Hey, we haven’t done one of these in a while! What’s going on in Crowdfundland? Brilliant ideas? Or Annoying ones? We probably only notice the brilliant ones, because Kickstarter filters search results to prevent the unsuccessful campaigns from appearing. Hey Google indexes the internet so I only get the most ‘cited’ pages out there. Same goes for KS. I don’t really want to see the unsuccessful ones, unless they’re gems (thanks, Blogosphere!).
Crowd-vision
Anyways, the only reason I title this post “Crowdfund… Revision” is because all of these projects aim to try a different approach of an old idea or existing product. Like Polaroids. The Digital camera killed off Polaroid quite neatly, despite their attempts at revamping their product line and a dedicated following. A following that started ‘The Impossible Project“. It turns your iPhone photos into physical photo. If you were moved by this product and the mission, so were 2,000+ backers, pledging nearly half a million dollars–Over four days–DAMN. You can get in on the funding as well till October 8th.
Eventorbot 3D Printer
Now for something completely different – another 3D printer. But not some hack job by a lazy guy. The Eventorbot is another machine in a long line of machines that can print in FDM (I’ve reached a point in not counting the number of these) but it reveals that inventors like Mr. Duy Dang have been stepped 3D printing tech up a notch. He’s not doing bad either – $11,000 of 25,000 with 37 days to go. It’s a metal frame with printed/casted parts. And it looks cool–Appliance-like. While everyone is hawking warmed-over Prusa (OR EXACT CLONES OF MAKERBOTS) Dang has been exploring different ideas and, in the Zeitgeist of our times, has gone open-source. From the spec-side, expect similar resolution and speed of a Makerbot, with a smaller build platform and a single extruder. However, a big sell is 1) Solid Metal Frame 2) Cheap (less than $1000 for a painted, assembled kit… $580 for the kit).
