Winter sucks for many reasons, but a big one is the effect snow and ice have on your car. For those who need to park outside, scraping ice and brushing snow off of the windshield are a daily annoyance. In order to make this part of winter easier, the iceScreen magnetically attaches to your windshield overnight or during a snow storm. It covers the glass so that, when you’re ready, you can just whip it off and not have to scrub at your window. Made from super durable material, the iceScreen also folds up in a small bag that can be easily stored in the glove box. In the summer, just flip it over for sun reflection fun. One iceScreen goes for $20 on Kickstarter with a campaign goal of $20,000. This is one of those products that makes us wonder why no one had thought of it before. What an easy solution to ice hassle! The added perk of the sun reflector is nice too. All in all, a product that anyone who suffers through the four season will want to have.
As SteamOS makes the move for PC gaming into the living room possible, it also allows manufacturers the freedom to do unheard of things with gaming PCs. The living room follows more aesthetic guidelines than the boxy, gaudy features that many computers tend to obey, so those interested in making Steam Machines have an extra challenge to meet.
The G-Pack is an incredibly well-designed gaming PC designed to offer access to Steam and all the latest PC games without cluttering the living room. The thin box comes with a universal mount and is meant to be affixed to the back of flat screen displays no matter their size or how they’ve been mounted. In order to keep wires and cables easy to access, the G-Pack can even be stretched out to more comfortably hug wider displays.
More than just a pretty face, the standard G-Pack is as easy to upgrade as any PC and comes with some powerful hardware. With the latest Nvidia GeForce video cards, a minimum of 4GB of DDR3 RAM, and a mixture of 1TB or larger hard drives and solid state drives, these machines are built to handle hardcore, graphically intense gaming. G-Pack creator PiixL is asking for $150,000 to bring G-Pack to production. Backers can get their game on for $1,645 for the base system.
The Steam Machines platform is already facing an identity crisis, trying to figure out what sets them apart from any decent gaming PC. A hardware design like G-Pack is a great response that keeps living rooms clean and sharp while opening the door to a whole platform of popular and fun games. Its smart aesthetic design will bring fun to the room without cluttering the walls and floors with cables.
Smartphones always seem to run out of juice at the worst moments. And as we become increasingly dependent on them, it will continue to happen more and more frequently. TravelBuddy makes sure that when you’re caught with a dead battery and no cord, you’ll be just fine. This small battery plugs into the wall and into your iPhone, without a cord. It provides fast charging on the go. The best part is that it’s a keychain, so you’ll always have it on hand. Coming in five different colors, one TravelBuddy will cost backers $30 at an early price or $35 regularly. This product hopes to raise $10,100 on Kickstarter. Hopefully, TravelBuddy will be compatible with other types of smartphones in the future. Another drawback of the TravelBuddy is that you’d still need an outlet in order for it to work, unlike the similar Buckle Charger. Still, outlets usually aren’t too hard to find and if it charges the phone fast, then all the better.
Even though the age of the selfie has progressed to the word finding a home in the Oxford Dictionary, the process isn’t perfect. From dropped phones to fingers accidentally blocking the lens, a lot can go wrong with a simple selfie.
SNAP! 6 wants to fix the issues that come up when trying to capture that perfect self-shot. Aside from being a functional iPhone 6 case with a widened base grip to make the phone easier to hold with one hand away from the camera, SNAP! 6 includes an actual shutter button to make the process more intuitive and allows for interchangeable lenses to fit the situation. Taiwanese developers bitplay Inc. need $20,000 to manufacture the SNAP! 6. Selfie takers can pledge $35 to get one of these cases by December in a variety of four colors.
There are plenty of cases dedicated to making the photographic side of phones a more intuitive experience, and this seems to be one of the best at more closely emulating the traditional camera. iPhone users will be able to flaunt this one above their Android-loving friends with plenty of high-quality, braggadocious selfies.
Football is a fall favorite for many. People not only enjoy the games, but love tailgating as well. The Kickoff Kaddy can make the experience easier and more enjoyable. This magnetic drink holder takes your beer, coffee, soda, or whatever and holds it for you so that you can enjoy a game of catch or a plate of barbecue. The holder uses a magnet and attaches to any nearby metal surface, such as a car, pole or grill. Kickoff Kaddy is designed to hold drinks of many different sizes.
One will cost tailgating backers $12 with estimated delivery in February 2015. Kickoff Kaddy hopes to raise $15,000 on Kickstarter. While this product may prove to be useful for tailgaters, its convenience may stretch beyond this one type of event. However, some may opt to just put their drink on the roof of their cars instead of sticking it to the side.
Google, Apple, Samsung, and other tech giants may not always agree on much, but if their product lines are any indication, they all seem to agree that the smartwatch is the next big thing that people won’t be able to live without.
