Kickstarter. A digital Mecca for inventors and creators.
Have you ever heard of Kickstarter? It's a crowdfunding platform that allows inventors, artists, and practically anyone, to receive public investment to start their independent projects.
By: Oasis Team
Photos: https://www.kickstarter.com
Kickstarter aims to support innovative projects, generally focused on technology, but among the tens of thousands of projects it has successfully supported are literary, musical, social, and other works. The site was founded in 2008 by Perry Chen, Yancey Strickler, and Charles Adler. There are some truly brilliant and innovative ideas on this site, and some others that are so crazy they're almost frightening.
Kickstarter shows how much money is circulating around the world, and how there are indeed people interested in supporting and investing in other people's ideas and dreams, however outlandish (or brilliant) they may seem. Even better, the platform accepts project proposals from all over the world. Several Brazilians are there.
Below we list a gallery of some projects for the near future, funded by crowdfunding on this platform. See, for example, the low-cost 3D printer, the invisible earphones, the pocket spectrometer, etc. We chose ten inventions that are ready to enter our lives... as soon as they convince the multitude of Kickstarter contributors to shell out the money for their development on a commercial scale.
The MicroIt's a low-cost 3D printer. On Kickstarter, this project received over $3.4 million in crowdfunding: 6.000% more than its creators had requested. The idea of a 3D printer on an office desk for a cost of only $350 clearly excited the masses. Project website: http://printm3d.com/themicro/
Emotiv Insight. Emotiv technology, developed by Philips and Accenture, uses sensors that tune into the brain impulses of the user to scan thoughts and expressions in real time. By reading these electrical signals emitted by the brain, it is possible, for example, to control electronic devices installed in a home. It will reach the market in 2015, at a cost of $300. Project website: https://emotiv.com/insight.php
Food, medicine, plants, and much more: this small pocket spectroscope scans them, projecting a beam of light onto them, and tells us which and how many molecules are present in the sample, after sending the information to a central server via the internet (through a smartphone). It will cost $250. Project website: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/903107259/scio-your-sixth-sense-a-pocket-molecular-sensor-fo
Gyroptic. It doesn't just have one lens, but three: this allows it to take 360° photographs.othat can be viewed immediately on a smartphone. It will cost $300. Project website: http://www.giroptic.com/
Lima. It transforms any USB drive or portable hard drive into a cloud server (like Dropbox) that can be connected via smartphone, tablet, or computer to exchange files. Ideal for those who find cloud computing useful but want to keep a digital copy of their files at home. Prices start at $59. https://meetlima.com/
Sense. It controls the environment of our room (temperature, light, etc.), connects to sleep sensors, and wakes us up at the most appropriate time. All the data from our nighttime activities is recorded on the iPhone and will be ready to be interpreted by an algorithm. It costs $130. Project website: https://hello.is/
Glyph. The range hood transforms into a retina display for watching high-definition movies. It will cost $500. Project website: http://avegant.com/
Pebble. It's a customizable smartwatch that can be used to monitor sports activities and obtain the information through your phone. Its Kickstarter campaign raised over $10 million (10.000% of its goal). It's already on sale, starting at $79. Project website: https://getpebble.com/
Earin. These are the world's smallest Bluetooth earbuds, measuring only 2 centimeters. They are invisible. To recharge them, simply insert them into the appropriate case. They will be available for sale during 2015. Project website: http://earin.com/
OuyaYet another video game console? No, Ouya has three more gears. It uses Android, the operating system of Google phones, takes up little space and has a very affordable cost: 99 dollars. Project website: https://ouya.tv/