WebProNews

Tag: IndieGoGo

  • Should Entrepreneurs Seek Crowdfunding?

    Should Entrepreneurs Seek Crowdfunding?

    A lot of entrepreneurs in todays landscape must decide whether or not to go the crowdfunding route. If you ask multi-billionaire Richard Branson, you’re probably best off at least considering it.

    Branson has been an investor in popular crowdfunding platform Indiegogo, and in the UK, his Virgin StartUp has partnered with Crowdfunder to help entrepreneurs raise money for their projects.

    Branson participated in a panel discussing the topic in Chicago, which you can view below if you have an hour to kill.

    He also wrote a blog post about how crowdfunding “could change the world”.

    “The benefits of crowdfunding go way beyond the money,” he writes. “It brings market validation, access to new investors, promotion, community exposure, and real-time feedback. As well as the funds to start your business, it provides real connection with people who care about your business.”

    “There are lots of wonderful ideas that are now getting the exposure they need to secure bigger investments, which is tremendous for the new generation of entrepreneurs,” Branson says in the post. “Like most things in life, crowdfunding success is much more related to how willing you are to pour yourself into the project with your heart and soul. You’ve got to have a great product, and then you’ve got to stand out from the crowd.”

    You don’t have to look very hard to find champions of crowdfunding, but there are plenty of naysayers as well. It’s also not that simple. There are reasons why crowdfunding might work well for one business and not for another.

    According to Biz2Credit CEO, writing for Fox Business, reasons to avoid crowdfunding include: it works best for projects that require small amounts of capital; lack of prestige; negative impact on future financing options; limited value of shares sold to investors; speed; and potential lawsuits.

    “Kickstarter isn’t kickstarting businesses so much as it’s kickstarting relationships based on debt,” wrote David Banks at The Society Pages.

    “Statistical analysis by Professor Mollick of Wharton uncovered that 75% of all funded projects on Kickstarter shipped late,” wrote Version One founding partner and Andreessen Horowitz board partner Boris Wertz last year. “When consumers start to look at a crowdfunding site as the equivalent of an online store where they can buy new toys, there will be trouble (hence the Kickstarter blog post: “Kickstarter is not a store”). Delays in production/delivery are usually expected among investors, but even a few weeks delay can frustrate and anger this new class of ‘investor customers’ who are expecting the same smooth process as when they order something from Amazon. Their frustration ripples throughout the web, souring the entire industry.”

    A recent article from Shelly Banjo at Quartz says that while “once idealistic,’ Crowdfunding is “now an unholy hybrid of retail, investment, and risk.” Either way, it’s only growing more and more rapidly. Banjo shares this chart tracking its growth over the past few years:

    The Wall Street Journal appears to not only condone crowdfunding for small businesses, but encourages them to “go back for seconds”. It looks at data from Kickstarter showing that those that have already had a successfully funded project have nearly double the chance of success of reaching their next funding goal.

    Despite all the media coverage of crowdfunded projects and crowdfunding in general, small businesses have still been slow to embrace it, according to Forbes, which says it makes up just a “tiny fraction” of business loans.

    Images via Twitter, Quartz

  • Super Troopers 2 Hits Crowdfunding Goal in a Day

    We meow live in a world where we, the people, are spending our hard-earned money to help get movies off the ground. We did it for Veronica Mars, Zach Braff’s Wish I Was Here, Rooster Teeth’s Lazer Team, Blue Mountain State: The Movie, Spike Lee’s newest joint, and many, many more.

    Now, it’s the boys of Super Troopers‘ turn.

    The Broken Lizard guys (Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske) started up a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo on Tuesday and asked the internet for $2 million to make the sequel to 2001’s Super Troopers happen. And the response has been good, to say the least.

    “We’ve been waiting for years to do this, and meow the time has come. Our mustaches are thick, furry, and authoritative. The script is written and we’re getting all antsy in our pantsy to start shooting. There’s just one problem: While the studio has given us permission to make the sequel, and agreed to distribute it (at least in the USA and Canada), we need to fund the movie ourselves,” says the group on the Indiegogo page.

    Meow, over 18,000 chickenf*ckers have raised the $2 million in about a day’s time.

    Of course, any money raised over the required $2 million means a better movie. More explosions, “full-frontal Farva,” and more, as referenced by this handy chart:

    You can still donate to the campaign to snag prizes. Unfortunately, the top reward for a $35,000 pledge has already been claimed. Whoever gave that generous gift will be driving around in the patrol car from the movie. Well, probably not. I think they’d get arrested. But they’ll get to use it for whatever they want.

    Mother of God.

