At any given moment, there are approximately a zillion crowdfunding campaigns on the web. Take a stroll through Kickstarter or Indiegogo and you’ll find no shortage of weird, useless, and downright stupid projects out there — alongside some real gems. In this column, we cut through all the worthless wearables and Oculus Rift ripoffs to round up the week’s most unusual, ambitious, and exciting projects. But don’t grab your wallet just yet. Keep in mind that any crowdfunded project can fail — even the most well-intentioned. Do your homework before cutting a check for the gadget of your dreams.
Roadie 2 — universal automatic guitar tuner
There is little in in this world more unbearable than listening to somebody play an improperly tuned guitar. It’s 10 times worse than fingernails on a chalkboard, and makes anyone within hearing distance want to cut out their eardrums with a hot grapefruit spoon.
So if you play guitar and you’re not good at tuning it, please do everyone a favor and snag yourself a digital tuner. Really, any old tuner will do the trick, but if you want the Cadillac of tuners, get yourself a Roadie 2.
This the new-and-improved version of the original roadie, which hit Kickstarter back in 2013. What makes it so special? Well, not only can it listen to and automatically adjust the tension of your strings, but it can also give you feedback on the health of your strings and recommend restringing as soon as the tone quality deteriorates.
On top of that, it’s universal and will work with a wide variety of different stringed instruments, regardless of how they’re tuned. And best of all? It’s designed to be a standalone device, so you don’t have to pair it with your smartphone in order to use it — just turn it on and start plucking.
Rinsten Spring — bike seat shock absorber
Riding a bike without proper shock absorption can be a jarring experience. Most bike frames are designed to transfer vibrations directly up to the rider, so going over anything that’s less than perfectly smooth can easily give you a serious case of numb butt cheeks.
Shock absorbers are available to install on your ride, but available frame and fork suspension systems aren’t always ideal, since they tend to rob you of your downward pedaling force and make riding up hills more difficult. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a suspension system just for your seat?
That’s where the Rinsten Spring comes in. Not only does this simple little device install in just a couple minutes, but it also protects your butt from bumps and vibrations without negatively impacting your pedaling power. And it’s adjustable! Made up of only five parts, the Rinsten Spring’s rigidity can be tuned and tweaked to best suit certain weight and road surfaces.
Once you know your optimum settings, it can easy swap between sport and city riding modes on the fly. And to top it all off, the high quality steel and aluminum structure ensures that the spring will last.
Superscreen — wireless HD touchscreen
Samsung’s Galaxy S8 unveil might have stolen the headlines this week, but while everyone was busy oohing and ahhing at the company’s latest flagship phone, a little known startup from California dropped a whopper of a product on Kickstarter.
The Superscreen is a $99 high-definition touchscreen that doesn’t have all the hi-spec hardware that you’d typically find inside a tablet … and that’s the point. Instead, it’s designed to leverage the processing power of your smartphone, but deliver the imagery on a bigger, brighter display.
Superscreen is nothing more than a 10-inch QHD display that syncs with a companion app on your phone. Once connected, your phone is displayed on the Superscreen. And it’s not just a static image either — you can interact with Superscreen via multitouch just like you would on your phone.
You can do just about everything you’d do with a normal tablet — it just doesn’t cost nearly as much, and it requires a smartphone to operate.
NutraMilk — nut milking machine
Almond milk is the bee’s knees. Not only is it healthier than dairy milk for you and your body, but it’s also far less damaging to the environment than milk produced by cows. The only problem? It’s often packed with sweeteners and preservatives, and isn’t terribly cheap. But not to worry — the NutraMilk machine is here to save the day. With this little appliance, you can easily make almond milk right in the comfort of your own home and, more importantly, control what does (or doesn’t) go into it.
In terms of operation, it’s much like a blender and a juicer rolled into one. Unlike other nut milking machines, you don’t even need to start by soaking your almonds overnight — you just dump them straight into the machine. NutraMilk slices and blends the almonds (or any other nuts) in a matter of seconds with a spinning blade. While it does that, the device also mixes water with the blended creation, nabbing all the nutrient goodness that’s liberated from the almonds.
Once the blend finishes, you’re left with liters of fresh, ready-to-drink nut milk.
Ability1 — desktop 3D metal printer
Ever since 3D printing broke into the consumer space, proponents of the technology have foretold of a Utopian future in which 3D printers are a household staple akin to dishwashers and microwaves; where we can print products on-demand instead of buying them at a store. That hasn’t happened yet. Why? It’s hard to say, but one thing that’s certainly holding printers back from widespread adoption is the fact that most of them can only make plastic parts.
Ability3D wants to change this. Company founder and former NASA engineer Ben Willard has created an innovative new 3D printer that’s capable of printing metal parts in the comfort of your own home. But that’s not its most impressive claim.
Metal printers have been around for years at this point, but unfortunately, even the cheapest ones cost as much as a Lamborghini. What’s incredible about this one is that you can get one for under $3,000. Rather than using lasers to fuse metal powder into a solid object, the Ability1 uses a combination of MIG welding and CNC routing to achieve a similar effect. Since welding machines, metal filament, and CNC toolheads are all relatively cheap and accessible, Willard can sell his printer for a fraction of the cost.
