Kickstarter Projects: 17 of the best we would invest in
18th Jul 2012 | 15:30
Josh Guyot and JoeBen Bevirt are the founders of Motrr, and the sort of robot enthusiasts that you expect to come up with whacky ideas like the Galileo. Stick your iPhone in this robotic dock, connect it to your iPad, and BAM! You have a remote control camera stand, one which you can use for video conferencing, Skype calls, video, cinematography and a whole host of other stuff.
The Galileo is capable of full 360° pan, and moves at 200° per second, so it's no slouch either. We love the idea, and clearly we aren't the only ones. The project smashed it's target of raising $100,000 by raising over $700,000 from over 5,000 interested backers.
Backers: 5,227
Money raised: $702,427 (funding successful)
The great irony of all the new iPad hype was that after people had finished drooling over the new Retina display, most of us wanted a keyboard that would transform the tablet into a laptop.
The iPad Brydge is not the first product to try and fill this gap in the market. But where others have failed, the Brydge looks like it would succeed, thanks to it's Apple-esque styling and solid build quality.
Backers: 1,433
Money raised: $315,699 (funding successful)
The Elevation Dock is everything that every iPhone dock made in the last half a decade should have been. It isn't made out of lightweight, tacky plastic, you don't need to hold it down to get your phone out, and it does look fantastic.
Instead, designer Casey Hopkins has made the Elevation Dock out of solid aluminium, and designed it so well that you would think this was an Apple product. The low friction connection means that your iPhone slides out of the dock when you want it to with no fuss, and it adjusts to fit different iPhones and iPod Touches as well as offering improved acoustics for hands-free phone calls and Facetime.
Backers: 12,521
Money raised: $1,464,706 (funding successful)
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the future of computing. The entire thing is operated by touch control, and thanks to the lack of moveable parts and the tempered glass surface, this keyboard isn't going to break down after a small spillage. The potential for a touch sensitive input device like this is enormous, especially as inventor Jason Giddings is making the accompanying software open source.
As an additional bonus, Jason Giddings claims his invention is "coffee and donut resistant", making this mouse and keyboard combination essential for modern day Kojaks everywhere.
Backers: 550
Money raised: $143,583 (funding successful)
If you like your tech, you know that the so called 'smart watch' is a concept that has been around for a while. As of yet, no-one has managed to marry functionality and design to make the idea successful, but that could be all about to change.
Developed by Pebble Technology in Palo Alto, California, the Pebble Watch is fully customizable to work in harmony with your iOS or Android phone. It will alert you of calls, with caller ID, display short text messages when they arrive, let you control your music and even uses your phone's GPS to make itself into an activity monitor. Those are just a few examples, and there are more Pebble apps on the way too...
Backers: 48,005
Money raised: $7,112,264 (funding successful)
Revolights could finally be a solution to the eternal problem of bicycle visibility, both for other road users and cyclists themselves. The lights themselves are two very thin LED rings that mount onto the inside of your wheels. A thin wire connects this light ring to a small USB battery whilst a magnet provides the speed and orientation information to the LEDs, which keep time with your pace to light up at the back and front of the bike. Clever stuff indeed.
It could be the sci-fi nerd in us, but the chance to start rolling around the streets of London like we're in the ENCOM mainframe had us throwing fivers at the screen like wedding confetti.
Backers: 1,442
Money raised: $215,621 (funding successful)
