Tag: kickstarter

Bicycle Lighting In Water Bottle | Cool Business Ideas 

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Most bike lights shine primarily forward or backward, with some side visibility thrown in as a bonus. The Orb MKII, on the other hand, is specifically designed to make cyclists more visible from the sides … and it takes the form of a fully functional water bottle.

Currently the subject of a Kickstarter campaign, the Orb MKII was designed by British cyclist Andrew Phillips. He previously brought us the Droid, a theft-resistant headlight that replaces the faceplate on a bike’s existing handlebar stem.

The Orb MKII fits in a standard frame-mounted bottle cage, and has a 650-ml HDPE (high-density polyethylene) main body combined with an ABS lid. Four orange OSRAM LEDs in an electronics module on the underside of that lid put out a combined 80 lumens, causing the whole bottle body to glow – Phillips tells us that the setup works equally well with or without water.

Read More

Kickstarter’s CEO stepping down in April | TechCrunch

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

In a blog post today titled “Moving Forward, With Gratitude,” Kickstarter CEO Aziz Hasan announced that he is stepping down from his leadership role at the crowdfunding platform. After three years, April 4 will be his final day as chief executive. In his stead, the company’s COO Sean Leow will fill the role as interim CEO as the company’s board of directors searches for a more permanent replacement.

“I am so proud of the work we’ve done together,” Hasan writes. “Leading such a passionate, skilled, and dedicated team through intense moments of change, milestone victories, and complex challenges has been a humbling and rewarding experience.”

The executive spoke with Fast Company about the decision, citing “personal reflection” as a motivator, as well as a desire to spend more time with his young family. As Hasan notes, his tenure has seen strong growth for the service, though the last several years have also had their share of controversy.

Read More

Best New Crowdfunding Projects on Kickstarter and Indiegogo this Week | Digital Trends

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

At any given moment, there are approximately a zillion different crowdfunding campaigns happening on the web. Take a stroll through Kickstarter or Indiegogo and you’ll find no shortage of weird, useless, and downright stupid projects out there — alongside some real gems. We’ve cut through the fidget spinners and janky iPhone cases to round up the most unusual, ambitious, and exciting new crowdfunding projects out there this week. Keep in mind that any crowdfunding project — even those with the best intentions — can fail, so do your homework before cutting a check for the gadget of your dreams.

Read More

Magic of Physics Makes This Fridge Chill Food Without Fans or Electricity | Digital Trends

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Coolers are big business on Kickstarter, dating back to the multi-function Coolest Cooler, which racked up an epic $13 million in pledges several years ago. Now a new refrigeration system has landed on the popular crowdfunding platform — and it’s missing one big feature. What feature is that? Just a little thing we call the need for electricity!

Read More

Your Personal Air Conditioning Unit | CoolBusinessIdeas.com

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Summers would be so much cooler without the heat. In Florida, summertime means spending most of the day inside to avoid sweltering temperatures and sweat-inducing humidity. Hell, if it wasn’t for air-conditioning, Florida would probably still be a balmy, pristine, practically uninhabitable tract of land jutting out from the United States.

So it makes sense that a couple Floridians recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for what may be the next evolution in air conditioning — the Airwirl.

Taking the form of a fortified 7-Eleven Big Gulp, the Airwirl is actually a personal cooling (or heating) device that is small enough to fit in a cup holder and big enough to pack a punch of cool (or hot) air into your face, providing much-needed (albeit temporary) relief when temperatures reach certain extremes.

Read More

Why This Bean Bag Chair Has Raised More Than $350,000 on Kickstarter | Inc.com

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Fiorentino decided the classic bean bag chair was due for an update.

His version is called the MoonPod, and it’s a uniquely-shaped bean bag that is designed to create the sensation of “zero-gravity weightlessness.” The bag, which weighs around 10 pounds, holds your shape no matter how you bend it–use it as a seat when you want to do work or stretch it out to take a nap. The bag can also stand upright and be put away in the closet. The Kickstarter project launched this week and has already surpassed its $21,500 goal, raising over $350,000.

Read More

11 Ingenious Kickstarter Ideas We Wish We’d Thought Of | Business News Daily

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

With entrepreneurs on the rise, there are creative businesses taking off each day. Kickstarter, a valuable crowdfunding tool for inventors, artists and entrepreneurs, helps gain financial support and attention for innovative ideas across the globe.

To stand out on Kickstarter, you must be unique. Businesses that find the most success on the platform are those that stand out from the crowd. Here are 11 Kickstarter projects we wish we’d thought of first.

Read More

This Brooklyn Company Just Introduced a Way Cool Folding Chair (Yes, That’s Possible) | Inc.com

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Jessica Banks designs magic tricks. The thing is, Banks’s magic tricks are disguised as furniture.

She’s the founder of RockPaperRobot, a robotics furniture maker in Brooklyn. Her newest offering, the Ollie chair, is her company’s first attempt to appeal to a mass-market audience and to make her sleight of hand more accessible to the not-ultra-rich — without breaking the bank herself. To fund, manufacture, and sell the chairs, RockPaperRobot turned to Kickstarter. The campaign has raised $220,000 so far, well beyond its initial goal of $80,000, and will end on March 29 at 9 a.m. ET.

Read More

The Craziest Things That Have Been Funded on Kickstarter in 2017, So Far | Entrepreneur

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Kickstarter is a great way for entrepreneurs to get funding for their out-there ideas. And when it comes to crowdfunding — no idea is too crazy. You’d be surprised at some of the things people are willing to fund.

In 2014, Zach “Danger” Brown wanted $10 to make a potato salad — so he started a Kickstarter campaign that wound up raising more than $55,000. From an ostrich pillow to a Grilled Cheesus (i.e. a sandwich press that toasts the face of Jesus in bread) — you’d be surprised at some of the campaigns that gained traction.

A pen made from air pollution, an origami canoe, a levitating timepiece — this year, we’ve already started seeing wild campaigns. Check out the craziest Kickstarter campaigns of 2017 — so far.

Read More

These High-School Students Found a Way to Make Any Headphones Wireless | Entrepreneur

~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Wireless headphones have been around for awhile, but a device that can make any old set of headphones wireless is about to hit the market.

Launching their Kickstarter campaign today, the team behind the Spiro X1 wants to give you a no-strings-attached listening experience. The Spiro X1 (or “X1” for short) is a circular device that plugs into headphones using the connection typically taken by a wire. A user would simply disconnect their wires from the headphone jack and plug in the X1 in its place. Once connected, bluetooth technology allows users to listen to music and answer calls through their headphones with no physical wire.

In addition to making headphones wireless, customers can use the product to answer calls and play or pause songs using the X1’s center button, as well as adjust the volume via the side buttons. Also notable are the X1’s proprietary circuit board and near-weightlessness (it weighs less than a quarter of a pound, measuring an estimated 38 millimeters in diameter and approximately 12 millimeters thick).

Read More.