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.
Flyonix F-series– Camera stabilizer gimbal
The difference between a good shot and a great shot is stability. Plain and simple. The only problem, however, is that keeping a handheld shot stable when you’re moving around is ridiculously difficult – unless you’ve got the proper equipment. That’s where Flyonix comes in. Its F-Series systems definitely aren’t the first camera stabilizers to ever be invented, but they’ve got a few innovations that arguably make them more convenient than the competition. For starters, they’re designed to fit an absolutely massive range of different cameras, so regardless of what you’re shooting with, there’s a good chance that mounting it won’t be a struggle. And in comparison to some of the other stabilizers on the market, the $2,000 price tag is a steal.
Big Turtle Shell – Rugged Bluetooth speaker
Portable Bluetooth speakers are a dime a dozen these days, but rugged ones – ones that can withstand things like being kicked into a pool, dragged through a mud pit, or dropped down a flight of stairs – aren’t quite as common just yet. The category is growing fast though, and the latest addition to the pack is The Big Turtle shell from LA-based manufacturer Outdoor Tech. If it looks familiar, that’s probably because you remember it’s smaller sibling, the original Turtle Shell, which hit Kickstarter back in 2012 and raised a boatload of money. This new version, as it’s name suggests, is bigger in just about every way – not only in terms of size, but in terms of volume, sound quality, and battery life.
Verrado – Electric drift trike
Sweet baby Jesus this thing looks like fun! Designed and built by Local Motors, the Verrado is essentially the new, improved, and (most importantly) motorized version of the original drift trike. Never heard of a drift trike before? Well you’re in for a treat. It’s basically like a Big Wheel for adults, except instead of being made from cheap plastic, it’s made out of steel, and outfitted with PVC cylinders over the rear tires, which makes it really easy to kick out the rear wheels and drift around corners. They’re ridiculously fun to ride, and while we’ve never had the opportunity to ride a motorized one, we can say with a fair measure of certainty that it’ll be equally as awesome as tearing down a hill in the non-motorized version — if not more so.
The Body Dryer – Whole-body drying platform
You know that high-speed blowdryer from Dyson that dries your hands so fast that it eliminates the need for hand towels, the AirBlade? Yeah, well, somebody just took that same concept a step further and developed a device that blow dries your entire body, thereby eliminating the need to use bath towels. According to the contraption’s creator, it starts by drawing air in from outside the unit and storing it in a pressurized chamber. After enough air has been collected, it’s blasted out from nozzles in the foot plate, some of which are pointing straight up, and some of which are angled slightly. This arrangement of nozzles creates a cylindrical column of air that swirls around your body, allegedly drying it with unprecedented speed.
Stand Desk – Affordable standing desk
In case you haven’t heard, sitting down all day is hazardous to your health. It’s been shown to cause lower back problems, slowed metabolism, increased risk of diabetes and heart disease, and a myriad of other problems – it’s pretty much the new smoking. But not to worry, thanks to designer Steven Yu, you can finally afford to buy a standing desk without selling off one of your kidneys. The simply-named Stand Desk is currently up for pre-order on Kickstarter at a base price of just 400 bucks. Thats roughly half of what you’d likely pay for other motorized standing desks on the market. Unsurprisingly, the project managed to blast past its initial $50,000 funding goal in just under 40 minutes.
