Musicians who travel around must bear the weight of their instruments constantly. Drum sets in particular can be cumbersome to tote around and a pain to set up. DrumStooled combines a stool with a bass drum so that musicians who are so inclined can play the guitar and the drum at the same time. It cuts down on luggage for bands that travel around. One of these French instruments costs rockin’ backers €600 with an estimated delivery date of September 2014. DrumStooled hopes to raise €30,000 in its 60-day Indiegogo campaign.
The Premise. Stuffed animals are a staple for any child’s box of toys. Most, however, are limited in the interaction that they have with children, showing them how to cuddle but not much else.
The Product. Powered by iPad, DiDi is an interactive teddy bear system. Using an app, an iPad, and special touch toys, DiDi teaches kids the fundamentals of eating healthily, brushing their teeth as well as the fundamentals of reading. The iPad fits right into the body of the bear so that kids can use the touch screen to play or cuddle with DiDi without the iPad at night.
The Pitch. The DiDi video shows a little girl playing with her bear and all the different ways that the bear can be used. The rest of the campaign shows the myriad of accessories that the bear comes with how they help kids with their reading skills. DiDi is shooting for $25,000 in 30 days on Kickstarter.
The Perks. The limited reward tiers offer early backers the DiDi package for only $25. This includes the teddy bear, Magic Touch toys and another stuffed bunny. The regular price is also $25 but doesn’t include the extra toy. Each teddy bear comes with the app needed to power it. Estimated delivery date is currently set at August 2014.
The Potential. We’ve seen a lot of these super teddy bears lately. The ZiBear is similarly powered by a device, though it isn’t directly connected to the bear. The ZiBear lets parents program what they want the bear to say. DiDi is interesting in that the touch screen is directly on the bear, giving kids the added visual aspect of the toy. It is also specifically a reading tool, which is a perfect way to get kids to learn how to read by incorporating their reading into playtime. One crawback to DiDi, though, is that only kids in iPad households can use the toy. However, the cost of the bear, app, and related accessories is relatively low which partially makes up for needing an iPad to use it. All in all, DiDi seems like a fun learning tool for kids and will certainly be entertaining as well as educational.
Those of us who have laptops end up bringing them absolutely everywhere and plug into every outlet that we can find, even if the cord barely reaches. While this is convenient at the time, the laptop cords wear down and eventually break. The Python Cord Protector snakes around the cord and loops over the battery pack of a Mac cord to keep the wire casing straight and intact. One Python only costs backers $11 with an estimated delivery date of July 2014. This product hopes to raise $5,000 in its 30-day Kickstarter campaign.
It would be difficult to find someone without a device that can use headphones on their person. Yet many don’t, partially due to personal preference, but also largely in part because of the inconvenience of carrying headphones all day. Not to be confused with the Twig stand that evolved into the Torso, the TWIG is an earbud-compatible cord wrap that is simple in design yet capable of revolutionizing the way headphones are transported. The earbuds slide into each side of the TWIG’s y-shape, and the cord can be wrapped 8 times, leaving the volume control always in a snug, natural position. TWIGs will be sent out in July 2014 to backers who pledge a minimum of $7.
When planning a day around appointment notifications, there doesn’t appear to be a middle ground. Pop-up alerts or alarms either seem to happen too early to be significant and are quickly closed, or so late that the only option is to stop everything and run out the door. The Smart O’Clock combines the display of a standard wall or desk clock with Bluetooth Low Energy and electronic ink to solve this problem. Using a standard analog clock face with an extra segmented ring, the Smart O’Clock syncs up to any calendar app on iOS or Android phones and blacks out segments of the day that are already spoken for with activities. The approach seems more useful than the e-ink-based aclock. Smart O’Clock will arrive to customers who pledge at least $69 in July 2014.
Toy train sets have been a favorite for kids and future engineers for many years. Lego has their own version of the toy train set for a long time, but has a few limitations. The ME Model Railway System has taken the Lego model and expanded upon it, offering a more versatile range of rail shapes and sizes. With this freedom, kids are able to create more elaborate rail systems than they could before. Backers can enjoy a sampling of the different pieces in this set for only $12 with an estimated delivery date of September 2014. ME Models needs to raise $79,000 in a 30-day Kickstarter campaign.
The Premise. There’s nothing that grandparents love more than photos of their grandkids. Photo sharing these days is easy with the Internet and social media, but grandparents are notorious for having trouble using these new technologies. From a distance, sharing photos with older people can be difficult.
