Kickstarter is a platform devoted to raising money for independent projects through user-supported funding. In exchange for their support, users who donate to a project are rewarded in a number of ways, often times receiving a production-grade version of the product.
Though the service was founded in 2009, Kickstarter garnered a lot of attention last year with the TikTok+LunaTik iPad nano wristwatch, which raised nearly $1 million in funding and continues to be a top-selling product.
While the TikTok+LunaTik watches are an exceptional success story, there are plenty of other awesome concepts that you can help support, including a long-range Wii sensor bar replacement, a system that allows you to control your entire house with your smartphone, and countless others. Here are just a few recent examples that caught our eye.
There have been plenty of viral videos of people using iPhone apps to perform songs, but the Invisible Instrument by Tim Soo takes the concept a step further by integrating a Wiimote and specialized computer software to output and/or record performances. By combining the touch interface of the iPhone and the motion detection capabilities of a Wiimote, The Invisible Instrument is able to recreate full drum kits, violins, cellos, keyboards, guitars, and more.
Depending on the size of their pledge, those who back the project will get anything from simple accreditation to a complete software and hardware setup, as well as a custom digital instrument of your choice.
Aside from the natural sense of "Aw!" associated with having been conceptualized and prototyped by a father – son duo, The MegaBar is actually a pretty interesting concept.
While Nintendo's first-party sensor bar is effective in most environments, accuracy of the IR detection dwindles at longer ranges, so James and Daniel Turner have taken upon themselves to create a high-powered IR sensor bar for use in larger rooms, which they call The MegaBar. Using a 6-volt power cable and 18 individual IR sensors, their design is capable of delivering pinpoint accuracy at distances of 10-feet or greater.
Those who donate will receive the core components to build a MegaBar of their own or receive completed production-grade units directly.
Developed by Daniel Kleinman, CustomCTRL is a home automation system that allows you to control a wide range of devices in your home, ranging from your big screen TV to your lights to the temperature on your thermastat using your smartphone. Using a specialized control unit that integrates with your home router or a variety of other existing home automation devices, like X10, XBee, and others.
What makes CustomCTRL unique, however, is the smartphone integration, which allows users to make custom control interfaces, access their home system remotely, and even use voice commands to change channels on their TV, shut down devices in an entire room and more.
Pledge options start at $1, but at increments of $89, $129, $169, $199, and more will receive finalized versions of the CustomCTRL, with some pledge levels involving hardware for a comprehensive home setup.
Though Apple's iPad and most Android tablets don't ship with a stylus, they do support them, but the range of available third-party solutions is pretty limited. While there are plenty of pen-style styluses you can purchase, some users would prefer to have a stylus more akin to a dry erase marker, so Dan Provost and Tom Gerhardt created one.
Their wide-grip stylus provides a more accurate and ergonomic solution that can be used to jot down notes or sketch on a tablet device.
Backers who pledge $25 will receive a free Cosmonaut, and those who pledge $50 will receive two.
Remember the Courier, Microsoft's now-defunct tablet project that could have potentially revolutionized the tablet market? Well, it may have been lost and but it wasn't entirely forgotten, at least not by Benjamin Monnig.
Though Microsoft has abandoned the project, Monnig has set out to bring the Courier's unique control interface to the iPad, including a notebook-style pages interface that allows you to manually write text, images, and drag-and-drop data from a variety of iOS apps, like Maps, iCal, and Safari.
Pledges of $10 get a free copy of Tapose once it is completed, while larger pledges will receive copies of the software and a variety of extras, with $1,000 donations receiving custom engraved iPads.
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