At any given moment there are approximately a zillion different crowdfunding campaigns happening on the Web. Take a stroll through Kickstarter or IndieGoGo and you’ll find there’s no shortage of weird, ambitious, and downright stupid projects out there – far too many for any reasonable person to keep up with. But here at DT we are not reasonable people. We spend an inordinate amount of time poring through crowdfunding sites and product blogs in search of the next Oculus Rift or Pebble Watch, so we’re here to bring you a quick roundup of the best projects that are currently up and running.
Fly6 – bicycle brake light/camera
Attaching to the seat post of your bike, Fly6 is a rear light that also records in high definition video what happens behind you during your ride. The device’s creators designed it with the intention of making bicycle commuters safer, but Fly6 can also be used for pretty much anything you’d like to record – racing, mountain biking or just riding with your friends. It records video in 720p and stores it on a built in micro SD card, so it’s no GoPro, but it’s also considerably more affordable. If you back the project now you can snag one for about $117 bucks American.
TraqCloud – $19 GPS tracker
Hollywood makes it seem like getting your hands on a GPS transponder is the easiest thing in the world, but in reality, tiny little ones that you can easily stick on the undercarriage of someone’s car or slip into a pocket are hard to come by. But that’s all about to change if this Kickstarter project meets its funding goal. TraqCloud is a super-affordable (just $19 bucks!) GPS tracking system and accompanying cloud platform. To use it, just turn on the tracker, register the device online, and attach it to something. After that, you can just log into the TraqCloud website from your phone, tablet, or computer to see location data in real time.
The Dash – wireless smart earbuds
Dash is a lot of things. It’s a pair of wireless in-ear headphones, it’s a 4GB mp3 player, a Bluetooth headset, a microphone, a USB stick, fitness tracker, heart rate monitor, and sports watch all in one. How can it do so much? Well in addition to it’s tiny drivers and internal memory, these little badboys boast a 3-axis accelerometer, infrared LED and optical sensor, a five-field capacitive sensor, and even a 32-bit ARM processor. The project has already blasted past its initial funding goal, and is poised to start mass production as soon as November. Check out our full article on Dash for more details.
Fin – Bluetooth control ring
Fin is just a rough prototype at this point, but here’s how the finished product will work. By tucking an optical sensor into the ring (intended to be worn on the thumb), the Fin is able to detect swipes and taps across your hand. When it detects a gesture, it sends that command off to your connected device — be it a smartphone, TV, or another wearable device. The idea is that you’ll be able to map different hand gestures to different functions, such as swiping your thumb up your index finger to crank up the volume, or swiping across your palm to skip a track.
Sammy Screamer – simple motion alarm
Sammy Screamer was designed as a tool for parents to keep an eye one their kids, but its extremely simple design gives it a broad range of other potential uses. Here’s how it works, you attach this little triangle to anything you want to monitor, and then use the accompanying smartphone app to set the sensitivity and volume. Then, if your stuff gets moved Sammy will scream and send a notification to your smartphone. And because it’s so tiny, you can put it just about anywhere – your front door, the fridge, or even on the lid of a cookie jar.