  • Star Trek Town in Canada Crowdfunds Building Functional, Full-Size Enterprise

    In the Canadian Badlands, in the province of Alberta, there is a little town called Vulcan. The folks in Vulcan take the responsibility inherent in their name seriously. Every year, they host a mid-summer Star Trek celebration and festival called Spock Days. They are the Official Star Trek Capital of Canada, and the spiritual center of the Star Trek universe.

    Star Trek fans and personalities alike make the pilgrimage to Vulcan. The town has developed a Tourism and Trek Station to welcome visitors, and is also home to a stunning collection of authentic costumes and props from Star Trek television programs and films located at the Trekcetera museum.

    But the little town is looking to the future, beyond the fandom distinction of holding yet another festival. They want to become the real deal. They want to build a full-size, functional, warp-capable Starship Enterprise. And they’re not just chatting about it. They’re in early fundraising stages, and you can be a part of history by helping them launch their project.

    The plan is a 40-year, $1.132 Trillion project to build a 1:1 scale fully functional U.S.S. Enterprise starship. The founders are aware that they face certain huge obstacles to realizing their goal. But, unlike other space programs, they are seriously and earnestly looking to overcome these with research and planning.

    To that end, they have set up an IndieGogo fundraiser to collect their first funding goal of $2 billion in order to fund important research into the creation, and development, of warp-drive technology.

    Super-luminal (faster-than-light) travel is critical to interstellar space travel. So research is key. Even if this ends up looking different than the fictional “warp travel” of the Star Trek franchise, there are possibilities already being looked at by NASA and others.

    So the folks of Vulcan want to establish The Vulcan Super-Luminal Research Center that will become, as they say:

    “[It] will become a repository for everything we, as a species, know about faster-than-light travel, gravity control and more. Most importantly, though, the VSLRC will also become home to an advisory panel comprised of the world’s foremost thinkers on the subject, who will be tasked with determining which research projects into warp-related fields will be funded through the VSLRC.”

    But knowing how to get to the stars is one thing. You also need to build a vessel that can actually get there. The folks of Vulcan envision a Vulcan Spaceport, and they know just where they want it.

    “Just outside the town of Vulcan AB, lies the decommissioned Vulcan Aerodrome. As a former Royal Canadian Air Force base, this historic site provides a unique foundation upon which the entire project can be built … [T]he site will be expanded … and will become the permanent home to the production facilities required to construct the Enterprise, as well the spaceport required to service the mighty ship.”

    If you believe in this ambitious project that Vulcan is embarking on, you can contribute. Even just $10 will get your name included on a permanent monument located at the future home of the Vulcan Super-Luminal Research Center.

    For $10K, you will be invited to the warp-drive debut. For $500 million, they will name the Research Center in your honor. And for $1 billion, they will name the spaceport itself in your honor.

  • Indiegogo’s iOS App Goes Global, Android App on the Way

    Indiegogo’s iOS App Goes Global, Android App on the Way

    Crowdfunding company Indiegogo has just joined the ranks of those with a native iOS app, launching the new version Thursday morning. The app was first launched about a month ago in Canada only – but with today’s worldwide launch, we can finally say that Indiegogo has a real app.

    The app lets you browse and save campaigns, claim campaign perks, and also features recommendations that help “surface popular and emerging campaigns in your preferred categories.” On the other side of the crowdfunding coin, project creators have access to campaign tracking and management tools.

    “This year has been one of tremendous growth for us and we’re investing heavily to continue improving Indiegogo for mobile users globally. The Indiegogo App is the first of many advancements focused on delivering the best mobile experience imaginable,” says Indiegogo CEO Slava Rubin.

    Rival Kickstarter has had a global app for about a year and a half.

    Indiegogo doesn’t want Android users to think they’ve been forgotten. The company is working on it.

    “Android app is in flight! We know that many of our funders and campaigners are on Android – ourselves included! We’re excited to bring our platform to Android devices everywhere.”

    Exact timing is unclear, but it shouldn’t be that long of a wait.

    Indiegogo boasts over 200,000 total campaigns, 7,000 of which are active at any given time. Over the past two years, there’s been a 1,000 percent increase in funds raised on the site.

    Image via Indiegogo, iTunes

  • Elon Musk Gives $1M to Nikola Tesla Museum

    Elon Musk Gives $1M to Nikola Tesla Museum

    In 2012, popular internet comic Matthew Inman, better known as The Oatmeal, published his most-viral comic to date – an ode to Nikola Tesla, who he called “the greatest geek who ever lived.” In it, he argued that the only thing Edison ever pioneered was douchebaggery, and that Tesla was the real hero who should be championed.

    Shortly after, Inman announced that he was spearheading an effort to buy back Tesla’s old laboratory and repurpose it as a museum. The lab, located in Shoreham, New York, is known as Wardenclyffe Tower and had recently gone up for sale. Inman felt that it was his duty to preserve this final workplace of the unsung hero who “drop-kicked humanity into a second industrial revolution.”