The Product. Famatic is a digital picture frame with an added touch screen bonus. People can share photos via wi-fi directly to the frame so that grandparents can enjoy a slideshow of new material right from their living room. The 8 GB device connects to Instagram, Facebook and e-mail as well so that people sharing on these platforms can easily upload their photos or videos to Famatic. The screen shows who shared the photo or video along with the caption and allows users to comment on each photo.
The Pitch. Famatic’s pitch begins with a charming video showing a family using the product with ease. It manages to use the same infomercial format that many campaigns use, but does so in a cute way that will make you laugh. The Famatic creators express an interest in the rest of the campaign to connect their product to more social media, including Flickr and Picasa. Famatic hopes to raise $75,000 in their 42-day Kickstarter campaign.
The Perks. This-amped up digital frame from the Netherlands offers a $169 early-bird special for the U.S. which includes shipping and a $209 international early-bird special with shipping included for the EU. At its regular price, the Famatic frame costs Americans $189 and the rest of the world $229. The highest reward tier of $329 offers different color options for backers. All tiers have an estimated delivery date of October 2014.
The Potential. The glory days of the digital photo frame have faded in the wake of tablet popularity. However, cloud-connected frames have some potential. Prior to leaving the consumer imaging market, Kodak had some success with the Kodak Pulse More recently, Flink went the crowdfunding route for its cloud-connected picture viewer, but fell short in its campaign. That said, Famatic is a promising way to share photos with friends and families alike and will improve as its creators add to their product in the future.
Personal safety is always a concern, but being able to feel safe while discreetly alerting the authorities is a difficult balance to maintain. The SafeRing appears to be a normal ring accessory but is actually a powerful smartphone tool. With a miniature switch designed to avoid accidental triggering, the SafeRing can trigger the alarms on your phone and send GPS data to an emergency contact via text. It’s a low-key version of the Cuff line of Bluetooth-enabled safety jewelry. The ring can also be put to other non-emergency uses, such as locating a lost phone or activating a camera for a hands-free selfie. Backers can get a SafeRing in September 2014 for $35.
Flashlights, portable headlights, keychain lights and other lighting systems aim to provide convenience and light when on the go. Most of these types of lights are either bulky or don’t provide enough light when necessary. The RagLite combines portability and extra bright luminance to make a lighting system that is effective and easy to carry. RagLite consists of several strips of LED lights affixed to a piece of fabric. It comes in different sizes and is super lightweight and portable so that it can be taken anywhere. One mini RagLite costs backers $75 with an estimated delivery date of October 2014. This cool, yet expensive product, needs to raise $25,000 in its 60-day Kickstarter campaign.
The Premise. As great as smartphones are, the frequency with which they alert users with notifications can be extremely distracting. Setting custom notifications can single out the truly important information, but can be time-consuming to set up and can be impolite in social situations.
The Product. The ORBneXt is an updated version of the Orb art piece/single-pixel notifier created by Ambient Devices in its early days. It’s a hand-held, easy to use accessory that can sync up with any phone wirelessly and display notification information through a series of ambient colors. The ORBneXt connects to a phone and its Wi-Fi network by resting on top of the device, and then , using a blinking-light sequence similar to the one used by Quirky’s smart devices, can be programmed through its app to monitor information like weather, sports scores, stocks, and more. That information can then be tied to colors (for example, turn red when the weather’s getting warmer), so that the displaying color carries with it information that matters to its user’s life. The ORBneXt is made with a stylish Japanese glass housing, and has an easily modifiable brain in addition to its flexible IFTTT-enabled app.
The Pitch. The creative minds at Ambient Lumonics Labs show off the ORBneXt inside and out with their campaign information. The video focuses on the everyday use of the device while the photos and text cover all the technical details and stress how easy the device is to customize for any need. A second video that demos the product does a better job of selling the device’s strengths for the end user. Advanced Lumonics Labs needs $12,000 to complete a market-ready product in order to apply for certifications.
The Perks. Backers looking to score an ORBneXt can have one by August for a pledge of $79. Anyone with one of the older Ambient ORB devices can retrofit it to function as an ORBneXt for $69, with self-installation. If that’s too long to wait, a prototype of the device is available in June for $500.
The Potential. The flexibility of the ORBneXt’s internal hardware and its app belie the simplicity of the information it can display. Unfortunately, without being able to acknowledge a notification and clear it or get more precise details without unlocking the phone and looking at the app, its effectiveness is limited. The device does look sharp at home on a desk or in the office, but the amount of time it saves is measured in small bursts of seconds, and might not be worth it for some. Like the original Ambient ORB, the ORBneXt’s appealing form is overshadowed by its lack of function.