Using a mobile device gets difficult when we need two hands to do all the cool things a phone can do. SmartBandStand combines the handsfree nature of a wrist mount with the ease of a regular mount. This spider-like product clips onto your phone and either hangs out on your wrist or sits on a surface. The screen can be tilted up to make viewing easier. The SmartBandStand goes for $30 on Indiegogo, but oddly doesn’t get backers a stand itself, just a coupon for one by September 2014. This clawing mount/wrist accessory will need a staggering and apparently random $209,000 to compete with the other tons of phone mounts and wrist attachments out on the market.
Author: Julia Herrick
Ever need light at night, but need your hands free at the same time? Introducting GlassXPro, a pair of glasses with bright LED lights attached, making nighttime rummaging or traveling all the easier. GlassXPro joins the safety market, with tons of other lighting devices designed to make you more visible at night, like Vega Edge lights. One setback of wearing glasses with lights is that the rider can’t wear their prescription glasses if necessary. A pair of these luminous glasses goes for $25 on Kickstarter with an estimated delivery date of May 2014. The glasses creators hope to raise $8,000 in a 30-day campaign.
Catching footage of extreme sports can be a challenge. The shaky camera work genre made popular by The Blair Witch Project is so over. LUUV makes it possible to catch great footage even when you’re in motion. This camera stabilizer separates the motion of your hand from the camera so that the camera stays still, even when you don’t. And unlike other stabilizers, there’s no need to apply a second hand or figure out the optimal weights. with its vase-like design. It is adaptable to work with either phones or compact digital cameras, especially the ubiquitous (in these circles) GoPro. LUUV’s German creators are looking for $299 for one of these nifty devices. They hope to feel the luuv and raise $50,000 in their 55-day run on Indiegogo.
The Premise. Urbanites don’t love cars and instead find alternative forms of mobility. Public transportation is a good idea in theory, but delays and unreliability spell trouble for people in cities. Most opt for some kind of personal transport that they own or rent such as skateboards, rollerblades or the ever popular bicycle.
The Product. Halfbike is a personal transportation device that looks a bit like a manually-operated Segway. It features one big wheel in front and two small wheels in the back. The rider pedals just like on a traditional bike, but stands directly on the pedals, which is why the creators say that their product combines jogging and cycling. A long wooden shaft rises up from the front wheel with a single handle on top for the rider to hold onto, steer, and brake with.
The Pitch. The campaign for Halfbike begins with a video of the token “cool urbanite” riding the product around a busy city. The viewer recognizes his coolness from the hoodie he wears and he glides around with ease, even doing tricks off of staircases and skittering over streetcar tracks. Despite his finesse and agility, the rider still looks a little silly cutting through the crowds with this odd device. Halfbike’s creators hope to raise $80,000 in its 31-day Kickstarter campaign.
The Perks. Halfbike is certainly not half the price. Early-birds can enjoy zipping around the city for $799, with a regular price of $899. Tiers go all the way up to $7,000 which includes a trip to bike-friendly Amsterdam. Estimated delivery date is currently set at September 2014 for the bikes themselves. A stretch goal of $150,000 would allow the creators to begin offering different colored versions of their product.
The Potential. No matter how technologically advanced the world gets, people will always search for alternative means of transportation. The Halfbike, while an interesting idea, doesn’t quite look finished. The bare wooden plank in the center and the white metal frame make it seem more like a prototype. It may be good for the creators to attempt to “hip” it up a bit, especially if their target market is comprised of young, cool urbanites. Still, the Halfbike’s versatility cannot be ignored and its size, definitely smaller than a bicycle, offers a much more convenient option for young people on the go.
The Premise. Building toys are, at a first glance, perfect for young children. Somewhere along the way, however, adults began picking them up and using them to create and design new things. They offer kids a way to learn spatial patterns and adults a way to create and experiment with prototypes for their inventions.
The Product. IKOS is a building tool comprised of small pieces that lock together to create new shapes. The pieces are larger than typical building toys and come in different colors. IKOS used a modified geometrical polygon to come up with its design. These building blocks are curved and spherical, unlike most building toys which are typically flat.
The Pitch. The long campaign video shows how the adult mind behind IKOS, Mike Wong, enlisted the help of three high school students to help him create IKOS. His vision was to find a new kind of shape to create with, “How are we supposed to think outside of the box, when that’s all we have to design with?” Wong asks in the video. Despite the fact that two of the three high school students are women, the video boasts that the building tool is great for everyone including girls, hmm. The rest of the campaign shows a few of the million different things that can be made using IKOS pieces. IKOS hopes to raise $21,000 in its 32-day Kickstarter campaign.