    He started an Indiegogo campaign, seeking $850,000 to outbid the current buyer and help a non-profit organization erect the Nikola Tesla Science Center.

    The campaign garnered over $1.3 million.

    Here’s the thing – that money raised via crowdfunding is amazing, but it’s only enough to save the location. To build the museum and fully realize the Tesla Science Center, it’s going to take millions.

    Naturally, Inman thought to ask the decidedly not poor founder of Tesla Motors, Elon Musk, for help.

    And today, on Nikola Tesla’s 158th birthday, Musk delivered.

    From a blog post on The Oatmeal:

    Earlier this week I got to speak to the man directly, and he promised two things. 1. He’s going to build a Tesla Supercharger station in the parking lot of the museum. 2. He’s donating $1 million dollars to the museum itself. Elon Musk: from the deepest wells of my geeky little heart: thank you. This is amazing news. And it’s Nikola Tesla’s 158th birthday.

    That’s awesome. What else can we say?

    Images via Wikimedia Commons, (2)

  • The True Terror Of Caffeine Is That We Run Out Of The Stuff

    Caffeine is the most widely consumed drug on the planet. It’s in everything from coffee and tea to chocolate and energy bars. What happens then when caffeine runs out? Do we just stop ingesting the stuff, or do we go out into space to mine it? In a new game slated for released in 2015, the latter scenario is what humanity opts for.

    Dylan Browne took to Indiegogo this week to launch a crowdfunding campaign for Caffeine – a psychological horror title set on board an abandoned space ship. While this scenario has been seen numerous times in games (i.e. Dead Space, Routine), Caffeine is unique in that the player character is a small boy. That makes the player even more defenseless as they explore the spacecraft trying to figure out what happened.

    Here’s the official synopsis:

    The Year is 2097, the Earth is over-populated and is lacking resources.

    The most consumed drug is caffeine and companies have countless outposts among the stars mining the resources required to quench the endless thirst of Earth’s population.

    Caffeine will primarily be a Sci-Fi Horror game, but at the same time employ a strong focus on both adventure and narrative and will include some smart puzzle game play.

    There will be no weapons in Caffeine but you will be able to use the environment around you.

    Scattered around the environment there will be a mass of notes, audio logs and clues to what the employees at the station were up to and what was going on in their lives, hopefully creating a great deal of lore for the world of Caffeine.

    It at least sounds unique, right? If you think so, you’ll definitely want to check out the first trailer for the game:

    Browne is asking for $80,000 on Indiegogo so he can work on Caffeine full-time. If he doesn’t reach the goal, he will still continue developing the game in his free time. He notes that this will likely make the final product suffer. If you don’t care whether the game is completed sooner or later, you might want to support the project to get a t-shirt, mug or even a speaking role in the game.

    Image via Dylan Browne/YouTube

  • Shaq Fu Is Back, Seeks Funding on Indiegogo

    In 1994, Shaq would lend his name to a fighting game that went down in history as one of the worst video games ever made. Now Shaq Fu is back, and we’re promised that they won’t “FU it up” this time around.

    Shaq and Big Deez Productions announced today that they are collaborating on a sequel to Shaq Fu called Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn. Unlike the original, the new game is not a fighting game, but rather a beat-em-up that’s described as “Streets of Rage meets Street Fighter meets Devil May Cry.”

    The team at Big Deez Productions isn’t a bunch of starry-eyed youths making their first game either. It’s a new studio comprised of game industry veterans who have worked on franchises like Halo, Street Fighter, Final Fantasy, Spec Ops: The Line and more. With that kind of pedigree, you can expect a half decent game.

    Here’s the pitch from Shaq himself:

    It’s easy to understand that you might still be skeptical so here’s a look at the studio making the game:

    If all of this has you convinced that Shaq is serious about making a great game this time around, you can contribute to the project over at Indiegogo. The team is looking for $450,000 in the next 46 days to make the game a reality. For $15, you get a copy of the game that will retail for $30 upon release. For $25, you get all the DLC for free which they claim is a $200 value. It’s hard to imagine the game getting that much DLC, but it just might be worth if it they do end up releasing a lot of additional content.

    Image via Shaq Fu/YouTube

  • Katherine Heigl Raising Funds for ‘Jenny’s Wedding’

    Katherine Heigl was noticeably absent from the Hollywood scene for a time, as reported in the video clip above, because no one wants to work with her. It seems the actress, along with her manager–mom Nancy Heigl–is known for making life hell on everyone near the film set. That was just a few months ago, and now the actress is working hard to raise money needed to complete a new film. As of this past September no one had seen the former Grey’s Anatomy star in anything but a NyQuil commercial. Does she still have enough Hollywood clout to raise money for a film in which she and Alexis Bledel play a lesbian couple who wish to marry, despite one of their family’s conservative beliefs? Will her “hard to work with” reputation make raising this money impossible?

