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.
Acoustic Stream – Guitar session recorder
Inspiration can strike at any moment, and when it does, the last thing you want to do is hook up a mic system and fiddle with a bunch of cables before you start recording. Acoustic stream makes the process of starting a session as seamless as possible, so there’s almost nothing in the way to interrupt the flow of your creative juices. It’s designed to fit in or on your guitar and turn on in an instant. To activate it, just tap once on the body of your guitar and it fires up. Tap twice and it starts recording, and three taps will activate the recorder to help you tune up before a gig. All recordings are beamed wirelessly to your mobile device where they’re stored safely for later listening.
Luxor – Digital focusing flashlight
The idea for Luxor was born when creator Paul Lowchareonkul found himself struggling to get the right light during a home improvement project. At times he needed a diffused, lantern-style glow; but at other times he needed a directional, focused beam. Carrying both a lantern and a flaslight was cumbersome, and constantly switching between the two was annoying, so he invented something that gave him the best of both worlds. Luxor is a high-tech flashlight equipped with a digital focus, so at the push of a button you can switch from focused to diffused light to suit your needs. As an added bonus, it’s also equipped with a battery-level indicator, so no more guessing how much juice is left.
Axis360 – Modular motion-control system for cameras
Created with small production crews in mind (folks who need something lightweight, portable, and affordable), Axis360 is a compact rotating device with a motorized tripod head and slider unit that pans, tilts, and slides your camera to create smooth videos and time-lapse photos. With this little rig, you can get all the awesome, fluid, Hollywood-style shots you’ve ever wanted. The 11-pound device works with a variety of cameras, from GoPros to DSLRs and cinema cameras, and can move at a wide range of speeds, either fluidly or incrementally. Check out our full article for more info.
Carbon – Wearable solar charger
Solar chargers are fairly ubiquitous at this point, but very few of them are portable and convenient enough to travel everywhere with you and come in handy when you really need them. That’s where carbon comes in – it’s a small, stylish, watch-shaped solar charger that lives on your wrist. It’s a bit bulkier than your average wrist-borne timepiece, but not by much, and with just a few hours of sunlight it can gather enough juice to charge your smartphone or tablet for anywhere from two to four hours. And best of all, its compatible with just about any device imaginable, be it iOS, Android, Blackbery, Windows Phone, or even Google Glass.
Soap – Simplified touchscreen router
Save for a few exceptions like Almond and Skydog, the vast majority of routers are a pain to work with. Many of them come with all kinds of advanced features, but accessing and adjusting those features is often easier said than done. Soap aims to fix that. With its big touchcreen interface and a simplified Android OS, this little box allows you to easily control not just your network settings, but your electronic devices as well. With just a few taps, you can set bandwidth limits for connected devices, set usage limits for kids, or even control home-automation devices. In addition to 802.11AC Wi-Fi, Soap sports Zigbee, ZWave, Insteon, and Bluetooth radios, so you can use it as a central hub for practically everything in your house.