can see how it might be programmed to spot obvious spelling errors (non-words), just as the spellcheckers in word processors do -- but none of those can yet cope with real-word errors."

 

A Kickstarter campaign recently got underway looking to raise £120,000 ($180,000) and tests in schools will begin later this year.

 

The first pens will initially recognize only English and German spellings, but other languages will follow, says Kaesmacher.

 

"Learning your native language is one thing, but it's also the perfect tool to adapt for foreign language students," he says.

 

"From a cultural point of view, the pen is a wonderful bridge between cursive and technological worlds."

 

Eventually, the company plan to offer pencil, fountain and ballpoint pen options with a launch price between €120-150 ($160-200) falling to under €50 ($60) depending on how fast the company grows.

 

Source: CNN Tech

 

Kickstarter pulls the plug on $120,000 Kobe beef jerky scam just minutes before campaign expires.

Kickstarter fraudsters hawking Kobe beef jerky were just minutes away from completing the biggest-ever outright scam on the crowdfunding site last week.

A campaign titled "KOBE RED - 100% JAPANESE BEER FED KOBE BEEF JERKY" first appeared on Kickstarter on May 14, and it raised $120,000 from 3,300 backers over the past month.

That is, until Kickstarter pulled the plug just before the campaign was scheduled to end and the money was set to go into the fraudsters' bank accounts. Kickstarter relies on its community to self-police, and the Kobe Red shutdown came after sharp Kickstarter users and a documentary team raised concerns.

The supposed company in charge, Los Angeles-based Magnus Fun, promised the jerky was the first kind made from the tender and expensive Japanese Kobe beef.

Magnus Fun posted a decent amount of information on the Kobe Red page, including rave reviews from people who had supposedly tried the jerky -- "omg im licking my fingers in public," one alleged text message screenshot reads. The fraudsters also included information about imported meat inspection, and they posted a story about one of its founders eating Kobe beef on his uncle's ranch.

But Magnus Fun also raised a few eyebrows. They didn't post much personal information, nor did they include photos and videos identifying themselves (which Kickstarter recommends as best practices). And when a Kickstarter user raised concerns in the campaign's comments section, Magnus Fun didn't really try to defend itself.

The scam concerns took off when the team from "Kickstarted," a documentary about Kickstarter, looked more deeply into the campaign.

The "Kickstarted" team highlighted problems with the Kobe Red page, including discrepancies between the high cost of production and the low pledges requested from backers. The documentarians also pointed out the comments from people swearing that they'd tried and loved the jerky all came from relatively new accounts that had backed only failed projects.

In a long post on their own site about their role in exposing the Kobe Red scam, the "Kickstarted" team says they reached out to Magnus Fun with an interview request for the film, and Magnus Fun went back and forth for a bit before promising instead to send footage from a recent taste test in California.

"Kickstarted" said it uncovered "dozens of other smaller inconsistencies and fishy elements" that were enough for Kickstarter to shut the campaign down.

Magnus Fun has since deleted its Kickstarter account, and Kickstarter itself declined to comment on this story.

"It's a credit to Kickstarter and the collective power of the crowd to identify fraud," the "Kickstarted" team, which also posted on Reddit about its concerns, wrote in its blog post.

Kickstarter projects have raised $571 million to date, and as with any major platform for raising money, scammers will try to bilk well-meaning backers out of serious cash. In the case of Kobe Red, they very nearly got away with it.

Source: CNN

Every wanted to go to space? Here's your chance...and for as little as $25.

Planetary Resources, an asteroid mining company, ultimately wants to build a fleet of Arkyd telescopes that can find asteroids -- then launch robotic spacecraft that can mine those asteroids for raw materials like precious metals and water.

To garner interest in its mission, the first Arkyd is focused on education and public access. In order to get that first telescope into space in 2015, the company wants to raise $1 million on Kickstarter by June 30.

A donation of $25 scores a backer a "space selfie," in which a user sends in a picture to be uploaded to a screen on the side of the telescope. The company then snaps a photo of the picture with the telescope and Earth in the background.

Other rewards: Giving $200 allows the donor to point the Arkyd at any celestial object. For $1,000, backers will get a tour of the company's Bellevue, Wash., facilities. Support for various education initiatives is available for a few thousand dollars, depending on the project.

As of this moment, the company has already raised more than $609,000.

Planetary Resources' mission has attracted high-profile backers including Google's Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, and Ross Perot, Jr., the son of the former presidential candidate. Company advisers include filmmaker James Cameron and former U.S. Air Force chief of staff Michael Moseley.

According to the company, members of its technical staff have worked on every recent U.S. Mars robotic rover including Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity.

Source: Kickstarter, CNN