Month: December 2014

Categories
Cooking

CookStarta tucks prep food away, won’t start dinner for you though

There’s something about a home cooked meal that just usually tastes better than what one can get in a restaurant – especially when one is not doing their own cooking. But even those who enjoy cooking usually don’t enjoy cleaning up the mess. CookStarta is a multifunctional kitchen tool that assists with food preparation. The device tucks partway under one’s cutting board and can be used to scrape into and hold all the unusable pieces of veggies and meat that get trimmed in advance, or it can be used to easily transport finely chopped items into the pan or pot. The product is made of food-grade polypropylene, which is dishwasher safe and reusable. It appears that it would work with pretty much any standard cutting board.

This is one of those products that seems useful at first, until you realize that the same thing can be done with materials that are already in the kitchen. Other convenient kitchen tools that may be of interest to backers are GrillOven, Gneiss Spice, and Cuffitts. This campaign seeks to raise £8,500 (~$13,300 USD). Backers get one CookStarta for £7 (~$11 USD) with an expected delivery of March 2015.

Categories
Sports

Court Grabbers keep players from slip slidin’ away

There’s little that’s more annoying on a basketball court than when a tight score is making the game “up for grabs” and a dirty court is making getting traction a near impossibility. Anxious players lick their hands, rub the bottom of their shoes, and hope they don’t get sick later.

Court Grabbers restore traction to shoes in a quick, easy and safe way. Before the game or practice begins, the player laces the base strip onto their shoe once, applies traction gel to the traction pad, and slides it onto the base strip. It clicks in place and stays secure throughout the game or practice. Then whenever traction is needed, the player wipes the bottom of their shoe across the traction pad on the top of their other shoe, and dust, dirt and traction is restored to shoes. This means players have traction available at all times when on the court. When the traction pad gets dirty, just toss into the washer and dryer. It’s not clearly indicated how frequently the product should be washed for optimum game traction results. The product has been declared “permitted for play” by NCAA and NFHS, and is presently being used by players in 42 states and 11 countries.

This product’s appeal will be pretty much limited to its niche market of basketball enthusiasts, aspiring professionals and pro ball players. Backers looking for an easy way to tote all their sports gear might want to check out the Zondo Firefly Backpack campaign, and those looking for a way to monitor and improve their game might want to check out the LUUV campaign. For $15, backers get one product with an expected delivery of February 2015, if the campaign can raise $20,000.

Categories
Tech Accessories

Btunes plays music; wirelessly plugs into headphones eliminating tangles for good

There are tons of products devoted to the untangling and organization of earbud and headphone wires. BTunes would rather focus on making headphones wireless, so tangling is no longer an issue.

BTunes is an attachment for your headphones. Fitting into headphones where the wire can be removed, it connects to your smartphone so that you can listen to hifi music, make calls and talk to Siri. In addition, it’ll fit into any auxiliary jack in a car to listen to music wirelessly. With NFC, connecting to NFC-enabled devices is simple. The product is black and looks a bit like a Bluetooth.

BTunes is an excellent way to stay wirelessly connected to your smartphone. It’s unclear if there’s any type of button to answer calls with, however. Still, for music, Skype, Siri and countless other options, Btunes is the way to go. One with a pair of headphones in your choice of color will cost backers $49 for estimated delivery in May 2015. BTunes is looking to raise $40,000 on Kickstarter.

Categories
Tools

Loopy multitools clips to belt loops, give them a job beyond belt guiding

Multitool gadgets are convenient items to have when cycling or hiking and enjoying the great outdoors. There are quite a few of these around these days. Loopy is one of the newest to try to push its way into a crowded marketplace. One thing that makes this product a little different is that it attaches to a belt loop. Loopy is 1.5 inches in height and claims to provide 12 tools in one, including a bottle opener, wrench, bike tools and more. Because it’s made of stainless steel and titanium, it is washing machine safe and doesn’t have to be removed from one’s jeans belt loop – as long as one can remember to which pair of jeans one attached it last.

Loopy is one of the more minimalist of these types of tools, honing the discretion of the Swiss Army knife. It’ll definitely find its place on the belt loops of the types of guys who still carry their cellphones around on belt holders. Other interesting multitool options that backers might want to check out include My Task and TrackBelt360. This campaign seeks to raise $27,000. Early bird backers can get one Loopy for $7, with an expected delivery of May 2015.

Categories
Food and Beverage

Trongs prevents evidence of sticky fingers

For those who don’t listen to that old tape of their mom’s voice in their head saying, “Wash your hands before you eat!” there is now a new type of eating utensil emerging in the marketplace.  Trongs goes one step further than a spork and blends tongs and a mini tripod. The idea is a product that fills in the gap between a fork, spoon and knife so that people can eat those traditional finger foods like french-fries, buffalo wings and barbecue ribs without having to get one’s fingers dirty and sticky and using lots of towelettes. Trongs lets the user pull rib and chicken meat away from the bone.

