Sippy cups are jus tone more thing to drag around in the endless paraphernalia of kids’ stuff. Sip Sap offers a much simpler way to get your kids the hydration they need without having to clean up a huge mess. Conforming to almost any cup, SipSnaps are kid-friendly cup tops that stretch to fit the size of glasses you already own. These fun lids come in many different colors with a traditional sippy cup top or a straw top. For $20, backers can enjoy a set of three SipSnaps for delivery in August 2014. Sip Sap hopes to raise $28,000 in its 32 day run on Kickstarter.
Author: Julia Herrick
The Premise. In the ocean, fish and plants seem to live together without too much need for intervention. However, growing plants in the home can be tedious. Constant feeding and watering can fall the wayside resulting in sad or even dead vegetation. Similarly, owning a fish can make for a fun companion, but tank cleanings and constant maintenance of the aquarium can become annoying.
The Product. An ecosystem in a box, AquaSprouts offers the best of both owning a fish and growing plants in your home. AquaSprouts’ product is basically a fish tank with a place to grow plants on top. The waste from the fish is pumped up into the plants and acts as their food source. In this way, the plants keep the tank clean so that you don’t have to. The clean water is then released back down into the tank. Simply feed the fish and the rest takes cares of itself. The tank looks very sleek and simple, but with lush vegetation growing on top. Options for fish include goldfish, betas, tetras and guppies and these fish can support growing lettuce, basil, garlic, mint, cilantro and a slew of other herbal delights.
The Pitch. The video shown on this Kickstarter campaign shows the tank’s creators talking about their passion for aquaponics. They also explain how they have teamed up with experienced product designers in order to make their tank even more sophisticated. In order to continue, however, they need funding in order to make the manufacturing process more efficient. AquaSprouts hopes to raise $100,000 in its 31-day campaign.
The Perks. The reward tiers are where AquaSprouts falter a little bit. There are several early-bird specials, but none seem to offer both the garden and the tank. For $139 backers receive just the garden and for $149 backers only receive the tank. It isn’t until $179 that backers actually receive both together. Presumably, the other tiers offer more of a DIY alternative, but an expensive one. Reward tiers go all the way up to $10,000 with an estimated delivery date of August 2014 for the product itself.
The Potential. AquaSprouts is certainly a very cool concept and an attractive implementation. The idea of having one’s very own ecosystem in their home is appealing to many. However, there are very similar products out there for far cheaper. Back the Roots offers the smaller Aqua Farm for $60. AquaSprouts offers a bigger variety of fish and plantlife, but for triple the price. Still though, the concept is interesting and does offer a fun and functional addition to animal/plant life enthusiasts.
The Premise. Origami is beautiful and fun to make with paper. Usually it is used as décor or a fun hobby, but never really found in the functional parts of life.
The Product. The Bloom Blanket is the best of art and geometry inspired by origami. Bianca Cheng Costanzo, Bloom’s creator and well-traveled Barcelona guitarist and designer, was inspired by a tessellation to come up with the idea for the Bloom Blanket. She uses Italian wool cashmere to make the blankets. Bloom comes in either white or gray, or a mixture of both. Costanzo also offers backers customization in the size of the tetrahedrons that make up the blanket’s pattern.
The Pitch. Bloom Blanket’s Kickstarter video features Costanzo talking about the evolution of her product, waxing on the intersection of math and design and tossing in the occasional smile and giggle. Her slow, soft voice mixed with the pastel colors of her apartment and the fairy-like music are all hypnotizing and reminiscent of a spa. The video also shows slow-moving footage of the blanket, but lacks any sort of shot of the blanket laid out anywhere, which would be helpful to see. The rest of the campaign shows different versions of the blanket and the prototyping process. Costanzo hopes to raise $14,000 in her 30-day run on Kickstarter in order to make the minimum factory order.
The Perks. Backers looking to get all cozy with the Bloom Blanket must donate $249 in order to do so. This tier comes with a choice of color for the blanket. The next and highest reward tier goes for $2,000 and offers complete customization of the blanket including color, size, and arrangement of tetrahedrons. Estimated delivery is currently set for October 2014.
The Potential. Everyone loves to cuddle up on a cold night with a blanket. The luxury material of the wool/cashmere blend is especially pleasing. However, geometry nerds may not be willing to shell out $249 for blanket, despite how many tetrahedrons it may have. The Bloom Blanket is certainly an artisan novelty in the elusive luxury home goods/geometry geek market. If the blanket could actually fold into a triangle or if the geometry had some heat-retention benefits, it would be an easier sell.
The Premise. As the eco-movement continues to grow, cyclists become more an more numerous, opting to travel in an environmentally-friendly way instead of using their cars all the time. The only problem is that the safety-movement hasn’t really stepped up to this new influx of cyclists. As a result, drivers and cyclists in the U.S. are still not very adept at sharing the road, which can result in accidents.
The Product. Revolights offers up one more way to improve the safety of cyclists and drivers alike. Instead of dinky blinky lights that most cyclists use, Revolights are long lights that act as the front and back fender to a bike. This current campaign is only for the taillight. If the bike already has fenders, there is a special mount that can be used to attach the arc light to the fender. By detecting the rotating speed of the wheel, an additional brake light is activated when the cyclist’s speed slows suddenly. The Revolights arc light comes with different modes, blinking or not, with a red taillight. The arc light runs on a battery that has eight hours of life and charges in a USB port.
The Pitch. This campaign marks a third go at Kickstarter for Revolights, the Bay Area creators of which show off its product in a video featuring different cyclists riding around at night. It’s especially interesting to see how the brake light comes in when necessary. In addition, the video shows newer features that will be offered soon, including turn signals. Revolights hopes to raise $100,000 in its 54-day campaign.
