Kickstarter breathes life into tech start-ups

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Kickstarter home page

US website Kickstarter enables creative projects — from films and art installations to consumer products and scientific research — to be funded using a crowd-sourcing model.

Each project sets a funding target and has a finite amount of time in which to raise the money. People can pledge as much money as they like; in return they receive rewards of various kinds from the project, depending on how much they pledge.

If a project reaches its funding target by the deadline, the money is deducted from investors' bank accounts; if there's a shortfall, the project's creators must return to the drawing board.

The site, which was launched in 2009, takes five percent of all funds raised via the site. According to the New York-based company, more than $27m (£16.5m) was pledged via the site in 2010.

The website uses Amazon's Flexible Payment Service to process funds, which means people outside the US can contribute. However, at present, international users are unable to initiate a Kickstarter project unless they have a US bank account. The company says it will allow international projects at some point in the future.

The following pages outline some of Kickstarter's most interesting projects, from those that are seeking funding to those that have met and exceeded their targets via the site.

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Published: April 17, 2011 -- 08:03 GMT (01:03 PDT)
Photo by: Kickstarter

Caption by: Jon Yeomans
Protei oil-spill cleaning robot

Protei
The Protei oil spill-cleaning robot is designed to sail upwind and collect oil slicks as they drift downwind. The robot uses a long, oil-absorbent tail to collect the spillage, and has a self-righting system to stay afloat in choppy weather.

The project has exceeded its target of $27,500. The money will be used to buy sensors for the next prototype, which will be "the first articulated sailing boat that can tack upwind pulling a long heavy payload and initiating a revolutionary family in ocean robotics".

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Published: April 17, 2011 -- 08:03 GMT (01:03 PDT)
Photo by: Cesar Harada

Caption by: Jon Yeomans
CustomCTRL

CustomCTRL
CustomCTRL allows people to control various aspects of daily life — from lighting and thermostats to entertainment systems — via their smartphones.

The open-source project is based on Arduino and consists of an adapter that connects to your smartphone. CustomCTRL is looking to raise $33,000 by 3 May.

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Published: April 17, 2011 -- 08:03 GMT (01:03 PDT)
Photo by: Daniel Kleinman

Caption by: Jon Yeomans
Mindgine social cloud

Mindgine
Mindgine's project aims to create a 'social cloud' based on small, low-cost 'plug computer' servers and open-source software.

There are two server devices, the 600MHz Mindebian-micro and the 1.2GHz Mindebian-X. Both weigh around 227g, have 512MB of RAM and connect to networks and peripherals via Gigabit Ethernet and USB 2.0. The smaller Mindebian-micro has a microSD slot, while the slightly larger Mindebian-X has an SD card slot. To go with the hardware, Mindgine has created a Debian-based Linux distribution called Mindebian OS.
The project creators envisage the servers and USB-attached devices being used for internet-accessible storage, music and movie streaming, printing, VoIP call handling and camera control. When idling, the servers can be assigned to work on one of the many Boinc (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing) research projects.
Mindgine needs to raise $99,991 by 28 May to reach its target.

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Published: April 17, 2011 -- 08:03 GMT (01:03 PDT)
Photo by: Peter Wojtowicz/Mindgine

Caption by: Jon Yeomans
Diaspora

Diaspora
One of Kickstarter's success stories of 2010 was the Diaspora social-networking software.
The project reached its funding deadline with $200,641 — not bad, given that its original target was just $10,000.

Diaspora — the brainchild of four New York University students — is a personal web server that lets people store their information and share it with friends.

The software aims to ensure that data you share is only seen by the people you intend, and ownership of that data stays with you.

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Published: April 17, 2011 -- 08:03 GMT (01:03 PDT)
Photo by: Diaspora

Caption by: Jon Yeomans
Gameduino

Gameduino
Another recent success on Kickstarter is Gameduino, a game adapter for Arduino hardware that lets people create their own videogames.

The device is built as a single shield that stacks up on top of the Arduino and has plugs for a VGA monitor and stereo speakers. It comes with demos, hardware sprites and rolling backgrounds to help people get started with their games.

Gameduino raised $38,297 — far exceeding its target of $3,333, which was intended to fund its first production run.

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Published: April 17, 2011 -- 08:03 GMT (01:03 PDT)
Photo by: James Bowman/Gameduino

Caption by: Jon Yeomans
TikTok watch

TikTok/LunaTik watches
By far and away the biggest success story in Kickstarter's short history are the TikTok/LunaTik watches. These turn a sixth-generation iPod Nano into a multitouch watch.

The project was funded by 6,000 percent, earning $941,718 on a target of just $15,000.

TikTok is a snap-in strap that lets you place and remove your iPod; LunaTik is a premium wristband for people who don't mind dedicating their iPod Nano to the life of a wristwatch.

See more photo galleries on ZDNet UK.

Published: April 17, 2011 -- 08:03 GMT (01:03 PDT)
Photo by: Minimal

Caption by: Jon Yeomans

The New York-based website crowd-sources funds for creative projects and tech innovations, from robots and gadgets to software and hardware

Kickstarter home page

US website Kickstarter enables creative projects — from films and art installations to consumer products and scientific research — to be funded using a crowd-sourcing model.

Each project sets a funding target and has a finite amount of time in which to raise the money. People can pledge as much money as they like; in return they receive rewards of various kinds from the project, depending on how much they pledge.

If a project reaches its funding target by the deadline, the money is deducted from investors' bank accounts; if there's a shortfall, the project's creators must return to the drawing board.

The site, which was launched in 2009, takes five percent of all funds raised via the site. According to the New York-based company, more than $27m (£16.5m) was pledged via the site in 2010.

The website uses Amazon's Flexible Payment Service to process funds, which means people outside the US can contribute. However, at present, international users are unable to initiate a Kickstarter project unless they have a US bank account. The company says it will allow international projects at some point in the future.

The following pages outline some of Kickstarter's most interesting projects, from those that are seeking funding to those that have met and exceeded their targets via the site.

See more photo galleries on ZDNet UK.

Published: April 17, 2011 -- 08:03 GMT (01:03 PDT)

Caption by: Jon Yeomans

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