While they are washable and reusable, it’s unclear if they are dishwasher safe, or exactly what they are made of. Also, it doesn’t seem that they’d work so well with pizza, though that finger food can be eaten with a fork and knife if one really wants to do that.  This campaign seeks to raise $150,000. For $25, backers get one pack.

Categories
Imaging

ProPalz enhances GoPro camera users’ extreme sense of humor

Using video to improve one’s game will do one of two things: it will either make one bitter or better. And better often includes bringing out one’s sense of humor. ProPalz may be able to help those who tend toward the extreme to take themselves less seriously when the stress and pressure to improve is on. The plush critters appear to serve a “duel” purpose in that they function both as a protective camera case and clip-mount. The padded case reduces shock during those extreme activities, and the clip camera mount offers the opportunity to attach the camera (while in the case) to a belt loop, back pack, golf club, guitar neck (or perhaps strap during performance), goal post, Harley handle bars or whatever one desires to make a ProPalz type of visual statement.

Of course, it might also work well for getting the kids to smile in videos, too. Other GoPro camera mounts that backers may want to check out include the Infinity Arm and SpinMount campaigns. This campaign seeks to raise $6,500. For $100 backers get one product with an ambitious expected delivery of January 2015.

Categories
Chargers/Batteries

Conkey hangs around to keep mobiles useful

On those especially busy days at work or while enjoying weekend activities, it can be difficult to keep a mobile from losing all of its juice. So Conkey can be attached to a keyring for those days when there’s no time to wait around for a mobile charge to be restored. Though the mobile battery backup only provides 30 minutes of extra usage and its micro USB connector is only compatible with Android and IOS, it does have a few other nice features. The built-in, universal power plug unfolds to plug into a wall outlet, and it has an internal SD memory card. A magnet fastener keeps the item’s short cables from getting tangled around the user’s car keys.

Since it’s roughly the size of a standard car key, it’s going to offer more convenience and portability than most portable chargers, but not as much power. Backers may also want to check out the ReelJuice and OneCard campaigns. This campaign seeks to raise $30,000. For $30, backers get one set.

Categories
Organization

Clutter Cover hides stacked messes, beats actually useful organization any day

Here’s a winning idea: something that hides home clutter and diminishes the need for dusting. Clutter Cover is the perfect item for packrat types who  find that the item that they just threw out a couple days ago, but had kept for years prior, should have been saved after all. The silver cover fits over free-standing shelves and is made-to-order, with a limit of 72” for height, depth and width. The clutter-hiding, dust-diminishing system comes with two heavy duty front zippers for easy access with Velcro flap holders. Clutter Cover can be used either inside or outside and is completely machine washable.

Presently, this product comes only in sliver, but other colors along with the option to add a special logo are available for an extra donation. While this is a great product for the pack rat in everyone, it’s a bit lacking in appearance. If clutter is going to be covered up, why not do it in style? This campaign has a goal of $1,974. For $55, backers get one product with an expected delivery of February 2015.

Categories
Kids/Babies Toys

DIY SodaJet bottle rocket kit converts, takes your two-liters airborne

Little kids love to see things explode. For them, it’s fascinating to watch rockets defy gravity and shoot up into the air. The only thing is that most rockets are dangerous and require delicate motors and fire in order to launch.

Christopher Garmen of the SodaJet has taken rocket launching and made it kid-friendly. He uses 3-D printed parts and standard two liter soda bottles to make rockets. These rockets use air pressure instead of fire to shoot skyward. Not only is this a safe method for children to use, it’s also cost-effective. Garmen uses his campaign to reminisce about being a kid and launching rockets, disappointed at how disposable and expensive they were. Now, he’s got his four-year-old daughter launching SodaJet rockets with Barbie attached, kind of an awesome mini-feminist statement. The parts consist of a cone head, fins and a release mechanism.

SodaJet takes the best of recycling, science, and good clean fun to create a cool toy for kids to play outside with. Best of all, it doesn’t involve any kind of screen. Backers looking for more G-rated fun should also check out the Moonshot Ring Launcher. One SodaJet DIY kit requires a $25 donation for estimated delivery in April 2015, provided SodaJet can reach its $5,000 Kickstarter goal.

Categories
Health and Wellness

Oraglide Tongue Cleaner aims to make your breath sweeter

As embarrassing as bad breath can be for an adult, it is at least twice as much so for the teen population whose age alone often means a significant lack of self-confidence. One amazing 13-year-old, Sheil Patel, is taking advantage of bad breath by creating his own business to help others overcome this problem. Oraglide gives those who suffer from bad breath a potential solution. Since the cause of bad breath is often tongue bacteria, this product cleans the tongue through its “u” shape and by removing the white film that is a culprit of bad breath.

There isn’t much of anything new about this tongue scraper as compared to others, but backers love kids with crowdfunding campaigns. Go, Sheil, go! Backers interested in oral care may also want to check out the Goodwell and CLEARsmile campaigns, and pet lovers whose furry best friend has this issue may be interested in the Zumby campaign. This campaign seeks to raise $65 by January 1, 2015. For $15, backers get one product with an expected delivery of January 2015.