    Jenny’s Wedding is the name of the film for which Heigl is hoping fundraising will bring in $150,000 by late March so it can complete its post-production work. An Indiegogo fundraising campaign is in full swing, with donations coming in from individuals–mostly those outside of the Hollywood loop, however.

    Fans who donate will receive bonuses, like signed screenplays, admission to advanced screenings with cast and filmmakers, retweets from Heigl, and clips of behind-the-scenes footage. Heigl would no doubt love to see some Hollywood bigwigs kick in, too. Has she wrecked her chances by being such a diva?

    Heigl tweeted her excitement about the film.

    She later tweeted about the fundraising efforts that will hopefully send Jenny’s Wedding to post-production.

    Do you think someone who has strangely enough been out of the Hollywood spotlight for so long–and has left such a bad taste in producer’s mouths–will have the pull to raise the funds needed for this film to see the big screen?

    Image via Twitter

  • Run Crowdfunding Campaigns On Your Web Site With Indiegogo Outpost

    When one thinks of crowdfunding, they usually think of Kickstarter first. After all, a lot of successful projects get funded through the Web site. That may be a problem though. Would a campaign get more backers if the company or person involved could run two campaigns at once simultaneously? That’s a question Indiegogo wants to answer.

    Crowdfunding platform Indiegogo announced this morning that it will now offer a new capability to those who use its platform to raise money – Indiegogo Outpost. The new feature will allow companies and individuals to run an Indiegogo campaign on their own Web site while simultaneously running the same campaign on their personalized Indiegogo page. Indiegogo says the new feature is meant to help companies build crowdfunding campaigns around their own branding.

    “Indiegogo is all about breaking down barriers to funding and we’re always looking for new ways to help Indiegogo campaigns directly engage with audiences who are likely to support them,” said Slava Rubin, Indiegogo co-founder and CEO.

    Perhaps the best part of Indiegogo Outpost is that it’s completely free to setup. It’s also incredibly simple as it uses the same HTML embed codes that you might use to embed a YouTube video. The tool lets users integrate their own tools, like Google Analytics, as well.

    Indiegogo says that Indiegogo Outpost will be launching in the first quarter of this year. More details are to come at a later date, and we’ll let you know more when details are released.

    Image via Indiegogo

  • An Affordable Metal 3D Printer Looks For Funding On Indiegogo

    The cost of plastic-based 3D printers have gone down tremendously over the years thanks in part to innovations in construction and the expiration of key patents. That will continue to be the case as desktop 3D printers continue to become more affordable, but what about other 3D printing machines? Will we ever see an affordable 3D metal printer?

    If you find yourself in the market for a 3D metal printer, you may just want to consider the Mini Metal Maker. It’s just like many of the other 3D printers currently seeking your attention on crowdfunding sites, but this one prints in metal instead of plastic. While it’s certainly no SLM machine, it’s the first real stab at making metal 3D printing affordable.

    So, how is this 3D printer complete with extruder able to print in metal? Well, it’s not technically metal when it’s being extruded onto the bed. Instead, the Mini Metal Maker uses a material often used by the jewelry industry that’s composed of metal and clay. After printing an object, you fire it in a kiln and are left with a high quality 3D printed metal object. It’s not exactly the most convenient method of 3D printing metal objects, but it’s by far the most affordable.

    Here’s a video of it in action:

    The Mini Metal Maker from David Hartkop on Vimeo.

    The project lead, David Hartkop, is seeking $10,000 on Indiegogo to finish production of the Mini Metal Maker. For only $25, you will receive a data CD containing all the build files necessary to create your own Mini Metal Maker. If you pledge $750, you’ll get a full kit of parts needed to build the Mini Metal Maker.

    If you don’t want the the build files or the printer, you can also pledge $40 to receive a pound of Mini Metal Maker Blend coffee. Yeah, I have no idea either.

    [Image: Vimeo/David Hartkop]
    [h/t: 3ders]

  • 3Dsimo Is The Future Proof 3D Printer Pen

    3Dsimo Is The Future Proof 3D Printer Pen

    Earlier this year, a 3D printer pen called the 3Doodler took to Kickstarter asking for a modest $30,000. As it turns out, people really liked the idea of being able to create 3D printed objects with only a pen and the project ended up raising over $2.3 million. Now another 3D printer pen is asking for your support, but don’t think it’s just a carbon copy of the 3Doodler.

    Say hello to the 3Dsimo – a 3D printing pen that acts as a multi-material digital 3D printer. In other words, it supports almost every major material used in 3D printers today, such as ABS, PLA, PVA and nylon. It also sports a digital display that allows you to customize a number of parameters, including temperature customization.