The Perks. Backers can enjoy the Revolights Arc taillight for $69 at the early-bird price. Regularly priced, the taillight will go for $79 and the light which includes its own fender goes for $109. Reward tiers go up to $629 with an estimated delivery date of October 2014. Revolights talks about having stretch goals in the future for turn signals, but have not actually set them yet.
The Potential. Bike taillights as they exist now are easily mistaken for other things. Most bike headlights and taillights are mismatched, offering a huge headlight with an inadequately sized taillight. This large arced light is much safer because of its size and position partially outlining the wheel, signaling to drivers that they are approaching a bike. The closest product to Revolights right now is the Serfas Thunderbolt USB Taillight, simply because it charges with a USB, but compared to the arc light, the Thunderbolt looks much too small. All in all, while the price of Revolights is rather high, the safety that it offers is worth ponying up for.
The Premise. Working out in a gym can be really boring, especially if there isn’t enough good people-watching. Most would rather be outdoors when they’re feeling active, but working out outside can be limiting.
The Product. Monkii Bars are a new portable workout tool that allows the user to workout anywhere at anytime. The bars look like two wooden handles with green caps on the ends. Each handle holds 18 feet of suspension line with adjusters that allow for flexibility in length. The line is rated at 400 lbs and the bars are lightweight enough to be carried around all day. The maple exterior and green caps make Monkii Bars look more friendly than most workout tools that are aggressively red or black.
The Pitch. Monkii Bars’ Kickstarter campaign features one of those rare high-quality videos that aren’t quite as awkward as most seen in the crowdfunding world. The short film features different settings and how this dynamic fitness device can be used for a variety of workouts that target different parts of the body head to toe. A scene featuring the workout tool being used while hanging off of a hot air balloon basket was particularly eye-catching. Monkii Bars hopes to raise $25,000 in its 38 day campaign. More information can be found on the product’s Web site.
The Perks. Early backers can enjoy Monkii Bars for the discounted price of $74. Regularly priced, Monkii Bars are slated to go for $98 (leaving you enough left over of your $100 bill for a few bananas), which is 20% off of the retail price. Reward tiers go all the way up to $5,000 with an estimated delivery date of August 2014.
The Potential. The lightweight, portable Monkii Bars is the latest in a number of attractive exercise aids to hit Kickstarter. Recently profiled X-Bar also boasts portability for those looking to get out of the gym. Reebok Gravity Trainer is another example of an out-of-the-gym fitness alternative that offers a simple full body workout, but for only $30. Monkii Bars’ creators will need to lower the price in order to compete with so many other products. While the desire to workout away from the gym is salient, most fitness buffs may save $98 by sticking to jogging or cycling.
That plastic ware drawer in the kitchen is historically the messiest drawer in the house. Really, there’s (probably) a statistic out there about it. Stackerware offers plastic BPA-free containers with bases that make life easier. The bases hold the Stackerware in a neat and organized way. In addition, the bases can be attached to under cupboard areas or placed in drawers for space optimization. There already exist tons of stackable plastic containers, like Rubbermaid’s Easy Find Lid Containers, but not all have the handy base that the company offers. The early-bird basic set of Stackerware goes for $35 and the regularly priced set costs backers $39. Stackerware hopes to raise $29,000 in their 35 day campaign on Kickstarter.
We’ve all been there. Driving around with a GPS only to have it fall off the windshield, make a big noise and almost run you off of the road. Hangatablet offers a solution to the ever-falling GPS. Using a secure mechanism, Hangatablet attaches to the dashboard of a car and hangs your tablet or smartphone down the center console. Product creator and camel photography enthusiast Steve Jacobson has can also created a kid brother for handsets called — you guessed it — the Hangaphone. both can be used to let your digital displays dangle for different purposes around the house or at work. Smaller The dashboard drop-ins go for $59 and larger ones for $69. Hangatablet hopes to raise $160,000 in their 45-day campaign on Kickstarter.
X-Space, a library built and designed by its students features Stax, a building unit used to create the library. The X-shaped unit made out of wood that can be connected to create a large bookcase or even used as a structural unit to make chairs or benches. The campaign is really raising money to build their library X-Space, but backers are able to buy Stax units for themselves. Early backers can receive one Stax unit for $149 or at the regular price of $199. X-Space is hoping to raise $75,000 in its 30-day campaign on Kickstarter.
Wristker makes looking like a secret agent talking espionage into your wrist possible! Wristker is a large white, blue, pink or yellow device that lives on your wrist. With Bluetooth capabilities, a speaker and microphone, Wristker allows the user to listen to music on an SD card, listen to the radio and even speak on the phone. While not the most sophisticated wearable speaker out there, Wristker is good for simple consumers, who only want the bare minimum of techy flash. On Indiegogo, one Wristker goes for $20 with an estimated delivery date of April 2014. Wristker hopes to raise $4,000 in their 46 day campaign. More information can be found on their Web site.
The X Ball puts some what-what into your putt-putt. With an oval shape and balanced center point, the X Ball gives golfers the chance to putt straight every time. Used to improve putting accuracy, the X Ball is a great learning tool for those looking to become the next Tiger Woods or great mini-golf champion. X Ball boasts a way to develop muscle memory for a more accurate putting game, but obviously the challenge will be putting the putting practice to work with more spherical products . X Ball’s creators are looking to raise $25,000 in their 46-day Indiegogo campaign. At $10 each, X Ball is estimated to be delivered by May 2014.