Ever wanted to capture a candid moment with your iPhone camera, but ended up spoiling the scene when you were too obvious about taking the photo? COVR Photo is an iPhone case with a slide-able prism that fits over your camera, allowing you to take photos discreetly. You only need to point the top of the phone to the subject in order to take the photo, much like the Peek-I that allows you take photos in secret. One COVR Photo lens cases costs backers $55 with an estimated delivery date of September 2014. COVR hopes to raise $80,000 in a 33-day Kickstarter campaign.
Author: Julia Herrick
The Premise. Gun safety in the USA has proven to be seriously lacking. Every year there are thousands of gun-related deaths, most of them accidental and preventable. The worst part is, people don’t know that their guns have been accessed without their permission or stolen until it is too late.
The Product. GunBoxLive is a gun safety system that connects to your smartphone. It alerts the user to which specific gun has been accessed, if the case has been moved, if gun has been accessed, removed or put back into the case. The app also provides immediate options to dial 911, report the gun stolen or show the map location of the weapon. GunBoxLive MD3G is a small device that works with any gun case roughly the size of a USB flash drive. The GunBoxLive HGC1 is a smart case with the device already built in.
The Pitch. GunBoxLive really goes for the shock factor in its campaign video with a sad and not-so-subtle dramatization of an accidental shooting involving two small children. The rest of the campaign follows suit with sad photos and even sadder statistics of gun violence. The developer is looking for a relatively ambitious $100,000 goal in its 60-day run on Indiegogo.
The Perks. The GunBoxLive MD3G device goes for an early price of $279. The HGC1 smart case goes for $359 with estimated delivery dates of October 2014. Reward tiers include service member discounts for policemen, firemen and military personnel and go all the way up to $13,500. As expected for any device that uses a cellular connection, there is a subscription charge. The first year of the app is free, but each additional year costs $60 for one year, $100 for two and $120 for three.
The Potential. GunBoxLive offers a smart way for gun owners to keep track of their firearms. Its options to call 911 and show if the gun has been removed or not puts it above existing smart gun cases such as the Gun Box. While the campaign video may be a bit sensationalist, the issue it addresses is serious. The added cost of renewing the subscription for the app, however, may deter backers. Many gun owners may simply opt for a locked box, but particularly those with kids will certainly see the benefits of the GunBoxLive.
Life gets messy and cluttered with all of those little things we need to live our lives day to day. Money, keys, pens, and other debris seem to float around with little rhyme or reason. Nunchuk is not a weapon, but a small flexible magnetic strip that wraps around your personal flotsam and jetsam. Several magnets make the vegan leather product able to fit around different sized and shaped objects. One of these nifty accessories costs backers $13 with an estimated delivery date of July 2014. Nunchuk needs to raise $3,700 in its short 16-day run on Kickstarter to fight its way onto the market.
Ever heard of drift triking? This newer sport involves riding around on an adult-sized trike while coasting down hills. The Verrado Electric Drift Trike makes this sport possible on flat ground with added power. n adult incarnation of the classic Big Wheel toy, the trike comes equipped with a hub motor and battery pack for extra long life and speed. Verrado joins the Kickstarter market with the Horizon, another adult electric trike as well as the two stand-up trikes, the HalfBike and Me-Mover. One of these super-powered trikes goes for an early price of $1,400 with an estimated delivery date of June 2014. Verrado hopes to raise $20,000 in its 30-day Kickstarter campaign.
Lensbaby has created a lot of fans with its creative lenses for pro photographers; now it’s bringing its sometimes-blurred focus to the world of smartphone photography. The LM-10 Sweet Spot creative focus lens attaches directly to your phone’s camera and accomplishes a cool blurred effect as you take your photo. As with many other add-on mini-lenses for the iPhone 4 and 5-series phones, it attaches magnetically. One of these special attachments goes for an early price of $40 with an estimated delivery date of July 2014. Lensbaby hopes to raise $20,000 in its 30-day campaign on Kickstarter.
Coaching only gets basketball players so far. At some point, they won’t know what a good shot feels like until they experience it for themselves. In the spirit of basketball shot trainers such as the Shoot Natural Glove, the Jump Shot Pro is a worn constraint that people wear to allow them to perfect their jump shot. This sleeve is worn on the shooting arm and helps to spring load the forearm to shoot the ball with more power. One Pro costs backers $80 with an estimated delivery date of August 2014. The Jump Shot Pro sleeve has a $50,000 Indiegogo goal over a 60-day campaign.
Mixologists, or bartenders as they’re commonly known, take their cocktails quite seriously. Achieving the perfect drink doesn’t only have to do with liquid ingredients, but also with good ice. Les Glaçons is an ice making kit from Montreal with separating planes, locks, a liner and insulating sleeve that produces large cubes of ice that are perfectly dense and clear. According to the detailed campaign, this is the best kind of ice for cocktail making. One of these kits costs early birds $160 CAD and birds $200 CAD with an estimated delivery date of October 2014. Glaçons hopes to raise $20,000 CAD on Kickstarter in its 33-day campaign.