    The 3Dsimo team also claims that its pen is future proof in that it will be able to support any new materials that are introduced in the future. It supports the standard 1.75 mm width that’s used in 3D printers today, and a user’s ability to customize its internal temperature will ensure that it can melt almost any new materials.

    So, how much will the 3Dsimo set you back? Right now, the team is offering the full retail package, which includes then pen, three ABS strings and 3 PLA strings, for $75. After they sell through 100 of these packages, the price goes up to $85. If you’re really into the 3Dsimo, you can pay $1,499 to get 20 3Dsimo pens to share or even sell.

    The team’s Indiegogo campaign just started, but they’ve managed to raise a little over $2,000 of their requested $20,000 goal. Even if they don’t reach that goal, they will get all the funds raised between now and when the campaign ends on November 11.

    [h/t: 3ders]
    [Image: 3Dsimo/Indiegogo]

  • 3D Babies Takes The Creepy Crown From Those 3D Printed Fetuses

    Remember those 3D printed fetuses that were all the rage in Japan last year? It was a little creepy, sure, but at least it was a little endearing. A similar project from the U.S. is now seeking funding, but it’s a hell of a lot creepier.

    Say hello to 3D Babies – a startup that promises to 3D print a life-sized model of your child as it appears in the womb. If that’s a little too creepy for you, they’ll also take a 3D scan of your baby outside the womb and construct a similarly creepy life-sized 3D printed doll of your child.

    So, how does this all work? It’s pretty much the same concept as was used in Japan last year. The company will take an ultrasound of your baby, or a picture of a newborn, and create a 3D printed doll of it. Unlike its Japanese counterpart, however, 3D Babies wants to stick with ultrasounds of a nearly fully formed child so the creep factor will be ratcheted up even more.

    Now, you think it can’t be that bad. It’s just a 3D print of a baby. What could they possibly do to make it that creepy? Oh, I don’t know… How about displaying it in a satin box that looks like a tiny coffin?

    3D Babies Has Taken The Creepy Crown From Those 3D Printed Fetuses

    If that’s not enough for you, you can get a tiny 3D printed baby in a satin coffin striking a decidedly questionable pose:

    3D Babies Has Taken The Creepy Crown From Those 3D Printed Fetuses

    If all of this elicits an “awww” out of you, you can put money towards 3D Babies at its Indiegogo page. It’s hoping to raise $15,000 in the next two months to afford Stratasys U-Print SE Plus needed to print these abominations dolls.

    Oh, and if you thought it couldn’t get worse, just check out the promotional video:

    [h/t: Popsugar]
    [Image: Gerard Bessette/YouTube]

  • Here’s Another Cheap Resin-Based 3D Printer For Your Consideration

    Resin-based 3D printers are expensive. They got cheaper last year with the Form 1 – a stereolithographic 3D printer that only costs $2,299. Now they’re getting even cheaper with printers going as low as $100. The latest isn’t that cheap, but it does make up for it in portability.

    Say hello to LumiFold – an open-source resin-based 3D printer. It’s super cheap with the parts needed to build it coming in at $390, but it’s real claim to fame is that it’s fully portable. The entire printer can be folded up and carried in a small bag. When it’s unfolded, the printer has a build volume of 90x90x90mm. It’s not big by any means, but it’s more than enough for the asking price.

    Besides being portable, the LumiFold can also claim to be the first 3D printer with a holographic display that shows the printing progress. Here’s a picture of the current prototype:

    Here's Another Cheap Resin-Based 3D Printer For Your Consideration

    What else does the LumiFold feature? Check out the comprehensive list of features below:

  • The smallest Foldable 3d printer
  • Low Cost 3D printer, costs half of many 3d printers on the market, and it’s portable
  • Based on standard/cheap 20x20mm aluminum extrusion
  • Easy to use: just unfold, place under a projector, and print
  • Low energy consumption (approx. 5W)
  • Interchangeable resin bed and platform, including a smaller one for experimenting and printing small parts
  • Max Print volume 90 x 90 x ~90 mm
  • Z resolution up to 0,01mm
  • The first 3D printer with a 3D Holographic visualization of the printing progress
  • Laser Scanner Platform kit available, will transform the LumiFold in a 3D Scanner
  • Travel kit with Lithium battery, with the IPad / IPhone control Kit you are ready for printing everywhere in the world

    • If you want to help fund the LumiFold, you can grab the DIY kit now for $390. If you don’t like to build things for yourself, the fully assembled kit will run you $429.

    [h/t: 3ders]
    [Images: LumiFold/Indiegogo]

  • The Cheapest 3D Printer Ever Takes To Kickstarter

    Are you in the market for a 3D printer, but find that the current asking price of a few hundred dollars is still too much? What about a 3D printer for less than $100? It may sound impossible, but one team took to Kickstarter to prove it’s not.