Add Epic to that list of companies. This new startup has developed working prototypes of “watchphones” that can be worn on the wrist or on a necklace or lanyard. Unlike some smartwatches, the Epic Mini Pendant Phone and the Epic Signature Edition watchphone function completely independently of any other devices, with touch-screen displays, activity tracking, and a 74-hour battery with 6 hours of talk time. Team Epic has set a curious goal of $300 to begin production. Backers can pick up an Epic Signature Edition watchphone for $249 or the Mini Pendant Phone for $200 in February 2015.
The rise of smartphones was predicated on giving people PC functionality on a portable, powerful device. While wearable tech is a great step in the next direction, consumers may not be willing to scale back those functions in the name of being able to wear their devices. While it’s great that Epic watchphones are independent of other devices, people would still likely keep phones in their pockets for the heavier tasks.
One of the biggest hurdles that home automation faces is the cost and complexity of installing devices for every small or mundane aspect of a house.
Tilt My Blinds thinks that smart blinds are a great addition to any home, and wants to make the process simple for anyone. Working with virtually any kind of existing blinds, Tilt My Blinds is a simple device that takes less than 15 minutes to install on each set of blinds and allows for scheduled opening and closing of the blinds as well as control via Bluetooth devices or wireless switches. The blinds are powered by a battery which can be charged using any USB outlet or with an optional solar panel to save even more time and energy. It’s going to take $50,000 to make a properly-funded endeavor. A Tilt My Blinds retrofit kit will cost backers $75 and arrive in February 2015.
For those automating their home piece by piece, Tilt My Blinds is a great way to add some futurism into even the most quaint of dwellings. The solar panel is great for taking even more effort away from managing the blinds, and the TV plug add-on to reduce viewing glare demonstrates the kind of foresight that should make this product successful.
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Back to the Backers: The Purrch
Your favorite chair/stool alternative is back! It’s the Purrch, people, and it’s back in the crowdfunding scene and back on Backerjack. This stool-like people-holder-upper that features essentially a bike seat on top of a curved stick ran an unsuccessful campaign on Indiegogo this past February. They did not reach their $75,000 goal, but were able to raise just over $2,000 and got to keep it, thanks to flexible funding. Now, Purrch is on Kickstarter with a $50,000 goal. The product looks to be the same as on the first campaign with the same prices. One of these people-sicles goes for $70 or $77 if you want the matching Strrap too (get it?!). A product like Purrch makes sense for people who work on their feet or who are disabled in some way and can’t stand to stand for long. Unfortunately, even with the Strrap, the Purrch doesn’t seem too portable, which is the whole point of having it, to be able to sit anywhere. It goes against all of this sitting-hating we’ve seen lately, but, hey, every now and again you may just need to cop a squat.
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Joey lets you capture video in the round
With high definition and video cameras in the pockets of the majority of people around the world, it’s a wonder that the way video is recorded and how people interact with it has gone largely unchanged.
Kogeto, developers of the successful Dot lens for the iPhone 4 that allowed full 360-degree panoramic video, are now presenting the Joey, a stand-alone video camera that captures the same kind of video in a much crisper resolution. With no color distortion or seams like other full-panoramic cameras, the Joey takes shockingly crisp video that viewers can rotate or spin to their heart’s content, making no two views alike and offering a much more immersive viewing experience. Kogeto needs $40,000 to begin the manufacturing of Joey. Joey will start changing video capture in December for backers who pledge $850.
Joey offers an exciting development for both movie makers and viewers, turning film-making into a more interactive and user-defined experience. As if that wasn’t enough, the video Joey takes looks as sharp as technology will allow right now, with 4K resolution. Filmmakers both amateur and professional should be putting this device on their Christmas list.
Shoes are rarely cleaned, even though we spend all day in them. There’s no real way to disinfect them. Most will either wash their insoles, risk ruining the shoes in the wash or simply throw them away when they become too smelly. There’s a ton of gross bacteria that can build up in our shoes and we pretty much have no way of fight them. Introducing the SteriShoe 2.0. This updated version of the SteriShoe uses UVC lights to disinfect shoes. The product is shoe, shaped, obviously, and has two metal prongs that sit in the shoe. It also features a fan to dry the shoes since lots fungi thrives in dark wet environments. One of these sterilizing footwear products will cost backers a $99 donation or only $89 if they’re early enough. Estimated delivery is set for December 2014. SteriShoe 2.0 has a campaign goal of $60,000 on Kickstarter.
The new SteriShoe 2.0 improves upon the old model’s controller and prong shape. SteriShoe 2.0 is a great solution for shoe ickiness problems. It would be nice if the campaign provided a little more data on the product’s effectiveness in fighting germs. Still if it at least eliminates odor then it’s a worthy investment, especially since it’s not a disposable product like most shoe fixes seem to be. Going off of the first SteriShoe model’s Amazon reviews, it looks like the one complaint was that the shape was not ideal for high heels, but still works great for loafers and sneakers. All in all, a good way to fight smell and bacteria in a simple way.