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Best Kickstarters of the month - June 2016
There have been a lot of complaints about how we aren’t seeing innovation in the smartphone world in particular, and the tech industry in general. However, all you need to do is browse through Kickstarter to see how far away from the truth that is. Kickstarter allows small companies, and even individuals, to showcase their unique ideas and products, and nothing is a better indicator of positive public reaction than a successfully funded campaign.
There are thousands of campaigns being run on Kickstarter on any given day and can take a long time to get through, so we’re to help you out. If you are looking for some interesting projects to check out, and also help the developers achieve their goals, here are some of the best Kickstarters of the month!
Project #1 – Basslet: A wearable subwoofer for your body
The Basslet is the world’s first subwoofer for your body, and is compact enough to worn on your wrist. The idea behind this product is that music is meant to be felt, and not just heard, and if you’ve ever been to a concert or a club, you know exactly where the creators are coming from. You will now be able to feel the music, as the Basslet delivers the beats and bass lines directly to our wrist, and while you may be “surrounded” by sound, it is going to be silent to the outside world.
The Basslet will work with any device that features a 3.5 mm headphone jack. All you have to do is connect the sender in between your headphones and the audio device, and strap on the Basslet to your wrist. It looks like a watch, and another positive is that you can easily replace the straps with any standard 24 mm watch strap of your choice as well. The Basslet will effortlessly recreate bass frequencies, down to 10 Hz, on your wrist, and it’ll be interesting to see how these bass recreations will exactly feel.
If you are looking to get an extra kick out of your music or gaming, the Basslet could be what you’re looking for. Developed by Lofelt, Basslet has blown past their campaign goals of $56,785, having raised over $275,000, with 24 days still to go.
Project #2 – Knocki: Make any surface smart
There has been a growing focus on the Internet of Things and home automation, and while there are a slew of smart devices and products out there, you are dependent on a multitude of apps to control your TV, lights, thermostat, and more. The developers of Knocki are hoping to make this interaction much easier, with a device that can be attached to any surface, and uses a variety of knocks and knocking patterns for different functions.
Once you attach Knocki to a surface, like the underside of a table for example, you can then knock on the table to perform different tasks, such as turn on your TV, control the volume, send a text message from your phone, control your lights, adjust the thermostat, play music, and a whole lot more. The possibilities are endless, and all you have to do is assign different knock patterns to the various functions, allowing for a one stop solution for all your smart needs, with the Knocki app being connected to all your devices. Knocki is also smart enough to differentiate between actual knocks and random vibrations, such as when you keep something on the table, so accidental triggers shouldn’t be an issue with this device.
If you already have a lot of smart devices in your home, and are looking for a simple way to control everything, Knocki is what you’ve been waiting for. There’s only 37 hours left to go in their campaign, so you’ll have to hurry, and while the developers of Knocki were looking to raise $35,000, over a million dollars has already been pledged.
Project #3 – GoBone: All-day play for you and your dog
As much fun as it may be to have the constant companionship of a pet dog, any working professional will admit that making enough time for their pets is becoming an increasingly difficult ask. Leaving your dogs alone to fend for themselves for the majority of the time is also quite alarming, as dogs need exercise and a way to release their energy, which also helps avoid behavioral problems. PulsePet, PulsePet are hoping to address this issue with their new product, the GoBone.
GoBone is an electronic toy that entices your dog to play by moving around on its own, helping the keep the dog active, even while you’re away. You can put some food inside it and tap on it, and it’ll start moving around. You can have it move in any way you like, and the device can also move a certain way depending on its size, weight, and age. GoBone will also prove especially helpful in dog shelters, with the interaction with GoBone intended to help bring out the dog’s personality and establish a healthy mind, which should make them more adoptable.
Of course, the fun and games don’t have to stop even when you are back home. You can also use the app to manually maneuver the toy, and the app also includes certain games, like a gesture based fetch game, or even hide and seek. PulsePet also says that their mechanical engineer has been designing rugged products for the military for years, to ensure that the GoBone’s electronics will always stay safely enclosed.
GoBone has less than 12 hours to go, but the developers have more than tripled their goal of $60,000, having raised more than $184,000 over the course of the campaign.
Project #4 – Nope 2.0: Live free
Nope 2.0 is a privacy shield that allows for a simple way to cover up the camera of your laptop, desktop, smartphone or tablet. As the name suggests, this is the successor of the original Nope, which was also a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign, and now comes in a simpler, more elegant, and easier to use form.
While some may think that believing that there is someone watching you through the camera of your laptop or mobile device has the leanings of paranoia, but the unfortunate truth is that it is quite possible for someone to hack into your computer or smartphone and turn on the camera without you knowing. The only way to guarantee your privacy is to keep the cameras covered when you aren’t using them, and that is exactly what is available with Nope 2.0.
This product magnetically attaches to the camera of your device, and comes with a moving part that lets you open and access the camera if and when you need to. The product is also extremely thin, with a thickness of just 0.8 mm, which means that it won’t come in the way of something like closing your laptop.
Nope 2.0 provides a far more elegant solution than using tape to cover the cameras, which will have to be removed every time you do want to use them, and even if you aren’t particularly worried about privacy, it still isn’t a bad product to have handy. Consumers certainly agree, and with 46 days to go, Nope 2.0 has raised close to $31,000, which is 30 times more than the original campaign goal of just $964.
Project #5 – O6: Free your eyes
As much as we might hate to admit it, we are increasingly dependent on our smartphones, and are constantly glued to them. Be it for reading news, browsing the web, watching videos, listening to music, navigation, and a whole lot more, our smartphones can do everything, but having to look at the screen all the time can be annoying at best, but downright dangerous at worst, such as while you are driving.
O6 is a small little dial that you can put anywhere, on a desk, onto a steering wheel, or even around your wrist, and its primary purpose is to help you free you from the distraction of having to continuously look at your smartphone. You can still interact with your smart devices, but this device lets you do so without needing to look directly at the screen.
It connects to a device of your choice, for example a smartphone via, bluetooth. From there, just by turning the dial, you can browse, operate, and toggle between virtually any app while your eyes remain on something else, like the road or even where your walking. The phone could be in your pocket, but you can read texts, browse Twitter or make phone calls, all thanks to O6, using speech feedback. O6 also provides an Open API platform to send and receive data and commands to its sensors, so future apps will be able to work with this physical dial.
This device seems like a great way to be able to access any area of your phone, just by the touch of a dial, and apart from keeping you safe and distraction-free, it also has a huge advantage when it comes to aiding the visually impaired. The Kickstarter campaign for O6 will be completed on July 3, but its developers have already gone past their $100,000 goal, having raised close to $144,000 already.
Which of these is your favourite kickstarter project and think we’ve missed out on one of these? Do you plan to back any of these? Let us know your views in the comments below!
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