    Rinnovated Design, a team out of Saskatchewan, Canada, debuted Peachy Printer on Kickstarter over the weekend. The sub-$100 3D printer looks to revolutionize the 3D printing space by becoming not only the cheapest open-source 3D printer on the block, but also the cheapest photolithographic 3D printer ever made.

    What’s photolithography? It’s a process where a laser is shot into a pool of liquid resin, and the laser hardens areas of the resin into hard objects. It’s just lot like Formlabs’ equally successful Form 1 3D printer, but at a fraction of the price.

    Check out a prototype (complete with obnoxious dubstep) below:

    As you can see in the video above, the Peachy Printer is one of the most innovative 3D printers around. Not only is the hardware completely unique, but the way it transmits 3D models through audio is completely novel. I wouldn’t be surprised if more 3D printers adopted this approach to reduce the cost associated with expensive 3D printing software.

    All the $100 tiers are sold out on Kickstarter, but those interested in a cheap DIY 3D printer have one more option available to them. The Peachy Printer is also available on Indiegogo where 497 $100 units are still available. It seems that most aren’t aware of this simultaneous Indiegogo campaign so you better jump on it while you still can.

    If you want more Peachy Printer goodness, check out the following video to find out how it works:

    [Image: Kickstarter]
    [h/t: 3ders]

  • The FABtotum Is More Than Just A 3D Printer

    Last week, I said that Zeus from AIO Robotics may be the new god of 3D printers. That’s because it could print, scan and fax 3D printed designs all in the confines of one machine. It’s going to hit Kickstarter soon, but another similar device has already found similar success on Indiegogo.

    Say hello to the FABtotum – a 3D printer that also doubles as a 3D scanner and CNC milling machine. In short, it can do make just about everything you could ever think of out of any material you could think. The 3D printer can handle all the plastic creations while the cutter can handle foam and plywood. You can add your own cutter to handle heavier duty materials, like metal.

    Warning: The following video contains excessive amounts of dubstep.

    FABtotum Personal Fabricator – 2013 Indiegogo Campaign from FABtotum on Vimeo.

    So, how much does this three-in-one maker machine cost? You can buy the DIY kit for $999 and it comes with all the materials necessary to build the machine. If you want them to assemble it for you, that’ll be $100 more at $1,099. It’s already much cheaper than whatever the Zeus is going to cost, and it’s a pretty good deal for what it gets you. The ability to add your own extruder and cutter heads to the device only makes it more valuable.

    The FABtotum has 39 days in its quest to raise $50,000, and it’s already raised $61,506. It just goes to show you that 3D printing devices are incredibly popular on crowdsourcing sites.

    [Image: FABtotum/Indiegogo]
    [h/t: Fabbaloo Blog]

  • Ubuntu Edge Doesn’t Reach $32 Million In Funding, Canonical Remains Optimistic

    The Ubuntu Edge was a highly ambitious smartphone with an equally ambitious Indiegogo campaign. Canonical hoped to raise $32 million in a month to fund the creation of what it saw as the future of smartphones, but it only managed to rake in a record breaking $12 million instead. With that in mind, where does Canonical go from here?

    In an update on the Indiegogo page, Canonical boss Mark Shuttleworth addresses the failure of his company’s fundraising campaign with nothing but positivity. He thanks the backers and the Ubuntu community who helped raise almost $13 million. Even though the Edge won’t be funded, he feels the amount raised has immeasurably helped the Ubuntu brand.

    Most importantly, the big winner from this campaign is Ubuntu. While we passionately wanted to build the Edge to showcase Ubuntu on phones, the support and attention it received will still be a huge boost as other Ubuntu phones start to arrive in 2014. Thousands of you clearly want to own an Ubuntu phone and believe in our vision of convergence, and rest assured you won’t have much longer to wait.

    All of the support and publicity has continued to drive our discussions with some major manufacturers, and we have many of the world’s biggest mobile networks already signed up to the Ubuntu Carrier Advisory Group. They’ll have been watching this global discussion of Ubuntu and the need for innovation very closely indeed. Watch this space!

    Phone manufacturers can’t exactly scoff at almost $13 million raised and almost 20,000 backers as they formulate their Ubuntu phone hardware plans. They see that people want a smartphone that’s leagues above and beyond what’s currently offered, and those manufacturers may just deliver. That’s at least what Shuttleworth and the folks at Ubuntu hope happens.

    On a final note, you may remember that Shuttleworth said a month ago that they would use crowdfunding again if the Edge was successful. Even though this round was unsuccessful, he says that Ubuntu may “take everything [it] learned from this campaign – achievements and mistakes – and try it all over again.” For now, however, Ubuntu fans will have to settle for whatever traditional OEMs come up with for Ubuntu smartphones.

