Crowdfunding

Stor-More Key Safe Brings New Twist On Leaving Keys

It is common practice for people to leave a key or garage door opener hidden somewhere near their house. Maybe this just happens while on a trip so someone can feed the pets and water the plants, or maybe there is always one hidden. Either situation brings plenty of security issues. Whether the keys are under the door mat or hidden under a rock, someone could get access to the keys and burglarize or vandalize your home; I refuse to hide keys at my house for that very reason. A recent Crowd Supply project strives to solve this issue with…


Phoenix International Communications Working to Bring Android Apps to HP Touchpad Via Kickstarter

The background behind the hopes and aspirations of WebOS, HP’s acquisition of the Palm portfolio, the dreadful August 2011 cancellation and subsequent fire sales of the HP WebOS Touchpad tablet are well-known in the tech world. There were a lot of unhappy folk who truly enjoyed the WebOS experience, but one of the critical factors contributing to the lukewarm reception of the Touchpad was the scarcity of familiar apps that Apple and Android boasted. Tech-savvy users could unlock the system to enable developer mode and install add-ons like Preware, or more impressively, configure the Touchpad to dual-boot to Android. This…


Lumi Wine Wall Looks to Upcycle Used Wine Casks with Kickstarter Campaign

I’ve got a fairly decent size wine collection, but I wouldn’t call what I do with my bottles “cellaring.” That implies that I’m intentionally saving it for a future date when the wine has matured or perhaps become more valuable. The hundred or so bottles of good juice that are in various racks and shelves around my house are merely bottles I haven’t drunk yet. I’ll get to you soon enough, my pretties! So I’ve never invested in a full cellar system or a large wine fridge, since I like to keep my favorite bottles within arms reach. But there’s…


Guns of Icarus Launches Kickstarter Campaign for Adventure Mode

The lengths that some developers will go to to see their vision realized amazes me, and with Guns of Icarus Online that was certainly true. They were almost bankrupted putting out the initial game, and have had a previous Kickstarter campaign to complete that effort. But they envisioned much more, including a Skirmish mode and a full Adventure. Skirmish was released as a separate game, but get ready as Guns of Icarus Launches Kickstarter Campaign for Adventure Mode! Project Title: Guns of Icarus Online—Adventure Mode (PC/Mac/Linux) Status: Active Closing Date for Funding: May 21, 2013 URL of the Project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/musegames/guns-of-icarus-onlineadventure-mode…


Divinity Dragon Commander is Available for Pre-Order or as an Original Sin Perk

I have written extensively about my love of the Divinity games from Larian studios, including the recent Kickstarter of the turn-based Divinity Original Sin. The company is simultaneously working on another game, a real-time strategy game called Divinity Dragon Commander. Now Divinity Dragon Commander is Available for Pre-Order or as an Original Sin Perk. This week Larian and GoG.com announced they were teaming up to offer a discounted pre-order for Divinity Dragon Commander, knocking 11% off the price and asking only $39.99 for this massive game that offers single and multiplayer campaigns, as well as real-time and turn-based campaigns. There…


Gaming Foot Controller for PC Launches Kickstarter Campaign

When you think about gaming controllers there is the keyboard & mouse and traditional console controller that immediately spring to mind. Then you might think about the Wii and Kinect motion controllers, or perhaps driving controllers or flight sticks for specialized games. Everything based on hands – but what about your feet? That is exactly what the folks at StinkyBoard were thinking and now their gaming foot controller for PC launches Kickstarter campaign! Project Title: Stinky Board foot controller for PC Status: Active Closing Date for Funding: May 2, 2013 URL of the Project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/289858283/stinky-the-gaming-footboard-step-up-your-game From the developer: The Stinky…


Divinity Original Sin Launches Kickstarter Campaign

Increasingly developers are not just looking to Kickstarter for full funding of a project, but also to help get specific features into a game, deliver multiplayer or extended art or something else. Developer Larian Studios looked at what they could do themselves, and decided that with a successful Kickstarter project they could realize all of their goals for the game. Personally this was an ‘insta-back’ for me, as Divinity Original Sin Launches Kickstarter Campaign! Project Title: Divinity Original Sin game for PC (potentially also Mac/Linux) Status: Active Closing Date for Funding: April 26, 2013 URL of the Project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/larianstudios/divinity-original-sin From…


iKazoo is on IndieGoGo

Back in December I wrote about an intriguing new controller called the iKazoo, which I described as an ‘everything controller’, since it has dual breath controllers, multiple touch sensors, accelerometers, and so on. With the iKazoo you can make music, control music, play games, and pretty much do anything else you want. At the time Ogaco Gadgets had made the prototype for iKazoo, now they are ready to get started making the devices for real, and as a result I am thrilled that iKazoo is on IndieGoGo! Project Title: iKazoo Status: Active Closing Date for Funding: May 20, 2013 URL…


John-E-Reader Makes Your Bathroom Safe for Kindles

Sarah and I are getting settled into our new home and are quite pleased. It’s really great…there’s just one minor issue. See, the first floor has a bathroom (which is great) but the sink doesn’t have much of a lip to rest items like reading material. So the John-E-Reader at Kickstarter caught my eye! The John-E-Reader was invented to address the exact issue we have in our house: how do you bring an expensive device into a water and tile filled trap safely? Their solution was to create a small pouch that hangs on your toilet paper holder, leaving your…


Mage’s Initiation Brings a Classic Sierra-style Adventure Game to Kickstarter!

There are various reasons to back a Kickstarter project: you might directly want to experience the product, or perhaps like the idea and want it to happen, or maybe the project is in an area you feel is underserved, or maybe the project is funded and you see benefits to the ‘stretch goals’. Whatever the reason, it is important to keep up with new projects as they come along … because there is some great stuff happening and you don’t want something to go unfunded because you forgot to check in for a month! I had heard about this when…


Sinister Design Re-Launches Telepath Tactics Kickstarter!