The Premise. Eggs are a super food for many and folks have come up with a million different ways to prepare them. In Japan, people like to scramble their eggs in the shell — this is they called the Golden Egg — and then hard boil them. People looking to make a Golden Egg have to be creative in doing this, because there hasn’t been any easy way to do this before.
The Product. The Eggxer is a clever little product that scrambles eggs in their shells. One simply places the egg in a protective casing which goes into the device. An LED light makes it possible to see inside of the shell. To scramble, just pull the string a couple of times and then you can easily see through the shell to determine when the egg is thoroughly mixed. The Eggxer needs no electricity to work and comes in three colors: black, yolky yellow and green (to match green eggs and ham).
The Pitch. Eggxer’s campaign video shows its creator, Assaf, and his daughter explaining the inspiration for their product as well as how to use it. In addition, they list the different cooking possibilities that come with a scrambled-in-shell egg. Eggxer is aiming to raise $90,000 in its 50-day Indiegogo campaign.
The Perks. The early-birds get the Eggxer for $29 in either yellow or green or at a standard price of $34. The more sleek black and metallic version goes for an early price of $34 and a regular price of $39. The highest tier of $99 offers a family package of three Eggxers. All tiers have estimated hatch dates of August 2014.
The Potential. While the idea of a mixed scrambled egg isn’t too popular, it’s certainly has intriguing culinary possibilities. The internet offers a slew of tutorials on how to scramble the egg inside of its shell. There currently aren’t other products, however, that do it for you. Eggxer is made even more convenient by the fact that it doesn’t need electricity to work and doesn’t need to be cleaned too often either. All of these features and more make the Eggxer quite a contender on the egg preparation market.
The Premise. Runners, cyclists, hikers and other athletes require lots of hydration during their workouts. Unfortunately, water bottles and backpacks can be cumbersome to carry and difficult to access when needed.
The Product. The Hydras is a portable water system perfect for athletes. This product offers shirts with four water bladders and tubes sewn in. The bladders are located at the shoulders and lower back, which are supposed to be the areas least prone to sweating. With perfect balance, the water evens itself out in each pouch for maximum comfort. The main tube comes over the should to make it accessible for drinking. Currently, Hydras comes in short sleeve, long sleeve and sleeveless wear.
The Pitch. Hydras’ main campaign video offers testimonials from wearers of this product with little other detail of its conception or design. The prototyping process fills the rest of the campaign. However, there are no pictures of the different shirts available with this product; that would be helpful for interested backers to see. There is also no mention of whether or not the shirts are machine-washable. This cooling system hopes to raise a staggering $115,000 in its 30-day Kickstarter campaign.
The Perks. Only backers with $150 will receive this hydrating shirt from the campaign. Lower tiers offer just the water bladders and tubes without a shirt or simply the chance to order the product before its official market release. Reward tiers go up to $10,000 with estimated delivery dates of November 2014.
The Potential. The Hydras shirts claim to offer more benefits than simply holding a water bottle or even using a CamelBak. The price seems a bit high, however, for one shirt, whether or not it holds water. Also, it seems likely that the water, while balanced in the shirt, may drag the fabric of the shirt down the back uncomfortably. Water temperature is also something to worry about because the water would most likely heat up during a workout. Still, the Hydras’ main benefit of evenly distributing the weight of the water across the back is essential for many athletes and the product may well appeal to fitness enthusiasts in need of a quick drink.
The Premise. Traveling can be tiring business. A constant barrage of harsh sounds, lights and smells can make it difficult to relax or sleep. It can also be difficult to have a sense of privacy while flying or waiting for a flight.
The Product. SkyTent is a visor that wraps around your head with fabric hanging down from it, looking a bit like those old kerchiefs that the outlaws in westerns wear. The fabric is light, breathable and allows the wearer to see through to the outside world. The visor comes in an array of colors with different design options on the front including “Keep Calm and Dream On” and “Cat Nap”. While on, the fabric hangs far enough away from your face to be comfortable.
The Pitch. A charming video of the creator talking about his product using illustrations kicks off the campaign. He goes through all of the different sensory pollutants that one must endure when flying while relaying what sounds like a flight from Hell to China. The rest of the campaign shows different folks donning the SkyTent as well as add-on features that the creator would like to offer, including more colors and scented oils to clip into the visor. SkyTent hopes to raise $10,000 in its 30-day Kickstarter run.
The Perks. One of these mini-tents costs $25 for backers looking for some solace. There are only two reward tiers on this campaign, both with expected delivery dates of August 2014. A $15,000 stretch goal has been set for the addition of essential oil aroma inserts.
The Potential. ironically, for a product designed to provide privacy, the oddity of the SkyTent is sure to attract looks Other than looking quite silly, though, the product provides an alternative to the tried-and-true sleep mask and less popular portable ionizer. It’s light enough to be portable for travelers and would even be good in long car rides for passengers who experience motion sickness. One similar product includes the Forward Front Face Pillow Cushion , which provides some privacy and rest for air travelers, but requires an awkward bend forward to do so. However, it’s unclear how good a job it does filtering out noxious odors and one will still need to rely on some good noise-canceling headphones to block out noisy fellow passengers