  • Family Guy Chicken Fight Gets Live Action Reenactment

    This is something that should be filed under “when crowd-funding goes right,” because what we have is fantastic allocation of donated funds. The idea for a live action reenactment of Peter Griffin’s famous fight with the Chicken was posted over at IndieGoGo by Jessie Graff and Tree O’Toole, two professional stuntwomen who clearly share a love for Family Guy and beating the crap out of one another. Their pitch for donations promised greatness:

    In true “Family Guy” style, these 2 women will beat the snot out of each other while tumbling from one ridiculous scene to the next, destroying everything in there path. Expect brutal fighting, broken windows and walls, tackles, high falls, car hits, and wipeouts! The best stunt performers in the business are volunteering their time. All we need are locations, insurance, and things to smash! This rumble is going down no matter what, but the more funds we collect, the more spectacular it will be!

    The funds generated for the film totaled $2995, which exceeded the $2800 goal. From the looks of it, the money was put to great use:


    And here’s the original, if you want to compare:


    Needless to say, some substitutions had to be made, and the choice to go with the office fight, done in the slow motion style made famous by 300 and The Matrix, was a great choice. The video was posted over at Jessie Graff’s YouTube page. Graff played the chicken, and from the looks of her promotional images, she’s something of an athletic badass who could whip Peter and the Chicken at the same time:

    Jessie Graff

    Image courtesy.

  • Kite Patch Looks to Make You Invisible to Mosquitos with Wildly Successful Crowdfunding Campaign

    When it comes to defending yourself against one of life’s greatest nuisances, mosquitos, you’re pretty much limited to a few unappealing options. You can just stay inside – that usually helps. But what’s the fun in that? You can light citronella candles and torches – but does anyone really think that works? Of course, you can spray yourself with deet – that works pretty well, but yeah, I’d prefer not to do that all the time.

    A new project claim to be a breakthrough in mosquito protection – one that could change the way the world fights malaria.

    It’s called Kite, and it’s a patch that its creators claim can make you virtually invisible to mosquitos for a prolonged period of time.

    Here’s how the Kite patch works:

    Kite Mosquito Patch is the world’s first product containing our breakthrough scientific discovery of non-toxic compounds scientifically proven to disrupt the mosquito’s carbon dioxide neurons. Kite’s compounds act as a non-topical, spatial repellent, blocking mosquitoes’ ability to detect carbon dioxide – their primary method of tracking human blood meals. Kite is designed to last at least 48 hours.

    Basically, you can stick in on your shirt and expect to be invisible to mosquitos for up to two days. That’s just incredible.

    Kite Patch from SPARKHOUSE on Vimeo.

    The Kite patch is currently a little over halfway through a campaign on crowdfunding site Indiegogo. Originally, it set out to raise $75,000 to send 20,000 patches to Uganda – but in just a month the project has raised so much money that its creators have had to set new goals.

    As of today, the Kite patch campaign has raised over $480,000 in pledges. With that kind of money, Kite says that they can expand their field test and provide nearly 100,000 patches in its first production (the product is still just in its prototype stage). They’ve just launched a new goal – $600,000.

    Kite is looking to partner with various agencies to make their large-scale test a reality.

    “Our team has been working with or meeting a range of organizations, including Malaria No More, Rollback Malaria, the Malaria Consortium, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, USDA, the U.S. military – all in an effort to incorporate their expertise in large-scale field tests and expertise in vector and disease control. Many will be helping us guide the study and/or expand our options for data collection,” says Grey Frandsen.

    Of course, the main goal here is to battle the spread of disease with these convenient little patches. But this kind of tech would no doubt see massive interest from your average, everyday outdoor enthusiast. Hell, I host enough cookouts to justify a significant investment in a set of patches myself.

  • Ubuntu Wants $32 Million To Make A Smartphone

    Ubuntu announced earlier this year that it was bringing its unique flavor of Linux to smartphones and tablets. At the time, it said that it was working with carriers to bring hardware to the market. Now it’s taking its plea directly to its users with what may be the largest crowdfunding campaign ever.

    Ubuntu announced an Indiegogo campaign today for a smartphone that it calls the Ubuntu Edge. The hardware, developed in house at Ubuntu, would be a high end smartphone that the company hopes will “accelerate the adoption of new technologies and drive them down into the mainstream.”

    So what does this new technology look like? Here’s a render:

    Ubuntu Wants $32 Million To Make A Smartphone

    As for the hardware itself, Ubuntu wants to equip the Edge with “the fastest available multi-core processor”, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of internal storage and a 4.5-inch 1280×720 display. All these specs will contribute to Ubuntu’s vision of a mobile device that can become a desktop PC by connecting to a monitor. In fact, Ubuntu says that its first smartphone “must have the raw power of a PC.”