Last fall Sinister Design, creators of the excellent ‘Telepath RPG: Servants of God’, launched a Kickstarter for its ever-expanding game Telepath Tactics that would allow Craig Stern to properly complete the game with all of the desired features. That effort failed to gain proper support, but Stern he had learned from the attempt and knew what to do going forward. Now he is back as Sinister Design Re-Launches Telepath Tactics Kickstarter! For a while now developer Craig Stern has been talking up the progress on his turn-based game Telepath Tactics – and now he has launched a Kickstarter effort in…



Nifty MiniDrive Kickstarter Project Finally Ships

Judie and I were on the phone together while ordering our 15″ MacBook pro with Retina display laptops, so we could discuss the specific specs we wanted. At the end of the day we both went for the fastest processor (Core i7) and most RAM (16GB) we could get. Judie had just about convinced me to go for the largest amount of storage (768GB) despite the huge up-charge to move from 512GB, when we realized that the storage upgrade would delay the laptops for weeks. We both settled for 512GB laptops, and we have been quite happy with the machines….


Sonar Linux Aims to Make Linux Accessible to All

Over the years that I have worked in an IT support role, I have often had the experience of talking to people who didn’t have perfect eyesight or who might have other disabilities.   What might be easy for you or me to do on a computer might be extremely difficult for someone who doesn’t have perfect vision, hearing, motor control, or other disabilities.  I have had friends who were completely thrown for a loop when their  interface changed — not just because it looked different, but because their screen reader would no longer work or because the interface looked fuzzy…


GCW Zero – Open Source Gaming Handheld

Have you ever looked at the Playstation Vita or Nintendo 3DS and thought that they look great, but you would rather have a handheld gaming system that ran inexpensive open-source games but had physical control buttons? That is the concept behind the GCW-Zero: Open Source Gaming Handheld. Project Title: GCW-Zero: Open Source Gaming Handheld Status: Active Closing Date for Funding: 1/28/2013 URL of the Project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gcw/gcw-zero-open-source-gaming-handheld  


TabMount Tripod Adapter Will Take Your Tablet to New Heights

Project Title: tabMount – Tripod Adapter for iPad, iPad mini, & All Tablets Status: Active Closing Date for Funding: January 27, 2013 URL of the Project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ndrasheta/tabmount-tripod-adapter-for-ipad-ipad-mini-and-all From the Creatives: “Imagine being able to mount your iPad, iPad mini, or whatever tablet you are currently using to a standard tripod. That’s exactly what you’ll be able to do with the tabMount.” Why I Backed It: I backed this project because I have used and/or reviewed every other product this company has offered and I have been consistently impressed. I reviewed the iStabilizer Dolly. (Read the review.) I bought my father-in-law the iStabilizer Glass…


CasinoRPG, a Browser-Based Tycoon/MMORPG/Casino Game

This Kickstarter campaign is to fund the development of a cross between a Tycoon game, MMORPG, and a gambling game.  This game really intrigues me because I’ve always been interested in a Mass Multiplayer Online-type environment where you can keep building an empire and the game continues ever after you log off.  In games like Minecraft, you can craft some really cool things, but unless you’re on a large public server, you aren’t really sharing that with anyone.  But in CasinoRPG, you get to grow your fortune from the ground up and then other real-live players can interact with your…


The Pebble Watch Press Conference

Are you one of the people who backed the Pebble watch on Kickstarter? Dan and I were, but unlike every other smartwatch that we have personally backed on the crowd funding site Kickstarter since the phenomenally successful Pebble was successfully funded, the Pebble still hasn’t shipped. We’ve been curious about the holdup; not alarmed, just curious. (Note: after the press conference we got an update with more info, scroll to the bottom to read!) So when I found out that they would be hosting a press conference at CES, I was completely interested — not only as a tech journalist…


Whooz? Are a Huge Hit at My House

On Christmas morning, as packages from under the tree were divided into piles and then opened, I got what would turn out to be one of my biggest Christmas surprises: the best gift was something I had stuck into the girls’ new Jon Hart bags, almost as an afterthought — Whooz iPhone and iPad Character Sets! Kev’s youngest daughter stopped everything to start installing a set on her iPad charger, and Kev’s oldest daughter was right there with her. Let me back up for just a moment. Everyone in my house has an iPhone or an iPad (or both), and…


Home Aquaponics Kit: A Self-Cleaning Fish Tank that Grows Food

Project Title: Home Aquaponics Kit: Self-Cleaning Fish Tank That Grows Food Status: Funded, with only 37 hours left (at this posting) Closing Date for Funding: 1:59am CST December 15, 3012 URL of the Project: Home Aquaponics Kit From the Creatives: Grow fresh produce right in the comfort of your own home – beans, basil, thyme, baby greens, oregano, mint, parsley, spinach and so many other delicious foods! • So what’s happening inside? The fish, they poo and they pee, and all that waste-water gets broken down by beneficial bacteria into nutrients • The waste-water from the fish is then pumped up…


Sinister Design Launches a Telepath Tactics Kickstarter!

I have written several times about the cool hybrid indie RPG ‘Telepath RPG: Servants of God’, and while I never finished the review I started, it remains a unique experience and one of the best indie games I have played this year. For a while now developer Craig Stern has been talking up the progress on his turn-based game Telepath Tactics – and now he has launched a Kickstarter effort in order to deliver a game with a robust single-player experience and more graphics content than the original simple turn-based multiplayer game he planned. Project Title: Telepath Tactics game for…