The Perks. As with other toy building products we’ve seen the past, IKOS offers different packages for different amounts of donations. The lowest priced Young Innovator package costs $22 and comes with 40 IKOS pieces in two colors. The Innovator package comes with 120 IKOS pieces at an early-bird price of $40 and regular price of $50. Other packages offer up to 2,500 IKOS pieces for keen future or current engineers. All have an estimated delivery date of July 2014.
The Potential. IKOS’s unique quality is that it offers a building block that isn’t flat like other building tools, presenting even more building opportunities to kids, professionals and adults alike. The company hopes to branch out by manufacturing the set using recycled materials which will give it even more of an edge in the future. We’ve seen lots of fun building tools on crowdfunding sites like Strawbees, Snaak and CubeCraft that offer designers the chance to dream up new creations easily. IKOS is a different kind of tool because of its curved shape and breathes new life into the building block market.
Most of us have multiple devices and end up using them simultaneously. To make this easier, m][3 offers a mount that attaches tablets, laptops or monitors to different iOS and Droid devices. The phone sits on top of the tablet or other device with the mount in between so that the user can watch TV and answer e-mails at the same time. This multi-tasking, but confusedly named mount comes in black, white and red. M][3 needs $20,000 in a 60-day run on Kickstarter for success. One mount goes for $29 with an estimated delivery date of June 2014.
The Premise. Twist ties that come with bread, chips or other bag-packaged foods tend to get lost in the shuffle. These tiny but essential bag securers are necessary to keep the foods we love fresh. Their size and disposability, however, means that they go missing a lot.
The Product. The Twist-Tie Pod gets its inspiration from tape dispensers. The small white device holds a 65’ foot roll of twist ties and cuts and dispenses them accordingly. Magnets on the back as well as screw holes make it possible to secure the Pod to refrigerators or to the inside of cabinets.
The Pitch. Twist-Tie Pod’s adorable Hawaiian creator and ukuleleist Milton Wheeler chooses a dorky but charming video to feature on his Kickstarter campaign. This video is a must-see and does one of the best jobs of selling a crowdfunded product in recent memory. The dramatization of frustration from a missing twist tie, the twist tie jingle played on a ukulele, and the hilarious faces of Wheeler all deserve an Oscar, or at least props for such great entertainment value. The rest of the campaign shows the standard progression of prototypes, the back story for the product’s idea, as well as insight into the cutting device that chops the ties (spoiler alert: Wheeler uses modified toenail clippers). Wheeler hopes to raise $10,000 in his 36-day campaign.
The Perks. Lower reward tiers offer only spools of twist ties while higher tiers offer spools and the Twist-Tie Pod. For $18, early backers get the ties as well as the dispenser which go for $20 at a regular price. Tiers go up to $250 which offers a pod decorated by a Hawaiin artist. The standard Twist-Tie Pod has an estimated delivery date of May 2014.
The Potential. The Twist-Tie Pod is one of those little kitchen accessories that has the potential to make life a whole lot easier. The only bad news is that twist tie dispensers already exist, but are mostly marketed to be used in the garden and not the kitchen. For example, Bond’s Twist Tie Dispenser uses 66’ of twist tie with a blade to deliver the same results as the pod outside and only costs $3. The Twist-Tie Pod’s design with the kitchen in mind is great, however the price will need to come down in order to get backers to hop on board.
Backpackers who survive, well, out of their backpacks live their lives portably, so any convenience offered to them is quite welcome. Cover-U offers one such convenience as a backpack with sun protection. A large, adjustable canopy hangs over the heads of these dual-pack wearers, cutting out the need for hats or umbrellas. This high-quality bag features many pockets, back support, and different designs for kids and adults. While slightly funny looking, this pack is perfect for young students or backpackers who roam the countryside of cute European towns. For $250, backers and backpackers can be covered by May 2015. Cover-U needs to raise $85,000 on Kickstarter in a 31-day campaign in order to cover you.
Wireless just doesn’t seem to be enough anymore, people also want their phones and other devices operate handsfree. Introducing HeadWatch, a self-not-so-very smartwatch that lives on your wrist and communicates with your smartphone. This clip-to-be-square device features a touchscreen and is detachable from its wrist strap so as to to enable its awkward form to clip to your ear for easier phone calls. One HeadWatch goes for $169 at an early price on Indiegogo and $199 at a regular price. The product’s Portuguese creator hopes to raise a staggering $300,000 in a 60-day campaign.
Too much sun on the beach can have some seriously harmful consequences and beach umbrellas aren’t always the best option for avoiding burns. Neso Tents offer an easy solution to this problem. These portable shelters are stakeless and lightweight making assembly quick and easy. They use sandbags for weight and come in a ton of different hues. Early-birds can avoid over-sunning themselves for $49 with an estimated delivery date of June 2014. These tents, while well designed, still run very high in terms of pricing compared to similar products on the market. Neso hopes to raise $12,000 in its 45-day Kickstarter campaign.