    The software will prove to be particularly interesting with Ubuntu promising that its smartphone will sport both Ubuntu mobile and Android. It will initially launch the desktop OS through Ubuntu for Android, but they hope to work the desktop OS capibility into Ubuntu mobile shortly after launch.

    So, how much will this phone cost you? Ubuntu says the hardware will retail for $830, but is offering it at a discounted $600 for the first 5,000 backers. There are also two other tiers available including an Enterprise 100 bundle that will net your company 100 Edges for $80,000. Unsurprisingly, nobody has backed this tier just yet.

    On a final note, Ubuntu says that the Edge will only be available to Indiegogo backers. To up the stakes a bit more, the company also notes that the Edge won’t be made if it doesn’t meet its funding goal. It will instead focus on bringing Ubuntu to “commercially available handsets.”

  • This iPhone/Cup Holder Is the Ultimate First World Problem Solver

    A new solution to a first world problem wants your money.

    How often do you find yourself unable to properly text, Facebook, or play Temple Run because you’re forced to use one of your free hands holding a cup of coffee. If this scenario hits home, help may be on the way.

    It’s called the UpperCup, and it’s the iPhone/cup holder that you never knew you wanted.

    “No more one handed typing. No more spilling coffee. Have your hands free for your optimal texting, gaming and social networking pleasure,” says Dutch marketing agency Natwerk.

    Awesome! You want one, right?

    Well, you can’t have one – yet. Natwerk is currently crowdfunding the project on indiegogo. They’ve set a goal of $25,000 to get the UpperCup into production and say that if/when it hits the shelves, it will do so with a $35 price tag. As of now, the’ve only managed to collect a little under $800 with 36 days left in the campaign.

    This is admittedly a little ridiculous. But I can totally see it selling.

    UPDATE: It looks like I, like many others, have written up a publicity stunt.

    [via BuzzFeed]

  • For $850K, This Company Will Bring Broadband Wi-Fi To Rural America

    The Internet is universally important to all Americans, and that’s especially true to rural Americans who are denied access to broadband Internet. The ISPs say it will cost too much to extend service to backroad homes and hard to reach areas in mountainous regions, but one company thinks all of that is a bunch of bollocks.

    GlobalWirelessPOD is a startup company that uses “proprietary wireless infrastructure to provide wireless broadband and collateral business services to small rural communities.” Their hope is to provide broadband Internet to the roughly 19 million Americans living in rural areas that can’t obtain access any other way. It’s a noble endeavor, but it will cost a bit of money to get going.

    The company has launched an Indiegogo campaign that asks for $850,000 to fund the next step of their plan. Here’s how the company is planning to bring Wi-Fi to rural Americans across the country:

    Over the past two years, the company has invested heavily in R&D to optimize software protocol thereby enhancing the ability of 802.11 platforms. The core strategic alliance is to merge with existing national and international rural stations and utilize its terrestrial infrastructure to deliver the bundled services and content. The infrastructure has been successfully tested and is used in limited areas benefiting rural schools and emergency services. The company started with two positive cash flow remote radio stations and internet radio in Iowa. GlobalWirelessPOD has identified multiple rural radio stations in the U.S. Midwest that are ready to align to the multipoint network.

    The company is in need of $ 800,000 to start the build-out, merges & acquisition of target rural stations and ramp up customer premise equipment (CPE) inventory . This includes globally scalable joint-ventures in Brazil, Philippines, Vietnam-ASEAN arena awaiting entry memorandum of agreements. If goal amount is not reached, a second round will commence combined with current positive cash flow. Proprietary and specific long range strategy are disclosed with a completed non-disclosure agreement to interested Pioneer Partners.

    For those who contribute, there’s a wide variety of rewards available in multiple tiers. The lowest tier starts at $11 and those who contribute this amount will receive a thank you note. Bumping your support up to $33 nets you a GlobalWirelessPOD ball cap. Upping your pledge will net you everything from a military grade unit jacket to a board meeting lunch with the folks at OpenWirelessPOD.

    There hasn’t been much money raised yet, but the campaign has just started. OpenWirelessPOD has 116 days left to raise $850,000, but its flexible funding campaign ensures that it will at least receive whatever money is pledged to the cause between now and the campaign’s conclusion.

    It’s going to take companies like GlobalWireless to get Internet into the hands of consumers as the FCC has done a rather terrible job so far in furthering its National Broadband Plan. The unwillingness of ISPs to actually foot the bill of extending service to those who need it most isn’t helping either.

    Those in Appalachia and other rural regions are constantly targeted as regions that need help, but rarely does that help ever come. It’s nice to see somebody working on campaigns to improve the lives of people living in these communities.